To Each Their Own Crab

Hi,

So I've recently come back to CoH after many many years. I'm still working on getting a grasp of all the new stuff. I've looked at a lot of builds on the forums and it seems like the super optimized ones are those using cheap IOs, which makes sense since why spend extra money when you don't have to, right?

I've been trying to put one together that does it all(or most of it?) even if has to use the silly expensive enhancements(like the PvP 3% one). I have a great leveling one thanks to RedLynne.

I was hoping you build aficionados might give me a hand trying to assemble that 'dream' build, something to work towards as a second build

I put a build together in Mids, but then realized I know far less than I need to in order to answer the important questions. Things like which slots to go where and which sets, etc. I realize the information I've gleamed from the forums could be wrong, so bare with me if I have made some poor assumptions.

These are the powers I took:

Arachnos Soldier:
Single Shot

Crab Spider Soldier:
Suppression
Venom Grenade
Omega Maneuver

Training and Gadgets:
Combat Training: Defensive
Combat Training: Offensive
Tactical Training: Maneuvers
Tactical Training: Assault
Tactical Training: Leadership
Mental Training
Call Reinforcements

Crab Spider Training:
Crab Spider Armor Upgrade
Fortification
Serum
Summon Spiderlings

Speed:
Hasten

Leadership:
Maneuvers
Assault
Tactics

Leaping:
Combat Jumping

Leviathan Mastery:
School of Sharks
Arctic Breath
Bile Spray
Summon Guardian

My goal was to hopefully have permanent pets. I'm not sure if the Guardian can be permanent but don't know if you don't ask. Reaching the soft cap for defenses would be a major goal too.

I figured my AoE attack chain could be: Suppression -> Venom -> Arctic -> Bile. I'm guessing the only redraw would be from Venom to Arctic and Bile to Suppression? Is there a better ranged AoE attack chain?

For single target, is it enough to just use single shot over and over? Slotted with enough recharge, or maybe single shot into Spirit Shark?(Taking it instead of School of Sharks). If it would be a bad plan, would dropping something for Burst be the way to go?

I rarely see Omega Maneuver mentioned. I can understand if that is simply because its a no-brainer in a demolishing AoE combo, but if it isn't useful that would a power I could drop.

I think that's gone on long enough.

Future thanks for the assistance.

Your dream build is very different than mine, but I will see what tips I can offer. First of all, even a bad Mids build would give us something concrete to work from, so feel free to post whatever you've got so-far.

One of the keys to Crab building is how you bridge the gap between your basic defensive powers (Maneuvers x2, Combat Jumping) and soft cap. It requires IO set bonuses, but which ones? Melee is especially tricky. I think it's best to take some melee attacks and slot them with Obliteration and Touch of Death. Some people use Shield Breaker in their ranged attacks, or even six-slot Enfeebled Operation in Wide Area Web Grenade and a Patron immobilize power.

The IO sets that give you the best positional defense bonuses don't always give you the +Recharge that you might want for perma-pets. Purple sets have great recharge, but not defense bonuses. Taking Weave can make you less reliant on set bonuses for your soft caps, giving you more freedom to use purples, but you've got to find room for it.

Combat Training: Offensive gives you a 10% accuracy bonus, but by the time you factor in your IO sets, you'll probably be coated in 9% Accuracy bonuses and have a 95% chance to hit everything you meet, even without this power.

The reason Omega Maneuver is seldom mentioned is that it's extremely fussy and hard to get your money's worth out of. The bomb's taunt is weak and your pets and teammates can easily ruin it by stealing the aggro from the bomb. On a team of 50's that are rolling along at a good clip, there may not even be anything left alive in range by the time the bomb actually goes off. If you solo a lot and don't mind slotting it for a bit more range to keep its aggro radius clear, it can be amazing. On teams, it's very skippable.

I can't offer much advice on Single Shot or even on AoE chains, since my Crab fires off Suppression and Venom Grenade, then closes to melee range and slashes things to death.

Here's my current Huntsman/Crab build. I've done like 2 min pylon times with him and he's incarnated out to T3s. Right now to optimize him further I'd look at moving around a few slots and putting dmg procs in to the single target attacks. The good news is there's nothing in this current build that's crazy expensive -- very few purples, and they are cheaper ones.

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1522;707;1414;HEX;|
|78DA65945B4F134114C767DB29A52D484BB95F4BCBBD505B21F15111D1888068090|
|FDE362B9DB49B346DB35D893CFA29FC0082E88B0F02C1EB831FC08FA222E8A3A9A7|
|7BFE4542374D7EB3FF33E73F674E6776F9D9F5A6B7379F5F115AC77CDE2897F539C|
|BD8C8158A653D5DCC674C6579570CFBA965E4DD4288D67BAAA0B2464645EE949465|
|D8E6A6F2921C3D9F534E9C5746D62CC32C9885AC7ED3C864955D4ECC5BC6133D5D3|
|233CAD26BC1D0AD424E59AA60276A03FF6AB1984FA44B4A659A9DE10D339BB3696A|
|8BF3B6A4A818AB9C334B018EE6ABE1DE8592B991585F985BD397D4A669D839A3A02|
|F1B655B595B5D54EFA838FB54A478494849E1DA05B7997207FCEA122228C5BB00BD|
|6B4E8E26BA68E097A2A19318A29C5A88FC34F835C0AF117E8DF0F357FD7C521C929|
|F9BFD84FB2FA1478A2835D4C39ACB13C77CB00994042FAFE5F1EE11E2143BE4D885|
|7DE224F180382545F03DEBC16F2E871F684D1FFC7D6D9AA3B506C17666034503F00|
|FEC737EDB1E08BF0EACD771C0ECBACCFE1E7A6D466EB34E18A3D87D66CF23F001B3|
|EF31F890A9D1A65A3857B454E8717619825B08150C60E5015436800A22A82CB2459|
|584A570537298772AC3B3BCB3C80C732809A6C04B4C4939EDE84E3BBA13437762E8|
|CE1EB5A613BE9DF08DC177183EC3F01F867F887CBBE1DB0DDF51F88EC2779F7C7B7|
|98EBB770DB1BBCCB134B8C2F4915F3FFCFAE13706BF09F87D22BF41F46E709BFF9D|
|891DF0157372177C0DBE611E506E14B9D113EEEBD46FF0083C664EFF017F31BF50E|
|E086EC2C831FB4D9F302F5E03E7C0ABCCCF94338E9B301E639F8FA4C5A1C587586B|
|A57D27A025A0B59196C4A94962EF7DF2F476D3AF7A9296EA9455797A6385E628DFF|
|D671454F1E3AC36CEDACFAA86EF80B6CE2BA61635E70C1FFD8FB9B408CF4FD5F802|
|5DAEAB2559A7A4EA94993A65B64EB92D4FBF50155F90BE2E1CAD2C8669618CFF01E|
|8C6F9EE|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.953
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

The Operative: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Single Shot

• (A) Apocalypse - Damage
• (3) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
• (3) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (5) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
• (5) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
• (7) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (7) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
• (9) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (31) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (9) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance

• (A) Empty

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (11) Red Fortune - Defense
• (13) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (13) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (15) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (15) Red Fortune - Endurance

• (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
• (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (33) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (34) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (17) Red Fortune - Defense
• (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (21) Red Fortune - Endurance

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
• (21) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
• (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
• (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

• (A) Aegis - Resistance
• (46) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
• (46) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense
• (27) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (27) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (29) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (29) Red Fortune - Endurance

• (A) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
• (31) Aegis - Resistance
• (34) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance

• (A) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
• (34) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal
• (40) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
• (43) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge

• (A) Flight Speed IO

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

• (A) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Recharge
• (36) Enfeebled Operation - Endurance/Immobilize
• (36) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Endurance
• (36) Enfeebled Operation - Immobilize/Range
• (37) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
• (37) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge

• (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
• (42) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (42) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (42) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (43) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage

• (A) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown
• (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
• (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
• (46) Ragnarok - Damage

• (A) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Recharge
• (48) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage
• (48) Call to Arms - Damage/Endurance
• (48) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (50) Call to Arms - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (50) Call to Arms - Defense Bonus Aura for Pets

• (A) Soulbound Allegiance - Damage/Recharge
• (50) Soulbound Allegiance - Accuracy/Recharge

• (A) Flight Speed IO

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
• (31) Miracle - +Recovery

• (A) Jumping IO

• (A) Endurance Modification IO

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

• 15.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 15.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 12.88% Defense(Melee)
• 5% Defense
• 11.31% Defense(Smashing)
• 11.31% Defense(Lethal)
• 14.75% Defense(Fire)
• 14.75% Defense(Cold)
• 8.81% Defense(Energy)
• 8.81% Defense(Negative)
• 11% Defense(Psionic)
• 11.63% Defense(Ranged)
• 14.13% Defense(AoE)
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
• 106.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 33% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 3% Enhancement(Immobilize)
• 5% FlySpeed
• 80.32 HP (7.5%) HitPoints
• 5% JumpHeight
• 5% JumpSpeed
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
• MezResist(Held) 2.5%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 9.1%
• MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%
• MezResist(Stun) 2.5%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 4.7%
• 15.5% (0.27 End/sec) Recovery
• 52% (2.78 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 11.89% Resistance(Smashing)
• 11.89% Resistance(Lethal)
• 20.71% Resistance(Fire)
• 20.71% Resistance(Cold)
• 10% Resistance(Energy)
• 11.88% Resistance(Negative)
• 13.13% Resistance(Toxic)
• 13% Resistance(Psionic)
• 15% RunSpeed

• 16% (0.86 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 32.13 HP (3%) HitPoints
• 4% DamageBuff(All)
• 10% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 5% Defense(Psionic)

• 1.5% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery
• 3% Defense(Melee), 3% Defense(AoE), 3% Defense(Ranged), 3% Defense(Smashing), 3% Defense(Lethal), 3% Defense(Fire), 3% Defense(Cold), 3% Defense(Energy), 3% Defense(Negative), 3% Defense(Psionic)
• Knockback (Mag -4), Knockup (Mag -4)

• 3% Defense(Melee), 3% Defense(AoE), 3% Defense(Ranged), 3% Defense(Smashing), 3% Defense(Lethal), 3% Defense(Fire), 3% Defense(Cold), 3% Defense(Energy), 3% Defense(Negative), 3% Defense(Psionic)

• 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 10% (0.54 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 12.05 HP (1.12%) HitPoints
• 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• MezResist(Immobilize) 2.2%
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 2% DamageBuff(All)
• 5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
• 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• MezResist(Immobilize) 2.2%
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 2% DamageBuff(All)
• 5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 5% JumpSpeed, 5% JumpHeight, 5% FlySpeed, 5% RunSpeed
• 20.08 HP (1.87%) HitPoints
• 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
• 2.5% DamageBuff(All)
• 2.5% Defense(Melee), 1.25% Defense(Lethal), 1.25% Defense(Smashing), 2.5% Defense(Ranged), 1.25% Defense(Energy), 1.25% Defense(Negative), 2.5% Defense(AoE), 1.25% Defense(Fire), 1.25% Defense(Cold)

• 5% RunSpeed
• 3.13% Defense(Fire,Cold), 1.56% Defense(AoE)

• MezResist(Immobilize) 2.2%
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 2% DamageBuff(All)
• 5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 5% RunSpeed
• 3.13% Defense(Fire,Cold), 1.56% Defense(AoE)
• 3% Resistance(Psionic)

• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
• 5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 3% Enhancement(Immobilize)
• 1.88% Resistance(Negative)
• 2.5% Defense(Smashing,Lethal), 1.25% Defense(Melee)
• 3.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 3.13% Defense(Melee), 1.56% Defense(Lethal), 1.56% Defense(Smashing)

• Status Resistance 2.5%
• 3% DamageBuff(All)
• 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 10% (0.54 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 3.13% Defense(Ranged), 1.56% Defense(Energy), 1.56% Defense(Negative)
• 10% Resistance(All)

• 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
• 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 3.13% Resistance(Toxic)

• 4% (0.07 End/sec) Recovery
• 2.52% Resistance(Fire,Cold)
• 15% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 10% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

• 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery
• 16.06 HP (1.5%) HitPoints
• 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 1.89% Resistance(Smashing,Lethal)
• 2.5% Defense(AoE), 1.25% Defense(Fire), 1.25% Defense(Cold)
• 5% Defense

• 16% (0.86 HP/sec) Regeneration

|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1510;690;1380;HEX;|
|78DA6594594F1A611486BF81A12888A0E2BE6B71414170492F8DB1D6A48A9A68BC2|
|55399C82404C8404D7BD97FD0F51F74BD699AAAB5EB4FE97ADFBAB4F7F4C8FBAAB4|
|4C489E99F73BE7BC670EDF37895B57EB5E2EDE99555ACB7CC628149273B6B195CEE|
|60AC9F55C266599B67BC528DEB48D8C5329E5DB489B7DAB79D3368AD68EE91625F4|
|7F78213A6F1B3792EB792B65DA676268C336ACAC95DD4E2E1AA96DB3F86FD0D9A2F|
|2ACE57299E87ADE345375E5DB65D3C8CB82AFFC70CDDA4E17E5C97FB624B985B495|
|EF5CC85B5BD1CD85B98DE4B2B96319C5B4914D268C42D1B46FB7498B43AAF22AB9D|
|4B843A9B8AE1C11320AEA13640CBC14075F7B254D2BE73A54ABDC74CB5A1B5833E9|
|2CC71C488C8618A5356B656D40E6E384A639C75459EB215B64CDC59A2EC6D704414|
|F00D424C68D9E95BB24977A272EB5C872D532CB530FD679482F58EF23FDE0E924BC|
|A8A67BDFA28BBE3DF20D7900F6EF830D62EFA39F8F7E01FA05E8D748BF46FA05E9F|
|75ECCFC9C88BF1FF51AA55E03B5066A1F24AE891E4D8F31F1E013B0E529F90C6C7B|
|4EBE009D52AF99536C9E866F24464E81BAC4B422466F65EF1DECBD83BD77B1F72EF|
|6BE2B3DB5B36EFB0CB41ED6EF67FD3D89E964DDCE35AEAD809757C1E125309C003F|
|4A4E37DFBF7B10EF1F94FE7AF92FF772C647B2A906B85B07EE421BBC47DE271FD0E|
|B21F908FC241E21E686FE604E43BFC913F2181C3E220FC1573EA546983BC23D32CA|
|3D31CA3D32CA3D13E61E09EF82C7D2F318F7D7D815D41B9F26A7C819303209EE4BA|
|F51FA453F3BCA276AE20BF995FC06C6BF933FC013F18B21578BCDA25E7C0EFCE9A9|
|388D9CF3E185A6699BFC4FAF0B8775F5AB327E04F147955A1FB42EFDFC2B22BFD31|
|319AE5422888A5545C5AB94A92A655A3FFFCAC821C77B2C5D68A5E5AA8C359D8BA7|
|1DF2BB521B906F0EB4D26C9348CCFE0BC7FEE58E|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

So I spent the time and what know how I could muster(and borrow from the build above) to put that together. I figured I'd post it because I've been looking at it for a while and I figured opinions would be better before I tried to optimize it. Not to mention I'm sure some of you can point out glaring issues.

Some things I noticed and would like opinions on:

Combat Training: Defense: As it stands now I have 53.6% ranged defense. So all this power is really doing is a place holder for Luck of the Gambler. So this makes me wonder if I should replace this power. Though being that its taken at level 2 there are not many options.

Defenses: I'm way overcapped on Ranged(53.6), AoE(47.4), Fire/Cold(48.1), Melee(46.2). It would be nice to fix that to take care of the 2 decent deficiencies(negative/energy @ 42.1) and 2 slight (smashing/lethal @ 44.6)

0 Slots in Stamina: I think the 3.08 recovery with 1.35 drain is probably going to be problematic, but not sure what power to steal from(except maybe Tough)

AoE Rotation: I dropped suppresion because school of sharks has a better -Def to it. I figure I can use Venom -> School -> Arctic -> Bile -> repeat and do some really nice damage.

Pets: Spiderlings are very permanent, but Summon Guardian and Call Reinforcements are off by a few seconds. I wish I could move any of the last 6 powers down, but due to requirements they are all sort of stuck there. Maybe I should swap Summoner Spiderlings and Summon Guardian? That way I could 6 slot Guardian and probably make him permanent. Not sure where to get more recharge in order to make Call Reinforcements permanent though.

Incarnate Slot: Right now it uses Cardiac. I wonder if it could be completely rebuilt using Agility instead and saving a lot on defense?

Appreciate the advice, the earlier stuff really helped me at least try to plan out a build.

Depends what you want.

In my build, without any purples and hasten, I can have softcap or just under, and perma spiderlings. It is also on the cheap.

Want to see it?

Defense-wise, you use whatever defense is best out of all your applicable defenses. So if some thug shoots you with a pistol (Lethal, Ranged), you use either your Ranged or Lethal defense, whichever is best. Because of this, many Crab Spiders soft-cap the three positional defenses and ignore the rest.

If your defenses are over soft cap, you can keep the excess to protect yourself from debuffs, or get rid of it. In your case you could lose CT: Defensive or take a couple slots away from Expedient Reinforcement to use for something else.
Most people do use Combat Training: Defensive because with very minimal slotting (the Defense IO and Global Recharge IO from LotG) you get over 10% ranged defense as well as the 7.5% recharge.

Some time ago there was a forum thread that studied just what the best bang for your buck was for Stamina with IOS. The thread concluded that it was this:
1) Regular End Mod IO
2) Performance Shifter End Mod
3) Performance Shifter Chance for +End
On any character that does not have a highly efficient endurance recovery power, I follow this advice. I also slot Health with the Miracle +Recovery unique and the Numina's Convalescence +Regen/+Recovery unique. Anyone who's prepared to pay billions for a PVP 3% Defense IO should definitely pick these up for what amounts to spare pocket change.

You do have the uniques in your build. I just got rambling about Endurance and lost track of the actual build I was discussing.

There are certainly many different ways to handle your defenses and still hit the positional soft-caps. If you never plan to exemplar, then including Agility to reach your caps is certainly valid. If School of Sharks is a very good immobilize, maybe you don't really require soft-capped melee defense. You can just pop a purple inspiration when you find yourself in melee with something. With creative use of IO set bonuses you could drop Weave and its prerequisites from your build and still hit your positional soft caps.
My own build gets a lot of defense from set bonuses and lacks staples like Combat Jumping, so there is no right way to do it.

So is there a reason to take single shot over channelgun? I know single shot is faster, but you lose that with redraw, and channelgun does energy damage which is usually preferred over lethal. Also on your attack chain I always start with venom it is a -res power making all other attacks do more damage. I then follow it with bilespray since venom gives double -res to toxic attacks, and it is a much quicker attack then suppression. Then I use suppression, that way all the dots from the last to powers go off during its animation.

On another note, how important is the debuff proc from the achilles' heel enhancement?

In my own quaint old-fashioned way of playing, the idea of making an attack chain out of one filler attack and spamming it endlessly seems bizarre and rather boring. I prefer to attack with the best, most powerful attack I have available, and fill gaps with a fast single-target attack.

Crabs are experts at clearing out vast hordes of foes with AoE attacks. Difficulty settings less than x8 is a waste of our talents. When the AoE has scoured the area clear of minions and lieutenants, all that's left standing are a few half-dead bosses. At this point I shift my attack rotation to favor more single target attacks instead of Suppression, but I never feel the need for a special single-target mop-up chain.

I don't use Achilles' Heel procs. I have Venom Grenade and Shatter Armor that deliver a resistance debuff every time they hit instead of every fifth time. If it was going to be useful though, it would be on a rapid attack like Single Shot or Channelgun that you plan to fire over and over again in hopes your 20% chance will come up. In general, I think that enhancement slots are better spent on the basics... accuracy, damage, recharge.

So I been playing a few other ATs, but finally came back to my SoA.

I looked over my build and think I've made a nice effective build. It does make a fair use of enhancement boosters, but I'm alright with that since it allows me to get more out of the build.

It is softcapped to R/AoE with only 44.4% to Melee. I think it would take a lot of boosters to get the last 0.6%, but I figured it would possible to just have a more efficient build. The resistances look really nice too.

Single Shot and Burst work pretty good for ST and there are the 4 AOEs to make a nice rotation.

2 of the pets are perma, but Call Reinforcements needs another 7 seconds, but wasn't sure where to find the recharge for it. The same problem with hasten needing to lose 9 more seconds.

For the alpha slot I managed to use Cardiac over Agility, which saves a ton of endurance costs.

Any help to find that last bit of recharge would be great, especially if I can get softcapped to the 3 positionals.

Thanks

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1492;687;1374;HEX;|
|78DA65944B6F125114C7EFC02002E5257D53DA02525A2803D356B74D536B17B6A64|
|99B6EC9582630090132A0D1A55FC18DCFA5CF8D31DA87CF8FA2B6EEB52FF7F530E7|
|4FABCE04F29BFB9FF3BAE7DC99E5DB57BA5E2FDE9D1552EF7C556B368B73A6B651A|
|9D59BC5D57AB564E8A6FBBAD6BA696A55A7A0CB4DFFD4FF164D65DED46E14571B46|
|49373B626ACDD48C9A512B1717B552596FFD6BD47928BC2BF57A55596DE87A2968D|
|D2EE91A19342B46A3ABB36E90A1DF5A5C35CA9516ADA20B0D6343595F985B2B2EE9|
|B70CAD55D16AC565ADD9D2CD3BFD54625AFC7D9DC8E2495B9485E331F888293F041|
|F30DFFA8892E523C414ED5825DB8E447124D56169E714B0C03C9F0773CC6D8AE3E4|
|3892B38F6E62B2F0F63313D4431772B8B204D523C2A4B95973B97B242B8637C0ECF|
|2835E66C0C70C05991F289707BE1ECBD7230278160AF0FA8217F433BB7DCC76AF7C|
|D89BEFBDB07C7A77C06D66FF26B8059D6AF5A37E3F6AFD484182D08271B693C82EC|
|CB145F8842EF189AC22A834F2943BD5FD8A39F48C39FC027C0EBE643A295A0FFBCA|
|3DC39235ADD1041867C647C02453269F3EE4EB43A571743589AE26D1D524BA7A119|
|DFB4CB50E60470339DED13BD2A28817CDB0DD681E7E59709239960315E626F9C610|
|2F96E5783BA48D401B417D0774E81298480213496322694C248D494C60325F284E8|
|A7D5CA9AFD4AF98478C7D7358A72DF39D99DB653DB7C7547FB0FEC62FC438F28D23|
|DF04F24C206F06F932C877483566E1939DE2F94C4E8333E02566EE32F3887C14F82|
|8BF59CBEF3BAC53983FC4FA88D7EA31738BF655601FA9B0CBF5AA7BCC21F9F4EDA6|
|5FFB74656C4AC1A6A83665DAA6CCD8946BF2E957E164C9F6F4A7971E628A92A5EC9|
|F299214E7AFC8E03ACFF797CDFAE04C7148F7B91383F7F0568C72C757E4D36F10BC|
|3C21FAC2B0C2D76C842C51E41F37B6FA54|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Hover gun crab, perma-hasten, perma-pets, leadership stack, musculature alpha. My crab's the one that took down a pylon in 30 seconds. My crab has easily become my go-to character since I've built him to be very effective even when exemplaring.

I didn't slot for soft cap because crab has so much survivability in resistance, serum, pets, and high offense that it just seemed excessive. You can always pop a purple for added def but there are no insps for recharge. Hit fast and hit hard.

Everyone will build their crab differently, but this is what works for me... and exceptionally well.

My time was after the Reactive fix. I don't have any rain powers so it really didnt affect me. I havent been too active on CoH since I got my new PC several mins ago so I don't have any of my Mids data easily accessible. I actually don't even have Mids installed at this point.

I was using Lore pets also, not sure if you had that on your Huntsman time. Without the Lore I seem to recall being around 1:10. Lore pets boosted with Musculature and double assault are no joke.

I'm wondering if it would be worth it changing over Reactive to the newer power that does the toxic DoT since Venom Grenade gives the massive toxic -res. One of the reasons I took a break from the game was I felt burnt out from the non stop trial runs though, so it'll be a while before I get around to that. I'm hoping the DA route in I22 isn't as slow as I'm hearing though.

I posted my build here in the SoA forums a couple of days ago. Go take a look.

Ah cool I just saw it.

I see you took the Blaster from PPP which is definitely going to up your DPS -- my build only had the spiderlings and the disruptors. So would Shatter Armor if you were using it.

I see you are not soft-capped (under 30%). You must have been getting hit by the Pylon on close to every shot it took. How did you survive? Serum and resistance was enough?


My Huntsman is below. His times are in the Scrapper forum Rikti Pylon thread.

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1522;707;1414;HEX;|
|78DA65945B4F134114C767DB29A52D484BB95F4BCBBD505B21F15111D1888068090|
|FDE362B9DB49B346DB35D893CFA29FC0082E88B0F02C1EB831FC08FA222E8A3A9A7|
|7BFE4542374D7EB3FF33E73F674E6776F9D9F5A6B7379F5F115AC77CDE2897F539C|
|BD8C8158A653D5DCC674C6579570CFBA965E4DD4288D67BAAA0B2464645EE949465|
|D8E6A6F2921C3D9F534E9C5746D62CC32C9885AC7ED3C864955D4ECC5BC6133D5D3|
|233CAD26BC1D0AD424E59AA60276A03FF6AB1984FA44B4A659A9DE10D339BB3696A|
|8BF3B6A4A818AB9C334B018EE6ABE1DE8592B991585F985BD397D4A669D839A3A02|
|F1B655B595B5D54EFA838FB54A478494849E1DA05B7997207FCEA122228C5BB00BD|
|6B4E8E26BA68E097A2A19318A29C5A88FC34F835C0AF117E8DF0F357FD7C521C929|
|F9BFD84FB2FA1478A2835D4C39ACB13C77CB00994042FAFE5F1EE11E2143BE4D885|
|7DE224F180382545F03DEBC16F2E871F684D1FFC7D6D9AA3B506C17666034503F00|
|FEC737EDB1E08BF0EACD771C0ECBACCFE1E7A6D466EB34E18A3D87D66CF23F001B3|
|EF31F890A9D1A65A3857B454E8717619825B08150C60E5015436800A22A82CB2459|
|584A570537298772AC3B3BCB3C80C732809A6C04B4C4939EDE84E3BBA13437762E8|
|CE1EB5A613BE9DF08DC177183EC3F01F867F887CBBE1DB0DDF51F88EC2779F7C7B7|
|98EBB770DB1BBCCB134B8C2F4915F3FFCFAE13706BF09F87D22BF41F46E709BFF9D|
|891DF0157372177C0DBE611E506E14B9D113EEEBD46FF0083C664EFF017F31BF50E|
|E086EC2C831FB4D9F302F5E03E7C0ABCCCF94338E9B301E639F8FA4C5A1C587586B|
|A57D27A025A0B59196C4A94962EF7DF2F476D3AF7A9296EA9455797A6385E628DFF|
|D671454F1E3AC36CEDACFAA86EF80B6CE2BA61635E70C1FFD8FB9B408CF4FD5F802|
|5DAEAB2559A7A4EA94993A65B64EB92D4FBF50155F90BE2E1CAD2C8669618CFF01E|
|8C6F9EE|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

I sit at 37.5 or so ranged defense. It's not cap but it's close enough to avoid most hits. Any hits I take are mitigated through my 50 RES and serum. One defense insp caps me if things get hairy. If things get really hairy I have accolade powers to fall back on.

Sitting at cap is nice but I'd be giving up a good amount of offense to get there.

Sorry to revive a dead topic, but since this is my first Crab Spider... I'm looking for some critiques on my build.

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1533;709;1418;HEX;|
|78DA75944953134114C77B168C6C92842CAC2109849D40D4B3148548A9810A24724|
|D8DC914993295A466228237BF81EBD1D283EBC5838096967E1415BD2BB8DCE3CBFC|
|5F029272AAA67EDDFFD76FFA2D3DBDB479BEEDD5E2AD5921F9E6F39A65A5E74C2D9|
|32B14AD74B298CF1ABAE958D6CAD74D2DAF08215CA99C1E5CD533D7F2BA6505E345|
|33EB203572DCC58ACE9BDAD574B2646475B3264652A666148CC27A7A51CBAEEBE57|
|F17D58CAE8B859C6EEA8572B436684B148BF9685CD74A646EB727178CF55C99661D|
|35137DC1CA19A5167B9E2CE97AB677A16464A26B0B73A9745CDF30B4724E2BA4973|
|4ABAC9B5B5D14F330BD6E517B2AB2784888A9427E04AA8FC1D7AD44C95E23093F0D|
|FA55E1EB023D3513F94BFFF1F7538114AC11CA28B4EABC095A53D36DC9D64EDC61D|
|E05A7EE81D3F7990F401F7939E0AB3824C58EE3A4CC5440A70ABEA3D89B11BBDCEC|
|847F8B87E905FD646DC5F7D4D60DC4D77683B9093AB7C0B19B60B57EEDECD3BE0DE|
|DD40E7317F4BD01C7DF82EF69930EC4223A42D0BCD513C575703D916DCDFD14F43C|
|03C79F83932FC0A997A04445E8E43A742608618A6B050CAC3293E007DADBCB7B7BA|
|7B0F736697E68AA3F408311F21F00432166181C19047B687537E7DDCDB5EAE15AF5|
|70ADC6B856E35CAB1DDAA79773EC5D41CDFB569949702C054E5EE1DEAF812ECAB19|
|FFBD7CFFD0B70FFA6B97FD56F0F701E0371C5D6824BCC6566020CAD80BB14539863|
|0A7F92EDB332F899F985B9070E7D657E033F926F847D23FBE8C5F001F327F31738F|
|29BF90754289F51EEC3E869C4A29236C1394E708E939C638C73F4D19A28FB4503A8|
|6B98B419F69B9980163BC63EB5FE7F0BBB79D5BE1CD52AF488990625D6A09C6950C|
|E362897D5FA4D51891FB5F2694FA8F5DB42481C61B3B37E3B54BEB7909DB394F894|
|EE1F6A92740EB7CED0259CC61F47D7F3CD7270A8C952109A9BE961CED26F13E33DF|
|F02721BE879|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Just start a new thread because this one is VERY OLD. Some will think its asked and answered so won't come back to address anything. Finally the Mods will lock it so your best bet is to start a new thread of your own to save yourself the possible hassle.