Reptlbrain

Spawns do not always pack together; anchors get killed early and can run (even if slowed by LR); adds and ambushes from a different direction are very tricky for Radiation Infection as a defence; many mob ST mezzes have tohit bonuses and def debuffs fly constantly, countering RI's effectiveness; RI doesn't scale that well versus higher-conning mobs; defenders soloing do damage slowly allowing more time for mezzes to get through.

Your Fire/Rad--if you're not referring to a Corruptor not listed in your sig--has its own pre-emptive mezzes. Fire/Rad control is easy mode.

fixt.

Funny you should mention this: my only (unfinished) MA story revolves around a Sotnik "Lithuania" and her marketeering jones.

No idea. I actually don't play on the highest settings possible...

That's not tea he's drinking. It's cup-o-musk.

Didn't someone point out to me (maybe you) that the proc actually gives 10% of max end, not 10 points, even though the combat log reads 10 pts per?

O-Liner, eh? You ain't got any "team-friendly" powers in the build. Or are you dual building?

Temp Protection is only useful as the set mule and for slow debuff resistance. Some of the shielders have Grant Cover for that problem.

On the best of nights the defense from the team is 15-18%.

I would recommend grabbing one of the newer PBAoE sets for Consume. Same or better (Oblit) recharge and better set bonuses overall (Eradication gives you more max end and better max hp). For the defense bonuses you have to grab the proc (and another slot), which isn't terribly effective on a long-recharge AoE.

You also stop just short of +def bonuses on a number of sets.

Maybe another way to squeeze a knockback in, instead of Temp Protection (even if you're running only one -kb as Stratonexus recommends) is putting a couple Breath of the Zephyr in CJ--which certainly doesn't need endredux.

Does RotP need more than the default slot?

The guy had gotten little advice at all, so I wrote to help. While your accounting of the single target attack chains below is superior advice in some senses, mine suggests almost the same thing, if you look at the bolded above.

In another sense, when the person posting asks
is the level fifty purple-requiring recharge perfect attack chain really the best opening advice?

It's the spherical cow of attack perfection, one that assumes nothing but single targets, and no delays between attacks for debuffs or teammates knocking critters away or moving or anything.

And if Thunder Strike has the radius* of Spine Burst then I am wrong about dropping it. I'd only tried it out some time (years even) ago on a non-Brute character, but if my memory serves (and it may not), it was a melee cone-type attack--not a sphere--the splash damage was less than the main attack, and it knocked back rather than down.

*Mids says 10' vs 15', which means half the area if both are circular.

For IO'ing out a toon, there are lots of suggestions in general here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...379#post578379

Try Cap'n Canadian's if you're a beginner, and maybe Scrapulous's individual guides for slotting powers (you'll have to scroll down).

For /SR, the standard experts' guideline is get every power but Elude, the tier 9, *IF* you can softcap yourself otherwise. (You'll be losing a great runspeed bonus and a +recov but crashing power, but no actual defense.)

For Elec/ you can easily skip Taunt and Handclap and probably one of the single target/melee cone powers, if, say, you don't like the long activation time on Thunder Strike or the low damage of Charged Brawl. (Leveling you should probably take all these attacks until you can get an uninterrupted chain with some single-target attack getting left out. Switch builds or respec at this point to get the attack chain you like.)

Skipping these 3 from Elec and 1 from /SR means that you can have Stamina (and two prereqs), a travel and its prereq, and one other power by 38. Most would suggest picking up Box(or Kick)/Tough/Weave, which you couldn't have until 44 in this scheme (unless you forwent some other power til then). Some would suggest picking up Aid Self (and prereq), though I would not be one of them. If you don't get the Medicine pool you have two power choices left, though many--including perhaps you with the desire for AoE--need three to get Fireball (or Tenebrous Tentacles or Energy Torrent from the Epic power sets). So you can make sacrifices (say another ST attack from Elec/ while take an Epic Blast to substitute--you many not want to do this on someone called Kid Watt; others drop the travel power) to get your epic AoE.

The problem is that /SR is not terribly tough until you get a lot of defense, not really achievable until the 30s at best. But you can alleviate some of that problem by using IOs as you level, so I strongly disagree with Midnight Frost on not IO'ing until level 50.

Since the original Kid Watt is 50 you probably have some spare cash lying around. Give it to Kid Watt, jr. Let him shop patiently and carefully (buying levels ahead in advance if you have storage) to get the decent IOs he needs. Make sure you buy as cheaply as possible and check all your recipe drops to see if they'd be worth more when sold crafted. It's easy to have 10s of millions by your late 20s if you roll merits or tickets and sell them crafted.

IO needs: Steadfast res/+3 def. The only place you can slot this is Tough, so you'll need to take Tough as early as you can in the build, which usually means forgoing an attack for the lame Boxing or the amusing Kick.

Breath of the Zephyr (travel, travel/end, and -knockback is you're wealthy). You have to two-slot (or three-) your travel powers (and CJ/Hover/TPprereq), but you can grab 6.16% Ranged defense this way. If you can afford the -kb at low levels and the two more slots, you can do the same for AoE defense, which is your weakest link early.

Various small positional defense bonuses (Ranged, Melee, AoE) as you can cobble together--Eradication (PBAoE, Jacob's or Thunder) and Smashing Haymaker or Pounding Slugfest (ST atks) help early on.

Once you are able to six-slot attacks you can put in full sets of Touch of Death (Melee defense) or Mako's Bite (Ranged) as needed. Touch of Death has pretty weak accuracy for a set; some of this can be rectified with a Kismet +tohit proc or set accuracy bonuses.

A slot-costly, but pretty handy set is six Gaussian's in Build Up, which will give you +2.5% across the board.

Load up your inspirations with small purples from the vendor (or sometimes cheap mediums from Wentworth's) and stack those with your native defenses into your thirties.

Breath of the Zephyr, universal travel IO set.

...and I invited a mind/thermal (randomly) to my team last night.

Inspiration consumption tactic pics from one of those gimmicky (and by gimmicky, I mean awesome) AE missions with massive ambushes that essentially aggro-cap you til you eliminate the monsters. Sure, the critters are less dangerous (no mez, no def) than your average standard content, but they are all (even-con) fire-wielding lieutenants.



On a blaster not built ideally for this business with only SOs--even (shudder) a few yellow SOs.



The same blaster respec'd with virtually nothing but AoEs and frankenslotted with IOs. I solo'd this mission probably a dozen times and died only once. Level 40 inspiration capacity should make it even cinchier.

Although I suspect the density of i16 regular mishes won't quite approach this level, with a mix of minions and lieuts you'll be receiving a non-stop supply of skittles.

Thanks for getting me interested in this blaster again, by the way. 9 bubs from Hot Feet!

Pretty sure I learned the inspiration survival technique while Nethergoating in DA. Chowing down columns works best 25+, since you do have more options for emergency combo-making.


IT'S A SWORD. IT'S ON FIRE. YOU SPIN IT IN A CIRCLE BURNING AND CUTTING PEOPLE SIMULTANEOUSLY. I LONG FOR FSC ON EVERY CHARACTER.

On a more serious note, targeting with spheres and cones--to be efficient--usually requires picking a different target if you launch one after the other: the guy in the center back for the cone; someone in the exact middle for spheres/circles. Target-switching well as fast as a fire/fire needs to go is a tricky thing, at least for me.

And even though the activation times are the same, Fire Breath just feels so much longer...

Interesting data about the plain old Fire Sword.


Completely awesome idea; wonder if it's possible to implement in the game engine (though would seem to be pretty easy with the apparent on/off flags for pet sets, for instance).

More IO sets! (Anyone know if there are any in i16? I haven't seen anything...)