Silverado

It's not really a challenge if you're doing it for the reward, and build restrictions don't belong in a "challenge"

This comes off more as a "build me a merit farmer!" more than anything, sorry :-/

Desert theme? implacable sun of the Sahara? intense heat? dare I say... fire!?

As for the attack chain, with some pretty intense recharge you could chain GFS -> Incinerate -> Cremate.

With lowish recharge I'd recomend Scorch/FS -> Incinerate -> Scorch/FS -> Cremate, though you might have to stick a taunt in there every two chains or so to keep them from running away from the DoTs

Recharge enhancements used to enhance -rech powers, don't know if that ever got fixed

If you enjoy the set for concept reasons then by all means go for it, I'm just chipping in with my opinion from personal experience. Maybe you can make the combo work better than I did >.<

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious why you would drop fighting for hasten when he's got enough global recharge to run the chain he wants to run.

[/ QUOTE ]

More rech means better chain, with the big hitters recharging more often, or even dropping the lowest DPA attack (TF maybe?) for, dare I say Gloom?

[ QUOTE ]
I'm also curious why you'd be overly concerned with smashing damage resistance on a set that has these %s of energy damage:
bar 25% energy
ep 30% energy
bs 40% energy
et 66% energy
tf 72% energy

[/ QUOTE ]

That's nice and all but you go ahead and try fighting Ms Liberty on an EM/SR brute.

I would drop the fighting pool in favor of Hasten (and SS for zephyr's bonuses).

I have an EM/SR brute with a similar build and I have to say I was very disapointed. There are just too many AVs redside with high smashing resists, godmodes, self heals, etc (major offenders being Ms Liberty, Silver Mantis, Valkyrie, Mynx and Positron)

I'd definitely roll FM before EM

Not sure if it's been mentioned before regarding EM, but the damage listed for ET in the ingame numbers ALSO includes the damage done to self, that's why the DPA looks alot higher than it should be

Awesome, thank you guys for the suggestions *thumbs up*

Are you sure? Mids only shows the defense buff starting at 1 ally in range, I've never used the power so I don't know how it works :-/

Can I get some advice from the Gods of Scrapping regarding this Dark/Shield build? any obvious mistakes? glaring holes? slotting advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the helpful advice

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Dark-Shield: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+(9), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(9), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(11), Aegis-ResDam(11)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(13), LkGmblr-Rchg+(13)
Level 4: True Grit -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal(15), Numna-Heal/Rchg(15), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(17), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(17), Aegis-ResDam(19)
Level 6: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(19), Zephyr-ResKB(21), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37), LkGmblr-Def(50)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(23), Nictus-Heal(23), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(25), HO:Nucle(33)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27), Zephyr-ResKB(27)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(29), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(50)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(43)
Level 22: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(31), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(33), P'Shift-End%(43)
Level 24: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(25), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(46), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), T'Death-Dam%(48)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-%Dam(33), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 30: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(36), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 38: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Rchg+(43)
Level 41: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 44: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(45), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Group Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(48), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: One with the Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]17% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]17% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]17% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]17% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]17% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]17% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]17% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]17% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]12,4% Defense(Smashing)[*]12,4% Defense(Lethal)[*]18,6% Defense(Fire)[*]18,6% Defense(Cold)[*]11,1% Defense(Energy)[*]11,1% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]21,8% Defense(Melee)[*]19,3% Defense(Ranged)[*]20,2% Defense(AoE)[*]27% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]45% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]5% FlySpeed[*]195,8 HP (14,6%) HitPoints[*]5% JumpHeight[*]5% JumpSpeed[*]Knockback (Mag -16)[*]Knockup (Mag -16)[*]MezResist(Held) 8,8%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 11%[*]MezResist(Stun) 6,6%[*]2,5% (0,04 End/sec) Recovery[*]52% (2,91 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]20% RunSpeed[/list]


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[ QUOTE ]
For all you TL;DR people...

[ QUOTE ]
The LRSF is impossible for all but the most ardent powergamers, or teams with mind doms, or scores of nukes. Either reduce the level of the phalanx, spread them apart, or remove the chain aggro rule.

[/ QUOTE ]

That being said...

I must have run the LRSF around 20 times now...I have beaten it four times. This is not what is called good design.

Now, I know the typical arguments here. "Well it's supposed to be hard", "you need to pull them", "You need a mind dom", "bring more nukes". Well as far as I am concerned, all those arguments only underscore its poor design, and just plain unfair difficulty. Lets analyze all of these arguments closer.

[ QUOTE ]
It's supposed to be hard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well there is a difference between hard, and just plain unfair. Hamidon is hard. The Statesman TF is hard. Ghost Widow is hard. But all of the above examples have weaknesses that can be exploited by nearly any well balanced team. The weaknesses of the LRSF are so specific that there is no way a well balanced team can be expected to be able to exploit them. Hamidon is simple as long as you make sure all the present players know their roles and follow them. The STF has AV's that can be easily pulled apart, and as long as the tank is competent, Recluse himself can be brought down. Ghost Widow is simple as long as you stay out of melee range. There is no one strategy for the LRSF. The fact that nobody has figured out a good way to do it in nearly THREE YEARS underscores this. Now I know there are teams of ardent powergamers who can come together and run this quite easily. However, not everyone is a powergamer, not everyone wants to find the ideal team makeup every time, and not everyone wants to commit to such regularity. The same cannot be said for its counterpart the STF, which I have run almost always successfully, and always with pick up groups.

[ QUOTE ]
"you need to pull them"

[/ QUOTE ]

Now, this would be a perfect weakness, if it were not for the proximity of the Phalanx to eachother, and the bizzare aggro rules governing them. For starters, putting the members of the Phalanx so close together makes it incredibly hard to pull one member off. But under any other circumstances, not impossible. However, the nail in the coffin is that the phalanx uses "chain aggro". Chain aggro basically means that whenever one member is aggroed, the others will all come sooner or later. They may all come at once, or they may come over time, but eventually the entire Phalanx will be attacking you. This makes a pulling strategy pretty much impossible.

[ QUOTE ]
"You need more nukes"

[/ QUOTE ]

One of the few times I have seen the LRSF beaten is when every single member of the team dropped all three kinds of nukes at once. The phalanx went down in about 45 seconds. It was absolutely glorious. But an entire teams worth of nukes should not be needed. While you could make the argument that it would be a VERY WISE IDEA to have at least A FEW nukes, but making it nearly mandatory for the entire team to have them is ludicrous. Warburg nukes are by their very nature OPTIONAL. And if something that is optional becomes REQUIRED, then its optional nature is no longer present. To further underscore this point, I have seen a run where four bio nukes and six chem nukes were dropped, and we still didnt manage to take down a single phalanx member.

[ QUOTE ]
"You need a mind dom"

[/ QUOTE ]

One of the only surefire ways to beat the LRSF is to have a mind dominator put the entire freedom phalanx to sleep, and then pull one member away, thus negating the chain aggro rule, and allowing the sf to be completed with ease. But requiring one specific archetype and power combo is incredibly bad design. it assumes the team has access to something it does not. The simple and obvious fact is that not every team has access to a mind dominator. The fact that dominators are the least played archetype in the game next to kheldians only underscores this.

So, as we can see, the LRSF is damn near impossible. Any challenge should not lock out all but the most powerful and experienced players. The ideal challenge should be beatable by everyone. Granted, they might have to try quite a few times, but in the end, it should be possible to beat.

So what can we do about this? Well the following three suggestions may help.

1. REMOVE THE CHAIN AGGRO RULES.

If the chain aggro rules were removed, then it would still be hard to pull the phalanx apart, but not impossible. I expect that even the best pull would still get at least two of the phalanx, but at least it would not result on the rest of the phalanx bearing down on the team.

2. SPREAD THE PHALANX OUT.

Lets look at the STF for an example. In it, you must fight all four of the patrons. At first, it looks like they are close enough that you have no choice but to fight them all at once. However, they are actually placed JUST SO, that they can be easily pulled apart. This is of course, counteracted by them being level 54, which is something touched on in suggestion 3. Spreading the Phalanx out would allow for far easier pulling.

3. REDUCE THE LEVEL OF THE PHALANX.

As of right now, the phalanx is level 53. Now, the difference between a 53 and a 52 is not huge, but big enough to be noticeable. For example, consider the fourth mission of the LRSF. In it, you must fight five of the Vindicators at the same time. However, every time I have run the LRSF, everyone charges in, and manages to take them all out on the first go. It is worth noting that when the LRSF was first introduced, the Vindicators were level 53, and many teams could not get past them. Now that their levels have been reduced, most teams have hardly any problems.

So, there is my little schpeal. Hopefully some of the devs will take notice and make a few changes. I have great faith in this dev team, and hope that they will do at least something.

Oh, and one more thing? 25 merits? Hamidon takes an hour too, and gives 40 merits. For something that is far harder then hamidon, I expect a better reward.

[/ QUOTE ]

Learn to play.

The good thing is that you can always shieldcharge them if you're overwhlemed by his helpers, which my corr/defender can't do &lt;/3

On mine I have to pop demonic, 10 oranges and 10 reds to finish him off before he pwnz0rs my bunz0rs

And should also leave you dry right out of endurance in a few seconds

[ QUOTE ]

In before the ban!

[/ QUOTE ]

A properly built Fire/Ment blaster can solo AVs much faster and safer than most scrapper builds. That's just against one AV though, if we're talking multiple AVs at the same time then scrappers and brutes take the lead

I do 3 and 3 of Brilliant Leadership and Edict of the Master for the 2 hitpoint bonuses

Fire melee or Super Strength, with /SR secondary

PvP went from flawed-but-enjoyable to completely-unplayable in issue 13, don't even bother.

T9s are good though

Isn't Gaussian of the Vanguard a FF/Pistol defender himself

[ QUOTE ]
As much as I hate to interject this... A perma plant dom can keep them asleep just as easy, if not easier since the recharge on Spores, w/ perma dom, is around 6-10 seconds. Fortunata Hypnosis slotted in it and you can stack sleep w/o a problem. I've done it. Spore's recharges fast enough and has a large enough aoe effect that you can hit every one of them w/o a problem targeting through Cit. If for some reason you miss w/ sprores then just use seeds that way IF they decide to wake up they attack each other for 2 seconds instead of you, just enough time to put them all back to sleep.

[/ QUOTE ]

Spores causes aggro, whereas Mass Hypnosis doesn't. And plant doesn't have the backup ST sleep like mind does in Mezmerize

The puller can be either a corruptor or a dominator, you just have to make sure the brute taunts the AV before being pulled

Also the AV can be debuffed by rad/therm/kin debuffs before being pulled/awakened, as long as these don't do damage

Very cute, all 3 of them

[ QUOTE ]
Level Up Games is on Brazil.

[/ QUOTE ]

And even though it's right next to Venezuela, it's a completely different language that's barely understable by us quienes solo podemos jugar y obtener los bonos si estamos suscritos con una tarjeta en los estados unidos :_(

But then again, what country in Latin America isn't right next to Brazil? (reminds me of a "your mama so fat" joke)

[ QUOTE ]
Justice PvP

[/ QUOTE ]

((This would've only been funnier if you had said Virtue PvP))