Brand new to Villain epics (Spider)

I am brand new to villain epics, however I recently saw a Crab with loadsa pets tearing up a map... big bombs and spiders and all sorts which made me think OOooooooooo, want 1 !

However, I am brand new to the style of build and i'm not sure what they are meant to be built like... I have seen a few builds but I think I would like some more insight into them rather than copying someone else... So, any one able to explain all these new wonderous powers and what I should be aiming for.

ta.

Well, until you get to lvl 24, all Spiders are gun-toting baddies. Basically, expect an AR Blaster that has the ability to take some hits, as well as buff his allies. Which brings me to the point that the ally buffs are some of the most significant powers to take, they can make a lot of teams a lot better.

After 24, there are 3 basic ways you can build your character:
— Crab: An AoE ummmm, Skrank-blaster? It's hard to describe exactly, because he can't take the punishment of a tanker, has a more debuff focus than a straight up scrapper/blaster and can end up with as many pets as a MM. Take his various shields and heal... and then go crazy grabbing his fun attack powers.

— Bane: Bascically a Stalker with Ally buffs. Make sure you get his Cloaking Device power, load up on Mace attacks and ally buffs, and go to town. He is the closest to an existing archetype IMO. I have not played one yet though.

— Huntsmen: This one is often overlooked. He is the advanced form of the Wolf Spider you started out as. He does well by grabbing pretty much all the ally buffs, and also the leadership pool (this is an option on all of them, but makes getting all the "required" powers harder in other build outs). He sticks witht he rifle throughout his career and can dish out some solid AoE damage and debuffs. Take a look at Aisinya's guide on the Huntsmen. Oh, also, you will dip into the Bane pool for Build-Up and Armor.

I'm sure others will come along and refute everything I just said, and give you more detailed builds and pointers... and disagree with one another. Ultimately, build your character anyway you want, take notice of failings or things you wish you had... and respec, that's what they are there for. Most of all, have fun, because, VEATs really are a blast!

What one gets the pets and bombs ?

They all get pets.

A Crab can have the most, I believe. He gets 3 Spiderlings, 2 Disruptors (any Spider can get those) and an additional one is available via the Patron (Pick Black Scorpion for more spiders).

Both Crabs and Huntsmen can get an array of grenades... or "bombs" as you put it.

Also, lots of info here.

Had a quick look the "bomb" thing i saw i think was Omega something...

all sounds very different and interesting. don't see too many of them too which is nice...

Is there a way to have a normal cossie tho? Bit Ugly otherwise.

ok so i'm quite impressed so far and decided to have a tinker on mids....

seem to run out of powers fast and have loadsa slots left...., how am i doing so far?

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I only got my Crab in November and it is easily my most fun character to play. It took me around a year to get a fire/kin and a bots/poison each to 50, and at the beginning of February my crab is 48.

The only thing I've really noticed, is that this is the first toon that I use all my respecs. I'm going for decent recharge/ranged def/endurance with all the pets and it is crazy crazy tight. Quite monstrous though.

i didnt take manuvs because i was already at the Ranged softcap def. :P

i have a lvl 50 bane spider build, i didnt care for the crab spider much (mostly because its insanely hard to solo until you get pets)

one thing you really want to do is get some -kb IOs since their armors have no inherent kb protection, although they have lots of inherent mez protections.

the bane spider is great, very high dmg because when stealthed and using shatter they get an "executioner" strike, which is more dmg than a crit, but less dmg than an AS and has no interrupt time. all other of the melee mace attacks do a "stealth" strike when they hit from hidden position.

if you get the scorpion pool you can also get shatter armor which is another debuff you can stack with surveillance and has about the same base dmg as shatter (shatter easily out dmges this power with an executioner strike)

you also get a single target hold with the bane spider too which is very useful for holding a target helpless

web cacoon -> surveillance -> shatter armor -> placate -> build up -> shatter

that combo will wipe out almost anything and can easily take a boss enemy down to less than 50% hp

with the 2 disruptor bots and the blaster from scorp pool, you get 2 moderatly high dmg and 1 high dmg pet to help you too

on average the bane spider is higher single target dmg and the crab and huntsman are higher AoE dmg

I'm not able to see your build right now, but if you're looking for a good, tough AoE build I've had one on my crab and it's fun.

For AoE's:
Wide area web grenade (optional-soldier pool)
If you like stuff to stay clumped, this can be handy. Not necessary, as many AoE's have a good spread, but it can help.

Venom Grenade. (Must, available from Soldier or Crab.)
Primary opener,as all else will take damage more after it hits. It also has DoT, so slot for damage as well as recharge. Note: this does double damage resistance debuffs to toxic, so other soldiers' venom grenades become even more dangerous. Some people like using Mako's Bile spray for this reason.

Suppression. (Must, Crab)
The signature crab power, where you hunker down shooting lasers everywhere. Has good damage and range/spread.

Heavy Burst (must-soldier pool)
This is like a mini full auto. Good cone, but not as wide as suppression. This is a good follow-up to suppression, though.

Frag Grenade (Must, available from Soldier or Crab.)
You shoot a grenade that blows up. As it causes knockback, this one can be your closer. This is radial, so it can be used when cones don't line up well.

Omega Maneuver (meh-crab pool)
This does okay damage, but has a significant cool down period. It is not a nuke. It is a diversion. This power has a pretty strong taunt field, giving you breathing room as well as clumping foes nicely.

Frenzy (pass-crab pool)
I tried this...the damage and range isn't that great, and it doesn't go well with the cones/ranged AoE's.

I went with the ranged ST attacks to finish off harder targets, as they don't remove me from cone range.

Defensively:
Crab SpiderArmor Upgrade (Must-Crab)
Mez protection on auto. Gives a touch of resistance too. Bonus: As it is on auto, you can run immediately after using an awaken.

Fortification (Must-Crab)
Resistance to all but psi. This reistance with all your defenses are what make you tough.

Serum (Must-Crab)
A heal with +HP. A part of why you can become an invulnerability blaster.

Combat training: defensive armor (Must-training/gadgets)
This gives excellent defense to ranged attacks, for free.

Tactical Training: Manuevers (Must: training/gadgets)
This is defense to all, slottable to +15%. This is sneaking op on a lot of defensive sets' armor values, and can be shared with the team. Can you do without it? In the same way as a car can drive without tires. This protects from psychic damage, and gives such hefty defense that you're a good step toward to the ranged softcap. Using this means that getting to the softcap is waaay easier, letting you get bonuses instead for more recharge and recovery, so you can do non-stop AoE's.

Other powers to keep an eye on:

Stamina. Lots of AoE's can be juicy. This helps a lot.

Tough/Weave. If you're going for a tough crab, these allow you to out-tank brutes.

Mental training: (training/gadgets) extra recharge? for free? sure. Good movement boost as well. (Not to mention resistance to slowing effects)

Wolf spider armor: (training/gadgets) a bit of extra toughness, and even more status protection to avoid stacking mez downfalls. If you have a spare slot, it's a consideration.

assault/tactical training assault. (leadership/training/gadgets) These give your team members/pets/you an extra 30% damage together at all times. Not bad.

Manuevers (leadership) If you have crazy blue available, this helps you and the team even more. But you start with this thing's big brother, so it's far from necessary.

Call reinforcements (training/gadgets) Summons 2 disruptors. These are helpful, and benefit from your team buffs to be even tougher/more damaging. The shoot stuff, and have an AoE attack.

Summon Spiderlings: (crab pool)
These only do only single-target, but help is help. Not as good as disruptors, but if you want pets, here they are.

Combat training: Leadership (training/gadgets pool)
Extra tohit for you, your team, and/or your pets. Helps with the lower accuracy of your AoE's, and against higher defense foes.

Meh:
Combat training: offensive. (training/gadgets)
This gives accuracy, not tohit. As such, combat training: leadership will help you hit things more often. This does have a nice bit of resistance to -tohit, though. If you're hurting for blue, the auto nature of this could be good, I guess.

Anywise, that's my two bits. Or four, or ten. Crabs are extremely fun to play, but bear this in mind: they are best suited for crowds of mush, rather than hard targets. They can take out a couple spawns of minions set for a whole team in the time it takes to clear out a single boss.

[Re: Omega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoH101 While it looks cool, I never really found it compelling. It's got a high recharge, short range and doesn't really do a lot of damage or stun. It's skippable, imo.

I'd agree that it's skippable, esp. in team-play, but I've found the best aspect of this power to be its Taunt. It can draw mobs closer together for AoE, or (if you the problem coming) drag mobs off of squishies (or you!). And then it stuns them. The damage is almost the cherry on the top of a nice slice of mitigation pie.

Scirocco's Electrifying Fences is the bomb. Slip that in right behind your Venom Grenade, and you'll have zero knockback issues from Frag Grenade. I have it slotted nicely, and nothing gets away.

My main attack chain is Venom Grenade->Electrifying Fences->Suppression->Frag Grenade. There aren't any minions left by the time Suppression finishes, and Frag Grenade wipes out the few lieutenants that are left, unless they were +1 or more.

I've been soloing my Crab on x6players/+0levels for the past week or so and it is hysterically fun.

Dur, I worked so hard to get that post right and still ended up Cut-n-Pasting the wrong line. In any case, my crab uses backpack-only powers. Web Grenade is a gun power. What I was getting at, mostly, was eliminating redraw.