Microcosm

I believe the radius of thunderclap is the same as hurricane, so if you are planning on keeping hurricane up then it is probably quite useless for you.

If it works, it works; I'd rather have dark embrace though, since it covers resistance holes from steamy mist while doing the same smashing/lethal as shark skin

I dunno, I think it might be slightly underpowered compared to wet noodle melee.

What kind of money are you wanting to put into it? My planned build shoots for a combo of Ranged/Aoe defense, as much defense as I can get into the pets, recovery, and recharge. Requires a couple of purple sets and maybe some PvPO's.

What is your secondary?

Simply put, Chain induction is great and adds to your ability to pump out single target damage; Jacob's Ladder is good for both your AoE needs and helps your single target chain as well in a set lacking massive single target attacks. Thunderstrike takes way too long to activate for its single target damage, and is possibly the worst power you have to use against a single target. I assume by mu vet power you mean the blackwand or the mu bolts from the patron set. Chain induction, Jacob's Ladder, and Havoc Punch/Charged Brawl are your single target powers; just so happens that the first two might also hit anything else around.

I think maybe having any HO in it might mess it up, since every time I tried I had either a Cyto or Lysosome in one of the slots. When I get access to test server again I'll try to figure it out, thugs are softcapped without the enhancement anyway.

Looking at their attributes, not mine. Also, the first time I noticed this I slotted them and then summoned them, then resummoned them to check, and checked all pets that should be affected by it; 8.43% defense from each (the base for the lvl 49 lieuts) every time. At the moment, I have removed all defense enhancements since they were not working, but I do have a Lysosome in there for kicks. Because of the way HO's work, this should affect both the -def values from their attacks and the +def buff from their maneuvers, but the latter is still not affected. The Lysosome actually should also affect their tactics for the same reason, but I haven't checked that yet...

Edit: Tactics aren't showing any change in value either. Interestingly, the stats from the "Detailed Info" in the enhancement screen are showing the expected enhancement to the lieuts' maneuvers, it's just the combat attributes window that still shows the 8.43%. (Their tactics value is showing the flat base 2.5% in both windows). Could just be a glitch in the combat attributes window, but it could also be that somehow the enhancement isn't actually applying as the game expects.

Well, mine don't show any difference in the combat attributes window when they have no defense enhancement, when they have an SO defense enhancement, when they have a non-set IO defense enhancement, or when they have an HO that enhances defense. At 50, all those scenarios are showing me the same defense numbers from their maneuvers.

A really effective farming shade needs very high recharge from expensive sets, nova form, and dark extraction at least. If you start removing those things your speed will start going down, and speed is the essence of farming (for example my friend's Stone/energy tank can "farm," but it takes so long to defeat the mobs that there's no point). I agree with the above that it's better to solo farm set to 6; set to 8 is possible but can be really difficult to keep your pets alive through the whole thing. The best thing about Farmer Shade is that the same build is great for the rest of the PvE game, it's not just a one-trick squiddy.

Try posting a build you've come up with that you like and we can critique it.

base should be ~305 damage on a boss pet, from redtomax's database.

As far as I can tell, however, they don't benefit from slotting +defense enhancements

Yes the portion that's over capped speed does nothing. However, the point of this power is its phase component; I think they over did it on the flight speed to make sure the speed is capped when you use it, so you can get the heck out of Dodge before the phase wears off.

Well if you can slot it that would be extremely cool and help a lot with the ninja's lack of aoe. I originally intended to do it myself, but didn't see it in mid's which is why I asked.

Interesting build, although it pains me a bit to see some things like greater fire sword and fire breath left out. Without studying it too heavily, I would change it to this:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Science Brute
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Scorch -- Hectmb-Dam%(A), Hectmb-Dmg(9), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(15), Zinger-Dam%(19)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(5), HO:Enzym(7), HO:Enzym(15)
Level 2: Dampening Field -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(3), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(3)
Level 4: Power Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(5), HO:Enzym(7)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Incinerate -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Dam%(40)
Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Cremate -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(40), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 14: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(40)
Level 16: Energy Protection -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(17), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(17)
Level 18: Boxing -- Rope-Acc/Rchg(A), Rope-EndRdx/Stun(33), Rope-Acc/EndRdx(36), Rope-Stun/Rng(36), Rope-Acc/Stun/Rchg(39), Rope-Acc/Stun(39)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(23), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), GA-3defTpProc(46)
Level 24: Energy Cloak -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(25), HO:Enzym(25)
Level 26: Fire Sword Circle -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(27), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Sciroc-Dam%(42)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(29), Panac-Heal/Rchg(29), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(31), Panac-Heal(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(34)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(31), HO:Enzym(31)
Level 32: Combat Jumping -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(33)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(36), HO:Enzym(37)
Level 38: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 41: Gloom -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(42), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(43), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Apoc-Dam%(45)
Level 44: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(46), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Summon Widow -- S'bndAl-Dmg(A), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(48), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg(48), S'bndAl-Dmg/EndRdx(50), S'bndAl-Build%(50)
Level 49: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 2: Ninja Run



Higher recharge, still softcapped, and adds some good proc chances. Darkest night can help the whole team out if you have someone buffing your endurance, but it can be traded back for dark oblit to help aoe if you promise to put some slots in it

Depends entirely on what powers the pets themselves have. Traps, Dark, and Storm top my list though.

Not an exploit, they have allowed it to become a feature; this does not mean they will not necessarily change it in the future. Refer to posi's statement that accompanied the fourth year anniversary calendar (if you can find it; it got completely lost in the forum migration). This statement came long after Castle's that's quoted on the wiki.

Well, the defense available from BS complements anything. Why is energy standing out to you? Generally typed defenses are more difficult to build for than positional; positional also covers most psi attacks, which energy is going to be weak on. The heal from the set is ok when surrounded but really weak against a single target. If you like the look and feel of the set, that's fine, but if you are thinking energy is a stronger set than others, that's not really true.

RoA and Full Auto are completely different from the other nukes, and being crashless is only part of it; those two are outliers that are just far superior. Detonator is comparable to the regular nukes, as previously stated, the lack of a crash and safety of use being made up for by longer recharge and having to waste a pet. Compare RoA to the other nukes and they don't stack up either.

Trip mine is indeed an overall more useful power, though the time it takes to place them and their interruptibility are some negatives that detonator doesn't have. Trip mine is also generally more useful than, say, Nova for the same reasons you listed.

Bottom line is detonator is "balanced" except for the bug, it just might still not be desirable for you. Only nukes on blasters I usually take are RoA or Blizzard (that one conditionally), as I generally find the others not worthwhile for me. Heck, I'd much rather have detonator than the corruptor's Time Bomb, which is just another version of trip mine only not as good. Doesn't mean detonator's in my build though, because it isn't.

That's very cool of you, Laev.