Question about Surveillance

Here's an interesting question on Survaillance: how much do you think its defence debuff would be worth to an AR/Dev Blaster? I ask, because I intend to respec that into a Blaster of mine, and the power I'm replacing (sleep gas grenade) currently has four slots. I originally intended to slot Survaillance for Defence and Resistance debuff... Until I realised that there was no such thing as resistance debuff enhancements in the game. What I'm left with, then, is enhancing the power for defence debuff, but...

But...

Let's just say that this particular Blaster has Assault Rifle with its native 1.05 accuracy on all attacks, Targeting Drone (unenhanced for to-hit) and a single level 50 Common Accuracy in every attack, fighting even con or +1 enemies. Not only is he very accurate, he's actually overcapping the to-hit soft cap on anything that doesn't have huge amounts of defence, and even then I come pretty close to capping anyway. The power already has a 14% defence debuff, which is, frankly, more than enough for what I need without more slots.

So the question, then, is... What do I put in it? It costs 10, so I guess I could stick an endurance reducer in it. I'll be using it every 45 seconds, after all. I suppose I could put in a recharge, but at 45 seconds duration and what looks like a lengthy animation, how much would I want?

Just, generally, what do I do with this power?

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Given your conditions I would slot it with:

A Lysome
Undermined Defenses End/rech
Undermined Defenses Rech
Achilles Heel chance for resistance debuff.

It's a good power to use on Boss class and higher mobs.

If it were me targetting drone would also have some extra +to hit slotted in it.

Franken slotting the End/Hit buff pieces from different hit buff sets would be a good way to go. It's cheap and gives you more performance out of the same number of slots.

You could also slot Cytos if you are level 47 or higher but that's not a cheap approach.

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-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

I find it much better to slot for recharge than Def debuff because I'd much rather get the debuffs more often (thusly increasing their uptime) than have the -def be redundantly larger.

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[ QUOTE ]
A Lysome
Undermined Defenses End/rech
Undermined Defenses Rech
Achilles Heel chance for resistance debuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the Inventions uneducated, what's that in equivalent enhancement values? Say, in compared to SOs or commons? I'm not really sure what those do

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If it were me targetting drone would also have some extra +to hit slotted in it.

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Well, the stuff I fight is even con or +1, which puts them at a worst case scenario of base to-hit of 0.65. With the ~14% to-hit buff from Targeting Drone base and 42.4% accuracy slotting, I'm actually overshooting the cap to ~123% before rounding. I lost my to-hit formula rig when I switched computers, but I'd say I'd need at least 15% defence on the enemy to start feeling the effects at all, and at least 20% to drop below the magic 90%. A lot more when we facto in Surveillance's defence debuff, more like 25-30%, which is actually around the level of things like Earth Thorn Caster Stone Skin, I believe.

What do you do with the to-hit buffs and defence debuffs on yours?

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I find it much better to slot for recharge than Def debuff because I'd much rather get the debuffs more often (thusly increasing their uptime) than have the -def be redundantly larger.

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At 45 recharge and 20 seconds duration, it can potentially come close to being made perma. With my resources, that would mean three Common recharge enhancements. However, the third one would give me precious little benefit, especially on such a short counter (do I REALLY need it 2 seconds sooner?) for it to be worth it, so I'd say an endurance reducer and two recharges should be fine. I'm sure I can find a good home for the fourth slot. Like... An endurance reducer in Hover

I'm actually serious.

*edit*
Oi! One important question! I haven't used the actual power so far, but I HAVE used the Combat Scanner inventable temp power. This one doesn't have the debuffs, but has the scanning component, and every time I used it, it would open the Combat Attributes window automatically. Will Surveillance do the same, and if so, can something be done about it? Nothing worse than having that god-awful window pop up every 30 seconds.

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I find it much better to slot for recharge than Def debuff because I'd much rather get the debuffs more often (thusly increasing their uptime) than have the -def be redundantly larger.

[/ QUOTE ]

At 45 recharge and 20 seconds duration, it can potentially come close to being made perma. With my resources, that would mean three Common recharge enhancements. However, the third one would give me precious little benefit, especially on such a short counter (do I REALLY need it 2 seconds sooner?) for it to be worth it, so I'd say an endurance reducer and two recharges should be fine. I'm sure I can find a good home for the fourth slot. Like... An endurance reducer in Hover

I'm actually serious.

*edit*
Oi! One important question! I haven't used the actual power so far, but I HAVE used the Combat Scanner inventable temp power. This one doesn't have the debuffs, but has the scanning component, and every time I used it, it would open the Combat Attributes window automatically. Will Surveillance do the same, and if so, can something be done about it? Nothing worse than having that god-awful window pop up every 30 seconds.

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Nope, no window. Does anyone know if the Achilles' Hell proc causes aggro?

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Achilles will cause aggro when it fires, but if it doesn't fire there will be no aggro.

Also, Surveillance has a to hit check, so you may want accuracy in it so it doesn't miss.

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[ QUOTE ]
Achilles will cause aggro when it fires, but if it doesn't fire there will be no aggro.
Also, Surveillance has a to hit check, so you may want accuracy in it so it doesn't miss.

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Found that out the hard way. I might want to go with Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge, as I found out I'd misplaced a slot and needed the fourth one. Thanks, guys.

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[ QUOTE ]
A Lysome
Undermined Defenses End/rech
Undermined Defenses Rech
Achilles Heel chance for resistance debuff.

[ QUOTE ]

For the Inventions uneducated, what's that in equivalent enhancement values? Say, in compared to SOs or commons? I'm not really sure what those do

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This will give you:

33.3% more accuracy. (That's 118.5% with Unenhanced TD running.)
33.3% more defense debuff (that's 18.7% defense)
26.5% end durance discount. (Dropping it to 8.43 end per activation)
68.9% more recharge. (That makes it recharge in 26.6 seconds rather than 45 seconds, without hasten)

The Achilles heel proc gives you a 20% chance to do an additional 20% resistance debuff and the 2 pieces of Undermined Defenses gives you a 2% global damage increase (this aplies to ALL your non-pet/psuedo pet damage powers except those powers unaffected by outside damage buffs)

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If it were me targetting drone would also have some extra +to hit slotted in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the stuff I fight is even con or +1, which puts them at a worst case scenario of base to-hit of 0.65. With the ~14% to-hit buff from Targeting Drone base and 42.4% accuracy slotting, I'm actually overshooting the cap to ~123% before rounding. I lost my to-hit formula rig when I switched computers, but I'd say I'd need at least 15% defence on the enemy to start feeling the effects at all, and at least 20% to drop below the magic 90%. A lot more when we facto in Surveillance's defence debuff, more like 25-30%, which is actually around the level of things like Earth Thorn Caster Stone Skin, I believe.

What do you do with the to-hit buffs and defence debuffs on yours?

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Using 3 slots in TD and with 3 end red SOs reduces it's end cost to .16 end/sec.

Slotting 3 Cytos in TD gives .16 end/sec AND raises the hit buff from 13.9 to 21.6%. TD gives a 55.4% resistance to to hit debuffs which means that dark and rad powers can still cost you a good chunk of your acc.

You mentioned Earth Thorn casters and I mention this because Earth Thorns are usually accompanied by Spectrals which means you can be debuffed AND trying to hit armored targets at the same time.

It doesn't cost you any extra slots for the increased performance and there are times that it can be useful.

Slotting the end/hit buff parts of the hit buff invention sets allows you to get similar increased performance from this power prior to when you can slot HOs.

Having a bit of extra accuracy in Surveillance lets you actually hit a hard target with it and apply your extra defense debuffs and reduce their resistances. Things like Rikti Drones and MoG'd Paragon Protectors come to mind.

Also the defense debuff from Surveillance is a click. That means that if you subsequently get mezzed TD supresses but the extra def debuff from Surveillance remains for its duration which helps since you only get burst, slug and your tier 1 secondary to finsh them off with in that case.

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-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

I don't want to make a big deal out of it, because I got gangbanged last time I mentioned it, but I'm really trying to avoid using Sets and other high-order enhancements and stick to just basic Commons. Call it personal preference. So, for the moment, the best I can do with three slots is accuracy, endurance reduction and recharge. I should have really left it at four slots, but I don't really have any to spare, and I looked hard. Ideally, I'd like to have at least three more from somewhere, but no place to pull them from.

If you're really curious, I can even show you the build For the moment, though, I'm sticking to the three slots mentioned and I'll just have to use it less often. Might end up doing another respec at some point, but eh. We'll see how it goes for the moment.

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Lol well not to gang bang you but the sets I was mentioning are mostly inexpensive or less expensive uncommons which for the less often used enhancement types can frequently be had and crafted for less influence than many commons.

The best thing about it is that you don't have to have it "nao". You are perfectly happy with commons so it's not a bother for you to put in a reasonable bid and wait for it to fill. That's the best way to get those things cheaply.

The best thing about "Franken slotting" cheap sets.... you can get those extra 3 slots you are looking for by using cheap multi aspect enhancers in a couple of your powers to get equivalent performance in fewer slots and then move the freed up slot over to the power that you want it in.

I'd be happy to see your build and even happier to assist you with multi aspecting cheap sets for increased performance if you would like.

I'm not the master at it that Fulmens is but I'd be happy to give it a whirl.

That said, if your personal preference is sticking to commons and you don't wish to budge from that position I'll respect your decision.

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-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

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I'd be happy to see your build and even happier to assist you with multi aspecting cheap sets for increased performance if you would like.
That said, if your personal preference is sticking to commons and you don't wish to budge from that position I'll respect your decision.

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I'm kind of stuck in my ways and pretty stubborn when it comes to sets, I'm afraid But still, I might as well share the build I'm using now, just as a point of reference. I'm pretty happy with it at the moment, though I'm sure it will raise more than a few red flags with most people

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Technology Blaster
Primary Power Set: Assault Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Devices
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Slug -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(3), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(19)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(40), Immob-I(40)
Level 2: Buckshot -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(3), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(25)
Level 4: Burst -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(5), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(46)
Level 6: Caltrops -- Slow-I(A), Slow-I(40)
Level 8: M30 Grenade -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), EndRdx-I(9), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(46)
Level 10: Targeting Drone -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Sniper Rifle -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(13), EndRdx-I(13), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(19), Dmg-I(43)
Level 14: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15), Flight-I(15)
Level 16: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(46)
Level 18: Beanbag -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(25), Dsrnt-I(34)
Level 20: Flamethrower -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(21), EndRdx-I(21), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(34)
Level 22: Cloaking Device -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Taser -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(31), Dsrnt-I(37)
Level 26: Ignite -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(37), Dmg-I(37)
Level 28: Trip Mine -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(31), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 30: Smoke Grenade -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Full Auto -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(34), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 35: Time Bomb -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 38: Gun Drone -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(39), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(43)
Level 41: Cryo Freeze Ray -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(42), Hold-I(42)
Level 44: Surveillance -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: LRM Rocket -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Body Armor -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance

*edit*
Figured this was as good a place to boast as any. I was just able to solo Ghost Widow on the Blaster with the above-listed build, and it was actually kind of easy. Sure, I cheated by using inspirations and I was only running on Tenacious, but given how much trouble that woman was for my Broadsword/Invulnerability Scrapper, I was still rather impressed

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