[u]Dark/Psy/Power Defender[u] - Sounds awfully funny, BUT, for all you cage lovers/haters out there, or anyone that ever thought a Sonic's only role was to Cage a target, don't forget... dark has a cage too. Black Hole anyone? It may not have a fancy +tohit, but an AoE cage has interesting options if desired, and a cage is a cage.
Defender irresistible debuffs are actually pretty rare, but dark has a good share of them. Darkest Night is [u]unresistable -50% Damage[u]. Now that's nothing to sneeze at, even looking at how it really does add up. Then you have -dmg attached to Twilight Grasp, as well as -regen, and oh... -tohit. Now, the -tohit may not mean too much, but remember, Power Build Up works wonders. Twilight Grasp as a heal sort of sucks, but a heal is still a heal!
Fun Fluffy friend. In the office map or Lab, this shadowy friend will add up, another heal, a nice aura, some more mez.
Tar Patch. Anyone want big defender style -res? And -jump? Okay, a patch IS easy to get out of, BUT, look at Freezing Rain for storm.
Fearsome Stare and Howling Twilight. Very nice mez, Howling Twilight also does -rech/slow, and we all know how messed Fear can be at times; plus both being AoEs gives utility, for rushing, making multiple people cower, or beating down a gathered group. Petrifying Gaze doesn't hurt either, aaaaand if for some freaky freaky reason you chose to go with Psy Mastery, you'd have even MORE mez, as Dark/Psy you'd have: [u]a Fear, an Immob, 2 Holds (3 if you cound fluffy's), a Disorient, 2 Sleeps and Repel... not to mention Intangibility and Knockback[u].
Here's the kicker though - Shadow Fall. Stealth is nice... as is a [u]BASE[u] +res to Psionic, Negative Energy and Energy dmg of 25%... enhanceable to [u]39% +res[u]. That's as an AoE.
Rad/Psy got you down? Resist a huge chunk of their dmg, and debuff it majorly with DN and TG, or PB and have them miss you, throw down a Tar Patch and hide somewhere... or Black hole them. 
You also have sturdy /psy to back you up, so you have good range, lots of mez, good dmg and if you want to joust with TG as a heal, you can do it backwards/opposite to enemy and probably be in range enough to blast them to bits.
Sounds unlikely, dark animations not always friendly, and many many pros to other sets over this (rad on the whole is better in lots of ways as usual), but still untapped potential lies here. Another secondary to have Black Hole hit and allow TK might be handier, but /Psy meshes very well. To me, this looks like a way more streamlined dark/cold corrupter that is a jack of all trades.
To argue this against someone - Dark has potential, it does die down a lot on a team, BUT 3 stacked Shadow Falls means psy blasts do jack, energy dmg does jack and dark/cold doesn't look very nice no more. The real thing here though is Darkest Night. 2 of them is [u]-100% damage[u]. I cannot stress THAT potential enough; [u]-100% damage, -100% damage, -100% damage, -100% damage, -100% damage, -100% damage[u]. Sure, people can blow through it sometimes, but then there's tohit debuff as well, which can be PBUed to be mega mega mega debuff of over 150% -tohit.
Ok, that can be overcome too, but only so long. Alright, you can run from it, but Rad is 'easy enough' to run from, and look at IT. Bring in 4 or more darks and look at the potential. Do not discout Tar Patch too. Each Dark could get 2-3 of them out AT ONCE, stacking you'd get [u]90% or more -res[u]. AND, it's -jump. Then there's all the gravy mentioned in the other thread. Doesn't strike me as amazing for a team anyway, but if used properly and coordinated, multiple, or just single Dark/Psys could be devestating.
[u]A Scrapper with Weapons Mastery[u]; Perhaps not a build in and of itself, but defining enough to be noted. They hurl Web Grenades AND taunt (and deal dmg)! This could be a place for Claws to shine with stacked Follow Up and then kiting a lot on grounded targets. Or maybe not, but if you're a dmg dealer and being 'perma-taunted', having someone -jumping you on top of that would be REALLY [u]REALLY[u] annoying.
A scrapper with Weapons Mastery undoubtedly has better survivability than an ice/dev or any /dev blaster - not to mention a Trick Arrow user. Having Caltrops to use indoors can also pay off, and while Focussed Accuracy is lost; a team that puts a Fort on this person will see much improvement both in output dmg, and annoyed enemies that are glued to the floor.
Scrappers may not shine so much compared to other builds, but even in a Pentad, having another source of reliable -jump can add up bigtime, and the long-lost spiners or broadsword wielders of old are not to be forgotten for the big Crits they could attain in PvP. Recall that these crits are [u]unresistable[u] and can be a way of sneaking in a kill with ease. Weapons Mastery has long been underestimated, so consider it and a Scrapper comeback in your mindset of builds with future FoTM potential.
[u]Abstract FoTM Potential Power Usages:[u]
[u]Team Teleport[u] - sounds stupid, but with ranges the distance IS comparable to normal Teleport, last I checked range does NOT increase the distance you can be from a teammate for them to be tped, but in I8 this could have changed, become more viable, or something else. If one person just kept porting around and their teammates had the tp promot enabled and they dragged the box in an easy to hit spot, if that teammate was being fired at, they could just hit Accept and be ported off to a random location.
The accept box stays up for at least 3 secs too. 2 people hitting Group Teleport at random could mean a [u]lot[u] of difficulty staying on one target or [u]FINDING[u] a target. Also, imagine how EASY EASY EASY it would be to 'gather' using this, or how incredibly successful you could be at staying inside a Hurricane or Force Bubble with this. Notable lag downsides, miscommunication and being ported somewhere even worse though. Still lots of things to do with it.
[u]Greater Stimulant usage[u]. Stimulant lasts [u]45[u] seconds and protects against the SAME things that CM/Clarity do. Yes, that [u]includes Fear and [u]Confuse. The power description is as follows: Frees an ally from any Immobilization, Sleep, Disorient, Hold, Fear or Confuse effects and leaves them resistant to such effects for a brief time. Protection will improve with Multiple applications and as you advance in level.
The only thing is no +perception. But still, it doesn't take long to apply, lasts just 15 secs less than a Clear Mind, and if worked right you could save emps a lot of hassle or negate break free needing. Not a biggie at all but something to consider. If a team were able to coordinate things well enough, use Tactics (or other +perception abilities) and likely use Interrupts in this power; they could seriously negate the need for much Status protection. I.e. If youve got a bunch of heals and have an emp; if most everyone has stimulant and uses it on others, you may not NEED another emp/status protection giver.
[u]Confuse[u]. More reason for mind conts AND/or illusionists, but this also could have changed in I8, and any way you slice it, Confuse can make you buff enemies, harm teammates, have to re-tab, have your own debuffs affect YOU and it does not suppress. So they could stack 8 confuses on a target, it'd last more than 30 seconds (Confuse for mind conts has a 20 sec base IIRC, PvP likely around 15 secs or even lower, but factor in duration enhancers, Power Boost and or Vanguard), a BF wouldn't cure it, and CM stacking does take time, which again plays into Skill kills benefits.
[u]Fallout + Mutation[u], or just one of the two. Fallout IS a massive debuff, the radius of it is sooooo lame though, and people only stay by an enemy's dead body so long AND it can take time to GET to your teammate's body. Still we've seen how great Vengeance is... Fallout might as well be a [u]REVERSE VENGEANCE[u] with -res, nuke damage and more tacked on. If the radius were increased in I9 or something it'd be very usable. Mutation is a very powerful buff. Imagine Vengeance + Fallout + Mutation, all of them activate decently fast too, and Power Boosted magic anyone?
[u]*Facts:[u] The Mutation buff lasts 90 secs, is 50[u]% +dmg, 100% +recharge[u] (3 SOs free!) and around +40% tohit. So Mutation is really better than Fortitude OR Vengeance aside from no +def, having +rech and +recovery mixed in. Fallout has nuke lvl dmg as described, a small radius of 30feet, and debuffs are: -30% tohit, -30% defense, -30% dmg, -50% resistance all for 30 seconds.
In terms of using this combo, if someone on your team has a nuke (i.e. Dreadful Wail, Inferno, Thunderous Blast etc.), they can use it, and inform the team beforehand. Whether they do dmg or not doesnt matter, the intent is for them to *die*.
*Further usage from there can vary on what powers the team has at their disposal, but through usage would come from incorporating Team Teleport (benefits noted above), Fallout, Vengeance and Mutation.
Once the death has occurred, a rad def gets over immediately, PBU+Fallout, team TPs back to team/as a team, hit Vengeance, hit Mutation. You have a big buffed team, massively debuffed enemy group, and one individual in your group has supersized buffs due to Mutation.
Fallout can be activated from [u]range[u], the Rad doesn't need to be right next to the dead body for it to go off. The Rad could also just TP there with Fallout qued, Team TP back to the group with Veng qued, hit Mutation, possibly Team TP back to the other side where the opposing team is.
Or the rad could just hit Team TP, 7 people move to the dead body, PBU+Fallout+Veng+Mutation and your teammates are doing things all the while. If it's the office and you have your debuffed (and dmged or dead) enemies and buffed selves, a Hurricane, FB or another nuke right in their faces could easily finish them off, or just being that tight as a group means you can try Hami-style heal spam and/or apply any AoE buffs not applied as the match started.
A whole group team tping at once if they have enough AoE effects could also make it a lot more survivable/deadly to opposition. For this initial debuff/buff bit the only person who needs to be on que is really the rad.
Although the timing for this is restricted to 10 seconds at most, it can still be pulled off effectively if you have a brain. Besides its not unlikely that someone else on your team may die in the match unexpectedly anyway, in which case these powers can come into play again.
[u] [u]
[u] [u]
[u]EM Pulse[u]. EM Pulse is a power available to level 38 Radiation Emission secondary Controllers, as well as to level 32 Radiation Emission primary Defenders. For those who are not aware, EMP acts as a 60 foot range giant green AoE pulse that does hefty -regeneration, -endurance (a chunk is taken away) and acts as a Mag 3 hold. It also takes about 20 end to activate, and leaves the caster with -recovery.
Doesnt sound amazing, doesnt sound bad. The animation is really nice:P in terms of looks, but aside from that, the beauty to be seen here is the fact that it is in the Rad line, which you may take into a team set-up anyway (and see below for more Rad power usage in Fallout and Mutation). In addition to that, there is massive STACKING POTENTIAL with this power. You can also throw PBU into the equation since it can add so much. Also consider a slotted up base -20 end drain being used multiple times with such a large radius. If you had just two rad defenders use PBU+slotted EMP (i.e. 2 acc, 3 end mod, 1 recharge), any enemy in 60 feet (up, down, to the left, to the right - wherever) is likely to be hit and lose the majority of their endurance (20 base drained, with 20 more from enhancements, then PBUed - done twice), as well as get a snazzy -regen placed on them, AND have a very very very long-lasting hold effect placed on.
*Fact: EMPs hold lasts 15 seconds base for a Defender.
Coordinating this may not only drain enemies, but makes them easier to take down due to -regen and may actually mez them, since two mag 3 holds that may outlast a BF when PBUed and/or slotted.Â
Following up with a nuke is the logical step because you're in -recovery anyway, have lost a noticeable bit of end from hitting EMP,so might as well be drained fully. If you can coordinate this action between 3 or more Rad Defenders, youre looking at mammoth -endurance (i.e. enemies are drained), big -regeneration (where did my Regen Aura go?!) and plenty of zzz targets.
The downside of this is that it is yet another power to pick up, you will be drained of endurance, and enemies may have +res to endurance drains. Still, this power, when coordinated (or just normally) has plenty of potential.
[u] [u]
[u]The Presence Pool on Squishies[u]. To be quick on this one, why not outfit your handy rads, sonics, blasters or even emps with taunt? Realistically, the Presence Pool offers tremendous opportunities in terms of ripping incoming damage away from one target, and saving your team many kills.
The powers to take here for taunting would be Provoke and Challenge. If one wanted, they could also take Intimidate or Invoke Panic as fear powers, which few PvPers have resistance to without one of a few powers or a BF active.
Hitting taunt randomly could in fact mess a person up easily - however, using it [u]EFFECTIVELY[u] would mean diverging damage from its target, and likely doing more good than bad for your team. If the taunter has a self heal, such as with a Rad or Empath - they can likely survive the incoming volley with ease (assuming they havent taunted 4+ people, which is unlikely) and/or run and heal if needs be.
[u]Conclusion:[u]
I hope that these ideas are of some use to the community, and I do thank Mikey (PvPness Envy) and Manstrid (you know who) for inspiring the last two ideas (Taunting+EMP respectively) here. While you may not agree with them, consider that everything covered does have merit, be it in unique circumstances or ANY place in PvP. I think itd be great to see some high-end teams take on these ideas, and take a step away from the norm and see how things go.
Though this game has, in fact been out for years now, and PvP released a good time ago in I4 the powers, powersets, archetypes and game modifiers have undergone successive changes that have made using some things easier or more difficult. Plenty of things are tried and true (/EM anyone?), however the concepts shown above indicate the sheer potency of powers and powersets if you wrap your head(s) around them. There are even more abstract FoTM potentials out there, so keep your eyes peeled :smiles:
Kisses and Hugs.
I somehow forgot to include a bit about...
[u]-Perception Possiblities[u]
So we've all fought stalkers before, and some of us AS stalkers. Well -perception can really add up for one, and on the hero side of things it's what makes CM especially powerful in Siren's, and what gives heroes another edge over villains, who only have tactics and clarity for ally buffs to +perception.
Now CMs may seem to be the end all be all to -perception, BUT there have been many times while blasting or just chasing after a target that a Can't See Enemy/Enemy Too Hard To See or something along those lines message comes up, even though you can somewhat visibly see them and are chasing after them. That's usually due to the right applications of invis, and not -perception through Smoke, Entangling Arrow, Smoke Grenade etc., but still very annoying, and it's likely what has saved many emps' lives, especially ill/emps.
-Perception is supposed to break when you attack the target you -perceptioned, but oftentimes this isn't so, as I've had Smoke on me and been attacked and still had -perception going on. It seems like a lot of our emps have issues stacking CMs, sometimes next to none, sometimes 7+ on a person who doesn't need it but others do. However, 3 CMs pretty much guarantees you can see all but the sneakiest people.
I think it would be interesting to see how stacked -perception through Flash Arrow (TA), Smoke (Fire Control), Smoke Grenade (Devices) and probably a few other powers would do, in unison with liberal use of Stealth/Grant Invis/Superior Invis. Defender Flash Arrow is unresistable at least.
This might not have much promise at all, but it would not be difficult to integrate stacked -perception onto a team that already had a mix of: fire conts, TAs and /dev blasters, as well as lots of illusionists or people with Grant Invis.
Ever go after a Stalker or anyone just to see them vanish because of Hide or too much Invis? What if it was like that for opponents 1/4 to half the match?
[ QUOTE ]
The only thing is no +perception. But still, it doesn't take long to apply, lasts just 15 secs less than a Clear Mind, and if worked right you could save emps a lot of hassle or negate break free needing.
[/ QUOTE ]
Stimulant is 45s, Clear Mind is 90s.
why wouldnt a BF cure Confuse?
Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.
[u]Sings Highlights on Abstract FoTM Potential:[u]
[u]Forward:[u]
I remember when kin was highly underestimated and my fire/kin could tear through everyone, because of end drain being the only kin key point for me to use. I remember when people like Citizen Zero blasted on Test as elec/EM, and the end drain did hurt. I recall times *currently* when coordinated end drains by kins can really down a target. Now end drain isn't always so great, and AM screws it over very often, as can O2 Boost, but Power Boost makes it a lot more worthwhile.
That is an allusion to the underestimated powersets/powers/concepts to be discussed below. This guide is meant to improve the PvP communtys knowledge of these subjects, and hopefully to have some individuals try these things out, and change traditional PvP team and solo make-ups.
[u]Abstract FoTM Potential Builds:[u]
[u]Elec/EM Blaster[u]- Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt are comparable to Ice Bolt and Blast except for slower animations. The end drain is probably negligible, but the thing that could make this a highly potent build is [u]Power Boost[u]. Amped up end drains anyone? With Hasten, PB comes up very very often, and letting loose an attack chain that takes someone down 25-45% endurance wise is something good. YOU also have no Endurance problems. Ever wanted a nicer reason to give up FoN? Stamina and Conserve Power AND Elec Blasts make for <3. 1v1 against a non-rad this could be nastier than a fire blaster by far too, and could edge out against ice's slows.
Could easily argue against that, but Ball Lightning also has utility as an AoE, dmg looks lame on the surface, but is like another Ice Bolt/Charged Bolts (with longer recharge and end cost). Zapp can also be very very nice, remember Blazing Bolt from Cowboy Jon? BB does the most dmg out of all the snipes because of DoT, but Zapp is very nice nontheless.
All of the elec dmg is 100% completely ENERGY. Absolutely no smashing, lethal or fire damage here. So resisting it looks very tough to do, unless you go 'special' blaster with Elec epic, or have Stormies, or a Dark def (which is covered below), or have a tank/scrap with +res to it (although a /elec brute would make this whole thing cry, that's another situation).
Thunderous Blast is AoE, mega end drain, Power Boosted it'd be even more hurtful, and is RANGED. So while Fire is still king of AoE, and Fireball does do a good chunk more dmg than Ball Lightning ever would, you have to stand there right next to someone for a nice Inferno. Why not target someone across the office map, PB+BU+Aim then Ball Lightning and Thunderous Blast while standing next to people giving you RAs?
Short Circuit is there if you ever reeally wanted to drain someone and they improved it's animation (3 secs is gross). We don't care about Voltaic Sentinel or Tesla Cage, but those could be seen as better than Freeze Ray+Bitter Freeze Ray in Ice.
Elec/EM has the dandiest secondary to fall back onto as well. Range is not a real issue either, and Zapp gives you more ranged power if you need it. Imagine the Eden map and doing PB+BU, Zapp, close in, Lightning Bolt, Charged Bolts, then Total Focus someone who isn't recovering end and is under 20% spamming things to live/run? Exaggerated probably, but still a reasonable scenario.
I was thinking about it some more and there are lots of counterpoints to all of those, which is why they wouldn't be current FoTMs, but still looking at Elec, it's a real mesh of Ice and Fire blasts in that (in SHW pvp) it's:
-got a snipe like Fire
-got two AoEs like Fire
-got a strong secondary effect like Ice
-got two constantly chainable *ranged* single target blasts like Ice
-got Aim like both
Now the dislikeable thing about it all is the animations. Sonic is supposed to be 1.3 and 1.7 secs for the two starter blasts, then Shout is a miserable 2.7, Screech comes in at 1.5. With Elec though, Lightning Bolt and Charged Bolts are both listed as being 2 secs. Ball Lightning is a very nice 1 sec animation though. Now Zapp could be interesting, since with Interrupts you could probably fire it off in under 2 seconds. Thunderous Blast is 3.7 secs which seems off to me but maybe there's a longer delay than it looks like.
Anyway, with your two main blasts taking 2 secs to fire off as it seems, compared to Ice and Fire ringing in at pretty much 1 sec for all 3 blasts, things don't look so great because the Elec will take 4 seconds to fire 2 blasts, the Fire or Ice blasters can probably get twice as many blasts going in that amount of time, or at least have 2 seconds for mobility.
Still, multiple Elec blasters draining things inadvertently/deliberately could be more meaningful than reliable Transferences from a kin. In a way, you could say the target's endurance should not matter since the target *should* be dead within 6 secs, but if they start running and were below 25% end, using much while on the run could drop their end to 0 or shut off toggles. Counterpoint is that a team with CP, AM, RA, SB, AB is way more vulnerable to focussed draining by two kins rather than consistent drains through blasting.
Fun fact: Thunderous Blast deals more dmg than Inferno
It seems like Elec has lots of utility, in a smaller match where there's not dual emps/kins/rads it'd shine more, but would need to see just how effective '2 second' blasts are in taking something down. Elec does not have the 'ranged heavy hitter' like BiB or Blaze though, but Ball Lightning or Zapp could take it's place, again not so sure how well either fits into attack chains though, and BL's dmg is very low compared to Blaze or BiB.
One thing is for sure though, if you were in an 8v8 and the opposition just had 1 emp, 1 kin, 1 rad; the end drain from 2 elec/Ems would be devestating if they used Power Boost very often.
Some individuals have queried on these forums about spamming Tesla Cage due to its -recovery component. I would say that doing so cuts your DPS down a lot, and the point of this build is to act as a HYBRID. If you want to spend time whittling a targets endurance down, you might as well hop on a kin and spend a portion of the match doing just that; while losing out elsewhere. Spamming TC is viable 1v1 or if they were to cut the animation down, otherwise I would advise against it, and recommend still aiming to deal damage.
[u]Numbers:[u] Looking at the heavy hitter; [u]Thunderous Blast[u] will take away 12.5 endurance for sure.
30ish% Chance for another 6.25
Another 30% chance for 6.25
-100% recovery on enemy for 20 seconds
Power Boost can double the drains to give you 12.5(2)+6.25(2)+6.25(2) = [u]-50 endurance[u]... which is half of a person's end bar.
Charged Bolts: -1.25 End, 25%ish chance for 2 second 100% -recovery.
Lightning Bolt: -2 Endurance for target, around 35% chance of a 4 second 100% -recovery to target as well.
Ball Lightning: -1.25 Endurance for target, around 30ish% chance of a 4 second 100% -recovery to target as well.
Zapp: -3 End, 50% chance for 4 second 100% -recovery.
Here is the interesting one... Tesla Cage: -1.25 End, surefire, [u]guaranteed[u] -100% recovery for [u]8[u] seconds.
Now if you suggest someone will do PB+Aim+Zapp+Charged Bolts+Lightning Bolt+BL+TC+TB you get an end drain calculation of:
3(2)+1.25(2)+2(2)+1.25(2)+1.25(2)+50 = -67.5 Endurance
If all the -recovery rolled nicely you'd get [u]-600% recovery[u] for 2 seconds, guaranteed -200% recovery for 8 seconds, most likely though you'd have -400% for 4 secs, then -200% for 4 more, then -100% for 12 more.
Neglecting TB you have -17.5 end per PBed chain.
The unhappy part is this though; Defender unslotted (though you should be doing HEAL SOs, not recovery, duh) AB gives 800% +recovery for it's whole 90 sec duration. Defender unslotted Recovery Aura is +200% for 90 secs too. A single unslotted Defender SB is an additional +50% recovery. Unslotted AM is 30% +rec and gives 65% +res to drain/-recovery.
Still, not too shabby, it is unlikely that past 2 minutes more than half the team will have an RA/AM on them unless they gather and do it just right, and if someone dies they become even more farmable due to end drain. With 2 elec/EMs in the mix, a single target can be completely floored in terms of recovery and should have [u]NO[u] endurance left with a TBed cycle, discounting an AM, and even then they'd need an AB and more to not be shut down within 10 seconds. Please excuse any miscalculations above, and some very minor rounding may have been used to generate whole numbers to work with.
PB also lasts 15 secs, so you could get in maybe two more attacks to drain, and with dmg/accs Thunderous Blast can have 3 nifty recharge, OR some end modification (for drain AND -recovery), so can all the other elec blasts.
That is also just looking at the endurance draining part of it, the dmg will be very large throughout all of that, and can be done from over 160 feet away each time.
In theory you could do: PB+BU+Aim+Zapp, close in, Lightning Bolt, Charged Bolts within 6 secs for as much/more dmg than a fire or ice blaster, with big end drain on enemy and no end loss for yourself.
Despite the counterpoints I myself have presented, elec/em has [u]plenty[u] of potential, as displayed by the monumental amount of endurance the build can both drain and keep up, as well as by the dmg it can keep churning out.