Warkupo

The force of my anger allows me to shoot bullets at a much higher velocity, so I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

I logged out of real life once. True story.

What OV_ohms said; Foot Stomp needs the ground to work.

I don't suggest *slotting* Hover as a means of seriously increasing your defense. Typically I will throw a Luck of the Gambler: Global Recharge, and that's it. The gains it gets from defense slotting are so minuscule that they are usually hardly worth it. That having been said; when building for defense every little bit helps. Hover's natural 1.88 defense, enhanced with a LoTG: Global Recharge to a value of 2.22% defense *is* worth it if you are seriously chasing a soft-cap build.

I *do* consider Hover a viable form of combat maneuvering, however. I wouldn't personally add slots to increase it's movement; You gain maybe 4 MPH from the first slot and not much more for consecutive slotting. At 24 MPH, it's fast enough, I feel.

It's nice for melee characters to get above the combat in order to more efficiently use PBAOE's as well as just generally moving around. Especially nice on mastermind heavy teams as you can much more easily maneuver through the thousands of ****ing pets all over the place.

It's similarly nice for ranged characters, especially things like energy blasters who can use the altitude to change the angle of their knock-back so that it does not scatter enemies nearly as far. Purely ranged characters also gain an advantage in that enemies will only be able to use ranged attacks against them, which are generally weaker than melee. Hover let's you really take advantage of a ranged defense IO build too.

Still, what Hover CAN'T do is use Foot Stomp, so it's not really an option for you. If you're more concerned about building defense, you have both Maneuvers from the Leadership Pool, and Weave from the Fighting pool that you should focus on first. Maneuvers doesn't have as much defense bonus as Weave, but it applies to your entire team and it is also tier 1, meaning you don't have to take perquisite powers to get to it.

Also consider the single target melee IO set, Kinetic Combat. Yes, it maxes out at level 35, but its' set bonuses are worth using. At four pieces of Kinetic Combat you get 3.75% defense to your Smashing/Lethal defense. S/L Defense is good as most melee attacks as well as quite a few ranged attacks have smashing/lethal components to them, which you will be able to dodge. If you stack this set bonus five times you will have 18.75% S/L defense, which means you only need 26.25% S/L Defense to reach the soft-cap for S/L Defense.

For your PbAOE attacks (like Foot Stomp) you should consider 6 slots of the Obliteration set which nets you another 3.75% S/L defense, as well as 5% global recharge, 9% accuracy, 3% damage buff, and a lethal proc. It's a pretty damn good set even if you aren't building for S/L defense.

Finally, because I'm so nice, here is a slightly outdated Mids build of my SS/Willpower Brute you can use for an example of how to build your Tanker. Don't follow this 100% as you are, after all, a Tanker, but do give it a look at. In particular don't get rid of Jab; you'll want it for the Bruising effect.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Aey'ri: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Super Strength
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), HO:Nucle(34), Zinger-Dam%(39)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Panac-Heal(A), Panac-Heal/+End(19), Panac-Heal/EndRedux(23), Panac-Heal/Rchg(40), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(40)
Level 2: Haymaker -- SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg(A), SBrutesF-Dmg/Rchg(3), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SBrutesF-Rech/Fury(31), Zinger-Dam%(39)
Level 4: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), HO:Nucle(31), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 6: Super Jump -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 8: Knockout Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(25), Hectmb-Dam%(37)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 12: Fast Healing -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Panac-Heal(A), Panac-Heal/EndRedux(17), Panac-Heal/Rchg(17), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(40), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- HO:Ribo(A), HO:Ribo(23)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), HO:Ribo(25)
Level 26: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(27), HO:Enzym(27)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(29), HO:Enzym(29)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Foot Stomp -- Oblit-Acc/Rchg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Gloom -- Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(36), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(36), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Apoc-Dmg(37), Apoc-Dam%(37)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- GA-3defTpProc(A)
Level 41: Dark Obliteration -- Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(42), Ragnrk-Dmg(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Soul Tentacles -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(45), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(45), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(45), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(46)
Level 47: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(48), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(48), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(50), HO:Enzym(50)
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(15), EndMod-I(15)
Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(50)
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: Fury
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
------------

I rather doubt that I'm gaining some monumental time advantage from randomly queuing up than I am simply inviting people, and I would rather not risk making a 4 person team which would either take much longer than the preferred 8 person team, or result in everyone quitting because we aren't able to handle the trial.

I also prefer to have the option to kick people who can't, for instance, understand what "don't attack the minions, focus on the boss, don't use AOE's" means.

EDIT: People talking in LFG doesn't bother me either as I have it on a separate tab that I ignore until I need it. I suggest doing that as opposed to reinventing the way our society does things.

This is the best thing ever.

I wouldn't mind an incarnate power that turned me into a ghost shark and allowed me to fly through terrain at 120 miles per hour.

Maaan, that's so 19 minutes ago.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=294016

They've already announced that we are getting power pool customization, as well as a bunch of 5th tier powers for pools that didn't' already have them and re-balancing of current pool powers.

Power Pool customization will also feature a minimal FX option, for those of us who don't want to be a sparkly agent of doom.

I like the idea of using another piece of fictional media as a means to determine what should happen in our fictional media.

Personally, I think Harry Potter should have had more light sabers.

Dominators are a very fun set if you like more reactive combat experience. Their control abilities apply the same magnitude as Controllers, as far as I know.

Controllers have a 20% chance on all of their control abilities to proc something called "Overpower" which adds another Magnitude to their control, which is nice as it occasionally allows you to mez something like a boss much more quickly. They also do more damage against an enemy that is already mezed, giving them more damage capability than is immediately apparent.

Dominators, on the other hand, accumulates points for his Domination bar which, when filled, allows him to use the inherit power called Domination. Domination pretty much turns you into god for the next 90 seconds. The magnitude of your mez effects is *doubled*, meaning that even your lowly Mag 2 abilities are now able to effect bosses in a single application, and you stand a good chance of being able to hold an AV by yourself if you keep stacking magnitude. In addition to this, you also gain a bunch of Mez resistance which has obvious benefits in that a stray mez attack won't shut you down or require a break-free. In addition to this you ALSO get your entire endurance bar refilled, which allows for much greater sustainability in general and helps creating endurance intensive builds much easier.

As far as Inherits go, Dominators steal the show when compared to Controllers. Possibly when compared to everyone.

Dominators secondary powerset is focused much more directly on dealing damage, while Controllers typically have Defender primaries as their secondaries, which focus more on group buffs/heals and enemy debuffs/light control. Dominators secondary encourages you to lock down the enemies and then bash their face in, while Controllers are more focused on keeping a situation under control and their team vertical. While Controllers do not slack on damage when their build matures, Dominators are more *consistent* with their damage as they level up, and become just as competitive as higher levels when things like perma-dom become possible.

Personally I like Dominators just a tiiiny bit more than Controllers, although records will show me as having a good time with either one.

onto your specific questions:

1. No, in fact I would argue that Dominators are able to CC more constantly than Controllers due to the more controlled nature of Domination. If a Dominator achieves perma-domination (and it's not terribly difficult to do, so you should do it) it really stops being a contest: Perma-Dom WILL CC better than Controllers.

2. Plant, I feel, is one of the easiest and safest control sets in the game. Seeds of Confusion, especially with Domination running, can completely turn the tide of a battle by turning the spawn against each other, and recharges quick enough that it is up for every battle. Throw in Carrion Creepers and Fly Trap and you got a very good net of control that is also destroying faces.

Mind Control is also a very safe set in that it has many powers with a wide array of different and powerful mez effects. When played right, you're very rarely in a situation that you can't overcome because you have so much variety in how you can handle a situation. Mind Control is also really good at dealing with multiple spawns due to the sheer amount of control options available.

Darkness Control is very similar to Mind Control with a bit more focus on utilizing pets to help deal with spawns. Between Fearsome Stare and Heart of Darkness you typically have a way of keeping a group controlled with your pets helping to layer mez effects on top of that while doing respectable damage of their own.

Those are just my top 3 though. Generally speaking, Domination makes any control set very manageable just because it doubles the magnitude of your controls.

3. Any of the three control sets I mentioned would do pretty with Earth/Icy Assault. I might not do Mind Control with Icy Assault, however. Icy Assault kind of lacks good AOE damage abilities, so I'd want to pair it with a more damage oriented primary like Plant or Fire Control. Similar advice for Earth Assault, which has really good melee range single target attacks and sort of unimpressive AOE options. Something that would shut a group down and let Earth close the distance to start smashing quickly would work really well.

4. There's certainly some overlap, and a lot of it depends on your personal playstyle. For Controllers I tend to think more defensively, like a Tanker or Defender. My goal is to keep people alive by keeping the spawn manageable. I'm much more focused on mitigating damage than I am with dealing it; Although I certainly am still capable of dealing it.

When I play a Dominator my mindset is significantly more offensive and selfish. I'm typically trying to get the spawn controlled so that *I* can personally run in and start tearing them apart. While I may switch tactics on a team to keep things going smoothly, I'm more likely to attack an enemy that is focused on someone else than I am to throw a control on them and trust that my team will take care of it.

That said, a lot of your mindset on how each AT should be played will change with what your goals are and how you specifically prefer to play. I've made very offensive decisions with my Controllers, and played very defensively with my Dominators. I think both are capable of each.

While it doesn't really fit the concept you described, there *are* knife weapon models in the game. Dual Blades and I believe Broadsword both have their share of smaller bladed weapons.

Rather excited about this. When Dual Pistols originally came out I got the idea for a character who steals experimental technology which allows her to break the physics of time, based on the sort of (extremely) unrealistic animations dual pistols has. I had originally paired her up with Kinetics from the Corruptor secondary, but many of the powers felt off from the concept. Martial Combat, however, looks to be exactly what I had in mind for a sort of techno-gun-fu-thief-master.

For dominators I'm thinking some kind of psychic martial artist. Not entirely sure yet. I love Dominators though, so any time they get something I'm willing to MAKE a concept to use it.


EDIT: I got to thinking of a sort of Ryu themed character who uses Energy/Martial. Burst of Speed paired with knock back sounds like a ridiculously fun way to control combat. Send a wave of energy to knock them all down, teleport in behind them and throw them forward again, and then end it with a nuke in their face. Fun times, to be sure.

I am rather looking forward to turning off the animations for both Combat Jumping and Hasten. Combat Jumping in particular. I don't like brown dust constantly falling out of my hands.

Why would you need Power Boost in regards to Aim to begin with? As far as I am aware, Aim has enough To-Hit by itself that it would not need Power Boost to help it take advantage of the changes to Snipe powers.

Something else to note: Build Up is entirely capable of getting past 22% To-Hit without the help of Power Boost. I was able to do this quite easily with basic IO's; 2 Recharge Reduction and 2 To-Hit bonus. You could also use the Adjusted Targeting IO set and get some good set bonuses out of the deal. I could see adding a 5th slot if using Adjusted Targeting just to take advantage of the global recharge, for that matter. Either way, making Build-Up self sufficient in this way means you don't have to spend time using Power Boost every 15 seconds. You may not need to take the Power Boost at all.

Not that I don't appreciate Power Boost; I've used it to great effect on control and buff sets that have long lasting effects with powers that take a significant amount of time to recharge. I just don't think it's quite the game changer in regards to Quick-Snipe that it is being made out to be.

Brute's and Scrappers have comparable damage on paper, and the reality doesn't deviate from this a lot, but there *are* small discrepancies which we do not calculate for (due to complexity) that allow Scrappers to excel to some indiscernible degree.

For a good portion of your leveling career your Brute will depend upon enemy attention in order to build a respectable amount of fury. The sort of "double-edge" to this is that enemy attacks typically have debuffs attached to them which can greatly diminish your ability to deal damage. This can become very apparent in teaming situations where you have a large portion of the enemies attention upon you. You can mitigate a lot of this depending on your team composition, or at very least stay alive, but you will be at a disadvantage for it.

Brutes also tend to work less well with others than Scrappers. As mentioned, Brutes need some "balance" of attention in order to maintain good fury, and if you have more than a few Brutes in the same team you may find this difficult to do. Compared to a group of Scrappers, the total potential damage of a Brute is going to be lower as they're all competing with each other for a somewhat limited resource in fury.

Brutes also lose fury as they jump from spawn to spawn. If you don't lose fury, then you'll probably be using more endurance to sustain your fury, and if you aren't careful you can crash that and wind up in a very unfavorable position.

Or sometimes you just need to use the bathroom and lose all your fury. That can happen too. It also makes eating food during combat a little more intense.

All of that said, these are not insurmountable problems. Eventually your Brute will have a tight enough attack chain that it will not require enemy attacks to build fury in a quick fashion. Eventually your defenses will be built up enough so that you can endure sustained enemy fire, and you will probably grow as a player to know which threats require attention before others. At top performance Scrappers and Brutes tend to blend into one another.

However, as you are leveling up and even for some time at level 50, you are likely going to notice that Scrappers have ONE advantage you do not, and that is a sustained play-style that not dependent on multiple factors happening around them. Scrappers do not care if there are other Scrappers and their damage doesn't suffer for it, they don't take on more attention than they need too and they don't indirectly suffer from a Tanker absorbing all the attention. Scrappers are much more CONSISTENT than Brutes, and at higher levels have comparable survivability, by which I mean nigh-unstoppable.

Probably not. I don't know the exact formula fury uses to determine itself, but I imagine it can only approach 100% and never actually achieve that. It seems to cap out at around 70%-ish during "normal" play.

I have long since abandoned Tier 9 Crash Powers in favor of 3 purple inspirations. Same effect but I'm not dead as soon as they wear off, and everyone can use them. I could see altering these types of powers to have a fixed recast timer and no crash, but I still would not be likely to use them as, again, 3 purple inspirations are still more cost-effective.

The ability to six-slot every power would make the game terribly dull to me. As someone who enjoys the "numbers game" that is min-maxing that would simply make things too easy.