Psylenz
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Those are all good reasons enough to stay with /dark, especially if you have the desire to play to its strengths. My 2 influence again, maximize the stunsOriginally Posted by Gezus
Thanks guys
looks like stickin with my bots/dark may not be so bad. wewt! Because I dont like the idea of traps honestly.
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Poison Trap's 2 second interruption isn't terrible on Masterminds as the pets grab aggro, but on a corruptor, I can see this as a huge problem.
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Early on, heals will be tough but at level 32, I would hope that ember demons AoE heal would cover a lot of the regeneration the other demons need.
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Both sets are very successful. After just playing my traps/dark defender, I have a little quibble with traps in that they feel half used if used at all on upper level fast-moving teams. This is playstyle purely. Traps numbers rock on so many levels, defense, regen debuff, fast recharge.
Bots/Dark is a different animal. I feel more 'ranged' on dark. I am not running in. I play a 'pounce' style with my */dark mm's. The mastermind opens unless there are seeker drones from the protector bots still around - either way. I pop off A) Howling Twilight, the auto-hit stun/slow/ and -regen that happens to rez unlucky non-robotic allies, B) Fearsome Stare, resisted by some (like nemesis) which although fear may be resisted the -tohit is the usual strength of debuff, or C) the mastermind's photon grenades. Stun, stun, fear, and then the robots usually fire photon grenades of their own. Stacked stuns will disable lieutenants (that means longbow nullifiers) and bosses if enough stun is stacked. Robots seeker drones have chances to stun. I don't usually get seerkers as a primary power.
Work with your terrain using tar patch. In wide open areas, put the patch on the opposite side from the bots. The knockback will push them there. Put a nice little cozy patch against walls and corners and let the minions make the killing field of knockback and incendiery missiles.
If you need a 'pull', there is none better than twilight grasp. It debuffs their accuracy and damage potential, right off the bat. -
Just some generalities:
I like hover, too, for many reasons, good mobility. I don't have too many purples myself, but I do alignment missions for alignment merits. LotG +7.5 Recharge are not so rare.
Shadow fall has good psionic damage resistance, I would leverage some reisistance in shadow fall. Dark Servant seems minimally slotted. It has the best -tohit of dark miasma in Chill of the Night.
My favorite epic pool (for now :P) is dark mastery. Oppressive gloom is all that and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Since you took the sonic nuke, dark consumption would seem to be a good fit.
Everyone takes leadership it seems. Do you need leadership? Are the defender numbers for leadership worth it for your teammates, your teammates pets? There is a nice confuse protection in it. Maybe you don't want the robots shooting their ally?
Perhaps you don't want to farm the iTrials. Getting the alpha slot filled with Spiritual is a fairly common practice for dark miasma users. The bonuses to heal, slow, stun and recharge are hefty. -
Quote:I was thinking pet endurance and ally resistances over ED cap.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
I don't think it would be needed. Maybe for the end reduction, but I'm sure I could make an endurance sustainable DS/Sonic without incarnate goodies.
DS/Sonic could cap pet resistances with only one of the resistance unique IOs, so there's no reason to make the resistances any higher in my opinion.
What I plan to do is throw in a Musculature to push their damage over the top to be doubly enhanced by all the -resist being thrown about. -
Quote:In my personal opinion, alpha cardiac would work better with DS/sonic to decrease end cost and INCREASE damage resistanceOriginally Posted by Nightchill_EU
Ageless makes endo a non issue, since sonic doesnt really need clarion.
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There is absolutely very little left on the shelf with a Dark/Ice/DARK defender. Dark has some great pre-emptive mitigation in fearsome stare and howling twilight. Dark miasma has two sources for healing yourself. These also debuff targets. With dark miasma it should almost be a knee jerk reaction to take the Spiritual Alpha for heal, recharge, stun, and slows. Tar Patch is a superior slow power with its -resistance. Shadow fall screams for six slots of resistance, defense, and status/kb bonuses.
Ok that was the story of Dark Miasma from my heart. My head tells me in cold calculating numbers that Traps is far easier to cap defense-wise without an APP. Traps has a more consistent and higher values of -regeneration. Traps has seeker drones, which are expendable self-destructing pets that grab aggro and debuff. Triage beacon while not useful for every group shines when the fit hits the shan and AV spawns. Traps also plays a very different style of approaching enemies. One small downside to traps is that when you do take damage, big hard damage in the 5% window of the defense cap, it doesn't have a good self-heal in itself. I have a Traps/dark/Dark that also took oppressive gloom. OG is my new favorite understated epic power. Dark consumption and soul drain makes any defender a good candidate for rolling nukes. Traps/Ice/Dark would be a great tank-mage. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Creamcat
<snip>
Your Howling Twilight is pretty heavily slotted too, but I admit some necromancers like using it as a offensive weapon.
Is there any other way?
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Quote:This is what I referred to earlier, extra stuff that gets overlooked. Previously only shadow fall presented much psionic damage resistance.Originally Posted by Jibikao
Wow, Temporal Selection looks very good. It even offers psionic resistance. Defender's level starts out at least 30%? Wow.
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Minor observations by Mr. Obvious:
This isn't the final version / live edition of the powers.
Some changes could (not necessarily) change utilization one way or the other.
+Recharge, +speed, and Slow resistances are different animals.
Powersets do not operate in a vacuum. While some sets are stronger in teams than solo, some powers can be completely overpowered stacking with like-minded teammates.
With any totally new powerset, learning where, when and how to use the power is half the fun of playing it. Many new synergies are discovered by accident. This is not your mama's radiation infection.
Not pointing fingers here at anyone in particular. Some of the extra benefits of powers appear to be overlooked by some. Time juncture isn't hurricane in its degree of tohit debuff, but hurricane has no damage potential debuff. Temporal mending has heal over time, but also slow resistance. This can be critical for mastermind minions in pathing and attack situations - caltrops, earth thorn casters' quicksand, etc. -
For the toughest fights, bosses, E.B.s, AVs hero/villain, storm packs a lot of debuff punch.
Snowstorm has the big slow, -recharge, but also, don't forget snowstorm grounds fliers. (Pay no attention to the malta sapper, he isn't really flying it's a form of super jump.) Grounding the fliers can be as critical as immobilizing the AVs at times. None of the big 4 mentioned earlier have -fly except for snowstorm.
Freezing rain (sleet in cold) is the best debuff power in the game. It slows, it debuffs resistances AND defense, it knocks foes down, it distracts foes.
Hurricane is like hero sex in the whirling wind. There is only ONE debuff power comparable in to-hit debuff (Chill of the Night). It has repel and knockback. The forgotten aspect of Hurricane is -range. Combined with the repel in hurricane a number of foes cannot even get close enough to activate the desired ranged attack. Hurricane is best used to group mobs together, not scatter the tank's taunt pile.
Tornado is a pet that NEVER is defeated, but has a limited life. Most people know the graphic movements of the knockback, in addition there is modest stun, and more defense debuff.
Lightning storm debuff endurance, but it's so low now, most foes recover faster than the debuff. It can also be used to proc more damage and mezz status on foes.
In summary, storm has strong debuffs, some not as visible as others. Traps and cold have lots of resistance debuffing; heat loss is a beast. It's my opinion the defense debuff in storm like the slows and -range as well, are underrated. Most state that defense debuff is overkill, but it isn't overkill when you really need it against a high defense boss/AV/tough target. Sure defense debuffing is resisted; however, stacking two freezing rains, two tornadoes on someone like Professor Echo enables the TEAM to hit more often in crucial battles.
The other aspect is the knockback, knockdown, tossing around. Sure, melee teammates and pets will have to move, but well positioned and on hard targets with -kb resistance allow storm to shine. The feature I think of is the denying the foe his ability to stand, to set up. Bouncing Freak Tanks on a tornado is rather easy, and not one grenade is launched once in the clutches of my breezy friend. Gale itself is best to use to position to corners and walls, but gale interrupts your target. They don't stop, wait I get this shot off - before I am airborne, they just FLY.
My favorite storm is Robots/Storm for many reasons, but Storm/Ice defenders are fearful creatures. -
The concensus of posters seems to share that Traps has the most debuff, but Dark, Cold, Storm, and Rad are absolutely no slouches in that department.
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Quote:I definitely can see that war-nugget. Fire blast, fire ball, Rain of Fire; rinse repeat on slowed targets. For that matter, ice blast is very quick, too.Originally Posted by War-Nugget
Fire/Time works quite well on corruptor. You don't need many powers from Fire/ , and I felt like I needed ALL the powers from /Time.
Really liking /Time just for the activity it brings. Definitely rolling a Fire/Time on live. -
After a couple hours, I can only say I glimpsed at the time set. It appears to be a very up front kind of mastermind/defender, which I like. I play my storms, my trappers, my colds, my kinetics and my rad defenders all up front and personal. Getting used to which icons are for which teammate or teammate wiil be a challenge to maximize the effects. I can see time crawl as being like followup in the melee attack sets. I see the Time: Heal over Time (got to memorize the terms) as buffs to regeneration not necessarily heal other or even aid other. Stacking Heal over time on necros, demons, maybe mercs with the medic shows promise. I see all the time sets proliferations as being crowded to get the stacking going. Taking pool powers will be some of Sophie's choice as to which to keep or which to delay. There is a lot more here in Time than +recharge.
In short, I am pleasantly surprised by the variety of powers without a whiff of over-powered. I do think Time Juncture is the bread and butter especially of a tankermind build. -
Quote:I would add to what Lady of Ysgard has presented with a minor modification. Poison Trap also accepts End Mod enhancements; I will have to check again, didn't test for End Mod Sets.Originally Posted by Lady_of_Ysgard
Poison
Alkaloid: Increased this power's healing moderately.
Envenom: This power now has an 8 foot radius. The targeted foe will suffer the full strength of the power's debuff effect while nearby foes will suffer half the effect's potency. Increased this power's endurance cost slightly.
Weaken: This power now has an 8 foot radius. The targeted foe will suffer the full strength of the power's debuff effect while nearby foes will suffer half the effect's potency. Increased this power's endurance cost slightly.
Poison Trap: Reduced this power's interrupt time from 4 to 2 seconds. This power now deals minor damage over time, will hold foes instead of put them to sleep and will reduce the affected targets' recovery while they're within the poison gas. This power now accepts Interrupt enhancements, Hold enhancements and IO Sets and Damage enhancements and Melee AoE IO Sets and can no longer accept sleep enhancements and IO sets.
During Closed Beta I asked Synapse about the possibility of altering the tier-9 power into an Any Ally power for Masterminds, the response was that there was no way to do it in the current development schedule due to the fact that it is coded as granting a power rather than granting an effect. The OTHER changes are nice though.
Attention!! Attention!!
The mastermind poison secondary power "poison trap" is not overpowered but let us lay to rest (in pieces I hope) the way it was. I experienced the two second interrupt, indeed the poison trap does do holds, not long hold base, but thank Positron you can enhance the hold. The power description in game in beta is still INCORRECT, it does do hold. You have to be on the ground, not hovering 4 inches over the ground. The 'triggering' also appears to be much, much better at snagging passersby, you don't have to toe-bomb, but toe-bombing really works well with pets. The kb from level 50 robots was not onerous and did not preclude toe-bombing.
On my Robots/Poison/Mace mastermind, this gives me three solid holds for boss and AV fights including paralytic poison, poison trap, and web cocoon. There's a whole lot of holding going on
Another ancillary observation, not just about masterminds. I notice that foes in CoH Freedom like to get more cozy when they are fighting, to the point where you are immobilized be a groups of minions. Fortunately my robots easily blast through such obstacles, but it's a word of warning.
Now, at this time Symon Sisyphus wishes to express his gratitude to all those that worked on the poison set for masterminds and the proliferation to make it better. -
I did some sampling of Time/rad. I wanted to try Time/beam, but I couldn't get the store to unlock to play it. Time crawl isn't an every foe power. Save it for the hard targets that you can layer the other debuffs is my best estimate. It reminds me of sonic siphon. I do want to report that for a level 4 defender power, time juncture is BIG. It's to-hit debuff and damage debuff both; it's very similar darkest night except the anchor is YOU!. I took down a group Arachnos 7 or 8 minions and a lieutenant. It was almost scary. Temporal mending while not the best heal is useful as a slow debuff like winter's gift without the corresponding snow beasts.
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I had a brief taste of time manip on a defender (I will try the MM version, too) For a defender, the power selections are going to be CROWDED early on.
My point in stopping by is to promote the utility of Time Juncture. It's level 4 on defenders, not too much later on MMs. PLEASE, don't say it's a to-hit debuff and some other debuffs. It's a 25% damage debuff on defenders boosted to 30% if they have Time Crawl in place.
Time Crawl doesn't seem to be useful much on 2 or 3 shot hellion minions, but as part of a hard target strategy, it's part of a layered debuff process that can neuter really tough targets. It reminds me of sonic siphon. -
Ya got me at first. Isn't poison a debuff set, not an assault set?
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Quote:So, in short, tornado provides damage variably resisted, unenhanced, to AVs that can amount to 27% regen over the life of the tornado. Remember, most AVs have resistance to being knocked back by the tornado. Of course other factors like the damage resistance in freezing rain affects the target variably. A lot of stormers can stack tornado, too.Originally Posted by DraggynnI hear people say Tornado is great for Archvillain fights, why?
In Archvillain fights there is usually only one target for tornado to focus on, so it will not be distracted by other targets. Additionally archvillains have knockback protection, meaning that tornado can't fling them somewhere and then have to chase them. This means that you get the full damage potential of Tornado on the archvillain. That's 400 damage unenhanced over its duration, or 13.37 damage per second unenhanced. At the enhancement diversification cap that's 26 damage per second from a single tornado (if the enemy has no resistance to smashing damage). For comparison, a level 50 archvillain has a regeneration rate of 95 hp/sec, so tornado is effectively a 27% regeneration debuff. This additional damage will be essential if you're going to solo an archvillain. -
I have played traps and storm, defender and mastermind varieties. Storm is capable, especially with bots of some amazing things, but the biggest flaw is in the lack of -regen in storm. I also have to be careful with Mastermind's hurricane being a few degrees less capable in the tohit department.
On the other hand, the tornado is a golden thing. Lightning storm is stationary, giving up in movement what it gains in being lethal to say voltaic sentinel. If using these powers is causing too much self-griefing from the knockback, then you are using them wrong.
I never hear the robots complain about knockback. They are predominantly rangers. Good stormers funnel the foes into a kill zone with hurricane, lightning storm, even tornado.
Tornado is priceless. What pet comes back to you every time unless it is so busy killing foes that it expires first? What pet will come back and bowl the bad guys off you, even when you are mezzed and cannot control your pets? What pet chews through paragon protector MoG and kills Crey Dead? What pet can bounce a Freak tank repeatedly helplessly 10 feet off the ground while you deal with his buddies?
Check out Draggynn's storm guide in the defender forums. There is so much good stuff. First and foremost, you can slot recharge intensive set bonuses in tornado on mastermind sets without other recharge intensive pets in the primary. That alone is enough to mule Tornado with 5 slots. -
To the OP, that's what alts are for. I have a manhole cover, pipe wrench tank that makes me feel overpowered but I can't play it all the time. I have a Demons/Thermal mastermind that doesn't feel overpowered, but now at level 50 with all the powers available and solving the endurance issues with cardiac alpha slotting, the character is a BEAST. The one click per buff AoE style didn't hurt the progression one bit either.
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Somebody said warshades get stunned? I thought that was the game's invitation for you do to your dwarf mire and start pounding things and then get back to your previous blasting.
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Quote:I like a cold/ice defenderOriginally Posted by Voodoods
I'm just getting back into the game and it seems like Defenders have been given a bit of love, so its time for my first try.
Does anyone have a /ice build they would recommend that is a solid all around performer? I solo quite a bit but I also would want to be useful in groups!
Thanks in advance!! or a Ice/cold corruptor.
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First, gratz on tweaking an old style defender. I have always respected the Kin/Dark build.
I 'messed' with only the powers you left slotting open on. I wasn't sure if the number of slots in siphon power and siphon speed were negotiable. I did tweak speed boost, putting one slot in increase density and one slot in transference.
I added some proc's for more mezz resistance. I popped a winter's gift in inertial reduction. I played it straight up with IO's except for Tenebrous Tentacles. Since you have characters from I1, I jumped to a risky conclusion that you may have a couple Hammi-ohs for your immobilization in tenebrous tentacles.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Null Void: Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Kinetics
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Siphon Power -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(3), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(3), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 2: Transfusion -- Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(7), Nictus-Acc/Heal(7), Nictus-Heal(9)
Level 4: Gloom -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(9), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(11), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 6: Siphon Speed -- Acc-I(A)
Level 8: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 10: Increase Density -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-Psi/Status(17), ImpArm-ResPsi(17), S'fstPrt-ResKB(19)
Level 12: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 14: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(21), RctvArm-EndRdx(21), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Dmg-I(23), HO:Endo(25), HO:Endo(25)
Level 18: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(27), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 20: Night Fall -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(31), Posi-Dmg/Rng(31), Posi-Dam%(31)
Level 22: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(33)
Level 24: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 26: Transference -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(27), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(34)
Level 28: Dark Pit -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(36), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(36), RzDz-Stun/Rng(36), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(37)
Level 30: Vengeance -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(37)
Level 32: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(37), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 35: Life Drain -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(39), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(40), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 38: Blackstar -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(42), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(42), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(42), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 41: Oppressive Gloom -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(43), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(43), RzDz-Stun/Rng(45), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(45)
Level 44: Soul Transfer -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(45), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Oblit-%Dam(48)
Level 47: Soul Drain -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(48), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(48), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(50), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(50), GSFC-Build%(50)
Level 49: Inertial Reduction -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 50: Spiritual Total Radial Revamp
Level 50: Void Total Radial Judgement
Level 50: Diamagnetic Total Core Conversion
Level 50: Seers Total Radial Improved Ally
Level 50: Clarion Partial Core Invocation
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)
I may have had an error in the download; something appears goofy in my mids copy.