Soloing - I'm new to it and need some info

Hello all. I am gonna change my own pace of CoH and try soloing. What useful information should I know about soloing? I want to also get my toon(s) up to AV soloing strength as well. Could you guys give me the low down? Also, this could turn into duo-ing as well since my GF plays.

Here are some of the basic principles to think about when picking a character to solo:

1) Downtime- the best soloing builds have little to no downtime between fights. It helps to have powers that don't cost much endurance when fighting (masterminds), or abilities that give better than normal regeneration and recovery (even moreso than Fitness usually).

2) Mitigation- You have to have a way to mitigate the incoming damage. Either protective toggles, a heal, debuffs, or controls that stop the damage before it happens.

3) Mezzes- the best soloists have ways to cope with being mezzed. Built in protections, abilities that make getting mezzed irrelevant, or just remembering to carry breakfrees most of the time.

4) Development- To have a more satisfying soloing experience, it's better to pick at least one powerset that develops important tools early. It's needlessly hard picking sets that don't get key abilities until the 20s or higher.

5) Kill Speed- Dealing high amounts of damage, or consistent damage to several foes at once are both ways to get through foes quickly.

There are a ton of good choices that fit those criteria, and I'm not going to get into specific recommendations unless you ask. You have some 50s already and can look at powersets to find options that fit those guidelines. The obvious and easy choices lie in ATs like Masterminds, Brutes, and Scrappers, but there good choices in EVERY AT.

Since you have an eye for AV soloing, you'd do well to pick something with high single target damage, or the ability to debuff regeneration rates, as those are the two most common ways to cope with an AV when solo.

The first key to soloing involves learning your limitations (that is your limitations playing the character in question).

On a team your teammates can help cover your deficiencies whether it is by buffing you or debuffing your enemies or being in action while you are mezzed.

So when you solo you need to know what you will do when you may run out of endurance, need to heal, run into a horrible debuffing situation like CoT nerva, etc. For me this mostly boils down to inspiration management. You need to know what you will be facing, what you will need and use them as needed.

The other thing you need to know is how much you can handle with regards to the difficulty slider.

Once you master those two points you can solo easily with a character if it works for you. By that I mean I cannot (will not even try) to solo an Empathy or Force Field Defender. There's just not enough help in that primary for me soloing. I cannot off the top of my head think of any other AT and primary that makes things that hard for me.

Hmmm... I'm not sure exactly what you'd need to know... I'll toss out a few
thoughts and see if they help... Bear in mind that these are purely my own
opinions, and I'm sure other soloists will have their own ideas as well.

1> All AT's can solo. The rate at which they can do so varies - in general,
I'd say most melee toons go fastest, and support AT's go slowest.

2> Unless you don't care about deaths / debt, the biggest thing to learn solo
is (imho) aggro management. In a team, you can often get away with more
aggro than you could personally deal with, but solo - that is a guaranteed hospital
trip.

Only Aggro what your specific toon can handle.

In this regard, Stealth is more helpful for soloists than teamers since it lets you
choose and sequence your engagements to best survive and thrive.

3> Also relating to #2, the difficulty slider matters much more when solo. Until
you're comfy with your solo toon's capabilities, leave it on Heroic or Villainous.

4> Enhancements help soloists (even at low levels). Personally, I start slotting
IO's at L7 (They're way better than TO's, and L15 IO's are better than DO's),
and then I start frankenslotting sets at L20-25 (depending on AT and what
sets are available).

For some this might be problematic - I'm also a marketeer, so inf is never a
problem I run into - YMMV. I just want to stress the idea that your solo toon
will be more effective (and less frustrating) with enhancements when you can
manage it.

5> This is probably self-evident, but only Damage = XP. So, regardless of what
AT you play, put some slots and effort into its attack chain - you'll *always*
need it.

6> AV's (and to some extent EB's) are a different kettle of fish. Some AT's
simply cannot handle these. Some can - you'll want to peruse AT guides to get
a sense of what works there.

Hope you find this useful.


Regards,
4

I assume that after 4 years you know how to "pull", right? If not, you will need to learn it.

You can solo with any character, regardless of powerset combination. However, I'd recommend something that deals moderate to high damage with at least one decent AOE or the experience will be very tedious. Not having (what feels like) "enough" damage, means you'll have to devote more time and effort in staying alive during your fights. Which in turn means spending more endurance per fight. Speaking of which, always pick up the controllerish power in your powersets. You'll need it. Perferrably get matching mezzing powers to take bosses out of the fight while you deal with the riff raff.

This is all great info guys. Thanks alot. This is a good way to get me started. I really wanted to get into the depth of CoX so I'm taking the plunge. Sometimes it looks like it could be boring without all the other guys doing what they do, but I also find it more gratifying when I can carry myself through some decent mobs in the mid 30s lvl. I was thinkin about maybe soloing my lvl 50 DM/SR toon through some AV type things. But I may also create a new one and have fun building him up.

From FourSpeed:

I'd say almost anything can be soloed, given enough patience. But as has been said, some combos will solo better than others (I wouldn't really look to solo an Emp or FF defender either, though it can be done).

To echo what others have said, choose your battles wisely and don't bite off more than you can chew.

Have a plan for handling mobs that mez (be it defensive powers for scrappers/brutes/tanks, holds for controllers/doms/some blasters, defiance and sheer damage for blasters, etc).

Have a plan of attack for bosses. Know when to run. Use inspirations regularly (you'll get more) and keep a few key ones handy. Don't be afraid to use purple insps vs EBs.

Work at a difficulty level that suits the character. On some characters I don't up it from 1 until the 30s. Some you can up it almost right out of the gate. If you have an AoE king, run on 2 or 4. If you're great with single-target powers, go at 1/3/5. Even if you're a high level, don't be to prideful to lower it if you have a problem mission. Also, be mindful of what foes may not be a great match for you (if confuse is a big part of your arsenal, you might not want to fight Nemesis 24/7 for instance).

And while you probably won't need it with that scrapper, should you try other ATs - take advantage of your dual builds. Make a solo build and a team build.

See my Guides and Tutorials

OP, that 50 dm/sr in your sig might be the best "solo" toon you can get.

It, along with ill/rads were the originators of AV solo'n

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Ravenwolf My favorite combo is Faceplant/DebtCap with the TeamWipe Ancillary

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari Yeah, I like Blasters too.

Teh original solo-er eh. Yeah, I was thinkin about trickin him out a bit and doing some venturing into the solo world.

I'd also recommend doing some homework the first time through soloing EB/AVs. Some you may have breezed through with a good team can be absolutely brutal when soloed. (Madame of Mystery comes to mind.) Which ones will be tough depends in part on their strengths and your weaknesses, so asking on the boards or looking them up in the Wiki can be a big help.

And remember it's always an option to lower your difficulty or bring help (shivans, lots of inspirations, etc.) if you have problems.