mauk2

Hmm....

Here's a wacky suggestion: Make a tank!

You get the best of both worlds: Brute/scrapper damage, broot/tank toughness! And none of those pesky 'better on which AT' discussions.

Holy crap, does the DRM get Mask of Vitiation?!

...no. No way. But wow, it'd be nice....

LOL!! True. I consider psi to mostly be a nuisance to a full-up tanker build, and mitigate it with incidental defense, regen, and a huge mass of hitpoints.


All the above is excellent advice!

Below is a sample build I plan to put on my main tank, if I ever get the time. It's a 'middle ground' build, as much as can be done of a heavily defensive combo like inv/ax.

Even without the incarnate powers, it's way softcapped, has perma dull pain, close to perma hasten, 29 hp/sec regen, 115 End, and while the damage is not going to make a Scrapper jealous, it's not bad at all, with Bruising and Reactive working their magic. It has fully-developed single target and AOE attack chains, and of course, defense out the wazoo.

It's even fairly cheap.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Gnarl_I19_1: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Battle Axe
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(13), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(13), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(48)
Level 1: Beheader -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 2: Chop -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 4: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), Ksmt-ToHit+(48)
Level 8: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(9), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 10: Resist Physical Damage -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46)
Level 12: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 16: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(17), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Aegis-Psi/Status(42)
Level 18: Invincibility -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(19), HO:Cyto(19), LkGmblr-Rchg+(50)
Level 20: Swoop -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(21), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 22: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 24: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(A)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(40)
Level 28: Whirling Axe -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(31), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(31), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 32: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 35: Cleave -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Rchg(36), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(37), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Pendulum -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(39), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(39), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(40), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Resist Elements -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(42), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Resist Energies -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), RgnTis-Regen+(50)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Spiritual Radial Boost
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(43)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(43)



EDIT: Typo, 39 hp/sec regen. (sigh)

I can't post a build right now, but inv/ax is one of my oldest and favorite toons.

Advice: Softcap vs all with one in range of invincibility. Take every endurance power. Get the accolades for hitpoints. Recharge, recharge, recharge. Spiritual, Reactive and Pyronic are your Incarnate sweetspots, although the Regen one (Rebirth?) is right there too.

For attacks, you want three single target (after the t1 pick the two you like best) and all three AOE's. You slot 4 Kinetic Combats in the Single target attacks for the melee defense, and then you slot 3 Eradication and 3 Crushing Blow in the AOE's for the energy/negative defense.

For defense, take everything but Unstoppable(you are not likely to ever need it). Invincibility get three Hami-O Cytoskeletons.

Your fire/cold defense you get from 3-slotting Aegis in most of your many resist powers.

+recharge you get from Luck of the Gambler +7.5's you slot in your Defense powers, and any spare recharge bonuses you can pick up if you have more than six attacks. You can also get very nice bonuses from mocking beratement in taunt and Gaussians in buildup.

Pools are fighting, leaping, leadership, speed. Boxing (leave empty or mule a KC 4 set), tough, weave, combat jumping, superleap, manuevers, tactics, assault, hasten. Epic pool take conserve power and physical perfection. Get two of the Performance Shifter +end procs, one in stamina and one in phys perf.

Dull pain gets all the recharge and heal you can cram in. Lots of people use five doctored wounds, others use three or four heal/end IO's in a frankenslot.

There, that oughta get you pointed the right direction.

Some of these are optional, all are very nice indeed. For example, the confuse and fear protection in the leadership pool can be surprisingly handy.

LOL, don't feel bad, I built the darn thing and can't even begin to solo it at max. I've now managed it at 0x6y, but the extra bosses really punished me.


Yes, they are designed to require heavy AOE, heavy ST, and good to excellent burst damage, especially at the highest settings. If your damage output is too low, eventually a Blaze survives long enough to get the spawn fully buffed, and then you're in for a WAR. I find it a very different play experience to most stuff in the game.

On strong teams, things tend to go well until somebody gets wacky and over-aggros. I deliberately gave them high movement speed(flight) and large perception radii, to give Stalkers and other sneaky toons a role and make things like the +Stealth auras more important. A useful side effect is, they tend to attack in waves if you're careless.

It's an impressive sight, watching a team get swarmed by four or five spawns. The really good teams kill them anyway.


Try it at 0x3, that's what I use on my scrapper. It's a LOT more relaxing with smaller spawns.

LOL, ty!

I spent a lot of time tuning it, it's a lot harder than it seems to strike the right 'mix'. I'm glad folks are enjoying it.

When you roll the tickets after victory, feel free to e-mail me a token of your appreciation.

(JK, I have general e-mail off.)

Post a time, then? I put the clock in for a reason.

Oh, and I guess number of defeats?

I'm still astonished people are soloing it at all. Being Incarnate is teh gud.

Heh.

Sounds like it may be a bit much, then.

It's very easy to hit 'impossible' in AE. The challenge is to hit 'fun, and almost impossible.'

I still have no idea how you could run my map at max, they just evaporate me if I set it that high....

The Blaze pool is not bad at all. Yes, you have to take three powers, but if you do not plan to exemp, it's quite possible to heavily slot and use all of them.

Hint: Check the recharge and animation times of ALL the powers in the Blaze pool, and don't forget the Reactive Interface bonus.

Heh.

A lot of people seem to forget about fire. But if the discussion is about damage, it begins and ends with fire. Period.

And fire melee is better on a brute, because Fury adds to the bonus ticks of damage on a brute. And, brutes get native access to gloom, probably the best epic single target attack, which is also boosted by Fury if my memory serves.

Fire armor adds a damage aura, and fiery embrace. Fiery embrace lets you EXCEED THE DAMAGE CAP.

Oh, the combo also gets build up, just to put a cherry on top of that sucker.

Singleton, single target damage, fire/fire/soul brute.

The price for this hellish brew of destruction is durability. You're a LITTLE tougher than a fire/fire scrap, but not much.

A very good subsitute is a fire/willpower/soul brute. Less damage, but way more durable. I consider it one of the best broots out there.

Hmmm, that's pretty cheap....

Dammit, I don't wanna do any more trials! (weeps)

Singleton ST?

My vote would be a fire/fire/soul brute.

Will be a little tough to keep alive, though.

This is a good point:

Axe does not need a ton of recharge, but Ela LOVES recharge. Loves it, and comes with two purple sets worth for free.

Perma-energize on a brute is a sweet place to be, because it gets you a big heal more often, it turbocharges your regeneration by a TON, and best of all, it lowers the endurance cost of all those big-hitting axe attacks by a truckload.

Perma-energize is a bit tough to reach, but SO worth it.

Also, do not overlook power sink! You can use it an another attack, killing your foe's endurance. You can't really stump them by yourself, but you can sure make it easy for any other drains to shut them sown completely

This.

Shield/fire tank will handle your pesky aggro troubles just fine, and do...damages.

Elec/fire tank will shut that pesky psionics issue right down, as well as totally ignoring endurance drains. And do damages. And be tough as nails.

Fire/fire tank is Old School Awesome.

And yeah, play what ya like, it is ALL good.

I have tried to use EC/DT cycles many, many times, and in my humble opinion, it ain't worth it.

The real joy of Dragon's Tail, and what makes it a truly top-shelf AOE, is the incredibly fast animation time. You can literally use it as part of a ST attack chain if you want, it just drops right in smoothly and simply.

Trying to chain it with EC slows things way down for me. Others may like it. And honestly, the damage boost is not terribly significant. Occassionaly you'll get a half dozen crits, but that's realllly rare.

I honestly think that MA needs more AOE. Give DT a slightly bigger radius, or add a small cone to Crane Kick, or something.

Don't get me wrong, the recent buffs to MA are AWESOME, but it's still....not so much.

Of course, it is realllly pretty, which counts for something I suppose.

My current gut feeling is, that with the added damage of reactive, Eagle Claw is less productive than other attacks in martial arts.

The reason being, Reactive adds a flat amount of damage, over time, to all attacks. This tends to make the fastest animating attacks a bit more valuable in a chain, as you can then max stack the reactive bonus quicker.

But it's a fairly small effect, I think, (since I'm too lazy to crunch numbers) and Eagles Claw is SO PRETTY.

Dude, take it, it looks awesome!

PS:

If you had a hami build or two, congratulations!

You're Rich Now.

Before you change ANYTHING, go to Wentworth's and assess what your legacy builds are worth as you start making changes. Prices are high now, so you want to be sure you don't delete something worth 500 million without realizing it.

8}

Really.

Ok, run an arc. Go to the vendor. Choose random rolls. Roll crappy-*** bronze, level 15-19.

Once you're completely full of 20+ recipes, go check what they're worth on the market, AFTER you craft them.

Anything worthless, sell at vendor.

Repeat, oh, five times.

PROFIT!


Also, some of the best, most interesting, funny, moving, dangerous stuff in the GAME is in AE. Play something besides farms.

Carnie's is good eatin' on an elec/db tank.

Remember, you can farm ANYTHING.

Except maybe rularuu. Those things are beefy.

And probably vanguard, but they're too hard to find....

LOL!!!

Ok, dat's funny.

Well, mind you, this was a couple of years back I guess, no Incarnate crap existed. Three colds, a kin, and all the temps you could eat, mmmm, tasty.

Been a long time since I gave a crap about speed runs. My latest interests are wacky things like character concept, lewt, and having fun.

What a world, what a world!

Oh, as an interesting note, when the AOE buffage hits, I might have to dig out an old defender and try it again. Hmmmmm.... Great thing about this game, 7 years into it and there's STILL more new stuff to do than I can keep up with.