StGabe

Here's a build I've been working on. I've gone through a few iterations and there are still a few things I'm thinking of changing but I'd like to get some comments, ideas from you guys. After finding out that I didn't know the *very important* "Rule of 5" I thought I'd see if there was anything else that I was obviously missing.

Highlights of the build:
<ul type="square"> [*] No purples. About 600m-700m cost from what I can see in the consignment house.[*] Defense soft-capped with a little bit of room to spare on melee.[*] 44% s/l resist, 21% rest. 90%/44% with One With the Shield up.[*] 70% recharge boost, about as high as I think is possible without crippling other parts of the build or using purples.[*] 27s shield charge, 36s soul drain (almost permanent), 132s hasten (almost permanent), 55s Dark Consumption.[*] Can do smite-&gt;siphon-&gt;MG attack chain without delays between attacks (with Hasten up).[*] Decent attack boosts from set bonuses: 59% accuracy, 9% damage.[*] Ok recovery boosts from set bonuses: +14% recovery, 1.8% max end.[/list]
I'm most worried about endurance but I hope that with Dark Consumption coming up every minute I should be ok.

And here's the build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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

Fynn: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Shield Defense
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense[*] (3) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance[*] (3) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge[*] (5) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[*] (5) Impervium Armor - Resistance[*] (7) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance[/list]Level 1: Shadow Punch <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: True Grit <ul type="square">[*] (A) Impervium Armor - Resistance[*] (7) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance[*] (9) Miracle - Heal[*] (9) Miracle - Heal/Endurance[*] (11) Miracle - Heal/Recharge[*] (11) Miracle - +Recovery[/list]Level 4: Battle Agility <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense[*] (13) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[*] (13) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance[*] (15) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 6: Active Defense <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[*] (15) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]Level 8: Against All Odds <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]Level 10: Smite <ul type="square">[*] (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage[*] (17) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance[*] (17) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge[*] (19) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (19) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (21) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 12: Hurdle <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO[/list]Level 14: Taunt <ul type="square">[*] (A) Mocking Beratement - Taunt[*] (21) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge[*] (23) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge/Range[*] (23) Mocking Beratement - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (25) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Range[*] (25) Mocking Beratement - Recharge[/list]Level 16: Siphon Life <ul type="square">[*] (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage[*] (27) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage[*] (27) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (29) Miracle - Heal/Endurance[*] (29) Miracle - Heal/Recharge[*] (31) Miracle - Heal[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance[*] (46) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge[*] (46) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge[*] (46) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge[*] (50) Numina's Convalescence - Heal[*] (50) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO[*] (31) Endurance Modification IO[*] (31) Endurance Modification IO[/list]Level 22: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 24: Phalanx Fighting <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[/list]Level 26: Shield Charge <ul type="square">[*] (A) Obliteration - Damage[*] (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (34) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[*] (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (36) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage[/list]Level 28: Soul Drain <ul type="square">[*] (A) Obliteration - Damage[*] (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (36) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage[*] (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (37) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[*] (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 30: Super Speed <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range[*] (39) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance[*] (39) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)[/list]Level 32: One with the Shield <ul type="square">[*] (A) Aegis - Resistance[*] (42) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance[*] (50) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge[/list]Level 35: Dark Consumption <ul type="square">[*] (A) Obliteration - Damage[*] (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (40) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[*] (40) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (40) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 38: Midnight Grasp <ul type="square">[*] (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage[*] (42) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance[*] (42) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge[*] (43) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (43) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (43) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 41: Boxing <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 44: Tough <ul type="square">[*] (A) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance[*] (45) Impervium Armor - Resistance[*] (45) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance[*] (45) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%[/list]Level 47: Weave <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge[*] (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance[*] (48) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance[*] (48) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[/list]Level 49: Grant Cover <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Gauntlet
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]9% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]9% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]9% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]9% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]9% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]9% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]9% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]9% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]11.8% Defense(Melee)[*]9.88% Defense(Ranged)[*]9.25% Defense(AoE)[*]1.8% Max End[*]70% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]59% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]11% Enhancement(Heal)[*]210.8 HP (11.3%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -4)[*]Knockup (Mag -4)[*]MezResist(Held) 6.05%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 6.6%[*]MezResist(Stun) 6.6%[*]14% (0.23 End/sec) Recovery[*]42% (3.29 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]5% Resistance(Psionic)[*]5% RunSpeed[/list]

Really pisses me off. I mean what a non-transparent and silly game mechanic. If it's a balance thing they should have just balanced the set bonuses in the first place!

Yes. Ugh. I just slotted the powers up too.

I knew there had to be a catch!

Wasn't sure where to ask this. I have some questions about recharge bonuses that came up while setting up my SD/DM character:

1) In Mid's if I put 5 Red Fortune defense IO's (for a +5% recharge bonus) and a Luck of the Gambler Recharge IO (for another 7.5%) I only see my global recharge bonus go up by 7.5%, not 12.5%. Is this a bug with Mid's or do they just not stack?

2) I haven't seen a good guide which describes how recharge bonuses stack. Can describe for me or link for me an equation for figuring out the recharge time on a power with a given set of bonuses from IO's, powers (Hasten), and enhancement bonuses on the power itself?

Thanks!

Thinking about this reminded me of a zoned that was implemented in a MUD I played over 15 years ago. Due to some balance issues it became the de facto leveling area for the latter third of the time it took to hit the cap level and it also gave easy access to some items that were way out of scope for the intended abilities of characters trivializing other challenges in the game.

And, 15 years ago, a debate much like this one raged, with people much like yourself claiming they'd quit if the developers ever dared take their content away from them. It's amazing the sense of entitlement some players can get.

Of course, eventually, the zone was significant changed, items were retroactively nerfed (though we didn't have that word at the time), and no one (that I can recall) actually quit over it because, frankly, everyone knew damn well that the thing wasn't balanced. Life went on.

The more MUDs change, the more they stay the same. :-)

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As far as MMOs go, the first one was created in 1997 (Ultima Online) which puts the MMO market at 12 years (just an FYI). You could possibly include Meridian59 in that, but that was really more of a graphical MUD (the main difference being scope of world and server pop).

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And I was writing code for, designing content for and playing MUD's with hundreds of concurrent players back in 1994. But thanks for telling me a lot of things that I already knew.

Anyway, I'm just providing an outside perspective. I've played most of the MMO's on the market today and not only most of the early graphical MMO's but I wrote code for some of the games upon which those early graphical MMO's were based (EQ is nothing but a Diku clone, with 3d graphics, for example). CoH is very easy to level in without AE and even easier with. While things can get a bit faster in some MMO's (the term is "mudflation") there are also other things like increased level caps and new content that tend to add new challenge to make up for the increased pace of the older content. Mudflation is generally understood to be a bad thing for the life of the game, not the other way around.

It all comes down to perceived value of content. As inflation occurs (and it pretty clearly is occuring, both in levels and currency) the perceived value of content drops. If perceived value drops a little it may not matter. When new content comes in that drops the value of something by an order of magnitude (and that's what I'm seeing with influence gains at the very least), that's a pretty obvious balance issue.

But hey man, lecture on! Obviously you do have a lot invested in this issue and it seems to be getting in the way of your objectivity a bit. Objectivity is really all I saw Clouded asking for so I thought I'd comment and say, as a relative outsider to the game, his comment certainly makes sense. You may disagree with the details, but his comment isn't snarky, it's just trying to offer a bit of perspective.

Yeah, not seeing the snark either, Kruunch.

I'm a newer and more casual player. Until this weekend I'd been playing entirely outside of the AE. TBH the leveling pace has been quite snappy. Playing at most a few hours a night, with plenty of nights off, I'm at 41 after about 4 weeks. There aren't many MMO's where I could get 80% of the way to capped with that little play time.

I did do a few hours of AE last night just to see what the fuss was all about. Yeah, it's a bit extreme. A few hours later I'd gained 3 1/2 levels and with some badge turn-ins and auctions I earned something like 3-4x the influence I'd earned in my entire time up to level 37.

I can definitely see where that's a bit extreme and I don't think it takes being snarky to point that out. I'm guessing that 10 days is even pretty slow and that if someone wanted to push it they could hit cap in a few days of full time AE. The easy influence and all the recipes flowing in HAVE to have a dramatic effect on the economy.

I think it's only fair that you do whatever is the most fun for you in the game, whether it's balanced or not. However I also think that it's pretty easy to see that AE's are pretty out-of-whack with the intended balance of the game AND the non-AE leveling rate is already pretty damn fast compared to the other games out there. Crying out that you're going to quit if they tweak it down a bit, well, let me just say I've been playing MMO's for about 15 years now and you're not exactly the first person to raise a such a hew and cry about balance tweaks, justified or not.

Anyway, just my (probably wasted) thoughts as a casual outsider who doesn't really have a lot invested in the game.

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I already see some things I would do much different than what you built. I'll let you know in game.

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That's no fun. Post them here for the rest of us who are interested in SD/DM builds.

P.S. don't you need defense debuff resist from Grant Cover?

Only level 32, so I can't say how well this scales, but I am feeling pretty insane on my SD/DM. Here's what I do:

1) Enter mission on invulnerable, preferably against melee-oriented enemies.
2) Grab about 10 enemies from 3-5 spawns.
3) Get them all arranged around me and then Soul Drain for about 50 damage each.
4) Shield Charge for 250+ damage each. This usually kills or nearly kills minions and leaves lieutenants under 50%.
5) Finish off the remaining mobs with shadow punch/smite/siphon while Shield Charge recharges.
6) Kill 2-3 more spawns with just an initial shield charge.
7) Soul Drain should be recharged, go to step 1.

This works well in PUG's too where I find that, with buffs and depending on team mix, I can be a real damage power house on top of tanking. It also helps that it's easy to get your enemies grouped quickly and your shield charge can take the heat off of the initial alpha strike.

Caveat: this is my first character so I don't know how it feels compared to other builds. I just know that compared to other players in my PUG's I feel pretty damn powerful. I have Shield Charge fully slotted with Multistrike (which was quite affordable) but I haven't been able to slot up Soul Drain yet. I hear I'm about to get a lot of damage with Midnight Grasp too so I'm hoping that the momentum will keep going and I'll still feel this uber at 50.

I'm a newer player but IMO tanks are particularly fun in CoH just because CoH does a really good job of throwing legions of enemies at you. Sure at times you're just tanking a boss, but a lot of the time you're literally fending off 15 enemies and pulling it off. At times it feels like a Kung Fu movies with evil henchmen jumping through windows left and right while you handily dispatch them.

Thanks for the advice. I tweaked your build a bit, forest, but I'm doing something very similar, getting Active Defense sooner and I'm bumping stamina back down to 20.

Playing solo or grouped at 13 my biggest problem is endurance and to a lesser extent accuracy. I want to know if I should start buying/making some cheap endurance reduction IO's soon or save up my money (I've only got about 50k saved up so far, so it won't go very far!).

Guess it's not news but I was just here to state that I get about one crash every 1-2 hours on a brand new iMac (top of the line 24", default spec). Infrequently it will also freeze. I can still move the mouse, music may still be playing, I just can't get back to any of the other apps running on the Mac. Just now it froze and I had to hard boot, corrupting my hard drive and I could only get back in after running safe mode.

Not exactly the quality I was expecting! I resubbed just to play on my new Mac. :-( At least I only subbed for a month.

I will try to give the new Mac build a try tomorrow. Is it possible to use that to connect to the live servers or will that only work for the test server?

Hi, I'm a long time CoH lurker that is finally finding the time to play a character, hopefully through to 50. I was looking for a little bit of help building a decent, if not uber, character. Basically what I'm looking for is some advice on skills to take, a strategy for slotting things out that takes into account a bank starting at 0 and any gameplay tips that people might have for a first-time player who likes to min/max a bit. My playstyle is a mix of solo and team play -- ideally I should be able to do both well. SD/DM seems to be good for this: good taunting/defense for playing tank along with good enough damage that solo'ing isn't painful. Correct me if you think that's wrong! :-)

Here's the build I was looking at:

1 -- Shadow Punch
1 -- Deflection
2 -- True Grit
4 -- Smite
6 -- Battle Agility
8 -- Against All Odds
10 -- Combat Jumping
12 -- Phalanx Fighting
14 -- Super Jump
16 -- Siphon Life
18 -- Hurdle
20 -- Health
22 -- Stamina
24 -- Active Defense
26 -- Shield Charge
28 -- Soul Drain
30 -- Boxing
32 -- Tough
35 -- Dark Consumption
38 -- Midnight Grasp
41 -- Weave
44 -- Taunt
47 -- Grant Cover
50 -- Hasten?/One with the Shield?/Touch of Fear?

There are several powers I'm wondering if I should pick sooner or add. For example will I feel like I'm not useful enough in groups without taunt until 44? Contrariwise should I skip it altogether? Is Touch of Fear something I should be adding in earlier?

I'd be really grateful if someone could give me some advice on where to get started with IO's. For example if I could pick out some cheaper IO's to try and get around 25-35 that would be awesome. And do you think I should bother with SO's at all or just save up for IO's given that I won't have a lot of Influence to throw around?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any feedback!

You've written a really great guide in general. It's just this one point that stood out for me. It's just still not at all clear why Aimed is any better Snap Shot. Did you deal with this in another thread somewhere that I missed? If it doesn't deliver in practice, well, I'm interested in knowing why.

Adding better DPS to the fact that you HAVE to take Snapped (as a defender) seems to make it a much better choice than Aimed. The biggest problem with using aimed to fill holes in your attack chain is that you're burning another power slot for that. If Aimed isn't better significantly better then why take it?

Again, I'm not saying use both at the same time. I'm saying use Snap instead of Aimed. Neither is that great for DPS and in practice Snapped seems to win just because I'm ready to shoot my big guns more often. The difference between firing off a Blazing Arrow or Ranged Shot .67s quicker can be a big difference when those are doing 2-3x the damage of Aimed Shot in the same amount of time.

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What it comes down to is the difference between sustained DPS and burst damage and how the two function in actual combat. Using Snap Shot forcibly changes all of your fights into sustained DPS fights, and sustained DPS is really wasted on minions and most lieutenants, those are "burst kills".

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Yeah, with respect to this I'd just say what I said above: I wouldn't use either of the chains you mention. If you want the highest burst damage you want to start with your highest DPS attacks first and only go to lower DPS attacks when nothing else is available.

Defender Stats from City of Data at Level 50

Snap Shot: 24.5dps
Aimed Shot: 21.64dps
Fistful of Arrows: 16.4dps [per target hit]
Blazing Arrow: 26.53dps [initial], 35.33dps [after DoT]
Exploding Arrow: 12.1dps [per target hit]
Ranged Shot: 59.73dps

Neglecting Rain of Arrows, for single-target max burst damage you want to prioritize attacks in this order: Ranged Shot, Blazing Arrow, Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, Fistful, Exploding Arrows. Your optimal attack chain for dropping the target the quickest will be to start at the top and keep going down until something higher up the list recharges.

[ QUOTE ]
Time.

With Snap, Aimed, Blazing and Fistful all slotted with 3 Damage SOs, and running Assault, it takes 10 seconds to defeat a +0 minion using Snap/Aimed/Snap/Blazing/Snap/Aimed/Snap, whereas it only takes 8 seconds to defeat the same minion using Aimed/Blazing/Aimed/Fistful.

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According to your numbers, Snap Shot is better DPS. That means that it does more damage over LESS time. So I don't agree.

I wouldn't use either of those attack chains. I start with the highest DPS attacks I have and only fit in the lower DPS attacks later to fill time between getting to fire off the high DPS ones again.

Edit: I'm not saying that you should use Snap Shot and Aimed Shot together. I'm saying you should use Snap Shot *instead* of Aimed Shot. And only IF you are going to use either of them at all.

I don't understand why Snap Shot gets a bad wrap. It doesn't do great amounts of damage but it is also very quick. Aimed Shot does 50% more damage but has a 67% higher casting time meaning that it does inferior DPS. Aimed Shot is more endurance-efficient but, depending on your other powerset, that likely doesn't matter.

I also find Snap Shot to be more convenient for fitting into an attack chain because it takes less time and is almost always up. Initially I slotted up Aimed Shot but after looking at the numbers and given that I *have* to take Snap Shot, I think I'm going to respec out of it or at the very least, slot Snap Shot first.