SPiNE

Definitely Masterminds, they pretty much have everything from damage, buffs/debuffs, heals, controls and tanking ability(from bodyguard).

No, I'm not aware of any nerfs involving RoF and/or Tar Patch.

What level are you? How is your RoF and Tar Patch slotted? What kind of mobs did you use it on?

For your Kin/WP, just leave Boxing empty. Wasting 4-6 slots on a power for about 4% bonus to anything isn't worth it, unless you don't have anywhere better to put those slots.

It feels right to play Fiery Armor now. It finally stands out as an offensive armor set.

Of course, Fiery Embrace went through some changes too but is it better than the old Fiery Embrace? What do you guys think?

Just...WOW. Just in case some people haven't tried it yet or read about it, it's just fantastic!

Pretty much, the fear component has been removed from this power; mobs will not attempt to run away anymore. Most of the damage will be up front, instead of DoT. It's like 120 damage up front and then 13 tics of 10 damage afterward...whereas my Fire Sword Circle is only 120 damage.

It's definitely much more powerful than Fire Sword Circle now and it still seem to be an auto-hit power :O

I'm not sure what WoW is like, but in CoH, Tanks can't always hold onto aggro, especially when someone else on the team is dealing a lot more damage. Also, a lot of toons that are built for damage are squishy...and a single, ordinary Boss can pretty much 2-shot you at full health.

Now, why do so many Scrappers want softcap? They're always in melee range, where they'll be taking the majority of the damage as well as any AoE damage. Since Scrappers' secondaries already provide damage mitigation, it's easier for them to work toward the defense soft-cap.

As for other archetypes, such as Blasters, they can reach the defense soft-cap as well, although they'll have to sacrifice a lot more than Tankers and Scrappers to do so. Ranged archetypes will mainly just go for ranged defense, since they'll be attacking from far away anyhow.

Defense soft-cap are "easy" to achieve in that defense bonuses for IO's are plentiful across the board and they are positional, meaning that there are melee, ranged and AoE defenses. Usually, people will only attempt to soft-cap 2 out of the 3 positional defense, mostly melee and ranged defense since AoE's are generally pretty weak and does not occur very often.

As for if it's necessary, well...it's not. It's nice, yes, but I wouldn't recommend going for an actual defense soft-cap, which is 45% defense. Rather, just aim for 30% or so defense, you wont have to sacrifice too much this way.

Here's a tip, DO NOT worry about soft-capping defense from the get go, this will gimp your toon. You don't need Weave and Combat Jumping, save a respec and get these powers later on when you have all the necessary +def from IO bonuses. As a Fire Armor, I do recommend getting Tough and that's all you really need.

I really would recommend /Dark. It's just an incredibly powerful powerset for any Archetypes that has access to it.

It really isn't hard to learn how to use Dark Miasma at all, you just need a basic understanding of each powers and how/when to use them for maximum effect.

I have free time right now, so here goes:

> Twilight Grasp - I'm sure you're familiar with this power. It's just a PBAoE heal that requires an enemy to be alive in order to use. The heal is centered around you and of course it must actually land on your target in order to work...bla bla bla.

> Tar Patch - A location-based power that debuffs whatever is inside it. Debuffs all resistance by 30%, slows them down to a crawl, disables their ability to jump, and disables their fly. Since it is location-based, you can cast it from behind a wall or wherever it's safe. Definitely slot this power with recharges ASAP, until you get about 90% +recharge in it. You will be using this power A LOT. It's especially nice when you get that final upgrade for your bots that makes your Assault Bot an AoE beast.

> Darkest Night - It's a toggle that puts a debuff on your target and will debuff anything around your target as well. It debuffs tohit as well as damage. You can enhance the tohit debuff portion of the power so remember to do this, but you will want to put a couple endurance-reduction enhancements in this power first. This power should be used right after a "tank" takes aggro OR right after your robots take aggro. You usually don't want to just pop this power first since it will generate a lot of aggro...unless you know how to jump out of the way right after it activates and go behind a corner.

**Other uses for this power: You can use this power to herd up mobs so they'll clump up better. Just simply pop it on a mob that's furthest away and then run behind something to cut off line of sight; the mobs should then all run to you...nicely clumped up and all debuffed.

> Howling Twilight - The only team-rez power in the game. This power functions a lot like Twilight Grasp but instead of healing the area around you, it rezzes any fallen allies nearby instead. Oh, it's also auto-hit, which means that it does not require an accuracy check.

**Other uses for this power: This power can be used as an AoE stun as well, although it's only a mag 2 stun, which means only minions will be affected. It's also a great power for fighting AV's because it has a -500% regen on it, which is HUGE. If you PvP, it's also great for dropping Regen Scrappers and Willpower anything.

> Shadow Fall - A toggle aura that buffs you and nearby teammates. You can always look this power up in game if you want to see its effects so I wont bother with that here.

> Fearsome Stare - A very powerful soft-control power. With a base range of 70ft, you'll notice that this power can pretty much hit an entire spawn. Once you have access to Fearsome Stare, it should be the very first power you use when you engage a group of enemies, UNLESS a Tank or someone else is herding...let them group things up nicely first before you throw Fearsome Stare out. This power has a nice base -11% tohit debuff so it'll stack with Darkest Night nicely.

**Other uses for this power: Not actually another way of using this power...but you will usually want to Fearsome Stare -> Tar Patch -> Darkest Night. Tar Patch right afterward mainly because feared mobs will attempt to run away, Tar Patch will pretty much slow them down enough to prevent that from happening.

> Petrifying Gaze - A single-target hold. I personally didn't find a use for this power and just wasn't worth wasting a power slot on.

> Black Hole - A targeted-AoE power, pretty much means your target and anything around your target will be affected by this power. Also another situational power, however it IS useful enough to be in my build. It pretty much makes all affected mobs intangible, meaning they can't affect you and you can't affect them...in any ways. It's pretty much an "OH CRAP!" power for when sh*t hits the ceiling and it's pretty much going to be a team-wipe..or if you're about to die and you know no one can save you in time. However, team-wipes are fine as long as you're not dead...you DO want to use your AoE rez don't you? :P

**Other uses for this power: Some people will NOT slot accuracy into this power. This is useful in that it will only affect some of the mobs, pretty much breaking a big group into 2 little groups so that you and your team can deal with them easier. If you slot it for use this way, it wont be a good "OH CRAP!" power simply because it probably will not hit whatever you want it to hit.

> Dark Servant - A temporary pet. He's pretty much a replica of you, except his powers are just a bit different from yours, and he has fewer powers than you. He can PBAoE Heal like you, has his own version of Darkest Night, which is centered around him instead of an enemy. He has a hold, an immobilize and probably some other powers that I'm missing. There are many ways to slot Dark Servant, however make sure you slot enough recharge in him so you can have him up most of the time. Also, make sure to have enough accuracy in him so that his powers can actually hit. Popular slottings for Dark Servants are recharge, accuracy, heals and tohit debuff.

Have fun reading through my semi-wall of text!

Inspirations are OPed! NERF THEM!!

Don't hate, guys. I do this because I care for you all <3

The verdict is...take it and love it. It's phenomenal with all the cones and aoe and knockdown and stuns and ZOMG!!!!

If the members on these forums EVER, EVER agreed on something...it's that no one that has tried War Mace has ever disliked it. Unless they've tried it a long time ago before it got buffed.

I decided to roll one at last and he's in his 20's. I love planning out builds and messing with Mids so I might as well ask this question now.

What kind of set bonus or bonuses should I focus on for my Ice Armor tank?

I was thinking of going for +HP and +Regen, but...here let me show you:

Set Bonus Totals:
18% Enhancement(Heal)
309.2 HP (16.5%) HitPoints
114% (8.92 HP/sec) Regeneration

I was mainly going for these 3 things. However, are these numbers decent? I'm not familiar with bonuses and numbers for heals and regens so I don't know how much is a lot or not.

Also, what's the HP cap for Tanks?

Definitely, I always believe that all Tanks should take Taunt. Auras are good at grabbing aggro and alphas, but in order to hold aggro effectively, you need that Taunt!

I think a lot of people are thinking that I'm saying defense-based armors suck. This isn't what I'm saying at all. In fact, if you go to the Archetypes and Powers Discussion part of the forums, you'll see that I'm very excited making my Ice Armor Tank :]. Sure, the title may suggest otherwise, but it's just to grab the readers' attention.

Still, I'm saying that resistance-based armors have more potential to become better from IO bonuses. If we're just comparing resistance armor with defense armor without any set bonuses from IO's, then yes defense-based armors would be just as good if not better...but IO's and set bonuses change everything.