Supermax

Definitely fighting. The values are much bigger.

As a tank, your team depends on you not dying. A lot more than then depend on you to give them a measly amount of +def or +dmg.

Hmm that's an interesting chain. I'll have to check it out, thx.

I do think blasters are underpowered compared to other AT's. But people keep playing them because they're fun. They're extremely straightforward, and when you want to simply do damage, a blaster is perfect. But still, from a numbers standpoint, I don't think there's any doubt that other AT's are more useful overall. A dom can do almost as much damage, while adding tons of control. A corr/def can do good damage, but also can be a force multiplier for the entire team, which affects the team much more than one blaster ever could.

But in the end, as long as shooting stuff is fun, people will keep playing blasters. And min/maxers will keep playing other AT's.

Hmm really? I had charged brawl the whole way until about 47 or 48, when I switched it out for jacobs ladder. But it does so little damage, I was kind of glad to drop it.

And JL....I know its activation is similar to punch, but for some reason it feels twice as long. Don't know why.

Either way, I don't think ANY elec melee attack chain would be considered a "top attack chain". It's practically a pure AoE set. But in your opinion, what WOULD be the best ST chain for me?

Thanks guys. I definitely can't afford a very expensive build. So I'll play around with it. I fear that I won't have enough recharge to have a seamless chain with just punch+fireblast+CI.

So I actually leveled (no PL) a toon to 50 for the first time since probably 2005, and I feel that he has the potential to become my #2 toon. I'm starting to get him into the incarnate stuff now, and deciding what I want to do as far as IO's. I have just a couple questions.

1. Chain induction or jacob's ladder? I tried JL early on, didn't like it, and went without it until like level 48. But I have it now and like having it for those times when there's a pause in my attack chain. CI I had the whole way, and liked it. However, to fit maneuvers in my build, I need to drop one of them. I tend to use both mostly just as single target attacks. Any thoughts here? CI is a lot more fluid because of its faster animation, but JL recharges in half the time....so I don't know. My chain consists of havok punch, fireblast, CI, and JL...with thunderstrike thrown in sometimes.

2. What incarnate powers would you suggest? I'm planning on Spiritual, Void, Reactive, and Rebirth....and whatever Lore, doesn't really matter. My questions are mainly about spiritual and rebirth. I feel that this toon has basically the same playstyle as my main (fire/SS tank), and he has spiritual and rebirth, so I figure it would work the same here. Any better options I should think about?

3. What IO sets should I build for in general? I guess it's either +rech or +def. I'm leaning towards +def, and I can probably get him to 32% melee and S/L. That's what I did on my tank, and it made a huge difference, much more than some extra recharge would. Thoughts?

Yeah, SR is the one set that should have zero problems with the defense debuffs on ITF.

Hey man, good to see you're still around. My main toon is a fire/SS tank. Pretty much any tank can be built to be godlike, even fire. It's just easier on other sets. Inv is a great choice overall. I'm not sure about /ice. You will probably find the ST damage lacking. With tanks, if you want the maximum effectiveness, you probably want to stick to the 2 best sets, /SS or /fire.

Having a 50 bubbler, I would definitely not advise anybody else to make one. Defense is so each to obtain in this game now, a bubbler can be easily replaced in almost all cases. And it adds absolutely nothing else to a team. I'd much rather have a cold, or a dark, or just about anything else.

Obviously bubblers aren't completely useless, but there are just much better options.

I think you'd be happy with a warshade.

Yep, you don't need a fully IO'd build. A few select IO's can make a big difference by themselves.

In addition to the KB IO's, which are only 12-15 million, there's the stealth IO, the +3% global defense, and the miracle and numina +end. Although those last 3 do cost quite a bit.

Plus there are all the damage and debuff procs you can slot in attacks.

I don't see ANY reason to take acro these days, other than PvP.

The hold protection is laughable. For any time where you're going to be in big trouble from one mininion or Lt level hold, just carry a break free. For anything more, acro wouldn't help you anyway.

I just slot 2 KB IO's on any toon that needs it, and I'm practically immune to KB, with no extra toggle to run.

Well, my idea kinda blew up. I was gonna use my second account to PL a new toon. But after activating the account, I realized that my SO'd tank on it just can't farm. It's so slow, it's barely even worth it. Can barely handle +1/+8.

Thanks guys. I'm on freedom. What's the deal with server transfers these days? Are they free? Or will they ever be free again?

I supposed maybe I'll have to just roll through Praetoria and go hero side at 20 as a fire/traps corr. I keep looking over the defender builds, and I just can't come up with anything that sounds really good.

Here are my thoughts, and what I did with my kin/rad. Note that all these have already been crafted, but only the judgement is slotted because the other slots haven't been unlocked. So I can't give feedback yet.

Interface: Went with paralytic and the 75% chance damage debuff. I figure it will stack well with FS and siphon power. It's also the only one of the debuffs that fully affects AV's, since -damage is unresistable from what I understand. Of course reactive is always an option for more damage.

Judgement: Went with Ion, just for the flavor of it. I've tried pyronic on a couple other toons, and overall, I definitely like pyronic better. Ion has the same problem that the rest of kin has....if the target dies while you're casting a power, you get no effect. So while it's a negative, a kin is the one set that should be well prepared for that "problem".

Lore: Going with the warworks ACU+vicky. With speed boost and FS, I figure their damage will be totally insane. Plus I will be able to heal them to keep them alive.

Destiny: This was between barrier and clarion, but I went with barrier. The clarion would be pretty much just for me, since I already have a status res power for others. But I figured I can just keep carrying BF's, like I have been doing for 7 years. Not a big deal. Ageless is completely useless, since I can get to crazy recharge levels with siphon speed, and I can buff others with SB. And rebirth is nice, but I already have a big AoE heal. So I went with barrier, giving me something I had none of before, significant levels of both res and def.