OVWyx_EU

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EMP is awful on my Fire/Rad for End. While its not too costly itself the fact your typically running 3-4 toggles means your End just flatlines really quickly.

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That's specifically what I had in mind to be honest. I often play in a team with a kinetic or two and a couple of rad secondary controllers. The Fire/Rad runs Choking Cloud, Hot Feet, and Fire Shield, in addition of course to Raditation Infection and Enervating Field, she can flatten her endurance bar just using a couple of other powers - she'll be out of end well before the -recovery wears off without transferrance.

Also, however much AM you stack up, it's not as effective as a single resist slow power when you're plowing through Caltrops or Quick Sand.

Wyxie mumbles about teams with no crunch.

Actually, if I was really, seriously, going to build a team like this I'd probably vary it more still. I'd use one each of Fire, Ice, Mind, Grav, Earth and Illusion, just for a good variety of different control effects so you'll never come accross a mob type that will resist everything they have to offer. I'd have four rad secondaries, one Sonic, one FF or Empathy, and two Kinetic Defenders both with their level 38 powers (preferably Psioncis or Radiation secondary for the useful side effects on the nukes). Post level 38 the speed on a team like that is nuts.

I think though, when you get to the stage that you're debuffing that much, the little details that make a difference on paper make relatively little difference in game in most situations, at higher level any debuff/buff heavy team has no problems other than handling the alpha strike, and even that is only a minor problem - you can always use pets, or if you want them grouped use a debuff to pull, with shields from Sonic and/or FF on then it's not likely that you wouldn't survive an alpha strike opening with RI even on large groups.

Radiation Emission has nothing that gives resistance to slows. Kinetics does.

Radiation Emission also has nothing that gives knockback or other status protection, even though you'd only get held briefly with AMs resistance stacked up, you'd still have to retoggle. Kinetics does, although doesn't help with sleeps of course.

Radiation Emission has nothing that can directly give you back endurace, I'm assuming at least some of those rads are going to be taking EM Pulse. Kinetics gets round that nicely, transferrance allows character to keep running all toggles through the -regen time.

More importantly, Radiation Emission has nothing that makes a great crunch noise. Kinetics does.

I like playing blasters, but find them hard to set up for PvP zones/arena without destroying their builds for PvE - with the exception of the Ice/Ice Blaster who works pretty well in team PvP at level 50 with what is essentially a PvE build.

Overall the easiest of my characters to convert to a PvP build without killing it for PvE has been a kinetic, which is what I am using most of the time now. I haven't really had any major problems having something that works well at both 50 and 30, and for PvE and PvP. I only had to make one small compromise to my PvE build in order to do it, so she's the one I'm using most of the time now. I shifted my Elec/Elec (which I had built for PvP for a fair while) back to a PvE build, although I have another blapper I'm considering speccing for PvP when she's a few levels higher.

So to answer the question, I'm not really sure, for enjoyment, blasters, for ease of setting up, defenders.

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On the subject of "You only fight +5s if you decline an SK", this actually isn't the case. If you have a two level split in the team and you run the missions of the highest level person in the team on invincible you will get +5s to the lowest level people in the team, and no SK available.

[/ QUOTE ]However, in such a situation, is it really the smartest possible thing to do the highest persons missions on invincible?

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If it's a pick up group who's never teamed together, no, if you know the people in the team and have the power sets to do it, yes, why not?

If you have consistantly played with the same people for a long time, regularly, use teamspeak, and have a reasonable mix of ATs, the game is extremely easy post-SOs. If there's no risk at all, it's just no fun in my opinion.

I have plans for most of the day, but I can probably be persuaded to offer a blaster or a kinetic defender, your choice really, to anyone mad enough to play AR/Fire to level 50 for at least a mission or two.

I'll drop you a tell about 1:00 and see if there's space in the team, at which point I reckon I'll be good for a couple of hours of play.

I think what I was trying to say last night but drunkenly failed to do, because I got side tracked, is that there is no single character that can make a team capable of taking on +5 mobs, it requires several people in the team to be good players, and noone to be a particularly bad player, in addition to a reasonable mix of sets (you probably want both a buff and a debuff Defender Primary/Controller Secondary and someone running tactics helps).

On the subject of "You only fight +5s if you decline an SK", this actually isn't the case. If you have a two level split in the team and you run the missions of the highest level person in the team on invincible you will get +5s to the lowest level people in the team, and no SK available.

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Hmmm. I kind of see what you mean now with the +5 thing. One thing is certain at +5, in my opinion. A team that in't optimised for +5 will almost certainly lead to numerous faceplants.

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Or a horrible slog, which is as bad in my opinion.

When I first played CoH I ran in a team with a Stone Tanker, lots of Scrappers, a Kinetic, and my Fire/Fire Blaster. No tohit check or defence debuff, but it was a regular team and we were used to playing together. We could do +5s, but it felt like a grind. +4s were fun, only really a risk for me and the Defender at that stage of the game, and not a massive risk for us with a tanker we were used to, but anything more felt like hard work because we didn't have anything to buff our tohit.

I have rarely if ever played in a pick up team I'd be comfortable facing off against +5s with. Had a nice team this evening, mostly an SG team, but we also had a kinetic with us who was pretty decent and had tactics, a lot of the spawns we were facing were +5 to 3 out of 5 of us in the team, we had a couple of deaths, one self inflicted (mine, I really do forget how big the radius on arctic air is at times) and two which were just the unavoidable result of running our missions hard, but we could hit, we were doing OK damage and it went quite quickly because of the team mix. Overall three deaths in three missions wasn't too bad really, we'd probably have had less if we'd all been sober, but you can't have everything.

I don't build to fight +5s though, when I find myself in a team that can do it, it's enjoyable, I love fast, but personally all my builds are geared towards +4.

I never drop below 2 accuracy SOs in my single target attacks, AOEs I'm a bit more flexible, especially as they tend to be combined with Aim, Build Up or both.

You shouldn't need more than one accuracy in Fire Breath.

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Sounds like time for another all squishies invincible respec

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I need the last one on my kinetic actually... I have a cunning plan.

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Four rads would be more than sufficient in my opinion.

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All of this is dealt with in the US post linked. Due to the stacked AM, you really want this perma which requires six+ (or so). I suspect some of the requirement for "all" rad is due to wanting it perma while getting up to SO level.


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Speeeeeeeed booooost. Not that it helps much before SOs of course, being a level 20 power pick, but you definitely don't need six lots of AM to get it permanent with two lots of speed boost.

I understand the reasoning behind it, I'm sure at higher level it'd be a fun team, I just don't think all rads is the "best" option if you're looking to max out. You'd definitely want a good few though.

Either way, I like all squishy teams and debuff heavy teams, I think they're my rebellion against the time wasted in pick up teams when someone decides that we absolutely can't move without a Tanker and an Empath, but I do find that at lower level they aren't as much fun if they don't include a dedicated damage dealer or two. At higher level I have to be honest and say with the right mix of primary, secondary and ancilliary sets, all Defender/Controller teams can manage just fine on damage without, and I find them a lot of fun.

Kinetic. I'd want a kinetic or two. Think of the lovely crunch.

Four rads would be more than sufficient in my opinion.

Of all the concerns I could have about a tanker I'm teaming with, whether or not they are doing damage isn't even on the list. If they're taking the alpha, holding the aggro, and managing the groups well without attacking, fine, with attacking, also fine. It just doesn't concern me at all.

In my experience most characters work better when you have a good mix of primary and secondary powers, and use both, but at the same time when I invite a tanker, it's not really their secondary I'm interested in as a general rule. If they end up speeding the mission up because they do a reasonable amount of damage in addition to their primary, that's nice. I wouldn't be dissapointed if they didn't.

The resistance buff from ID doesn't stack with itself, only the status protection.

The only time I tend to stack it is on certain mob types that do particularly high mag stuns in large quantities (Malta tend to send my kinetic in to a buffing frenzy).

Regarding slots on speed boost, I've never found it needs more than a recharge, even teaming with a couple of dark scrappers, one of whom appeared to be trying to make the build with the most toggles ever.

I really wouldn't waste slots on it, enjoy it for what it is - one of the very few powers in the game that's good straight out the box.

Whenever someone asks me for help with Nosferatu, I bring my Ice/Ice Blaster and suggest they look for a Rad. As Ohms said, using the Crey Pistol on him immediately after the first time he pulls his heal off really helps. A set with very good slows and a set with good -regen, and he does go down fairly easily, although still takes longer than most.

I know, if you were talking to me. I thought the meaning was clear.

I remember you talking about it, I'm toying with the idea myself at the moment as I currently have all three of those powers, but I also have 3 effective level 53 end mods in short circuit which I'm extremely loath to trash given how rare they drop, so that'll probably not happen till the next respec.

I'd also go with speed boost first, and then get used to being extremely busy. Although I love both powers I have to say. SB is just a great power for increasing your team's damage output. It boosts their attack rate and gives them the endurance regain to deal with it, as well as quicker run speed etc.

ID I find gets more helpful the higher in level you get, although has it's uses in the 20s when a lot of characters still don't have any knockback protection, I'd not rate it as a must have at that level for a controller. Also, in reply to the hold/sleep/mez comment, ID doesn't protection from sleeps. It protects from pretty much everything else including knockback, in addition to giving a very nice energy and smashing resist, but not sleeps.

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Short Circuit will not drain an even level minion completely with 3 +3 SO EndMod on a Blaster.

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I have to say I was surprised that it didn't, in fact I thought you were wrong although I've just been and tested it properly and it definitely doesn't (leaves 25 end with +3 enhancements on an even level minion). In practicality by the time it's used they're drained though in normal play, I had to work quite hard on an elec/elec to set up a situation where I was starting attacking them with SC when they were on full endurance. Either they've attacked while the animation is running and they're drained, or you've held them, and all the elec holds do varying degrees of endurance drain. They might manage a brawl, but probably not and nothing more. A single mele attack will totally zero it (of course on an even level minion a single attack will probably kill them as well after short circuit - draining even level minions is a complete waste of time).

The combination of both Short Circuit and Power Sinc does drain +2 minions however, with no outside help from any other powers. Unfortunately the gap on how much you have left on +3s is high enough that even if they're attacking full pelt on a tanker, they generally don't wear out enough of their endurance you'll get near to a full drain without using Short Circuit twice in addition to Power Sink. Given the length of animation and fact that I want to actually get there and do some damage before the scrappers steal all the bad guys, I generally don't find it very useful to be putting in multiple applications of SC.

I find the chat in PvP zones irritating, to put it mildly. When I go in a PvP zone the first thing I do is turn off the broadcast chat facilities, and sometimes tells too. As such I am completely oblivious to people's reasons for being in there, but I assume that everyone who has basic literacy read the big red flashy writing before they went in there, and as such, I attack them.

Stealth supresses when you start the short circuit animation nowadays, has done for about 18 months in fact, and it's a long animation. The days of draining something before it sees you are long gone.

With regard to drain, both short circuit and power sinc, when 3 slotted with endurance drain enhancements, will drain even level. Combine Short circuit with either power sinc, or power build up, and you will be able to drain plus twos with a single application of both powers. Anything higher than that will require multiple applications, and you'll want holds or stuns to subdue them prior to going in for a drain.

When considering combining Power Boost with either Short Circuit, or the stuns/holds available in Elec/Eng, I'd probably go with the holds and stuns in a lot of situations rather than really being a slave to end drain for the sake of it. It's an all or nothing thing, fantastic when you can pull it off, but when you can't really pull it off, it's better to take another option.

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(though I VERY rarely get it cos I stay on top of buffs all the time)

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Wait till you're doing all those outdoor maps that you get in Unai Kemen's missions among others in the 40-50 range with your kinetic, and you have half your team going one direction and the other half your team going the other direction, plus a teleporting tank who teleports every time just before SB drops when you're about to put it on him and is suddenly 200 yards away spamming "SPEED BOOST NOW!" with you chugging along after him.

Actually, there's a possibility I told that tank where he could insert his speed boost. One of the few times I can recall losing my temper with someone in CoH. That's what you get for playing in pick up teams though I guess.

I love kinetics for what it does to already reasonable teams. It's like painting big red go faster stripes on them.

Kin/Rad.

I get very excited about this character, ramble incoming.

I made her before it became one of the more popular combinations (or so I'm told, I've never actually bumped in to another ingame, but people tell me it is now), as it seemed a logical match to me. A defence debuff secondary, with powers that work in mele, to go with an accuracy dependant primary, with powers that work best in mele. I have to admit I also went with kinetic because I viewed it as a set hit to a lesser extent than a lot by ED (I made her at the start of issue 7, when playing my blasters was still extremely dissapointing compared to what I was used to), although it was also created initially as a bit of a joke at someone elses expense.

I had a very specific idea of what I wanted to do with the character and it really does match up to what I wanted. In a large team I love the versatility - she can support a damage heavy team or thrown out a lot of damage in a less damage heavy team, she can nuke without skipping a beat as long as she as a CaB, and throws out a lot of damage anyway. I vary how I play her depending on the team. The two sets mesh very nicely, I'm comfortable with what a squishy can and can't get away with in mele with my existing blasters, which I found helped. I like very active characters with a lot to do and kinetics definitely fits that bill. Just all round fun.

What she isn't especially good at is baby sitting particularly bad teams. Bad teams, particularly ones that spread out a lot, are a nightmare for a kinetic (especially because there appears to be a direct corrolation between the poorness of a team and their ability to scatter round the map, with how loud they screach for SB when it drops). Mind, I have no qualms about politely leaving a team if it is particularly bad, so that doesn't really bother me.

On a more general "what defenders do I like best" point of view, I like a rad or a dark first to a team, whichever of those is available, and then add a kinetic. On certain mobs I might prefer a kinetic first (for increase density, malta spring to mind). Overall though I like fast paced high damage teams, and put a rad and a kinetic in a team together, add some damage output, and that's my type of team. I ran the Eden Trial on Sunday with two rad secondary controllers, a rad defender, and my kinetic, in a team of 8. I was just mesmerised watching our katana scrapper two shotting purple bosses (when he critical hit of course), and also a bit thinking "oh for a fire blaster in this team" just to see how fast they'd all go down.

Another alternative which would work well is to take Stimulant instead of frozen fists, put off RoTP until 49, and take Aid Self at 47 and six slot it (it's one of those powers that I think you either take and slot well, or leave, going half measure on it doesn't seem to do much).

Rain of Fire is not a weak power, it's simply a bad power if misused. Used well it's just fine, and does bucket loads of damage.

Overall though, if you're looking at elec primary, my advice would be to go for either elec or energy secondary. Elec is a "quirky" primary, but a lot of fun. It doesn't however go with some secondaries particularly well. It's best when backed up by a secondary that can offer good single target damage and some nice little extras (such as more endurance drain, holds, stuns etc).

Stamina and knockback protection are extremely highly recommended, everything else is a matter of personal preference and depends on the build you make and what you intend to do with it.

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You will come to loathe knockback. Prepare to groan when you see energy blasters. Prepare to shriek when you see storm users spam gale.

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There is nothing to cheer my Ice/Rad controller up like the sight of an extremely irate purple boss being thrown off Ice Slick, out of her debuffs and landing right at her feet.

Human form Kheldians are much more exciting than energy blasters for knockback, everything just goes absolutely everywhere.