dave_p

If you haven't read up yet, check out this long, but excellent description of the first 5 Incarnate slots by dispari. Then look at Judgement. As an example, we have:

Pyronic:

Base stats:
428.36 damage
80 foot range
Targeted AoE
25 foot radius
16 targets max
AoE, fire
1.00 activation time
20.00 endurance

That's base damage. T4 w/T4 Musculature will do over 700 pts of damage. W/no crash. From range. W/a 24 target cap.

It's also not scaled for ATs. Which means if defenders do the same damage, but can debuff the crap out of their foes first, they win. Scrappers & tanks w/far superior defenses doing the same AoE damage: win. Controllers are already win machines, and they just get more win (at least no containment, but does that mean no defiance for blasters?).

Granted, it has an unenhanceable 90s recharge. On a team of 8, all w/Judgement, who notices? For long term AoE DPS, will blasters still be king? I *think* so, but the gap will be shrinking, mightily.

Similar arguments may be made for other ATs as we get massive buffs, debuffs, pets, and likely crowd control in the future as well. I still think the AoE damage gap is closed the most w/the addition of the Judgement slot.

And yes, this is 45+ content only, so 1-44, blasters will still rule the damage game, but as we have more and more end-game focused content, I can see less need (insofar as any AT is "needed") for a blaster going forward.

Thoughts? Cries of Dooooooom? Or are we just happy to get more fireballs?

Pretty sure it's changed recently.

I spent pretty much all of I18 farming blue-side 40-50 tips, and ran the Maelstrom mish countless times. Never had a problem finding him on toons w/and w/o stealth, +perception, etc. Just recently, maybe in the last few weeks, he's gone from mostly stealthy (i.e. you can still find him) to completely invisible. I've started to just skip those now.

If you have a lot of location based debuffs (FR, Sleet, Tar Patch, Disruption Arrow, etc), and not all that many melee on the team, you're often better off just immobing BM and letting the ranged have at it while keeping the other mobs off of the ranged yourself. Also consider some of the best debuffs in the game--LR, Benumb, aforementioned FR, Sleet & Tar Patch--already slow her to a degree where taunting her out of the patches will take a bit more time anyway.

Basically, I just don't stress about it any more. If the team wants to taunt her out, great. If there's a controller spamming immobs (and you sort of want to immob the swords so they don't hunt down the squishies), I don't complain. Of course, on a team where the scrappers/brutes are your main source of DPS, you need to set up some guidelines for immobs and such.

The Tactics thing seems overblown. Sure, your imps will pick up some extra aggro; BFD, you're a Fire/Rad, suck it up. I'd rather just never miss (nor have my teammates miss), even when RI's not on. Plus it's a great place to slot Gaussians, and that extra perception will also help you when you get smoked/blined/etc. Sure w/proper slotting & IOs, you can have accuracy through the roof, but your teammates won't always, plus there are enough problem mobs for which Tactics is a godsend.

If you're going for the Fallout > Mutation route, you'll also want Veng in the mix (and TP other if you can possibly squeeze it in). Fallout + Veng is a mighty good rationale for suicide in this game. Having said that, I'd skip Fallout (might still take Veng if you have room).

So I started an Apex w/my scrapper. Team is a brute, other scrappers, some blasters and dom and a squid (important! remember for later). No debuffs. Fearing trouble, we started anyway. Ppl dying in the 1st fight against clocks. Zero aggro control, but still, even w/minimal support, I usually expect alpha-slotted squishies to be somewhat self sufficient, but not so here. Still, we get to the hydra, and I tell ppl how to just kill the pylons from range, so we get through it.

Last stage of the 1st mish, ppl are dying left & right, and even my IOed out DB/WP is dying a few times (damn clocks won't gather for me to regen off of). I suggest this isn't going to work and I'll get my..., er tank, since that seems to be the biggest deficiency (I was wrong, my Cold defender prolly would've been best...). This is maybe 20 min in or so.

Grab my Stony, start over, get through the 1st mish okay. Not great, but okay. Get to BM, usually her 1st half fight is fast... not today. Fine, we're into it, ppl get killed, more than usual, but I expect it. Eventually, she runs away and we're hunting champions. More deaths, but we get BM back, and the fun begins. *Deep breath*

Remember that squid? Well, it seems that khelds will spawn cysts in this mish. Multiple times. So w/BM at 50% or so, and regen'ing fast due to lack of debuffs, along comes a cyst. At first, we're trying to concentrate on BM. No good, too many deaths. Fine, we get on the cyst, and finally finish it off (more deaths, more ppl complaining, dying in the dirt, refusing to hosp it). Back to BM who's back up to full by now. Slow progress, more deaths, more corpses just lying there, etc, etc... we get her down to around 50% again (remember, no debuffs), and bam, another cyst spawns. WTF??? is the main reaction of the team. Serious despair sets in. Get the cyst again, back to BM (back up to 100% again), again w/the whining, lying, afk'ing, eventually take her down to around 50% again... yup, a third freakin' cyst spawns. Rinse, repeat (the whining & despair increasing all the while), and, well, long story short, we eventually get her down before the inevitable 4th cyst would've spawned.

Final time was 1:25, though it seemed infinitely longer. Add the initial 20 min for the abandoned 1st attempt and you have a 1:45 run that I usually do in 30-35 min. And it really felt a lot, lot longer. Moral: no khelds if you have no debuffs on your team. In fact, just bring debuffs.

7 Fire/Rad + 1 Fire/Son. We did the corr version of this on Freedom a few years back (actually 2 Fire/Son so everyone got Clarity), but would work even better w/controllers. As for ST damage for hard targets that someone mentioned, Fire/Rads can solo pylons in just over 4 min (at least I never broke 4 min, others may have). Imagine what 8 of them can do.

Super teams aside, I'm duoing w/a friend--started on redside, but migrated blue--w/my SS/SD brute and his Son/Kin corr. Occasionally, we're joined by another friend playing his Crab. AAO + Rage + Fulcrum Shift + FS + SC + -res + recharge + infinite end + heals + overcapped defenses (w/the crab, mere def cap w/o)... is more or less unstoppable running x8 missions. Not too fast til 32 and Foot Stomp, but after FS & SC... insanity.

Elec has higher resists than any other resist-based armor, but also the weakest heal (tho it gives you a regen boost). Huge tox hole though, which won't be helped by most ppl IO'ing for def (Dark & Fire don't get a lot, but a little is better than none). Of course, a def capped Elec tanker is something to behold, but then so are all the other resist-based armors.

At SO levels, I think Elec is the "weakest" out of the 3 resist-based tanks, only because you can kill so much faster as Fire, and Dark has just a ridiculous heal, not to mention controls. Then again, Elec will have absolutely zero end problems, which is worth plenty, esp at SO levels. Both Dark & Fire do get some end drain resist and an end recovery in Consume, but nothing even close to Power Sink & complete end drain immunity.

Did it again on my tank w/no deaths. Mo too (yeah, I know, death has nothing to do w/it). Still lots of fun, whether on a ranged or melee toon. I'll have to try the "move just outside of the AoE" tactic next time, since I was jumping well out of its range while Taunting.

Rest of the team suffered little as well, though there were a few deaths here and there. I think as ppl get better at it (and there are still a lot of 1st time runners, esp on PuGs), we'll be looking back at these debates and thinking, 'what was all the fuss?' 30min (or less) TF for 40 (x2 for WST) merits & 2 guaranted shards? Sign me up, every time.

I ran this for the first time last night w/o getting killed in that fight on my Son/Son. Helps that he has (some) mez protection and is S/L resist capped (not to mention ranged def). I usually die a few times in there though, even w/my Stone tank in Granite, cuz I'm too busy, rooted, or just plain don't notice the blue death patches before it's too late. I accept it's just part of that particular fight, hosp it and get on w/life. The most frustrating part for me, at least, is that I can't type any messages to the team like, "stop whining, hosp it, and get back in the fight!" (This is not what I'm accusing the OP of doing, btw.)

I appreciate the wholesale hatred of rooting animations, since I mostly share them, and yeah, getting mezzed in that fight pretty much = death. I also don't appreciate the fact that controllers & doms are neutralized a bit, since immobs & holds (and slows) are counterproductive against BM. It's not a perfect fight, but I think it gets a lot more negative press than it deserves. Are the insta-deaths kinda cheap? Sure. Handle it correctly and I think the encounter's a lot of fun.

When I last played around w/Herostats and damage procs in tanker damage auras, it gave me about a 16% return in total damage when it was ED capped. In other words, a single damage proc is worth about a single damage SO. If you're ED capped for damage, or getting close, you're better off w/a proc than more damage. Of course, you'll ideally want to ED cap damage *and* put in a proc or three, plus as much end redux as your build needs.

Of the three, Cold by a long way. I'm not thrilled about Therm on my Elec/Therm--doesn't suck or anything, just nothing great about the set--and I don't like Son at controller levels. Cold is pretty damn awesome though, and it's a thematic fit too. Good synergy too w/Ice Slick + Sleet, AA + Heat Loss, etc.

Can't answer re: 325M. That's pocket change to someone sitting on 40B+. Whether the Miracle/Numina uniques are "worth it," I say hell yes; every one of my toons has the pair. Play w/and w/o them on some end intensive toons and see if you don't notice a difference. Then ask yourself if you're willing to work a bit for them, either to make the inf, or just run Tips for 30 min a day for 8 days.

The Perf. Shifter proc is of questionable value. It gives you a bit of a benefit, but not enough where I automatically throw it in on all my builds, though I do use it liberally. I have like one toon w/the +Regen IO. I think you're better off w/a lvl 50 heal IO in Health than the +Regen, though not if you're already ED capped.

I have 31 alts on my main server. Not all of them are 50 (yet). This week (and next), my 50s are on vacation as the rest of my toons will run Sister Psyche (then Numina) and get mad bonus XP. Week after, it'll be my 50s again, and I'll likely slot a bunch of ultra rares then too--waiting 2 more weeks for a very marginal buff is just not that big a deal. A mix of 50s and non-50s for ITF week (likely, all my current Incarnates will have the tier 4 this week), 50s again for Tin Mage & non-50s again for Manti. I for one am happy w/this schedule.

I recently wrote an ode to my Ice/Storm controller here. I really, really like playing him these days, and it's a thematic masterpiece, if a bit redundant if you're less than creative about using selective powers (i.e. don't just spam every power in every instance, as others have said). I admit in that thread that Fire/Storm could be even more awesome.

Yes, there are neat tricks you can play w/Ill or Grav & Storm, but I'd really look for a set that offers -KB. Tornado (Hurricane too!) is so much easier to use that way.