3) Dark Miasma
Twilight Grasp
Available: Level 1
Range: 80 feet to target, 20 foot radius PBAoE
Cast Time: 2.37 sec
Recharge: 8 seconds
End Cost: 7.8
Effects At L50: 238.81 Heal(PBAoE), -6.25% ToHit to target(20 sec), -12.5% Damage(all)(20 sec), -50% regen(20 sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 2 Heal, 2 Recharge
Description:
There are no bigger AoE heals than Twilight Grasp. Period.
...okay, fine, I have a mailbox full of vitriol from Kineticists, but I'm still right. Transfusion's heal is set at a value *exactly* the same as Twilight Grasp. So yes, there still are no bigger AoE heals than Twilight Grasp.
As an offset to this kind of power, it should be noted that it requires you to actually hit an enemy target to work. Now, part of the reason why I bring up Transfusion is that unlike Transfusion, Twilight Grasp's heal effect is centered on yourself. Twilight Grasp, or TG for short, also adds a minor -regen debuff. Significant amounts of anecdotal evidence shows that just adding a Defender with this power alone can mean the difference between taking down an AV, or that AV wiping the floor with you. (As of 8-1-08, I just did it again, Swapping from my Sonic blaster to my D3 and exemping down to everyone else's level, we were finally able to take out a +5 Anti-Matter.) TG also sets the motif for the rest of the set, -ToHit. I would discourage you from from slotting -ToHit enhancements of any kind here, as it is minor, only applies to one target, and there are other, more important things to slot this power for. Like healing. Lastly, almost as an afterthought, there is an additional -Damage debuff included as well, which is helpful.
When slotting this power, you should always, always, ALWAYS slot for Accuracy first, just so that when you use it, you don't miss. Healing enhancements are secondary, as the amount of HP healed will always outstrip the equivalent heal generated by either Radiant Aura or Healing Aura. Looking over RedTomax's numbers again, at level 50, unenhanced, TG heals for a little bit under double what Radiant Aura and Healing Aura heal for. (238.81 to 133.862). Recharge enhancements should be added to taste. Some players just want this power to heal for as much as possible in a single shot, while others (like myself) like to use it as part of their ST debuff attack chain.
Since healing as damage mitigation is the strongest at the low levels, you will want to, without a doubt, take this power at level 1.
When I13 came out, there were Accurate Healing set IOs added, which were something that I wanted for a very, very, long time. At the time, the numbers felt kind of mediocre, but let's do some simple math here.
What I have slotted gives me:
83.32% Accuracy
19.30% EndRed
80.82% Heal
84.24% Recharge
and
2.5% Recovery
1.88% HP.
Five L50 Touch of the Nictus pieces (omitting proc) plus one level 50 Recharge IO gives:
68.90% Accuracy
42.40% End
97.49% Heal
88.07% Recharge
and
1.88% more HP
9% Accuracy enhancement
5% Heal enhancement
2.25% more End.
Here is where I used to say that I wasn't able to justify the loss of accuracy in order to reap the extra 16.67% (or, +0 DO's worth) of healing, and the extra 20% or so of endurance reduction. But that was because I was stupid and didn't take into account the set bonuses.
You get a 9% accuracy enhancement. This is useful for almost all your powers. 68.9% + 9% = 77.9% with the new slotting. Take the old slotting's 83.32% - 77.9% = 5.42%... or equivalent to a -3 TO enhancement's worth of accuracy that you're losing. And that's when we judge the slotting in a vacuum. Pick up any other Accuracy set bonus, and you're likely to be right back up to where you used to be with this power.
Here's some more path.
97.49% Heal(new) + 5% = 102.49. This is greater than the old slotting's 80.82% by 21.67, or a little bit more than a +3 DO. And it consumes less endurance. to boot.
However, I totally endorse this slotting now, even though I miss the 2.5% recovery, and that there is still that little irrational part in the back of my head that is incredibly paranoid about missing, even though logically, I know this is not an issue. Also bear in mind that the increased healing amount does not factor too much into the value of this new suggested slotting, as Twilight Grasp is already BEEFY to begin with. The difference of 21.67% means that with the secondary slotting, you heal 483.6 HP per shot, instead of 431.1 HP. And given that you are not likely to take Life Drain, the 5% Heal Enhancement only benefits this one power.
Tar Patch
Available: 1
Range: 90 feet, 25 feet radius AOE
Cast Time: 3.1 seconds
Recharge: 90 seconds
End Cost: 7.8
Effects At L50: For 45 seconds: -90% Runspeed, -50000% JumpHeight, -5.25 MaxRunSpeed, -10 Fly, -30% Resistance(all)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 3 Recharge, 1 Slow
Description:
At this point, you should begin to get an idea as to how controller-y this set is. Between the -Resistance boosting everyone's damage, and the slow effect keeping things in place, you can be assured that your team will appreciate its use. The base amount of slow is typically sufficient to make any critter's life trouble, but I like to add one extra Slow enhancement just to make life more miserable for whoever happens to be on the receiving end. This power will make you popular among KHTFs in the 30-34 range when fighting Mary and Co, since you can throw down a patch just before backing up to the road, keeping the iterative spawns mostly in place. Be warned, though, this tactic will make you VERY unpopular with the witches. Very unpopular. So be careful!
As great a power as this is, you should should still take some extra precaution when using it. For example, if you should go out to Striga Isle in the 20-30 range, be aware that the Warwolves out there will be an annoyance, as they resist both slows and immobilizes. Very frequently, you will have the rest of the spawn locked down in place, while the wolves run about and muck things up with their stunning/detoggling/knockback attacks. Fortunately, so long as you keep that short list of slow resist mobs in mind, it will function perfectly well on everything else.
This power should really be slotted for recharge, as soon as possible. By the time you slot DOs, it should be up once every two fights, and by the time you slot SOs, or respec to IOs, it should be up every fight. You won't be able to double stack it, but if you find yourself needing to chaincast it, it will probably be down for one or two seconds at most.
I suggest this power at level 2.
Darkest Night
Available: 2
Range: 70 feet, 25 foot radius
Cast Time: 3.17 seconds
Recharge: 10 seconds
End Cost: .26 end/sec
Effects At L50: Toggle:-37.5% Damage(all), -18.75% ToHit
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 3 ToHit Debuff, 1 EndRed
Description:
This power theoretically should be very straightforward. It is a enemy-toggled -Damage aura, with a -ToHit. No, I didn't make a mistake. Originally, when this power was first introduced, it was effectively just a -damage toggle, because the -ToHit part was not enhanceable due to a bug. As straight-forward as it is, however, it gets a LOT of undeserved criticism because of how it works and what it does. Probably the biggest complaint about this power is that its cast time is too long. This criticism is not undeserved, but you do have to understand that what it does warrants a long cast time. Here's why:
At the beginning of your career, it will be useful because no-one can decimate entire 8-man spawns, single-handedly, in -0.5 seconds. And there is no-one that can tank the entire 8-man spawn without even taking a scratch. Combine this with your Tar Patch keeping critters within its area of effect, and you might very well be beating on spawn after spawn of Held enemies.
Now, this will persist for a time, up until about the late teens and low twenties. But as you progress through the tail end of DO territory, you will find yourself using this power less and less, because the defenses of your tanks are solidifying, your DPS's attacks flesh out, and generally, everyone's recharges drop appreciably. Until then, effectively enjoy the benefit of an additional:
20% Defense(All, and I mean all, as in even Psi damage.)
40% Resist(All, yes, also Psi damage.)
There. If that didn't catch your attention, I don't know what will. Remember that -Damage and +Resist are two sides of the same coin, as are +Defense and -ToHit. Yes, I've rounded the numbers a bit, but if you think about it in Tanker/Scrapper terms, or Force Field/Sonic Resonance terms.... 20% Defense and 40% additional resist is damn tasty, almost trivializing endgame content. And lucky you, YOU get to pick this power up at level 2.
Once you get up in levels, (read: You get Fearsome Stare) you will begin to use Darkest Night as either an opener or your main -ToHit debuff MUCH less. This is expected. Regardless, it still retains its usefulness throughout the remaining levels of your career to toggle pull spawns around corners in complete safety, and later still as a dedicated debuff for single hard targets like EBs, AVs, and GMs, and even normal bosses like Paragon Protectors, if you cannot take them down before they use Moment of Glory.
So what does this boil down to? Here's the TL;DR version: When lowbie, everything can kill you. When 50, not a lot can kill you. Use power on stuff that can kill you.
Of course, if you're on a Repeat Offender-style team (What up), all bets are off. You'll probably find the others using this power to pull more critters into the great big cluster-lovemaking ball of Blasto! at all levels.
Slotting this power should be some combination of at least two -ToHit enhancements, and your choice of an Endredux or another -ToHit. For what it does, however, it is cheap on the endurance cost. By comparison, Maneuvers 3-slotted provides 7% defense, but costs .36 end/sec to run. This is a good place to drop a Dark Watcher's Despair's proc, since it has a large coverage area, and ticks as often as possible, and and auto-hits, but only so long as you double up with another proc in Fluffy as well. See Dark Servant for more details.
Be smart when choosing a target: Select something with a decent amount of HP, something that will survive being beaten up long enough for everything else to be, ahem, arrested. Never target critters with slow or immobilize resistance unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. A Warwolf can easily muck things up, aggroing everything as he runs off. And try not to target teleporters. Unless you actually want to.
Scrapulous seems to think that I have undersold this power a bit, so I will include here his/her explaination.
Quote:
I suggest holding off until level 4, though. If you're like most heroes, you'll hit up the Sewers to get yourself up to level 8 or so, and between Tar Patch boosting outgoing damage, and Twilight Grasp healing everyone better than an Empathy defender ever will at those levels, you won't miss it much.|
In particular I'd like to point out just how excellent Darkest Night is. Assume an even-con minion who has only one attack which does 200 damage per hit. He has a 50% chance to hit you by default. Over time, his attacks average to 100 damage per hit on somebody with no defense or resistance. So let's look at what Darkest Night does to the damage you take. Darkest Night unenhanced: -37.5% Damage, -18.75% ToHit 200 damage becomes 125. 50% chance to hit becomes 31.25%. This averages to 39.0625 damage per hit over time. So by applying unenhanced Darkest Night to this even-con mob, the defender has increased his survivability by 2.56 times. Another way of stating this is to liken it to a 61% resistance to all (averaged over time). Tankers, especially during levels 1-20, when slots and enhancement power are scarce, will love you for using this power. Darkest Night enhanced with .56 ToHit Debuff increase: -37.5% Damage, -29.25% ToHit 200 damage becomes 125. 50% chance to hit becomes 20.75%. This averages to 25.9375 dmg per hit. By applying Darkest Night enhanced for ToHit buffs to this even-con mob, the defender has increased his survivability by 3.86 times. Seen as a damage resistance equivalent (over time), this is 74% resistance to all. Every tanker, even at level 50, would love to be able to say they had this kind of mitigation*. Of course, to your teammates who already have defensive powers, the benefits are even greater. * The caveat is that, because this mitigation is achieved through a debuff, it is diminished when you're fighting mobs who are higher level than you and who resist debuffs (Archvillains/Heroes in particular). Darkest Night is also subject to the vagaries of a targeted AoE toggle debuff, such as mobs running out of its radius (use Tar Patch!), mobs getting knocked back, the anchor dying, and so forth. But skill, experience and education can diminish some of these drawbacks. |
Yes, this description is getting long, but the power warrants it. Three interesting tidbits before moving on:
1) If your target should ever phase shift while under the effects of Darkest Night, they will no longer suffer it's -Damage and -ToHit effects. This is not a problem, since typically, they can't attack back. However, everything else around them will still suffer impairment. (Critters that this apply to include, but are not limited to: Fake Nemesis, Illusionists, Council Ascendants.)
2) Critters under the effects of this power, whether as a target, or being in the area will have their interruptible abilities... well, interrupted. This means it is even MORE valuable at the low end against critters like Embalmed Cadavers, and to a lesser extent, Life Mages, as they will not be able to kamikaze against you. Tar Patch will also accomplish this effect as well, so don't feel obligated to take this RIGHT AWAY DO EET, DO EET NAOUGH!
3) Tar Patch and Darkest Night interact peculiarly. Because of how the game engine is presently coded (or was coded, as of the last time I played), if a critter under the effects of -damage is hit with a -resist as well, the -damage magnitude increases. This is particularly nice against, again, single hard targets like AVs, who will severely resist all your -ToHit powers. Fortunately for you, the -Damage and -Resist are not. People have exploited this to great effect with Dark/Sonic, and stacking Trick Arrows. It's one of those dirty little secrets that everyone knows, but keeps hush-hush, so consider yourself notified.
Howling Twilight
Available: 6
Range: 80 feet
Cast Time: 3.17 seconds
Recharge: 180 seconds
End Cost: 25
Effects At L50: -62.5% -Recharge/Slow(30sec), 9.04 Negative Damage, Stun(mag2)(15sec), -500% regen(30sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 3 Recharge. 1 Stun, mix the two last slots betwen Endurance, Stun or Slow.
Description:
Let's get this out of the way. This is not a rez. This is an auto-hit AoE stun/slow. And it just happens to be capable of resurrecting multiple players at once as well. Hence the subtitle, "If you're going to die, die in a pile."
While the stun effect is only Mag2, meaning it will stun only Minions without mez protection, it should be noted that Howling Twilight, or HT is an auto-hit AoE. Combine this with several other powers, and things go from party wipe to "let's wipe the floor with these mobs". Those that are not affected by the stun are slapped with a slow effect, however, helping mitigate yet more retaliation. I highly suggest following this with a Dark Pit chaser, which is another Mag2 stun that will take care of those pesky Lieutenants and Bosses.
Lastly, this power stops--or at least puts a large dent into--the regeneration of any mobs that it hits for thirty seconds. It's another one of those powers that can make or break whether or not a team will be able to take down an AV or not.
Be aware that although it is an auto-hit power, if you use it against something that is Untouchable, such as Council Ascendants, Fake Nemesis in their hamster balls, or Carnie Illusionists at the wrong time, it will not affect them. However, it will still affect everyone around the phase-shifted critter.
Combat from the forums also would like to mention this:
Quote:
|
Another thing about Howling Twilight is that it has -3000% regeneration in PvP, which is probably just a decimal error, because most -regeneration powers have less regen in PvP. However, regen and willpower toons will hate you for it, because it basically turns off their regeneration, and nerfs their recharge as well. History Note: At one point, another decimal error occured in Howling Twilight, also a PvP error. Instead of being a mag 2 stun, it became a mag 20 stun, effectively stunning anyone not in a god mode with a mez shield on. |
You are going to want this up as soon as possible, as often as possible. 3 recharge first, and then endurance/stun duration after.
Considering how cool it is to throw out this power amongst a pile of dead bodies and suddenly see them all get up with an "I LIIIIIIIVE!" pose, it is definitely recommended that you pick up this power and say something like, "Champions, I command thee, RIIIIIIIISE ONCE AGAIN!" and cackle madly. (Just me? Huh. Okay.) This does not mean that it is necessary to get it right away. You will have a lot of excellent powers that you will want to take first. This can even be pushed off until around level 24; but no further. After that, you're starting to push into Fluffy territory, and you will want him as soon as possible.
Shadow Fall
Available: 8
Range: 40 foot radius, PBAoE
Cast Time: 2.03sec
Recharge: 15 sec
End Cost: .26 end/sec
Effects At L50: Stealth, 5% Def(ALL), 20% Res(Negative, Energy, Psi), 216.25% Res(Fear), -Fear(mag8.65)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 6-slot with your choice of a mix of Endurance, Resistance, and/or Defense.
Description:
Would you kindly note the last word in the power's resistance effect? I've bolded and italicized it for effect. Before Power Proliferation and Dark Armor Tankers came along, an aspiring Defender could pick up the Psi APP, and attain the highest amount of personal Psionic damage resist in the game. The Dark Armor tankers now hold this title, but in a game where Psionic resistance is relatively hard to come by, this is still nothing to sniff at, considering Shadow Fall provides the resistance to EVERYONE, and is easily buffable to 33% resist.One-third! of all psionic damage, gone! Even fresh out of the box, it will immediately cut all incoming psionic damage by 1/5th. If I were not on Virtue, the unofficial RP server, the love sonnets to me for bringing Shadow Fall to the pary from Tanks and Scrappers might be a little creepy, but since it *is* an RP server, I guess it's just something I have to put up with.
The Resistance and Defense would be would be gravy if that were all that Shadow Fall did, but thankfully, the Devs are benevolent, and give +stealth to everyone standing in Shadow Fall's AoE. Couple this with either Superspeed or an Stealth IO, and you will be able to step on the toes of any mob without +Perception buffs (Rikti Drones, etc) without them even blinking. This will be especially nice in the early levels as you learn to line up your cones, because you'll get as much time as you need to position yourself without getting shot at. It also helps your team as well, for when those "Whoops! I accidentally hit the R button!"-moments occur.
From here on out, you need never fear... well, fear itself ever again. But really, only one non-MA critter that I know of uses Fear effects, and that's Hamidon. And generally, as a Defender, you are going to be on Blue duty, not Yellows. But it should be noted: Virtue had successfully devised a new method of pwning Hami, downing him in one-shot, sans retreats, meaning that potentially everyone will be subject to Yellow blasts fearing people. I've been gone for a year, so I don't know if this has caught onto the mainstream, but if it has, Shadow Fall does play a big part in it.
Slot this one however you like, whether for Defense or for Resistance. My slotting wavers a bit, as I used it to slot the Aegis 20% mez resistance and -KB IOs early on.
One last footnote: Shadow Fall is a very visually "noisy" effect. Please turn it off at Wentworth's or the Black Market, or I will be forced to hunt you down, revoke your */Dark Miasma/* license, and then kill you. You may not think it, but it does slow down you, and everyone else around you, regardless of how fast your computer may or may not be, ESPECIALLY when loading a large amount of rapidly-updating data from WW/BM. */Storm/* users? I'm looking at you too.
Pick this power up relatively early.
Fearsome Stare
Available: 12
Range: 70 x 70 degree cone
Cast Time: 2.03sec
Recharge: 40sec
End Cost: 8.53
Effects At L50: Fear(mag3)(22.35sec), Fear(Mag1)(14.9sec)(20% chance), -18.75% ToHit(20sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Acc 3 Recharge, mix the last two between Fear or ToHit
Personal Slotting: 5-piece Glipse of the Abyss, 1 Recharge
Description:
Fear is an excellent motivator. In this case, for villains to stop struggling, lay down, and be arrested quietly. This is the arguably, the power that makes Dark Miasma so.... well, feared. It is a massive cone fear that will spoil you downright rotten, being as large and as deep as it is. There have been times where I fire off the ability, expecting to miss a few mobs very close to my front-left and front-right sides, only to see them suddenly cower. And since the magnitude on the -ToHit is equivalent to an unbuffed Darkest Night, you start to see why Darkest Night starts to play second fiddle as time goes on. Fearsome Stare will see a lot of use throughout your career. Coupled with Shadow Fall, you WILL always get the first shot, and root the mob in place.
Fear now causes an enemy to stop attacking, and cower. Trust me, this is a lot better than it was Back In The Day. These days, Feared critters are effectively Held, especially once you get your other debuffs down. Best of all, fear cuts through mobs that typically resist normal methods of mez, like the oft-mentioned Council Warwolves. And even if they do swing, they still have the -ToHit to deal with.
Regarding slotting: Slot this however you like. You can enhance the recharge to bring the -ToHit back up as often as possible,
IO There is NO reason to not slot Glimpse of the Abyss out to at least five slots. With five, Fearsome Stare will be perma, stretch even longer than its already impressive range, as well as increase the accuracy of all powers by 9%, and improve the recharge of all powers by 6.25%. Adding the Chance for Psi Damage proc will add an additional 3.13% to your Psionic resistance; however, considering that the IO's proccing on mobs will give them a free swing at you, it may behoove you to use the last slot elsewhere, or add a Recharge, Range, or ToHit Debuff enhancement in its place. I, personally, omit the proc. I confess that I have not experimented too much in regards to a more optimal slotting of Fearsome Stare, but that's probably because it has served me so well.
Grab it at 12, never look back.
Petrifying Gaze
Available: 18
Range: 70 feet
Cast Time: 1.67sec
Recharge: 16sec
End Cost: 7.8
Effects At L50: 11.92 second Hold(mag3)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Acc, 1 Hold, 2 Recharge
Description:
Your single-target hold. With just one hold and one recharge, it will be perma, so feel free to use any of the Hold IO sets to maximize your set bonuses. Fluffy has this as well, so the two of you together can stack this onto a boss critter and hold him in place. Fortunately, Fluffy tends to target his abilities based on threat at any given time, so the hold typically gets applied (artificially) intelligently. Arguably, this is the second-worst power in the entire set, but given how good the rest of the powers are, the bar is set rather high.
For all intents and purposes, it *is* skippable, but there will be times when you will want/need a Single Target hold to deal with that ONE pesky critter.
As far as slotting goes, kit it out however you like, but I tend to enhance it minimally, just to scrounge up some extra set bonuses.
This power can wait until after level 32.
Black Hole
Available: 26
Range: 50 feet, 20 foot radius sphere
Cast Time: 1.03sec
Recharge: 120sec
End Cost: 13
Effects At L50: AOE Foe Intangible(30 seconds)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: Just enough Accuracy to make it stick.
Description:
Unlike your normal Cage powers, like Sonic Cage and Detention Field, which utilize the Untouchable (meaning we can't touch them) and OnlyAffectSelf (meaning they can still use self-target powers) adjectives, Black Hole leverages Intagability instead, which is basically the two aforementioned adjectives combined, but unlike the other two, this one is enhanceable. That's a bit beside the point though, as unless you are a PvPer, you will pretty much never use this power. Ever.
Why? Well, it's because Black Hole.... kind of sucks. Don't get me wrong, In CoH's infancy, I used it to great effect to set up very tricky mobs that I didn't trust Fluffy or myself to survive long enough after opening, or used it to cut packs in half by dropping it on only half of a spawn, to make life a little bit more manageable. But these days, considering the increased speed of the game, and the exasperation I get when using Sonic Cage, a ST Phase Shift when I have seven other twitchy, crackhead players hopped up on sugar and GIMMEGIMMEGIMME NOW NOW NOW.... I'm not willing to stress out and deal with the team yelling at me for Phase Shifting an entire spawn.
I can go into a whole thesis on what needs to happen with the mechanics in order for this power Dimension Shift to become viable again... but I'll save that for later in the guide.
Suffice it to say for now that this power has gained a bit of new life in PVP in I14. Let me quote the patch notes:
Quote:
| Players in a phased state can now affect other phased players. This means that players using Phase Shift, Dimension Shift, and other similar powers can attack each other. Players under the effect of Hibernate or Cage powers are not considered phased, and thus the change does not affect them. |
As I am writing this and updating things before the reactivation weekend, I don't know whether or not I'll be able to test this, but I want to find out if forcibly hitting someone with Black Hole will invoke the 90-second "No Phase" debuff after they come out. I somewhat doubt it, but it will add a bit of strategy and mind games if it does.
There are a few remaining pros and cons that I want to touch on before finishing out this power:
Pro:
Black Hole is one of the two only AoE "Cages" in the game, which means it is capable of completely taking an entire mob out of the fight, whether it is to mitigate accidental aggro, or to set up copious amounts of beatdown before engaging.
One plausible scenario for Black Hole would be to isolate Recluse from his pylons, or the pylons from Recluse in the STF. Not only will it induce an OnlyAffectingSelf on the Pylons, but it will also freeze any repairmen already out, and prevent any additional repairmen from being able to heal the pylon.
Con:
There are people who cannot wait thirty seconds. Having to slow their killing spree for thirty seconds, THIRTY SECONDS! is enough to make them foam at the mouth and hurl invective at you...r mother. You know the type.
If, once you reach around level 35, you find that you are not able to manage to hold off another mob of critters for thirty whole seconds, given a set as controller-y as Dark Miasma, you probably have some very serious problems with your character itself, rather than actually needing this power.
It only has very specific, very narrow, VERY RARE applications. I had to think for an entire day before I was even able to remember a time when I used it, and ONLY Black Hole would fit the bill, and that was to rob the opposing team an opportunity to make a comeback and preserve our lead in..... Arena PVP. One minute left, the entire other team was relatively bunched up, I fired Black Hole, we ran away, counted thirty, then Hyper Phased. Yes, it was cheap, yes it was dirty, but it worked. I only remembered a second instance a week later, that being useing it to great effect to hold off several villains and AVs in RWZ, long enough for us to capture a pillbox, again, playing into that whole copious amounts of beatdown thing.
Until some things happen to make this power more attractive, I do not suggest that you take this power. At all.
A remaining notes here. I haven't been able to find any schmucks to help me test, so these things remain unknown:
*Can you fire Howling Twilight at a phased enemy and have your teammate rez?
*Does being Black Holed trigger the "No Phase" state on a player-controlled enemy?
If anyone knows these answers, drop a reply here?
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Dark Servant
Available: 32
Range: 60 feet
Cast Time: 3.17sec
Recharge: 240sec
End Cost: 26
Effects At L50: Twilight Grasp, Tenebrous Tentacles, Petrifying Gaze, Chill of the Night, Darkest Night
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 2 -ToHit, mix the last three between Healing, Hold, Immobilize, or even an extra -ToHit.
Description:
In the span of two or three issues, Fluffy has changed enough that I feel it sufficient to completely scrap the huge Arcanavillesque block of text that was written here, and start from scratch.
Here's the overview, though:
*Fluffy is permanent out of the box. He will despawn right as the power recharges, barring any -recharge powers.
*Fluffy's powers are not affected by recharge enhancements, but he will come up faster. Nice for if and when he accientally bites it. (This is universal to all non-MM pets.)
*Fluffy has been fixed for Heroes, and now properly accepts Accurate Healing and Accurate ToHit Debuff sets.
*Fluffy is now classified as a Melee pet. Whereas his old behaviour was to remain at range and blast with Tenebrous Tentacles, pick off threatening mobs with Petrifying Gaze, toggle Darkest Night on and off in a semi-intelligent manner, and use Twilight Grasp to double your healing, it was difficult to position Fluffy in a manner that took the most advantage of his debuff aura, unless you either summoned him in the middle of a spawn to begin with, or used Recall Friend to pull him there. Nowadays, if you summon him outside of melee range, he will close in just close enough to fire Tenebrous Tentacles, then and then typically, as his next action, close the gap and stand in on the edge of the pack of mobs to sap critters with his Chill of the Night Aura.
Slotting is difficult for Fluffy, since he does so much, but limits you to only six slots. My suggestion is that once you get him, immediately six-slot him. First, with an Accuracy enhancement to ensure that his powers hit, and then at least 2 -ToHit Debuff enhancements to increase your debuffing ability. Most old-time Dark/ defenders will insist upon 3 -ToHit debuff enhancements, but I feel this is more a guideline in the post-I9 environment, given that IOs and frankenslotting will enable you to cover all the bases better than just pure Hami-O slotting. After that, enhance Fluffy however you like. I will not suggest a vanilla IO slotting here, as it is to your detriment if you do not use set IOs. I personally have found success in using single pieces of IOs that improve 3 or more aspects, in this case, Essence of Curare Acc/Hold/Rech, Enfeebled Operation Acc/Immob/Rech, and Doctored Wounds, End/Heal/Rech, which effectively gives me 1 SO of Accuracy, 1 SO of Recharge, a DO of Hold, and DO of Immobilize, and a DO of healing, in the space of three slots. The remaining slots, I have filled with ToHit Debuff IOs.
Recharge enhancements do affect how quickly Fluffy comes back up, so you can summon a new one right into the middle of a new pack of critters as an opener. It also has an effect on the recharge of Fluffy's powers. However, since the base recharge on Fluffy's powers are usually just a bit longer than yours, slotting Recharges will never make Fluffy shoot Tenebrous Tentacles quite as fast as you. Furthermore, as you continue to slot Set IOs, your recharges will pull further and further away from Fluffy's, as Global Recharge set bonuses do not apply to Fluffy's powers.
One of the other things introduced with the Invention System are proc IOs. There are two good procs to use in Fluffy, and three okay procs.
Good:
Debilitative Action: Chance for Stun: Surprisingly, not bad. While the proc itself is only a 8-second duration, it will get one chance to apply on every target that Fluffy casts Tenebrous Tentacles on, and then twice more for the 22.35 that the base duration of Tenebrous Tentacles lasts. And given that you already have a bevy of stuns, and can yourself slot this same proc, the synergy with your own AoE stuns brings this proc up from merely okay to a serious contender.
Acc-ToHit: Cloud Senses: Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Extra damage is ALWAYS good. If all the usual rules regarding procs work as they are supposed to with Fluffy, this proc should:
*Get a chance to pulse on all victims of Chill of the Night on activation, and every 10 seconds thereafter on everything within range.
*Get a chance to pulse on all victims of Darkest Night on activation, and every 10 every 10 seconds thereafter on everything within its effect. Assuming that Fluffy doesn't decide to change priorities and put it on something else, forcing another chance to pulse anyhow.
*Get a chance to pulse on all victims of Tenebrous Tentacles. The -ToHit debuff only lasts 8 seconds, so no additional chance to pulse.
*Get a chance to pulse on the target of Twilight Grasp.
Lucky for you guys, I went and re-installed the client. In a previous version of the game, it did *not* list that Fluffy had a -ToHit debuff on Tenebrous Tentacles or Twilight Grasp, but I'm glad that they've corrected this. Basically, it boils down to this: Slotting three AoE powers and one ST power with a proc for the price of only one Enhancement is a great deal.
Okay:
-ToHit: Deflated Ego: Chance for Recovery Debuff: Recovery debuff is largely useless in PvE. This is mostly a PvP proc, but for what it's worth, I still probably wouldn't slot it unless you were going Dark/Elec, so you have some other Endurance Drain in order to take advantage of the Recovery debuff. Otherwise, it should have plenty of chances to proc, as above. And just to ensure the maximum number of procs and targets, I'd drop one of these into Darkest Night as well. Unfortunately, since procs with persistent effects do not stack from the same caster, you'll only be able to stack a maximum -50% Recovery debuff, if you're lucky.
-ToHit: Dark Watcher's Despair: Chance for Recharge Slow: Slightly *more* useful, but still subject to the same problems that the Deflated Ego proc has.
Immob: Trap of the Hunter: Chance for Lethal Damage: Given the general lack of non-Negative damage in Dark/Dark, the Lethal damage caused by this proc is nice when you're going up against Negative-resistant enemies. Unfortunately, it will only proc off Tenebrous Tentacles, but at least it's AoE. And that's about it. This proc is borderline between okay and Good, though.
Bad:
Immob: Gravitational Anchor: Chance for Hold: No wide angle hold to stack with.
Hold: Lockdown: Chance for +2 Mag Hold: One power. woooo.
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing Damage: purple, see Lockdown.
Hold: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance for Psionic Damage: See Lockdown
AccHeal: Touch of the Nictus: Chance for Negative Energy Damage, one target.
Acc-ToHit: Siphon Insight: Chance for +ToHit Affects Fluffy, not you.
Heal: Regenerative Tissue: Regeneration: Benefits Fluffy, not you.
Heal: Miracle: Recovery: Benefits Fluffy, not you.
Heal: Numina's Convalescence: Regeneration/Recovery: Benefits Fluffy, not you.
AccHeal: Theft of Essence: Chance for +Endurance: Benefits Fluffy, not you.
Still with me? Good, because it's starting to turn back into the Arcanavillian block of text that used to be here.
There are a few remaining things I want to address vis a vis Fluffy's AI, since it has received a significant change. As previously mentioned, Fluffy is now considered a melee pet, and will close to melee in order to debuff mobs with his aura. While not an entirely unpleasant change, it is slightly jarring to expect Fluffy to stand at range one patch, and then wonder which kind soul is using Recall Friend on your pet right for you the next.
Also, it should be highlighted that Fluffy does in fact, possess artificial intelligence. Fluffy will do a few things right: He will always target the most threatening enemy with Darkest Night and/or Petrifying Gaze. He will target the center mass of a pack of mobs and hit as many as possible with Tenebrous Tentacles, and continue to reapply it until the mob is immobilized.
Unfortunately, artificial intelligence is also artificial stupidity. Fluffy will not fire-and-forget Darkest Night. Fluffy will turn off Darkest Night, and reapply to the most threatening critter attacking the group, regardless of what else is currently being debuffed by the toggle. Also, in doing pre-real numbers research into whether or not Fluffy's powers were affected by recharge enhancements, I happened to come across the revelation that Fluffy will only apply enough +immobilize to immobilize a target, then ignore it for other, non-immobilized targets. I've detailed my methodology for testing this in one of the later sections of the guide.
Pick this up at 32. No exceptions.
================================
4) Dark Blast
Dark Blast
Available: 1(Auto)
Range: 80 feet
Cast Time: 1sec
Recharge: 4sec
End Cost: 5.2
Effects At L50: 36.15 Negative damage, -9.375 ToHit(6sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 1 Damage
Description:
It is your standard blast. You need to take it one way or another. If you're going to coneblast, most likely you will not be using this very much except to fill out your attack chain.
This is your standard T1 blast. It falls in line with all of the rest of the blasts. Average accuracy, average damage, 1 second cast time, average recharge, average endurance cost. Slot this one however you like. I personally don't dedicate too many slots to it.
Gloom
Available: 2
Range: 80 feet
Cast Time: 1.1sec
Recharge: 8sec
End Cost: 8.53
Effects At L50: 8 x 7.95 Negative Damage/3.6sec, -9.375% ToHit(10sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy 3 Damage, 1 Recharge 1 Endurance
Description:
Unusually, Gloom hasn't recieved the same cast time normalizations as the other shared blaster/corruptor/defender sets. Likely, it will never become a Blaster set, then. It comes out unusually peppy, with a 1.1 second cast time, but recharges at the same speed as most of the other T2 blasts. This is probably to its detriment, leaving a bit of an unsightly pause that alternating with Dark Blast cannot *quite* fill, assuming both are slotted equally. The payoff to all this is this a slightly harder-hitting power, almost double the base damage of Dark Blast, although it might not feel like it, since the power is a moderate DOT. It should be noted that the DoT is nothing like the DoT from Sonic Blast's T2, Scream. This one ticks at roughly half the speed. The -ToHit debuff also lasts a correspondingly longer as well. And let's face it, any power that lets you throw a skull at someone trailing dark wisps has got to be awesome. It's a good solid power, and whether you take this or Moonbeam is up to you. More on that...
Moonbeam
Available: 4
Range: 175 feet
Cast Time: 1.33sec, 3sec interrupt
Recharge: 12sec
End Cost: 14.35
Effects At L50: 99.7 Negative Damage, -9.375% ToHit(10sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy 1 Interrupt 3 Damage 1 Endurance
Description:
...here. Moonbeam is a snipe. Now, under normal circumstances, while snipes in general may be highly situational, they are less so when using Dark Blast, and even less so when paired with Dark Miasma. Why? -ToHit. Typically, once you've laid down all of your debuffs and are proceeding to systematically dismantle everything, they can't hit you, and you can fire off your snipe with impunity. It's also visually impressive, a thick blast of dark energy. Regardless, it all boils down to what you want. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it is a snipe, and therefore inherently accurate, you will probably want to throw an extra DO's worth of Accuracy enhancement into it, via IOs, set bonuses, or some other mechanism, as Dark Blast lacks an Aim effect. Given the prevalence of DOT effects in Dark Blast, my personal preference is to pick Moonbeam to have that single, heavy shot.
It's not entirely certain what is up with the anemic -ToHit, however. Normally, the secondary effect of Sniper-type powers is enhanced, that is, extra burning, extra Endurance drain, extra -Defense, etcetera, etcetera, but Moonbeam's -ToHit is only the same as Dark Blast and Gloom. Probably a balance issue, to keep it from being used to attack mobs from an extreme distance with no fear of reprisal. *scoff* Like we aren't going to wind up doing that anyways. =D
You'll want to slot either of these two powers for damage, straight-up damage. Probably an Interrupt enhancement for Moonbeam, as well. Just make sure that once you get hit out of a Moonbeam cast, you deal with whatever mob there is hitting you, because continually spamming Moonbeam while getting hit will zero out your Stamina faster than you can say "Ow, stop hitti-"
Likely, between Gloom and Moonbeam, you won't be able to pick either of these powers up until level 8 or 10. Which, if you hit the sewers right after getting out of the Tutorial, is where you'll wind up anyhow.
Dark Pit
Available: 10
Range: 70 feet x 20 feet sphere
Cast Time: 1.07sec
Recharge: 60sec
End Cost: 13
Effects At L50: 11.92sec Stun(mag2)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 2 Accuracy 2 Recharge 1 Stun, last slot a tossup between more Stun or Recharge
Description:
Dark pit is an AOE stun, but has a few quirks to it. Firstly, it deals no damage at all. Secondly, it suffers from an accuracy penalty. which will require additional slotting for accuracy relative to the other powers. Combined with all of the other mitigation in the set, you will likely not need it. If you do get it, however, it is suggested that you pair it with Howling Twilight, and Oppressive Gloom from the Dark APP, as a mag 2 stun is rather anemic by itself, and therefore completely skippable, if it doesn't fit your playstyle.
Because everyone already knows about Dark Pit's inherent lower accuracy modifier, and lack of damage, (and if you didn't, you know now!) I will then resort to anecdotal evidence, with a little bit of numbers to help you decide whether or not to even try it. I have Dark Pit. I use it a lot more than I ever used Oppressive Gloom. I also note that I respecced the hell out of Oppressive Gloom post-haste, because I REALLY did not want to fire Dark Pit, jump in to tag everything with Oppressive Gloom, jump back out to fire Tenebrous Tentacles and Nightfall, then jump back in to refresh Oppressive Gloom, and so on and so forth, just to ensure that everything in a given mob be stunned. Firing cones at critters from inside a mob is not efficient.
It should be noted that -ToHit can only do so much. All Malta and Knives of Artemis, for example, have an inherent +20% accuracy modifier. Rularuu have inherently high accuracy as well. And some mobs, such as Malta Gunslingers, have an inherent +100% accuracy. (Data via Arcanaville.) Sometimes, therefore, it is best to just take them out of the fight completely. Howling Twilight followed with a Dark Pit chaser will almost certainly result in every critter without stun protection in that pack being stunned, slowed, -recharged, and have their regen completely shut down.
This power can be put off until later, Most likely you took a travel power prerequisite at level 6, and are now trying to squeeze in Swift/Hurdle for Stamina as well. Fine and dandy, but pick it up fairly close to picking up Howling Twilight, so you can use the two together.
Tenebrous Tentacles
Available: 16
Range: 40 feet x 40 degree cone
Cast Time: 1.67sec
Recharge: 10sec
End Cost: 10.19
Effects At L50: 8 x 3.61 Smashing Damage/7.10sec, 5.06 Negative Damage, -9.375% ToHit(8sec), AOE Immobilize(Mag3)(22.35sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy 2 Damage, 1 Recharge, mix the last two slots between Immobilize, Damage, or -ToHit.
Description:
This will be the power that people will see and recognize the most. This is probably a good thing, since you will be using it. A lot. And then some more. And then some more. And you get the idea. Let's go into a brief explaination.
First off, unlike all the other powers in this set, it is listed as doing dual-typed damage. This is a bit misleading, however. Instead of equal parts Negative and Smashing damage, the way Sonic Attack does, only the initial hit of Tenny Tents is Negative. All the following damage ticks are Smashing. It's good, because despite a relative lack of critters that resist negative damage, when you do come across them, they will resist it HEAVILY, making that smashing damage all the more valuable. Otherwise, you would be standing there for a very long time, slogging away single-digit-damage-style at those critters. These include COT Spectral Daemons, Death Mages, various Banished Pantheon, Nicti, Council Darkwolves, Vampyri, Galaxy, and of course, various Skulls. Again, this power is a DOT.
It's also the cornerstone of setting up the lockdown on mobs. One interesting thing to note is that there is no -KB in this power's Immobilize effect, akin to Gravity Control. By extension, this makes this power- and indeed, the set as a whole- a good fit for Storm Summoning, letting you herdicane critters with a minimal amount of running amok.
Consdering that the immobilize stacks with itself straight out of the box, only minimal enhancing is needed for Immobilization. You may wish to slot for recharge instead, so that the immobilize can be stacked rapidly and thickly, for holding mobs that run around like chickens with their heads cut off in place. Council Wolves immediately spring to mind, since they will need a double-dose of Immobilize before they stop running.
Pick this up at 16. No exceptions.
Night Fall
Available: 20
Range: 60 feet
Cast Time: 2sec
Recharge: 10sec
End Cost: 13.1
Effects At L50: 10 x 3.98 Negative Damage, -9.375% ToHit(10sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Endurance, mix last slot between Recharge or Endurance.
Description:
In the past, the only way that you would know why you were hitting so few critters after laying down Tentacles would be if someone told you that this power had a longer and narrower cone than Tentacles. The detailed power display makes this less of an issue now, so let's get it out of the way: When firing this power, take about three or four steps back before firing, in order to place the widest part of the cone right on top of the most critters at any time. Like Tentacles, this power is a DoT, but a very fast one, comparable to Sonic Attack's Scream. It does have a somewhat stiff endurance cost, and the damage is equivalent to that of a Dark Blast, so make sure that you try and get at least three critters to break even on the damage to endurance ratio.
Again, slot this for straight-up damage. This power will be your workhorse and deal the bulk of all of your DPS as a /Dark Blast Defender, so maximize it wherever you can.
Unfortunately, since this power becomes available to you at the same time that Stamina does, you need to make a decision as to which you want to take. And if you think anything like I do, you are going to take Stamina first. And rightly you should, since it will make life a little bit easier, not having to worry about Endurance as much.
Torrent
Available: 28
Range: 80 feet x 30 degree cone
Cast Time: 1.03sec
Recharge: 15sec
End Cost: 14.35
Effects At L50: 14.46 Smashing Damage, -9.375% ToHit(10sec), 10.386 Knockback
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy.
Description:
At first glance, this power is rather useless. With all of your other powers focusing on creating a controlled environment to neutralize critters, knockback *does* seems counter-productive, but it does work as an opening attack to let you do things like get off Darkest Night's long cast time while they get back up, in order to toggle pull. Please remember that Tenebrous Tentacles does not carry a -KB componant, which means that adding this power to your usual mix of attacks can lead to disastrous results, like knocking a mob out of Tar Patch, or Darkest Night. The damage is not even half that of Dark Blast, either.
Stormies have used Knockback to great effect as mez. Energy Blasters have done so as well. And other powersets, like Earth Control, Ice Melee, Ice Manipulation, and the like know that if a mob is always on their back, they can't attack back. You should also take note that the cone for Torrent is 30 degrees, right between Tentacles and Nightfall. This power is..... not recommended unless you know what you're doing. If you've played a Energy/ blaster, and know how to manage your knockback, by all means, it is a legitimate power choice for positioning. I do confess that this power is a bit of a lemon, but during the time that I picked it up again to remind myself what it was like for this guide, I four-slotted it with Kinetic Crash to take advantage of the passive -3 KB protection. I, personally, would have appreciated it more if this power were a single-target knockback for getting that one thing out of my face, RIGHT NOW!-style, without messing all my hard work standing right behind the offending critter. Council Wolves and Warrior Lieutenants and Bosses come to mind.
It does have a rather amusing PUSH! animation, though.
Life Drain
Available: 35
Range: 60 feet
Cast Time: 1.93sec
Recharge: 15sec
End Cost: 11.96
Effects At L50: 36.15 Negative Damage, 101.738 Heal(self), -9.375% ToHit(10sec)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy, mix between 3 Heal or 3 Damage.
Description:
I've mentioned that Dark Blast is a good set to pair with Storm Summoning before. Here's another reason why: A self-heal power. And while people may go on and say that a good stormie doesn't need a self-heal, I will argue that it is always nice to have one available to you. My only complaint is that it comes so late in the set, forcing people to slog through more than half the game before they get something that would be much more useful at the low end for sets lacking a self-heal. I would not suggest that you take it if you are pursuing a Dark/Dark defender, but will insist that it is handy for other sets.
As a Dark/Dark defender, you have very little reason to take this power. By this point, you should have already gotten and slotted Dark Servant anyways, and since Fluffy has a Twilight Grasp as well, it makes this power a bit moot. Even as a damage power, it's still quite inferior, as the damage and -ToHit are equal to that of your T1 Dark Blast, but has a longer cast time and recharge, and heavier endurance cost.
Blackstar
Available: 38
Range: 25 feet radius
Cast Time: 3 sec
Recharge: 360 sec
End Cost: 20.8
Effects At L50: 36.15 Smashing, 72.29 Negative, 54.22 Negative(75% chance), 54.22 Negative(50% chance), -62.5% ToHit(20 sec), -1000% Recovery(20sec), -100% Endurance(self)
Recommended non-set IO Slotting: 1 Accuracy, and then depending on role, 3 Damage or 3 -ToHit
Description:
Blackstar defies the normal role of a nuke. It's damage is not phenomenal. After all, it *is* using a .65 damage scalar. But like a lot of your powers, the best part is the secondary effect. Even a Boss Malta Gunslinger is going to feel the -62.5% ToHit debuff, inherent +Accuracy modifier be damned. This gives you two options for slotting Blackstar, either as a damage power, or as a panic button.
In my opinion, Blackstar is the safest nuke to use in the entire game, when combined with Fluffy's continued debuffing after your Endurance crash. There are no other combinations capable of completely neutralizing a pack of mobs, and keeping them neutralized afterwards, even if they happen to sport the Purple Triangles of Doom. However, it's not necessary to Defenders as a whole. (Yes, there are some nukes that are better at neutralizing critters on a standalone basis. Psychic Wail stuns for 15 and -recharges heavily for 20, and Rain of Arrows just neutralizes them by arresting them outright.)
A few additional notes: It's a fun power with a visually impressive effect. It makes a good costume-change power. Just make sure there are no critters in the area, so you don't get the -recovery effect.
I highly suggest against using this power if you have a large number of toggles. While it does play very well into the theme of abusing large numbers of enemies, re-activating seven toggles (Shadow Fall, Assault, Tactics, Maneuvers, Oppressive Gloom, Dark Embrace, Sprint-stealth, and as-needed, Darkest Night) is, to put it lightly, annoying.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
5) Selecting an Epic Power Pool
Dark Mastery
Dark Mastery is purely powers ripped from the Dark Armor and Dark Melee powersets. They are useful, yes, but after 41 levels of Dark, you may be ready for something new. (Conversely, Darkness Mastery is powers ripped from Dark Miasma and Dark Blast.) Like Dark Armor/Dark Melee, the powers will help you continue your career of abusing large groups of enemies at once. It's thematic, too. My personal suggestion is that you steer clear of Oppressive Gloom. (In I13, it has received a radius boost, but let's face it people, the radius is not THE biggest problem) See the FAQ section for why. Dark Consumption will let you siphon Endurance from critters, hopefully after you've locked everything down. Dark Embrace adds smash/lethal/negative resists, no surprise there. Soul Drain adds ToHit and Damage buffs, for every critter hit, but the formula was tweaked in I13 to front-load the buffs off of the first critter hit, with each successive critter providing a smaller bonus than the first. This has the effect of making it more useful to use against smaller packs of mobs, without making it overpowered on larger packs.
Power Mastery
You can't really go wrong with Power Mastery. Conserve power helps give you some breathing room when using the endurance-heavy Dark Miasma, and especially if you have gone the route of Blackstar. Power Build Up makes your powers more efficient with both a Build Up and a Power Boost effect. Temp Invulnerability provides the highest Smashing and Lethal resist numbers available, rounding out your resistances to all types except Toxic. Lastly, stacking Total Focus with your other stun powers will let you incapacitate EBs and their posses, easily.
Psychic Mastery
I cannot endorse Psychic Mastery, as the powers are somewhat all over the place. It does not synergize very well with the Dark/Dark Defender, nor does it come with any form of endurance modifying effect. Dominate can stack with Petrifying Gaze and Fluffy, but the reality is that you will have a full plate of control effects to throw around by the time you get to 41. Mass Hypnosis is also problematic, as it breaks as soon as you use any one of your damage-dealing cones. While it might be good to use to open a fight with, incapacitating mobs while you go about throwing down Tar Patches and Darkest Night, Fearsome Stare already fulfills the same role as a fight-opener, permitting you to get right to blasting. and persists beyond the first Tenebrous Tentacles that go down. You do already have enough mez to handle anything that comes your way, by this point.
Once you get past the first two rather dismal powers, three other excellent options open up. Mind Over Body and Telekinesis are already well-established, but World of Confusion was added for I13. Combining Mind Over Body with Shadow Fall will turn you into a psionics-soaking machine. Well-slotted for resistance in both powers, you can attain roughly 60% resist(psionics), which is the second-highest resistance value to psionics that is attainable in the game, second only to a Dark Armor Tanker. This is well in excess of anything that any other tank or scrapper can muster.
Telekinesis is.... well, Telekinesis. You pick up a bunch of mobs, and push them away from you. It's very endurance heavy, and almost certainly will cause endurance problems, Vigilance or not.
Be aware that the duration on World of Confusion is not high enough in order to confuse things around you permanently without slotting.
Electricity Mastery
Were I less content with Dark Mastery, I might have taken Electricity Mastery instead. Charged Armor, despite having the lowest resistance numbers of all four sets, provides resistance against the three most common damage types, S/L/En. Electric Fence should probably be skipped over here, since Tenny Tents will fill all of your immobilization needs. If you can tolerate the knockback, or indeed, embrace the knockback, Thunder Strike is a small dose of much-needed burst damage. Shocking Bolt is a new addition that came in I13, another single-target Hold effect. Lastly, Power Sink. I don't think I need to qualify that statement, do I?
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6) FAQ
*Why shouldn't I take Oppressive Gloom? I can stack it with Dark Pit and Howling Twilight!
Dark Mastery's Oppressive Gloom is almost identical to the Scrapper version; with minor differences in Endurance costs, and a slightly larger radius (12 ft to 8 ft) on the Defender version, they are otherwise identical. The time between pulses of this power is 2 seconds, and the stun does not last much longer than that. It has a miniscule endurance cost, which is offset by the HP cost of the power. As scary as that may sound, however, it is a non-issue. Even-con mobs will only pulse you for about 3 HP per. Not only can you offset the HP cost with Health, but you also have Twilight Grasp and Fluffy as well.
Choking Cloud, this power is not. The only tangible benefit is to make the aggroed minion critters not hit you when they step into your personal space, something that should happen very rarely given your array of controls.
You cannot use stacking Dark Pit and/or Howling Twilight with Oppressive Gloom as a justification for Oppressive Gloom. The nature of this toggle is that it requires you to be standing right next to a critter, making a funny face at them, and going "neener-neener-neener, you can't hit me!" at them. (Although this might just be me.) This probably also means that you will probably want to be standing in the middle of the mob in order to ensure that all of the critters get hit. Now, since Dark Pit, and Howling Twilight are both targeted AOEs, this is not seem to be much of a problem. After all, you can just fire both abilities at any one of the critters in melee range, hitting everything around you. But when you consider that the other major abilities that Dark/Dark has are cones, like Fearsome Stare, Tenebrous Tentacles, and Nightfall, you are not using an optimal placement. I highly doubt you'll hit any significant numbers of critters with Nightfall standing in the middle, considering the nature of the long, narrow cone that it is. Sure, you'll hit some critters if you use it from the middle, but you'll be missing all the critters that are behind you; ones that you could have hit if you were standing outside, shooting in. (Fluffy can afford to do this, because he has that wonderful -ToHit passive aura, and debuffs just by *standing there*. The rest is gravy.)
Enhancing Oppressive Gloom's duration is a losing proposition as well. As the stun itself does not self-stack, it is safe to assume that the duration of stun is close to, if not exactly, 2 seconds long. Sadly, despite the new numbers and power display information available to players now, there is no information on how long Oppressive Gloom's ticks last. Considering other powers of a similar nature, let us assume that the stun double-stacks with itself for a brief period to time to ensure that there are no gaps when the duration of one tick expires and the next tick begins, say 2.5 seconds. Let us also remember that the power is also flagged as, according to RedTomax, not stacking from the same caster, so that the stun magnitude will always remain a constant 2. Even three-slotting the power for Stun with level 50 Stun IOs will only result in a wholly anemic 4.97 seconds duration. At the cost of those three same slots, one could bring the stun of Howling Twilight from 15 seconds up to 29.86 seconds, and the stun on Dark Pit from 11.92 seconds to 23.73 seconds.
The deck isn't completely stacked against Oppressive Gloom, though. In my opinion, it has it's uses, just not as a Dark/Dark. Consider if you were using /Elec instead. Heck, let's consider a Dark/Elec, that Sith concept that was floating around back when the crappy Star Wars movies came out. All of /Elec's AOE attacks are proper non-cone AOEs, whether Targetted (Ball lightning), PBAOE(Short Circuit, Thunderous Blast), or ground-target(Voltaic Sentinel). Considering that Short Circuit also requires large numbers of mobs to be most effective, as a result, standing in the middle of a mob, yes, Oppressive Gloom works great for it, because it means /you can stay there/.
But it is my opinion that you should not take it as a Dark/Dark. You're going to need to do enough constant repositioning to line up cones anyways. Especially when you throw the two Dark APP attacks into the mix.
To echo the sentiments of Darkspade, another D3 regarding Oppressive Gloom:
Quote:
*Why "-ToHit" and not "-Accuracy?"| "While I had no problem moving in and out of melee range, I kept thinking "I'm a D3, combat should be more dignified for me than this!" |
The Smart-Aleck Answer: Because they are not the same thing.
The Long Answer:
To quote the esteemed Arcanaville, "Defense, ToHit, and Accuracy, and how they function in the tohit algorithm, are collectively among the least understood mechanisms in City of Heroes."
Arcanaville has done a large amount of research into the subject of Accuracy, Defense, and ToHit, and has written up a guide that is accurate as of I7, and is being updated to I10, and includes information regarding IOs, how players and critters both calculate whether their attacks hit or not, and so on and so forth. Fairly warned, while it is well within the grasp of algebra, you may need a scientific or graphing calculator to help you along.
I won't go into full detail as to how the chances of something connecting are calculated, but suffice it to say that the only two variables in a critter's attack roll that the player can affect are the critter's ToHit and the player's Defense, both of which cancel eachother out. An additional 1% of defense is equivalent to a 1% penalty to ToHit. +/-Accuracy, however, is a multiplicative effect that is used in the ToHit equasion before +/-ToHit's additive modifiers are applied.
Likely, I will need to reclarify this section once again, as I13 has added a new mechanic, Elusivity. I intend to see how this affects the Defense/ToHit equasion as it pertains to D3s.
*Why "-ToHit" and not "+Defense?"
Because stopping to apply buffs every four minutes is not everyone's style. I used to play DDO, after I left CoH the first time. I'm perfectly fine playing a Cleric in D&D, a healzorz/buffer, because in D&D, buff duration tends to be dependant on the level of the Cleric, lasting longer as the Cleric gets higher in levels(i.e., 1 min/level), as well as have access to abilities enabling me to extend the durations of said abilities. With the lack of these kinds of meta-abilities or enhancements, I can't stand to play those kinds of powersets in CoX.
*Why does Darkest Night suck so badly?
It doesn't. What does happen however, is that everyone starts sucking less as they progress in levels. As I said before, by the time you hit the 30s, this power isn't needed for every single fight anymore.
*Okay, so you talked about how you were testing recharge reduction on Fluffy before Real Numbers. Spill.
The biggest problem with testing Fluffy's powers was that Fluffy has a number of different powers, but wouldn't spam any of them. Not like, say, you or I would, when testing a power. No, for better or for worse, Fluffy has an AI controlling his actions. So in the end, what I did was I isolated the power that he used most often; Tenebrous Tentacles.
The next problem was a target. I won't deny it, I very much tend to play solo. I like to solo things. I steadfastly turn down all SG invites, preferring to freelance, getting my group on purely though keeping an ear out for stuff going on in VirtueUnited, and to a lesser extent, VirtueLFG. But that wasn't an option since I would either have to step into an Arena PVP, or into a PVP zone in order to test, which brings all sorts of other problems with people randomly coming along and ganking the hell out of me. So I looked for alternate targets instead. Critters were right out of the question, to start. Too many variables, ranging from "What if Fluffy gets hit?" to "What if someone comes along and Speed Boosts either Fluffy or I?" So the target has to be relatively isoated.
Even then, there were challenges. The target would also have to be standing alone, with no other mobs in range to throw off Fluffy's targetting, being as how Fluffy would consider all targets in range.
And then I hit upon it. No, it wasn't perfect, but it was as good as it was going to get.
In the Rikti War Zone, there are a number of Training Dummies. And I used those for a time, but that last part about Fluffy and all targets disqualified those. No, what I used were the shooting range targets instead.
The shooting range targets are bugged something hardcore. You can target them, of course, but no matter what you do, you will never be able to activate any power on them.... unless you stand just a little bit behind him, and just to its left. At any other range, even ranged powers, even sniper powers, all report back with an Out of Range error. Success!
But that was just the beginning of my trials. After summoning Fluffy right in the correct spot, Fluffy would fire off his Tenebrous Tentacles as expected. And then I took my trusty stopwatch, and timed the durations between new applications of Tenebrous Tentacles.
And timed.
And timed.
And then I realized something was very, very wrong.
If we were to assume that Fluffy's Tenebrous Tentacles were anything like ours at all, then why wasn't Fluffy firing Tenebrous Tentacles for almost 20 seconds?!
It was this point that I began to realize that Fluffy's Artificial Intelligence, was, unfortunately, truly artificial. Fluffy wasn't reapplying Tenebrous Tentacles anymore, because the target already had all the +Immobilize that it needed on it.
So I threw out that data set of more than 400 timings. I wasn't able to salvage any of the data, and even if I was, I couldn't definitively prove to myself that this recharge here was one thrown shortly after he was summoned, and this one wasn't. Besides, I needed to start from anew. So I started again, taking about a hundred measurements, this time only taking the time between the first and second Tenebrous Tentacles thrown, measurements that were MUCH more in line with the expected result. I was ecstatic at having figured this out! Someone shortly thereafter asked a question on the Defender boards as to whether or not Recharge enhancements affected Fluffy's powers, and I, I, and I alone had the answer!
...And then a week later, Real Numbers came out.
Long story short, Fluffy sucks, Fluffy is stupid, I hate testing Fluffy, and I wish a dev would tell me these things next time. >.<
*How do you propose to fix Black Hole?
A lot of why I hated Black Hole has somewhat been fixed, as in it now actually has *something* of a use. The only thing that I would still suggest to make it more useful, is to actually make Black Hole a full-on toggle with a maximum duration, as per Phase Shift and other self-Intangible powers, so you can turn if off at will.
Something I'd also like to see done, is have Black Hole affect teammates as well. It would make for a unique dual-role ability, allowing the Dark Miasmist to take one's party out of the fight either pre-emptively, or when things are going south, just long enough to say, to quickly regain some endurance before coming back out, guns and powers blazing.
================================================== ====
7) Thoughts
Some random assorted thoughts that don't really fit in anywhere else:
Dark/Dark is a bit of a glutton when it comes to endurance. I hate to say it, but you may actually be thankful for Vigilance when playing. Getting Stamina is pretty much a given, too.
Fluffy's recharge is fast, very fast compared to how long he lasts. Which means that at no point in time should you ever be afraid to re-summon a fresh Fluffy to do things like sit in the middle of a mob and have him tank for you. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why Darkest Night becomes a little obsolete at mid-game.
Recall Friend is, well, your friend. Remember "If you're going to die, die in a pile"? Shadowfall will let you get close to the critter you'll be targetting, Recall Friend will let you stack the bodies, and Howling Twilight stuns the critter and his friends, and brings the team back to life.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Leftover from combining sections, but reserved for further expansion. Wow, this new forum software is shiny.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Leftover from combining sections, but reserved for further expansion. Wow, this new forum software is shiny.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Leftover from combining sections, but reserved for further expansion. Wow, this new forum software is shiny.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Great Guide , I just started a d3 defender and this helps a ton.
Love your guide, please add some sample builds! What do you recommend for pools? For instance - Hasten, yes or no?
Great Guide !
Can you add a pre-IO slot suggestion for Fearsome Stare, Shadow Fall, Moonbeam and Torrent.
@Ectokin
Great guide! I have been leveling a Dark/Dark but had yet to check a guide. This has helped me make some important build changes and made me come to a final decision on my build. Apart from slotting changes I also changed Oppressive Gloom to Black Hole. I am interested in Black Hole phasing a tower on the STF as well as a last resort Panic button.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Quote:
Yeah, I just made my first DD in a LONG time, got him to 27 getting ready to do the "30-IO-respec" and redo all the powers, slotting, etc and went looking for a guide. This one is interesting and informative. Many thanks!
|
Originally Posted by New Dawn
Great guide! I have been leveling a Dark/Dark but had yet to check a guide. This has helped me make some important build changes and made me come to a final decision on my build. Apart from slotting changes I also changed Oppressive Gloom to Black Hole. I am interested in Black Hole phasing a tower on the STF as well as a last resort Panic button.
|
Hi there, folks. Back during a reactivation weekend. I've cleaned up the guide. Dark/Dark is pretty quiet in terms of patchnotes, though, but hey, no news is good news. Consider this officially now an I15 guide.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders
Thanks for excellent guide. Very useful information.
P.S. a minor bit of pedantry:
Quote:
There are also Longbow Wardens (nearly irrelevant heroside), Malaise, Savage Siren (Safeguard AV), and a few redside-only AVs. Your point still stands, of course, but just for completeness sake...
|
Originally Posted by Darkity
From here on out, you need never fear... well, fear itself ever again. But really, only one non-MA critter that I know of uses Fear effects, and that's Hamidon.
|
Quote:
And Jack-In-Irons |
Originally Posted by 3dent
Thanks for excellent guide. Very useful information.
P.S. a minor bit of pedantry: There are also Longbow Wardens (nearly irrelevant heroside), Malaise, Savage Siren (Safeguard AV), and a few redside-only AVs. Your point still stands, of course, but just for completeness sake... |
Awesome guide by the way
Quote:
I can't believe I never put two and two together on this one on my DDC >_>|
Originally Posted by Darkity
Howling Twilight followed with a Dark Pit chaser will almost certainly result in every critter without stun protection in that pack being stunned, slowed, -recharged, and have their regen completely shut down.
|
Absolutely excellent update
fantastic guide! I really enjoyed reading your writing style.
Triumph Lurker: mintmiki 50 emp/archer
basically, if you see a miki on Triumph, it's probably cute and it's probably me.
Huge thanks to cuppamanga and all the folks in the mac help forum for prolonging my borrowed time on this game.
Very complete guide! I wanted to provide as evidence an experience I had yesterday after someone asked about the new Vigilance. I wanted to see if I could solo faster so I put my difficulty at +1 for a team size of 8 (that's right... on a DEFENDER).
It was cake.
The key strategy (and one I don't see in your guide) is to drop tar patch, stealth close-ish to a huge group of enemies, target one in the back, use Darkest Night. Run.
Run around a corner or through a door (wherever you dropped Tar Patch). The enemies will come running, but will pile up on the patch (which puts them ALL in range of the DN debuff!)
You can then pop out and decimate them (which is even faster now with the new Vigilance).
Using this technique, I was able to mow down huge mobs of Longbow with NO danger. I never dropped below 80% life and I wasn't healing (though fluffy did some).
If you're interested in comparing notes, check out my D3 guide here:
http://www.jordans-town.com/jordan-basics
Darkity's Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders! (D3s)
-or-
"If you're going to die, die in a pile"
v.99, last updated 03-05-10
Table of Contents:
1) Version History
2) Preface
3) Dark Miasma (Primary)
4) Dark Blast (Secondary)
5) Which Epic Power Pool Should I Take?
6) FAQ
7) Parting Thoughts
1) Version History
v.0.99: 2-27-10
Sorry, guys. Not actually back. I happened to see that there was a reactivation weekend, and decided I would drop in and fix the grammar and horrible atrocities and crimes against humanity that I wrought in the previous versions of this guide. I have this problem where I edit my sentances AS I WRITE THEM, so the end result usually sounds schizophrenic. As I am editting this guide before the actual reactivation weekend, no actual gameplay stuff is updated, but I have updated things to reflect patchnotes in the six months or so since I've been gone. It remains to be seen if I can manage to reinstall and do some testing during the weekend.
v.0.95: 2-19-09
Yes, I know I promised a new version in January and that this is late.
Too many fixes and rewordings to even BEGIN to enumerate.
v.0.9: 12-7-08
Updated to reflect new information from I13:
*New Hold sets
*Accurate Healing sets
*Accurate ToHit Debuff sets
*Oppressive Gloom: +radius
*Soul Drain: Front-loaded buff.
v.0.85: 8-20-08
Fixed a number of boneheaded mistakes with numbers.
v.8 (aka v.beta): 8-8-08
Guide Started
2) Preface
I'll admit, I was gone from the game for a long while. I started playing in beta, and played on a shared account with two other people until the account's owner just up and vanished off to a foreign country (Texas). I admit, it wasn't exactly kosher, but MMOs were still a new thing in general, and I had trouble justifying $15 a month back then. To give you an idea as to when this was, World of Warcraft(hereafter referred to as "That-Game-That-Must-Not-Be-Named") was still in beta, Defenders were Empathy or nothing, you could not run more than one defensive toggle at a time, Fear made stuff run away, Howling Twilight still rezzed people with a sliver of HP, Fluffy didn't move. Yes, I played lolDark. Uphill both ways! In the snow! AND I LIKED IT. Now get off my lawn!
Flash ahead to an I9 homecoming, and I like Dark even more. Actually, it's probably safe to say that I'm so much in love with Dark/Dark that it's kind of unnatural. I found out very rapidly that the Invention System was not always very.... kind to the two matched powersets, making powers with diverse effects difficult to slot IOs well. Accuracy enhancements, for example, being completely wasted in powers like Tar Patch and Howling Twilight, both auto-hit powers, making large parts of sets that might be slotted, useless. Powers like Twilight Grasp, a heal that DOES need Accuracy enhancements, not being able to reap the benefits from slotting entire Numina's or Miracle sets, for example. I have gotten used to Fluffy being motile, I love the new- relatively speaking- Fear, and still am kind of dismissive about Howling Twilight's rez effect. (And despite my still not understanding what makes Texas tick, I do have in-laws there who are slowly educating me what it means to be a Texan.)
With I11, ToHit Debuff sets are now added into the mix, with one set that seems almost tailored for Dark/Dark; Dark Watcher's Despair. While I would like to say that the D-man don't look out for his own, I confess, testing this proc in everything has caused me more headaches than Black Hole ever did.
And now! I13! Accurate Healing! Accurate ToHit Debuff sets! And, arguably, the one IO that you almost MUST slot into Fluffy, hands down!
And just when you thought Defendering couldn't get any better, FINALLY, the fix comes through in I15, finally letting the good guys use the same Accurate Healing and Accurate ToHit Debuff IO sets that the bad guys have been using for the past SIX MONTHS! Seriously, Castle, I love you and all, and I can appreciate all the things you guys were working on behind the scenes for Going Rogue, Ultra Mode, and all that, but six months? Surely the fix wasn't that difficult?!
Speaking of which, I have to say, it warms my heart to see that out of the patch notes that have taken place in the well-over-a-year since I've left, there have been only two patch notes regarding Dark Miasma. No news is good news, eh?
But enough of a recap on ancient history. You're part of the generation of gimme, now, instant gratification. So here goes:
When you play through as a Dark/Dark Defender, a lot of the abilities that you'll be taking will have secondary, even tertiary effects. Most of the time the secondary effect will be -ToHit, but the additional effects include -Regeneration, -Damage, Immobilize, Fear, Stun, Healing, and Rez. Oh, and damage, too. Some of the other things you can expect playing a Dark/Dark is a heavy emphasis towards coneblasting and abusing large groups of enemies at once. You can also expect a lot of Damage Over Time, or DoT powers.
Finally, a word regarding -ToHit. It's not flashy. It's not obvious. The effects of it are the same as throwing soap bubbles around your teammates, but even the most knowledgeable player is liable to forget that the Dark/Dark is doing something other than [censored!] the enemies with tentacles simply because the team proceeds to steamroll everything in its path. As you play a D3, you will inevitably run across a situation where tells are sent afterwards from teammates that say something along the lines of, "Yeah, the team broke up shortly after you left. We just kept dying and wiping." Players won't see you debuffing the critters' ToHit; they will see you Immobilizing, Fearing, debuffing Resistance, Slowing, and Healing instead.
Just keep in mind that Dark/Dark is not a set that is powerful in the sense of "O hai, I killed^H^H^H^H^H^H arrested all teh mobs 4 u." Rather, it is powerful in the sense of, "They're all crippled, defeat them with impunity."
Recommended reading:
Guide to (Tohit and) Defense v1.10beta , by Arcanaville.
Acknowledgments:
Blackest Night, wherever the heck you are, this goes out to you.
Arcanaville, for spelling out ToHit.
PhiloticKnight, for some perspective on Cage-type powers. (Going to miss you, dude.)
@Exdeath, just because~
Scrapulous, because alternate points of view are good.
Darkspade, for putting my sentiments on Oppressive Gloom into a single, succinct thought for me.
Soaring Valor, because Blasto! (Wherever you are!)
Feedback:
I welcome feedback on the guide, post below! Just make sure you don't quote the *entire* guide, or this thread will become very text-heavy indeed! Remeber, my subscription has expired, and I'm not able to answer this thread anymore. Hopefully, I've presented things here in a way that you won't need to ask questions at all. (And hopefully, I'll be back in City of Heroes putting Lord Recluse back into his place soon!)
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -F. Nietzsche
Virtueverse
Guide to Dark/Dark Defenders