Standard phrasing is "Anything can work." Having said that there are some things that require more cleverness than others.
* Storm defender/controllers are tricky, especially in combination with melee characters.
* All blasters and scrappers is a tough combination to pull off.
* Tanks may be overkill on personal survivability and underkill on everything else.
* There's no such thing as too many defenders and controllers. Those are force multipliers.
It's hard for me to get in the mindset of fresh players, but I'd suggest "as long as someone's playing so-called support, you'll be fine." Good powersets to have on the team are Radiation buff (whatever it's called), Dark Miasma, and Sonic blast.
There are crazy superteams that you can build with as few as three characters- for instance the Green Machine three empath team- but you can do well with just about anything you want.
Slotting changes: ED means you can't get much past 95% slotting in anything, invention system is complicated but means you can get the equivalent of miniature hamidon enhancements from, like, level 30. Money flows like water in the invention system; this is shocking at first, but if you're a seller and not just a buyer it works out.
Welcome back! Go hammer the enemy.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Some of the best ever teams I've been on have been a combination of fire/rad corrupters or controllers - massive debuffs available - you have a lot of alt slots available roll a few of these and level them up. enjoy
Call me,,, Mal
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You also may want to think about some red-side ATs. Most fun I have had in this game was with 3 three-man team of Brute, Corruptor (rad/rad) and Stalker. Yes, I said Stalker.|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
Standard phrasing is "Anything can work." Having said that there are some things that require more cleverness than others.
* Storm defender/controllers are tricky, especially in combination with melee characters. * All blasters and scrappers is a tough combination to pull off. * Tanks may be overkill on personal survivability and underkill on everything else. * There's no such thing as too many defenders and controllers. Those are force multipliers. It's hard for me to get in the mindset of fresh players, but I'd suggest "as long as someone's playing so-called support, you'll be fine." Good powersets to have on the team are Radiation buff (whatever it's called), Dark Miasma, and Sonic blast. There are crazy superteams that you can build with as few as three characters- for instance the Green Machine three empath team- but you can do well with just about anything you want. Slotting changes: ED means you can't get much past 95% slotting in anything, invention system is complicated but means you can get the equivalent of miniature hamidon enhancements from, like, level 30. Money flows like water in the invention system; this is shocking at first, but if you're a seller and not just a buyer it works out. Welcome back! Go hammer the enemy. |
Brute (tanker/damage) and corrupter (buff/debuff/heal/damage) are obvious. The stalker worked well because on the three man team because the burst damage was useful against hard/annoying targets. The team wasn't big enough that the stalker got buried in a mountain of AOE.
Mastermind would work, but I would advise against it. Dominators can work well if you coordinate well (and that can be tricker, esp at the lower levels).
You probably have access the to EATs by now (you only need to get to 20 now). I don't know much about warshades and peacebringers, but the VEATs are good team focused, but not team reliant ATs as well.
If you were focused on the blue side, you might give Praetoria or Red-side a spin for something different. Or you can have them switch sides at level 20. Or soon (TM) you will be able to start red-side ATs on the hero side.
Beyond the obligatory "anything works, really" I would say you have two basic options:
1) A mix of ATs/Powers among the 3 of you. This can lead to some really awesome synergies, but it's harder to pull off when you're not familiar with the system, and different set's strenghts/weaknesses. If the 3 of you have radically different playstyles and tastes, we can discuss this more, but it wouldn't be my default choice for 3 returning players looking to group regularly.
2) Three of a Kind (or close to it)- This is a quick and dirty way to get some of the advantages of synergy, through stacking of similar abilities. Normally an easy choice would be for me to say 3 Fire/Dark Corruptors. Lately though with the changes to some Buffing powers, I'd say take a look at some corruptors with Cold Domination or something. With 3 of you, each person would always have double shields from the other 2, and later on that would be strong enough to make you all effectively tanks. From there, you could each pick a different blasting set to suit your tastes, or all go with the same (again, for those stacking benefits). The other plus to picking 3 similar characters, is that anything each of you learns, you can share with the other 2. That makes it easier for casual players to pick up knowledge on an occasional basis.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
I'm going to go out on a limb and mention something less conventional.
two fire/kin controllers and one electric/kin controller.
it's going to be a little rough until all three of you have Speed Boost and once you have pets you will be totally awesome.
the electric controller has one of the best confuse in the game and a very powerful higher level stun.
The fire/kins have great DPS.
Speed boost is an AOE now and so is increase density so 3x SP and 3x ID should keep things rocking!
everyone should use the earth epic and get rock armor and the fissure. start any attack with the electric/kin "synaptic overload" and fire/kin's "smoke" and then run in and have everyone do a "fissure" and then a nice "fulcrum shift".
Wow, thanks for all the awesome replies! It's nice to see a game where the 'holy trinity' of tank/heal/dps isn't always the way to go.
I'll have to talk with my team and look up some acronyms but with the amount of alts available y'all have given me some really great perspectives. Thanks for taking the time! 
~ Tia
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Originally Posted by DragonTiger
Mastermind would work, but I would advise against it.
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Why? Three masterminds would be quite strong and easy. Esp. with the new AoE buffs (FF, Thermal) a whole team of MM would be awesome.
Everything said above is true: anything will work. I'll just toss in yet another idea: three VEATs. Again anything, but a Night Widow, a Fortunata and an AoE spec Crab would be pretty fun and awesome. Double Mind Link from the widows and lots of debuff and AoE from the Crab, plus stacking team buffs from everyone.
Other ideas: 1 Brute and 2 Corruptors. Say a high damage brute (Fire/Fire, or something with /Shield Defense) and a fire/dark corr and a fire/rad corr.
Many times, Masterminds aren't that easy for inexperienced players to get a handle on right away. I think that's what DragonTiger was getting at.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
I've always been a fan of the "single brute surrounded by corruptors" concept. Pretty much any brute, pretty much any corruptors (although as noted above, storm's kb may not be the most desirable for this scenario. Same could be said for Energy blast)
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
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Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
Many times, Masterminds aren't that easy for inexperienced players to get a handle on right away. I think that's what DragonTiger was getting at.
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Well, that's a bit true, but we were all inexperienced once. Nothing like jumping into the deep end. And Tiana has found the forums, so getting advice should be no problem.
I have done this several times and there are lots and lots of combinations that can be amazingly effective. I've done 3 Fire/Dark corrupters, and it is great. 3 Fire/Rad controllers are also a great combo. Three good AoE scrappers are great, too.
But here's a combo I suggest: Elec/Shield Scrapper, Plant/Kin Controller, Fire/Dark Corrupter. The scrapper needs to get his defenses up quickly, but once he can handle it, the scrapper runs in to gather all the aggro and bring the spawn into a tighter group. Then the Plant/Kin steps up (but get Super Speed + Stealth IO for Invis) to hit the group with Seeds+Roots+Fulcrum Shift. The Scrapper can then hit the group with the double whammy of Lightning Rod+Shield Charge, or the Corr can hit the group with Tar Patch and the Fire AoEs. If Seeds is Recharging, the Fire/Dark has the option to control the group with Fearsome Stare and the debuffs.
This group gives great AoE control and damage, with back-ups in each of those areas. Kin has a great melee heal for the scrapper, while the Fire/Dark has a great heal for the Controller and Corrupter who can stay back out of melee or go into melee when the group is controlled.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Lots of sound advice in here... and welcome back!!
I'll just stress that the anything/everything works thing is the truth and I wouldn't overlook that at all.
It depends where the fun really is for the three of you.
Are you each more efficiency-minded? Or would the fun possibly come more from having the team dynamics of something like the Fantastic Four (just as an example).
Having a group of the sames can be a lot of fun, but so can having the divergent types that make up the whole.
Depending on the interests of each of you, individually... I'd suggest passing around some ideas between the three of you and see what may fit you individually... then work from there and come up with a team concept (talking either game mechanics or backstory-fun and/or both, depending on your interests).
Warshades can make for some great jack-of-all-trades and can make for some good teaming.
For me, the fun is in seeing the characters do what they do and having them all shine at different times. Not with the efficiency that the team mows things down (and I've never really encountered anything we couldn't overcome in this game). However, there's nothing wrong with the getting more enjoyment out of efficiency! And there's plenty of choices for both combined!
Best of luck!
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
Suggested 3 person teams:
Melee: Shield/Mace Tanker; Broad Sword/Shield Scrapper; Axe/Shield Brute (or another /shield Scrapper - can even be axe once I21 hits). Simple basic walk in and kill it combat style, with incredible synergy from Grant Cover & Phalanx Fighting. Basic and fun. Few pools of aid other and aid self covers the heal gap.
Ranged: Pure damage blaster, Storm Defender, Buff Corruptor. My first Defender was Storm, so really, they aren't that hard to grasp. Freezing Rain is your friend, it is a massive debuff. Get a blaster specced for all ranged damage, have a storm backing up with slow, debuff, and heals, and have a corruptor filling in gaps with damage and buffs. Suggest more damage on the corruptor, but with some buffs to further juice and protect the team. I'd suggest something like kinetics or radiation.
Mix: Tanker, Blaster, Controller. Basic plan is the controller screws with baddies while keeping the tanker buffed. The Blaster kills everything. Safe, but less exciting than say:
Crazy: Brute, Corruptor/Defender, Stalker. This is kind of manic, and my not be as good as two Defenders/Corruptors chaing the Brute, but it can be pretty awesome. Basically, Defender/Corruptor keeps the Brute alive and buffed. Brute runs from one group to the next killing as fast as possible. Stalker aids in being both stealth to jump missions quickly if desired as well as being a Boss/Elite Boss killer allowing to Brute to keep one-shotting minions. Pretty crazy, but can be a heck of a lot of fun.
Welcome back and good luck.
Since I've never played a game where having 3 of a kind was a good thing (except poker) that may be fun. But, as many of you have guessed, we do have different mindsets...
My hubby likes to stand back and control the flow of battle, whether that be through buffs, healing, or crowd control. He's the tactician.
The brother-in-law is more of a...let's just say, the non-tactical type. He likes to jump in and mix it up, whether that be in melee or ranged, he just likes to make things go boom.
As for myself, I'm in between and enjoy both! I do love to research, as gameboy figured out, but catching up on 6 years can be daunting. That's the type of deep end I enjoy jumping in, however 
I was also going to suggest three Shield Defense toons.
I think having an elec, fire, and dark aura tank/brute/scrapper combination would also be entertaining. You could make them all tanks, brutes or scrappers, or just mix and match. Lots of dmg auras taking down minions.
You could go themed; One such example would be electric. Electric armor tank/brute/scrapper paired with an electric control dom/controller and the third being an electric blast defender/corruptor/blaster. Talk about your recovery debuffing.
All Fire/Rad teams are entertaining as are all corrupter teams.
Throwing darts at the board to see if something sticks.....
Come show your resolve and fight my brute!
Tanks: Gauntlet, the streak breaker and you!
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Originally Posted by PapaSlade
Rangle's right....this is fun.
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That's half of it. The other half is feeling like you are a team. A mastermind doesn't really promote team spirit. At one point, 7 (or more) "members" of the team will be the mastermind compared to the 2 other players. The two other players can feel like they are part of the mastermind's henchmen rather than part of a co-equal team. Not saying it HAS to be this way, just a bias you would have to fight against.|
Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
Many times, Masterminds aren't that easy for inexperienced players to get a handle on right away. I think that's what DragonTiger was getting at.
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Given the team dynamics from the original poster (OP), and from my own experience, I think it works best when each person feels like they bring something important and unique to the team.
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Those sound like great dynamics for a triad right there!|
Originally Posted by tiana_arylle
Since I've never played a game where having 3 of a kind was a good thing (except poker) that may be fun. But, as many of you have guessed, we do have different mindsets...
My hubby likes to stand back and control the flow of battle, whether that be through buffs, healing, or crowd control. He's the tactician. The brother-in-law is more of a...let's just say, the non-tactical type. He likes to jump in and mix it up, whether that be in melee or ranged, he just likes to make things go boom. As for myself, I'm in between and enjoy both! I do love to research, as gameboy figured out, but catching up on 6 years can be daunting. That's the type of deep end I enjoy jumping in, however |
So many ways to go with it...
Possibly: Controller for Husband, Scrapper for Brother-in-Law, and... you may enjoy a mix, hmmm... If you have Warshades available, you may love them. I happen to love my Electric/Electric Blaster a ton... Some of us call it the Blaptroller, as we Blast, run in and cause high damage in melee like a Scrapper and also have a number of holds and immobilization powers like a Controller... Blaptroller! Other people also like Ice/Ice for these reasons... And Warshades as well.
Those were Hero examples. Dominator and Brute would also fit perfectly for the other two (as would many other options, of course).
Also... an All Electricity Team is a fabulous thing.
My powersets generally come from concept, so I have hard time suggesting which specific powers... as any and all of the ones i have tried have been a ton of fun.
EDIT:
I just have to add, that Kinetic Buffs are an often much welcome thing, so having one always with you can be super. Speed Boost not only makes you move faster, but reduces the recharge of your powers...
Not everyone loves it, but those who do can get addicted!! Having a constant supplier just sounds like heaven to this addict...
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
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Originally Posted by tiana_arylle
My hubby likes to stand back and control the flow of battle, whether that be through buffs, healing, or crowd control. He's the tactician.
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You'll get tons of different answers for this but I vote Mastermind, maybe Thugs/Dark or something similar. I'm a tactical player also and a MM was my first love in this game. Mastermind = you're playing an RTS inside a super hero game. It's awesome.
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| The brother-in-law is more of a...let's just say, the non-tactical type. He likes to jump in and mix it up, whether that be in melee or ranged, he just likes to make things go boom. |
A born brute. Or perhaps a scrapper. I'd vote for a fire/fire brute or an elec/shield brute, or equivalent scrapper.
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As for myself, I'm in between and enjoy both! I do love to research, as gameboy figured out, but catching up on 6 years can be daunting. That's the type of deep end I enjoy jumping in, however
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Fire/Thermal Corruptor would complement the Fire/Fire brute, or something like Fire/Ice Corruptor for the Shield brute (or scrappers). The mastermind is pretty self sufficient and would benefit from either.
This would probably be a pretty nice 3 person team: Bane Spider, Crab Spider, and a Fortunata.
Throwing darts at the board to see if something sticks.....
Come show your resolve and fight my brute!
Tanks: Gauntlet, the streak breaker and you!
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Originally Posted by PapaSlade
Rangle's right....this is fun.
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I'm disappointed in you all.
The title mentions makeup and nobody went for the "Go Rouge!" line? Sheesh.
That's because she's got two boys with her, and most boys don't wear makeup, Bill.
Now, do you have a useful AT combo to contribute, or did you just stop by looking for beauty tips?
(j/k 
)
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Hmm, well you should play what you like, but I think if I was going to assemble a team that played to the sensibilities of the players expressed above and tried to open the most doors starting at level 1 in terms of performance besides that, I might try something like:|
Originally Posted by tiana_arylle
Since I've never played a game where having 3 of a kind was a good thing (except poker) that may be fun. But, as many of you have guessed, we do have different mindsets...
My hubby likes to stand back and control the flow of battle, whether that be through buffs, healing, or crowd control. He's the tactician. The brother-in-law is more of a...let's just say, the non-tactical type. He likes to jump in and mix it up, whether that be in melee or ranged, he just likes to make things go boom. As for myself, I'm in between and enjoy both! I do love to research, as gameboy figured out, but catching up on 6 years can be daunting. That's the type of deep end I enjoy jumping in, however |
Illusion/Kinetics Controller
Electric/Dark Brute
Sonic/Cold Corruptor
Keeping in mind that all the suggestions in here are good suggestions, and almost any three things would work reasonably well, my thought process here is:
Hubby: battlefield general. Illusion has three sets of pets, nearly as much pets as masterminds do. On the negative side, he won't have as much control over them. On the plus side, two sets of them will be indestructible. And he gets the Kinetics buffs which means he will be tactically looking at the positions of targets, who needs what buff, and so on. He'll be trying to optimize powers like transfusion and fulcrum shift.
Brother-in-law: Leroy. I gave him the primary with Lightning Rod, which is a great charge-in-and fight power (you teleport into the middle of the spawns and make a big bang, which is great for that mindset). You have a secondary that is potentially one of the strongest, but it suffers sometimes from burning too much endurance if you actually try to get maximum strength out of it. Which won't be a problem with a Kinetics on the team, so he can just go to town. He'll have a damage aura, decent resistances, the strongest heal in the game, and two mez toggles: he'll be pretty powerful. He also won't have knockback protection, but that's again what the kinetics is for: Increase density will remove that weakness.
You: buff/debuff ranged attacker. Sonic is a decent ranged set with two interesting properties: it debuffs resistances so you will be amplifying the damage of your team mates every time you shoot at anything. And it has this ridiculously powerful cone sleep that you can use when you want to dive in and alpha a group: it can get pretty ridiculous what you can do with that power. You can, if you want, just go berserk with sonic attacks.
Separate from that, you also have cold domination which gives you some really good ally support powers. You have cold shields which will be wrapping your resistance-based brute brother with defense, significantly improving his survivability (and your husband's), and you have a +health buff that just increases the health bars of your team mates as well, also a very good buff. And you have a number of very strong foe debuffs in infrigidate, benumb, and heat loss. That might be a good balance for you.
There's lots of other possibilities: I was also thinking mastermind, scrapper, dominator combinations. But I think that the selection of archetype is incidental to the selection of powersets that work well with each other. You want something that will appeal to someone that just wants to charge in and fight, you pick something with personal defenses and offense suited to charging in and attacking: probably a melee type like brute or scrapper. Stand-off battlefield generals tend to be controllers and masterminds mostly because of their focus on pets, support, and foe control powersets. I tend to think Illusion control is a good set for that kind of person, or Bots, not necessarily "controllers" or "masterminds." And for someone that wants to do a little of both, I tend to think Dominators or Corruptors first. Dominators are probably even better as a dive-in or ally support balanced archetype, but in a team with a controller and a brute a corruptor seemed to fill in the blanks just a little better. Replacing the Sonic/Cold corruptor with, say, a Plant/Fire dominator would be perfectly fine: less ally buffing, more control and offensive playstyle.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
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That's insightful and I think I can give you some recommendations:|
Originally Posted by tiana_arylle
Since I've never played a game where having 3 of a kind was a good thing (except poker) that may be fun. But, as many of you have guessed, we do have different mindsets...
My hubby likes to stand back and control the flow of battle, whether that be through buffs, healing, or crowd control. He's the tactician. The brother-in-law is more of a...let's just say, the non-tactical type. He likes to jump in and mix it up, whether that be in melee or ranged, he just likes to make things go boom. As for myself, I'm in between and enjoy both! I do love to research, as gameboy figured out, but catching up on 6 years can be daunting. That's the type of deep end I enjoy jumping in, however |
Your brother in law sounds best suited for Melee. That's perfectly ok and actually makes a lot of game situations simpler.
You and your husband may enjoy Dominators (I think particularly you would). A good dominator can work at any range, including melee, and has really strong control. They're my favorite Archetype simply for the flexibility.
If your husband doesn't want to worry as much about offense, or you guys as a team want the option of buffs, then he should make a Controller.
Now the second part to all this is to look for those kind of stacking or synergy deals I mentioned. Here are some examples:
Compatible controls- if you go Dom and your husband goes Controller, then look at getting matching or similar Control sets. Common mistakes to avoid would be pairing a set that uses a lot of Knockdown killing Immobilizes with a set like Ice Control that relies on a knockdown power to keep things out of the fight.
Compatible Protection- If your Brother in Law goes with a Melee and your husband takes something with buffs, then look closely at the Armor set for the melee, and pick a buffing set that would give significant boosts to the kind of Protection your melee already has. For example if he picked Shield Defense, then picking Cold Domination or Force Field both provide buffs to Defense that would make him much tougher. Counter example would be picking a resistance based Electric Armor and trying to use those same buffing sets. He would get a boost since any protection is good protection, but the synergy wouldn't be there, and you wouldnt get as much kick out of it while leveling up.
Compatible Offenses- This is kind of similar to the compatible control, but it applies to everyone on your trio. If one of you picks a pretty chaotic set with lots of knockback, this could cause friction if another partner takes a set that's more methodical and really shines when things get clumped together and melted with Area Effect damage. Basically, there's nothing wrong with chaos if A) you're all generating it and having fun with it, or B) you each know how to moderate it and can not annoy someone else trying to clump things up.
Sometimes there's nothing more fun than having 3 Storm Summoning characters sending every group in the room flying and just cackling in glee (trust me I've done it), but as a day to day thing that may not be your cup of tea.
I'm being very deliberately vague as to different sets and which I think are "better" simply because my preferences may be different than your's. On top of that, I'm vague because very nearly EVERY set in the game is pretty well balanced, and there aren't really anything stinky horrible to avoid.
If you end up having specific questions about specific sets, I'm sure I or anyone else would be happy to help.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
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only if they already have 3 level 20 villains.
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Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down
This would probably be a pretty nice 3 person team: Bane Spider, Crab Spider, and a Fortunata.
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"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Hi all!
My hubby, brother-in-law, and I have started playing again after a 6 year hiatus (yeah, I know!) So although we have our old characters, we honestly don't know anything anymore, so we've decided to start playing with some new characters fresh out of the gate. We're planning to do 100% grouping with the 3 of us. What makeup would you suggest for a 3 person team to be self-sufficient?
Thanks!
~ Tia