http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Taunt_%28Status_Effect%29
The short version is this: the taunt is a constant point blank area of effect power that raises your threat to the enemy, causing enemies to focus on and attack you directly.
So to get the benefit of Against All Odds for Shield Charge, you'll have to first run into the crowd, let them bunch up around you, and then Shield Charge in place.
If you use the Combat Stats, you can monitor your Damage Bonus and watch for it to rise before Charging.
Uhm....mez'd? At lvl 35?! Do you not have Active Defense?! Your mez protection...its half the reason melee toons can survive melee at all. If you dont have it yet...you should, so respec and get it asap. If you do have it...use it. All the time. And don't miss clicking it every time its up. Its vital to your survivability.
The effect from AAO is hard to see, but it does put a damage debuff graphic on enemies. AAO "ticks" every 2 seconds, meaning you have to wait for it to buff your damage. You can't just Shield Charge in and expect AAO to give you buffed damage right away.
As a scrapper, you shouldn't need to slot AAO with taunt. One endurance reduction is fine. I pull aggro off almost everyone by simply standing next to enemies on my shield scrapper, and I don't have a taunt enhancement.
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I have it as my "Autofire" power. Slot it with 3 recharge IOs, set it on autofire and go play without getting mezzed, held, immobilized, etc again.
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Originally Posted by DarkMaster
And don't miss clicking it every time its up. Its vital to your survivability.
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Nope, don't have Active Defense yet. Well be next power to pick-up as I am getting mezzed to death. I believe Active Defense protects from Sleep, Disorient, Fear, Immobilize, Confusions, Repel, Knockback, Hold and Defense Debuff effects for a short duration. So, this should hopefully work or help more on keeping my Against All Odds from getting whacked off on every mez. |
Originally Posted by DarkMaster
Uhm....mez'd? At lvl 35?! Do you not have Active Defense?! Your mez protection...its half the reason melee toons can survive melee at all. If you dont have it yet...you should, so respec and get it asap. If you do have it...use it. All the time. And don't miss clicking it every time its up. Its vital to your survivability.
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Active Defense lasts 2 minutes and is on a 3:20 recharge timer. Slotting it with two level 50 recharge IOs is usually enough to keep it on permanently. It is NOT a short-duration status effect protection tool. It is your only status effect protection tool and is one of the best in the game.
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Originally Posted by Fusion_7
Nope, don't have Active Defense yet. Well be next power to pick-up as I am getting mezzed to death. I believe Active Defense protects from Sleep, Disorient, Fear, Immobilize, Confusions, Repel, Knockback, Hold and Defense Debuff effects for a short duration. So, this should hopefully work or help more on keeping my Against All Odds from getting whacked off on every mez.
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It is also DEFINITELY something that you should have picked up as soon as possible, or at the very least sometime prior to lvl 20. You have been sorely gimped for 35 levels, I'm afraid. I'm quite honestly surprised you even like melee AT's at this point, given the experience you've had with them. Have you been running around with an Empathy Defender for 35 levels who has been granting you endless +res to mez? I just can't fathom 35 horrendous levels without it...|
Originally Posted by Syntax42
Active Defense lasts 2 minutes and is on a 3:20 recharge timer. Slotting it with two level 50 recharge IOs is usually enough to keep it on permanently. It is NOT a short-duration status effect protection tool. It is your only status effect protection tool and is one of the best in the game.
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To any extent, and for future melee toon builds....never....and I mean never skip out on your mez protection, or hold out on it until the last minute. You are not only affecting yourself when you do, but bringing down your team as well.
Agreed with the above posters; i'd advise a respec at some point, and put Active Defense at lvl 10. I remember chomping at the bit to get the mez resist toggle for my /inv scrapper at 16. 35 --- yikes!!
Do not bother slotting taunt in AAO. It *seriously* does not need it. Because of the way that taunt auras work (some calculation that involves the mag of the taunt, the duration of the taunt effect, and the damage you are doing), /Shield scraps regularly pull mobs away from tanks. AAO is that good at taunting. Slot it with 1 endredux and call it a day.
It is very easy to use; stand next to something, and you will have its attention. Because of the long duration of its taunt effect, you can position and maneuver and things will follow you for a while.
50s:
Grimmloch, Tactically Delicious, Ugly Frankie, Operative Tracker, CryoFurnace, Professional Help, Silver Sphinx, Aries Knight, Tachyon Aegis, Jade Sphinx
Currently building:
Any one of half a dozen alts!
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Originally Posted by Fusion_7
On the enhancement side, it gives you the option to add either Reduced End, Increase Attack Rate or Enhance Taunt Effectiveness. I obviously chosen Taunt being that I wanted to aggro as many foes as I could handle.
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Originally Posted by Telperion
Do not bother slotting taunt in AAO. It *seriously* does not need it.
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If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
I was teamed with a Regen Scrapper once who made level 18 while we were teaming in Faultline. He was debating what power to take and I asked him if he had Integration yet. He said no. I asked him "Are you insane? It buffs your Regeneration AND is your protection from mez that is on whenever you turn on the toggle. Get it NOW." He was a happy camper when we were facing Lost in the next map, that's for sure.
Turned out he had never played a melee AT before, and hadn't heard about this. I know Fusion has asked about Tanks before, so I don't know what's going on here. But Fusion, you want that power now. Actually, back at level 10. Go forth and get it!
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
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The reason it's dropping when you are Mezzed is it's your taunt Aura and considered an offensive toggle as it effects enemies. Only defensive toggles supress.
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Originally Posted by Fusion_7
One bugaboo that I found with this power is it gets knocked off when mezed. Normally, I like toggle powers to stay on all the time without having to turn them back on constantly after getting mezed.
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Oh my God how did you survive til 35 with no mez protection
I shudder to think what else Fusion skipped. Skipping Active Defense on a Shield Defense character is no different than skipping Unyielding on an Invuln.
Getting mezzed for 25 levels on a melee character doesn't sound like a good time at all.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
Does not compute.
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Most of those powers don't sound all that great by the description and I can easily see someone putting them off. You almost need to experience it yourself or else find out from someone else (forum, chat, etc) to realize that they are game changing powers and not "Eh, no mez 'for a short time'... skip it for now" powers.|
Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Turned out he had never played a melee AT before, and hadn't heard about this. I know Fusion has asked about Tanks before, so I don't know what's going on here. But Fusion, you want that power now. Actually, back at level 10. Go forth and get it!
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The description...
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| When you activate this power, it grants protection from Sleep, Disorient, Fear, Immobilize, Confusions, Repel, Knockback, Hold and Defense Debuff effects for a short duration. Recharge: Very Long |
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However, one quick look at the "Detailed Info" and you'll see that a power like that, and certain others, are definitely not situational powers. In fact, with the vast amount of times, I'm sure, a melee toon without support would be mez'd between the lvls of 20-30 alone should have you begging to have ANY sort of mez protection, even if you didn't realize that it wasn't as "situational" as it may have sounded. Having even, what you think, is a "short duration" and "situational" mez power would be better than nothing, especially against boss encounters.
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Originally Posted by Jophiel
Most of those powers don't sound all that great by the description and I can easily see someone putting them off. You almost need to experience it yourself or else find out from someone else (forum, chat, etc) to realize that they are game changing powers and not "Eh, no mez 'for a short time'... skip it for now" powers.
The description... ...sounds very situational. |
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This being only my second Scrapper, my first one a level 50 fire/fire was great and thus, I am still learning the ropes for Melee toons. I also loved the fact that I could solo very easily with my fire/fire Scrapper as well as sub as a Tank now and then as she could handle the heat, no pun intended...lol. As with anything in this game, I have learned the best way is to build a toon, try it out to see how you like that build. It may or may not work based on your particular playing style. So, I'll just respec my KM/SD Scrapper being she is only a 35 as I have two more levels before I can get Active Defense and I don't want to suffer through two more levels of "mezz mania". |
Originally Posted by DarkMaster
However, one quick look at the "Detailed Info" and you'll see that a power like that, and certain others, are definitely not situational powers. In fact, with the vast amount of times, I'm sure, a melee toon without support would be mez'd between the lvls of 20-30 alone should have you begging to have ANY sort of mez protection, even if you didn't realize that it wasn't as "situational" as it may have sounded. Having even, what you think, is a "short duration" and "situational" mez power would be better than nothing, especially against boss encounters.
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I usually pick up the anti-mez in the mid twenties, tbh. Usually level 24 or 26, but possibly even 28 depending on what's available. I don't think mez gets bad until about 30, and it's even less of a concern with defense based characters.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
I shudder to think what else Fusion skipped. Skipping Active Defense on a Shield Defense character is no different than skipping Unyielding on an Invuln.
Getting mezzed for 25 levels on a melee character doesn't sound like a good time at all. |
I wouldn't wait till 38 though. You're fighting Rikti, Freakshow will stun or sleep you constantly, and so forth. The 40-50 block is by far the worst though.
I find mid 30's is around when characters lacking mez protection at all will really start to notice it too. There's AoE holds and sleeps firing off all over the place!
On my BS/SD Scrapper I scrapper lock so bad, and only have one slot in Active Defense, so I get mezzed from time to time as it is in the 40's.
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
Yeah, Fiery Armor kind of spoils you because they rolled the mez protect into the two damage resistance powers, so you picked up mez resist without really trying.
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Plus, on a Fire Armor Scrapper, your mez resistance was built into the normal Fire and Plasma shields that you would have taken anyway, but Shield's aren't.|
Originally Posted by Fusion_7
This being only my second Scrapper, my first one a level 50 fire/fire was great and thus, I am still learning the ropes for Melee toons.
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And since FA doesn't have built-in knockback protection and gets immob protection only from Burn, I'd suspect you'd take Combat Jumping on both toons, and then live with the knockback (or maybe take Acrobatics or get an anti-KB IO).
So I can see how switching to a SD scrapper and not taking Active Defense isn't unbelievable.
But once you get it, put two Recharges in it, set it to Auto, and get your scrap on! It's what makes Scrappers unstoppable arresting machines!
(and if you do have Acro or anti-KB IOs, you won't need them.)
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Yeah, I learned the hard way on my fire/fire Scrapper, she would get knocked down every other punch until I ended up respec'ing her and added the Aerobics within the Combat Jump pool powers and that just about took care of the KB and me landing on my backside..heh .|
Originally Posted by zeldo
Plus, on a Fire Armor Scrapper, your mez resistance was built into the normal Fire and Plasma shields that you would have taken anyway, but Shield's aren't.
And since FA doesn't have built-in knockback protection and gets immob protection only from Burn, I'd suspect you'd take Combat Jumping on both toons, and then live with the knockback (or maybe take Acrobatics or get an anti-KB IO). So I can see how switching to a SD scrapper and not taking Active Defense isn't unbelievable. But once you get it, put two Recharges in it, set it to Auto, and get your scrap on! It's what makes Scrappers unstoppable arresting machines! (and if you do have Acro or anti-KB IOs, you won't need them.) |
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Eh, I'd be surprised if a majority of people looked at the Detailed Info. I'd guess most people see "short duration", think "That's not nearly as sexy as this attack for 'High' damage" and go that route.|
Originally Posted by DarkMaster
However, one quick look at the "Detailed Info" and you'll see that a power like that, and certain others, are definitely not situational powers.
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I'm not saying this is how it should be or that it's unavoidable but that I suspect it's just how it is.
"Kick, Kick, Kick". That is the sound of me kicking myself for the past 35 levels realizing how silly it was not having picked up Active Defense. My thinking was wanting to get my pool powers set first, you know, Flight, Combat jumping, Stamina, Hasten. You know, just the necessities. Little did I realize that having Active Defense, slotting it with just two recharges, will keep my Against All Odds on at all times and not cause it to get knocked off when or if I got mezzed.
Needless to say, last night I respec'ed my toon. She is now mean. She is now angry. She is now ready to rock!!! I took her out on a test run on a few mish'es. I could not believe how I could have ever over looked not getting Active Defense at level 10? Think about it, the majority of my time was trying to keep myself alive because I would get mezzed all the time. I guess I should say welcome to the world of melee toons!
So for my level 35 KM/SD Scrapper, I just picked up Shield Charge which I didn't have a chance to really play with yet as I just got it this morning before I had to leave off to work.
My real question is with Against All Odds. I picked this up and currently have it one slotted with Taunt. Based on what paragonwiki says, this power will grant you a damage bonus based on the number of foes you engage in combat up to 10 max. On the enhancement side, it gives you the option to add either Reduced End, Increase Attack Rate or Enhance Taunt Effectiveness. I obviously chosen Taunt being that I wanted to aggro as many foes as I could handle.
With that being said, how exactly does this power enable the taunt function? What I mean is normally when you have taunt as a separate power and activate it, you will get those taunt bolts above your foes heads indicating that have been taunted. With Against All Odds, you have no idea who has been taunted and just assume that by having this power on and slotted with taunts, the effected foes around you are taunted? I guess I am asking that I really have no idea how to tell when I am taunting with with power.
One bugaboo that I found with this power is it gets knocked off when mezed. Normally, I like toggle powers to stay on all the time without having to turn them back on constantly after getting mezed.