Psylenz
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:In short this is true.Originally Posted by Weatherby Goode
Dark is easier, Thermal is probably more powerful.
Thermal is very clicky, and can get to be on the bothersome side with all the buff and shield refreshing. That said, it is very powerful, buffs outshine heals at low levels, and you get some respite from your healing at level 32 when the ember demon get his AoE heal. I slot the 2nd tier with ~60% heal enhancement.
I haven't played /dark with demons, yet, give my altitis time I probably will. /Dark gets the big tohit debuffs early and has a good AoE heal, -damage early, but it never gets -defense. /Thermal gets two big single target debuffs in heat exhaustion and melt armor, but they come in the mid/late 30s. The thermal shields are very nice on teams coupled with the thermal heals. The thermal mastermind can find himself to be very busy.
Considering all this, having your twilight grasp, dark servant's twilight grasp, and the ember demon's heals, the dark secondary would make you a juggernaught after level 38. -
I agree with FitzSimmons. Slot up IO bonuses for recharge; most of the dark debuff need it. Howling Twilight is as good as advertised by our dance instructor/diet consultant. It totally eats the alpha strike from spawns. It shines on Malta and Sky Raiders.
I think you slotted crack the whip a little heavy. You might want more endurance reduction in your leadership toggles. I am looking at your power selection order. It would be more appealing if you could take Hell on Earth closer to Summon Demon Prince; they are a matched pair
. Level 28 Hell on Earth, level 30 Pet Gaze, level 35 Assault.
I also on my Demon Prince Frankenslotted him to get some slow enhancements on his delicious frosty aura and ice cone attacks. It isn't soulbound allegiance set bonus, but I used Pacing of the Turtle and didn't give up much Accuracy and Damage. -
Some players find use for detention field on solo builds, it puts a tough target on hold while you clean up the rest of the spawn. Force bubble is in no way worthless, but if you team with scrappers it frustrates keeping them in dispersion bubble while the force bubble pushes their target away. Now, on a blaster/defender/controller team it can be godly since it denies almost all melee attacks from foes.
It is very useful to have the second build option after level 10 to maximize your success. -
/sonic /dark and /ice are all good choices. Try all three
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Quote:If you want, you can PM Castle about your concerns and make him cry ... again. Fire and energy attacks are supposed to light the oil slick. If it doesn't, it's a bug. Sonic blast is supposed to ignite the slick, too.Originally Posted by TheXor
Can it be done? When teaming with a Fire/Kin, it ignites pretty easily. However, my blazing arrow and taser (tech origin) will not do it, although I've read that both attacks should ignite the slick. I've been teaming with a Fire/SD/Blaze tonight and he couldn't ignite the thing either after multiple attempts.
Anyone else had the same problems? -
The original poster has addressed the main dilemnas that face a mid level kinetic:
Accuracy concerns
Stealth?
Leadership?
Stamina?
Nuking?
Patron pools
Accuracy is a concern I try to cover with secondary blast set that includes an Aim power. My earth/kin relies on the earth defense debuff to increase his kinetic powers' accuracy. For defenders without Aim, then I try to work in Tactics.
On my kinetics, I treat them as 'push' more than pull, so I don't usually take recall friend. I do like the speed boost - grant invisibility combo to get teleporting teammates in position to stealth missions where time concerns require fighting the end boss/objective only. Some of my kinetics, esp controllers take superspeed and stealth makes that a total invisibility combo.
Getting tactics on a kinetic is pretty sweet. Having transference slotted up 2 Acc, 2 End Mod, 2 Recharge usually does the trick. Getting in a transference cycle is usually smooth sailing keeping endurance.
I try to respec out of stamina on my kinetic defenders, but this is less practical with controllers and the supersidekick to less than 33.
I am a fan of nuking and having transference makes nuking very appealing especially after a nice fulcrum shift.
The psy patron set is hard to pass up on defenders. Mass hypnosis sets up fulcrum shift nicely since FS doesn't break sleep. Big groups fall fast. The Mind over Body is nice, too for the psy protection of your kinetic. -
First let me say I have NOT done a DS/dark; I am sure that is quite solid from the many flavors of /dark MMs I have already. I have four DS/? MMs /storm, /psn, /traps, and /thermal. My /thermal is the sturdiest. The resistances stack nicely with the ember demons resist aura. The ember demon has an AoE heal that kicks in at level 32 which is fabulous.
After the level 32 upgrade I had to boost the level and the spawn count size to make it a challenge, to make it feel like the thermal shields were worthwhile. Hell on Earth on the demon prince and easily two forges each on the 2nd tier demons makes your squad exciting.
I would emphasize, when you get to the level 32 upgrade, your demon prince will require 50% endurance cost reduction and your second tier demons will be able to get by on 40% endurance reduction. I wouldn't hesitate to slot up the 2nd tier demons for 30% healing, too, minimum; the heals are that good. The demon prince's cold aura works great, and I am thrilled every time he single shot holds/freezes a boss or lieutenant. -
Stun grenades and plasmatic tasers are awesome especially on my mastermind. Backup radio might mean more to a corruptor than my mastermind but I have a Demon Prince for most of my boss holding requirements.
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I don't have a stormy this flavor, but I do have experience with storm and with psy blast. It should be a beast. You can't slot for -recharge but your build should just grind the foes' recharge to a halt.
You don't need three end reducers in steamy mist, two is plenty. You won't need two end reducers in Super Speed. Put some resistance slots in steamy mist for the fire/cold/energy resistances. -
Kruhl, this is actually a very good compromise build. I approve since the recharge and tohit debuff are high while taking a big nod to accuracy and a nod to heal.
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What lof of the posters have said about Freezing Rain does make it appealing, and the way it makes targets easier to hit and makes them take more damage is quite true. The real mitigation from Freezing Rain is the little ice slick that it makes that causes the foes to flop like fish sprawled across the deck of a trawler. When they are picking themselves up, they can't shoot you. All of these conditions are accentuated by the area effect of being slowed on top of this. Freezing rain is my favorite storm power.
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Quote:single slot for enduranceOriginally Posted by GRUDG
Any help would changes would be awesome, as for stealth i have no idea... lol
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I have hover on many of my teleporters. It's useful in combat to get out of melee range, too. I also use my flight packs in conjunction with teleport in lag spike zones especially Grandville. Raptor packs are a dime a dozen.
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With superspeed and stealth, you won't need invisibility. You could fit in something else like recall friend or fallout earlier.
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I don't think there is anything inferior about /dark as a mastermind secondary. Howling Twilight, Fearsome Stare, Darkest Night, and Dark Servant can mitigate a ton of incoming damage.
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Fallout comes into play a lot more on PuG teams rather than established teams.
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Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.703
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Science Defender
Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(3), Heal-I(17)
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), Dmg-I(15)
Level 2: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(5), RechRdx-I(7), EndMod-I(7), EndMod-I(17), EndRdx-I(34)
Level 4: Irradiate -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(31), DefDeb-I(37)
Level 6: Radiation Infection -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), ToHitDeb-I(9), ToHitDeb-I(15), ToHitDeb-I(25), DefDeb-I(40)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Lingering Radiation -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), Acc-I(13), Acc-I(27), Slow-I(37), Slow-I(40)
Level 14: Recall Friend -- IntRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 18: Choking Cloud -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(19), Hold-I(19), Hold-I(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23)
Level 24: Teleport -- Range-I(A), Range-I(46), TSM'n-Stlth(48)
Level 26: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(43)
Level 28: Cosmic Burst -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(29), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(31), DefDeb-I(46)
Level 30: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 32: EM Pulse -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), EndRdx-I(33), EndMod-I(34), EndMod-I(34)
Level 35: Neutron Bomb -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), DefDeb-I(37)
Level 38: Atomic Blast -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39), Acc-I(39), Dmg-I(40), Dmg-I(46)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(42), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(42), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(42), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(43), AdjTgt-Rchg(43)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx-I(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Fallout -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), Dmg-I(50), Dmg-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 0: Ninja Run
This is my team build Rad/Rad. I don't exactly recall which level slots were placed, but this should give you a rough idea of the emphasis. -
Quote:My point exactly, 40 ft wide is a DIAMETER.Originally Posted by Morganite
You did say "a typical spawn is up to 40 feets wide". Which makes it sound like 40' is the diameter, not the radius.
-Morgan. -
Probably not the best IO compliance, were you looking for a level up build, solo, build, team build, PuG build? Basically take radiant aura, radiation infection, accelerated metabolism, enervating field (even after stamina is good), lingering rad. Some primary optional powers, not necessarily bad powers, are: choking cloud, fallout, EM Pulse (the best AoE hold in the game IMHO), mutation. Taking 3 or 4 good radiation blasts with a definite inclusion of cosmic burst and you should be good.
Stamina, leadership, travel and epic (I prefer power for Power Build up Accelerated Metabolism, lingering rad, and EM Pulse.)
Does this help any? -
There was a thread similar to this a while back in the Defender boards. I won't claim it for all slows, but some suggested and were supported that Siphon Speed is unresisted by AVs and GMs. I am not sure on the mechanics of that.
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Quote:Well we would fill the threads will discussions of whether tohit debuff is better than heal, but I would point out some relevant facts: for a spawn to be 40' wide and cover 5025 sq ft, it would have to be 126 ft long. That's a hell of a spawn.Originally Posted by kalashnikow
you can _probably_ reach that softcap on a single target or 2 of them. what will you do about 20 other mobs around? only heal.
face the facts:
chill of the night is only a 10 feet wide, basically meele range.
darkest night also a 10 feet.
thats 628 square feets. in total.
twilight grasp is a 20 feet power and heals around 500 if slotted.
thats 1256 square feets.
a typical spawn is up to 40 feets wide, thats 5024 square feets.
your debuff will cover only, lets hammer it down, 8-12% of the total spawn width. basically every tenth of them will get one of the debuffs and _may be_ every twentieth get both.
of which -hit cap of the spawn you talking about?
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The OP talked about her level 39 Demon Summoning/Dark Miasma and her new Dark Servant. She has a minion capable of an AoE heal itself which will bring the 1st and 2nd tiers up in health with the 3rd going a significant way to 100%. Between the MM spamming twilight grasp and the ember demon that heals more frequently than Dark Servant, Healing on the Dark Servant would be less crucial.
When the battle is melee, often with demon summoning, I chose where MY mastermind will be. So, if I am tankerminding, drawing all the aggro I can with darkest night, fearsome stare, howling twilight and crack the whip, I position my mastermind next to the dark servant to reduce the damage I draw and share through bodyguard with the minions.
Gavin:
I am not clear on what you meant by the buff bot statement. In all the powers except the hold, dark servant does tohit debuffing. I certainly wouldn't want him to stop twilight grasp, but as you say, dark servant doesn't chase down injured allies, he doesn't fire off when I would activate the power necessarily, but I know Chill of the Night is on all the time along with the other powers cast with tohit debuff. On /dark masterminds, I spam twilight grasp in my mastermind's power activation rotation to debuff the hard targets. -
I suggest a nod to recharge and a heavy dose of tohit debuff.
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Quote:This sounds like a lovely exploi.... bug!Originally Posted by Chocolate_Bacon
I was nosing around power descriptions in game on my Demon Summoner when I noticed that the end reduction I had slotted in the first pet upgrade was reducing the end cost of powers that it grants to henchmen as well as reducing the power's own end cost.
It's generally accepted that slotting end reduction in your pet summons reduces both the costs of the power itself and the powers the pets use. So are powers granted through upgrades getting end reductions through the summon and the upgrade powers both or is what I'm seeing just a display issue? -
Quote:Indeed with all the tohit debuff I do keep in mind that EBs and AVs resist tohit debuff, all the more reason to go over the soft cap. I do indeed intend to cover more of the spawn with soft-capped tohit debuff by increasing the debuff of the dark servant.Originally Posted by kalashnikow
mm's own powers have enough -tohit, really.
-3,75 from twilight which stack, up to -16 from darkest night, -11 from fearsome stare.
and even unenhanced -tohit on fluffy is more then enough to do the job.
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btw, my /dark mm has zombies, which send a mob in to -tohit cap all by themselfs. do you think it makes them nearly invincible? man, in the heat of the battle they die like flies, they get "onehitted" if they are not at 100% life.
also keep in mind that its well known about AVs and elite bosses resistance to debuffs, but no one ever heard about pets or teammates being resistant to heals. lol.
I also remember that it takes greater accuracy to land twilight grasp on an EB or AV, so the heal is resisted in its own way. It's my experience that the dark servant's heal is more than enough to heal (and you can't increase the frequency of heal by slotting heal enhancements) in a majority of situations especially since my dark miasma masterminds tend to spam twilight grasp for the to hit and -damage debuffing.
If my pet is damaged to with 10% of its hitpoints, I certainly CANNOT rely on the backup heal of Dark Servant to go off when I want it to. I better have a plan to heal the pet myself, debuff the spawn or prepare to resummon it.
Dark Servant's primary function is tohit debuff. -
Quote:So I stand by my suggestion for a Forcefield Defender; take Aid other, too, with it if it makes you feel better.Originally Posted by Fulmens
Everyone did.
To the OP: This is a classic dead horse on the Defender forums. Which means, yes, classic troll ammo. I'm just going to go with the Jock Tamson line: "Preventing is better than healing. [see crotch, kick to]"