Sloshed

Trying to figure out what powerpools to use. I am looking toward being a Bots/Traps tankermind and also being useful in the new Incarnate content.

I know to reach my goals it will take a lot of investment of inf and time. But I really want a build that I can grow into and that can eventually do what I want. So... what I want is to do the following:

#1: Fight as wide a variety of Giant Monsters as possible. Ideally any/all of them.
#2: Be useful in the big groups of new Incarnate content.
#3: Able to do TFs, AVs, Heroes, etc.

Being able to solo or farm a bit would be nice but the first two are the most important to me.

The pools I am leaning towards taking are Speed (Mostly for Hasten), Leadership (Tactics, Assault, Maneuvers), Presence (Provoke), and Medicine (Aid Other, and Aid Self).

Was curious on getting opinions on those choices. Is provoke enough to keep whatever he is fighting on him? Taking none of the attacks from the Bots pool, taking all but Detonator from Traps. Also likely will be going Mu for the shield and aoe immobilize.

Hasten is mostly to try and keep the traps up as much as possible. Though I am curious how difficult it is to keep up poison trap, triage beacon, and acid mortar. And how difficult is it to manage perma-hasten, if it is even possible with all I've said above?

I've also been hearing that Masterminds are doing poorly at the new Incarnate TFs. That the AoE is just annihilating their pets and neutering them. And have experience with this? And any archetypes/sets folk really like to see in those?

So... Illusion seems to be the best controller type to manage it due to Phantom Army. With Rad or Cold as the subset. Dark could probably work as well. Or Traps.

Masterminds seems like Bots or Thugs can do it with Traps or Dark as secondary.

And the defender as well... wouldn't be surprised if a corrupter can manage it too.


Any know of Dominator, Brute, Scrapper, or Tank builds that could manage to take down a variety of Giant Monsters?

Coming back to CoH/CoV and wanting to play something that can handle Giant Monsters by itself. I've heard of a few archetypes/sets that can handle it but curious which ones can do it best?

I am also curious which archetypes/sets are most valuable in the new Incarnate content. Even if they can't handle GMs/AVs.

Trying to get a feel for what would suit my needs and chose a few specs from those to play.

My decision in regards to my characters is I will do two for now.

A Mind/Energy/Ice that will have Speed, Stealth, Flight, and Fighting power pools.
The thought being he will focus on single target ranged and using lots of confuse, holds, and sleeps. I like the idea of him floating through a place quietly laying waste. Does Stealth and a power with a +stealth io = invisible? Thinking of putting it in sprint, hover, or fly. Advice would be appreciated.

A Plant/Fire/Fire that will have Speed, Jumping, Fighting, and Leadership power pools.
He will be very active and in the thick of things using confuse and lots of ape fire damage. Heavier defenses since he will be in the thick of things and not worrying overmuch about stealth.

Do stealth IOs vary in effectiveness depending on their level?

Also will be working up a Bots/Trap mastermind. Though that's not important.

/energy it is for the variable damage type... single target focus... and power boost.

Which power pools should I pick up?

Speed for hasten at the very least of course since I do want to become perma-dom eventually.

It would be nice to have decent defenses but I am not sure precisely what to pick up... same with permadom mules.

The thought in my head is I want to take as much advantage of mind/ and /energy as I can.

Leaning toward taking hover/fly so I can move about more easily. Slotting a stealth into fly and using it as my main movement power. Using it in combination with stealth from the stealth pool to be effectively invisible. Being able to move freely through areas while invisible and sleep/confuse as I wish looks to be very nice indeed. If I want to help out and use that stealth to bring my teammates through to where I end up... recall friend from the teleport pool looks good.

So the above thinking would be... speed/flight/stealth/teleport.

However I hear that power boost is very nice when combined with aid self/other or vengeance. Meaning Medicine or Leadership could be good choices too. And having 3/4 (depending how you view it) travel pools feels a bit much when I am only taking a few from them.

In addition I am not sure if I need to take the Fighting pool to gain good defenses or not.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Already quite thankful for all the help I've gotten working on a build thus far.

Thanks much, thinking I may leave off levitate at the start. Really starting to enjoy mesmerize in my rotation. Liking that I can use it both as damage or as a lock down in fights.

My big choice now is trying to decide between /energy or /psi. Pretty much it turns out to be Power Up + being able to do energy damage vs Drain Psyche.

Any thoughts on which secondary might be more useful when attempting to solo/group different situations?

Is the first power in Mind worthwhile? The single target damaging sleep?
Levitate looks more interesting to me but I'm not sure how useful it really is.
What will my main single target damage spells end up being?

Thanks very much fOr all the info! Will keep working up my plants/fire and thinking I will make a mind/energy next. Not the damage of fire... but Power Up looks very nice for even more insane lockdown.

Any advice on powers to avoid or must take for mind/ or /energy?

Made the Plant/Fire dom. Thinking I will make a Mind/? Dom as well. I love characters that focus on controlling crowds. Loved my Illusion/Kin controller back in the day.

I like that mind controllers can confuse so well and have such lockdown.

How hard are they to get permadom (relatively). And is it worth trying to softcap defenses?
Do they benefit a lot from permadom?

Do plant/fire benefit a lot from permadom?

Liking the idea of being able to solo by causing chaos amongst the enemies.and still being very useful in groups.

What other dome are fun and a fair bit powerful? Maybe something with a more visceral or melee feel to it?

Is Mind/Psi so much worse than Mind/Fire?

I see a lot of posts on plant/psy, fire/psy and mind/fire. Even some on fire/fire. But I haven't really seen one on mind/psy. Is there a reason for that? Does Drain Psyche not work well with it?

Went plant/fire and liking it so far.

Playing him as a Praetorian. He was a scientist who studied chemistry and plants but one day suffered trauma to 92% of his body in a near-fatal horticulture experiment.

Thankfully he was well known in his fields of research and was 'saved' by transplanting his surviving organs (and his head) into a sort of cyborg/clockwork body. He has made slight modifications to aid him in his studies and can produce a variety of chemicals and plant samples from his mechanical gloves. Have to love a mad scientist look combined with a clockwork body!

Basically I've recolored all the fire spells to look like he is spewing acid from his hands instead ^.^

Doctor Herald Torti is now... Doctor Horti

So plant/fire uses more confuse abilities than mind/fire?

This is making it all the more difficult! I love confuse. I want to be able to solo things like a wide variety of challenges as well. And still be useful/wanted in groups. Any thoughts on what might suit me for that? Even in other archetypes.

Such a difficult choice! Both would work nicely... likely will end up doing both eventually.

What can each do... what are the strengths and weaknesses as far as what they can solo... and their desirability in groups.

Trying to decide my next archtype and power set and am very tempted by Mind/Fire. I have heard they do well in teams, but how good are they solo?

What are the most difficult tasks they can manage?

Trying to decide between this or a Demon/Dark Mastermind for my magic themed character. So comparing what they can do.

How do Demon/Dark MMs fare in +4/8 missions with AVs?