What AT is best for soloing MA content?
By
Amberyl,
Posted on: 2009-04-08 17:19 in Mission Architect
Anything that can solo AVs in regular PvE play should do fine: brutes, scrappers, many MM and controller builds.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I'm not too sure about this. I could build a mission that could eat a soft-capped /SR brute/scrapper alive, and I wouldn't even be trying.
I can see sets with lots of -recharge or confuse/fear being quite popular as most of the armor sets for custom critters won't have access to resistance.
Freeedom
H: Victra Defile (Rad/Dark) & Hot Hits (Fire/SD)
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I haven't played a brute or scrapper for awhile, and they generally weren't capable of actually soloing an AV. This was back before IO enhancements, though. So there are multiple builds which are that capable these days? Interesting. Especially given that it's now possible to play a brute and never have to do anything "evil" as a villain with the MA.
I'm not sure what's best, but my controllers and doms have been doing poorly. People like giving their custom critters mez protection >.<
I know what you mean, although I don't know how deliberate it is. So many of the defensive sets have mez protection built into them. So far I haven't found anything that resists Deceive, fortunately.
It really matters what missions your playing. If your playing a mission with only bosses at end then play with brute/tank if its normal missions just do what you would do with normal PvE if you get mezz/stunned/etc then grab a brute/tanker/scraper. but really chose what you like to play as.
So far, my Bots/Traps MM is the one I use to test any arcs that are 'turned up to eleven'. The only times I run into problems is when the arc missions auto-exemp down below my Tier 3 bot.
"Dame Demolition" is a good name for her. She just shows up with her equipment, and leaves rubble in her wake. 
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Hmm, you got me interested in Bots/Traps now. Here's a quote from another thread about soloing AVs:
Bots/Traps MM: Traps has another strong -Regen power, has personal mez protection and good defense from FFG, which allows you to tank the AV without having to carry both BFs and Lucks. Ranged minions can do damage without having to risk splash damage from the AoEs as you tank.
The Poison Gas Trap has been nerfed (it no longer procs holds repeatedly, only once per mob that enters the area of effect) but it still does a good job with locking down spawns.
Acid Mortar executes a -DEF debuff and DoT AoE attack 10 times per deploy.
Seeker Drones can be used to pull spawns without taking your minions out of Bodyguard Mode (mobs see seekers and they start shooting/attacking, minions see this as an attack against the whole troupe and launch a counterbarrage). Plus they proc an AoE stun when they detonate.
Web Grenade can be used to immob flyers, or just lock something down inside a burn patch from Assault Bot's incendiary missile swarm.
Trip Mine is good for chokepoints, in conjunction with PGT.
And when all else fails, Detonation provides a handy nuke (at the cost of a minion.)
Also, Protector Bots will continually bubble you, your bots, your toys (such as seekers or mortars, or triage beacons) and any NPC allies you pick up. This helps with incoming attacks.
Dame Demo is my only fully-IO'd character, and it's VERY rare that I have to 'tank' anything, most of Traps actually allows one to play as a weak Controller while the robots provide blaster-level artillery.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
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I'm not too sure about this. I could build a mission that could eat a soft-capped /SR brute/scrapper alive, and I wouldn't even be trying.
I can see sets with lots of -recharge or confuse/fear being quite popular as most of the armor sets for custom critters won't have access to resistance.
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Yep, my high defense shield scrapper got a good workout even from a +2 boss level critter. Get radiation infection thrown on you and suddenly your defense isn't so great. A mind control using EB was also nasty. They are the ones with the non-positional attacks iirc.
just currious.. is MA content with toons set to heroic? I mean i rarely have any issue on any content with heroic.. Is ma the same? or is stuff that much harder?
So far, when I just want to solo an arc to see what the creator has made, my go to character is a Dark Melee / Willpower brute. Gets to see everything close and can live through a great deal.
My main concern now is to immunize my mobs from holds / immobilizes and harden them enough that the minions will survive a blaster nuke.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
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My main concern now is to immunize my mobs from holds / immobilizes and harden them enough that the minions will survive a blaster nuke.
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Why? Some special hatred for Controlers and Dominators?
I want to make sure that they need to be tanked rather than simply kited, is all.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
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The Poison Gas Trap has been nerfed (it no longer procs holds repeatedly, only once per mob that enters the area of effect) but it still does a good job with locking down spawns.
Acid Mortar executes a -DEF debuff and DoT AoE attack 10 times per deploy.
Seeker Drones can be used to pull spawns without taking your minions out of Bodyguard Mode (mobs see seekers and they start shooting/attacking, minions see this as an attack against the whole troupe and launch a counterbarrage). Plus they proc an AoE stun when they detonate.
Web Grenade can be used to immob flyers, or just lock something down inside a burn patch from Assault Bot's incendiary missile swarm.
Trip Mine is good for chokepoints, in conjunction with PGT.
And when all else fails, Detonation provides a handy nuke (at the cost of a minion.)
Also, Protector Bots will continually bubble you, your bots, your toys (such as seekers or mortars, or triage beacons) and any NPC allies you pick up. This helps with incoming attacks.
Dame Demo is my only fully-IO'd character, and it's VERY rare that I have to 'tank' anything, most of Traps actually allows one to play as a weak Controller while the robots provide blaster-level artillery.
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My bots/traps also does pretty well. I think Acid Mortar is single target though, isn't it?
I've been doing MA arcs with my SS/WP brute. (I've been focused on trying to earn tickets to get unlockables to use in my own arcs.)
I'm used to mowing down everything in PvE content run on Invincible with very few problems, assuming I'm not trying to solo an AV or the like. I've got a solid build and some decent IOs, but ironically, most my IOs were picked up around level 30-35, so I'm by no means uber, at least as far as SS/WP brutes go.
However, I've had more problems in MArc missions than I've ever had in normal PvE missions. In most ways, this is welcome, since MArc authors end up putting in challenges the devs never would precisely because they either don't care about balance, have failed to test adequately for balance, or are deliberately trying to design something really hard.
For instance, the "Welcome to Architect Entertainment" arc was thoroughly painful, even with my difficulty level turned down to Malicious; I'm contemplating trying to go down to Villainous (the base level, i.e., no bosses) just to see if I can get through the thing, because it's basically like playing a mission consisting solely of super-powerful sappers. (At one point, I managed to clear one of the ambushes that show up at the end of the third mission by going and buying an inspiration tray entirely full of blues, except for a big red and purple to start off with, but then I was out of blues, unable to talk to a contact for more, and I'd already bought out the auction house, probably making somebody terribly happy with the prices I'd paid.) I really enjoyed the arc's dialogue, but there's only so much pain I'm willing to put up with. However, the real issue with that is that SS/WP only has soft control. For someone with hard control powers or very good defenses, it probably wouldn't have been a big deal.
Or, to take another example, the Catgirl Neko Lord Recluse's Strike Force arc had the interesting property of fitting squarely into the weakness of WP's Rise to the Challenge, which is that the regen rate depends on how many enemies are in melee range. It's filled with just one type of minion, which stands at range with an assault rifle, and who stay spread out enough that SS's Foot Stomp or my patron pool Ball Lightning can't hit the group. I once accidentally aggro'd two big groups on an outdoor map that both contained bosses, and that turned out to be a nasty fight. Again, someone with hard control powers would probably have done quite well.
Actually, more broadly, given the very large number of custom enemy groups that contain unusually nasty minions, I suspect that toons with hard control will have an easier time dealing with these (although the downside is that such toons also have a lack of status protection, and enemies with mez seem much more common in MArch missions).
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I'm not sure what's best, but my controllers and doms have been doing poorly. People like giving their custom critters mez protection >.<
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Ugh, yes. Soloing on my dom, about every third arc I try, I have to drop for difficulty. When I have to bring along enough purple inspirations to soft-cap my defense just to survive a fight because my controls aren't enough to hold a minion even with Domination up, something's wrong. There are just too many mezz-resistant groups and PToD around.
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
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just currious.. is MA content with toons set to heroic? I mean i rarely have any issue on any content with heroic.. Is ma the same? or is stuff that much harder?
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MA content is MUCH easier on Heroic of course. However, the real problem is many many many people DON'T like turning down their difficulty level and take it a a personal offense to do so.
What is still occurring is the I do it on this level in PvE I "should be able to do the same on MA, blame the author 1 star ragequit.
People still need to recognize MA critters are tougher than PvE critters period. I still have NOT seen anyone say I was on Heroic and I ragequit because it was too hard.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
I've had reasonable success with playing arcs with my ill/rad controller with just common IOs and SOs. Still died on the first two I played, though.
Yeah, Bots/Traps, definitely. Mine is my strongest character by a noticeable margin. My Zombie/Dark MM is close, but Zombie/Dark does not have a Forcefield Generator with its mez protection, or the AI-freakout-in-a-box of Caltrops. Of course Acid Mortar and Poison Trap rule. I don't use Tripmine or Detonator, and never need them.
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- Thomas Jefferson
I've been doing well with my VEAT Bane Spider. That gives me stealth and both ranged & melee damage output, as well as decent defenses.
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I'm not sure what's best, but my controllers and doms have been doing poorly. People like giving their custom critters mez protection >.<
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Ugh, yes. Soloing on my dom, about every third arc I try, I have to drop for difficulty. When I have to bring along enough purple inspirations to soft-cap my defense just to survive a fight because my controls aren't enough to hold a minion even with Domination up, something's wrong. There are just too many mezz-resistant groups and PToD around.
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There are a fair number of defensive sets that have mezz protection even at the lowest settings.
I know the custom group in my arc is ironic, the minions are resistant to mezz, immobolize, and holds, but the higher level minions are not. The key reason is I wanted Energy Aura as the defensive set so they could have force fields without the stacking issue of the FF set. Energy Aura is the same at all difficulty settings.
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I've had reasonable success with playing arcs with my ill/rad controller with just common IOs and SOs.
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Yes, Ill/Rad is so far my easiest character by for soloing anything MA. Being invisible and able to Deceive is very handy. It also seems that an EB or even an AV from a custom group is less resistant to deceive or fear than the standard ones. I haven't done a serious comparison, but anecdotally it seems pretty consistent. Probably depends on the powersets, of course.
I've been strolling through most of the stories I've done on my dark/dark defender. I can solo most Elite Bosses, and depending on their powers, I can some times take down an AV though it takes FOREVER to solo.
I do wish people would learn that Elite Bosses and AV's should be a unique challenge though. Throwing one into every single part of an arc only makes it frustrating.
I've also noticed a lot of people putting Heroes are rescuees in their missions. That tends to swing things the other way. The Hero decimates things and its suddenly easy mode.
As an aside ... I (sort of) found a way around having to put in over powered helpers to assist soloers on trickier missions in my arc. I set a friendly Ambush to join the fight once the Elite Boss was down a certain amount of health. Setting the Ambush to easy makes sure they're only minions so they won't be doing everything for you, but the added damage they bring can help damage light AT's get the job done and not have to give up. The only down side is they tend to get stuck, or not all come like they are supposed to.
What are the opinions concerning what ATs and strategies are best for soloing player-created content? My experience was that my Illusion/Radiation controller was MUCH more successful than my Dual Blades/Willpower tank. The tank was not able to do enough damage, especially with all the AVs and EBs that are so popular. There are also several mezz effects like being blinded that the tank has no resistance to. The controller was able to stealth were appropriate, and use Deceive to soften up groups of opponents where necessary.
The MA has raised the bar substantially on difficulty, and it will be interesting to see if this changes AT popularity.