Team: Team Lawnmower
Shard: CoH
Overall Theme: This is difficult to say, as I think it simply excells at everything. I call it "Team Lawmower" because the team absolutely mows through all enemies with ease. Groups of +4s* are, quite frankly, too easy and several of the teammates will only manage to use 2 or 3 powers before everything is dead. Groups of +5s* represent virtually no risk and go down very quickly. Groups of +6s* are doable with still little risk, however due to the very large penalty by now they simply aren't as efficient for xp/hr as the +5s.
*Obviously the most you can get from your missions is +3s, therefore at least one person must be higher than the average level of the team.
Backstory: Unlike most of the teams posted here, this is not a concept I dreamed up, it's actually the team I play with every day. When we invite random players to fill the team out, it's fairly often they tell us it's the best team they've ever been on. The actual makeup of the team tends to vary a little, but below is listed what I believe to be the perfect combination.
Group Makeup:
2 Fire/Kin Controllers. The Fire Control represents a huge part of your offense after they get the imps, and Kinetics obviously gives you Speed Boost and Fulcrum Shift. There are two of these rather than one Fire/Kin and one Fire/something else for the 2 SBs more than anything else.
1 Stone/Ice Tanker. I weep for the person who has to play this, I certainly wouldn't want to do it. But it's here to serve a purpose, to take aggro, and this is the build I think is best at that. Obviously Granite Armor is very nice, but most of the time it isn't needed. Jump on in with Mud Pots and Frozen Aura, and throw down an Ice Patch. The damage threat of the group you're attacking is all but gone.
1 Empathy Defender. I didn't even list a secondary because I don't think it matters. My feeling is that this character should NEVER attack. That would merely spend endurance, risk getting aggro, and risk delaying a critical heal for damage that isn't really significant in comparison to team damage output. This winds up being another rather boring job, as heals are not needed most of the time. In normal circumstances, they mostly only contribute with Fortitude, Leadership, and the occasional Adrenaline Boost. However, I am a big believer in fault tolerance. Things WILL go wrong on occasion. You might accidentally pull 2 or 3 groups, or not see an AV, or perhaps the enemies were too spread out and the Tanker missed some of the aggro. Whatever the reason, this character is here to heal and possibly hit Vengeance and rez.
1 Fire/Rad. More Hotfeet and imps, with some Accelerate Metabolism mixed in there. The debuff toggles are nice, but most of the time this team kills too fast for them to be as useful as they normally are. However they are essential when taking down an AV or GM.
1 Fire Blaster. The secondary is unimportant to this team, so that's up in the air. The important contribution is the aoe damage, plus Inferno in the event your team aggros multiple groups. Also, you are needed to pick off strays and help bring down bosses when everything else is dead.
1 FF Defender. Everyone loves bubbles, and the Dispersion bubble provides most of the mez protection for your team. Most secondaries are fine, although you should steer clear of Energy for the knockback, and Dark because the DoT will never get the chance to run its course.
1 MA/SR Scrapper. This is here for one reason: boss killing. Without this, all the minions and leuts will be dead and you will be stuck spending a lot of time finishing off the bosses. This guy should attack only bosses, everything else should be dead before those are finished off.
Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: The Tanker jumps right into the group with Mudpots going, hits a taunt and lays down an Ice Patch. The Fire Controllers are right behind with Hotfeet and imps in tow, hitting Flashfire and Fire Cages (one of the Fire Controllers should reverse the order on those two and hit Fire Cages first). The Scrapper goes right after a boss, and the Fire Blaster starts with the aoe. The FF Defender keeps everyone bubbled and doesn't mess with anything that the Tanker hasn't messed with first. The Empathy Defender makes sure to keep Fortitude on the Tanker, Scrapper, and Blaster (shouldn't be hard with 2 SBs) but mostly twiddles his thumbs.
I highly recommend putting 2 Accuracy SOs in each power rather than 1. You will be fighting stuff far enough above your level that this will make quite a difference, especially if they have any extra defense.
Alternative Suggestions: This team has a great amount of flexibility. Any Tanker will be fine, as well as any Scrapper. Given the massive amount of disorient and slow, plus how fast the team kills, you could easily forgo either of the Defenders, possibly both depending on what you bring instead. I'd say having at least two Fire Controllers is key, although only one of them really needs to have Kinetics. The Fire Blaster can be replaced with a Spines Scrapper, and an extra one of these is always welcome.
The one powerset that came closest to making the cut was Sonic, for the buffs, the aoe buff (virtually identical to dispersion bubble), and especially the aoe resistance debuff toggle you can stick on the Tanker.
Really, you can bring along pretty much anything as long as you keep a core of Tanker and Fire/Kin Controllers, and it won't slow you down too much. But avoid anything with knockback, it will only cause problems.
