Looking at defense in Staff/Dark Armor... math is bad, please help! :)
Thunderstrike provides a range def bonus, not aoe.
For armor, Death Shroud is damage, not resists. So you'll really have 3 * .63 = 1.88% melee and range from 4-slotting 3 Reactive Armors. I'd look elsewhere, like Aegis (4.59% aoe) at 5 slots. If you can hold out, a new resist set on Beta (Unbreakable Guard) grants 3.13% melee at 4 slots. Who knows what this would actually be live though.
In practice, it's not hard to double stack Guarded Spin.
Also to consider, 6 slot Numi gives 3.75% range, good for health.
Also also to consider, the humble Multi Strike set gives 1.88% melee and aoe. BotZs grant ranged and aoe. You might consider using that over Steadfast.
I have a Kat/DA that I built using a thought process quite similar to yours. I slotted Divine Avalanche out for ED capped def (54% enh) so with 1 application I got melee to 45% and numbers like yours for aoe/range.
Anyway, my main advice: find a way to get your hands on Mids... I'm sure you're a Mac or something but it really helps when you're at the brainstorming stage.
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
Thanks for the advice. Kicking myself about Death Shroud!
I run Linux, and Mids never worked well through wine in earlier builds, but maybe it will now. I'll try tonight...
Scrapper Jack (SJ/WP Brute), Sky Commando (WP/SJ Tanker), Curveball (Rad/DP Defender), and a bunch more.
This thread my interest you:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=288400
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.958
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Sheer Terror: Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Staff Fighting
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Precise Strike
- (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (45) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (45) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (46) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (46) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (46) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
- (A) Aegis - Resistance: Level 50
- (3) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance: Level 50
- (43) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
- (45) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (50) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge: Level 50
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
- (3) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (5) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (13) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
- (5) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
- (17) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50
- (37) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50
- (40) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
- (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (7) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (7) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
- (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50
Level 10: Obsidian Shield
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30
- (11) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection: Level 30
- (11) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All): Level 50
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50
- (13) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50
- (A) Eradication - Damage: Level 30
- (15) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30
- (15) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 30
- (39) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (A) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance: Level 30
- (17) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30
- (37) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Endurance/Healing: Level 30
- (37) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration: Level 50
- (50) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (19) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (19) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (31) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (34) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (36) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (A) Aegis - Resistance: Level 50
- (21) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
- (21) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (40) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge: Level 50
- (50) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
- (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
- (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
- (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
- (25) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50
- (25) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50
- (A) Superior Brute's Fury - Recharge/Fury Bonus: Level 50
- (27) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (27) Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (29) Eradication - Damage: Level 30
- (29) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30
- (A) Empty
- (A) Aegis - Resistance: Level 50
- (31) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
- (31) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (33) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (33) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (33) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (34) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (34) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
- (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
- (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
- (39) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
- (39) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
- (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
- (42) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
- (42) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
- (42) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (43) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
- (43) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
- (A) Disorient Duration IO: Level 50
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 1: Sprint
- (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth: Level 50
- (A) Empty
Level 4: Swift
- (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50
- (A) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40
- (48) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50
- (A) Jumping IO: Level 50
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
- (48) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50
- (48) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50
Level 41: Form of the Mind
Level 41: Form of the Soul
Level 1: Combo Level 1
Level 1: Combo Level 2
Level 1: Combo Level 3
Level 0: Born In Battle
Level 0: High Pain Threshold
Level 0: Invader
Level 0: Marshal
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon
------------
------------
Set Bonus Totals:
- 9% DamageBuff(Smashing)
- 9% DamageBuff(Lethal)
- 9% DamageBuff(Fire)
- 9% DamageBuff(Cold)
- 9% DamageBuff(Energy)
- 9% DamageBuff(Negative)
- 9% DamageBuff(Toxic)
- 9% DamageBuff(Psionic)
- 16% Defense(Smashing)
- 16% Defense(Lethal)
- 21.94% Defense(Fire)
- 21.94% Defense(Cold)
- 19.75% Defense(Energy)
- 19.75% Defense(Negative)
- 6% Defense(Psionic)
- 11% Defense(Melee)
- 25.06% Defense(Ranged)
- 23.81% Defense(AoE)
- 5.4% Max End
- 16% Enhancement(Accuracy)
- 30% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
- 9% SpeedFlying
- 236.1 HP (15.75%) HitPoints
- 9% JumpHeight
- 9% SpeedJumping
- Knockback (Mag -12)
- Knockup (Mag -12)
- MezResist(Held) 9.9%
- MezResist(Immobilized) 9.9%
- 3.5% (0.06 End/sec) Recovery
- 50% (3.12 HP/sec) Regeneration
- 3.13% Resistance(Negative)
- 3% Resistance(Psionic)
- 24% SpeedRunning
- 5% XPDebtProtection
- 1 Null
Currently Playing:
Rage King - SS/Regen Brute (50+3)
Soulfire Darkness - Dark/Fire Tank (50+2)
Deaths Final Embrace - Kat/Dark Brute (50+3)
ULTIMATE REGEN GUIDE I22
This one has soft cap to all positions, higher global recharge, 95% accuracy in all attacks and no underslotted attacks. I included hasten but it's still a good way from perma so I personally wouldn't even bother and go without. It doesn't take all attacks but you won't need them anyway, PS>GS>SR>PS>SS works as an attack chain (not the top dps chain, but you can't be picky if you want to go for soft cap to all positions)
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Science Brute
Primary Power Set: Staff Fighting
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Precise Strike
- (A) Superior Brute's Fury - Recharge/Fury Bonus
- (3) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (3) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage
- (5) Superior Brute's Fury - Damage/Recharge
- (33) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (34) Superior Brute's Fury - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
- (11) Gladiator's Armor - Recharge/Resist
- (13) Gladiator's Armor - Recharge/Endurance
- (13) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist
- (31) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance/Rech/End
- (46) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (7) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
- (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
- (11) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
- (46) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
- (A) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage
- (5) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
- (7) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
- (25) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
- (42) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
- (43) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
- (43) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (33) Titanium Coating - Resistance
- (33) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
- (A) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
- (15) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
- (40) Aegis - Resistance
- (40) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
- (40) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
Level 14: Combat Jumping
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (15) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
- (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
- (17) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (17) Eradication - Damage/Recharge
- (25) Touch of the Nictus - Healing
- (27) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing
- (27) Touch of the Nictus - Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration/Recharge
- (A) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (19) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (19) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
- (23) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
- (23) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (43) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (21) Shield Wall - Defense
- (21) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance
- (45) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +3% Res (All)
- (A) Empty
- (A) Aegis - Resistance
- (29) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
- (29) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
- (46) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge
- (48) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
- (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (31) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
- (31) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (A) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
- (37) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
- (39) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
- (48) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
- (A) Rectified Reticle - To Hit Buff
- (36) Rectified Reticle - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (39) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
- (39) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
- (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (42) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
- (42) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
- (A) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 1: Sprint
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Swift
- (A) Empty
- (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (34) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
- (45) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
- (48) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
- (50) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Empty
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
- (34) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy
- (36) Performance Shifter - EndMod
Level 1: Combo Level 2
Level 1: Combo Level 3
Level 12: Form of the Body
Level 12: Form of the Mind
Level 12: Form of the Soul
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: Portal Jockey
------------
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(Edit: Sorry for the huge dump of text. This was the best way I could think of to try to explain what I was trying to do.)
So, as the title suggests, I'm looking at a Staff/Dark Armor Brute. I don't currently have access to Mids, so I'm trying to juggle set bonuses in my head... and I'm in untested waters anyway, as I'll explain below, so I could use any and all suggestions.
So I figured since I was using staff, I should take full advantage of Guarded Spin. Guarded Spin provides an 11.25% bonus for Melee and Lethal, the bonus lasts for 10 seconds--more than enough time to open with GS and complete an attack chain.
If I'm going to use Guarded Spin I figure I'll want to build for positional defense instead of typed, because enhancement set bonuses tend to give bonuses for smashing and lethal together, and GS only buffs lethal. So either I get to 45% with lethal using GS, or there's no point in using GS at all. Going for melee, however, I can add 11.25% with GS and try to make up the rest with other melee set bonuses.
The challenge is that building up positional defenses looks significantly harder to do.
So I'm looking at what I start with: Dark Armor gives you Cloak of Darkness for 3.75% defense (unslotted). Taking Weave gives you another 3.75%, Combat Jumping 1.75%. That's pretty standard. Taking Maneuvers will give me another 2.275%, and I could also take Hover and stack CJ and Hover (i.e., run both at the same time) for another 1.75%.
That gives me a total of 11.525% defense (unslotted), or 13.275 if I decide to take Hover.
(I'm on the fence with Hover. I use that trick on my WP/SJ Tanker and it works fine, BUT Tankers give you a bigger bonus for those powers and I don't always want to be flying when I fight--it's an aesthetic thing).
When you slot defense it's schedule B bonuses, and with diminishing returns, assuming I'm figuring everything out correctly, you can't really go beyond a 60% increase. This boosts Cloak of Darkness and Weave to 6% each. So that gets adjusted to 12% total.
Putting a single Luck of the Gambler global recharge in Combat Jumping gives you a minimum 12.6% boost which would bring it up to 1.969%--almost 2%. If I get a level 50 LoTG the boost is around 20% I think? That brings it up to 2.1%. The global recharge is far more important to me than the defense boost, and I don't really want to add another slot to CJ at the moment, so let's just put this at 2% with the understand that it may be a little less at the end of the day depending on what I manage to get. So that brings it up to 14% total.
I'll be slotting Maneuvers to lower the end cost, because I really don't like that end cost. So... it stays put at 2.275%, bringing it up to 16.275 total.
If I decide to go with hover, which I don't want to do, that'd be another estimated 2% bonus. I'm going to go forward assuming I haven't taken hover, so just add 2% to everything for the "Curveball decides to go with Hover" scenario.
So currently: 16.275 melee, ranged, and aoe
Immediately we incorporate Guarded Spin. This of course assumes I *hit* with Guarded Spin. We're going to assume Guarded Spin hits every single time, because unrealistic expectations are part of what makes shorthand calculations possible.
27.525 melee, 16.275 ranged and AOE
But wait! We can six-slot Guarded Spin! 5 Scirocco's Dervish adds +3.13% to AOE, so:
27.525 melee, 16.275 ranged, 19.405 aoe
But wait! I said six-slot, because Guarded Spin can also take defense enhancements, and I think probably the best thing to do would be to put in one level 50 Defense IO for a 25.5% boost to melee. That brings Guarded Spin's bonus up to a mighty 14.06%, which gives us:
30.335 melee, 16.275 ranged, 19.405 aoe
Ranged needs help right now. Fortunately Staff has three single-target attacks (mercurial Strike, Precise Strike, and Sky Splitter) that would benefit from six-slotted Mako's Bite, which would net an 11.25% increase in Ranged overall, so:
30.335 melee, 27.525 ranged, 19.405 aoe
Five-slotting Eye of the Storm with Scirocco's Dervish would add another 3.13% to AOE:
30.335 melee, 27.525 ranged, 23.535 aoe
5-slotting Taunt with Mocking Beratement would add 1.25% to melee and 1.565% to AOE:
31.585 melee, 27.525 ranged, 25.1 aoe
Serpents Reach is ranged, and I'm not really familiar with the ranged sets but it seems like there's not a lot going for ranged that adds to defense. The best I found was to six-slot Thunderstrike to add 3.75% to AOE:
31.585 melee, 27.525 ranged, 28.85 aoe
Do I take Innocuous Strikes or not? Hard to say. It's not something I'd see using as part of my melee chain much. But it's another AOE (cone) and I could six-slot it with eradication to get another 1.565% for ranged, and 3.13% aoe:
31.585 melee, 29.09 ranged, 31.98 aoe
At this point I'm a little worried, because this is a lot of six-slotting I'm doing in my attacks and I'm wondering how much my defenses will suffer for it. But nevermind that for now!
Speaking of defenses, I'm going to have to save an armor slot for the knockback protection in Steadfast, I might as well save another for the 3% universal defense bonus:
34.585 melee, 32.09 ranged, 34.98 aoe
And I might as well assume I'm somehow going to either luck into or manage to afford the extra 3% global provided by the Gladiator's Armor global
37.585 melee, 35.09 ranged, 37.98 aoe
Now on to armor. If I put at least four slots of Reactive Armor into Dark Embrace, Death Shroud, Murky Cloud, and Tough I get 1.25% bonuses to melee and ranged:
38.502 melee, 36.34 ranged, 37.98 aoe
One of those armors will now be six-slotted because of the extra Steadfast protection slots (might as well combine them and get the 1.5% endurance recovery bonus). One will be five-slotted because of the Gladiator's Armor defense IO. And now we add an extra slot to one of the others to five-slot Reactive to get a 1.25% bonus to AOE.
38.502 melee, 36.34 ranged, 39.23 aoe
So... I don't think I can go much higher than that. If I remember correctly, you get 67 extra slots to spend by level 50, and I've used 62 so far (including 3-slotting Cloak of Darkness and Weave for defense). This doesn't incorporate doing anything but building for positional defense, so I haven't increased stamina, or health, or done ANYTHING with Dark Regeneration which I would argue is a lot more important in this set than defense anyway.
If Guarded Spin increased both smashing and lethal then I'd try to build to typed defense instead of positional, but since it only does lethal I'm not convinced it's a good idea. It's certainly easier to get to the low 30s in S/L defense thanks to Kinetic Combat (and larger Reactive bonuses) but having 14% more defense in lethal than smashing seems kind of awkward, so from that perspective it seems positional is a better choice to build toward.
But at this point all the math is making my head hurt. Thoughts? Comments? Better math? All are welcome...
Scrapper Jack (SJ/WP Brute), Sky Commando (WP/SJ Tanker), Curveball (Rad/DP Defender), and a bunch more.