Viper Knight

@ Trilby

Thanks for taking the time to look at my build and offer up some suggestions. Your build looks very similar to the first time i tried to construct a hover crab, but it does break a few of the guidelines I really wanted to try and avoid to get there. Your build does add the perma hasten and pets w/o alpha that i was looking for, but doesn't soft cap AoE or melee positional (though i realize fire/ice being that close will take care of some of those and does so in a fashion that leaves me doing things i can't or don't want to do with the build.

1. You used 5 Gravitational Anchors, which as of market time right now i'd be lucky to get at 1.2 billion (probably closer to 1.4 billion), which is 60 percent of the total maximum budget for this build. When you figure in the costs of 2 achilles' procs (~120 million total) 3 Positrons sets (~120 million) and 5 LotG+recharge (400-500 million) I'm way over budget before I've even IOd anything else. That makes this build impossible for me (unless of course you're donating )

2. You added Boxing, Tough, and Weave and while Tough and Weave are more serving as mules for extra recharge it's something i was seriously trying to avoid. I'm bored to tears of the fighting pool.

3. Your AoE attack chain includes Omega Manuever which is only up about every 90 seconds, which will leave me with a realistic attack chain of Omega>Venom Grenade>Supression>Web>VG>Supression>Web that will leave me with dead time in the AoE attack chain.

4. You did offer some nice alternatives, but didn't post any critique of my build, let me know what obvious holes i had, if there were going to be any draw time artifacts (like the web from mace on yours) etc.

Thanks so much for taking the time, if i had a bit more cash on hand this would be a bit more realistic a build for me, but the cost makes it out of my reach for the moment being. Feel free to offer any advice or critique of what i've got so far.

And please anyone else feel free to do the same!

This will be a mostly PVE toon who is running mainly as my solo toon. He will be a hover-blaster type with pets who has great survivability.

My Goals were as follows:
- Perma Hasten with Alpha Slot
- Permanent Pets x 3 with Alpha Slot
- Hovering as a mode of tactical combat coupled with blasting/AoE
- Soft Cap Ranged Defense and get AoE positional as close as possible
- Respectable ST and AoE chains
- No Purple Recipes
- Total IO costs under 2 billion market current market value

Eventual Incarnate Plan Will Be:
Agility Radial Paragon
Ion Radial Judgement
Preemptive Radial Flawless Interface
Cimeroan Core Superior Ally
Ageless Core Epiphany

Things I couldn't work in with my build that'd I'd be interested in:
- Soft Capping AoE and Melee positional, preference in that order
- Perma Hasten and/or Pets w/o Alpha slotting
- Extra Crowd Control w/o sacrificing too much DPS
- Any Switches to planned Incarnate that will synergize better than what i've chosen
- A better PPP as I have no real experience with them, I'm mostly blue side.

Things I'd prefer to avoid if at all possible:
- Fighting Pool Toggles
- Purple or PVP recipes (unless super reasonable)

once again, thanks for any assistance/critique!

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This will be a mostly PVE toon who is running mainly as my solo toon. He will be a hover-blaster type with pets who has great survivability.

My Goals were as follows:
- Perma Hasten with Alpha Slot
- Permanent Pets x 3 with Alpha Slot
- Hovering as a mode of tactical combat coupled with blasting/AoE
- Soft Cap Ranged Defense and get AoE positional as close as possible
- Respectable ST and AoE chains
- No Purple Recipes
- Total IO costs under 2 billion market current market value

Eventual Incarnate Plan Will Be:
Agility Radial Paragon
Ion Radial Judgement
Preemptive Radial Flawless Interface
Cimeroan Core Superior Ally
Ageless Core Epiphany

Things I couldn't work in with my build that'd I'd be interested in:
- Soft Capping AoE and Melee positional, preference in that order
- Perma Hasten and/or Pets w/o Alpha slotting
- Extra Crowd Control w/o sacrificing too much DPS
- Any Switches to planned Incarnate that will synergize better than what i've chosen
- A better PPP as I have no real experience with them, I'm mostly blue side.

Things I'd prefer to avoid if at all possible:
- Fighting Pool Toggles
- Purple or PVP recipes (unless super reasonable)

once again, thanks for any assistance/critique!

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1526;699;1398;HEX;|
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Once again thanks for everything.

@Abnormal_joe - I don't know if i can get away without a travel power...maybe i'll have to break down and buy the booster for ninja run or simply craft a few jet packs since your style seems to be, with a little modification, how i can make him the most survivable while not giving up too much.

Hopefully a few more people with chime in with builds just for some other opinions, otherwise i'm gonna to try rebuilding him since i have the technology in the next few days and see if i can do a better job of it next time.

@ Mack - Great suggestions! The recharge in RotP for me was a carry over for how often i'm biffing it atm with just an SO build, but slotting for stun duration does make a little more sense once i've got S/L/E/N closer to cap as I will die far less often Also the slotting of Rage is a great thing to consider; I did plan on perma-Raging, but having two extra slots could always come in handy and it actually, as you pointed out, gets me a much better recharge rate if i'm not going after positional defense caps!

You guys have been giving GREAT feedback, please keep the critiques and builds coming, each thing you guys point out is helping me a TON!

Thanks for the suggestion/points so far, i really appreciate the help Organizing the defense is exactly one of the things i was worried about and it definitely makes sense to rectify that in my final build, whenever i actually finish it.

@abnormal - I wanted to ask you some questions about your build, but please know that they're all based out of curiosity and have nothing to do with questioning your build's inherent quality, i asked for help but i also have to learn the ins and outs so i don't have to bother anyone as much next time! So looking at the build there isn't any travel power which i assume you make up for with jetpacks or something of that ilk. There's also a couple slots such as in Hurl and Taunt which give you some extra cold/fire defense which would seem to be extraneous. I know the cold resist is low, but does the extra 6.5% warrant the two slots? Also is endurancy/recovery a problem with this build? I'm sure i could slot a miracle and performance shifter proc to help out and going cardiac alpha slot would help out a ton, is that something that you'd do? Lastly, you've got 16 points in KB resistance, from my research it seems like 12 pts will protect you from 99.9% of PVE content, is there a reason that you slotted the extra one?

Please keep chiming in guys, i'd like to have as many suggestions/critiques/builds as i can get my grubby little hands on!

Started my FA/SS Tank over double xp weekend and I'm having a ton of fun with it. So I'm starting to think about my level 50 final IO build and have been constructing builds like crazy trying to balance good bonus defenses (though i'm not sure i can afford to get to the soft cap from either positional or S/L due to low total funds..I"m already stretching it with 12 Obliterations, 8 Kinetic Combats, 4 LotGs and the various Regen/Recovery procs), recharge, and damage. I'm only worried that I'm trying to get too many things and making myself more of a swiss army knife as opposed to the rambo knife I really want to be.

Please feel free to completely change anything, as right now I'm more concerned with different perspectives than sticking to a very basic plan. Also don't pay too much attention to the levels where slots were assigned on my build. At the time I made this i was more concerned about getting the right slots in the right spots.

Have at it! And thanks in advance for taking the time to help a tank/IO noob!

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

VK Test : Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fire Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(3), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg(3), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), TtmC'tng-ResDam(5), TtmC'tng-EndRdx(7)
Level 1: Jab -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 2: Healing Flames -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(7), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(11)
Level 4: Blazing Aura -- Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(33), Sciroc-Dam%(34), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(46), Armgdn-Dam%(46)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- Krma-ResKB(A)
Level 8: Haymaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(42), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 10: Consume -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(11), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(29), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(29)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(13), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg(13), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), TtmC'tng-ResDam(15), TtmC'tng-EndRdx(19)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 18: Burn -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Oblit-%Dam(23)
Level 20: Boxing -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A)
Level 22: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(A)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), RctvArm-ResDam(25), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(25), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27), RctvArm-EndRdx(27)
Level 26: Knockout Blow -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(34), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), T'Death-Dam%(37)
Level 28: Rage -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(33), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(37), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(40), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Build%(45)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LkGmblr-Def(31)
Level 32: Rise of the Phoenix -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 41: Char -- Lock-%Hold(A), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Melt Armor -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dam%(50)
Level 49: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(45), RgnTis-Regen+(50)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(50)

Thanks for all the advice everyone, after much deliberation and a late push for the previously unconsidered ElecMelee, i decided to go with SS and let the rage crash be danged!

Looking to build a Fire Armor tank and can't seem to make up my mind between a few different offensive sets. I have sort of whittled it down to three choices: Fiery Melee (the best defense is a good offense), Stone Melee (nice mitigation through soft and hard controls), or Super Strength (good balance though needs a bit of recharge). I'd like to try to come to a decision for double xp weekend (no time like the last minute) and have heard recommendations for all three from SG mates but was looking for a few more opinions. Ideally, i'm looking for something that using a few different builds can run as a main tank on a not-too-brutal TF while being able to solo efficiently. Thanks for taking the time to help me!

@ Blissful & Brute- Thanks for the tips, both Stone and SS are sounding pretty good at this point.

Thanks for all the help everybody!

First of all i think i may have misspoken a little. This toon solos just fine on +0/1 or +1/1 even just using SOs, but he is kind of a specialist and without support toons i'm having issues handling 'mobs' which is frustrating.

@Julio - Yeah, i'm thinking the combo leaves me a little too specialized--give me a boss or a couple of Lts and I mow through them like a knife through hot butter, but give me 8 white minions and all of a sudden i feel underwhelming to say the least. So seeing as I can't really pick a new secondary looks like I'm going to need to re-roll before i invest anymore time into him. He can be fun, but more often than not i'm frustrated.

@Joe - Thanks for the welcome. I think i'm having the same issue you had with yours...in certain circumstances he's a marauding menace but i don't think i want to spend the rest of his career doing doors at +1/1. I like the balance of ELA on paper, but it seems like without some expensive IO work picking up some quality defensive numbers is going to be a little tough.

Without worrying about what i selected for this last toon, what would anyone recommend for a powerset combo?

I came back to the game after a 2+ year hiatus for Going Rogue/Alpha Strike. I play mostly blue side, and rolled up a Praetorian Energy Melee/Electric Armor Brute i've since taken to Paragon (i won't post the build since it's very utilitarian atm, still slotting SOs). I'm just hitting my 30s and inadvertently it seems as though my build is very specialized for single boss/lieutenant fights and seems to get overwhelmed against large white conning mobs of minions and has some severe endurance problems as well. I just don't think i can get past the combination of slow EM animations and the lack of any real AoE until 49 though i know a couple of well slotted procs would handle the endurance problem easily.

So first of all, if you were me, would you re-roll?

Second of all, what primary/secondary/ancillary sets would you recommend? My goals are for a well balanced build who can solo without tons of IO requirements (i am a little on the poor side...5 sets of Kinetic Combat are not within my grasp currently) and will most likely be a praetorian to blue side build.

I know i'm asking a lot, but if you have any mid's builds you can post or PM me that would be great too. I wouldn't ask, but clearly I need some help from the experts.

Thanks,
VK