The_Laughing_Man

Just to also add that Shield comes with Defence Debuff Resistance (DDR), so when you get smacked by a sword that lowers your defence, DDR will resist that debuff.

So powers like Grant Cover, which offer defence to the team only and not you, become a viable choice because of the DDR.

-H

Interesting thread!!

I just started looking at this the other day on my toons...

Blaster - 50. Fire/Fire (deleted pre-IO launch which was a regret!) Have a Rad/En I'm slowly levelling.
Brute - 50. SS/Wpr (boring, then deleted) & DB/Elec (boring & to be deleted)
Corruptor - In Progress - 37 DP/Rad (fun), 36 Sonic/Kin (a bit dull) and 30 Fire/Dark (struggling to enjoy).
Defender - 50. Emp/Psi who has been retired due to my perception of Emp being pretty much overshadowed by other sets. Also a TA/A who was a lot of fun and felt like he made a big difference on teams.
Dominator - 50. Mind/Psi with perma Dom and no Hasten. Much improved since being able to put Dom on Auto.
Scrapper - 50. BS/SD. Tons of fun all the way to 50.
Stalker - In Progress - 28 NB/Nin. Rolled a lot of Stalkers up to the late 30's then deleted. Not a massive fan of the AT, though I22 buffs may change that.
Tanker - 50. Ice/Ice (pretty boring - then deleted) & Invuln/SJ which literally flew to 50.
Controller - 50. Fire/Storm. Melts through pretty much all non-icontent. Probably my favourite toon next to the BS/SD scrapper. Did get an Ill/FF troller to 47 then deleted it due to a 7 year frustration!
Mastermind - In Progress - 45 Thugs/Traps that is a lot of fun, and a 28 Necro/Time concept build.
Peacebringer - 50. Perma LF without Hasten. Yummy and fun.
Warshade - Way too clicky for me. Not going to bother.
Arachnos Soldier - 28 and a bit bored.
Arachnos Widow - To do...

I also took a look at all the "elements" within the powersets, and whilst the "50" goal is interesting, I also want to play through the different special effects. Electricity, Dark & Fire don't feature much in my toon list and Earth and Grav don't feature at all.

My only regret was deleting my Fire/Fire blaster after hitting 50 pre-IO days. I think IOs and iContent would have made a very different toon.

-H

One character that does have it (and needs it) is my Emp/Psi. With such huge recharge timers on 3 main powers (2 auras and AB), and long timers on Fort and Rez (not so important), it's a real boon.

However, it annoys me to have multi-click problems on long timer powers, and I tend to try desperately to build without hasten so I can auto-click those powers.

To that end, I've achieved perma-dom on a Mind/Psi dominator, perma-dull pain on an Invuln/SJ tank, and perma Light Form on my PB. All without hasten. All so I can have those powers on auto. It costs a lot, and required a bit of juggling with iPowers, and not all get to keep it exemped, but that's a small price to pay (in my mind).

Exemping down is generally done for team activites, where that "super perma" build is less important. Things like SSAs... Well, I have so many characters that can do them at various levels, it's not important if a handful would struggle.

-H

I always wondered if it was such a massive problem... Why doesn't anyone roll up some toons on some servers and go looking for these afk toons? There is a limit to places to hide... After all, it is PvP...

I considered it myself, then realised that the only IO I'd ever need would be a +3%Def IO, and even then only as a luxury. That wasn't worth the hassle of rolling up (& levelling) or transferring toons to the lower population servers to go hunting.

As other posters have said. Farmers = more availability to the common player which is a good thing. Maybe it isn't such a big problem.

-H

Just happened to my Controller and a Scrapper on Virtue.

To those this hasn't happened to - are your power trays locked? Mine aren't.

-H

I've pondered this same question...

Base regen is a percentage of your health back every x seconds. Regen works by decreasing the time between these regen ticks.
+HP increases the amount of HP each tick heals.

The way I reasoned it was by taking a time period (say 10 seconds) and working out how many HP I could heal over that time. That gives you some idea of how the balance between HP & Regen works.

(Bad) Example:

In ten seconds you can either :

Have 5 ticks of 100HP (lots of regen) or
Have 3 ticks of 112HP (lots of +HP Bonusses)

That is a wild and arbitrary example, but it illustrates the difference. As to which is better... Well, it might be obvious in my example, but you'd need to take into account your defences. If you get hit big once in a fight, but everything else misses (Def build for example) you might prefer to have a bigger heal less often, rather than more ticks of a smaller amount. If you're constantly taking damage (Res/Regen build) you might prefer more ticks at the expense of less health healed per tick.

I wrote a guide on Regen here. (Image copied below for illustration)



By changing the stuff in columns F & K (or just copy what Mids says) you can look at B16 & 17 and see how many regen ticks you get and how much each tick heals. HP/sec rates can be misleading because you don't actually get xhp back every second.

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse further...!

-H

Yep. I did overlook those 5% bonuses... I knew there was something else to tweak before posting...

Aaanyway...

In terms of recharge vs end cost:

I'm not sure it makes a massive difference to be honest. Rez is handy, but I don't use it hardly at all. On Leagues, most folks hit the hospital before I can get to them (if they were close to me they wouldn't be dead). A lot of toons have self-rez these days (temp power, vet reward etc) and will hit those before I can get to them. It costs 26 End to Rez. That's a quarter of your End bar. If you're a mobile, blasting, buffing defender, then that's a lot to lose in one hit.

CM is very much up to you I think. I have a lot of global recharge, so I let that take the strain and put the end reducer in to keep the blue bar hit down.

Good luck with your build!

-H

Grats on the big ding! Just thought I'd chip in for what it's worth...

I had a look at the builds and am in agreement that I can't see much in the way of what you're trying to achieve.

In terms of Empathy: AB, the 2 auras, Resurrect and Fort all have "long - longish" recharge times. RoA is also lovely to have as much as possible as you have no way to boost your own damage, or debuff the enemy.

To that end, I've focussed on a heavy +Recharge build using the lone LoTG you set out with. In practise, if you can run the SSA's (three of them) and then do one a week later, that gives you 4 Hero Merits which will buy 2 LoTGs. They're not easy on an Emp (not a much of the game is easy solo with an Emp) but I'm sure someone will help - especially when you can turn them into a killing machine.

I've also assumed Tier 1 Spiritual (need to click "Incarnate" on in the planner), added Hasten and MoB at the expense of Grant Invis and Long Range Teleport. Hasten is (in my mind) critical with so many long recharge timers. With the build below, you'd be able to get perma Hasten with Tier 4 spiritual and just one more LoTG.

The general effect now, is that your 2 auras (which do help you a LOT) are down for much less time (50 seconds down, 90 seconds up as opposed to 150 seconds down, 90 seconds up)

Swapped recharge for End redux in Rez & CM. Rez uses a large chunk of End when you use it, and unless you're on a dreadful team, you won't need it that often. Besides, the global recharge built in makes it come back quick anyway. Same goes for CM.

In fact, this global recharge boost has meant much less of a need for recharge slotting in individual powers. In terms of defence, I didn't bother on my Emp/Psi because I went purple with it, and have 30 seconds downtime on the auras. With Destiny/Clarion I'm a regen scrapper for 90 out of every 120 seconds. If you decided to go that route you could remove the Steadfast +3% def, and the two health procs, as well as save a few slots in Manoevers (which isn't doing much anyway). My way of thinking is that for 30 seconds I need to survive until I can run both auras again.

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...F3E07FA4AAE002

So that's my thoughts. Take what you like/ignore as you see fit. Just ideas!

-H

If you re-subscribe and become a VIP - all your slots will open up. They appear locked at the moment because you are effectively a Premium player. Premium players only have access to limited character slots.

-H

And no one has mentioned Kindred... The Embraced yet! I remember avidly watching the 1st episode hoping it would do justice to the RPG. Well... I was very young...

But with regard to decent vampire stuff a lot has been mentioned in this thread. The original Fright Night, and Near Dark (I hate it when they 'aint been shaved...) are probably my all time favourites. Shadow of the Vampire was so well done as well.

Razorblade Smile... lol... Is that 2 of us in the world that have seen that film? Let me guess... Bought on the strength of the DVD/video cover?

Wolf movies have been better. Dog Soldiers and Ginger Snaps stand out for me. "There is no Spoon!" So many one liners.

Good stuff!

My 7 year badge was due in Sept but not received.

I raised a ticket and it was acknowledged to be a problem "to be fixed with a game patch" at some unspecified point in the future. My ticket was then closed.

I would encourage you to also raise it as a ticket so that it moves up the "priority to fix" list.

I'm surprised tickets get closed when the problem is still outstanding, but that must be their fault management process. :shrug:

Poor customer service if you ask me.

-H

Hmm interesting...

Looking at my "actual" numbers, I'd drop from 3500 to 2400 HP when DP wears off. I guess my only concern would be surviving those few seconds until it fires off again (giving me a nice heal)

Thanks for clarifying,

-H

Thanks Warkupo.

Though the hilarity would be subjective I guess

-H

I have done a search, but come up empty so far, so am resorting to the question...

What happens to your HP when Dull Pain expires?

I'm building an Invuln/StJ Tank with whom I'm having a LOT of fun at the moment, and am fiddling with mids for perma-Dull Pain. However the best I can do (without Hasten and without sacrificing Def) is a recharge of 125 seconds (5 second downtime).

The reason I went no Hasten, is the glowy hands, and the fact that I want to put DP on auto.

So for arguments sake, lets say I have 100HP. Dull Pain boosts that to 140.

Now, I fight a bit, and let's say I'm on 20 HP when the power expires. Will I die due to losing the extra 40HP, or will I remain on 20 HP, it's just that my max HP drops from 140 to 100?

Sorry if this is a daft question. I'm just trying to figure out how bad it is to have downtime on the power.

I'm aware that it is mainly used as a self-heal, as well as a HP boost, but I'm trying to build an invuln/regen tank and want to see how it plays out having the layered defence of invuln + massive regen + huge HP.

Cheers in advance!

-H

Also /signed.

It would use existing maps too, hence a little less work.

Nice idea.

-H

One thing I found was that notching up the diff to anywhere from x3 to x8 depending on what you're facing also helps.

Defeating more mobs = more insps. It's like being a CEBR Brute without the defecit of playing at level 1.

With the wide variety of AoE controls, if there's 8 in a spawn or 3, it makes little difference when they're stunned/held. But more mobs = more insp drops.

I tend to mow down the first group, eat all the dropped insps, then mow down the next group and chew on the insps dropped from them. Rinse/repeat. With a couple of purples, oranges and maybe a BF or 2 in there, your defence is increased quite dramatically.

If you're enjoying it as much as you are right now, why change it? That's what I love about Fire/Storm. There are so many ways to skin a cat.

-H

That's a really good guide Draggynn. Time to get it posted up I think

It's funny how you learn something new every day - now I just have to decide whether I want to have fun enjoying watching hard targets burn for longer, or whether to put recharge in FR and make them burn quicker...

Pulled the proc in Char and the +Def in Mist to give me 2 more slots in FR. A couple of +5 End/Recharge def debuff IOs has the recharge down to 16 seconds which is 5 more seconds of overlap.

Heh... Is it worth it? Not sure anyone could say for sure and depends, as you say, on playstyle. Most of my "hard" targets are AVs/EBs in iTrials/50 TFs where I'm on a team and melting stuff anyway. Solo - the worst I face is Bosses who spend most of their time holding their throats.

Interesting thoughts though.

-H

Heh, an interesting discussion to be sure.

I have Chance to Hold in Fire Blast, Ring of Fire & Fire Cages as well as Char.

I tend to agree also that Char is for bosses and getting them locked down quick. I've slotted Char for damage anyway. If it's still choking after 20 seconds, then it's a) lucky to be alive because I forgot about it, or b) still choking/jangling due to another proc that's been fired.

Buzzsaw is right as a name for this build though. In terms of control, with so much recharge, my main controls are Cinders and Flashfires with a dash of Freezing rain and Fireball.

In terms of keeping End use under control, I've found it really important to carefully slot your attacks for End reduction as much as possible. Cardiac was a breath of fresh air!

Also, with regard to Freezing Rain, I have End redux in that rather than recharge. It costs a whopping 18 to cast so having it come back faster only means it's costing me more End. Either my enemies are dead, or I'm dead inside 20 seconds, so having it available again 'aint much help. By the time I've moved on to the second group, it's recharged. On groups, against AVs and the like, I can keep it perma.

I still need to tweak this (yet again) to remove the +Def from Steamy Mist (I don't need it) but I'm not sure how to improve on it as there isn't really much that I can't do with it.

I'm building an Inv/StJ Tank so have a little familiarity with the powers.

One thing I'm not clear on with this build, is what you're trying to achieve... Add to that my confusion at where an extra +100% recharge was coming from (it was the Force Feedback proc) and I've been scratching my head for a bit

Anyway, these are my thoughts...

- The +Def additional slot in CJ is only adding +0.5% defence. You do obviously get the 2 set bonus of 10% regen, but moving this to a Healing slot in Health would give you +17% effective regen.

- The 3rd recharge IO in Hasten is only giving you 3 seconds less downtime. Worth a third slot?

- 6 slots in Stamina and I'm not sure on the benefits. It must be the set bonuses you were after, but I can't see what benefit they bring.

- Dull Pain is a major power in the form of a Heal as well as Max HP (which increases your effective regen as well) and it's on a slow recharge (155 seconds w/Hasten)

I had a play with the exact same powers and came up with the following build: (powers chosen in no particular order)

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Street Justice
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Initial Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 2: Heavy Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(9), RctvArm-ResDam(9), RctvArm-EndRdx(11)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 8: Sweeping Cross -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(21), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(45), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 10: Combat Readiness -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 12: Rib Cracker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 14: Resist Elements -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(27), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(27)
Level 16: Unyielding -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(37), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 18: Spinning Strike -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(23), Posi-Dmg/Rng(25), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25)
Level 20: Resist Energies -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(31), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 22: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-EndRdx(31), RctvArm-ResDam(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 26: Weave -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-EndRdx(33), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(34), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 28: Shin Breaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 30: Invincibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(42)
Level 32: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 35: Crushing Uppercut -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(36), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(36), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(36), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Tough Hide -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(43)
Level 41: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 47: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(48), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(48), GSFC-ToHit(48), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(50), GSFC-Build%(50)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- Heal-I(A), EndMod-I(50)
------------
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17), RgnTis-Regen+(19)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(40), EndMod-I(40)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 1: Combo Level 1
Level 1: Combo Level 2
Level 1: Combo Level 3

The differences?

Pros
- 46% S&L Def (softcapped) vs your 41%
- 34% F, C, E & N Def vs 30/25 on your build. the above build is a purple insp from the soft cap to everything (excluding what you can find with Invincibility)
- 116% overall recharge vs 105%
- Slightly better end recovery/second and slightly less end use/sec than your build.
- Perma dull pain vs 35 second downtime dull pain

Cons
- Removed the chance for recharge proc
- 233% regen vs your 284%
- 111% max hp vs your 117%

Resists are about the same.

If you could stretch to the Glad +3%def proc, you could probably drop a Kin Combat set and replace it with 3 frankenslots to free up a slot, or shave some slots out of Weave and lose the 5% recharge bonus it's there to provide.

If you're not set on those power choices, Taunt + a 6 set of Mocking Beratement gives some nice +Def & +Recharge bonuses too...

Lastly, you might consider using any spare Enhancement Boosters to lift the 2 Recharge IOs in Hasten to +5's (would save 6 seconds of additional downtime on the Power)

-H

I have it on a Tank and am enjoying it a lot.

Damage seems OK (I'm used to Ice and I despise the sound effects with SS) and it flows very nicely.

To the poster that thought they were missing a bit more than usual, there is a post I read here that describes how Gauntlet could be stealing Streakbreaker auto-hits from your regular attack chain causing the perception that you are "missing more". Not saying it applies in this case, but if you have a Tank, then that post is worth a read.

-H

Just make sure your SG isn't on Exalted (the VIP server) as he won't be able to log on to that server.

-H

Excellent guide and excellent follow up posts too.

A couple of tips from me for the new user:

- Keep your Window>Advanced Totals open and you can see your total Defence & Resist values change as you add slots and set bonusses. Sometimes you can spot that adding a +Defence enhancement in a power may only increase your overall defence by .5%. You can then ask yourself if that slot wouldn't be better spent elsewhere.

- Right clicking a power will "lock" it to the data window (bottom left) allowing you to make changes to your build and see how it affects that power. Building for perma Dull Pain? Lock Dull pain to the window as you build and you can see how the recharge time comes down to the duration. Once duration is longer than recharge - you've "perma"'d it. (Left or right clicking the "unlock" word in red on the data window will return you to normal)

-Turning on the "Incarnate" toggles will allow you to see the effect of your Alpha Slot (as well as others if you need them) on your powers. If you plan at running permanently at 50, then you can create a build around the bonusses from your Alpha slot. This also works well for Accolades that offer permanent bonusses. (just noticed Aggelakis mentioned this above)

Completely echo the advice above though about how useful it can be to plan your build in advance.

I tend to level up with the "this sounds fun" method, but also have an alternate build which is being built for IOs/sets. Not strictly a mids guide comment, more about the fact that you can plan and build a 50 while you're levelling using alternate builds.

Good stuff!!

-H