Synaesthetix

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LR has no -recovery, does it?

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I think he means recharge.

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Bingo, my bad.

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Caltrops has a similar use than LR, once your opponent attacks he's suppressed and with webnade he won't be jumping anywhere, so you can throw caltrops on the ground and he'll have to use TP or be slowed.

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Caltrops are a small AoE that:
1) isn't that difficult to get out of;
2) can be hellishly difficult to trap someone in in the first place.

When LR hits, you don't have to worry about whether or not your opponent is going to be able to get out of it, it kills regen, and it kills recovery - in one shot. You don't waste precious time with Web Grenade, position Caltrops, re-WG, attack attack, miss with WG, curse, watch them SS away from Caltrops, delete and reroll Ice/Rad and vow never to listen to advice from the forums.

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TD gives to-hit which is as good as -def in some cases and better in others ; although the base value is lower than RI, it actually works better when it's really needed : against defensive sets. It's certainly comparable to RI for 1vs1.

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TD is good, TD + Aim is great, but /Dev still suffers from a lack of Build Up. Past a certain point extra Acc is meaningless, unless you absolutely desperately just HAVE to hit that guy in Elude - but extra damage is seldom meaningless. People will routinely hit you when using TD, they do not when you use RI, TD is not remotely overall comparable with RI in a 1v1 even when...

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SG and cloak are another useful form of mitigation between -perc, +stealth and -acc +def.

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... the def boost from CD is minimal and the To-Hit Debuff in SG is somewhere between laughable and non-existant (scientists are still conducting tests).

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Ice/dev plays a lot like ice/rad/scorp, that's all I'm saying.

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Ice/Dev is to Ice/Rad/BS as White Lightning is to Veuve Clicquot.

Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% behind people advising others on how to jiggle their /Dev builds for greater PvPability - but trying to draw a parallel between Ice/Dev and Ice/Rad/BS based on the fact the Ice/Dev kinda has a few things that work somewhat like Ice/Rad/BS but only about fifty [censored] times weaker and far less wieldy is so far from plausible it makes me wonder if we're playing the same game, especially given your recent Empath "advice" (and the godawful build you came up with there).

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You'll change your mind once you've tried a fully slotted Granite

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I really won't, you know. Believe it or not, there exist in this sick and twisted world people like me who only use level 38 powers as panic buttons, and seldom use them - 95% of the time I use Elude in PvE on my Claws/SR is because I'm running low on endurance, not because I need the def boost. Granite is a tanking device, not a Bruting device - and I'll only be using it as such.

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Did ya miss one of these?-->

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I vaguely remember a time when humans communicated in the written word and didn't use little smiling faces to explain every nuance of their speech, and instead we used our comprehension skills and looked at the visual clues to pick up on small things like a gigatonne of sarcasm.

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Caltrops - LR

TD, smoke grenade, cloak - RI

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What the hell are you smoking, and where can I get some?

I don't think the problem has ever been that /Dev can't be more than a Teleminer in PvP - especially not with a barrelful of HOs. Hell, I've even respecced my AR/Dev and found him to be 'useful' for hunting Stalkers and villain squishies, and general annoyance/amusement in Sirens and beyond - if you had a not-[censored] primary, I imagine you might even be able to make a 1v1 build, or an okay general support build. However, the sad truth of fact is that you're never going to be able to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

If the new build has made you enjoy your Fire/Dev more though, that's the important thing.

Depending on time, date, and type of event, I'll see if I can get LoUD to throw something together - no point in me making suggestions though, because we're just not that organised.

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You need 8 kins to overcome -jump of rooted

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So the purpose of the Brute AT is to be able to Jump, then?

You'd be well advised to make arguments that hold water. Not being able to jump hinders you not one jot with the proper movement binds - in combat, I use Teleport; out of combat a quick click of button4 to detoggle Rooted, then button4 once more to retoggle and what do you know? Unhindered movement.

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High survivability isn't the point of being a brute, it's constant movememnt and attacking. Which is why /stone isn't a true brute set.

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Not all - most, but not all - /Stone Brutes live in Granite. My Stone/Stone Brute is level 36, has gone those 36 levels without Granite, and will continue to progress without being in Granite all the time for the 12 levels after I pick it - except in the final stages of the RSF, perhaps.

/Stone provides decent defence to the most frequently occuring damage types in CoV, increased regen, and an awesome +HP ability - this is at the cost of reduced mobility, but nothing that can't be easily circumvented by a few binds. I have an attack chain with excess without Hasten running, currently, and although the playstyle is different - more reliant on Taunt to maintain Fury-generation - my Stone/Stone is easily as 'brutish' as my EM/Fire, which is all about fast movement, high-damage, and relentless attacks.

It's also nice to have a Brute I can put up against AVs in a duo or trio and not have to worry about.

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my dm/rgn hasnt met a brute yet in sirens or bloody bay he hasnt beaten easily with the use of touch of fear and panic buttons dull pain,reconstruction and instant healing.

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Fears are removed with a Break Free, the acc debuff from ToF is of more concern.

As far as brutes beating through Regen's panic buttons - in Thundorn's Xmas PvP event, my level 42 EM/Fire brute with Healing Flames managed to win out against a level 50 MA/Regen with Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Instant Healing and MoG, after both of us had survived a last-man standing bout of over 2 hours, I think it was.

That said, you're probably safer in RV than you are in Warburg, given the disparity between the APP and PPPs.

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why does every1 in these arguments assume the opponent is a moron? why wud the blaster b standing next to the scrapper so he can see or hear aim and BU? and is the blaster incapable of running after the scrapper?

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I dunno, why are you doing the same?

If you're out of sight when you hit Aim/BU, you waste precious time getting to your target, and there's usually still the residual yellow/red glow for a few moments afterwards. If you have to chase your opponent, a) you're unlikely to connect with any of the more dangerous melee attacks, b) it's (generally) easier to escape than it is to chase, especially so in a busy environment.

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Sr is squishy without a sonic in the arena. Even if the sr has fort, i would only attack a sr with aim and build up and i could 3 hit the sr if i get lucky while a regen takes a lot more effort to take down.

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As pointed out all of 14 posts away by Stalk, a good SR will run when he/she hears the telltale Aim/Build Up noises. By your own admission, you'll only attack an SR when you have Aim and Build Up; you can attack a Regen at any time however, and expect to lay damage in. I know my Regen feels much more squishy than my SR, but fewer people choose to take on my Regen in pretty much all PvP scenarios - bizarre.

Regen has more panic buttons - or rather, suicide-free panic buttons - which makes them somewhat irritating to take down without -regen or -recharge, but concerted effort will bring down a good Regen faster than it will a good SR, without even factoring buffs into the equation. Given there are more regen-unfriendly sets out there now, especially for Corruptors - /Thermal, /Cold, /Kin, /Dark depending on build - it only takes a few to start PvPing in earnest to make the Arena a very unwelcoming place for a Regen.

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anyway, for pvp I would do something like this (and have) and it rocks, it should be fine on the RSF with massive debuffs but some may resent your lack of sheilds, just dont team with people like that

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Depends what you're aiming for, really.

If you want to be self-sufficient in your PvPing, go with Stalk's build. If you want to play kingmaker in PvP and be more useful in the RSF, take the shields and drop Medicine altogether. One of the key strengths of Corruptors in PvP is in the team buffs they can provide - I can't emphasise enough how awesome the /Cold Shields are in PvP, especially when coupled with other Corruptor buffs. A group of Corruptors providing reciprocal buffs will quickly chew through opponents, at least in Zonal PvP (having not played in a similar Arena/Raid PvP scenario). If you PvP with a team where you can trust on someone being around to provide heals, you won't miss Aid Self that much; if you're more fond of duelling, listen to Stalk.

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And I also see less Corruptors in PvP zones too a connection perhaps?

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Union Sirens last night saw a (or at least one) team of 4 Corruptors and friends tearing up the place - as you'd expect. I wouldn't start tolling the DOOM bell for Corruptors just yet.

So I finally got around to refining all the stockpiled salvage in the LoUD base, and we have the following refined arcane salvage to trade for their tech counterparts:

up to 75 Mystic Elements, for Tech Materials;
up to 116 Mystic Foci, for Tech Powers;
up to 7 Arcane Essence, for Tech Hardware;
up to 8 Arcane Glyphs, for Tech Prototype.

If you're interested in an exchange either in part or in full, please post here or contact me in-game @Syn or @Bruce. First come, first served.

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But an empath without assault is giving all the other things, apart for that +7,5%.

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The point that's been made, and that you seem to be happily skipping over, is that an empath without assault and with the uber attacks all Empaths apparently get, will not necessarily be giving all the other things because they won't be as focused as dishing out the buffs quite so critically and precisely. Don't just look at one part of the discussion in isolation, you have to look at the wider topic - given how active an Empath can be, any passive assistance that can be given with a simple click toggle is a benefit. As pointed out in the US thread, against + levels an Empath isn't doing squat for damage without external assistance.

It's interesting to note that no-one's really commented on why, exactly, a PvE Empath needs Stamina.

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And due to the nature of damage buffs, that 7,5% will actually be less effective on people with fort.

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No Empath can Fort a whole team, and that 7.5% + Tactics works just fine on 'troller pets (barring PA, naturally). Then again, I don't believe any team needs more than one Emp, provided that Emp is doing their job properly.

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My own experience with empathy (Fire/Empathy controller) was that I could do both, took a lot of concentration, but it really was not a lot more hard then juggling Shadowplays endurance and health.

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What level was your Fire/Emp (that you had all your Empathy experience with) before you rerolled it because you couldn't stand playing Emp? 20, 22? I can't recall, but it certainly wasn't high enough to have a wider appreciation for the intricacies of playing an Empath, you had a 'troller with a handful of heals. Trying to compare constant buffing with "not detoggling myself" and "not dying" - on a Scrapper - is laughable.

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I see the logic behind not taking the agro so you can safely heal, on the other hand you yourself have admited that you have not tried to play with attacks.

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I've play my Empath with attacks - Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Short Circuit. In 32 levels of playing her, on 1 (one, uno, une, ein) PuG have I been able to play as both a buffer and attacker in a decent-size team without either side being sacrificed. The rest of the time I buff first, and blast rarely - if the team wanted damage, they'd get a blaster; I'm there to make sure they get where they were going faster, and debt-free. You are definitely not missing an Empath's damage, I have first-hand experience of what Empath damage is like - cite all the "US posts" you want, even with 3 damage SOs my contribution is limited to taking out the occasional minion and end-draining tougher targets.

It's not just a matter of playing your attacks inbetween Forting the next person in the cycle (and making sure you have line-of-sight to them), and keeping the squishies CM'd - to a degree, you have to be able to read the next 5 seconds of battle, because in the time it takes an attack animation to play out you could have lost half your team - and I've seen this on both sides of the spectrum. It'd be super-swell if playing an empath was buff-buff-buff-blast-blast-blast, but it really isn't in any kind of everyday situation I've been in. Tanks don't always have aggro, Scrappers don't always protect the squishies, Blasters don't always take out the right target, other Defenders don't always buff/debuff when needed, and 'trollers don't always have everything under control - when you play an Empath, you not only have to take on your own responsibilities, you have to make up for everyone else's shortcomings as well.

If you want to make an Empath for a specific team setup, or only plan on playing an Empath in small teams, you can afford to make a build that focuses more on attacks - and that's fine and dandy, but you're not experiencing life as an Empath. You don't want to take Resurrect because "who dies ololz" - good for you, the rest of us will be over here in reality when you want to make the journey across.

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ok put "fear" (from the presence pool) instead of fire and you got the correct sentence ^^'

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Fear can be removed with a BF, though. Taking Intimidate requires you to spend a power choice on either Challenge or Provoke, which is entirely pointless - if you want a Fear, roll Mind/.

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and a fire that was IMO a good way to go close of a regen and use drain psyché.

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The "safest" way to get close to melee players is with lots of soft control, that would largely be slows and -recharge for Dominators - Fire/ has no soft control at all, and Plant suffers from some niggles as well as having no real soft control (but Creepers and SoC are handy tools). That essentially leaves you with Grav/ or Ice/ - happily, both work really well with /Psi.

Taking Grav/ might be the better option, as you could theoretically leave out Stamina - so long as you were good enough to use Drain Psyche in a PvP situation. Taking Ice/ would likely mean taking Artic Air which would be hellish to run without Stamina, or at least unnecessarily difficult.

This is a theoretical build I put together, it's by no means a step-by-step guide on making a Stamina-less PvP Grav/Psi (and I am somewhat feverish atm), but take a look at it and see if it gives you any ideas.

Archetype: Dominator
Primary: Gravity Control
Secondary: Psionic Assault
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01) --> Crush==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Slow(46) Slow(46) Slow(50)
01) --> Psionic Dart==> Acc(1) Acc(3)
02) --> Mind Probe==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Dmg(11) Dmg(13) Dmg(13) Rechg(34)
04) --> Gravity Distortion==> Acc(4) Acc(5) Rechg(9) Rechg(11) Hold(15) Hold(15)
06) --> Hasten==> Rechg(6) Rechg(7) Rechg(7)
08) --> Telekinetic Thrust==> Acc(8) Acc(9)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(10)
12) --> Stimulant==> IntRdx(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Psychic Scream==> Acc(16) Acc(17) Dmg(17) Dmg(25) Dmg(34) Rechg(36)
18) --> Aid Self==> Heal(18) Heal(19) Heal(19) IntRdx(36) IntRdx(37) IntRdx(37)
20) --> Drain Psyche==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(21) Rechg(23) Rechg(25)
22) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(22) EndRdx(23)
24) --> Boxing==> Acc(24)
26) --> Wormhole==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Rechg(27) Rechg(33) Rechg(37)
28) --> Subdue==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Dmg(29) Dmg(31) Dmg(31) Rechg(34)
30) --> Tough==> EndRdx(30) EndRdx(31) DmgRes(40) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46)
32) --> Singularity==> Hold(32) Hold(33) Hold(33)
35) --> Dimension Shift==> Acc(35) Acc(36)
38) --> Psychic Shockwave==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(40) Rechg(40)
41) --> Power Sink==> Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42) EndMod(42) EndMod(43) EndMod(43)
44) --> Charged Armor==> EndRdx(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45)
47) --> Summon Guardian==> Rechg(47) Rechg(48) Rechg(48) Heal(48) Heal(50) Heal(50)
49) --> Super Speed==> Run(49)
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So, without actually getting into the "why" of things, what do you people think of the slots and powers for an Non-ASing stalker?

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I think you'll probably want Dark Regen in for Sirens, seeing as a) everyone will be able to see you, meaning that b) you'll likely be forced into scrapping it out. You'll probably also want your +Per in for Warburg so you have half a chance in WB against other, more traditional Stalkers - this means that SS gets pushed back to RV and Arena fights at 50.


Archetype: Stalker
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Dark Armor
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01) --> Energy Punch==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(7) Dmg(11) Dmg(11)
01) --> Hide==> EndRdx(1)
02) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(2) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Rechg(23)
04) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(15) DmgRes(15) DmgRes(17)
06) --> Hurdle==> Jump(6) Jump(43)
08) --> Build Up==> Rechg(8) Rechg(9) Rechg(9) TH_Buf(40) TH_Buf(40) TH_Buf(43)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(10)
12) --> Placate==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14) Jump(19) EndRdx(43)
16) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(16) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(19) DmgRes(19)
18) --> Swift==> Run(18) Run(46)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(22) EndRdx(23)
24) --> Dark Regeneration==> Acc(24) Acc(25) EndRdx(25) EndRdx(37) EndRdx(37) Rechg(39)
26) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Rechg(34)
28) --> Hasten==> Rechg(28) Rechg(31) Rechg(31)
30) --> Stun==> Acc(30) Acc(31) DisDur(39) DisDur(39) DisDur(40) Rechg(46)
32) --> Total Focus==> Acc(32) Acc(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(34) DisDur(34)
35) --> Oppressive Gloom==> Acc(35) Acc(36) Acc(36) DisDur(36) DisDur(37) DisDur(48)
38) --> Shadow Dweller==> DefBuf(38)
41) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42)
44) --> Dark Blast==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Dmg(45) Dmg(45) Dmg(46) Rechg(50)
47) --> Soul Transfer==> DisDur(47) DisDur(48) DisDur(48)
49) --> Super Speed==> Run(49) Run(50) EndRdx(50)
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All stalkers are without AS is just weedy scrappers, so why dont you make a scrapper?

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Since when could you make an EM/Dark Scrapper?

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I have a lvl 20 bots/dark and its (yawn) not very active at all.

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Not at level 20 it isn't. After that point, it's as active as you care to make it.

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2) people who dont have an empath shouldnt point pointy forks (but i dont know if you have one or not.. but i think not).

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Just to defend myself (not revisited this thread in an age), I do have an Empath - my 2nd highest toon on Defiant as a matter of fact, at level 32. Don't presume I'm pointing fingers, please.

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4) /empaths are controllers first and foremost who can easily have their action times making their reaction times look bad.

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/empaths are usually just really crappy Empaths, and even worse Controllers - from experience. Every now and again one will stun me into speechlessness by not being immensely dire.

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5) if people are missing much needed powers you should of spotted that before starting.

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Before starting what? Should I give everyone a template build to work from whenever I join a team, if it doesn't have with what I perceive to be the 'right' powers? Should I only invite people after they've given me their exact build? Even being the big ol' cynic that I am, I like to give people at least a few missions leeway before I decide whether or not to continue teaming with them. If I didn't team with anyone who was missing 'much needed powers', I'd be left teaming with about 13 people across 2 servers.

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i dont need to sound so defensive as you've never teamed with mine.

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No, you don't. Then again, I don't know if I've teamed with you; I tend to avoid PuGs though, so probably not. From playing an empath (both in PvE and PvP now) I have pretty high standards of what I expect from them - Fort being cycled well to whom has most need/best use of it, CM being applied to those without mez protection in high-mez situations, and careful application of RAs with minimal disturbance to the pace of the team.

/necro-derail (ftw)

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If Assault Bot is in the red and you are facing a nasty enemy - like an EB for instance, will be shrugging off your holds and fear (and even with debuffs will be pounding you), then I for one would far rather have repair than twilight grasp.

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When push comes to shove, against that EB/AV, you may well require repair aswell. But if you can think of a better power for yourself, take it.

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Are you all playing the same game as me? Since when do Robotics/Dark have problems with EBs? I was duoing AVs up until the I7 changes, and have been trioing them since - and I've not yet met an EB or AV yet that wasn't crippled by the combined debuffs from /Dark. Not once have I been in a situation where I've thought I could have used, letalone 'needed' Repair in my build.

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Twilight Grasp is a much better power of course. But it has three relative disadvantages - it needs at least 3 (normally 4 imo) slots to be functioning well...

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Who doesn't 6-slot TG these days? Are these the same people who take Repair?

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"Heavy Weight" is lvl 41-45, right ?

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Yeah, query: who's going to prefer to fight at Heavyweight that wouldn't rather fight at Super Heavyweight?

If it's to balance out APPs and PPPs, you're already one weight too high - any particular reason for this weighting, or is it just for variety?

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Ah slight problem with the inf, if a non-union member wins I wont be able to pay since my highest toon on the other servers is 2

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I'm pretty sure most of the Defiant players have toons on Union anyway.