Quote:
Well, its funny you should ask that. Today just happens to be the first day of beta test for Issue 24. Issue 24 has, shall we say, somewhat dramatic changes in it, particularly for blasters although many of the changes affect lots of things.|
Originally Posted by Cryosteel
Hello folks,
Just came back after a long time away (new job, family, stuff) and I have no idea what to do with my main's build. He's Ice/Ice/Cold but he's specc'd pre-Architect so...Can anyone post a decent, reltively cheap build that gets the best dmg and def for the buck. I'm not a serious type player, I just want something to work with. Thanks |
Here's the quick summary of changes that might be noteworthy to your blaster:
1. All blaster secondaries are getting something called a "sustain" power. Its a power that either has powerful regeneration, or a new effect called Absorb which is like ablative armor. Ice Manipulation is getting chilling embrace buffed so it has +recovery and absorb shields. Oh, and its radius is increasing from 10 feet to 30 feet.
2. You don't have a snipe, but I should mention all ranged attack snipes are being changed so that if you have a net +22% tohit or higher at that moment, the snipe "fastcasts" where it no longer interrupts and fires immediately, basically betwen one and one and a half seconds, more or less. Its being referred to as "insta-cast" by some.
3. The short ranged 40 foot blasts are getting their range increased to 80 feet. In particular this includes Bitter Ice Blast which used to be 50 feet.
4. All mez resist invention buffs in the invention system are being increased *and* actual damage resistances are being added to them, plus all damage resist bonuses are increasing. Basically, it is much easier to build for resistance with inventions now.
5. Many power pools are getting a fifth power, and those are pretty interesting. Also, there's a new power pool for purchase in the Paragon Store called "Sorcery" which has various attacks and ally buffs.
Which reminds me: if you've been gone a long time, you may not know City of Heroes is now a hybrid free to play model: you can play without subscribing and you get a subset of the game, or you can still subscribe like normal and get all of the game. Except for stuff they sell in the Paragon Store, which you access from within the game client. They sell things like new powersets in there, among other things.
6. Crashing nukes don't crash anymore. This includes Blizzard. Blizzard's base recharge has dropped from 360 seconds to 170 seconds and its damage reduced to about 83% of the original damage. Its end cost has increased to 27.72 end, but as I said it doesn't end-crash in I24.
There's a ton of other stuff, but enough has changed (or will change: this is just the first day of beta) that build advice will probably be a bit dated and evolving over the next month. I'd recommend play it as it is now, and aim for catching up in I24 unless you're in a big hurry, because the options for building blasters will be a lot better in I24.
Edit: I should also mention that as a VIP subscriber which your orange name seems to indicate, you are entitled to access the beta server and check out I24. You can also copy live characters from the live servers to the beta server to see how they perform under I24 or to test respecs. The character copy tool is accessed from the forums here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/charactercopy.php
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to emphasize - those change Arcanaville mentioned are on the test server, not the live server
Quote:
To be specific, they are on the Beta server. City of Heroes now has three server "clusters" - the live servers, the test server, and the two beta servers. Live is live. Test is test - its a server players can use to test stuff, and patches for the live game are usually tested there first. Beta is generally used specifically to test new issues or major updates to the current issue, or things like new powersets.|
Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
to emphasize - those change Arcanaville mentioned are on the test server, not the live server
|
Issue 24 is currently being tested on the Beta server cluster. It is not on live, and it is not on test.
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Folks,
Thank you so much for all of your helpful advice. Arcana, you sir are a forum GOD! I've read many of your posts since I've been back and always find them ingtelligent, well-informed and helpful.
Please don't think I don't appreciate the advice you've already given, because I do, but I really just wanted to see some Ice/Ice/Cold builds to get an idea where to start. You have to realize, when I left the invention system was brand new, people were still fuming about ED, and I don't think sets or set bonuses even existed yet. Heck, I don't even know how many slots to put into particular powers anymore. For instance, when I left, a power with 1 useful enhancement type got three slots because ED made 4 a waste, but with sets and bonuses...well...I see people 6 slotting stamina? This is how dumb 5 years away makes you.
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
Neither a build guru nor expert on ice/ice so I'll just provide a few basic tips.
1) download Mids’ Hero/Villain Designer 1.956 it's an incredible tool for helping to plan out your builds. (Warning, tool may make cause obsessive build planning/tweaking)
2) If you plan on using IOs (which it sounds like you do) try to have a goal in mind. By this I mean what you want from the set bonuses and want to accomplish from the build.
Common goals are building for defense (either typed or positional, rarely both) +recharge, +hp, and I suspect post IO changed some might go for +resist. There's also some who will say "forget bonuses" and rather than managing all the sets, just try to get the best stuff slotted into each individual power, typically called franken-slotting.
3) Related to above, providing more info will help the build guru's help you. Do you want to go full damage, focus on controls, self-surviveability, a mix, none of the above? Any powers that you want to take or avoid for concept?
Now, for how I tend to build blasters (again, not a guru nor do I have much experience with ice, /ice, or /cold)
Take, and 6 slot both of your first 2 blasts. The immob should also probably get a slot or two. My reasoning being that these powers can be used while mezzed, so you'll want them to be good. Not all 6 slots should be needed to get good damage/end reduction/accuracy/recharge out of these, so use left over slots for procs of your choice.
Survive-ability is great, but dead things can't kill you (well, maybe exploding robots...) I tend to go mostly for damage, with only moderate defenses. However, alot of guru's don't agree with this, going for tons of defense, and some of them are rich enough to get a build that accomplishes both quite well.
And you'll need influence, and/or some gaming of the old and new merit systems to fully IO. Used to be that there was no need for influence ever, beyond the little needed for SOs, now there are a great many things to spend it on, the invention system being one of them And while a few hundred million influence isn't ton in today's economy, as I remember it was more than most people saw the need to collect in the pre-IO days
Sorry if it my post seems like a bit wordy or not quite what you were looking for, but hopefully it'll provide a starting point before the real experts can come in. And just re-read the OP and noticed you did have a goal in mind, sorry about missing that before.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler
That...was a Herocon 09 exclusive easter egg. The powerset will not have doves associated with it.
Namely because you guys would want to color tint the damn doves, or make them hawks/ravens/flying sharks/etc and that's just a headache I do...not...want...to deal with. |
Quote:
How you build depends these days on what your goals are, and how much you're willing to spend. And influence is not hard to come by, so don't be frightened by the numbers. There are million inf simple builds with just a couple IOs, there are ten million frankenbuilds with mixes of inventions, hundred million IO builds where you are now trying to optimize your build but generally staying away from purple (very rare) inventions and some of the more pricey IOs, and billion+ builds where the sky is the limit.|
Originally Posted by Cryosteel
Folks,
Thank you so much for all of your helpful advice. Arcana, you sir are a forum GOD! I've read many of your posts since I've been back and always find them ingtelligent, well-informed and helpful. Please don't think I don't appreciate the advice you've already given, because I do, but I really just wanted to see some Ice/Ice/Cold builds to get an idea where to start. You have to realize, when I left the invention system was brand new, people were still fuming about ED, and I don't think sets or set bonuses even existed yet. Heck, I don't even know how many slots to put into particular powers anymore. For instance, when I left, a power with 1 useful enhancement type got three slots because ED made 4 a waste, but with sets and bonuses...well...I see people 6 slotting stamina? This is how dumb 5 years away makes you. |
There's a couple of basic blaster strategies. KB protection is easy to buy with IOs, so blaster builds often tend to have at least one or two of those. A popular strategy is to build for 45% or more ranged defense and stay at range (aka 'ranged soft-capped" builds). These tend to use a lot of thunderstrike sets because of their ranged defense. And more recently they tend to use the archetype-specific IOs or ATIOs: the current blaster set has significant ranged defense if you six slot it. An alternative is to try to build for 45%+ to smashing, lethal, and energy (at least) which will make you less dependent on range; if you intend to mix it up in melee range this might be the better strategy. Why those three? Because combined they cover the widest amount of the most common attacks you'll likely face with the least amount of defense (smash, lethal, energy, and psi would be better, but also much more difficult for a blaster). If you are Ice/Ice/Cold you already have a smash/lethal defense toggle (frozen armor) so going s/l/e defense might be the better choice.
Don't bother with Hoarfrost. The blaster health cap is too low. You're better off getting the health accolades and building a few +MaxHealth invention bonuses into your build. My energy/energy/force blaster is basically health capped with no power like hoarfrost at all, so its not hard.
Try to build your build to leverage Ice Bolt and Ice Blast. Always take both. With the current version of Blaster Defiance, you can use both attacks (and chilblain) when you are held.
I'll try to whip up an Ice/Ice build in Mids later today; I was busy last night testing blaster builds on beta.
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OK, first attempt in Mids. i know stupidity abounds but remember the last time i slotted a character there were NO IO sets or ATIO sets. Heck, I don't even know what half this stuff means. Please let the criticism fly, I need it.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Cryosteel: Level 50 Mutation Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Ice Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt
- (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
- (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
- (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
- (9) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (9) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (11) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (11) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Soaring - FlySpeed
- (13) Soaring - Endurance
- (13) Soaring - Endurance/FlySpeed
- (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (15) Detonation - Damage/Endurance
- (15) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (17) Detonation - Damage/Range
- (17) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (39) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range
- (A) Rectified Reticle - To Hit Buff
- (19) Rectified Reticle - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (19) Rectified Reticle - Increased Perception
- (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage
- (21) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance
- (21) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge
- (23) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (23) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (40) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Recharge
- (25) Essence of Curare - Endurance/Hold
- (25) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Endurance
- (27) Essence of Curare - Hold/Range
- (40) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold
- (40) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (A) Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage
- (42) Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge
- (43) Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (43) Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (43) Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage
- (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff
- (27) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (29) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
- (48) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge
- (48) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (48) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
- (A) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
- (29) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
- (31) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (31) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (31) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (42) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (33) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
- (34) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
- (34) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (34) Damage Increase IO
- (36) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Slow
- (36) Tempered Readiness - Damage/Slow
- (36) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Endurance
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (50) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (37) Detonation - Damage/Endurance
- (37) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (37) Detonation - Damage/Range
- (39) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (39) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range
- (A) Slow IO
- (A) Karma - Defense/Endurance
- (42) Karma - Defense/Recharge
- (50) Karma - Knockback Protection
- (A) Sleep Duration IO
- (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
- (45) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
- (45) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
- (45) Red Fortune - Defense
- (46) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Red Fortune - Endurance
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (A) Empty
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Swift
- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Healing IO
- (A) Jumping IO
- (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
- (33) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
- (33) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
Here's my version:
Code:
I dropped Ice Sword for Chilling Embrace and Freeze Ray for Frozen Aura, but the power choices are otherwise identical.| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1448;646;1292;HEX;| |78DA6594596F125114C7676028651328D0520A65E9C65696B6FA6A625D52A58A4B7| |C6D084C60CC84214013FBE89B894B7CB69B1AB746ADCB0750A3DF42FD0A2EDF000F| |73FEB4243309FC86FF59EE39E7DECBFAEDB3CEC30B774E0BA26B55AD743A1B67E8B| |B2BB7ED37E46AA3A9A95A7D4BE83F56FA0461DBB85669D6E55A6EAD2AB37B6C60B8| |BED96A69EDAE6E59AF3495D6A65AE92A5A537096354DCD95E44A4B69D61DFA8FF3A| |A526F745DFCDE7F258B7BE05693DB9D86D2F29E6B29D5DCAAA6D6285D7F85AD20D5| |31479F3561F0F42CC22EA12809A63D709F293D019F32479E31EF1EC70A4288B58B0| |411F944E41B41BE51E41B453E3BF2D991EF12C1CCB19279C9A46BCE65708579E224| |788A394E03B5E80BF64C9680A86B337ED0C3745879EE7D1FEB0F8E9BFDC99CFFC5B| |C47561BEAB6BDE3B8F943F03D73E103F811FCC4BC4C510EE4771C702FF137CCD9B7| |4C910A7061562ECCEA3EC18D35DDCFB90ECF0BF025FA7BC50CBE66860F985728CA8| |B582FE63C86398F61CE7ECCD98F398F63CE0F083ED4E2CBB0562204581303DBB486| |8FE6B7C33453ED133C63CB44FF2542F54C33C351E282244CCF807130C194287612F| |B3389FD09617F42D89F3259A750CF1466F3901081168176951045CFD1C7665D8B6D| |833BE02E33BE07EE331B8404CE56E233AFBBF805FC0A7E6316BF331FE18EF463E61| |093464C1A3169C46411A3D03A49EED79C44BF29F49B42BFA925AEC94BB3C9603619| |F866E193454C9D5C73E839877399C7B9CCE35CE6712E8B3897459CCB5B145BC00C0| |BD8E7B03474677BF408716970657BBDB4C15A30284583B26C50560C4AC9A094A5A3| |7F0A41D4159BE7E8FEF77EDBC92AC2BAC8B5FF1DD66E728F7F86B524FBFD3BD6443| |1867B08FE07993EDE28| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
I got you to the soft-cap on range (46.4%) and I got pretty good defense to smash, lethal, energy, and negative (41%+). I traded Freeze Ray for Frozen Aura because I figured if you were going to take Flash Freeze, might as well take Frozen Aura to stack on it. FA stacks on FF (but not the other way around: FF has damage) to reach mag 5 sleep - enough to sleep a boss. Also I could shove Lethargic in there to get more defense bonuses.
You'll probably notice a lot of people slotting Luck of the Gambler into defense sets. That's specifically for the LotG +recharge proc, which offers +7.5% global recharge. The four sets in the build net +30% more global recharge, and there's no such thing as too much recharge. In fact my general rule is if I need a specific invention bonus I find a set that offers it, and if I can't then the default is to stick a purple set in there for the 10% recharge pretty much all of them have if that's possible.
All three single target attacks get Thunderstrike for the defense. Fly gets Blessing of the Zephyr for defense. Chilling Embrace is being used to hold the Pacing of the Turtle set for defense, and its also there so that when I24 rolls around you have that power. Ice Storm gets Air burst for a small +Maxhealth buff and since I was running out of slots I needed a way to enhance that power credibly with minimal slots.
I also moved the Blaster ATIO set to Blizzard, which in I24 won't crash anymore which means you'll be spamming it more often, and I catalyzed it meaning I used the Superior version which has higher bonuses (enhancement Catalysts are a rare drop and you can use them specifically to upgrade ATIOs).
Another common trick you'll see is slotting a full set of Gaussian somewhere: I put it in Build Up. The full set has a significant defense bonus for having all six, and in I24 the BU proc in the Gaussian set will be a PPM-style proc, which for our purposes here will mean it will be firing almost every time Build Up recharges - that means double Build Up and a lot of burst damage.
By focusing on defense to this degree, the build gives up other stuff. Its light on recharge, and the invention system loves recharge - players can easily build well over +100% recharge, sometimes over +200% global recharge which means your best powers are recharged more often, which tends to translate into becoming more powerful, at least offensively. You'll have trouble making a full non-stop attack chain. Also, I would be worried about its endurance balance: it burns a lot of end when its using all its toggles, and its recovery is light. Fortunately, that problem is also going to be significantly addressed in I24 when Chilling Embrace becomes Frigid Protection and starts offering +50% recovery. That's double the recovery in stamina.
Part of the trick to building is that its not about the numbers, its about what you want to play. This build is slow, but strong. If you like slow but strong, it works. If you don't need strong but you want fast, you'd build for recharge. My Energy blaster is build for almost +170% global recharge, and its not so much for the numbers (energy blast doesn't benefit as much from recharge due to its flat DPA), but just because that much speed is fun to play.
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Thanks so much, Arcanaville. You're the best. I think I'm starting to get it. If it's not to much trouble, I'd like to see that "fast" build you mentioned just to see how it's done. I know I want to solo a lot because I play at wierd times, but I'm not sure yet how i wanna play him. I'm a pretty old guy for a gamer, and not terribly quick with my fingers so I thought I better be able to take a hit. 
Hence the defense.
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
The build I'm currently toying with for my Energy/Energy blaster in I24 looks like this at the moment:
Code:
Its focused on recharge, but it doesn't completely sell out to recharge: I do build some defense and resistance in there for survivability. I've reserved five slots for Conserve Power for when it becomes Energize: I'm intending on slotting five Panaceas in there as well, increasing my net global recharge from 170% to 177.5%. And I have Spiritual Core Paragon slotted in my Alpha incarnate slot, which adds even more recharge. For reference, my Power Bolt is recharging in 1.07 seconds, which means between slotting and recharge bonuses its "seeing" 374% recharge, or +274% recharge.| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1533;696;1392;HEX;| |78DA6D93594F135114C7EF74A662299596B2CABED9D2966907505050E202C604129| |4674346989449EA746C4B228F3EF0053411059717D7187971FB181AF56BB87C0153| |4FEFF90F4CC449667E67CE76CF39F7DEC5DB971AF62EDF99154AE462C12C97572ED| |0B76295828B66DE5E15F40416CED7113A6158B9663A796B4D9F73AC527E93DD073D| |DBF286EB164B15CFB8683AB6BB51302B76D1895D71D6AD92E554744FA85F2A160BF| |AB26B596B8D525CB0CC35AB545EB7DDB0FC9F2FD8F9F54A84E59A683BF9A639D75E| |D5E78BA5558BD2D716DD6CA7EA52F44E0AEFA90645262084A189800E66995A0E349| |847B688CD9AB879102BC40C4153C51441413E659B9020FF07CCA30FC11D66FD2E88| |7C45FA553936A0BEE4B5869E334FBC600ED058837281AA124C138C9068006364AB8| |3ADEE0FA15B130D2D8A8C0B912DC43635045D2ACA1C8D8393DCC36942183D84C778| |DDA67166F3047892D97A0ADC62D6C610410F11F490420FA3E8C1256B23FB688D69E| |44F30DB93CCE323602A207BBB45DE31C4C464BF9AE801FB3D56E91119F90D53BF71| |EC4D7C9AFB8A93AE8567106C79C6F9BB5E63BEFFCC3981DAB3AF98B5146D9849DB6| |75EAFFD0BB3EF1BF81DFC8A7A3093415AB703B57474AA5277AE763B90AFF31DFB0F| |BE073F801F99439F40E42BD7B616F9BAFBD9364BE8C57C7AA750FB19A6310DCE806| |79915F21E409E01E4D9200CA3AEE11DAE35B10B3E628E3C069F804F996F08498E55| |92DE196B62BE255B1AE72FDDA6C8B39919E3B88CA1CA3DCE66997B041D75E919AE2| |BD02A440EBA1CF6BB4B3B7CFF16FCBA10F7B9A4EDDF49A1786745F32E6AB5BA542F| |BDA57CDD279B3EF9864F0E45F7EF69F507E91505B94739F74FBF2EC9BA5F073A4DE| |9E2BE8F7533A33DCC9E5EB08FF9FB204655EE732FC7EE31A377717EB799397FDFF2| |06A4FC1A54661CF29A38A419FF4FDC55BA4A06A6F517F744E1B3| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
It doesn't really have the most anything, but it does have a nice enough balance of things for my playstyle.
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If you don't mind a respec to change APPs, I found recently that the Ice APP, while nice, was not as useful on my Ice/Ice Blaster as I thought. S/L Defense was harder to stack than ranged, so the armor had flaws, Flash Freeze, while a good alpha opener, was... Disappointing at best, and Hibernate, while very nice out of combat, would rarely save my bacon while fighting - because even if it topped my health, as soon as I came out of it I was dead in three hits.
I've recently switched to the Electric APP, and I'm loving it. The resistance armor will synergize very nicely with the Absorb mechanics that i24 will add to the improved Chilling Embrace (and dodging mezzes is not needed on blasters when you have Defiance 2.0, some KB protection from IOs and powers that slow attackers) and either Power Surge or EMP Pulse are great "oh fudge" buttons for really tough fights BUT...
... The REAL gem of Electrical Mastery is Static Discharge. Ice Blast has one weakness in my book : it is fairly light on AoEs. Frost Breath is nice but the cone is pretty narrow, Ice Storm is a LONG DoT and Blizzard doesn't make up for the other two.
My trick on my Blaster was to add an Impeded Swiftness proc to Shiver - it turns a HUGE cone control power into a HUGE cone hybrid control/damage power. Not as reliable as I'd like, but it adds up since Shiver is a power I love to spam, and PPM procs should help on that. And on top of that, Static Discharge is a third cone that recharges fast, covers a much bigger area than Frost Breath and does its damage upfront instead of in two waves.
So now my Blaster has three damage cones, two rain powers, and feels much more useful in big clusters on mobs than before. BEFORE even adding Judgement to the mix. 
Arcanaville,
I don't know what kind of magic you're working, but I have been playing with Mids all day now and i can't get close to the numbers you get. I tried to see if I could get a decent recharge build out of Ice/Ice but maybe that's not possible. Best I could do was like 85%.
In the defense build you gave me, you had defenses in the 40's, I changed a few things around and they dropped to 10-17%.
It's gonna take me years to re-learn this game, isn't it?
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
Quote:
Only took me eight.|
Originally Posted by Cryosteel
Arcanaville,
I don't know what kind of magic you're working, but I have been playing with Mids all day now and i can't get close to the numbers you get. I tried to see if I could get a decent recharge build out of Ice/Ice but maybe that's not possible. Best I could do was like 85%. In the defense build you gave me, you had defenses in the 40's, I changed a few things around and they dropped to 10-17%. It's gonna take me years to re-learn this game, isn't it? |
Not everyone enjoys or has the same mind for juggling numbers around, but for the most part this is a practice thing. You start to get comfortable knowing what kinds of IOs are out there, what certain favorite invention sets do, and you start building up a bag of tricks.
Some rules of thumb:
1. If you're building for recharge, you should remember that most purple sets have +10% recharge in their fifth spot. So try to use purple sets whenever you can, as they provide a large recharge buff.
2. When you can fit them it, take defensive powers and put the LotG proc into them. That's +7.5% recharge each. Almost all build can squeeze a couple of those in there.
3. Go to Paragonwiki's enhancement set page: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Inventio...hancement_Sets Its one of the best ways to "browse" the invention system. Start looking for those recharge buffs, particularly the higher ones. Scroll down until you get to holds, and note "Basilisk's Gaze." See the red +Recharge bonus. That's one favorite for recharge buffs because its high (the colors are inspired from the conning colors in the game: red is higher, purple is even higher) and because it arrives with only four slots.
4. If you are building for defense, my advice is build incrementally. Start with your build with all of your powers, and your defenses slotted with SOs in Mids. That's your base. Look at your totals. Start thinking about what you want to try to improve. Start replacing slots and enhancements with sets that have bonuses in that area. See how the numbers change. Start getting a feel for how high you can push the numbers, and how fast your slots disappear when you do. That will show you what the tradeoffs are. Then its just a matter of playing around with it to see what works better than worse.
5. Just like above, browse Paragonwiki, and see where the bonuses are.
Also, there are people who can min/max builds significantly better than I do in many respects. You never stop learning ways to squeeze more out of the system. The important thing is to have fun with your builds while you're learning.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
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Ok, I've tried everything I can think of and I can't get haste past 81.5% with the powers I selected. I could probably get a little more changing a few powers but not much more than 87%. I know this build doesn't have Frozen Armor, so you probably think I'm nuts, but I just hate looking at it. Is the reason you get to 170% because of enr specific things like being able to slot the force feedback procs? How does this build look? Trying to balance defense and recharge, but I just don't know where to get other slots from.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Science Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Ice Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(3), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(5), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Apoc-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Chilblain -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Decim-Build%(11)
Level 4: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(42), Zephyr-ResKB(42)
Level 6: Frost Breath -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(13), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(15), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Ragnrk-Knock%(17)
Level 8: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(40), AdjTgt-Rchg(42)
Level 10: Freeze Ray -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Ice Sword -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(33), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(34), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 14: Chilling Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit(27), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(27), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(40), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(40), AdjTgt-Rchg(50)
Level 18: Bitter Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 20: Boxing -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 22: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Aegis-ResDam(48), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(48)
Level 24: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(29), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33)
Level 26: Bitter Freeze Ray -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Def(37), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 32: Blizzard -- BlastersW-Rchg/Dam%(A), BlastersW-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), BlastersW-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), BlastersW-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), BlastersW-Dmg/Rchg(39)
Level 35: Flash Freeze -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(43), Posi-Dmg/Rng(50), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 38: Shiver -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Frozen Aura -- LgcRps-Acc/Rchg(A), LgcRps-EndRdx/Sleep(43), LgcRps-Acc/EndRdx(46), LgcRps-Sleep/Rng(46)
Level 44: Snow Storm -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(A), TmpRdns-Dmg/Slow(45), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(45), TmpRdns-Rng/Slow(45), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(46)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Hibernate -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(25), Numna-Heal(25)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod(17), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(29)
------------
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
Quote:
Turn on hasten in MID's. Click on the power bar, so the little green dot turns on. Then check your totals, you'll be much more pleased.|
Originally Posted by Cryosteel
Ok, I've tried everything I can think of and I can't get haste past 81.5% with the powers I selected. I could probably get a little more changing a few powers but not much more than 87%. I know this build doesn't have Frozen Armor, so you probably think I'm nuts, but I just hate looking at it. Is the reason you get to 170% because of enr specific things like being able to slot the force feedback procs? How does this build look? Trying to balance defense and recharge, but I just don't know where to get other slots from.
|
Hasten is 70 percent recharge, and on your build, if you take the proper incarnate powers (Spiritual), you can get close to or even achieve perma-hasten.
Power pool customization is coming soon, and I believe that you will be able to turn off the blocky ice coating graphic.
For the record: Purples are way cheaper than they used to be, but they're still not inexpensive.
May I recommend you check out Organica's excellent '30 days to awesome' threads in the market forums for ways to make all the influence you'll ever need to easily afford anything you want. EDIT: BTW, love that name, and am jealous you have it.
Thanks, didn't realize you could turn on powers in mids like that. Your right, I'm happier now.
As for Influence, been trying the 0-awsome threads at market but it's slow going for me for reason, but I am over 50 mil from the 50k I started with. One question, and please bear with the stupidity: What is ticket farming? Is it a valid method of making influence?
ok, that was two questions....
Sorry to be a pain guys.
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts
Ticket farming is when you pick an easy AE (Architect) mission/arc, plow through it, then use the tickets that drop to get shinnies from the ticket vendor. While the devs do crack down from time to time on certain types of farms, it is for the most part considered a valid method. And since the devs put something in to stop the worst of the farming tricks in AE a while back, I'm fairly confident that the only concern you need to have with ticket farming is boredom.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler
That...was a Herocon 09 exclusive easter egg. The powerset will not have doves associated with it.
Namely because you guys would want to color tint the damn doves, or make them hawks/ravens/flying sharks/etc and that's just a headache I do...not...want...to deal with. |
Hello folks,
Just came back after a long time away (new job, family, stuff) and I have no idea what to do with my main's build. He's Ice/Ice/Cold but he's specc'd pre-Architect so...Can anyone post a decent, reltively cheap build that gets the best dmg and def for the buck. I'm not a serious type player, I just want something to work with.
Thanks
Cryosteel 46 ice/ice Blaster
Bonfire Blaze 25 Fire/Fire Blaster
Dream of Shadows 25 Staff/Willpower Scrapper
+ 17 alts