Wilfred

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Most defenders are empathy on Defiant.

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Are you playing on the same Defiant as me?

Shame I couldn't be there - maybe one day Defiant'll hold a raid at a time a bit earlier (like on Union, whose raids, though sparse and oft unsuccessful, I can usually attend ) so I can come and give it my full attention. Either way - gratz all!

Wilfred will volunteer!

If noone else wants in, I can offer Stronghold's services - Inv tanker, though he has no extra power pool taunts.

The only way I found to fit everything I wanted on my Inv/Fire was to remove epics entirely.

Taunt's vastly useful from 10-22, despite what many people claim about tanks being too squishy before SO's - at that point in the game, you're still a hell of a lot tougher than most others, you just need to be very selective about using it. Taking taunt early is a proving ground, but worth its weight in gold when it comes to learning the trade early.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't consider tanking without Resist Physical Damage - Taking it with the build you have will half incoming s/l damage when Unstoppable is down.

Aid self and Hasten both immensely improve survivability.

Hand Clap at 49 is a bit odd, at that point your days are about over, and you won't be too worried about the damage mit. it offers if you've spent 49 levels without it.

If you drop epic pool (you've enough damage output and a decent enough attack chain without it) you could comfortably fit Aid Self and RPD.

Whatever you decide to do, don't drop fighting pool. Weave is so incredibly valuable, a fact which is denied by its seemingly small amount of def. And you can't hit s/l cap without Tough!

The only advice I can give to anyone wanting to run a hami raid.... keep your head. There will ALWAYS be utter divs on broadcast, on the request channel, dragging GM's, aggroing other mitos, targeting hami, running into the bubble in containment phase to "hav a lokk", switching to a heavy aura/cape cossie, questioning your tactics, complaining about the length of time to hold, refusing to stop healing when asked, dropping pets that aren't helping anything, firing off fulcrum shift for the fun of it... you get the picture. Xan manages to keep a level head through all of that and more, somehow, and if he didn't we'd all come away with a bit of a bitter taste in our mouths. Don't bite back!

Edit: As far as any raid itself goes, if I can make it (and sunday evenings are always BIG ifs) I'll volunteer to be the kinetics def spreading joy and amphetamines among the PA droppers, it was fun last time. You all look like ants from up there, you know.

Veteran of a fair few hami raids here, Scrapper with fly signing up to help muller some mitos in the name of Science And Progress.

For what it's worth, the earlier time this is scheduled for is ace for me, as I have other commitments on a sunday evening so working Defiant raids into my schedule is hell!

We'll have no trouble, here.

Is TG a tail or a no-tail? I just can't tell these days, Smooth.

One should do it, if you're going the permarage route.

As Inv, your taunt aura will be one of your main sources of defence anyway, as well as providing an accuracy buff. You'd be daft not to take it, and dafter still not to use it (I've seen a fair few Inv tanks who tried invincibility in large teams before SO's when their armours weren't quite up to scratch, and see it as a sort of insta-death button, refusing to use it even after SO's - you should have it running all the time, along with Temp. Inv. and Unyielding). The aura fires off ticks of taunting regularly, each time taunting a few foes near you.

Tough will be far better on the tanker than on your brute, and weave will have a similar benefit.

I'd definitely go for Tough (with Resist Physical Damage, Temp. Inv. and unyielding you'll be running at 70% ish res to smash lethal - taking tough at that point reduces the amount of smash/lethal damage you take by two-thirds, and puts you at capped s/l res), and Weave is a big bonus later on when you're fighting big mobs and getting 20%+def from invincibility.

Aid self is another huge bonus, slotted for three interrupt reduction and three recharge it's another huge survivability boost.

As it happens, Inv isn't all that far off EA anyway... it's got some great res early on but later in your career you'll be tanking mainly on your defence.

Just remember you want to hit, taunt, and run around as many foes in the mob as possible. You want them all beating on you, all of the time. Don't skip handclap. By the time you've rage and footstomp you'll be tearing through them

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But it doesn't matter that you won't use insps - there was nothing wrong with the other chap using his head and making a clean getaway. Hats off to him.

Acting one way doesn't mean everyone else has to act the same, people thinking that way is what starts these ugly messes off.

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But if everyone thought like you all Brutes would have to do is eat 12 reds and 8 purples to 3 shot Regens Scrappers and 2 shot everything else (except tanks). Leave RV buy more insps, rinse and repeat.

This would pretty much work for any AT.

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I've done this quite a few times with my EM/EA Brute, in Warburg. It takes a fair bit of inf and a lot of time running out of Warburg regularly enough to make a difference. I never bother with the purples though, enough reds to get me to cap. Usually only used against heavily buffed scrappers or granite tanks who are challenging allcomers on the beach and mouthing off about being invincible. It's a one-off trick though, charge in, drop the tank, dive out before the inevitable stalker mate of his comes out of the wings. Quietly ignore the flood of profanity and screams of "unfair!" over broadcast. Big whoop, like I care. It's a free fire zone, and I'm fully prepared for it to happen to me.

But it doesn't matter that you won't use insps - there was nothing wrong with the other chap using his head and making a clean getaway. Hats off to him.

Acting one way doesn't mean everyone else has to act the same, people thinking that way is what starts these ugly messes off.

Powersets have never been balanced - All I can say is thank crikey not everyone's interested in making the mostest powerfullest tnak-maeg EVARRR, cos it'd all be a bit boring.

And to someone else - yes, FF is wonderfully boring, which is GOOD for me, because I like to watch films while I'm soloing and pay minimal attention to the game :P

Chalk me up another - Stronghold, Inv/Fire Tanker, no ancillary powerset.

Dark = pets don't die, bodyguard is godly, pets do more damage, you get an extra pet, stuff can't hit you, or run away, or do anything when FS lands. Bosses are held, and if you get into trouble (which you won't, ever) there's black hole to spam and run. It is the most powerful MM secondary, without question. Having said all that, I like FF because I have about 30 second's work every 4 mins, and that's it. The rest of the time is spent watching xp come rolling in.

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...The DM set is more utilitarian than outright attacks...

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This puts me off. As a brute, the trick is to spam attack after attack after attack after attack after attack. I'd say Energy is better suited for that. Infinite health? Pop a green. Infinite End? Slot for end redux. When you get slowed by a nerva spectral, don't come crying to me because your attacks aren't up and ready to spam.

Two slaps, at the very least, and maybe a twisted nipple.

Go with your original instincts, you made the Fire/Kin because you wanted to try it, presumably. It doesn't matter what other people are playing as.

I'll use the example of siphon power - all Kinetic's targeted debuffs work this way, whether Health, Endurance or Speed is being sapped.

When you use siphon power on an enemy, your damage is increased, and theirs is decreased. If that enemy is killed, the damage buff affecting you continues to hold. The debuff would continue, only you killed the foe affected by it.

Eliminating foes will not change the buffs on yourself. Kinetics does not use any anchors, as it has no targeted toggles.

I'd always go with elec, on a blaster. It might screw with the concept, but it's decent armour, hold, and emergency megadisorient (or nuke, if you're facing robots). Cone won't be much use to you, though.

Secondary to that I'd go with cold, survivability is ace with snow storm and hibernate, and I'd rather have def than res on a blaster, as you have a higher chance of avoiding all those nasty disorients you can't do a damned thing about, rather than a res armour, which'll drop as soon as one lands anyway. Flash freeze probably a good "stop 'em and run!" power.

Force gives you more tricks to play about with, and can transform you into a mini-tanker.

Munitions still good even with ED'd LRM (teehee BANG).

Flame has bonfire, good for keeping the melle types at bay, but I find the rest of the set a touch lacking - it's a good ST hold, but I don't rate Res shields for folks with no mez protect, and would take RotP only if I was very melee-heavy and used to dying an awful lot.

Cold or Elec, for me.

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If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.

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It's only on the Sonic Resonance powerset though isn't it? Certainly I have problems with that headache-inducing-powerset but Sonic Blast is fine...

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It's the noises from the blasts as much as anything. They get very old, very quickly, and when you team with a couple of people who regularly get sound looping type bug... well, prepare for an earful.

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You will hate any pause, be it because of your (or your teammates´) natural needs for food, drink or other things

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You will find yourself quite often being the first to charge a new enemy spawn

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And you will have a one-attack-attack-chain.

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Kudos, Sin, those are three of the truest statements about Kin I've read.

If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.

Kin/Sonic is wonderful, our little ragtag crew of 1 kin/sonic, 1 fire/ss tank, one spines/regen scrapper and my bs/regen scrapper hit 50 in 21 days (iirc) just doing regular missions. Couldn't have done it anywhere like that speed without the kin/son.

I tend to find that if I give advice as to how to build the most efficient character you can possibly be (Invariably by taking Jump Kick and slotting Temp. Inv. for recharge only) then they have all the info they need at their command.

If they have a specific concept they're building to, they can fit in my suggestions around that, and drop the fitness pool so they can have both fly and 6-slotted jump kick.

Basically, as long as they have as much info as possible at their command they can then go ahead and work out what they want for themselves. The important bit is to let them know WHY you're suggesting certain powers or slotting arrangements.

Give them the facts, that they are capable of making their own decisions. Happy days.

Yup, Inv tanks more on defence than resistance in the later levels, and using tough hide and invincibility we get quite close to the sweet spot of 1-in-20-hits-land defence - weave really pushes things up, despite its deceptively low defence value, by the time you've maxed out invincibility every scrap of defence is adding to your survivability by a vast amount.

you'll get a huge benefit from weave, but want to slot it for one or two endurance reduction - them's fightin' toggles be endurance hungersome.


Edit: Gah, it's the Brute forum, duh. OK, Weave's nigh useless on an inv. brute, take aid self and hasten.