Mover over ___, VEATS are the best ATs in the game.

I don't see anybody taking a scrapper over a Crab Spider VEAT, if you're looking for durability, ceteris paribus. While that scrapper may be tougher than the Crab alone, the added bonuses to the entire team outweigh it. Soak one alpha with pets, another with Omega Maneuver, Serum for emergencies, and a boatload of defense toggles make that Crab a pretty attractive option.

Scrapper for ST damage? Maybe. Durability? Dunno. They aren't tanks, or even brutes. Weaker taunt effects, less aggro management.

Then again, I really dislike playing Scrappers, so I de-value them.

The great thing I found with VEATs is their potential and options when slotting IOs. I managed to make a Huntsman with soft-capped M/R/AoE and damn near soft-cap to every damage type AND perma Hasten. And it was easy. That's what makes them fun to me.

Ok. So maybe Im not one to talk. Cuz I just started the game.

(Although I did play for years when the game came out, and then made the mistake of going to another superhero game which sucked)

It's amazing how playstyles change overtime. Originally I was obsessed with controllers. Then I became obsessed with Doms.

Now I have a Defender whos 50 (My first one) and well. I dont much enjoy her.

Then I got me a widow, and I love both the Night Widow and the Fortunata, because they do a little of everything really. Or so it seems.

Although Im having some slight endurance issues with my Widow at the moment, which I am sure can be corrected over time, I feel that she does pretty much anything that I need her to do, or always has something up her sleeve which makes her feel pretty powerfull compared to, say, my Kheld Warshade, which is annoying because of the knockback issues that I have with her. Although I recognize her versatility.

I also really enjoy the fact that my Widow, which I made a Hybrid on purpose has that type of versatility.

She feels very much like a Spines Scrapper, with a touch of Dark Armor added in for effect with just the right amount of Super Reflexes.

While I support the others in saying that they might not be the "Best" I will say that they blow my defender out of the water, and she is a solid build, for Empathy/Psi

Welcome Back, Nyx. That'll learn ya!

I love my widow. Definitely in my top 5 favorite AT's to play, and that's only mostly because I'm emotionally attached to those other characters. I haven't gotten to make the other 3 VEATs, but since I'm hearing they are 'teh awesomesauce,' I will get started on that.

TopDoc had written a guide on Night Widows, one of the parts I remember about it is that Night Widows can have the highest single target DPS in the game, besides a claws scrapper. Nevermind that Night Widows have sky high defenses and very strong defense to Psy attacks and resistance to Psy attacks. Night Widow soloing a Rikty Pylon, yes, sir. I was playing my Widow with the NW build while doing a Carnies arc, and I realized this is the most potent combination to fight Carnies. High Psy resist, High Psy Def, high overall defenses, and a lethal damage, very high DPS lethal damage. Night Widows are the nuclear bomb vs Carnies.

About Crabs, they are monster AoE (Ranged too) dmg characters with very high defenses, and then throw in their magnificent Pets and their team buffs. If I see a Crab lf team, and the team is looking for more dmg, a Crab is a great option and really tough to take down.

Fortunatas,

I love the whole bag of tricks they have--very strong general defenses, strong psy resists, strong psy defense, they can control single or multiple targets at once, they can confuse single or multiple targets at once, they have very strong ranged attacks, and team buffs.

Look, the discussion of how good VEATS are is a discussion on the tank mages of CoH/CoV, the power gaming available in one AT.

I love them. Thank you, DEVS, for making it right, for making an awesome Epic AT in VEATS. Could we learn from that and give Khelds a much much needed makeover?

My out-of-the-box experience on SoA's was the WORST 24 levels I've had in the game BAR NONE. It's like having an ar/ defender without the secondary.

Then I hit 24 and respecc'd into a crab spider.

Then this Peacebringer driver got really, really depressed.

VEATS team better than the hero epics because that's what they're themed around. Arachnos is a military, they're meant to be together.


Also, ever done a TF on a team of 8 VEATS?

2 night widows, 2 fortunatas, two banes, and two crabs....OR 4 crabs....holy crap.

I finished an ITF SO fast from all of the AoE and defense and the boom boom pew pew POWA!

I agree .. My Crab Spider has actually become my main and my badger.. at this point the only TF or Trial she has not completed on either side is Doc Q. A little while ago, back a few weeks, I joined an all VEAT Imperious TF and all that defense made us unstoppable... and this was before anyone had access to the upper teirs of their alpha slot. We purposely spawned the Nictus Ambush in mission one so we could defeat it. We cleared mission two including every ambush and worked our way up through LAG valley taking out everything in our path before taking out the Phallax controller along with Romulus and Requeim (all at the same time). In the final mission we quickly fought our way to Romulus and cleared everything around his plaza then simply swarmed in on him and the Nictus. We handled the ambushed and the AV easily and finished the entire TF in about one hour without even trying to rush.

I have never had a problem getting an invite to team with her and most people LOVE the idea of having one or two on any team for the added defense bonuses. While they haven't reached 50 yet I also have a Huntswoman and a Widow I am working on and that''s one thing I truly love about VEATS... So many choices to work from in designing yours.

I think a lot more thought went into the design for them than the Hero Epics.. To date I have one 50 level Warshade, never took a Peacebringer past level 20 before deleting and have no plans to ever build another.

While I don't agree VEATS are the end all, be all...

My crab, with softcapped ranged & AoE def, full mez protection and decent resists across the board (minus psi), with a full AoE attack chain? Tank. Mage. Uber-buffs for the team, and decent debuffs to boot. Non-positional psi and the lack of DDR are the only two tiny holes in his armor. End recovery is kinda painful too, but Cardiac will fix that, though I'm tempted to go Nerve and basically get rid of the psi (and Melee) hole(s).

Crabs are a fun 'sit back obliterating waves of foes without a care in the world' archetype. Heck, when you build it right it's on par with a tank's survivability in most circumstances.

The only thing I have to be careful about is getting cocky- the majority of the 'imperviousness' comes from defense, so when something hits my defense down, I have to remember how squishy I am underneath. Thankfully, I've usually killed them and all their buddies by then using bullets, lasers, explosives, toxins, and robot spiders.

P.S. Sorry, but he's still not as good as my Mind/psy permadom. But he does indeed rawk something special.

I agree that the first 24 levels are HARD! The VEATs are extremely and incredibly underpowered compared to the normal archetypes. The damage is low and their protection is horrible. However once you get in the mid 20s, giving you SOs and the Bane/Crap/Night Widow/Fortunata build, things change. And in the end levels the VEATs are very strong, possibly the strongest archetype, since they combine a lot of goodness from various archetypes.
This is not to say that the AT is insta win, more that they got a very good toolbox and in the hands of a good player the VEATs can do a lot of awesome feats of power. But because of their versatility they aren't as good as the specialists at their particular role. The VEATs may be durable, but a tanker tanks better. They deal damage, yet can't reach a blaster. They buff the team greatly, yet not fully as much as designated buffers.

I'm not going to get into which is better. Versitile? I think the SoA are.

I have a tricked out Crab with a Bane build, as well. I don't mind the crab legs on my Bane. Never have. So, if the team needs a stealth/TP ST damage dealer with capped D, buffs and perma Hasten...I have my Bane build. If the team needs ranged attacks, buffs, and a blaster-type with perma Serum level HPs, I have a build for that.

I think that's why I enjoy playing the SoA. The only role is doesn't do exceptionally well is debuff. Exceptionally well, folks. I know it debuffs.