Monster Hunters

So I'm thinking of using i21 as a way to level up a brand new character that I'd normally struggle to solo with, springboarding off the abundant lowbie teams that always come with a new issue. The current plan is to have something that nothing else in my roster of characters can do, and one of those holes in my armory is something that can solo GMs.

What are some of the better GM hunting builds, and if you have a preference fun wise, what is it?

I know off the top of my head of

Ill/rad
Bots/Dark
Bots/Traps

What else? And whats the most enjoyable?

Ill/Cold
Fire/Traps Corr
Fire/Cold Corr
Fire/Rad Corr
Rad/Sonic Defender
Sonic/Rad Corr
Traps/Sonic Defender

I am sure there are many, many more. iPowers open up the possibilities even wider.

I actually have a son/rad corr at 46 or so, but I always get disheartned when I think how much better the rad/son defender seems. :/


Thanks for the ideas though, keep 'em comin'!

The defender will do it faster, and is one of the few times I would go defender over a corr, but it can be done on the corr.

I believe Bots/Traps is the cheapest GM soloist (has been done using only SOs) so if cost is a factor that would be a good place to start, but ever since the MM pet AI got tweaked ranged pets are more annoying. Ill/Rad Controllers are probably the absolute best since with perma-PA they pretty much can't die, ever, to any single target unless they screw up... but that's an enormously expensive build. A Rad/Sonic Defender might be the best option... not as expensive as Ill/Rad and no worrying about pets.

That's assuming you want to do it the purist "no temp powers" way, which requires significant regen debuffing. If you're willing to get your -regen from temp powers then all sorts of things open up, like Brutes or Scrappers or even Blasters. I don't think there's any Incarnate powers that allow enough -regen to matter on a GM or enough damage to take one down at full regen, especially since you can pretty much guarantee that a GM will swat any Lore pets like flies without support powers backing them up (and if you're playing an AT with support powers you can get -regen).

Once I21 hits a Rad/Beam Rifle Defender might be an interesting choice. Beam Rifle is focused on single target damage and should be quite handy against hard targets.

I'm currently working on a Traps/AR Defender as a big game hunter. Ignite is actually kind of insane. AR/Traps could probably do it a bit faster with Scourge, but I didn't like the build compromises I'd have to make to get the survivability up.

Add me as another voice to say Bots/Traps and that it's been done on SOs.

I've seen a Fire/Mental blaster solo lots of giant monsters, but that required a great deal of investment.

Just clarify something for me... Is "solo" counting use of cheater Inspirations, or doing it the real man's way?

Relax, it's a joke. I'm talking about the use of any Inspirations.

I suspect GuyPerfect did not emit that message with even half the seriousness you ascribe to it.

Edit: And I was right!

My solo monster hunters are an Ill/Rad troller and an Arch/MM blaster, the team GM hunter is an Ice/Storm troller.

On the Ill/Rad, I have solo'd every GM (except Ukon Grai', no one seems to let me solo him during a raid for some reason lol) and the Arch/MM I have solo'd some of the "weaker" GM's (Kraken, Adamastor) When I mention "weaker", I do not mean to take away from those GM's or those that have had a tough time soloing them, they are just "weaker" to me and my playstyle/toons.

How is /thermal for these purposes? I have a ninja/therm MM in the mid levels, and while the I suspect the ninjas will fold too easily for it to be excellent at GM hunting, I might give it a shot once some more levels come his way...