Absolutely No Survivability

I haven't made it up to my mandatory respec yet, and it feels like I never will. It feels like I'm playing a Blaster without the DPS... I've died more times on my Arachnos Soldier than I have with all my other characters combined. He's level 15 now... it gets better, right?

I grabbed a few temp powers to help me out - Kinetic Dampener meshes nicely with the Manouvers toggle.

Stun grenades add extra surviviability and Hand Grenades add an extra AoE, turning pissed off groups into dead or KB'd groups.

Its a tough AT to solo though. Your team buffs are weak solo, and weak AoE damage isnt ideal either - both are much more effective on teams.

I'm at 24 now and feeling much more powerful, even as a "Huntsman" build keeping the arachnos rifle as my main weapon.

Team. Ideally, with another soldier.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

Right... What's really getting me is that my only resist damage power is the armor Recluse gave me before shoving me out the door. <.< The damage is actually pretty good thanks to the Venom Grenade, and TT Maneuvers has given me a noticeable chance to dodge (to say nothing of the three-spider soft-capping maneuver of doom)... Things'll get together for me once I get some decent armor on promotion day, I'm sure...

I hated my soldier until 24. Now at 30 somethin, she kinda bores me BUT I know I'll enjoy her more once I get her pets.

VEATs pre-24 suck. Ok, that's my opinion and YMMV.

One of my friend's deleted his in the teens, myself and another friend (who were running a soldier/fort combo) came very close to deleting both chars. Sheer stubbornness kept both chars on the rosta. (This was before the +1 x8 changes to difficulty. We were running on the lowest difficulty.)

I am not proud to admit that we both lost the will in the late teens and we took turns attaching the other's baby VEAT to a 50 to get from 19-24. Once she hit 24 she went back to 'normal' teaming not being dragged up. Huge improvement in survivability after the respec at 24.

That VEAT is now a Crab at level 50. She's become much more enjoyable to play. I don't use sets unless I really like a character but she is currently being spec'd from IOs to sets.

You just need to stick with it. Try running some SF's; not the treespecs because they'll be stealthed. Teams are your friend.

The trick I found with soldiers is to leverage their ranged def - if you took both TT: Maneuvers and CT: defensive you should have 17.5% ranged def base, if you can fit combat jumping in that will bring it up to 20% (VEAT's get great bonuses from all the pool +def powers, at least compared to other AT's). This is a healthy chunk of def for pre-SO levels and stacks nicely with purple inspirations. Then take wide area web grenade, venom grenade and heavy burst. Use WaWG to immobilize everyone so they can only use ranged attacks, hit them with venom grenade and heavy burst to whittle them down and finish them off with the single target attacks.

You do have to be methodical and careful while soloing - the long recharges on WaWG and Venom grenade, which are your workhorse powers during the teens, mean you might have to pause for 5-10 seconds between spawns to wait for one or both to recharge. Sometimes you also have to pull with some single target attacks, let them bunch up on you (which means taking one round of melee attacks) and then Webnade them. Don't be afraid to use inspirations freely - a purple right before a pull like this will make a huge difference. While the early levels are not as easy as they might be for a brute or MM, I find you are at least as safe as many corruptors if you leverage WaWG properly and a lot more end efficient as you have a higher base damage modifier.

Adding to what everyone else has said, don't forget about Pummel. Obviously you don't wanna be rushing whole spawns just to Stun one guy but if something gets in your face Pummel's a great tool to have.

Definitely follow the advice you've gotten so far. The run to 24 can be a real slog on SoAs. You're flimsy and the damage output isn't that great to make up for it. Teams and tactics are your best bets. Believe me, it gets much better after the freespec. So good, in fact, you might end up bored.

Yeah, while VEATs are powerful, they are soldiers, and thus, squad-based. My VEAT was my 2nd redside 50, and he spoiled me.

Am I the only one that enjoyed the ride up to 24, and thought it was a rather good AT to solo (teaming, of course, goes without say of being excellent)? I'd generally keep my distance (ranged defense ftw), and joust the enemies with Pummel whenever it was recharged (jousting being an important part, as you don't want to let THEM pummel you where your ranged defense would be useless).

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Team...especially with other VEATS or with MMS. Thugs and Bot MMs will really love your leadership pool powers and debuffs. I think the reason I have two higher level VEATS is that I almost exclusively teamed with them. 24 came super fast for them both.

Lvl 24 came the fastest I've ever levelled up a character with my first SoA. I entered a levelling pact and exclusively teamed with them (another SoA). Pummel and Heavy Burst are so much fun. Stacked Manoeuvres, Assault and Venom Grenade means we were killing a spawn with just a single application of Heavy Burst.

SoA from level 1-50 is a blast. 1-23 is just fun... 24 onwards is pure bliss. The damage output of just us 2 is obscene. Extra team-mates just makes everyone more awesome.

I play at odd hours due to my work schedule so teaming can be tough. I must say I have to go slow on my pre-24 SoA. She feels very squishy unless I can keep the offending NPC's at range. That is the trick, keeping them at range.

Do you have TT: Manuevers?

Im noticing a trend in our current spider population, they don't take it. When I invite them to a team, I check em out, within a heartbeat, they are normally kicked right off the team.

I have 0 patience anymore for folks who don't take it on a an SOA.


JJ

Honestly, I solo all the time, and have a lot less trouble on SoA than I have on some Defenders. The secret, as others have said, is to leverage range. Wide Area Web Grenade is there for a reason, use it. It may also help, if you have the Vet Rewards, to add Sands of Mu and Nemesis Staff for the extra DPS. And in case you've been fiddling with your difficulty, stick with small spawns, but extra levels compared to you if you think you can take it.

And keep lots of greens on hand. You're going to take damage, just be ready for it.

If you're really having trouble, switch to a Widow. They're quite a bit more survivable in hand to hand combat.

(I have a Huntsman I play mostly hand to hand though. I use WAWG to lock down the foes so I can melee one while the others are still at range. Then Pummel's almost a guaranteed stun. It's amazing the mitigation you can get out of that)

I must say, WAWG made all the difference in the world once I took it.

I found Hover helped a lot in those early levels, too. Melee attackers can't hit you and, sometimes, if you hover directly over an enemy, they have a hard time targeting you for ranged shots, too.

It may be a cheap way to fight, but, hey, it's fewer trips to the hospital, and much less frustration!