Maelwys

The maximum you can get as a Controller is +47.21 S/L resistance in a epic shield (with +3 SOs in Temp Inv). "Tough" similarly slotted should give you 23.6 S/L resistance. That's 70.81 total, and the cap is 75%!

That's using the numbers from Nofuture with the AT mod tables. I trust that better than a hero builder.

More if you roll a /Sonic... Sonic Dispersion will add another 19% to all but Psi on top of that.

Works for +def too. With a FF troller you can get "soft capped" S/L defence with D.Bubble/Maneuvers/Weave plus the Ice or Stone Epic shields, and very close to the cap with Combat Jumping instead of Weave.

Yeah. The % healing is exactly the same, though due to a tanker's higher HP pool they'll get better return.

The recharge is considerably better on Healing Flames than Reconstruction. If each is slotted with 3 Recharge SOs, it's roughly 20 secs for Healing Flames and 30secs for reconstruction... unbuffed 6-slotted Healing Flames would therefore be roughly the same as "6-slotted Reconstruction when Hasten is running".

Does capture even have a "MAG" worth talking about?

I know that Red Noise can cage a normal mission AV with one shot, haven't tried it with a GM.

Our spinoff Union VG was just under 50% of the way to the first healing badge when I started my Robot/Dark. We had a very low population of villains on at the time (I was usually the only one on in the evenings) but our SG got the badge by the time I hit the mid-40s, by 50 I'd made some inroads into the second badge. After that I stopped checking and went back to heroes...

I played a very defenderish MM though, until I got Fluffy I was usually debuffing and regularly spammed the AoE heal on my Bots. I wore that "Mad Scientist" title with Pride!

Also I'll admit to farming damage for a few hours one evening while watching Rocky III... I was soloing in a maximum-difficulty CoT mish and parked my MM next to a red crystal with bots on STAY/Passive and Twilight grasp targetted on a nearby Door and set on Auto. The upshot was that the bots got about damaged by about 40-45% between twilight grasps, so 2 Heals could miss in a row and they'd still survive to be hit by the third. I easily made over 400k "team healing" in SG mode by the time the movie finished: I checked the PC afterwards and had a nice shiny new badge!

From what I've seen of Deci, he'd never stop moving or drop out of phase shift long enough to give a decent Leadership bonus to his teammates...

Heh! Keep at it, took about a week working on Hero Builder till I was happy with my tanker's build...

My view on "Tough" and "Weave" is that the higher you can push your defense/resistance numbers to their respective caps the better. Reason being that a further buff can then mean the difference between getting hit for 50% of what you were before (getting +10% res when at 80%) to getting hit for 90% of what you were before (getting +10% res when at 0%).

I'd probably have taken Aid Self if I wanted to PvP my Tank much though... there's not much point in hitting your resistance cap when 3 ATs can bypass your armor with Criticals/Unresisted Damage/Assassin Strikes!

'Fraid not MaX, I've tried Aid self and I get far better return from Tough and Weave in PvE.

Tough + Resist Physical + Temp Invul comes to 90.5% S/L resist. That's the resistance cap.

Weave + Tough Hide + Combat Jumping comes to about 19% defence before you factor in Invincibility.

Now Unyielding will offset that number slightly, but herding any normal mob with invincibility will make your survivability literally skyrocket. The slight defence against Psi from CJ and Weave (11% ish) also helps when fighting Carnies and Psi Clockwork, especially when you can get a Fortitude (the +def stacks).

Aid Self is an interruptable heal, and whilst that can help mitigate all types of damage it adds nothing to your actual defense or damage resistance numbers.

Because my defence is sky high and I'm only taking 10% of inflicted S/L damage I can currently do daft things like tanking two mobs of Crey PPs or a +3 Infernal AV without running Unstoppable. There's simply no way I could do that taking Aid Self over Weave and Tough, I'd simply not be getting enough mitigation.

For a scranker or a scrapper, I'd certainly rather take Aid Self because you're not getting hit for 2k damage at a time. Unfortunately with a survivability-built team tanker it's another story entirely.

What exactly are you looking for in the build:
Survivability? Damage output? Aggro Control? PvP team/solo play? PvE team/solo play?

I'm guessing you're mainly built for PvE teams due to taunt slotting and the lack of Focussed Accuracy. If that's the case, then you'll get far better surviability from Tough and Weave than Resist Elements/Energies. Taunt would normally serve a tank better with recharges rather than durations, since the duration on a taunt is very long already (>30 secs) and you just KNOW that your suicidal blaster teammate is going to wait until you've just used taunt to pull aggro from another mob...

I'd also try and get an endred into Temp Invun and Unyielding, and possibly swap out a taunt duration for an endred in Invincibility. None of your toggles currently have end reduction in them, so combined with hasten you will likely find yourself running low on endurance before conserve power.

Overall I'm not too sure what your're building towards. It's not particularly survivable in terms of being able to take a pounding, though it's very mobile. You have PvP attack accuracy slotting, but you've skipped Focussed Accuracy and have only PvE slotting in Taunt... is there a character concept involved?

I've got a level 50 INV/SS built for PvE that I'm extremely happy with in terms of damage output, aggro control and survability. I'm not particularly familiar with the stone melee set but I'm sure could help out with the INV bits... only problem would be that I'm really not sure what you're looking for in your tanker!

I've found it funny that my PB Dwarfie currently holds aggro better than my INV tanker.

Actually I've found it reasonably tolerable with my INV/SS tanker, having taken him from 32 to 50 in the past month or so. But it feels an awful lot like playing my Peacebringer Dwarfie all over again. I do run invincibility constantly with two taunt durations in it, but currently it's not 100% reliable even against minions.

I've got two recharge SOs in Taunt and Footstomp is now slotted for damage rather than taunt duration (which was my original intent). Perma Rage + Footstomp/Haymaker/KO blow does wonders for aggro control.

I wouldn't tank an AV without my recharge-slotted taunt though.

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@Xanthus i am in no doubt my sonic sonic corrupter would have the upper hand if i pvp respec'd her and we had a duel. Range can be better than recharge.

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Shannon, Id really like you to have these duels sometimes.

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Well, leaving aside player skill for a moment... Defenders have weaker damage numbers (75% of corrupter) but Corrupters have weaker -resist and +resist numbers (75% of defender).

For the epics, it'd probably boil down to Web Cocoon/Web Envelope versus TK. I suppose that if Xan decides to plan for fighting another Sonic, he could pick up Mass Hypnosis just to bypass Sonic Dispersion!

If they're both fighting at 50 then the Primary/Secondary swap will not be a factor. I can't see the defender getting much benefit from Vigilance, but the corrupter would gain a considerable advantage from Scourge.

Of course, then we have to factor back in player skill. I'd say Xan has considerably more experience with Sonic/Sonic in the arena, and that many HOs could produce a build that is VERY min/maxxed.

"Can I watch?"

Honestly I don't think that Dark/Dark has endurance issues at all. With Dark Consumption 6-slotted and Stamina you have the potential of an energiser bunny.

Seriously, the only real end hogs in the set are Dark Regeneration, Death Shroud and Cloak of Fear (Cloak of fear being sub-par compared to Oppressive Gloom for 95% of normal gameplay) and if you stick two endred SOs in each of those powers then they're perfectly manageable. Your armour toggles are reasonably low-cost and perform well with only one endred SO, though acrobatics could do with two endreds if you decide to take it.

You want endurance problems? Try rolling a Spines/Dark... I'd KILL for Dark Consumption!

Yeesh, that Avatar picture is epilepsy-inducingly annoying on it's own, never mind THE CAGE!

I can see where you're coming from on the PvP support role. It might seem like there's too many recharges in Sonic Siphon since it doesn't self-stack, but if your plan is to have it on 3+ people at once then fair dos.

I realise you'll be doing team PvP so you can cover each other's weaknesses... but not knowing what combination you'd bring to a fight, I can only really comment on the above build.

Cage only has a few weaknesses and you've got them covered: Aim, Hasten and Phase shift to counter -tohit debuffs and -recharge. Phase Shift should also work well against being counter-caged.

You've no self-heal, but combined with the movement powers, cage and phase shift you will be hard to hit consistently. Your S/L resistance is also just short of the defender cap. Endurance drain, -Recovery and sleep effects are the only things you can't really protect yourself against.

The worst case scenario is that your enemies are so highly defense buffed that you can't land Cage. If you can hit them and they have no phase shift ability of their own then you should be able to completely negate at least one toon from the other team with cage, and possibly a second with the autohit TK.

Worst enemy you could face one-on-one? Probably an Ice/Devices blaster with Phase Shift and/or invisibility: -jump, slows and consistent damage output. Stalkers and Masterminds will be tricky, Illusion or Mind controllers and Kinetic defenders could also be troublesome.

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Build Up + Dawn Strike is not a suicide gambit when you can pop a blue and switch to Dwarf to take the aggro... You also get a 3rd heal in Dwarf form... my PB has better healing ability than my Regen Scrapper!!


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That can be useful but it's worth remembering that the human-dwarf animation takes a week and in that time you're still a fragile human. My PB has been dropped while changing to dwarf on a number of occasions. You'll also drop back to human if you run out of endurance.

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I've been mezzed a few times when going from Human to Dwarf, but never after a Dawn Strike. The Knockback from it should give you plenty of time to change...

I don't think it's that much of a big deal; I can count on one hand the number of times I've been hit with a mez when going from Human to Dwarf on my PB. It's usually going from Dwarf (with a mez on me I didn't notice) to Human that gets me! The Human --> Dwarf animation isn't quite instant, but it's less than two seconds long and the mez protection kicks in as soon as you see the energy "BAMF!".

The endurance thing is definately an issue, but it's the same case with most tankers and Dwarf form takes relatively little endurance to run. I find that -recharge and -speed are more bothersome to my dwarfie really. You've still got Light Form for those nasty end drainers anyway...

I suppose there would only be three arguments in that instance for more DA +defense:

#1. Toggles can be knocked off by mez or end drain, whereas +def from DA acts as a clicky-buff.

#2. DA defense slotting should make a difference pre-SOs. Also if you're exemped below about level 30 then you'll begin to see a big dip in your SO enhancement numbers, so it may be useful on some TFs.

#3. DA does +melee and +lethal def, which means overslotting should allow you to detoggle "Focussed Fighting" if you're ever running low on endurance.

Technically with Quickness you should never need to use DA as an actual attack since you will already have a full chain. Damage inflicted by DA is tiny compared to your other attacks even when 3-slotted with damage SOs.

I think DM works better than Katana with /SR anyway... an end buff, a self-heal and -accuracy debuffs!

Sundays are bad for me.... and it's been Sundays for a while now so a Friday is a nice change of pace!

Not going to please everyone, regardless of the day you pick...

Also, don't be afraid to use more than one form in a battle. "Combos" are very useful... there's nothing like decimating a big mob by herding with Dwarf --> Footstomp --> Drop to Human --> Photon Seekers or Build Up + Dawn Strike/Solar Flare.

Build Up + Dawn Strike is not a suicide gambit when you can pop a blue and switch to Dwarf to take the aggro... You also get a 3rd heal in Dwarf form... my PB has better healing ability than my Regen Scrapper!!

Finally, the "Geas of the kind ones" accolade is the best friend that a PB can get. You have mediocre accuracy... Geas has a big +tohit buff. You suffer from heavy endurance use... Geas gives you higher +recovery than an Empath's Recovery Aura. You also have +resistance and Healing based damage mitigation, so are relatively unaffected by the Geas -defence debuff. It's helped me turn the tide against Elite Bosses countless times, and I regularly use it on teams as an endurance buff in AV fights.

So far my Peacebringer hasn't encountered an Elite Boss that it couldn't solo, and its record is soloing 2 Shadow Cyst crystals and a EB at once. My scrapper couldn't do that, and my tanker would have major problems when unstoppable dropped.

That's assuming that nothing is hitting you with bladed weapons or other -def powers.

Personally I have my /regen's DA slotted as 2Acc/1Rech/3Defbuff... Or I would if it wasn't for HOs.
Currently it's at 3Lyso/1Rchg/2Dam, with a higher Defense buff and more damage.

Ideal slotting would be 2 Lysosome (ToHit/DefDebuff/Acc), 1 Membrane (ToHit/DefBuff/Rchg) and 3 Damage.
Or 3 Membrane and 3 Nucleolus (Dam/Acc) if you wanted to go overboard on recharge and accuracy.

+DefDebuff HOs do slightly higher +def than +DefBuff HOs. It's wierd, I know... but I'm not complaining...

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Every time I look at it in the builder I jsut get angry because it doesnt have any AT-defining powers..

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Sorry to hear that Hammer.

From levelling Unit Omega (Human/Dwarf PB), I can tell you that it DOES have set-defining powers: the Form changes and the pets (Photon Seekers). All the other powers are copies from various other ATs, but they are all powers that mesh really well together.

With Warshades there is pretty much a cookie-cutter Triform build, with a Heavily slotted Nova form together with double mire and eclipse. However if you want to build a powerful PB there are many ways to do it.

Personally... if I was to level Unit over again, knowing what I know now about the power synergy, I don't think I'd do too much different.

Unit Omega is a Dwarf/Human Bi-former, with emphasis on Self-Heals and Human form attacks. He has slotted Dwarf form for tanking and survivability. He ranks above my Kat/Regen Scrapper and SS/Inv tanker as my "most powerful toon on a team", and I easily find him the most fun to play out of my five level 50s.

Basically If you can survive until level 18 then you don't need Nova form. Human form will be better from then on out for 95% of the gameplay, it hits harder and it gets a further buff from Cosmic Balance. It's also easier to use Heals and Build up if you fight mostly in Human form, and you can run Light form/Acrobatics/Combat Jumping for mez protection. The shields are nice to have but with 3 heals, Dwarf form and Light form they are not "needed" in the slightest.

Sample "levelling from 1-to-50" PvE Build is below. Accuracy Slotting isn't good enough for PvP in this build, and Acrobatics is taken later to get Dwarf form in earlier. Swift + Energy Flight is a good enough travel power, particularly combined with TP from Dwarf form and the GvE jumppack.

In Unit's current build I rarely solo... so compared to the build below I've slotted more accuracy, taken Conserve Energy/Quantum Flight later (post-40) and taken Super Jump/Acrobatics much earlier (14 and 21). I've also had to drop Pulsar due to lack of slots, taking Super speed at 49 instead. Despite being very useful against Carnies, Pulsar was my most underused power on larger teams.

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Peacebringer
Primary: Luminous Blast
Secondary: Luminous Aura
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Glinting Eye==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(13)
01) --> Incandescence==> DmgRes(1)
02) --> Gleaming Blast==> Acc(2) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(11)
04) --> Essence Boost==> Rechg(4) Rechg(9) Rechg(9) Heal(17) Heal(17)
06) --> Radiant Strike==> Acc(6) Dmg(7) Dmg(7) Dmg(11) Rechg(45) EndRdx(45)
08) --> Hurdle==> Jump(8)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(10)
12) --> Build Up==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(48)
14) --> Hasten==> Rechg(14) Rechg(15) Rechg(15)
16) --> Swift==> Fly(16)
18) --> Incandescent Strike==> Acc(18) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Dmg(23) Rechg(23) EndRdx(25)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Reform Essence==> Heal(22) Heal(37) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
24) --> Pulsar==> Acc(24) Acc(25) DisDur(27) DisDur(27) Rechg(29) Rechg(29)
26) --> Conserve Energy==> Rechg(26) Rechg(40) Rechg(50)
28) --> Quantum Flight==> EndRdx(28)
30) --> White Dwarf==> DmgRes(30) DmgRes(31) DmgRes(31)
32) --> Dawn Strike==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33)
35) --> Photon Seekers==> Acc(35) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Rechg(45) Rechg(46)
38) --> Light Form==> DmgRes(38) DmgRes(39) DmgRes(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40) Rechg(40)
41) --> Solar Flare==> Acc(41) Dmg(42) Dmg(42) Dmg(42) Rechg(46) EndRdx(46)
44) --> Restore Essence==> Heal(44)
47) --> Super Jump==> Jump(47)
49) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(49) EndRdx(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Slide==> Run(1)
01) --> Sprint==> Jump(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Energy Flight==> Fly(1)
01) --> Cosmic Balance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
10) --> Combat Flight==> DefBuf(10)
---------------------------------------------
30) --> White Dwarf Strike==> Acc(30)
30) --> White Dwarf Smite==> Acc(30)
30) --> White Dwarf Flare==> Acc(30) Rechg(43) Rechg(43) EndRdx(43)
30) --> White Dwarf Sublimation==> Heal(30) Heal(34) Rechg(34) Rechg(34) Rechg(48) Heal(48)
30) --> White Dwarf Antagonize==> Acc(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(50)
30) --> White Dwarf Step==> Range(30)
---------------------------------------------

A non Sunday raid??!?

I'll be there as usual on Unit Omega (Human/Dwarf form PB) for mito clearing and Red Noise (Sonic/Elec Defender) for the hold phase. If no Forcefielder is available, Red's also done AOE-mez protection for the HamiTank support team before.

Alternatively I can join the GM team with Red Noise or Womble (capped S/L resistance INV/SS Tanker).

Actually I'd go as far as saying that Knockdown is usually better than disorients.
At least in PVE... you can perma-Knockdown a +5 Boss with just Air Superiority!

Claws does better single-target DPS than MA, assuming you're using Follow-Up.

11 mill inf will be enough for a standard set of level 50 SOs.
It might not quite be enough for getting them all to 50++ though.

If IH + Dull Pain can't mitigate your incoming damage, you're better off dead!!

(actually... that's what recharge-slotted revive is for...)

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"Defiant Events" global channel MOTD is currently (last updated 2/01/07) advertising:

Hamidon raid, Friday 5th January at 7PM.

Dunno who's leading it though...

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You sure that's not Union's Raid?

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Could well be, not sure what it's doing on "Defiant Events" if that's the case though.

Maybe they were planning a Jelly race again? Bit short notice, but I'd be up for it...

"Defiant Events" global channel MOTD is currently (last updated 2/01/07) advertising:

Hamidon raid, Friday 5th January at 7PM.

Dunno who's leading it though...