"Invoke Panic" rescued my build (Kin/Elec)

I have a kinetics / electric defender that dates from Issue 6 or so. This is the endurance sapper theme build but I never had much success with her. When "Enhancement Diversification" hit she was permanently shelved because the critical "Short Circuit" power could no longer be 6-slotted with endurance modification SOs for the maximum endurance drain effect.

I had played her from time to time trying to make the character work. Finally pushing hard for "Fulcrum Shift" in the hope this power would transform her playstyle into something more successful but this was not the case. Earlier today my finger hovered over the "delete" button for this character and I decided to give her another chance.

An inspiration told me to use her (last) free /respec in a radical transformation that added in the Presence pool: Challenge, Intimidate and Invoke Panic. I've played CoH since 2004 and never used this power pool on any character. Within minutes I could tell that this had totally transformed the character into something which could be very successful.

For those of you who have not tried the "sapper" playstyle, let me describe it briefly. It revolves around the PbAOE power "Short Circuit" which has a large endurance drain component. On my kinetics defender it is base -35% endurance and has a 20 second recharge time. The sapping technique is (basically) to run into a group of enemies, fire of SC and drain your enemies of most of their endurance, and then survive somehow until you can fire it again. Once your enemies' endurance is drained completely they are weaker and easier to take down. (Unfortunately they can usually regen a little END and hit you with some of their weaker powers, or that's how it seems to me, but they are more manageable.

This all goes much much better for me with invoke panic. The reason is the fear keeps the enemies from attacking... unless they take damage. If they take damage they can attack once and then go back to being feared. The advantage I've stumbled upon is that as a kinetics defender I have a lot of buffing/debuffing powers which do no damage and after brief testing I confirmed that the enemies stay feared. I haven't gotten all of the powers slotted to perfection yet but once perfected my new PbAOE routine will look something like this:

Run into a group of mobs and INVOKE PANIC

Then INTIMIDATE the boss (if any)

Take alpha (ouch!)

Heal myself with TRANSFUSION (targeted mob does not fire back)

Drain the boss of endurance with TRANSFERENCE (boss does not fire back)

Fire off SIPHON POWER on the boss (boss does not fire back)

Fire off TESLA CAGE on the boss (it won't hold him with one application)

Take my time finding the best place and fire off FULCRUM SHIFT

Fire off SHORT CIRCUIT (which now does great AoE damage in conjuction with -END)

Fire off BALL LIGHTENING (which now does great AoE damage as well)

Fire powers as needed to heal self, stack hold on Boss, kill minions.


I'm level 34 right now so I don't have enough slots in all of the powers to get this to work perfectly but having invoke panic in the build is already much much better than I've had before.

I definitely think that defenders with powerful Debuffs (that don't do any damage) should take a look at Invoke Panic and see if they can get it to work for them. I could easily see many different */elec defenders or elec/* corruptors getting some mileage out of it with the PbAoE endurance sapping move, but there may be other usages as well.

Good luck all.


P.S. Was hoping I could slot some ToHiff Debuff into Invoke Panic as well but I can't. I had some memory from ages ago that there was a ToHit Debuff associated with Fear but I was wrong or at least... if there is one... you can't slot enhancements for it.


edited: initially wrote "TRANSFUSION" instead of "TRANSFERENCE"

May I suggest a name somewhat along the lines of "Shock and Awe"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by somnambulist P.S. Was hoping I could slot some ToHiff Debuff into Invoke Panic as well but I can't. I had some memory from ages ago that there was a ToHit Debuff associated with Fear but I was wrong or at least... if there is one... you can't slot enhancements for it.

Dark's Touch of Fear, Cloak of Fear, and Fearsome Stare have -Acc, but this seems to be more from Dark's ability to blind/shadow than fear. By comparison, Terrify and Scare do not.

I know, though. This irritates me, as my Scrapper uses Invoke Panic as his "scary vigilante" power, and I was hoping it had -Acc. The actual Alignment power for Vigilantes DOES have -Acc though, so that's cool...

This is why I like my Dark/Elec Defender sapper/controller/defender/tank/MM >.>

That's a genius idea. I knew the Presence pool had to work for someone.

DrMike2000,

I consider you an expert on the sapper build, so I'd sent you a pm before the respec to ask if you thought this could work... but was too excited to wait and went ahead anyway. LOL

at high levels you could take the electric app and get a second hold or (what I did) drop tesla and use the epic one instead

Wow. Your post inspired me to test Invoke Panic and after a couple hours of testing, I'm amazed already. I went pretty much toggle-less (goodbye Leadership!) with the exception of Hover--I use Hover so I have more control with stacked Siphon Speed movment--so I can use Thunderouse Blast more.

My attack sequence is different, but stacking fears is awesome sauce so far. What used to floor me in seconds is getting the full brunt of my debuffs before being blasted to smithereens.

I run on +0/+3, but will be cranking it higher and higher to see what I can handle. Thanks for this post; it's making my Kin/Elec soloable.

I have to admit I was wondering if the Presence Pool would help in some sort of way and it made me think after reading the great ideas above.
I have a lev 50 Scrapper (Katana/Dark Armor) and it makes me wonder if I could incorporate the Presence Pool somehow.
Plus I have a lev 50 Defender (Empathy/Dark Blasts) and it makes me wonder about it too.
Anyone think it COULD be uselful for those types of ATs???

If you think Invoke Panic is great for melee mitigation, try getting to level 41 and using Oppressive Gloom. You'll perma-stun all the minions and lts around you (with some exceptions).

Now if we can get the presence pool fixed so that you don't have to waste a pick taking a taunt. Then it will all make sense.

To the OP,

Excellent work on reviving your character. You have just given me pause on my own Sapper (Emp/Elec).

:::grumble:::: playing Mid's more than COH these days ::::grumble::::

LoL

How are you folks slotting Invoke Panic? Right now, I've only got SOs: 2 Acc, 2 Fear, 2 Recharge. And I've got my eye on 5-slotting Glimpse of the Abyss (no damage proc because that would let them all attack once); but I just don't have the influence yet.

My tactics so far have been: 1) Intimidate the Lt./Boss; 2) Run towards the Boss as the mobs close and fire off Invoke Panic; 3) Hit Transfusion to heal the alpha; then the Aim > Fulcrum Shift > Ball Lightning > Short Circuit > Transference and keep it either AOE, Single Target or buff chain depending on what's left standing.

It's working okay at +0/+4, but any more than that and there's too many mobs outside the Invoke Panic range. And every time I tried to let them gather, the alpha strike was too big to absorb. Even pulling became dangerous because once I got their attention, they came around the corner and fired off at least one attack before IP kicked in. So I embraced a Tanker's crowd diving attitude--using smaller crowds--and it worked pretty well. When solo I still go down, but it's not nearly as often.

I'm 39 right now and will probably grab the Psionic APP. Once I get Mass Hypnosis and Dominiate to stack with Tesla Cage, my tactics may change again; and we'll see how useful Invoke Panic is, but right now it's sweeeeeeeet.

I also grabbed Thunderous Blast in hopes of using it more with a toggle-less build, but I find that the once continuous rapid attack chain just stopped dead whenever I ran out of blues. Any suggestions on how to cope? Is the blue candy tactic the only option? I've got it slotted for accuracy and damage.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

I was planning on taking Presence on my completely terrible and ill-advised petless mastermind. He's Necro/Force Field, level 15... he can currently solo, it just happens to be the slowest soloing ever. It's good to hear that Presence is actually useful! It's the only pool I've never tried.

Hell, when he gets high enough for presence, and after I19 hits with inherent Stamina... maybe my petless MM will be not terrible!

Not good, mind you. But not terrible. I'd take it.