The_Laughing_Man

The changes to my Emp/Psi are rather extreme, and dare I say it - exciting.

I've switched things around with Fortitude - slotting for ToHit now, which means that any Blaster touched by the red-head will have +28% to hit.

The only downside is that my attack chain is now Will Dom-Psi Lance-TK Blast leaving me 0.73 seconds wait time in-between to buff . It's a perfect world really, because it means my single target damage might now be slightly better than laughable when soloing, and the AoE potential of Scream+Wail is also very nice. The (indirect) buffing of Fortitude to make it more valuable is some very nice icing.

I'll be a happy camper if things go the way they look like they'll be going. If there's a look at some of the more redundant Empath powers (CM, Rez and the over-abundance of "heals") as part of other i24 fixes, I'll be ecstatic!

-H

Interesting thread, and I have a /Traps MM, /Traps Cor and Storm Defender who run the summer blockbuster repeatedly.

Reading the above, I wonder if the running happens at some sort of debuff threshold because I've only witnessed the running phenomenon when there's been a dark or rad on the team in addition to my debuffs.

In fact - it's when I've thought to myself that we should breeze the events because of having so much debuff that the running often starts.

I am sure though that I've run these events on all the toons mentioned above and had occasions where there has been no running. Maybe the debuff values on a Defender are so high they break the threshold straight away?

Either way - Sylvia's ceiling shinanegins are very annoying.

-H

Just had a quick look at this, as I built a fire/fire blaster with Regen when IOs first came out. It then got deleted pretty fast because survivability was still awful. My gut feel is that Regen on its own won't help much because of the speed at which a blaster (certainly my fire/fire) takes damage.

However, that was before Purple sets, so with that in mind...

My current Energy/Energy blaster is sitting at +90% regen from sets & uniques. This equates to a tick of 60hp every 6.32 seconds. I also have 40% to S&L as well as 43% to ranged, so "almost" soft capped. I also have 5 spare slots in Conserve power for slotting whatever Conserve power ends up looking like, so I'll have the additional benefits of that on top.

You mention below that this will equate to "320% regen, slotted". If I add that to my 90%, I end up with a tick every 2.35 seconds for 60hp when I24 hits. This is a massive improvement on its own.

If I were to max out regen, I would drop my defences to 38% S&L and 36% to ranged - still soft-cappable-with-a-purple. I'd also lose 3 force feedback procs. I'd boost my regen to +248% which would equate to a tic every 1.8 seconds (for 60hp). Without "Sustain", this would be a tick every 3.45 seconds

I think each person is going to have to look at it individually, but my gut is saying that I don't want to lose my defence and my FF procs as well as the +Recovery & +Accuracy in the 5 slotted thunderstrikes for a tick of health half a second sooner.

An interesting post though!

-H

Thanks for the replies folks.

I've taken DP/Rad to 47 and it's waiting on those animation changes. I have fingers firmly crossed. I really do like DP, and it works well with Rad. It's no screamingly fast, but it's fun to play.

Also done a StJ/Invuln tank to 50 which was possibly a mistake as I felt tough as old boots, but underwhelmed by the damage. That's the point of a Tanker though eh? Not sure I could repeat it on a scrapper unless general thoughts are that it would play much more damaging. Maybe StJ/somethingelse?

I think anything/fire blasters would drive me mental. I took Fire/Fire to 50 pre-IOs and deleted it (yet another mistake) and I think they lengthened FSC at some point. Combustion makes me want to sob though. I think /Fire is my least favourite blaster secondary.

Plant/Fire/Fire dom though... My Plant/Poison controller is 46 and about to be deleted so this might free up the concept.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

-H

Hi all,

I've just taken my Energy/Energy blaster to 50 and had a blast! (pun intended). However, now all my toons feel slow by comparison.

So I'm looking for something else to entertain me to 50.

I want to try and fly through spawns. Safety is optional (if it can be countered by skill) but the main requirement would be fast animating attacks that do a reasonable amount of damage. I don't want to mess about holding stuff, confusing stuff, or any other sort of mez, I just want to kill stuff fast.

Likewise, I don't want set up times with laying down buffs/debuffs (Traps/Kin/Rad/Dark etc) or weapon redraw. Smashy visuals would be nice, but optional.

In my mind, I'm thinking I'm left with another blaster of some sort, an offensive Cor/Def, or a Scrapper/Brute/Stalker (I may consider the small pause of AS acceptable).

Currently working on an MA/EA scrapper & a Fire/Shield brute but they feel a little "lumbering" compared to the nimble blaster.

Also working on a Storm/Energy Defender idea, but that's just on paper at the moment.

Anyone have any tips?

Appreciated!

-H

This is my live build at the moment, but will likely change as it's a bit old.

You could swap out the Decimations in Glinting Eye for three catalyzed ATO II's + 2 frankenslotters each as well as replace the Oblits in Dawn Strike for the other 3 ATO IIs + 3 frankenslots. Wouldn't be much gain in that though.

Light Form is auto (2.7 sec overlap) with Spiritual Alpha and there is no Hasten required (so LF can go on auto). With LF up, you're capped to all Resistances apart from Psi & 67% to Toxic w/Essence Boost. There's also a space for the KB-KD IO in Solar Flare.

Defences aren't great, but you can't have everything 14%ish to the positions - less on the typed stuff. Could drop a Glad proc in there somewhere for another 3% if you were so inclined.

It 'aint cheap and Endurance is a bit of a hog, hence I'll probably rework it at some point. Might be able to drop Clarion now that I've perma'd LF and look at Ageless Destiny.

Enjoy!

I've just levelled an En/En to 50 and +3'd it because it is sooo much fun.

I've found the mitigation from KB is great help solo, and on teams, careful placement of blasts to blow stuff back into the melee is not so hated.

Then if anything gets close, it gets the old 1-2 from those Energy Melee punches.

I built for speed, relying on T1 & T2 blasts, Torrent and Explosive blast with Energy Punch & Bone Smasher for melee. Have 4 Force Feedback procs in the build helps too.

Open with BU, Torrent & Ex Blast, then finish off by chaining power Bolt & Blast on the slivers of health the baddies have left. Doesn't matter if I get mezzed, because I can still use 'em both.

It's close to becoming my favourite toon.

-H

Just to confirm that my Fire/Storm put her version in Bonfire last night and it's... lovely.

Bonfire + Freezing Rain = flippety floppety fun.

The question is... I like Tornado and I like Bonfire. But which is better?

-H

Assuming you have access to IOs....

IOs themselves are described well here : Link

Once you've got your head around what they are, you need to start thinking about using them in your build. This guide will get you started with downloading the Mids Hero Designer, and building the toon the way you want.

The key thing to using IOs is having a destination in mind. You may want to reduce endurance issues, so you could build for +Recovery set bonusses as well as more -End cost in your powers. You may want to play a Hover-Blaster and try and maximise your Ranged defence so you get hit less. You might want to build for more damage.

Building with IO sets is a balancing act, because rarely can you have everything. That's why it's a good idea to prioritise what you need.

My Energy/Energy blaster went for speed and defence, picking +Recharge set bonusses as well as +Defence. My End costs are a bit ragged but I half-plugged that with my incarnate powers, which unfortunately are unavailable to you as a Premium player (so giving advice is difficult!).

Give the wiki page a read, and the Guide, then have a play with Mids, put up some builds (in the Blaster forums is probably better) and get some feedback. You'll be on your way in no time!

-H

Some comments from me. Please ignore what you don't like

- I agree with the previous poster about Endurance issues. Not sure if you're 50 yet, but Alpha Cardiac is almost a prereq. Certainly for my Fire/Storm it is anyway. The main problem is that all your toggles are slotted for not much End redux. Fire Cages & Freezing Rain are costly powers too.

- 2 End reducers in hurricane seems overkill. While I'm herdicaning, I'm generally concentrating on doing that and am not spamming other powers. once I've bunched em all up, I switch it off and start hammering out the other powers. Your playstyle may be different

- I've slotted a Basilisk like you have in Char, but also tossed two +5 Damage 50 IOs. Char is in my attack chain and I want it to do damage.

- It feels strange seeing damage in freezing Rain and no damage in Tornado. Especially with the upcoming IO to convert KB to KD which would be yummy in either Tornado or Bonfire. I'd swap the Posi Blast in FR for a single End reducer and slot up Tornado with Call to Arms to keep the recharge bonusses.

- O2 Boost... Hmm... I didn't bother with it. As a Fire/Storm I'm a demented DPS machine, holding, stunning & crisping everything. The thought of stopping to heal a team mate... Well... If you have the time to heal people, that's great, but no one is going to be looking to you to provide that service. Ask yourself how often you will really use it.

- Softcapping... Stuff never gets a chance to retaliate because it's either stunned, clutching its throat or trying to get out of Hot Feet/FR. My Fire/Storm has 13% to everything I think and I don't need anything more than that.

I think that's about it. The biggest issue I can see is End use. Assuming you have 100 END:

Fire Cages to open : 10
Flashfire to Stun : 8
Freezing Rain to debuff : 12
Run in and Fissure-Stomp : 8
Seismic Smash the boss/lieut : 13

Half your blue bar is gone, not counting any toggles...

Those are just my thoughts anyway... Take what you like etc etc...

-H

Having just levelled my 2nd Blaster to 50, my feeling is that the key thing to Blasters is having mobility.

It's great being able to ignore Mez with those three blasts, and if I had mobility, I could run away, or I could manoever myself to a place where I could make the most use of the limited powers I do have access to while mezzed.

Blasters basically have a bunch of ranged attacks and a bunch of melee attacks. That implies to me that manoeverability is a key function of the role. Scraps/Tanks/Brutes/Stalkies generally only have melee, which means all they have to do is walk up and hit something. Once it's dead, those movement keys come into play to move to the next target. A blaster is in & out of melee range - always on the move, always seeking terrain advantages.

So for me, a quick and simple improvement to Blasters would be to remove movement suppression when mezzed, and I liked the idea of being able to blast while on the move without rooting so I'd toss that in there too. Let them Vroom! as well as Boom!

-H

I am also thinking of ditching the Spiders. It was more a fun choice and I rarely use them, and never need them.

Powerslinger is now 50, and +3 after a very lucky Lambda/TPN/BAF/UG PUG marathon last night.

And it's the speed that sets this apart from my other 50's. The rate at which I can put out damage - able to chain the 1st 2 attacks almost one after the other with a sprinkling of Torrent & Ex Blast. It feels powerful and active. Like you say, Insps fall like rain and I eat them just as fast, maintaining good defences, as well as attacking strength. It's meant I can choose Barrier over Clarion because even through Mez, I can still attack, and at a decent rate!

Also, in teamed iContent, with multiple Destinies flying around, End, Mez & Defence are much less of a problem. Pick up those buffs, then go solo a crate

-H

I've been playing an Energy/Energy blaster for a while now (since the blaster study thread) and having a lot of fun.

One thing's for sure, there are many different ways to build a toon like this, and I also went for recharge+defence+fun. However my build is a lot different to yours!

I'm currently sitting at 44 and looking forward to 50. Not had this much fun since by BS/SD scrapper and Fire/Storm before that, and for me, En/En is an awful lot of boomy fun.

Aaanyway...

Looking at your (2nd) build, I feel sad seeing the Kin combats in Kick & brawl. the +Def from it is nice, but those 6 slots are quite a price to pay. I also think that your melee attacks are slightly underslotted (I can see why though). That is just my opinion for what it's worth and it depends on your own playstyle and what works for you!

A couple of things I've noticed (that I hope too many others wont!) is that there are a couple of temp powers that go for a song on the market that really help.

There is the Recovery Serum to help with End costs and the Kinetic Dampener which boosts S/L defence. Finally, there's the Med Pack for emergencies. When I created this toon, I put a stack of bids on each of these to cover my career and I still have plenty left stored!

So with a temp boost to recovery & the extra S/L defence, it's easy to move into "power up" mode when you need to and just cut loose. To that end, I built for speed, with Hasten & Burnout. With Conserve power & Burnout (as well as Nova) on long recharges, the +Recharge helps bring them back quick. I also stacked a load of Force Feedback procs in my oft used attacks.

This kinda forced my hand to take SS as a travel power, and with the +Stealth IO in sprint, that invisibility has been extremely useful over the 40-odd levels so far. The manoeverability in CJ makes SS really quite good, and there are plenty of jetpacks scattered through the game for the quick bursts of flight I may need.

In terms of defence, Scorpion shield was a must for me. My current build has 41 S/L & 42 ranged without the Kinetic Dampener. Energy is capped at 48% (NE only 37). At level 44 I think I'm at about 35% def to S/L/Ranged and that's where the Kinetic Dampener really comes into play allowing me to soft cap S/L for short periods of time.

So that's the method behind the madness so to speak. I think I've found a good balance between recharge & def, and in my back pocket, I have extra protection with the very cheap temp powers. On the plus side, I have Conserve power, Aim, buildup, Nova, 2 blues, burnout, aim, buildup, nova, conserve power, 2 blues, carry on as normal... It's extremely destructive, wonderfully boomy, and makes me smile. A lot.

I'm planning on the Agility alpha for the End mod and recharge bonusses, though I may switch to Spiritual for better recharge. Cardiac is something I wanted to avoid, because it doesn't give me more boom However if I want to run Sprint+SS+shields+manoevers I may end up with no choice.

I'll probably have a better idea when I get to 47ish and can start to slot the 50 enhancements I have saved up.

This is the current build plan. May swap manoevers with stealth depending on how things play out and I'm not sure if it will need a bit of a rework to make end management less of a chore. But that's my two cents. Attack chain is Torrent+Blast+ alternating T1 & T2 'till everything is dead. Anything tries to get in my face and I have the 2 quick animating melee attacks to smack them with. I chose not to take TF because it's slow, and no T3 single target attack because Arcanaville mentioned somewhere that it's not as effective as you might think. If it's good enough for Arcanaville, it's good enough for me.

So that's it - not so much a crit of your build as an essay on what I did. I hope it helps. Take what you will & move on

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...CCF51F645DEC94

(P.S - The Sniper blast is in there in case they make changes to Sniper blasts.)

This is my Mind/Psi at the moment with Dom on auto and no Hasten (Dom recharges in 85 seconds). I do have to keep an eye on the flashing Dom-expiring icon to make sure I don't lock myself out of the auto-click with a lengthy queued attack, but it works for me.

Purples are what used to be cheap ones but with converters, there's no "cheap" purple anymore

It's got control, damage, AoE... Even leadership! No defence, but with Perma-dom, lots of global recharge and the Spiritual Alpha everything is locked down very quick.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.956
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Antithesia: Level 50 Mutation Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:40(5), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(5), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(7)
Level 2: Dominate -- Decim-Dmg/Rchg:30(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:30(3), Decim-Acc/Dmg:30(7), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:30(9), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(9)
Level 4: Mind Probe -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(15)
Level 6: Telekinetic Thrust -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:40(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(17), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(19)
Level 8: Confuse -- SAotDominator-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg:50(A), SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear:50(21), SAotDominator-EndRdx/Rchg:50(21), SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx:50(23), SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg:50(23)
Level 10: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep:50(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(11), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(11), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(25), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(25)
Level 12: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 16: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 18: Total Domination -- UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(A), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg:50(29), UbrkCons-Hold:50(31), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg:50(31), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold:50(31)
Level 20: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(33), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(34)
Level 22: Drain Psyche -- Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(34), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(36), Adrenal-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:20(36)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 26: Terrify -- Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb:30(A), Cloud-Acc/Rchg:30(27), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:30(27), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg:30(29), Dmg-I:50(36), Dmg-I:50(37)
Level 28: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- CoPers-Conf:50(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg:50(37), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(39), CoPers-Acc/Rchg:50(40), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(40)
Level 35: Dark Embrace -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(37), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(42)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Oblit-Dmg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(40), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(43), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 41: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), Oblit-Dmg:50(42), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(45)
Level 44: Tactics -- AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(45), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx:50(46), AdjTgt-ToHit:50(46), GSFC-Build%:50(46)
Level 47: Dark Obliteration -- Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(50), RechRdx-I:50(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(50)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
------------

Yep. Values will vary, but here's my experience.

I spent inf buying up a dozen PvP enhancements before converters were launched. I then spent a metric ton of them trying to get Glad Armour def procs. One took just 1 converter to hit the proc, the longest took 49 converters. (using the "out of set" roll until I hit Glad Armour, then "in-set roll" to get the proc.) By the time I finished, I was crying at the amount of converters I'd spent. Going on the 300mil price tag of the proc at that time, it was a poor investment. The same went for Steadfast End/Res enhancements. Had a dozen of those bought for almost nothing, but it cost me a ton of merits to get the Res/Def proc and I now have a LOT of KB Prot IOs that I can't bear to spend converters on flipping in-set.

The "best" (for my patience/gambling levels) way I found of making money, that has a chance to give a return on investment for 1 converter, was flipping ATIOs. Buy for 2-3mil, flip with one converter and have a chance at a Brute/Scrapper IO that can make you 50-70 million.

Over a week (half an hour a night), I spent 131 converters on 90 ATIOs keeping track of my profit and converter costs as well as listing fees. After keeping about 30 of them (including that as a "loss") I had 1.8 billion in the bank which equated to roughly 13.7 million/converter. Would have been more if I'd sold everything I flipped. The thing for me, is that it was nowhere near as depressing as burning converter after converter on the same enhancement trying to hit that one "gold" IO. The most I used was 7 after an unlucky streak, but the average was 2 on any one IO. I think I was selling any IO that was selling for more than 4x what I paid.

So 13.7m/converter is my rate, but I'm no Marketeer and have no real desire to spend time doing it. Just a bit of common sense, small time investment, and a low initial outlay (2-3m per IO, 2 converters and potentially 20-80m profit). My head was saying, PvP IOs will always be earnable, but ATIOs are only there if folks pay for 'em. Eventually Super Pack madness will stop and they will become more rare. Super Pack II is sure to be on the way with ATIO v2 as well.

I'm sure other folks can get more from them, and obviously prices are subject to change Also - if this is a niche (which I doubt it is), prices will even out.

-H

Also an EU player, but with an NA account (since 2004).

My account management page shows:

[account name]
City of Heroes Freedom™

I guess EU players have the (Europe) tag.

-H

Thanks for the replies everyone. All opinions are valid!

I wasn't aware of the damage cap differences between Defenders & Corruptors so that's something to think on.

Without wishing to aggravate, I have taken a Fire/Storm troller to 50, and any other Fire/* Controller would pale I think, so whilst Fire/Kin sounds interesting, I'm not sure it's for me - but thanks Miladys_Knight for your comments. You are indeed right about it being pre-inherent fitness

I've also taken Plant/Poison to 47 and Plant controlling is a "do-it-once" powerset for me.

I have really enjoyed levelling my DP/Rad Corruptor (currently 46) and was thinking of another DP toon so that's a consideration. However I'm not sure I understand Draeth's post about Corruptor damage being vastly superior to Defender damage. Am I missing something?

From 1-31, solo, I get a 30% damage bonus on Defender attacks which takes the base damage higher than a Corruptor. However a Corruptor gets scourge which means low health enemies will die slightly quicker. Siphon Power is 5 percentage points better on a Defender. In my mind, the defender is slightly better. (Is that because I don't understand maths?)

From 32-37 the defender has access to FS. In team and solo mode this makes the Defender far superior.

From 38-50 both toons have access to FS. The Cor can buff to higher amounts due to the damage cap, but I'd need a lot of enemies to hit that cap. Fine & possible on a team, but unlikely solo unless I invest a load of cash into a S/L defence build (which would be easier on a Defender due to better bonusses from Leadership etc). In my head, this puts the Def & Cor on relatively even terms - for solo play only. In a team, I can see how the Cor is better, but I'm not sure vastly superior describes it, nor "100% better".

I don't generally build for optimal team play, because no-one ever notices, and my powers aren't always needed. I can plink away and have fun It's solo where I'd want to see the most benefit.

Have I got this all wrong?

Lastly, I did think about a Dark/Kin controller last night, and it was mentioned by Yogi_Bare above. Anyone know if the Damage buff from Siphon Power/FS would affect the Haunt & Umbral Beast?

Thanks for all the replies folks. It is helpful!

-H

Thanks for the replies...

Any thoughts as to which is better for Kinetics - Corruptor or Defender? I can never decide, and the higher buff numbers and the solo damage bonus make me tend to lean towards a Defender over a Cor generally because I so rarely see that Scourge message...

-H

I am struggling with a Kin concept and am looking for forumite thoughts on the issue.

I've tried playing a Kin for a long time now and the highest I got without deleting was an Energy/Kin Corruptor (42).

Fire/Kin Controller: Deleted at around 20
Electric/Kin Controller: Looks very sub-par on paper damage-wise and my L18 is unbearably slow unless on a team (not yet deleted).
Sonic/Kin Corruptor: Those sonic blasts are quite boring even though the damage was OK. By 37 I was bored stiff & binned him.
Kin/Electric Defender: Sapping concept that didn't work (better alternatives for a Sapper out there) Deleted in the mid-20's.

I'm leaning back to Kin/Energy on a defender or Energy/Kin on a Corruptor again. The KB of energy isn't great working with Kin, but the whole fast paced playstyle with flashy effects makes me smile which can overcome a lot of synergy issues.

Kinetics itself is quite intense. Siphon Power/Speed, Transference, Fulcrum Shift, the occasional heal, etc, so I was looking for a primary that wasn't so intense. Ideally I'd like to see an MM port of Kin, but I suspect there are balance issues preventing that.

I play a mix of team/solo content and am looking for something that's fun on the journey to 50. iContent represents about 20% of my play time so I'm not after a toon that only shines when it's been purpled and iTricked-out.

All thoughts appreciated!

-H

I've read this thread a few times and can see both sides.

I have a very love-hate relationship with my Emp/Psi, but then I've sunk billions into a +202% recharge build so that I can solo with some degree of effectiveness. Of the 9 primary powers, only 3 are self-affecting and 2 of them are on massive recharges which means the solo life is sad without a lot of cash ploughed in.

An Empath may not be a healer, but a third of their primary is healing in the traditional sense. The rez isn't so useful with vet-rezzes, wentworth-rezzes and store-rezzes as well as close hospitals in the iTrials. Most deadites tend to hit their rez, or hospital just after I've Venge'd them but before I can rez (so I respecced out of it). I have T4 destiny, so CM is also more limited in its usefulness.

Most toons like to cover their survivability without expecting reliance on outside buffs, so it's easy to see how Empathy looks redundant. However there are certain places where an Emp is welcomed.

The taunting tank in any iTrial can struggle if not +3/4, and on a Keyes run Empathy is also helpful. In fact, any mission/trial/TF where the team is not optimal, or there are a lack of level shifts, and Emp can help fill the gaps. And that's where the powerset really shines - filling gaps, or papering over cracks in sub-optimal builds. If you have a rocking team/league, all an Emp can bring to the table is AB and the Auras with a smattering of Fort, and even these don't carry as much weight as the debuffing primaries.

I wouldn't play Empathy on another toon. One is enough for me and if it wasn't my badger it would have been retired long ago. As for Psi blast... It doesn't bring anything noticeable to the table. I've never noticed any appreciable benefit in -Recharge and Defender damage is... well... pants.

I keep hoping for someone to look at Empathy and maybe "do something " with Clear Mind, Resurrection and one of the three heals. I doubt we'll ever see it to be honest.

And that's my tuppence ha'penny.

-H

DP/Rad here currently at 46.

Solo, throwing down the toggles does give your enemy plenty of time to react, and if your anchor dies quickly (which it tends to when you have a lot of AoEs) you can either waste time getting them up again, or just give up and blast. The upshot is that it can be a bit slow, but not all bad.

Teamwise depends on your missions. Rad loves hard targets because it debuffs them and lasts longer than 5 seconds. Any AV/EB fight is a breeze, and you have fun because the toggles stay on for a good long while and you get to blast your debuffed targets too. The ITF is really enjoyable TF (for me) because of all the EBs. You also tend to get to use Mutation & Fallout too

It's not so much fun on regular missions, because a team generally splatters through stuff so fast, your anchor is dead before you can draw your guns. If I'm on a fast moving team like that, I just blast away and forget the toggles.

Overall, it's been a pretty fun ride, and I really do enjoy the ITF. Hoping to enjoy some iContent too with those lovely hard targets. With hindsight, I'd have plumbed for a secondary that didn't require as much activity. I think DP/Kin would drive me round the bend. YMMV though

-H

I have been reworking my Mind/Psi for perma-Dom without Hasten (so I can auto-click Domination) and have come across a problem I hope someone can help with.

I have 5 seconds of overlap between Domination recharging and expiring. However I'm finding myself suffering from either a queued attack going off before it, or being stuck in an animation. Sometimes I even sit there, staring at the recharged power, with the green circle around it, willing it to fire and watching it do nothing whilst Domination crashes.

Does anyone know which goes off first? An Auto-attack, or a queued one? It feels fairly random.

Does anyone have a "safe" level of recharge (without Hasten) that allows them to automate Domination without it dropping "ever".

Nericus' point on the previous page about watching for the blinking status of Domination so that you can be ready to pause is helpful, but the whole point of building this Dom for perma-dom without Hasten is so that I don't have to "monitor" its status.

Cheers!

-H