StrykerX
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Posts
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Joined
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If you team much it's definitely worth it, since even small damage boosts add up when applied to several characters. Solo it's not great but if you can spare a power slot and the endurance to run it then it's worth doing so... more damage is more damage. I wouldn't take it on a solo build if it meant giving up another pool I wanted, but if I am already taking Leadership (or aren't using four different pools for other things) it's a good pick since it works fine with no additional slots and you generally need a couple powers like that.
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One of the key benefits of Archery is having a full 80 foot ST attack chain. You want Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, and Blazing Arrow all well slotted (six Thunderstrikes each is my preference). Your build has a lot of AoE but once you are down to single targets you only have Blazing Arrow and a couple of redraw-inducing /Mental attacks... and when you are mezzed (which will be quite often since you have no real defense) you will be practically helpless with only Subdual actually slotted up. You need Snap Shot and Aimed Shot for use while stunned or held if nothing else...
(If you're using him as a farmer and plan to guzzle tons of inspirations to get defense while avoiding mezzing mobs then you're probably fine. But for general play you'll either spend a lot of time standing there with one usable attack or else be constantly buying Break Frees.) -
In order for Blaze -> Blast to beat out Blaze -> Blast -> Flares it needs a gap of less than 0.4 seconds, which requires Blaze to recharge in 2.25 seconds. That takes 344% recharge, or about 250% after enhancements (which I believe is impossible solo without Spiritual). Tier 4 Spiritual alpha gives about 33% so you'd still need around 217% (147% after Hasten) which is probably possible but would require massive purple slotting. Personally, if I had anywhere near that much recharge I'd go Musculature and stick with Blaze -> Blast -> Flares, or even better Blaze -> Fire Sword -> Blast.
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Looks pretty good... though I'd probably switch to Kinetic Combat in Fire Sword and a couple Rectified Reticle in Build Up, like so:
http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...0AE37FFA25ED15
That gives you practically softcapped S/L defense (44.7%) at the cost of dropping your ranged defense slightly. You basically double the number of S/L attacks you can survive while still having quite decent ranged defense.
I'd also try to slot 5 Armageddons in Burn if you're going to bother slotting three, though I'm honestly not sure where to get the other two slots. Oh, and I suspect two level 50 EndMod IOs would be better than the Performance Shifter proc and one EndMod in Stamina... the proc is nice once you are ED capped but since Cardiac only enhances End Reduction and not EndMod you're nowhere near capped in enhancement. -
As far as attack chains go, for ranged single target you are probably going to use Flares - Fire Blast - Flares - Blaze for a moderate recharge build. At a certain point Flares - Fire Blast - Blaze becomes better even if it has a gap in it... you need to get the gap down to around 0.3 seconds for the shorter chain to do more damage, which means a total recharge of about +200% on Blaze (enhancements plus global bonuses). At +229% the chain becomes gapless and no further recharge will help. The tier 4 Spiritual Core Alpha adds about 33% recharge to an ED capped power (I'm assuming you'll have Blaze ED capped for recharge) so if your total recharge on Blaze is between +167% and +228% without Alpha bonuses you'll get a ST damage boost from Spiritual. Below +167% you'll still have too big a gap to match the longer chain's damage and above +228% you're already gapless (and the amount of damage improvement declines as you move from +197% to +228% since any boost beyond +228% is wasted). As far as AoE goes, the more recharge the better since you aren't likely to have a gapless AoE chain.
If you go the Musculature route, you'll actually get enough damage boost at tier 4 to make Flares - Fire Blast - Flares - Blaze hit harder than Flares - Fire Blast - Blaze, but you won't get the added benefit of more recharge for your other powers. For AoE I'm not really sure which adds more damage over all... I suspect it depends on your recharge total since the more recharge you have the less difference adding more makes. If you have 50% or less recharge slotted in your AoEs (quite possible if using Positron's Blast) you'll probably get more out of Spiritual since you'll get almost the full 45%. At the ED cap you'll probably get more out of Musculature unless you have very low global recharge (and maybe even then, it's a little more complex to work out and I'm too tired to do so right now
). More recharge also means using Build Up and Aim more often, but that probably won't make a big difference unless they're not near the ED cap or you have very low global recharge.
Overall I'd go Musculature since you aren't a Blapper (so the stun enhancement will make less difference) and you don't have any really long recharge powers on a Fire/Energy. Plus you use less endurance hitting harder than you do hitting more often. The only exception would be if Spiritual made Build Up and Aim available every fight when they were previously every other fight. -
Quote:Interesting. I've never done that... I always found Combat Jumping + Hurdle gave plenty of mobility.Originally Posted by Bionut911
Edit: Stryker, I kept the /end on SJ simply because while playing today i respec'd from SS to SJ and i used it almost non-stop throughout combat as a tool to get out of AoE range due to lack of defense (he's level 26) -
Quote:Build Up (or Concentration, in this case) is awesome for burst damage. Fire/Mental has a ton of AoE so adding an extra 100% damage buff is well worth it. Aim is a bit more skippable but it's still a good damage boost and you'll hit pretty much anything while it's active... handy for finishing off Paragon Protectors and such that use defense based godmode powers.Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
I didn't take either version of aim because I was able to pick up accuracy set bonuses, along with a kismet +tohit and tactics. As for the extra damage I'm losing, I figured since I built for a good amount of recharge I would have drain psyche up enough to consistently debuff regen and have a very quick attack chain to compensate.
I don't know... my Fire/Fire Blaster has softcapped S/L defense and is a lot tougher than my other Blasters. Even the trial spawns usually don't kill me unless I pull aggro from several enemies and I can clear +1/x8 spawns of normal mobs with modest inspiration use (and things like farming the wall in Cim don't even need inspirations). My other non-defense based Blasters can't come close to that (except my archer, and only if I wait for RoA to recharge for each spawn). Mez still hurts, which is why I like Scorpion Shield a lot better than Ice Armor... Scorpion Shield also gives Energy defense which covers a significant portion of the non-psi, non-S/L mezzes as well as some of the most common non-S/L attacks.Quote:Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Edit: Personally I would never play this kind of build. Blasters give up survivability for offense to begin with this kind of build winds up giving up an additional 20-30% of its damage just for a positional and a typed defense that more often than not will be torn apart like used kleenex.
If a mez hits you, you are going down, and if you run into the new plus to hit critters you are going down.
There's something to be said for damage + recharge builds, especially on teams. But defense really helps if you solo, as long as you don't give up too much damage for it. -
Any Dual Pistols / Martial Arts true gun-fu character
A guy with a frickin laser gun that's not a petless MM
A decent werewolf or werecat (waiting on Claws animations that use the fingers rather than wrist blades instead of power proliferation)
Pretty much all my others I can't make would need entirely new powersets, like staff melee or animal summoning. -
That depends... exactly how much recharge you have is not nearly as important as what attack chain you are running. If adding Spiritual lets you switch from Blaze -> Flares -> Fire Blast -> Flares to Blaze -> Fire Blast -> Flares, for example, then go Spiritual. But if it just means running the same attack chain with a slight boost to how quick Fireball recharges you'll be better off with Musculature.
However, since you are /Energy it's also worth keeping in mind that Spiritual boosts stuns too... you have a lot of them if you use the melee attacks and they probably aren't slotted for stun. -
Quote:At the very least I'd drop the Titanium Coating slots out of Tough and move them to Consume to boost its recharge. You aren't actually going to want to use Tough... it's an additional endurance drain on an already end-heavy build for minimal gain. Just toss the defense IOs in it and take it off your tray. I'd also put a defense/endurance Hami-O IO in Maneuvers (better yet, two of them) instead of a recharge (why a recharge?). And ditch Stealth... you can move the KB IO to Combat Jumping or better yet switch Super Jump to a Zephyr -KB and a Zephyr travel speed IO for the extra ranged defense (you don't need endurance reduction in Super Jump since you won't be uising it in combat). That will let you pick up Acrobatics (the hold protection is nice) or Hasten.Originally Posted by Bionut911
With this refurbished build, and your guys help, I've come up with a build that gives:
41.3% S/L defense
41% energy defense
31% neg-energy defense
34.9% melee defense
31% Ranged defence
My damage resistance isn't enough to make a huge impact, imo.
14% S/L resistance
Would you guys consider this build survivable? I haven't made a build that is very defense intensive, so i'm not very sure how to make it very survivable. Here's the data chunk.
Endurance is going to be a problem, but with Consume slotted for more recharge and a Cardiac alpha it should be manageable... just keep a couple blues handy for emergencies. -
Quote:For most enemies defense softcaps at 45%. That means that 45% is the point where their chance to hit you is minimized (it can't go below 5% * their accuracy) and therefore any additional defense only serves to protect against defense debuffs or enemy to-hit buffs. Softcapping a Blaster is hard, so the other important number is 32.5% defense, which is one small Luck away from softcapped. I find that I don't really notice defense helping much until it gets into the 20-25% range... at 20% you effectively double the number of incoming attacks it takes to kill you which is noticeable but not great. 32.5% doubles that number again, and I do find 30-35% a nice amount of defense. Softcapping is great... it makes you about 10 times harder to kill. But it's also very hard to do without using the Ice or Mace epic pool so on Nrg/Nrg/Force it's not really an option without a very expensive build that sacrifices a lot of offensive power.Originally Posted by Funboy
#1. Should I concentrate on Ranged Defense like everyone else or should I add a little to all the defenses? I solo a lot so I need to survive. Currently my build allows for 10% Smashing/Lethal Defense. Is that decent for a blaster or can I get that a lot higher? I have Ranged Defense at 21% and AoE at 17%. Are these numbers alright?
I'd go with decent Ranged defense and rely on your stuns and knockback to keep you safe in melee. Try to avoid meleeing more than one thing at a time and that one target will be stunned pretty fast.
The best globals are the 6% accuracy (which does only work when the power it's in is turned on unless it's in a click, in which case it lasts 2 minutes after clicking), the Numina's and Miracle recovery uniques (which also have to be in an active power or work for 2 minutes after using a click, so put them in Health since that's always on), the Steadfast 3% Defense IO (which just has to be slotted and not more than three levels above your current combat level to work, you don't need to use the power it's in), and the KB protection IOs (which also just have to be slotted and not too high level). If you are very rich the Gladiator's Armor Teleport protection / 3% defense / massive inf drain IO is good too.Quote:#2. Am I making any obvious errors in my power/slot/enhancement selection? I enjoy global enhancements but I thought I had to have them added to always on powers to enjoy their benefits all the time. For example, Im guessing Id have to have Hover on for the Kismet +6 global accuracy bonus to effect me, right? Am I missing any obviously beneficial global enhancements? 
(Seriously, it's around 3 billion inf.)
In my opinion, a Blaster should worry first and foremost about killing things. The best way to be good at killing things is to not miss often, so you want enough accuracy and to-hit to have a 95% to hit chance against the toughest things you plan to fight regularly. Once you get a Rare or Very Rare Alpha slot ability you'll be effectively +1 level so the worst you'll need to worry about fighting is +3s. Your base chance to hit a +3 is 48%, or 54% with a Kismet 6% Accuracy (actually gives 6% to hit) IO... that means you need around 76% accuracy to cap your to hit against a +3 target (54 * 1.76 = 95). Since that 76% includes enhancements, 41% global should be fine... you just need 35% accuracy slotted per power and that's easy. Once you can hit reliably, you'll want decent recharge... enough for a good attack chain at the least. Once you have that, then worry about defense.Quote:#3. Without lighting off Power Boost, Build Up, or Aim, I have an Accuracy bonus of 41% and Damage of 11%. How do these numbers look to you guys? Do blasters usually just worry about Defense, or should I be looking at other things as well?
As for damage bonuses, they are pretty weak on Blasters. You'll be running around 190-195% damage from enhancements, plus maybe 30% or so from Defiance. That means your 11% global damage bonus takes a well slotted attack from around 220% to 231%... not a big difference. More damage is always good, but I wouldn't worry about slotting for it, just take whatever you get while slotting for other things (like recharge). -
Quote:Scorpion Shield can be a huge advantage, depending on how you play. Psi/Energy is going to be rather weak at range, especially against psi resistant enemies. However, softcapped S/L defense gives you another option to use: jumping right in their face and punching them a lot. Most melee attacks have a smashing or lethal damage component so if you want to play more like a Blapper it's well worth the trip redside... especially since Scorpion Shield also gives Energy defense, which is the most common pure non-S/L damage type and covers a decent number of non-S/L mezzes. For Psi/Energy I'd recommend blapping, because Energy Manipulation hits very hard and gives decent mitigation while Psi Blast mainly just makes annoying sounds while tickling the enemy.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
You can also go the soft cap to S/L, go to the dark side for Mace Mastery and come back to the blue side with Scorpion Shield and Web Envelope, a long and arduous route to take for not much more advantage. (Ok, it's not that bad, but every time you run into robots you will get annoyed and want to run up and punch them.)
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It's theoretically possible to softcap DP/Fire/Fire to S/L, but it's going to require massive sacrifices. If you want to keep the Fire epic for theme then I'd suggest going for moderate S/L defense and Ranged defense (things still shoot at you, especially with Hot Feet making them move away a bit).
I'd agree on skipping Empty Clips if you like melee range... Combustion is going to be a lot easier to use and won't cause redraw (and it's another Obliteration set). You might try something like this:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Secondary Power Set: Fire Manipulation
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Pistols -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Ring of Fire -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Fire Sword -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 6: Combustion -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(15), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(17), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Oblit-%Dam(27)
Level 8: Swap Ammo
Level 10: Bullet Rain -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(37), Posi-Dmg/Rng(40), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 12: Fire Sword Circle -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Oblit-%Dam(23)
Level 14: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 16: Suppressive Fire -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(42), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43)
Level 18: Combat Jumping -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 20: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(43), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 22: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(31), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(31)
Level 24: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def(25), S'dpty-EndRdx(25), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 26: Piercing Rounds -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 28: Consume -- Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 30: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 32: Hail of Bullets -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Burn -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 38: Hot Feet -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Micro(39), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Bonfire -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Fire Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(45), RctvArm-EndRdx(45), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Rise of the Phoenix -- Heal-I(A)
Level 49: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(29)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(27), P'Shift-End%(29)
Level 8: Chemical Ammunition
Level 8: Cryo Ammunition
Level 8: Incendiary Ammunition
Level 8: Incendiary Ammunition
Code:Nowhere near softcapped, but with around 20% ranged and 25% S/L defense (and 29% melee) you'll be a lot harder to hit and you'll have decent S/L resists too. Switching to Mace Mastery and grabbing Scorpion Shield would let you softcap S/L, but you lose the self rez and you glow purple a bit.| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1433;705;1410;HEX;| |78DA65945B4F134114C767BA85722BB45CDA02A5B4B45C2B2D1B7DD38444910403A| |642E26BB3CA063659B7B5DD728B1A3F8126BEF8E0DD17A3AFDEBE88974FE1E55D60| |3D7BFE0334E926CC6FE6CCB9CDBF33ACED2DF508F17051C8F015DBA8D7CB976974C| |D5AE8BAE1366A862D42428851652CAF1BCE96B959586A1876B964D5DD8A5DCF9CEC| |6D34AAD54ACD2D2C5B35B3BC663856B5611BAE5571A22BCEB659331DB7703209972| |A159B1CB7B65DCBD9EAE1D5AA69546911E5C58AB363D5AD5B966DB9FB7D27DB9B66| |ADBE6D55FBAF56ADDB8565DBB8E397F14BEF27A8C73CFD0D4784FABC36F182A08BC| |04BE01523F81A78C3687FCBD811A751428CB069841249954822513B127520510712| |7521511712EDD2A8214AD34A8409D173035867F46E30F6686C53D9DBFE05FCD0DE4| |346E4083866F47B8C113FA92E92D453889BF2BC319A77AA0C9D1FB978E61323F799| |31FD05F8CA98CD33F669EC5651DDA8DB8FBA83A83B88BA31D48DA1AEA41B1056F28| |4214F8ACAF7A983F67D23E73131FB1DF8C198FBC9885168142DCBE891F04DF343D2| |CF70408B019561E059C05FCC3D07D0EB3CA051862164080CC5A59F219500628C203| |9C4E1108C1F13A6452220191A2315E182AA6E9A3A1F56120C43B822842B42B82284| |D3219C8E2EEEF96F802F8427471FB338FA23463CE4370171C666F04350897155621| |C2AA7A1721A2AA7A172062A67A0F27DBE19889A40541651594465119543540E510F| |C87F529D7EF21221A889A98B8A77B99DA95DDC8403C63B0A9B51FDCEE070EFC9944| |70E2D9F62CDCE4D0059609CF181FC0A2AB490E3D0049D7E01A16221C3A664B0E931| |79F4898C6F51F776AE6577A1C5A2B758CEB7582EB45856CFAAD0D3608D4AC1D3472| |C243B75464E1FA8F7AB8B7665F3EE9F338B94D7F8CCC99B7C6B7EB7F8FE3DB30464| |1AFF339E70D5E4533C1EFFB5AA52F1A679A2695E6C9AF3B7484F425752FD074DB4F| |E3B| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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The big advantages /Traps Corruptors have over /Devices Blaster:
- 15% defense to all from fully slotted FFG
- over mag 6 stun, hold, and immobilize protection from FFG
- -resist to boost damage output
- an incredibly powerful -regen ability that also holds and is AoE
- Seeker Drones to soak up alphas and reduce enemy damage
- stealth (and a to-hit debuff from Smoke Grenade)
- more damage
- accuracy and to-hit from Targeting Drone
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Quote:Force Bolt and the AV level Nemesis Staff blasts can be over mag 12, and I think there are a couple of other attacks too. It's very rare though... three KB IOs or Acrobatics plus one IO will make you immune to almost all knockback and a single IO will stop 95% of it or more.Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
off top of my head i do not really know of much which passes the mag 12 mark aside from AV very high mag stuff or AV unresistable kb as in the examples above
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Quote:I believe most of the KB that blows through a single IO is around mag 10, so +11 protection should work fine.Originally Posted by Cheetatron
It's often said that +8 kb protection(2 IOs) offers no more benefit than +4, and that +12(3 ios) does protect you from a greater amount of KB powers but what I want to know is does that hold true for + 11 protection as well or is it +12 or bust?
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A Stone/Dark Tank is indeed about as tough as you can get as far as pure mitigation goes. An Invul/Dark Tank with lots of recharge for perma-DP is also extremely tough, and a Dark/Dark Tank is tougher than either against psi users (and not a lot squishier vs others if heavily IOed).
However, there's something else that is even tougher: a perma-PA Illusion Controller. The only thing in the game that can kill one without the player screwing up is Hamidon... as long as you let the indestructible pets keep the aggro and don't miss refreshing them or Hasten (or AM if Ill/Rad) you are literally unkillable. Of course if you do screw up against a really hard spawn you're probably going to be eating floor before you realize what happened, so if you want something really forgiving play a Tanker. If you just want to be truly immortal as long as you don't make a mistake and able to solo pretty much any GM or AV (and have several billion inf to spare) go Illusion/Rad Controller. -
Quote:/Traps Corruptors don't get held or stunned much while FFG is up... it takes three stacked holds or stuns unless they're unusually high mag. It's hard to stack three mezzes on a character with softcapped defense, which is pretty easy to get with /Traps. FFG doesn't help against Sleep (except by providing enough defense to make them usually miss) but it also doesn't lose its defense while you are sleeping so it's not that bad.Originally Posted by PsychicKitty
um hands down that would be a blaster with better survivability and better damage.
Not only can you still attack when you are held or stunned or put to sleep as a blaster but you also get a damage bonus for using non-consecutive attack types.
On the corruptor your damage is alot less....and scourge doesnt improve that by much....also any form of hold or sleep or stun will pretty much stop you no matter what.
Blasters tend to be fairly endurance efficient. Their high damage and lack of toggles means that they kill stuff without burning a ton of endurance. On the other hand, /Traps is a low endurance secondary so it's not nearly as big a deal as on a /Dark or /Storm and if it becomes an issue the Miracle and Numina's recovery IOs are only 2 hero / villain merits each and will likely solve any remaining problems.Quote:I also hate to point this out but the amount of energy you expend on a corruptor seams to be alot more...not sure why either.
DP/Devices will definitely do more damage... less damage than almost any other Blaster combo thanks to no Aim or Build Up, but more than a Corruptor. But DP/Traps is a lot more survivable, has more tools to use, and adds significantly more to a team when fighting hard targets thanks to the debuffs. For maximum potential for blowing things up solo with mines, go Blaster. For soloing large spawns or teaming under pretty much any circumstance, go Corruptor. (Or Defender if you really want to use all the ammo types, since they're about the only ones with enough debuff strength on Cryo or Chem to bother with them.) -
Quote:Not necessarily true... as I understand it all powers have a completely separate power effects list for PvP, so in theory it could do something completely different in PvP, like being a targeted AoE instead of a chain (or for that matter summoning a noncombat pet that walks around telling off-color jokes). I don't believe what a power does in PvE has anything whatsoever to do with what it does in PvP beyond both of them using the same animation (and I'm not 100% sure the animation has to be the same).Originally Posted by Starcloud
The history of the changes is this: The chance to "bounce" back to the same target was reduced.
It was not ELIMINATED. He wants it ELIMINATED when clearly from the last change the developers see that the chance to "bounce back" is inherent to and part of the power design.
In addition, this is a very basic power behavior. It cannot be removed in PvP and still exist in PvE. So whether he believes this or not, he's calling for an overall nerf to the power.
So it should be trivial to set Ion Judgement powers to not be able to chain to the same target twice at all in PvP (just set the immunity timer to longer than the chain can continue) while not affecting its PvE stats at all. That said, it may be a matter of not wanting to spend the resources to do it (the actual fix would be a simple spreadsheet edit, but it would still need full QA testing) just to satisfy the couple of dozen people who still actually use PvP for anything but farming rare IOs. -
Quote:Fair warning... Ice/Energy isn't all that good for AoE. It isn't horrible but it lacks a targeted AoE attack like Fire Ball or Explosive Blast so you are limited to a cone and a rain (rains can be good but they often waste much of their damage due to taking so long to deliver it). On the other hand, Ice Blast has two holds and it slows things down so it's a great set to keep enemies from getting in close to you (and you have some nice heavy hitting punches for the ones that do).Originally Posted by Nagato
My play style is mainly caster based, range and I love AoE. Energy is good when things get close to me.
As far as general build suggestions go, you have a couple of options. You can take Hover, focus mainly on your Ice powers, and get Boost Range permanent and you'll be able to avoid melee most of the time while freezing things at long range. Alternately, you can also slot up some punches and use a mix of ranged and melee attacks to do more damage but with more risk. Since Ice gets two holds I'd go the second route... open up with the cone, then drop one enemy and hold a couple more so you can run up and pound them.
In particular, I'd suggest you look into frankenslotting. That's what we call using cheap set IOs to get more enhancement value than you can get from SOs (the ones that enhance two or three things offer more total enhancement than one SO even though each single aspect is weaker, like getting 18% accuracy, 18% damage, and 18% recharge from one IO instead of 33% damage from an SO). The important thing to remember is that recipes from sets with sub-par bonuses are dirt cheap and crafting is cheap as long as they are high-20s to high-30s level IOs, but salvage can get expensive... so only use yellow (uncommon) recipes since those don't need rare salvage. Just listing all your salvage drops (that you don't need) on the market for 1 inf (you get the full bid price, not just what you list it for, and people often start bidding at thousands or tens of thousands for salvage since thay can make 10,000 inf faster than they can bid creep up from 100) will make you a decent amount of influence.
Here's an example of how I'd do a dirt-cheap general purpose Ice/Energy Blaster:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Blast- (A) Maelstrom's Fury - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (3) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (9) Ruin - Damage/Recharge
- (34) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
- (A) Accuracy IO
- (A) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (5) Maelstrom's Fury - Accuracy/Damage
- (5) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (9) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
- (34) Ruin - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (7) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range
- (7) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (11) Damage Increase IO
- (34) Recharge Reduction IO
- (43) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (42) Recharge Reduction IO
- (46) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (17) Flight Speed IO
- (36) Flight Speed IO
- (37) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
- (A) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (11) Paralytic - Accuracy/Recharge
- (13) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold
- (15) Essence of Curare - Endurance/Hold
- (36) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (13) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (15) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (23) Recharge Reduction IO
- (36) Recharge Reduction IO
- (46) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Smashing Haymaker - Accuracy/Damage
- (17) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage
- (25) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (50) Bruising Blow - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (19) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (19) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (23) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
- (37) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Recharge
- (46) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage
- (A) Healing IO
- (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
- (25) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
- (31) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (31) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (27) Recharge Reduction IO
- (31) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (27) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (29) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (29) Damage Increase IO
- (39) Hold Duration IO
- (39) Hold Duration IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (43) Recharge Reduction IO
- (43) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (33) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (33) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (33) Damage Increase IO
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (42) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Smashing Haymaker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (39) Smashing Haymaker - Damage/Recharge
- (40) Smashing Haymaker - Accuracy/Damage
- (40) Smashing Haymaker - Damage/Endurance
- (42) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Recharge
- (A) Defense Buff IO
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (45) Resist Damage IO
- (45) Resist Damage IO
- (45) Resist Damage IO
- (A) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Recharge
- (48) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (48) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (48) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 1: Brawl- (A) Accuracy IO
Level 1: Sprint- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 2: Swift- (A) Flight Speed IO
- (A) Healing IO
- (A) Jumping IO
- (A) Endurance Modification IO
- (21) Endurance Modification IO
- (21) Endurance Modification IO
The only IO in the whole build that's remotely expensive is the Kismet 6% Accuracy IO, but since that actually gives you a +6% to-hit whenever the power it's in is turned on I consider it well worth the investment, and it's only a few million inf which is not hard to get by the upper 30s or so just from selling salvage drops.Code:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1366;641;1282;HEX;| |78DA6D93DB6E12511486F77010399543ADA514CAB95068A710BD37515B53CBD06A6| |38CF182101861121C2640137BE76D63AF3CBD8441A3EFE5E105CCB858FFA6A54112| |D637F3EF356BFDFBA4BD791810E2ED3DA1041FF45BA351F33EC5B13E746BADAED11| |61E21444C4ACDA72DB3AB77D483B68EACDC6CE0E4D4B206C3B1BA67EAC3EE59536B| |998675DA6F8D8D811939307BFA5037C7EAECC17F3C18F4D5FDBED1ED8D83FCACE91| |DA36D98BA8FDF4E2C5DEF84F8B1AEB73AFA70D433ACE89E65B4D5FDC1907A6BDCF4| |2C46D60AF47F2C663FDB25CE0949E1B820A485E333E3E64746E603E3F555BA10714| |2561C50546405059FBACE0159019F6650E890A213E96EE777966EFC00260C5F92CB| |662A6CA65CE1B7014537BE72B8216D013B8097D6DAC3366CA727C35238C7C801F9B| |F5C4FA3E8956EBD2F95A9E47BCE08BC52A6ED97DA8C1CCA3628FAA55B3FDC06BE31| |96E0F636F264FA0EBCFBC94C50AE5210662C8A2148CE509D3F0D3F63C45E306A8FD| |8DF11C5886C18B960298A658C7E4243AC66FE1D1ABEE7B724355C960D97F33C9222| |69454E74E550994AB13A4F6D43031A8CFC11234BE9AB728157319938B0011C535C9| |3C6D6B0CD71184BC0580273DF2CB06946564C67BA2ECBAEA350F91A729E69369C27| |77587A4231259DA79095C69AA7277843A722C6C61C395DC95E3B1AA7F28C4F0B158| |EB8C2668351C40E1435C6D6192FC1173A962569A5B4C115262455E4A9AA6023B7B7| |FF8309EDB62A3BA9A8B60BCBBB3826BB705483F3AF54B62A2D57E50890702DDCAF8| |C6B76C16CBB3C3F6CD34F541794DA82726741B9BBA0D4E715ECC3B1EBF2620B45DE| |B2F0E5E5B57FFA685891C3B863BFE7251CC35FF35289A53F57924349B374EB1AFE0| |10526C3E9| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Quote:More likely 5 blaps, a ST fear, a Sould Drain style build up, and a ST immobilize.Originally Posted by Eldagore
I dunno. I would love to see a dark manip set, but I hope it isnt 6 blaps and a build up and a ST immob.
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Quote:I had a whole reply typed up about how at least it's ranged and therefore helps when you need an all-ranged attack chain, but then I noticed that it doesn't do any more damage than your single target immobilize or hold. Since those and Hurl Boulder can probably make a seamless chain with decent recharge (which Doms tend to go for) I'd say "no" unless either you just like the looks of it or you are skipping the ST immobilize and you want a gapless ranged chain. Stone Spears has better DPE than a ST immobilize so if you want more ST damage and plan to use the AoE immobilize to actually keep things still then the spears aren't a bad choice, especially since you already have to take the power. But if you already have a ST hold, ST immobilize, and Hurl Boulder slotted up those should be fine without any more help.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Alright, can someone give me a reason to *use* Stone Spears?
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Quote:<sigh> I love Ice shields. Not getting hit is a good thing.Originally Posted by shaggy5
I joined a team looking for "buffs"...then promptly kicked and told my lvl 46 ice defender is NOT a buffer. Huh? Ice shields and extra hp are not buffs? What kind of buffs are teams looking for then, when they "want a buffer"?
(Keep in mind, this *was* on Freedom)
Admittedly the HP boost is potentially worthless for about half the ATs (because they can self-cap their HP) but not everyone has the HP accolades and IO bonuses so even there it can help, and ultimately who cares? You have the shields, which means we aren't getting hit near as often. The fact that you can also debuff tough mobs into near worthlessness doesn't exactly hurt either...
I guess they wanted a heavy buff character like an Empath or Thermal, or maybe they just wanted Speed Boost. But on the bright side, at least you didn't have to team with them. I guess I've just been lucky but at least on Virtue I don't see much of that sort of powerset snobbery... heck, they even let Stalkers on teams there!
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The biggest problem with exemping while using level 50 IOs is that you lose the set bonuses on pretty much everything you need to exemp to do (since you're usually dropping to 45 or lower). If you are doing mid-level content that isn't too bad since that generally isn't hard enough to need any bonuses, though you'll probably have to lower your difficulty if you normally solo large spawns and rely on defense from IOs (and / or epic pools) to do it. The real annoyance is high level content... those level 40 and 45 Oro arcs, for instance. You'll be fighting the same annoying groups like Malta and Carnies that you do at 50, but with no set bonuses. That's no big deal on a Scrapper or Brute... just drop the difficulty a bit and you're good. On a squishy that normally runs softcapped S/L or Ranged defense or relies on massive recharge to get control powers up every spawn you're looking at a huge drop in power that will probably require a significant drop in difficulty settings. In particular, the first Praetorian arc can be very annoying solo since you are fighting high end EBs in every mission without your set bonuses... you can always just eat a ton of inspirations (the classic Blaster method of soloing EBs) but if you are used to mopping the floor with an EB without needing any inspirations it can be a bit of a shock. Unless you're a Brute or Mastermind or something, in which case it's just a matter of actually looking away from the TV to check your health bar every few seconds instead of completely wiping them out on autopilot.
Teamed, it's usually no big deal at all since team buffs and debuffs tend to make more difference than IO bonuses anyway unless you're a perma-PA Illusion Controller or something. -
Quote:Simple solution for getting all the SOs and DOs you need:Originally Posted by DarkSideLeague
To be fair, I was still flat broke on my original toon until the low 30's - when Inf Rewards started outpacing the cost of slotting SOs. But that was prior to playing SG Mode (I4 in my case) so it might be even worse or a non-issue (depending on if your SG Mates mind loaning you a few million, or if you do lowball bids on low level salvage and vendor them for profit).
- Once you start getting salvage drops, put it all up on the market for 1 inf each
- Once you get recipes, put them up at 1 inf if there are any bids outstanding. If not, vendor them.
- (Optional) If you get one of the few rare low level recipes that are worth something (KB protection, Kismet 6% Accuracy, etc...) craft it and sell it
- If you get a respec recipe, congratulations... you won the lottery. Sell it for a ton of inf and start planning an IO build early.
Inf used to be a struggle into the 30s, but with the amount of salvage you generate it's no longer a big deal. However, that assumes you solo a decent amount... if you mostly fight in large teams you get a lot fewer drops and level faster so you may have trouble affording all your enhancements unless you do some basic marketeering. Still, you can always buy dirt cheap level 50 recipes and vendor them for several thousand inf profit apiece if you have to, or just email yourself a couple million from a high level alt and forget about it.