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Werner

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  1. Werner
    (Iggy beat be to it. Posting anyway.)

    While I don't keep up with farming trends, I suspect that Super Strength/Fiery Aura Brute would be the melee farming king. How does two back to back RWZ challenges at a minute each sound for AoE damage output? (edit: not me) And I *think* this was pre level shift and incarnate abilities.

    My AoE-oriented Fire/Shield pales in comparison with a 1:40 RWZ challenge run (I think pre level shift and incarnate abilities). I'm confident I could get it under 1:30 with some luck and fewer mistakes, but there's no way I'm closing in on 1 minute, probably not even WITH all the incarnate abilities. My Fire/Shield is a pretty good farmer. I can only imagine Super Strength/Fiery Aura.

    Surviving the RWZ challenge should be enough survivability for any farming needs. Fiery Aura isn't the toughest secondary, but it's tough enough when built right.

    Burst damage... well, it depends on what you mean. Any Brute is going to take a little while to get Fury rolling, and you'll want to double-stack Rage. But if you're counting those as givens, hit Fiery Embrace and Knockout Blow and see what happens. I haven't run any numbers, but my guess is "a whole lot of damage." And you should be able to put together a decent chain. I'm not really a Brute DPS expert, though.
  2. Werner

    Fire\?

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dragonwing View Post
    I'm doing a dragon theme character. The character is all PvE and I am looking to be able to solo as well as work with a team. I'm looking for a secondary that can keep me alive if I solo, but them again staying alive is usually the goal in any mission!
    Well, I like Shield if you can fit it with concept. If not, Fire/Super Reflexes is a great combo, as Super Reflexes needs nothing from the primary to keep you alive, though it can be a bit late-blooming. Willpower and Invulnerability should be good, as they're also solid without help from the primary. I'd probably stay away from Regeneration and the resistance secondaries, but then, I'd only combine them with a sword primary, which is probably taking things a bit too far. It's not like they'd suck; they'd just be squishier than I like to play. You'd need to think of something like a Fire/Fire more as a very sturdy blapper to make the survivability palatable, I think.
  3. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dacu View Post
    Yeah, think I might just go Fire/Shield, seems to be well rounded and a top performer. Should I go Musculature alpha? Spiritual?
    I went with Cardiac, but it was a choice of convenience rather than design. Spiritual can help reach your recharge goals if you're trying to double stack Active Defense or pull off a high DPS attack chain. But if you can hit all your recharge goals without it, Musculature sounds the most tempting to me. It'll help endurance a little, and then it'll pump out more damage. If I get around to investing some time playing my Fire/Shield and working on a new build, I suspect I'll be switching to Musculature. But he's quite good with Cardiac, so I'm not in a rush.
  4. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EJI View Post
    I'll leave /dark tips to Werner, you'll struggle with end while levelling a bit but potentially one of the sturdiest things out there.
    I had to work to manage endurange while leveling my Katana/Dark. It never really caused me serious problems, but I was likely using the endurance uniques, the Performance Shifter proc, frankenslotting, and selective use of toggles based on the situation. I also used Oppressive Gloom while leveling, even though I prefer Cloak of Fear.

    It was very solid once I was into the thirties and had my final attack chain fully frankenslotted. It was comfortable leveling on +2x4, and I sometimes cranked it further when I felt like a challenge.

    Tips with Broad Sword/Dark are similar to tips with any Sword/Resistance build. Make sure that a double-stacked Parry gets you to 45% melee/lethal defense, but otherwise treat Parry as an attack. Pick up the usual suspects for survivability - Tough, Weave, Combat Jumping. Use a Steadfast Protection unique. Use a Kismet unique. I'd probably pick up Hasten now that we have inherent fitness, as Dark Regeneration is a key power, and you want it recharging quickly.

    But I kind of can't recommend Broad Sword/Dark Armor if you thought Broad Sword/Shield Defense was a chore. My Katana/Dark was OK for leveling, but for me, it was more about the destination than the journey. I had more fun leveling a number of other combinations (with Broad Sword/Shield Defense being my favorite leveler). He's my favorite toon all IO'd out now, but it took time and influence to get there.

    Broad Sword/Willpower would be a MUCH easier ride, and without giving up anything on top end survivability. That's my recommendation. It should be easy and good at all levels and for all budgets.

    Broad Sword/Electric should be very nice. A little squishy, but Broad Sword should take care of that pretty well. I have a Katana/Electric, but he's a lowbie, so I don't really have much to report.

    Broad Sword/Regen is a classic, and it's good, but you have to work for it. It's a school of hard knocks. Hard to recommend if you don't already know it's what you want to play.

    I have a Broad Sword/Invuln at 50, but I'm not sure I can comment reasonably on the combo as he's SO old (one of my first toons) and everything has changed since then. But he was OK. Not really a stand out, but OK. It should be good.
  5. Werner
    I do have and use Cloak of Fear on my personal build, but it doesn't seem that useful against Arachnos. Or maybe I'm underestimating how nasty it would be if I turned it off. The main problem is the Tarantula Mistresses, who I believe are using a non-positional psi massive defense debuff (my psi defense is 27%). I can usually soldier on if one hits. If two hit, I might as well run (or chug purples, or hit Barrier).

    I do think the lack of Cloak of Fear is one of the main problems with Ramia's build. I understand why it was sacrificed (soft cap on a budget, conserve endurance), but it makes me a very sad panda. I'd almost rather sacrifice Death Shroud. Almost. Hopefully there's a low-budget way to fix it without sacrificing either. I suppose relying on perma Barrier is one easy fix. That frees up a ton of space in the build, I'm sure.
  6. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Desmodos View Post
    My objections to such a build design is the lack of defense debuff resistance; since you've abandoned all of Dark Armor's strengths, when it occurs the build is obliterated.
    Vastly oversimplifying, a soft cap build takes half as much damage but heals half as fast as a something merely near the soft cap that can have much higher recharge. The approaches are roughly comparable until you get defense debuffed, and which point both are taking damage at roughly the same rate, and that sacrificed recharge is suddenly a HUGE issue.

    All isn't lost, of course. Melee and lethal defense start much higher than the soft cap if you double stack Parry. Since many defense debuffs are lethal, cascading defense failure from moderate debuffs has a hard time getting started. When you notice defense debuffs, you can hit Parry more frequently. If that's insufficient, and you have it, you can hit Barrier, which should be plenty to interrupt at least one cascade.

    On the other hand, if we're counting Barrier, then that build that was near the soft cap now spends much to all of its time AT the soft cap. Now you have to be taking on incarnate content for the soft cap build to matter... but wait, because in incarnate content, that soft cap build isn't so soft capped any more. And so it goes.

    Basically, it's arguable either way, and you really need to get down to specifics about what you're fighting to figure out which one is superior in that specific situation.

    But regardless, the soft cap approach DOES make the build less of a Dark Armor build, and more of something else. So gut hatred of the approach is perfectly reasonable, probably in comparison to your love for Dark Armor.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Desmodos View Post
    You can build BS/DA for soft cap to positional or typed with out sacrifices the builds strengths. I prefer typed for the ease of slotting (it uses less slots), but either option works fine. I'll post and example of both shortly.
    I'm curious to see what you mean about building BS/DA for soft cap without sacrifices. I think my personal build does pretty well as it keeps Death Shroud and Cloak of Fear, and my Dark Regeneration recharges in 12.3 seconds, so it's not TOO bad. My main compromise was price, which was extreme.

    But in the incarnate world, it's both too good and not good enough. With perma Barrier, it has too much defense for regular content, and still not enough for incarnate content. Mind you, it's fine for incarnate content in practice due to the number of defense buffs flying around, and the availability of inspirations, but I try not to consider those things. I'm hoping for solo incarnate content some day since I hate teaming.
  7. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hercules View Post
    1. I have to have Cloak of Fear for the character concept, so took that instead of OG. This may change depending on what the new "ghost" aura looks like.
    2. I've never been that impressed with death shroud, most things are dead long before the minor DOT does that much damage.
    3. I have the cardiac alpha and probably will take the Ageless incarnate set,
    so endurance will not be an issue.

    I'd appreciate any suggestions.
    I doubt you'll need Ageless. Cardiac does amazing things on its own.

    Death Shroud is great. As a rough guess, it's pumping out about 10% of your DPS, but as a PBAoE. If you fight crowds, it's going to be a significant percentage of your damage output. This can be confirmed with Herostats, and I believe has been by several people (I've never bothered). Plus, it gets that AoE damage for the endurance cost of a single-target attack. Damage auras are great, great powers.

    That said, they're not unskippable if you don't like them, just like other AoE attacks aren't unskippable. You'll have to check how well it translates, but if you take this Katana/Dark, swap it for Broad Sword, put in Hack instead of Slash, and then move things around so that you replace Death Shroud with Cloak of Fear, you'll be very close to soft cap on all positions. Melee will be too high, and Ranged will be too low. So you'd just need to fiddle to fix that. I've also not checked recharge on the attacks to make sure you can pull off a good chain. Not that you'd play exactly this necessarily, but it can at least make a reference point for a budget soft cap build requiring only a single Parry to soft cap. I think it's a very good example of what it is, and the main debate is probably whether or not the soft cap here was worth the sacrifices (such as, in your case, Death Shroud).

    This was not made by me. It was made by Ramia Angriffe with a couple modifications by Iggy Kamakaze.

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  8. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Issen View Post
    Here's a build a friend came up with, expensive, but he swears by it. What do you think.
    Your friend's build is decent IF you're happy to take purple inspirations any time the going gets tough. It is one purple inspiration away from the soft cap against everything but psionic and toxic damage. When you take a purple inspiration, you'll be unkillable in regular content. In incarnate content, not as much, but it's probably not horrible with all the buffs flying around.

    There are things I'd consider mistakes, though. Accuracy is horrible (at least compared to what I normally shoot for). Attacks are underslotted. It seems to have MORE than sustainable endurance, which is a waste most of the time. The Panacea proc is vastly more expensive than other items in the build (nearly 2 billion influence on its own), and isn't really much better than the vastly cheaper Miracle proc. Some of the bonuses are POSITIONAL defense, and only get typed defense as a secondary effect, which might be wasteful (depends on if there are better options or not).

    This isn't directly applicable, wasn't built by me, and came from before inherent Fitness and I think before the Blessing of the Zephyr nerf. The Gladiator's Armor makes it impossibly expensive, and the Hamidon Enhancements are pretty pricey too, and I don't know why Indomitable Will only has common IOs. It used to demonstrate soft capping all positionals with slots left over for the rest of the build. Now it just demonstrates high defense. Instead of Fitness you could take Hasten, and probably pull off some decently-improved recharge. It's a Fire/Will, so not directly applicable, but you can see the slotting strategies. Consider removing the Blessing of the Zephyrs, though it's possible they're still the best choice. Consider allowing fire/cold defense to slip in favor of other things you might want.

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  9. Werner
    Heh, unfortunately, Kinetic Melee is one of the few sets I haven't really looked at in earnest. I guess I'll confine my comments to Willpower.

    Willpower wants defense (smashing/lethal and then energy/negative) and doesn't benefit much from recharge. It also likes hit points where you can squeeze them in, but they aren't the priority. Take at least the first seven powers. I'm not a fan of rezzes, so I'd skip Resurgence. Strength of Will is nice to have if you can fit it in, but not critical. For power pools, I recommend taking and slotting Tough and Weave. Take Combat Jumping unless you want Hover for concept, but that'll cost you more endurance for the same defense. Willpower has an easier time of endurance management, so I'm a fan of Leadership here (Maneuvers and Tactics are the important ones). You'll probably want Hasten for your primary for the last pool.

    For your epic pool, Blaze Mastery tends to be popular when you can afford the endurance, though it'll take you three power picks to get to the prize of the set - Fire Ball. If you're running a high recharge build, that can be a particularly nice AoE.

    Kinetic Combats are the desired set for smashing/lethal defense, but I haven't priced them in a long time, and I think they're pricey. Your cheapo option might be Smashing Haymakers, but they don't really compare. An easily-missed set is Basilisk's Gaze, which could go in Char if you take it - it has both energy/negative defense and a nice recharge bonus. Rectified Reticle also gives you some of what you need with only two slots. You could even consider taking Confront as a set mule for Mocking Beratement, which has some very nice bonuses. A good way to search for what you need is to bring up Window -> Set Bonus Finder. Click on the set bonus you're trying to get more of, such as Def(Smash,Lethal), and have a look through the sets that buff that stat.

    Your incarnate powers sound good to me.

    Again, I don't really know Kinetic Melee, so some of what I suggest could actually be detrimental to the combination, so you'll want to get some good advice from someone experienced with both sets before you commit to anything.
  10. Werner
    You could start by telling us what your primary and secondary are, what you enjoy or think you'd enjoy doing with the character if it was capable of it, and what your budget is. Then we can give you a general idea of what is possible, what sort of powers you should be taking, what sort of set bonuses you should be looking for, that kind of thing. Or if you don't want to go through the learning process, we can give you a cookie cutter build. Or you could post the builds the two people gave you, and we can tell you if they're good or not, and what might be improved.
  11. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scarab_NA View Post
    would you mind posting your build Werner? I'm curious what you did with the slots you freed up from Cloak of Fear?
    Mine's a Katana/Dark, which is a very different animal (positional defense, much less benefit from recharge) and so probably mostly useless to you. But in case something in it is helpful, sure. (Edit: And mine IS a "Tanker" build - no-inspiration survivability at the cost of damage output, so not a generally recommended approach, even if I personally love it.)

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  12. Werner
    The devs never fixed the bug where Enzymes buff defense.

    There IS a huge survivability gulf between 42% and 45%. Dechs is correct. His logic is sound. That said, there's a similarly huge survivability gulf between low recharge and massive recharge on Siphon Life and Dark Regeneration. Which ends up more significant would take quite a bit of calculation, but since recharge is also boosting your damage output, it's hard to argue against except on a pseudo-Tanker build.

    Still, I think sacrificing a few seconds here might be worth it to hit the smashing/lethal softcap, so I can't really argue with what you've done. I haven't crunched any numbers, but it's probably a reasonable trade.

    While I suggest more, I use Cloak of Fear successfully with two slots - L53 Endoplasm and a Nightmare accuracy/endurance. It's less than I prefer, but functional. Let's call it where my two slots for Tough came from (though that's not actually the case, just giving an idea what sort of trade offs are being made). Mind you, you slotted it up in the build you posted. I'd want some fear enhancement, but that's probably only an issue against significantly uplevel enemies.
  13. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robvious25 View Post
    I am clueless as it comes to both DM and WP. No, I am not currently running this build. Budget is pretty much limitless...
    OK, I'll cover a few more things, then. Your attack chain should be Smite -> Midnight Grasp -> Smite -> Siphon Life. Midnight Grasp needs to recharge in <= 4.488 seconds for that chain to be gapless. That requires huge recharge, more than the build currently has. While I prefer the Hecatombs in Smite since it occurs twice in the chain, you can consider leaving them in Midnight Grasp and swapping the damage for a damage/recharge to pick up some of the necessary recharge. Then you'll just need more global recharge to pick up the rest. A quick fix that might be a good idea is the Spiritual Alpha, though more global recharge would still be a good idea because Dark Melee loves recharge. If you do go with the Spiritual Alpha, you'll only want two recharges in Hasten, as the third will do almost no good due to enhancement diversification caps. With the huge amount of recharge you then have and an unlimited budget, a typical slotting for Siphon Life would be three Nucleolus and three Golgi to max out accuracy, damage, endurance and healing. Not that Willpower really needs the extra healing, but hey, more is always better if you can get away with it, and you should be able to get away with it. I'd personally want more enhancement of Tough, but it's arguable, and in fact I just had the argument in another thread.
  14. Werner
    The game applies the higher of your typed defense or positional defense. Willpower comes with typed defense, so you're best off focusing on typed defense bonuses instead of positional since you have something to stack it on. Since so many sets are devoted to positional defense, changing that one thing will have a huge effect on the rest of the build, so further comment is probably not very helpful at the moment.
  15. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Desmodos View Post
    The way I'm looking at it, is 2 slots worth 4% smash/lethal resistance? My build has 56% S/L resistance with no resistance slotting in Tough. Just two defense uniques. Granted I achieved that via Cardiac Core and Gladiator's Unique.
    I personally think it's worth it, particularly since we're stacking. Not that we'd do exactly this, but for the sake of argument, we slap in two Ribosomes. Endurance use goes down by 0.07 EPS and on-paper survivability vs. smashing/lethal climbs by 10%. That's pretty good for two slots if you ask me. As always, the question is what you have to give up to get there. But it would definitely be on the list of things I'm shooting for.
  16. Werner
    I'm a fan of slotting and using Tough since it's stacking on your existing resistance. My Katana/Dark is at 60% smashing/lethal resistance before I hit Barrier (thank you Cardiac). That said, unless you're trying to turn your Scrapper into a Tanker (in which case there's at least an argument for "soft cap or go home"), I agree with Desmodos regarding general build direction here. For damage output and general convenience, Dark Melee wants recharge. Lots and lots of recharge. Since you want lots of recharge for your primary, you're going to have a rapid fire Dark Regeneration by default. So probably lean on that more and on defense less for your survivability, and you'll have a better overall package of damage and survivability.

    Shadow Meld is tempting, but again, mostly if you're trying to be Tankerish. Fire Ball is probably the better choice for a balanced build, particularly at high recharge, as it can give you the AoE that you're lacking.

    Hit points can be important, but if you pick up the accolades, I'd consider your hit points adequate. Regeneration is almost completely unimportant - Siphon Life and Dark Regeneration are where it's at for this build. I haven't checked your endurance use, but it looks ugly on first glance. But I also suspect that it's nothing that Cardiac can't fix.

    High recharge builds often slot Siphon Life with three Nucleolus and three Golgi for maximum everything but recharge, and suffer with the loss of set bonuses. I agree that on a Dark Armor it's damage first and healing second, but you can have it all if you have the slots and can afford the set bonus loss. Siphon Life is good enough that I'd try to make room for it.

    Yours certainly isn't a bad build. I just think it would be a little better with a little change of direction, mostly for more recharge. Much more recharge.
  17. Werner
    In my opinion, your armors are overslotted for leveling (at least until your attacks are fully-slotted). I'd go with two resistance and an endurance, and in the defensive powers, two defense and an endurance. Put those slots for your attacks. If you don't want to respec, then just focus future slots on attacks.

    The biggest thing you can do to manage endurance is to add slots to and frankenslot your attacks (Death Shroud included) with an eye to endurance reduction. You can probably get 80% or higher endurance reduction in all your attacks while improving accuracy, damage and recharge. That should also be affordable on what you've gained from leveling to this point. That and the Theft of Essence proc should solve the sucking wind problem.

    Survivability might be more complicated, but it sounds like you're on the right path - take, slot and use Tough and Weave. Your frankenslotting should give you the endurance to use them. I recommend Oppressive Gloom for leveling purposes (it worked better for me leveling even though I strongly prefer Cloak of Fear in an end game build). You should have Combat Jumping (Hover if critical for concept, but it burns more endurance, which is already enough of a problem). Slot a Steadfast Protection unique. Slot a Kismet unique. Make sure that double-stacked Divine Avalanche on top of your other defenses gets you to 45% melee and lethal defense. Make sure your Dark Regeneration is adequately slotted. Accuracy, recharge and endurance reduction are more important than healing as long as you're fighting crowds.

    Jumping into a fight, rely on your stealth and Oppressive Gloom to break up the alpha strike. Lead with Divine Avalanche, and quickly follow with another. Don't leave it on auto, though. You only need it twice every ten seconds, and more will just eat into your damage, prolonging the fight and making it more dangerous for that reason. Now the minions are either stunned or plinking with lower-damage attacks from range. The lieutenants and boss(es) are probably having a really hard time hitting you due to your melee and lethal defense, which covers a whole lot of attacks, and your defense against other positions and types is at least non-negligible. What gets through is being significantly reduced by your resistance. And then every 20 seconds or so, you get a full heal.

    I figure that'll be enough for around the +2x4 neighborhood. That's about what I was doing in the mid 30s with that sort of build strategy and prior to inherent fitness. Your endurance won't be sustainable, but it won't be anything that a few blues can't handle. You should be good to go through the endgame that way if you're trying to avoid slotting uber loot.
  18. Werner
    Sword/Dark is a great combination, and my current favorite. I consider Katana the slightly superior variety, but not by so much that it would be worth abandoning or changing a concept. Soft cap is doable (mine is) but not strictly necessary if you're willing to chug purples from 32.5%. Soft capping is difficult and WILL dominate the build if you go that direction - anticipate low recharge, and if you're on a budget, accuracy issues vs. difficult content, and possibly sacrificing your mez aura. Sticking with 32.5% should allow a more balanced build, though probably not as survivable outside of inspirations and/or buffs. Using Barrier for the last 5% is also an option, but by the time you're talking about incarnate powers, you're probably talking about incarnate content, and 45% becomes "high" instead of "soft cap".

    For Sword/Dark, while arguable either way, I'd go with positional defense instead of typed defense, which would rule out Kinetic Combats and Reactive Armors. That probably has you looking at things like Eradication, Gaussian and Aegis instead. I agree with everything else Desmodos said, though.

    Reference builds can be provided if desired. I have high budget and "low" budget positional soft cap builds saved, and if I remember correctly Desmodos has a very nice typed defense build available. But I can understand wanting to work it out for yourself.
  19. Werner
    What I'd suggest will depend on secondary. If your secondary needs defensive help, I'd take Katana. If it doesn't, I'd take Dual Blades.

    Both the common one Divine Avalanche and two Divine Avalanche chains are easily reached with that global recharge, depending on how much defense you need. If you don't need defense, the Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals chain is available at that global recharge if you can slot a lot of recharge in your attacks, and while I haven't run any numbers, I'd be surprised if it didn't beat Katana at that level of recharge. Plus that chain is doing some cone AoE. Plus it boosts your damage aura if that matters.

    1 DA: DA -> GC -> GD -> GC -> SD -> GC
    2 DA: DA -> GC -> GD -> GC -> DA -> GC -> SD -> GC
  20. Werner

    Regen issues

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    Well, the idea I proposed was just that: an idea. And it was an idea, *specifically* conceived to *not* be a rez "like those other sets". You tell me where I said give Regen Fire Aura's rez, because I know I didn't. I simply pointed to the data of how lacking Regen's rez is by comparison. And for what purpose does it lag behind? So I propose something different, a *short* untargetable phase and your clicks back, to fit the motif better (IMO) than just 15sec of untouchable.

    I can see the idea being quite powerful. But more powerful than the other rezzes within the context of their set? It's certainly not an EB stunner or a nuke with a phase of not being able to die...so I think, perhaps limiting the insta-recharge to just Dull Pain and Reconstruction or maybe just MoG...

    That said, the way the tier 9 rezzes seem to be represented by yourself really seems to downplay the advantages of the sets. FA can be built to have some solid resists, a fast heal and a near-broken AoE that makes the set ideal for farming and fast kills. Dark Armor doesn't *need* a tier 9 to be practically unkillable. They get the rezzes *on top* of their already solid performance and it's definitely not a drawback or anything.

    Looking at regen and there might be room for improvement over all, and not just the rez, which simply is a mediocre/subpar ability compared to even the *TEMP POWER* Resuscitation.
    We're talking past each other so badly there's no reason to continue. You seem to be arguing with points I'm not making. You seem to think I'm arguing with points you're not making.

    The really ludicrous part of it is that I agree with you. Strange how agreement can devolve like this.

    So I'm out.
  21. Werner

    Regen issues

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    Who said anything about trading it in for something else?
    Am I reading Arcanaville differently than you?
    "The problem is that you're comparing to two sets that have a rez in place of a tier 9 defensive power and one that has a tier 9 with permanently fixed uptime."
    So, as an example of what is being compared:
    Regen = sucky rez, good tier 9
    Fire = awesome rez, no tier 9
    To which I reply, in regards to Moment of Glory:
    "I sure wouldn't trade it for an improved rez."
    So I'm looking at what is being compared, or at least what it sounds to me like Arcanaville says is being compared, and I'm saying which I'd rather have. I'm saying that if the choice WAS the current Regen tier 9 or Fire's tier 9 rez, I'd prefer Regen's tier 9.

    No, I don't think anyone said, "Hey, know what I think we should do to improve Regeneration? We should get rid of Moment of Glory and enhance the rez!" But I don't think it's fair to use something like Fire's awesome rez as a reason for buffing Regen's rez without acknowledging that one way Fire pays for that awesome rez is by not having a tier 9.

    I agree that Regen's rez could use a bit of a buff. I just don't think "like those other sets" is a road I want to go down, because I'm afraid of where that road might lead.
  22. Werner

    Regen issues

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    ...with a set whose tier 9 last 15 seconds.
    And yet somehow manages to be incredibly useful. I sure wouldn't trade it for an improved rez.
  23. Werner
    I feel VERY squishy on my purpled and PvP'd Fire/Shield that doesn't have Aid Self. On the other hand, I have enough survivability to handle the RWZ challenge, so I suppose "squishy" is a bit of a misnomer. I'd feel a lot more solid with a decent heal, though, and I'd find reasons to use it. But that one's a concept character, and the tricorder is not in concept.

    Aid Self does a LOT more for your top end survivability needs than a few more hit points and a few points of regeneration. But there's a lot to be said in regular play for doing everything you can to simply never need a heal (kind of like I do everything I can to never need a rez, and then I never take a rez power). And you won't need Aid Self at all unless you really crank the difficulty and have an aversion to greens, and you DO have it as back up still when things get ugly, and it's buffed by Spiritual. So I can understand going for passive over active. Perfectly reasonable.

    I can understand needing the top chain. If you don't take it, you'll KNOW you could have done better. Stuff like that eats at me. Just for me it's usually on the survivability side. I'd be thinking, "Man, I could have had One with the Shield and a better Aid Self." But again, going for the top chain is perfectly reasonable.

    I went with Fire Ball myself over Ball Lightning. Again, concept, so I can hardly fault you for yours.

    In a sense, fire is cheap for endurance because its special effect is more damage, so it has high damage per endurance. However, if you're spamming the top chain, that could eat a lot. Let's see if I can confirm what you say about sustainability, though. Yeah, your chain does NOT consume a lot of endurance. I have your attack chain at 2.73 EPS, toggles at 0.98 EPS, and you'll have a bit more from Hasten and Active Defense. Recovery is 3.54 + 0.2 EPS from the performance shifter proc, putting you at net recovery of 0.03 EPS before we worry about Hasten or Active Defense. I think that's technically unsustainable, but good luck finding a long enough fight to drain you. So yeah, I was wrong; your endurance is just fine.

    I guess you nailed it? Surely there's SOMETHING that could be better, but nothing's jumping out at me.

    I know! I'd take Fire Blast over Melt Armor because I like having a ranged attack other than the veteran stuff for pulling and runners and the like. There!
  24. Werner
    Some of these comments will mirror Infini's, but I think they're worth repeating for emphasis.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LIinfinity View Post
    One thing I noticed right away is the slotting of the power Active Defense. I would suggest placing an End Red IO in the original slot, and that's it. Defense debuffs are generally very short in nature and not worth slotting against. The 2 slots you save in Active Defense would serve you better in Aid Self.

    Your travel power is Combat Jumping. I recommend dropping Grant Cover and picking up SS.
    You really find that "defense debuffs... are not worth slotting against"? I find the exact opposite - they're one of the main survivability holes that I'd love to be able to address in builds that don't come with defense debuff resistance. One of the main benefits of Shield Defense over soft-capping other sets is that you can cap your DDR. I agree that Aid Self wants more slots, and yes we want One with the Shield, but I wouldn't throw DDR into the toilet to get there, and particularly not for a mere travel power. We have other options.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LIinfinity View Post
    Greater Fire Sword, drop the IO and in its place put a Crushing Impact: ACC/DMG/RECH. You want this attack to Recharge faster.
    Recharge on Greater Fire Sword is sufficient for the top DPS chain (with Spiritual). The only point to recharging faster would be if recharge debuffed, which doesn't seem like sufficient reason to mess with endurance, which I suspect will be a minor problem with this build.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LIinfinity View Post
    Health, drop the slot that contains Miracle: Heal/End. Place this slot in your new SS or somewhere else.
    I'd probably agree with dropping the heal/end from Health. I'd put it in Aid Self. Better to improve your healing than your regeneration and hit points in this case, I think.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Infini View Post
    Having that extra bit of DDR could mean the difference between winning or losing when you're fighting groups like 5th Column. That said, I do think that the Enzyme exposure could come out of its slotting.
    Due to three separate unintended game mechanics, the Enzyme in Active Defense caps DDR while a Membrane puts it at 91.5% and dropping the slot puts it at 84.5%. With more than sufficient recharge from Spiritual to make it permanent, we don't need a third Membrane, and I certainly wouldn't want to triple the strength of incoming defense debuffs. I'd keep the Enzyme.

    Motley Cruel, if you really want One with the Shield, you could sacrifice about 4% DPS and replace Greater Fire Sword with Fire Sword. That also lets you move the Gladiator's Armor to One with the Shield to save a slot. Now you have another slot to move to Aid Self to improve healing further. I'd do it personally, but then, I'm always trying to turn my Scrappers into Tankers. I'm probably more willing to sacrifice DPS than most people.

    It's a nice build, by the way. Endurance would be my main concern. The Fire Sword swap would help address that as well.
  25. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tektronics View Post
    You sure Pine?, I have MG recharge needing to be in 4.488 seconds (I don't think you used Arcanatime)
    Right, 4.488, except that's more precise than it is accurate since we know recharge doesn't work exactly the way we model it (but don't know exactly how it does work). I'd shoot for a little lower than that to be safe.