Grouper that can solo
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2011-01-06 19:09 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
A VEAT would fit that bill pretty well. I'm partial to the Huntsman build. Huntsman are unofficial hybrids that go Bane but mostly only use the secondary. Most of a Huntsman's attacks are from the Soldier tree.
I took build up and crowd control on my Huntsman because they are just too good to pass up. Huntsman can solo extemely well and can provide a huge amount of support, buffs, debuffs, and damage to any team. Just make sure you take TT: Maneuvers and the pool version of Maneuvers. I went full double leadership powers on mine. With that alone I am providing about 20% defense to everything to my whole team.
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Well all characters can solo reasonably well. The true solo powerhouses are Scrappers, Brutes and Masterminds and all are generally welcome on teams although none of them are truly team focused (Masterminds are reasonably team focused). If you want a character that is more team focused and a decent soloer I would recommend either a Corruptor, a Dominator, some Tankers or (as Neo said) a VEAT.|
Originally Posted by Valdiath
I was wondering if anyone has a good recommendation on a Build that is sought after and powerful in groups, but can also go out on their own and level up.
I more or less open to anything beyond that. |
Corruptors provide ranged damage and Bufs/Debuffs, in terms of soloing power the primary factor is your choice of secondary. Dark Miasma and Traps are probably the best soloers providing a nice mix of protection and damage boosters. Radiation Emission and Kinetics are probably next plus I've heard good things about Cold Domination although personally I can't stand it.
Dominators are Control and Damage. Most teams appreciate the ability to stun or hold an entire spawn so they are welcome there and the combination of control and damage helps them solo.
Tankers are (guess what!) Tanks. While they are technically low damage and high toughness certain Tankers can deal out a lot of damage. In particular Fiery Aura, Shield Defense and Super Strength are all generally regarded as high damage Tankers (although Super Strength matures rather late since it's only AoE attack comes at level 38).
Are there any Defender specs that can both solo and do groups?
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All Defender sets do well in teams.|
Originally Posted by Valdiath
Are there any Defender specs that can both solo and do groups?
|
In my experience Dark Miasma, Radiation Emission, Traps, and Storm Summoning primaries also solo pretty easily. My preferred secondaries would be Dark, Sonic, Archery, Psi, and Assault Rifle. Energy Blast is another i like, but i haven't played it very high yet on a Defender. Your preference may vary.
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I use my Emp/Rad to solo tips often, It feels like a regen scrappertrollerblaster(with less DPS of course).|
Originally Posted by Valdiath
Are there any Defender specs that can both solo and do groups?
|
That just means I can solo, it doesn't mean I can solo as well as others can. Some defender combos have exceptional solo capabilities and team capabilities, notably Rad/Sonic and Cold/Sonic, due to the powerful debuff stacking.
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An Illusion Controller in general, and an Illusion/Rad, Illusion/Cold, Illusion/Storm or Illusion/TA in particular (I have all 4 at level 50). Take a look at my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig. My guide explains in detail how flexible an Ill/Rad can be.|
Originally Posted by Valdiath
I was wondering if anyone has a good recommendation on a Build that is sought after and powerful in groups, but can also go out on their own and level up.
I more or less open to anything beyond that. |
Illusion/Rad is one of the most flexible characters in the game. Teams love the Rad debuffs, heals and the great buff from AM. Plus, you can be a fill-in tank with Phantom Army (PA), and nobody is better at taking the alpha strike than PA. You can add damage and control to a team, keeping the team safer and helping take down foes faster. Ill/Rad is also well known as one of the best AV soloers. You can handle anything . . . the one weakness is that it is not a great character for farming, as it is more focused on single target damage.
OK, and how many people saw the title to this thread and thought, "a big fish that can solo?"
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Groupers aren't schooling fish. I imagine they'd have to do well solo by definition.
.... And then I read the last line of Local Man's post and realize that I'd been scooped. *sigh*
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Guilty.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
OK, and how many people saw the title to this thread and thought, "a big fish that can solo?"
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Since i didn't feel like locating and posting an image of one at the time i decided to let it pass until someone else mentioned it...
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its mainly the old offender builds that have smooth soloing.|
Originally Posted by Valdiath
Are there any Defender specs that can both solo and do groups?
|
one caviet on the mastermind comment above, its that what the poster said above is true, BUT some people are reluctant to have too many MM's on the same team for a number of reasons
I'll put my vote in for Ill/Rad controller. Fantastic both solo and on teams. Even early on you can solo well if you pop in air superiority into your leveling build (and spec it out later). And on teams, people love rad. You can take out problem targets right away with deceive. (nothing like a pet malta sapper to turn a fight around from the start)
With the MMs on teams thing. I don't mean to sound like a jerk, which is the way that most people take this, but I don't want MMs on my teams. Ever. They are a fantastic AT, dont get me wrong. They outdo my Ill/rad in most situations. They are mighty. That being said. I hate the crowding I get when especially Bots and Demons are on the team. I cant get through tunnels or even a warehouse map easily. As a controller I need to be able to arrow over a problem target instead of having to tab thru all of them to get to that sapper or mentalist or (insert problem enemy here) quickly and I cant with Skippy the Wonderdemon jumping in front of me. I got a message last night from a guy needing help with the Ramiel arc, he had both a bots and demon MM on the team. Doing the Trapdoor mish in those tight caves I couldnt contribute in any meaningful way at all since all's I could see in front of me was a mass of pets. Had to leave the team (which really didnt need my help with 2 MMs anyway) since I couldnt have been any real help to them.
(And while my Ill/Rad is also a pet based toon, my pets arent out all of the time and can be completely dismissed without much issue if we start to get crowded. I dont really pop PA in tight tunnels to keep the mobility more free for my team.)
I think controllers in general will do alright in teams and solo, though some will be better than others and you may not be very fast at killing for a while. Dominators also work, though better at solo.
While VEATs are pretty popular in here, I think I ought to mention Kheldians (HEATs) are probably also great both solo and in teams, mainly due to being able to adapt to any situation and having extremely flexible builds. They can be tricky to slot though, and you gotta watch out for those Voids and Quants.
Rad/Sonic or Rad/Dark Defender
Any Mastermind, particularly a /FF or /Traps
Any power set that gets single target Confusion
Any VEAT
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For something more solo based, even a Shield scrapper can give help to a group. Mine is set up to give 12% defense to a group, but it can go higher, and you can add in Tactics and Assault for a great soloer that helps in a group just by being there. They are similar to VEATs, but are less squishy than widows and deal more damage than soldiers, but give lower numbers than both. However, they do give recharge and defense resistance, which is rare and useful (but they may only be given to self). If you want a more active group presence, I would definetely suggest either a Ill/Rad or Ill/Cold controller.
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OMG when I was in the Bahamas I think I had Grouper at least once a day !!!! OMG very very very good fish !!!
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Originally Posted by galadiman
... and they are tasty when broiled and paired with a nice asian ginger sauce.
|
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I've been following LM's guide with my latest and was going to say an Ill/Rad too. I often get invites and tells out of the blue to join up on some TF or something (I've done maybe five so far after 3 years, but this will probably change.... |
Originally Posted by Local_Man
An Illusion Controller in general, and an Illusion/Rad, Illusion/Cold, Illusion/Storm or Illusion/TA in particular (I have all 4 at level 50). Take a look at my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig. My guide explains in detail how flexible an Ill/Rad can be.
Illusion/Rad is one of the most flexible characters in the game. Teams love the Rad debuffs, heals and the great buff from AM. Plus, you can be a fill-in tank with Phantom Army (PA), and nobody is better at taking the alpha strike than PA. You can add damage and control to a team, keeping the team safer and helping take down foes faster. Ill/Rad is also well known as one of the best AV soloers. You can handle anything . . . the one weakness is that it is not a great character for farming, as it is more focused on single target damage. |
), so it does appear they are sought after for teams. Mine's about level 37 and has near-perma PA and solos quite well.
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Traps AR Defender |
Originally Posted by Valdiath
Are there any Defender specs that can both solo and do groups?
|
Honestly anything Traps which will help you obtain defense cap is a good build..
Defense cap is one of the keys. Imagine if you can solo 0/8 safely with your defense cap build, think what a full team of players set up this way can do.
Granted not everyone can be Defense capped. Simply put the AT type just does not allow for slotting in this direction. But if many are built in this direction when feasibly possible and the few that cannot built in another direction related to what AT type they have grouping would be massive and TF / SF would be quick and easy ( not that many are tough now ).
You can clearly see something like this occur on occasion when your running an ITF. There are times that you get into that team where key players are capped out and just zip ahead killing everything needed. Usually some players are resolved to just door sitting on these missions as they do not have the defenses to keep up.
There was a time in this game if you asked for a healer you meant someone with empathy in their build.. Today Transfusion, Twilight Grasp, Radiation aura if slotted for max and even Triage Beacon will suffice. So not having an Empathy player in today's game is not an issue.
How did this occur ? Simple people have learned that not getting hit means I do not need to be healed.. If I have other protections slotted for holds and such I am not worried about that either.
Some have mentioned that 2 resist equal 1 defense point.. I do not know how much regeneration is needed to equate to one defense point.. But if you follow this model if you can have 22.5% defense and 45% in resistance your at defense cap. If your able to incorporate a higher then average Regeneration rate ( I wish I knew the number ) then your resistances could be that much lower. The issue is that many builds are not based around resistances. I think Willpower is one of the few sets that deals with resistance instead of defense.
This is why also a defense cap Mastermind is good as well. Because bodyguard mode provides that 75% resistance on top of defense cap..
So will all that babbling being said..
Anything Traps
Dark is good because it provided defense cap through the use of darkest night. Though I am not crazy about having to use a toggle to gain defense cap. If it drops so does your defenses.
Any type of power set that might not get you defense cap.. But allows something else to get the alpha strike.. Or prevent the alpha strike..
Earth seems to fit this since you can place powers around corners. So you can lay powers down without the worry of alpha strikes.
Perfect example of how this is not done is when you see that Blaster run in thinking he can handle the group and fires off his attacks but does not have the defenses to handle the alpha strike back. So he kills a bunch but ends up dead himself.
High Resistance with High Regen scrappers. WP DB types. Again I do not know how much X regen is equal to 1 point of Defense.
If you wanted to go blaster you would have to try to get Range Defense cap at least. Again some builds make this possible, some others do not.. MIDs is your friend for testing before building.
Veat wise I will say Crab. Has a bunch of Team friendly buffs and a bunch of AOE powers..
As a side note.. Running solo it would be much faster using AOE powers. Assuming your running more then the standard setting.
So AOE and Defense Cap is what your looking to obtain with your builds to make it solo and team friendly.. Also Super Speed and a Stealth IO.
I would suggest as an example Traps AR Defender over a Robot Traps MM. I have both.. Both at defense cap. The great thing about the defender is I do not have to worry about the pets.. The Pet AI for Masterminds is just not up to par with today's game.. With my Defender I can dismiss all my pets and run through to the end of a mission or whatever point and just lay down some pain regardless of how close the quarters are. With my Mastermind I need a safe area to resummon the pets without getting aggro.
1. Why Soft Cap is Important : http://dechskaison.blogspot.com/2011...important.html
2. Limits: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits
3. Attack Mechanics: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
4. Rule of Five: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Rule_o...e_Law_of_Fives
I was wondering if anyone has a good recommendation on a Build that is sought after and powerful in groups, but can also go out on their own and level up.
I more or less open to anything beyond that.