City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Werner

Renowned

  • Posts

    3682

  • Joined

  1. Werner
    Wow, hard-capped!
  2. Werner
    Well, it could be bad in the sense of everything you had to sacrifice in order to get to the soft cap. But from a survivability standpoint, it wouldn't be bad. The real question is if it would be more survivable than a traditional Regen build. I don't know. Haven't even slightly poked at the numbers yet, let alone ran one or heard about anyone running one.
  3. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mauk2 View Post
    However, my PERSONAL favorite of the ones you have up there is the bs/sd. Luv that combo.
    Yeah, me too. But it's not much of a farmer.
  4. Werner
    Yes, it can have endurance issues, particularly if you go with the Blaze Mastery epic for Fire Ball for even better AoE and farming potential. It's manageable, but you'll have to actively work to keep it under control. Definitely take Stamina. While leveling, in the mid 30s, I suggest frankenslotting your attacks with a serious focus on endurance reduction. I took Leadership on my way up, which certainly didn't help in the endurance department. An IO'd out build won't be much easier to manage, as you'll probably have a lot of recharge to spam some really devastating attacks, which is going to cost a ton of endurance, so all those endurance uniques and the like will be struggling to keep up. Again, it's doable, and you can even get to sustainable endurance if you want to go that far. But you have to work at it.

    I haven't actually IO'd mine out (just experimenting in Mids' for now), so maybe someone with actual experience on a top end Fire/Shield will have some better input in that regard.
  5. Werner
    Fire/Shield. Very good survivability. Very good AoE damage. Excellent single target damage. Excellent burst damage.
  6. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SPiNE View Post
    As for single-target damage, it's... definitely better than Katana and Broadsword since it's Smash and not Lethal damage.
    I know it might feel otherwise when you're trying to take robots apart with a sword, but the vast majority of enemies in the game are NOT lethal resistant. On average, you're looking at 8% lethal resistance and 6% smashing resistance across all enemies in the game - not a big difference. Now, I do have Martial Arts slightly higher than Broad Sword for DPS at the top end. But both are put to shame by Katana running a DPS chain.

    Anyway, back on topic, I'd suggest Shield Defense. Even after the inevitable nerf, Shield Charge will add to your AoE. Shield Defense doesn't need help from the primary to be survivable. Against All Odds will buff your damage output to something reasonable. Hmmm, looks like I just said the same thing as DSorrow.
  7. Werner
    The ones I've found easier that I'm thinking of at the moment would be Manticore, Chimera, Bobcat and Marauder. Both Chimera and Marauder were good practice AVs since you could get to them through Ouroboros. Hardly matters now with AE. Anyway, they should all be pretty easy on a properly-spec'd DM/SR.

    Ones I've found hardest but beatable are Infernal, Malaise, Scirocco and worst of the bunch, Silver Mantis. Don't even try Malaise with a Super Reflexes, though, unless you want to taste floor. He has a ton of non-positional psionic attacks that he spams. I got through him on Katana/Regen and Katana/Dark with massive healing.
  8. Werner

    It has to be asked

    POST-ACTION

    Repeating some of what Cybernaut and UberGuy said for emphasis.

    A Regen's health bar is just like breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. Every time I breathe out, my health bar may go red. But I'm just breathing.

    I'm also not impressed by the "go make a sandwich" survivability of Willpower. That just says that Willpower using all of its key powers is stronger than Regeneration NOT using four of its key powers. Uh... of course? So don't go make a sandwich in the middle of a nasty spawn on a Regen or ANY character that requires active involvement for its survivability. Problem solved.

    I'm not saying Regen is stronger. I'm just saying that "your health keeps going red" and "you can't go make a sandwich" aren't very meaningful points as long as you have a player actually PLAYING the game.
  9. Werner
    When and if I ever get around to redoing Werner, the first thing I'll look at is a soft-capped build. The idea is to combine soft-capped defense with a high rate of regeneration and some useful occasional clicks. It WOULD have higher BURST survivability than a traditional build, since that recharge only matters after the first time you click. But it's not like you want to play the game by doing something really hard for 30-60 seconds, then sitting around waiting for recharges. Then I'd compare what I came up with to a more traditional build. Back of my brain says traditional build may still win for survivability, and with much less compromise, but I'd at least look at a soft-capped build, because I could be wrong.
  10. Werner
    Unless my memory is particularly horrible today, yes, Laser Beam Eyes are red.
  11. Werner
    1) The chain I mentioned double-stacks Divine Avalanche. I'd slot it with a set like Mako's Bite where you aren't going to get any extra defensive enhancement. That leaves you with 15% melee defense to pick up from other sources, though I'd personally target about 25% to make it easier to handle a simple defense debuff here and there.

    2) Recharge isn't a high priority for Katana if you're double-stacking Divine Avalanche with the chain I mentioned. In that case, Gambler's Cut needs the most recharge, but it's only 90%, which can technically be done with no global recharge at all. It's NICE to have recharge though, to get Dark Regeneration back faster.

    3) Yes, there's room for The Lotus Drops.

    4) A lot of us soft-capped it back in I16, but then they nerfed Blessing of the Zephyr. It's still possible, but it's harder and involves more compromises. I'm not happy yet, but I've started fiddling with my build to get back to the soft cap after the Blessing of the Zephyr nerf, and back to endurance sustainability after the Miracle nerf. Currently, I'm sacrificing the Hecatombs and Achilles' Heel in Gambler's Cut, which makes me very sad. I'll have to keep playing with it. But hey, at least it's AN example of soft-capping a Katana/Dark in I17.

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1413;718;1436;HEX;|
|78DA9D93D94E135118C7CFB453C6D2E9462D2DFB2614281D161710120D8A260A4D1|
|0902BB519CBA11DA96D336D14BCF201301A2EF4CA3B457D04E38398A82FE0FA06A6|
|7ECB69A3B74EDAEF37E77CDBFF7C3393DD5F3185787C5168A1CB25BB56CB6DE65DB|
|B5A95AE2F6B179C7CDB7249EE4BC71042C49B9E5C5696A4B456EDBA5DB67B5ABB2B|
|7257966BD25AB1DDBDDCB27BBFE246AF958BD295E5BAD5BC31D72B9592B526EDAA5|
|32EF0E2AA532FCB5A2DA81685621D5CE166DC8E746B45A71ABD5275F2D6A5CACE41|
|2E6BD7EAD23D4882A209F83F416974357C6217302B3C054691A03B8C7B84B63DC20|
|466692A6B4623CF2CE1C469C61942FB59C69C177168A824C8D2B897C9BD4CEE15E2|
|5E21EE15E15E9390E555BDBC5F3D42F489C83742C777C60FC2C99F8C5F840464F9B|
|897C7F7C983853A3F33BE109E4180A179A8ACC162922C26C962BA594C378BE96531|
|5390E56731C29FD4B0531AB602BCA507F8D8BD3C927E9EC5044F2633C77382F0A0A|
|A101CA7A29DB0155615C2ACB59FB5F6B3D6C138A50EFE16D8D080F0A81A48F4067B|
|3608439B8C2DC64DC2C8363F11C88A719627F682CA8E1C319E138E2020CE13D3E30|
|F48D8A9878C7DC60161EC112103E1094D23158925AA30B6002BC32BC63ABCA833C5|
|A2522C2AC5A22C48EB6219DEAE798C87F7B0C9557A4D26F9B4D3B0D3C3915ACF39A|
|E3CF9915C9A81F579867D0DB88417760654F0C005159CA0E7A3836B581D7C789E5D|
|534D72AB28848CAAECD17F5D9B20695CB51A4FD3C98F8342A4D511D23CC90C4F323|
|3440798BE0EDE948841554B3D27EB15054CBF661C1366DF30DE32DE119E42D68C6A|
|38B3C85A7AF5D6470A3F3CEFDADF3B7E4A5CD75B5F97D02868406F7DA50D7F84420|
|5E7FFD7F5DE6C96F36FB483DD42B30E46DBC6BB5B686EE3F20EDED97877174D1E97|
|8D0F6653717801759D47B38866094D1CF489438C34026002684C344134213461341|
|1343134DD685EA269FC01B369F5F5|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
    Edit: Oh, and for that matter, I'd already sacrificed Soaring Dragon and Golden Dragonfly. That would make most people sad. In my current build, I can still pull off around 175 DPS, which I find satisfactory. Not so sure I'd find it satisfactory without the DPS slotting in Gambler's Cut.
  12. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neutrino_Siphon View Post
    Hm, what happened to the Rep whatnot?
    They decided they didn't like it. That or tags. Weren't being used the way they wanted or something like that. More info in the top announcement.
  13. Werner
    I had not considered it. But I'm going to guess it only gets a chance to proc every 10 seconds, not every tick, just like other procs. I'm also going to shoot for enough to-hit to have a 95% chance to hit +4s, so the proc would only very rarely and unreliably help. I'm pretty sure I would be able to find a better use for a slot on most builds.
  14. Werner
    Miracle and Numina uniques, Conserve Power and Physical Perfection, Performance Shifter proc in both Stamina and Physical Perfection, slotting your attacks with endurance reduction as one of your criteria for a good set. Also, not necessarily running all powers all the time. For AV fights, for instance, you'll want either Cloak of Fear (if using minions for Dark Regeneration fuel) or Death Shroud (if not), but it's pointless to run both at once.
  15. Werner

    ?/SR...

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by seebs View Post
    I know everyone says to use /regen for soloing...
    They do? Not that there's anything wrong with Regen, but I'd call it middle of the road. Comes out of the gate great due to Quick Recovery, but for the whole 1-50 experience, I think there are stronger soloing sets, particularly if you understand endurance management. And all Scrappers solo well, so it's hardly an issue even if you take the worst soloing secondary, whatever that might be.

    Dark Melee is great for Super Reflexes, as one thing Super Reflexes can really use is a heal. But the heal requires you to stay in melee range, so doesn't lend itself well to jumping around.

    Katana or Broad Sword help with the normally late-blooming nature of the Super Reflexes secondary by allowing you to soft cap your melee defense early. Again, they benefit from staying in melee range, so probably aren't ideal.

    So I'd recommend a classic - Claws/Super Reflexes. It'll bloom late, but it can be a very kinetic build, hopping around to take best advantage of ranged, cone, PBAoE and other attacks, as well as simply hopping around to even further reduce the number of incoming attacks.
  16. Werner

    claw/sr help

    POST-ACTION

    I wouldn't use this build. It's old, it's based on a template that gives is significantly more recharge than it needs for its chain, it might have survivability issues, and it definitely has endurance issues. But I do calculate 226 DPS for it using the Follow Up -> Eviscerate -> Focus chain. Might be a possible starting point for putting something together. Just keep the recharge for Eviscerate at 2.37 seconds or less, trade the remaining recharge for endurance and survivability, and it should be golden. Might take a while to buy the PvP proc, though.

    Probably someone will toss out a better and more complete build, but hey...

    Edit: And since it's probably going to come up, what is probably commonly considered the top DPS chain is Follow Up -> Focus -> Slash. And yeah, at 314% recharge, it would be. But without team buffs, you're going to have a tick of delay. At that point, and assuming you can get the PvP proc for Eviscerate, it's doing only comparable damage to the Follow Up -> Eviscerate -> Focus chain. Plus it takes over 20% more recharge to be there, which takes more build compromises. Plus it doesn't have AoE.

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1417;708;1416;HEX;|
|78DA9D935B53525114C7F7118EDC6F228A2822E00D91A34E57B5F021A4B19122319|
|F2A87700B8CCC81E1E0A4530F7D809EBA3EF5D6F523347DB606D765E334F516A3FF|
|DFDE6BAFB5D79F7538A5B3825788575B42F3DF69552DEBB052EB563B1DD975EFCB5|
|AC36CB7DAF5F360F1512E5F6CD74EAD5CBE02490D87106274907858922D290DA87E|
|6E252E8305792C4D4B1A9553DCEDC9E3963C935668C76CC8AE347BC660E12EB7DB2|
|DA3D291F2C847CB62B3DEE835CDBA57ED7AA6B4AC006D7665F54876AD46B313D9EE|
|346B46A1DA3DC1D3C352D5EAC9EE79146C65E0BF89FEE8D3873FF8881246348AE8C|
|20D8B3531E4610408761FC34F884608F7A14A53551A570D73D530A73B39DDC9778C|
|70D503A8B271956673C26241CCEA84149CE8EA44CF0A4C76335A70E220837DDD313|
|F8421EF222343F02F11A25942EC84AA34A872F1F7B4B98EF9BE3A21D820C49A041D|
|F23CDC577872147240C8A7ACF8EE913BFF01D9B7C149409D04C6611117C13CEC1C3|
|661C25188FBE9A16572326210A65608D3AB84993542E61C101676A80AAB2986798A|
|A33CC5519EE2184F718CA7B8CC53DC83AA88F21C61CF4E088DAB8BC6DF70C38F84D|
|9B784F9778CF78C0F84875035A1BECF043F8E0C3F8E113899542D2693D42204A1B8|
|6A11675BD36C79862DCFB0E5247B4DB2D73054255455E233754D7E272C7C617C252|
|C7D23E47E10F6A12AA5AA52DC24CD4DD27C7B9A7BCDFAFF9C4B1BAAE6D433985BE7|
|DB3778DC9B84955B8CDB8C2D1BE225E82257D9170B6C669BB143582B32EE125E407|
|A56A5676F5068F90A7BBFCAB8C6E9D70915F064A8411ABF05FE64CA105A55A155FE|
|8D4FD9FF7E2B77FF8994EDEA358588469184FDF2CDEDBB82942938F9BF3E3FBD83E|
|B5C7B6ED07D9432887680ABC7284F70FB1457555C3D43A9E1B6FFCB3B301CB889BE|
|D6513650365122E04FBCC64C8707C483E245F1A1F85102284194304A0CE5134AFF0|
|238A3F131|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  17. Werner
    1) Divine Avalanche -> Gambler's Cut -> Golden Dragonfly -> Gambler's Cut -> Divine Avalanche -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon -> Gambler's Cut

    2) Very helpful. Stick it in Gambler's Cut and nothing else. In the attack chain, you're using it every other attack, so it'll give you a whole lot of chances to fire and make a noticeable difference in damage output.

    3) While leveling, Oppressive Gloom was better for me because of the endurance issue. However, in an end game build a Katana/Dark can have so much damage mitigation that Oppressive Gloom does more damage to you than it prevents. At that point, it's Cloak of Fear or nothing in my opinion. You just need to be able to manage the endurance. I use and like Cloak of Fear.
  18. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DSorrow View Post
    And there's also the possibility to slot CJ with the Jump Set: Stealth IO, making it better than or as good as Stealth in every single way.
    Though unless you want full time stealth, I'd put the stealth IO in Sprint (or a veteran/beta run power if you have them), and then toggle sprint on and off for 2 minutes of stealth. It saves a slot.
  19. Werner

    kat/regen question

    POST-ACTION

    I'm not sure what you mean by perma or play conservatively. Normally when we say "perma Dull Pain", we just mean that it recharges in 120 seconds or less, not that you put it on auto. You should only click it when you need the heal.
  20. Werner

    kat/regen question

    POST-ACTION

    It's mathematically better to wait until you're badly injured before hitting Dull Pain. Timing it so that you are ONLY badly injured and not simply dead may take practice when you're pushing the envelope. It's worth practicing. But even though I'm saying to use it as a heal, you should still perma Dull Pain if it's practical. You always want to EITHER have it up OR be able to click it.
  21. Werner
    • Slot Deflection and Battle Agility with three defense
    • Slot Weave with three defense
    • Slot Combat Jumping with one defense
    • Slot a Steadfast Protection unique
    • Slot Phalanx Fighting with one defense
    • Slot Active Defense with three recharge for a nice margin of error
    • Slot True Grit with three heal
    • Slot Against All Odds with one endurance reducer
    • One with the Shield is optional
    • Use a single small purple inspiration at a time as required
    (Yes, take Tough.)
  22. Werner

    It has to be asked

    POST-ACTION

    Well, Umbral actually designed Val Blademaster's build. I just knew enough to save it when I saw it. Glad you're enjoying it in any case.
  23. Werner
    I think Invuln is fine as is. I don't think it needs a buff. It definitely doesn't need a nerf. I don't expect either.
  24. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba View Post
    There are no mistakes! The data is perfection personified in spreadsheet form!! NONE SHALL PASS!!!
    I assume you caught it, but I meant in terms of if including Energy Melee was a mistake, then you had a whole lot of similar "mistakes" with other primaries that he somehow missed.
  25. Werner
    It's not a must have. It's certainly something I'd be willing to drop in a concept build.