Syntax42

What do you want to do with your character? Do you want to farm or tank general content? Do you want to be a DPS or a pure tank?

In any case, adding defense sets is the easiest way to make a character tough. Which ones you choose will depend on how tough you want to make your character and what you want to use your character for. Believe it or not, you can afford any build with a little effort. Do your tip missions every day and do the morality mission to get the alignment merit. Collect two of those and you can buy a Luck of the Gambler global recharge IO which sold for over 100 million crafted last time I checked the market. Use that to make enough INF to put together any build you want. Purples are going to be difficult to get with that method but everything else is within your reach. Also, there may be other inventions worth buying with A-merits but I'll let you discover what is valuable.

The first thing that stands out is how you mixed a lot of melee defense with S/L defense sets. This is not very effective because most melee attacks have a S/L component and the game only looks at your highest applicable defense category when determining a hit or miss.

This build would be a bit more survivable if you managed to achieve 20% S/L and E/N defense. That puts you within range of the soft-cap if you are buffed by a Defender, or if you use 2 small inspirations.

Weave definitely needs to be slotted better. The lack of endurance reduction is bad, and the lack of defense enhancements means you have to make up for that with set bonuses instead of just putting a couple more slots in Weave.

Gaussian's is a bad choice of set if you are going for typed defense. Only S/L and E/N defenses are useful and 6 slots for 2.5% effective defense is a waste. In this case, you get 1.25% S/L defense for 6 slots. You could just slot 2 Rectified Reticles for 1.875% S/L defense.

Stealth is a decent defensive toggle. Slot it better and you can use it. Slotting toggles saves you a lot of slots that you would have to spend on defensive set bonuses to achieve the same defense goal.

Your build is missing the Steadfast Protection 3% defense IO. If you wanted defense, that offers the best defense per slot.

You don't need 12 magnitude KB protection. You can get by with 8. The only knockbacks that go past that are from Hamidon's green mitos and the pylons in RWZ.

Hasten does not benefit much from a 4th recharge slot due to Enhancement Diminishing Returns. Read up on it if you want to understand how it works.

Obliteration is a bad choice for Blazing Aura. It will drain your endurance fast and Obliteration doesn't have enough endurance reduction to counter that. Consider another set, like 3 Eradications for E/N defense and a couple other slots for endurance reduction.

I don't know if it was a Mids' error, or if you actually selected it. I saw Spiritual Partial Core Paragon as your chosen Alpha slot. The Spiritual Core Paragon is the tier 4 version that would benefit this build the most. It would also make it easier to achieve perma-Hasten.


An attack chain assumes that you can repeat it forever, starting at the first attack after the final attack in the chain. "Burn -> CS -> BB -> FB -> BB -> Burn" would mean you wait for Burn to recharge after pressing it the last time. Perhaps you meant to restart the chain after the second BB? Even that chain could be better, though. Your build has enough recharge to repeat the chain of Burn -> CS -> BB -> FB, but that isn't a very good chain.

The best tool I have found for formulating an attack chain is the powerset comparison window in Mids'. Set the left side to "Damage / Anim" to view the base DPA for powers in a chosen set. Enhancements are multiplicative, so the relative effectiveness of the powers won't change much. Focused Burst is your worst single-target attack in Kinetic Melee. Concentrated Strike is the best DPA attack, with Smashing Blow not far behind. Burn looks about equal to Body Blow, but the graph includes the DoT effect. A lot of enemies will run away from it and not take full damage from Burn. That doesn't make it a bad power, because Burn is AoE and will do more damage than any of your other attacks, but you probably already knew this. Your attack chain should consist of Burn, Concentrated Strike, and Smashing Blow. Add a second Smashing Blow to the chain if you can get the recharge down to 2.244s and still need time for Burn or CS to recharge.

Actually, Electric Armor performs just fine defensively. The resistance to S/L and Energy makes up for the lower regeneration, and even surpasses it if you add enough defense to the build. In case you aren't aware, smashing, lethal, and energy damage are the most common at 50.

Willpower is a great set for those on a budget or those who want a set that requires little interaction so they can just attack. Willpower does not benefit from recharge bonuses, so a cheap Willpower build has almost as much survivability as an expensive one.

If you want a build that is easy to level and easy to make into a tough character with IO sets, go with Willpower. If you want a build that offers potentially more in the long-term, Electric Armor may be the best choice for you.

Regeneration is just not a very good set to begin with. It has a finite damage mitigation that is based on how much healing is coming in. Other forms of defense rely on smaller amount of healing to regain much smaller amounts of damage taken. Those methods cause healing to have a multiplicative effect on survivability instead of a linear one.

Not many people here can offer advice on PvP builds. Try the PvP forums.

For a PvE build, you either need a ton of defense or a ton of recharge so you can use your heals, Moment of Glory, and Shadow Meld more often. The second option gives you better offense but can be extremely expensive. I would suggest that you just make a new character, like Willpower. If that sounds like something you don't want to do, look for regeneration builds and adapt them to fit Dual Blades.

Getting enough INF to put together a build that costs less than 1 billion is easy. Once you get to level 25, start doing tip missions every day. Collect the alignment merits and turn them into a level 25 Luck of the Gambler global recharge bonus recipes as soon as you have two alignment merits. Don't try to save up on alignment merits because there is a timer on spending them. Craft the recipe and sell it on the AH for 100 million, or whatever they are going for. There might be other good ones to sell too, but I haven't kept up with the market and I would tell you to look for yourself before I shared my favorite money-maker. LOTGs are just a safe investment.

By the time you get to 50, you should be able to afford a decent build. Until then, I wouldn't even worry about slotting inventions. In fact, I rarely slot inventions on my characters before 47 because I prefer the cheaper level 50 invention prices and the higher enhancement value. A couple exceptions might be the Miracle and Numina's uniques, but Willpower doesn't need those while leveling.


Basic slotting is almost common-sense. Your best powers should be given more slots first. Your attacks need 1-2 accuracy, 1-2 endurance reduction, and 2-3 damage enhancements. Recharge is optional and depends on your attack chain. Your toggles might need 1-2 endurance reductions and 2-3 enhancements for their buff power (heal or defense). A lot of the basic slotting is just getting a feel for how the power performs. Sometimes you feel like it is missing too much, or it consumes too much endurance.

Phalanx Fighting gives 3.75% unenhanceable defense when no allies are nearby. The defense it gives when allies are near is enhanceable but should not be relied on to reach 45% defense, especially on a farming character. Basically, don't move the slider on the power info window and don't put any slots in it.

Defense and recharge set bonuses have the greatest impact on a character. Any other set bonuses can not be obtained in a high enough quantity to come close to the survivability offered by defense, or damage potential offered by running a top attack chain. Even if they could, the build would likely be considered "broken" due to unusual slotting of powers or a lack of a certain bonus. So, if you go past the rule of 5's to get a recharge or defense bonus from a set, don't worry about it. That is assuming the recharge or defense bonus doesn't break the rule of 5's, but the bonuses before it might.

Both can soft-cap and have 90%+ DDR with perma-Hasten. The real question should be if the OP wants to do more damage or have a few more HPs. The difference in resistance isn't going to be a huge factor in survivability.

Since Brute is my pick for this, I will criticize the build. It could be done a lot better. Several powers are under-slotted. Phalanx Fighting is over-slotted. You probably don't need the Gladiator's 3% defense because AoE defense is the only one under 45% without it. Efficacy Adaptor is not a good set to 6-slot in Stamina. Did you figure out your attack chain? Pyre Mastery doesn't seem like a good pairing for this build. Mu Mastery or Soul Mastery seems like it would be better for the extra AoEs or Gloom, respectively.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Patron_Power_Pools

Many people will tell you different patrons for the easiest arc. Personally, I think Mako's is the easiest because it only has one kill-all mission. Black Scorpion's arc has one kill-all to get the patron pools unlocked, but you will be fighting Malta for most of it.

Brute damage scale = .75
Tanker damage scale = .80

Granite Armor's damage penalty = 30%
Average reliable damage bonus from Fury = 150%

(150% damage bonus from Fury + 90% slotted damage bonus - 30%) * .75 modifier * 100 theoretical damage attack = 157.5 damage

90% slotted damage bonus * .80 modifier * 100 theoretical damage attack = 72 damage


So, yes, Fury beats a Tanker's damage in average conditions, even with Stone Armor. The problem you run into is being able to run a solid attack chain while in Granite Armor. The recharge penalty is 65% and makes it very difficult to achieve perma-Hasten while keeping defenses and movement speed at acceptable levels. A good attack chain could put the Tanker on top again, especially if the Stone Brute has pauses in their attack chain.

Mids can be set up to show the suppressed values of Stealth. Go to the options and the effects and maths tab. On the right side, check the boxes next to attacked, hit by foe, and damaged. After that, the total shows the right amount.


A strategy I have seen for making Regen builds is going for as much recharge as possible. You can use Shadow Meld, Moment of Glory, then Shadow Meld again and have less than 10 seconds of vulnerability until you can do it again. Sure, it eats into your DPS, but options for making regen tough are limited. Even aiming for 32.5% S/L and E/N defense makes it tough to get enough recharge to have perma-Hasten.

Defense debuffs are almost worthless at 50. You will have 95% chance to hit most things without debuffing. Very few critters have significant defense, and your attacks will debuff those critters enough without enhancing them. You could even lower your accuracy vs +4s a bit on all of your attack slottings and rely on a single debuff to act as your to-hit buff.

I think the best possible attack chain for Katana is GD->GC->SD->GC. This requires Golden Dragonfly to recharge in 3.432 seconds, which usually requires purple sets to achieve. You will have to add an extra attack or two to the chain.

I'm guessing you mean Lightning Clap? AoE Knockbacks are bad to use in most situations. I can't even think of a situation where it is beneficial to spam them. The problem with them is that they scatter the enemies, which prevents future AoEs from being effective by both you and your team.

Some powers may say they have knockback in the short description, but they are actually a knockDOWN. If the magnitude of the knockback says .67 or anything less than 1, it is a knockdown instead.

I would skip the build up on a tanker, but that is more of a personal preference.

Jacob's Ladder is a horrible AoE, but is about as good as any others when used as a single-target attack.

The number of powers you skip may depend on your build and how many other powers you need to fit in.

INF shouldn't be too much of an issue unless you are trying to get purple sets or PvP IOs. Use any character level 25+ to farm alignment merits, then use those to buy a Luck of the Gambler global recharge which should sell for 100 million. I haven't checked the market in a while, so other inventions may be worth buying too. Repeat that ten times or so and you will have more than enough for a build.

Your slotting could be a lot more efficient. Willpower should be slotted for typed defense, not positional because you already have some typed defense. At the minimum, you should be able to get 32.5% S/L and E/N without too much trouble. The sets that are killing your defense per slot efficiency are Numina's, Gaussian's, and Mako's. Obliteration isn't great for S/L defense, but at least you get some recharge from it.

Steadfast Protection is not a good set to use. It doesn't ED cap a power and you don't need the knockback protection. Put the 3% defense unique in Strength of Will and get rid of the useless psionic resistance IO.

Why is Maneuvers slotted better than Weave and Heightened Senses? Slot your best powers first because they have the highest base defense and will give you more for that 4th slot.

I wouldn't bother with Divine Avalanche for the defense bonus. Slot it with a LOTG as a mule and leave it, in my opinion.

Shadow Meld will save you some inspirations, but that is about it. At best, you will have a 10-sec down time between uses. You don't need it slotted for defense bonus because it sends you over 45% without it. It does make a good LOTG mule before slotting recharges. Physical Perfection may not make a huge difference, but it still adds to your regen.

Figure out your attack chain so you know how much recharge you need.

Getting to 45% defense is not too expensive and is very important. Defense is your primary method of surviving. At 45% (melee+ranged+AoE) you ensure most critters have the minimum chance to hit you.

INF shouldn't be too much of an issue unless you are trying to get purple sets or PvP IOs. Use any character level 25+ to farm alignment merits, then use those to buy a Luck of the Gambler global recharge which should sell for 100 million. I haven't checked the market in a while, so other inventions may be worth buying too. Repeat that ten times or so and you will have more than enough for a build.

I posted a Fire/SD build in someone else's thread that should meet your requirements for a relatively cheap build. It is still on the first page at the time of posting this. The OP's name is Of Doom.

I forgot to mention...
The build I posted requires the Spiritual tier 4 Alpha for the recharge bonus, and it is still .2 seconds away from running the attack chain seamlessly. However, if you move the Mako's Bite from Cremate to Greater Fire Sword (and ToD to Cremate), that fixes the gap in the attack chain.

While any set can perform well enough, sets with high resistance to smashing, lethal, and energy damage will be the easiest to stay alive with because those are the most common damage types at 50 and on TFs/SFs. Invulnerability can cap smashing and lethal resistance, but the energy resistance is about the same as a defense-based tanker. Willpower heals itself so fast through high regeneration that it makes up for imperfect resistances. Stone Armor can easily cap all defenses and resistances except psionic, but pays for its advantage with damage, recharge, movement penalties, and a psionic vulnerability. Electric Armor can cap energy resistance easily and cap S/L resistance with a bit of effort or the right build choices. It lacks defense, but that can be added through pool powers, set bonuses, and team buffs. Lastly, defense debuff resistance can help a lot, but mostly on ITF. Of the sets I mentioned, Invulnerability and Stone Armor are the only ones with enough DDR to matter.

Remember that any powerset can get the job done. Your build, your team's composition, and your strategy and skill matter just as much as your powerset choice.

Please use short forum export with data chunks in the future. Long forum export is annoying to scroll past and most people use Mids to look at the build anyways. The data chunk is needed because the link doesn't work for everyone.

You will need to be close to perma-Hasten if you want to run the top attack chains for most power sets. I'm guessing the top attack chain is going to be GFS -> Incinerate -> Cremate. Slot Maneuvers better and you can change some of your defense bonus sets to recharge bonus sets.

Gift of the Ancients is not doing much for you in this build. You don't have 5 LOTG global recharges, so Weave should be slotted with 3-4 of the LOTG set. I would also move the one out of Phalanx Fighting and slot Maneuvers with a LOTG set. Put a Kismet 6% to-hit unique in Phalanx Fighting.

Steadfast Protection is a horrible set. You don't need the knockback protection because you get that from Active Defense. Just put the 3% defense unique in OWTS. Enhancing the resistance in Deflection is a secondary priority.

Phalanx Fighting gives 3.75% defense to all positions with no allies nearby and that portion of the power is not enhanceable. As long as you don't move the slider your build will be fine. Don't try to rely on allies nearby to soft-cap because you might be solo.

Grant Cover should be in your 49th power slot. One endurance reduction is fine. You will only need to run it for the defense debuff resistance. Also, leave Active Defense on auto-fire and try to slot 3 Membranes in it so you can reach 90% defense debuff resistance.

Crushing Impact is not a very useful set until you get it to the 5th slot. The recharge bonus is important.

Melt Armor is not worth the time it takes to cast. You could just continue using your attack chain and end up doing more damage. Even on teams, your damage debuff is going to be insignificant compared to a debuffer or even a Tanker.



Here is the build with suggested changes.

There are plenty of SS/FA builds on this forum. Search and you might find one. Go back a page or two and you will probably find dozens.

Fiery Embrace is supposed to work on all of your attacks.

It is not hard to switch to villain long enough to do the patron missions. Many others suggest the Mu Mastery pool so you can get two AoE attacks out of your patron pool that aren't cones.

I'm not sure what mission you are doing, but there are probably better ones for you. Search for "fire farm" if you want to find the best missions. You should have 90% Fire resistance from slotting your powers, so the best mobs to take on are the ones that only do fire damage to you.

Mids' is a very useful tool for planning builds. If you have access to a PC, use it to download Mids' and plan your build.

The sets that are important to you are the ones that increase your fire defense or give a bonus to global recharge. Anything else won't make enough of a difference to be worth the time it takes to slot.

Slot them well?

More elaboration would be nice. A build would be better. Sets interact with each other and have to be chosen for the entire build, so telling you to put X set in X power won't work well. Basic slotting of generic IOs or SOs should be common-sense.

Not many people who PvP will read your post here. I suggest posting it on the PvP forum as well.

The biggest thing I see is that you didn't try to increase your defense at all. I don't know a lot about PvP, so I don't know if defense is worth slotting for.