Unthing

In reply to MarquandDance

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I took stamina and i'm thinking of replacing it with acrobatics later. If you intend to PvP then you might want to rethink getting rid of Increase Density. It gives resistence to TP foe which your team will love.

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If I don't take stamina then Increase Density is here to stay. I just made a build without stamina that was much less forced than the powerpool heavy one.
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I'm no sure why your dying so much in melee range though, maybe try hanging back till your team aggro the mobs then heal yourself between end drainers?

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My theory is bad pickup teams and that I'm forgetting I'm a squishy. So I was using Short Circuit somewhat indescriminately rather than controlling my aggro. My last character was a tank but I think I am just about getting into the defender mindset. In the 2 task forces I did on Friday I was fine and I was on a good team and didn't feel picked on.

In reply to Carnifax

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It has me baffled too. In a big group last night I was in the midst of battle throwing out Short Circuits & Ball Lightnings and when I looked at my End at the end it was 90% full! When I solo I run out all the time. And in those cases I'd be focusing on single-target blasts.
.....
So I can't explain it any other way really. It would seem overpowered to allow the AOEs regain End too though.

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It could be Vigilance perhaps?

In reply to GForce
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I don't have stamina, transferance is all I need to get my endurance back up. No attacks slotted for endurance reduction.

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I am planning on running the Leadership pool or at least Tactics from it. However if I put enough end reducers on it and acrobatics I should be fine ( fingers crossed ). If not, I can always respec at 34.

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I love kinetics, never a dull moment

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And never a spare moment either .....

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My Kinetics Defender doesn't seem to need it in teams. I think its the endurance mods + electricity that make the difference in big teams. Short Circuit & Ball Lightning seem to give him back End a fair bit. In solo play he eats Endurance though.

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I was really only asking about Kin defenders. I think I might take the risk of just using Transference, but running the Leadership Pool and Acrobatics as well..

If I remember correctly from my investigations on the US boards, the players there said that electrical AoE don't add endurance, only the single target attacks do. Are they wrong, I'll have to check.

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Increased Density might be useful vs the late game mezzes. You've got CoT, Knights of Artemis and Carnies. I noticed a massive demand for O2 Boost from the storm set when fighting Knights.

I'd agree that ID is useless to try to keep up. Normally I'd slap it on the meleers at the start of combat so it'd protect against the start of combat, and after that only use to unmez people.

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Well if I forgo stamina from the build I arrange it so I only lose Ball Lightning. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Incidentally are there any of you who felt you NEEDED stamina. It might just be because of the flight pool and fly being so expensive that I felt I wanted it.

I just got the Spelunker badge mission for my new tanker.

This badge is one of the requirements for the Atlas Medallion Accolades ( +5 Endurance Permanently ), the other badges being History and Explorations one and kill 100 vamps and warwolves. See here for details.

I haven't decided when but probably tomorrow night around 10pm. So who wants to come along.

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I'll probably have Gemstone up and running at 24/25 before the weekend, so she'll be happy to join.

If there's too many people who want in on the trial, i'll volunteer to lead a 2nd team.

i planned to do the trial on saturday around 13:00 GMT, but apparently someone beat me to it

no problem...if there's a team, i'm in...if there's not, i'll make one.

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Ummm, this was last weekend!

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Yes, thanks for all who turned up, it was about half people on this post and half pickup team. The Reactor is so boring these days....

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Hit 50!


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Oooo, nice picture.

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Sadly no pics of the ding itself, as I was busy slapping wolfies at the time.

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I think I might have one, I haven't looked at it yet though.

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unstoppable - dont leave it so late, take it early it needs so little slotting (3 recharge), and try and use it as much as possible. sme people dont like it and use it as a omg button, to me this is a waste as its a great power - just make sure you get used to the crash time by keeping a clock handy, it doesnt take long to get a good feel for when and where to use it - as long as you're up for using it in the first place.

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I tend to agree with this. I didn't get it at 32 and as a result there was always something better to get until 44. I found that against some of the nastier praetorians ( Blue Clockwork, Black Swan's Minions etc ) it was a godsend but I really wasn't confident in using it until my late 40s. I would say get unstoppable and then forget about debt and over use it for a level, once you get used to the crash it grows on you. I imagine it is good against Rularuu too. A clock or using Herostats is probably essential though.

Now I'm planning my respec for my level 31 for when I hit 32 ( so I can sell SOs ) and get Fulcrum shift.

My current build is

Primary:
Transfusion, Siphon Power, Siphon Speed, Speed Boost, Increase Density, Transference

Secondary:
Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Ball Lightning, Short Circuit, Tesla Cage, Zapp.

Power Pools
Flight: Hover, Fly
Leadership: Maneuvers, Tactics
Speed: Hasten


I don't really like the Flight pool that much, so I'm considering getting the jumping pool for Acrobatics ( knockback and hold protection ) and also I want stamina. Tranference is great but I found that sometimes the reliance on being close to the action can get you killed. I'm not so decided on Stamina as Acrobatics though.
I don't think sapping is a viable spawn defence anymore since ED, it is too risky when you have to hit things twice, however it is still good against bosses. So this means dropping the following powers.

Increase Density, I rarely find this useful and it is a pain to keep on people.
Ball Lightning, Aggro magnet with minimal damage and poor end drain.
Zapp, the activation time is too long, by the time it's over someone else has killed my target.
Tesla Cage, oh no how I will miss you lovely Tesla Cage. I'll have to wait until 35 to get this back.

I did 2 task forces on Friday and a respec trial and found that life was more fun trying to see how much I could debuff bosses with the Siphons and remove all of their endurance with Short Circuit, Tranference and Transfusion. My poor attempts at offending are probably numbered.

Sorry to disagree with you J...

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I agree with everything that Golden said but RPD, I have and the difference is big when you fight foes like nemeses and the minions from Requiem(doggies!!), Battle Maiden and all of the nemesies army, I was able to tank +8 Nemesis and Pretorians from Battle Maiden and even Battle Maiden herself if not for the uberly-short taunt duration, due to the S/L res to the cap..

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If you want to tank +8s S/L enemies. You should pick RPD, personally I had no problems with S/L enemies at all without it but I don't remember fighting +8s or having to in I6.

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Hasten isn't worth it for a tanker now that it's no more perma and if you're goin for the Fighting pool you'll already have enough end problem without it chopping away your end..
SS is one of the worst travel powers around Imo as you're stuck with a 10 ft tall wall..
I've gone with the Leaping pool because SJ is fast and you'll get Combat Jumping to counter a bit the def buff from Unyielding.

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Hasten is up about 66% of the time, I found that given my sparse attack chain Hasten was useful and it is always good to reduce Dull Pain's downtime. Given that Dull Pain is one of thekey survival powers for me I would say Hasten is worth it just for that.
Superspeed is my favorite travel power as it is the only one that feels fast. The only places it has ever let me down are Terra Volta and the Shadow Shards, other than that there is always a little shortcut somewhere if you know your maps. However Combat Jumping is certainly a good power too, especially if you are going for Weave later on. Super Jump is my 2nd favourite, but some people swear by fly, which I hate.

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Yeah I have perma rage, kept 1 acc in all powers and put 2 to hit buffs in rage. Does mean you hardly miss, last slot in rage has an end redux to reduce the crash effect.

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Does the end red actually reduce the crash or just the activation cost. Someone posted in a previous thread saying that it doesn't make any difference to the crash, only the activation cost.

I think Rage is a 20-25% to hit buff, so with 2x To Hit Buffs you would be between 28-35% to hit buff. At the lower end of the scale, you cap on Purples with an ACC SO. At the upper end you will cap at purples+1.
If you didn't slot ACCs you would be at about 75%-85% against purples and 80-90% against reds. Capping on yellows to oranges. However in PvP you will pretty good against pesky defence based builds.

Rage needs 3 SOs of recharge to perma. I waited until level 22 to get it and slotted it at 23, stamina was just too important to miss for another 2 levels. Rage has a large end drop when it finished, so if you are at less than 20 endurance, bye bye toggles...

It does mean that I could drop all the ACCs in my attacks ( although I kept one in KO blow ). However I have started to add to hit buffs to it too, as I am still missing oranges and harder 15% of the time.

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Hmm... I was sorely tempted by KO blow alright but the recharge time put me off... With a good 50%+ fury going a lot of the time, I find my other attacks doing plenty of damage but now I'm wondering how good KO blow would be with that much fury

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Very! Especially with Perma-Rage too adding another 80% on to your damage. Thinking about it you probably made the right decision, unless like me you took a power pool attack early on.

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Also going to get boxing/tough for the extra attack/damage res but end drain is always a concern... *sighs*

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Boxing is like a slightly more damaging, slower recharge version of jab. It is a nice fury builder. Tough spoilt my wonderfully planned low end consuming build, I'm hoping that consume will fix it.

Tough Hide vs Weave, take Tough Hide every time, it's higher defence and isn't a toggle. However I took both as well as Tough, but didn't get RPD.

Personally I would leave Tough until you have some slots spare to spend on it, maybe get it at 30. I think you probably will want to put 2 end reducers in it.

At level 35 and 38 you HAVE to get your big attacks, they are what makes energy secondary worthwhile. This means you only have 4 more levels where you can get powers, 26, 28, 30 and 32 ( reserved for Unstoppable ) before you get access to the big attacks and epics.

So make sure you get a aggro tool ( Taunt or Provoke ) in those 3 unallocated powers. I'd say Taunt, Tough and Tough Hide are the ones to go for.

I managed fine without Resist Physical Damage once I got Tough so it might be worth considering dropping RPD if you get a respec and want another power.

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Anyone have any thoughts on consume? I'm planning on getting it (for the obvious reason ) but is it worth it or would stamina and careful attacking suffice? Would an end redux in each attack help?

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I have 1 end rec in all attacks and toggles and stamina and I am still having minor endurance problems ( caused mainly by Tough ). I haven't got Consume or Blazing Aura.

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Didn't get knockout blow yet, slow recharge and want to keep attack chain going. I find jab, punch and haymaker plus damage taken more than sufficient for building fury but I do solo a lot...

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That's a shame, having access to an attack that good at level 8 really helped me. KO Blow is truly awesome, able to knockout a minion in one go with Fury. When I was planning my build I realised that I could only get one of Haymaker or Knockout Blow in the early levels.
However I got Boxing ( prerequisite to Tough ) which allows me to have a nice attack chain before Haymaker even with the long recharge of Knockout blow.

Also another bit of advice, get the Jumping Pool. You can get Combat Jumping for Immob protection and Acrobatics for Knockback protection.

Generating Fury ( not Rage ) in teams is hard. I just gave up. Fury is less important when you get Rage ( level 18 power ) as that provides a great deal of your damage boost +80% IIRC.

I took Jab, Punch, Boxing and Knockout Blow as my 4 early attacks ( at levels 1,2,6 and 8 ). I got Haymaker at about level 26. I haven't got Blazing Aura yet.

Make sure you take Healing Flames and 6 slot it ( 3xheal 3x recharge ). It's one of the best powers in Fiery Aura and it gives you something to do when Rage crashes.

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To form an attack chain we need to cover for everything, activation time, recharge, damage per endurance, damage per second, damage per animation/activation (where jab stands kind of flat, while KO Blow and HayMaker would be pretty amazing ).


[/ QUOTE ]Or we could just get all the powerful attacks available and keep using them whenever they're available

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Doing that is the best way if you have no endurance problems.

However I think the point is that Ko Blow and Haymaker cost lots of endurance and I don't want want to waste them ( on enemies with a sliver of health ). Also I think they may have slightly longer animation times than Jab/Boxing/Brawl and Punch. So I tend to use Jab/Boxing/Punch initially with the odd Haymaker and KO Blow on the nasty enemies. As I get angry I use KO blow as much as possible.

After testing this out I've found that this is DEFINITELY a buff for tanker. It does however make the second attack somewhat redundant though.

Lower levels are much easier.

Meet at 2pm at the end of Valor Bridge where the contact is.

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2) tanks dont have to be as weak as wet paper bags at any level and can be played as a tank from day 1. I know this.
3) attempts of holding aggro doesnt have to lead to death at all with the right gameplay at anypoint in the game against anything but not of any level. I am dead certain of this.
4) achievements of points 2 and 3 is a sign of a good team not simply a good tanker.

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I'm playing a new tanker(lvl 12)and being Ice I picked my taunt aura by lvl 6 and got Taunt at lvl 12 and I can tell you FOR SURE that even that is far too much aggro, even in a 3 people team due to the [censored] def that you get from TOs and DOs I can't really hold any more aggro that a regen could handle, still having all my defensive powers except Permafrost that I won't pick at all(Hoarfrost, Frozen Armor, Wet Ice).
Not being able to face a +1 Lieut means REALLY having some serious problem with the balance between def/res and attacks..
A blaster or a scrapper can take him down fast, a controller can mez it and dispose of him as he please, a defender can debuff the snod out of him...What about a little lvl 12 Ice tank?He has p.oo damage and [censored] defense, not being able to take him down fast enough..

Unless I'm in a team with an empath that focuses on me AND another kind of healing AT(Dark, Kin, Rad or even a Stormie has helped once)I really can't hold much more aggro than 3 yellow minions...

With SOs it gets far better, but till then we really have poor def/res..

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Interesting, I have that to go with my Ice/SS, however I would say that just because you have Taunt doesn't mean you should spam it. I normally use Taunt ( on Golden Golem ) to get allow me to fight the enemy on my terms, rather than specifically to get aggro.

I was talking about Tough Hide, the level 35 power in the Inv set, but yes, Tough from the fighting pool is generally more useful than the Passives too.

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Captain_Solaris mate apart from lack of end costs, 3 res so's on unstoppable and 3 tohits on rage i actually think your "current" build is closer to the truth of what you need, its what your used too, you levelled up with it so it must say something. A mere test on test server can be meaningless compared to experience.

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I don't disagree with the to hit buffs in Rage, I think that it could be a good idea, to allow you to allows hit everything, I believe Rage is about as good as Focussed Accuracy as far as a to hit buff is concerned.

Now I'm confused, what time is Manticore? 6 and 10?

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Any ideas on the day/time yet?

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I'm thinking of Sunday afternoon. The Eden trial lasts about 4 hours max and I think there isn't any danger of running out of time. You either can get through the walls or you can't. So is starting at 3 okay?

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Should be, I do need to go at 5ish though. (my horrid rl, it's the same everyday )

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We could move it back to 2 perhaps.

Can everyone make that?

Momma Crow lvl 33 Warshade
British Lion - Lv32 Fire/Ice Blaster
TsubaXIII - lvl 28 scrapper
Tufty's Scrapper - lvl 27 scrapper
Terra Girl - lvl 29 controller
Booster - lvl 30 defender

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if you are refering to me and Phil being available on sunday afternoon then its the sewer trial we are doing and not Eden.

Last mission of sewer trial is a timed 1.5hr one so we will be done for 2pm onwards.


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DOH! I was, however this gives you 1 hours to detox from that Hydra nastiness and get some food.

Booster is up for it, I hope you all like speed boost. It should cut the Task Force time down by about 10%.

Last time I did this one it took less than 2 hours.