Person34

Ok... This settles it, I'm installing Mids at work now...

I bet a well-build wolf spider can do some serious AE damage if approached right. It would definetly be unique, I have yet to see a pure wolf around on Virtue. I might put one together later but note that I don't have play experience with them so not sure if it will come out the way you imagine (I think pummel is waaay too fun to skip!).

I'm currently tweaking the build as I have found that 85% psi resist isn't really all that useful. There aren't many mobs with "psy only" flagged attacks that I encounter (tarantula mistresses, npc forts, carnies, LB wardens and I think some boss lvl rikti mesmerists? sure I'm missing a few), and what hits me applies a -rech... which impacts my already iffy mind link recharge (I have about a 7 second window to click it, compared to about 18 seconds on my NW).

I'm thinking about switching over to the superior dual mode approach my NW utilizes, who doesn't have capped psi resist but performs way better vs hordes of psionic-heavy groups. The NW has two sets of toggles on the same build, one for "infiltration" that includes using mask presence for stealth and opening crits for one-shotting pesty sappers etc, the other toggle for "heavy combat", which replaces MP with combat jumping and retains pure positional softcaps (since the two run the same defensive values) while allowing better endurance management and granting 45.2% psi defense.

I'll post it when I'm finnished though.

Yes, it's half. So while in combat the value is 5.78%, which puts melee and AoE at 46.38% and ranged at 54.98%.

Hmmm... that's probably close. I'd guess 18-20 billion.

But that's nothing compared to one of my widow builds (the blood widow with some fort powers mixed in), probably 25 billion + invested in her by the current market value. But it is the craziest build I've ever come up with. Currently she's only at 1440 hps, but is not only softcapped to all positionals, she's running base 26% resists to S/L (which is nice when coupled with sliding resists) and 85% to psionics <--- yes she's resist capped to psi. Also is permahasten and can hit +160 damage on her own. Powerful toon.

Anyways, yeah hopefully that bane build is of some use to you all.

I've done some testing with my 3 widow builds, here's my view on it:

- Teaming: it's really gonna depend on what leadership skills you take, across the board it's all the same really as all branches have access to all the same team powers. Only difference I can see is the fortunata path has a slower activating mind link, so you will need to ensure it is perma to best benefit both youself and your team.

- AoE: Fort has an edge here with the addition of psy tornado (which is actually pretty decent, just long cast and costs a ton of end) and the phenomenal psy wail. They also have aura of confusion, which does some -serious- AE damage if used right. NWs get evicerate, a killer cone that not everyone is crazy about. NW's psy scream does better damage than the forts though, but not by much. Both get spin and dart burst, two very nice attacks.

- Burst: vs. single targets it's NW, hands down. Forts have nothing in their pool that compares to slash, and a BU slash crit from hide with muscular core alpha and double assaults can hit for 850+ easy. Best burst attack forts get is either lunge from hide or shatter armor.

Also, NWs have the better DPS, backing the blood widow attacks with mental training and slash. I can sustain 225 DPS on my NW, which translates into a 6:55 pylon defeat. I can't break 8 minutes with my melee fort. There are folks who say they have comparable melee dps, I've just never seen it first hand and this is with purposely testing it out across builds. But again, as mentioned earlier, forts have more AE options than NWs, which probably balances things out.

My 3 builds are a pure NW, a pure fort and a blood widow that backs her standard attack chain chain of FU, swipe, lunge and spin with few select fort powers (aim, dominate, AoC and psy wail, with 2 procs is all melee atacks <--- prob the most fun of the 3 to play for me). All 3 are IOed to the gills w/ permahasten, 1500 minimum hps, etc. I'm only pointing this out because I want to show that the builds are comparable for the testing, that it isn't a 10 billion inf build up against a SOed build.

To be completely honest though, even though the NW is a melee powerhouse and the fort has better AEs they all perform about the same in standard PvE. It was only through pylon testing that I was able to get a good idea of how much bette the NW is over the fort in single target damage. Outside of that I would have never known because they all feel "powerful" when shredding enemies on maps. If your are going to do something crazy like solo AVs, the NW has the edge. Against hordes of minions/lts, a fort's psy wail is unmatched. But in general gameplay I don't see a clear edge one has over the other.

Edit: just did some testing on my fort, they are capable of decent burst if specced for melee: vs a 50 equinox archon I hit with lunge for 524 and shatter armor for 649. Kinda what makes widows rock, they can do well across the board regardless of how they are built.

Widows in general:

•RES(Defense) +17.3% for 0.75s from Foresight, enhancable to 29.4%.

Night widow specific:

•RES(Defense) +34.6% for 180s [Ignores Enhancements & Buffs] from Elude.

So it's possible for widows to get up to @ 64% DDR, even if it's only for 180 seconds at a time. Just pointing it out because noone seems to know this. And while the foresight value is small, it ends up at @ 24% with just 4 slotting LotGs. And it is noticable too: the DDR from foresight by itself is robust enough to keep my NW from failing vs x8 spawns of PPDs with just one small purple insp as a buffer.

Edit: Will also point out that widows are the easiest melee toons in the game to softcap defenses with. A lvl 50 SR brute, with all 6 defensive powers slotted hits 30.9% melee, ranged and AE. Widows (both fortunatas and NWs) can hit 49.9% melee and 39.25% ranged and AE using -only- the defenses available to their classes. So, with just the addition of the two defense IO uniques they can be completely softcapped vs all positionals, without any additional assitance from IO set bonuses, weave/CJing, etc.

And on top of this possess 60%+ resistance to psionics along with the best status protection toggle in the game. So they are as much of a defensive powerhouse as they are an offensive one. Very powerful class.

I saw this and thought "he's thinking about build up". Looked over at Red Tomax's description of bane placate and sure enough:

ToHit +20% for 10s (after 0.25 second delay)
Effect does not stack from same caster

Stalkers and widows do not have the to hit bonus associated with their placates. Says something about the role that banes were intended for IMO. That's a cool find Daemodand!

I know for a fact. I even asked about the availability of the APP for VEATs before GR was launched:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...ncillary+Power

It's just a mids oversight.

I am using muscular core paragon (45% damage with 2/3 passing ED) and have no endurance issues, but I had none before alphas too. I -can- run out of end if I spam the wrong attacks (like shatter armor, which costs 18 end and I have no end reducers in it), but the chain I typically use I can solo pylons without end woes.

If you chose this route, you need to build for it. I only employ two "heavy" endurance attacks in my chain, spin at 15.44 end and slash at 14.25. Both are 6 slotted, five slots for IO sets and that 6th for a lvl 50 end reducer, which puts them at 96%+ end reduction. Lunge, FU and tough are @ 78% end reduction, and MP/ TT:M @ 58%. The other two toggles I run are leadership:assault w/ two 50 end reducers and TT: assault with one.

With the level shift and the 45% damage alpha I can shred most critters with just FU/strike/lunge/spin. I utilize slash primarily for taking down bosses or one-shoting pesky mobs out of hide (like malta sappers). Running an endurance friendly widow is completely possible, but you need to understand how to slot for it/ not to spam the end heavy hitters like psy scream+ eviscerate + spin + dark obliteration every chain/ account for variables like hasten's crash/ etc. Also, having the +end accolades, the +end uniques, the PS proc and the "ultimate" end recovery bonuses from the purples sets helps big time.

Slotting Cardiac would of course solve most of your issues, and it makes good sense to go that route. I chose muscular because I know the limits of my build and can make it work. If I need more endurance (say to spam shatter armor on an AV battle) I have elude and the temp recovery serum on standby.

EDIT: BTW ---> muscular is pretty nice to have. It helped drop my pylon time from 9 minutes to under 7 minutes by itself. Also it is the only thing that will affect the upcoming Judgement slot's damage output, something to consider if you want to really bring the hurt.

Yes, we will have the same control options that a mastermind has when using the lore pets.

Yeah, I'm looking at the Interface: Reacive Riadial Flawless (25% -res / 75% fire DoT on attacks) on my NW. I prefer the dot-heavy one over the -res-heavy one as I can't see the stacking -2.5% debuff making a huge difference when my widow already rips through mobs.

But stacking the fire dot with my toxic dot looks promising. I believe the fire dot was listed as a 75% chance of a 14 damage DoT, but I'm unsure on its duration. This should allow me to hit a mob a few times and switch targets while the stacked toxic and fire dots finnish it off. I'll have to do some more research first and figure out which would be best... who knows, the res debuff interface may be insanely good.

And Destiny's +hp buff looks like just wht the doctor ordered: a 500 hp buff that has a 120 sec duration and 120 sec recharge. That will bring my widow to 2102 hps and (if my math is correct) 37.07 hp regen/ sec. Good stuff =)

I run double assault only because it meshes so well with follow up. Also, I've gotten pylon runs down to 4:57, but to do so required running the recovery serum temp due to the spamming of shatter armor (which I only have one slotted with a Hecatomb 53% damage IO). At almost 18 end per usage I run out of juice quick if I spam it, so it's usually reserved for robot bosses or EB+ mobs. The 6:55 time is with maintianing the end to keep it going w/o outside help. Either way, it's 240-260 DPS between the two, which is DM/FM shield scrapper territory. Not too shabby.

As for the "best" NW attacks, I think you have the bases covered. Strike, lunge and slash are all monsterous attacks. I took swipe over strike only because there was a slight gap in my FU/slash/lunge/strike/FU/ strike/lunge/slash routine, and it was due to strike having about a 1/2 sec too long recharge for the chain. I swapped it for swipe and now it works flawlessly. I think I have figured out a solution for strike's gap though, gonna have to head to test next weekend and find out. If it works out, Pylon #17 better be on its toes...