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Blaster / Icebox Character Profile (Dark Blast/Ice Manipulation)

« on: April 04, 2024, 07:12:44 am »

Icebox Character Profile (Dark Blast/Ice Manipulation Blaster)

Purpose:
This character profile is intended to act as build guide for an extremely flexible Blaster that can deal plenty of damage and survive most situations, up to and including herding large groups of enemies in Incarnate Trials, as well as soloing most enemy groups at endgame on +4/x8 difficulty setting.

Furthermore, this profile is meant to be a broader guide for improving the survivability for Blasters of other powersets, broaden the definition of what a Blaster is capable of, and to demonstrate the power and flexibility of the Invention System to make any character both more damaging and survivable.

General Premises of Blasters:

1)   Blaster damage is great damage. While some powerset combinations yield more damage than others, any Blaster can be built to put out tremendous amounts of damage in a flexible way. It may not always be the best damage in every situation, but it can always be very good damage.

2)   Blasters do great damage at all ranges. The idea that Blasters are a strictly ranged AT is belied by the compositions of the secondary Manipulation sets. Electricity Manipulation contains 7 powers that require the user to enter melee range! All the other sets (except the lone outlier of Devices) contain at least 4 powers that only work in melee. Except for Devices, every combination of Blaster powersets is significantly improved by adding in the melee attacks. DPS drops dramatically with only ranged attacks. Even some of the primaries have PBAOE melee attacks. In fact, about half the T9 ‘Nuke’ powers require the Blaster to enter melee range.

3)   Blasters have fantastic sustain powers. By sustain powers I am referring to a power in every secondary that offers some combination of the following: Heal, Regen, Absorb, Recovery, -End Cost. These phenomenal powers afford Blasters increased survivability as well as excellent endurance management tools. These sustain powers make Blasters much tougher than they were on live while putting more gas in the tank to keep attacking.

4)   Instant-cast sniper attacks are a combination of the best DPA and flexibility, making them the best single target attacks in the game. Every Blaster with a sniper attack can make it instant cast (meaning that it skips most of the lengthy 4+ second interrupt time). While Devices Blasters have the easiest road to achieving permanent insta-snipe, any Blaster can achieve the effect. Unfortunately, not every blast set comes equipped with a sniper attack. In melee or at extreme range, the Blaster snipe can be used in virtually every situation to devastating effect. IMPORTANT NOTE:  By triple slotting tactics with level 50 to-hit buff IOs and adding a total of 8 enhancement boosters, along with the Kismet global, any Blaster can achieve the +22% to-hit/97% total to hit required for an insta-cast snipe. However, the yellow circle will not appear around the snipe icon until you hit +22.51%/97.51% total to-hit.

5)   Blaster T9 ‘Nukes’ are the most damaging AoE attacks in the game. Firing off these nukes in tandem with whatever versions of Aim/Build Up that are available to a Blaster means that, for the most part, minions and lieutenants are deleted and bosses/EBs are significantly damaged. The T9 nukes are not all built the same, though. For instance, Inferno and Blizzard both put out significantly more damage (on average) than the other T9 nukes. Similarly, there are powers like Full Auto and Rain of Arrows that put out less damage but with a faster recharge. The point here is that the T9 ‘Nukes’ are the AoE equivalents of the single-target sniper attacks: use them as often as you possibly can.

6)   We’re racing the mobs to 0 health, not -100 health. While enemies do the same amount of damage with 1 health or a full health pool, at zero health they all cease to be threats. Taking them to -100 health doesn’t make them any deader. As an example, when playing a Fire/Energy or Fire/Ice Blaster, there’s more potential AoE and single target damage, however I find little difference in how fast I take down trash mobs (which is the vast majority of what we fight in the game). Against AVs/GMs, the extra damage can matter. Even there, I’m not convinced it’s significant enough more to warrant giving up the incredible survivability and extra sustain of Dark Blast for the uber-damage of Fire Blast, especially given all the excellent slotting possibilities for Dark Blast over Fire Blast.

Advantages of Dark Blast and Ice Manipulation:

These two powersets together grant a tremendous number of debuffs, crowd controls, a fantastic absorb shield, excellent end management, an enormous number of slotting possibilities, as well as the patented Great Blaster Damage™.

Damage:

At first glance, Dark Blast is very middle of the road in terms of damage.

However, given that all the damage is Negative Energy, except the DoT of Tenebrous Tentacles and a portion of the damage in Blackstar, very few enemies resist its attacks. Most of the foes that resist Negative Energy are undead, usually ghosts, which comprise a very small subset of all the enemies encountered in the game.

Meanwhile, sets like Assault Rifle and Archery struggle due to so much of their damage being Lethal, which more and more foes resist as the Blaster levels.

Another benefit to Dark Blast is the tremendous number of Enhancement Sets that can be slotted in the attacks.

A mediocre-looking power like Abyssal Gaze can do great damage by combining three slots of your favorite Ranged Damage set (I like Thunderstrike, but Devastation can be a fine choice), add some Enhancement Boosters to move well into the Enhancement Diversification limits, then put in your three favorite procs and you’ve got a hold that does damage equivalent to most other sets ‘Third Blast’ power (i.e. Power Burst, Cosmic Blast, Shout, etc.)

Similarly, Tenebrous Tentacles and Umbral Torrent can take a huge variety of sets/procs that can yield extra damage, debuffs, or crowd controls that most other Blast sets can’t do. Umbral Torrent can accept 7 classes of IO’s, while Tenebrous Tentacles can take 8 classes!

Ice Manipulation allows for many slotting options, as well. This creates more situations where partial sets can be exploited for set bonuses and yield good base damage, while adding in procs for even more damage.

Freezing Touch is the real standout here by being both the highest DPA Blaster melee attack and allowing for slotting from 5 different classifications of IO sets. In fact, setting aside crits/Assassination Strike, Freezing Touch is the highest DPA melee attack in the game except for… drum roll, please… the Scrapper version of Freezing Touch.

Both Freezing Touch and Frozen Aura (a solid PBAoE attack) are entirely cold damage, which isn’t terribly well resisted by mobs throughout the game.

Another advantage of this combination is getting both Aim and Build Up. This allows for awesome on-demand to hit/damage boosts. While most combinations of sets get both Aim and Build Up there are several combos that will lack one or the other of the two powers.

Debuffs:

Dark/Ice grants -to hit debuffs, -speed, -recharge debuffs, and a -damage debuff.

The -to hit debuffs are individually small, except for Blackstar. However, using Intuition Radial in the Alpha not only increases the -to hit debuffs and slow movement effects, but it also increases Damage, Range, and Hold Duration, all things that a Dark/Ice Blaster can take advantage of.

Since the individual -to hit debuffs can stack with one another, it is possible with even modest Defense to effectively floor a mob’s to-hit chance to the base 5%.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Dark Blast’s -to hit debuffs don’t stack with themselves, meaning that only one stack of Gloom can be active on a particular mob at a time. However, you can still apply to that same mob Umbral Torrent’s debuff, Tenebrous Tentacles debuff, etc.

Blackstar is the real standout here. On a Blaster, it gives a 35% -to-hit debuff to any enemy it hits. With the aid of the Intuition Radial Alpha, this debuff goes up to 42%. Even better, this whopping debuff lasts for 20 seconds!

With 45% defense to Smashing/Lethal/Energy damages and the -to hit debuffs of Umbral Torrent and Tenebrous Tentacles (as I have them slotted), hitting a spawn of Incarnate mobs with both can effectively create a situation where Icebox is at the Incarnate cap for the most important defenses, meaning the mobs only have a 5% to hit her with most of their attacks. (I’m looking at you, Olympian Guards)

On top of the -to-hit debuffs, Frigid Protection gives a -14% damage debuff on up to 11 targets in its massive 30’ radius. Of note for -damage debuffs is that AVs don’t have any special resistance to them, much like how they have no special resistance to -resistance debuffs. Endgame AVs have 85%+ resistance to all other debuffs, in addition to what the Purple Patch grants them for their level difference. Of course, -damage and -resist debuffs are resisted by the AVs relevant damage resistance (like all mobs do), but this will still grant a greater effect against AVs than -to hit debuffs, -speed, -recharge debuffs, etc.

The -speed and -recharge debuffs granted by Frigid Protection are substantial. Shiver has an even greater effect, with Frozen Fists, Chilblain, and Ice Sword supplementing. Ice Patch has a huge -speed debuff but no -recharge debuff, making it the outlier here.

The -speed and -recharge debuffs can be quite effective at lower levels where most enemies have much stronger melee attacks than ranged attacks. Similarly, the -recharge effect can be valuable at lower levels because Blasters won’t necessarily have all their best attacks, meaning it might take longer to defeat mobs so that the -recharge effect could matter in preventing mobs from firing their most troublesome attacks a second time.

At endgame, I find the -speed effect to be modestly useful for keeping enemies grouped and the -recharge effect almost irrelevant.

-Recharge does nothing to stop enemies from making their initial attacks or ‘Alpha Strike’. It only slows down a later ‘Beta Strike’, when their best powers have recharged. I find that at endgame all trash mobs will be dead before they can Beta Strike.

Controls:

Dark/Ice grants holds, immobilizes, a sleep, and knockdown/knockback. By utilizing enhancements like the Ragnarok and Avalanche procs, more knockdown can be added. With the Overwhelming Force proc, annoying knockback can be converted into the more useful knockdown.

Between Abyssal Gaze and Freezing Touch, there are two magnitude 3 holds, meaning that most bosses can be held when both holds hit. Even better, with a hold proc slotted, a boss can often be held with only one hold hitting. Hitting with both (and the proc firing) can hold many elite bosses.

Immobilizes come in the form of Tenebrous Tentacles and Chilblain. Chilblain has the unfortunate side effect of applying KB/KD protection to mobs it hits (fair warning that Freezing Touch does the same thing, but the damage and the hold usually make it worthwhile). Combining TT and Chilblain will allow for quick immobilization of vanilla AVs, though the Incarnate versions are essentially immune to mez effects of any kind.

Frozen Aura does apply a magnitude 2 sleep effect. Sleep, in general, isn’t terribly useful. Sleeping minions when you can just blast them into nonexistence seems like a terrible waste of time. Fortunately, Frozen Aura does plenty of damage in a 10’ radius.

Umbral Torrent applies a 100% knockback that can be turned into a knockdown with the Overwhelming Force proc. Tentacles is an excellent place for the Ragnarok proc, granting a second cone with knockdown. Frozen Aura is a fair candidate for the Avalanche proc, but I prefer the Fury of the Gladiator -res proc.

Finally, Ice Patch gives great knockdown and a massive -speed debuff to any enemies who step on it.

Of all the controls, I find knockdown to be most effective. Outside of AVs/GMs, there just aren’t very many mobs in the game with KB/KD resistance.

Sustains:

Dark/Ice has great sustains in the form of a self-refreshing absorb shield, a huge +recovery buff, and a solid hybrid blast/self-heal.

Every 3 seconds, Frigid Protection will grant an absorb shield. This allows you to essentially ignore many DoTs, and/or multiple minions.

Frigid Protection also yields a large +recovery buff so you can blast away and run toggles.

Life Drain is much like Abyssal Gaze in being a multi-functional power with a ton of slotting possibilities. Its damage is a bit worse than Gloom’s, but it can be a fairly reliable way of healing up when an alpha strike or a big boss hit breaks through your absorb shield.

Disadvantages of Dark Blast and Ice Manipulation:

These two powersets contain DoTs, which some players don’t like. Dark Blast has 2 cones, which some players will also dislike. Both Dark Blast and Ice Manipulation are charged a damage ‘tax’ due to some of their secondary effects. That damage ‘tax’ can be mitigated by exploiting the tremendous number of slotting options the two sets provide.

Damage over Time (DoTs):

Gloom, Abyssal Gaze, Tenebrous Tentacles, and Freezing Touch all inflict some measure of their damage over time. Waiting for the damage to be inflicted does mean giving enemies the opportunity to attack you. Granted, all those powers feature debuffs and/or controls that make it more difficult for them to attack. Still, some players won’t appreciate the DoTs in these sets.

Cones:

While Umbral Torrent is a relatively narrow cone, it has the same 80’ range as typical T1 and T2 blasts, enabling whole spawns to be hit at long range. The Intuition Radial Alpha adds range and the Positron’s Blast set has an enhancement that will help, along with the Blaster’s Wrath ATO set bonus.

Tenebrous Tentacles is wider than Umbral Torrent, but half the range. This power benefits much more from the assorted range boosts available. Even so, utilizing both TT and UT together requires sitting in a sweet spot that lets both hit the targeted mobs or (more likely) repositioning.

Some players don’t care for repositioning. I not only enjoy mobile playstyles, but I also find it crucial to Blaster survivability. Being evasive makes it difficult to impossible for mobs to land melee attacks, especially considering that TT is an immobilize which can be further enhanced with Spectral Interface, which also adds more Negative Energy damage. Also, slotting the Frozen Blast proc adds a chance for Immobilize.

The damage ‘tax’:

While Dark Blast provides enough defensive benefits from stackable -to hit debuffs, knockback/KD, cone immobilize, a ranged hold, and a self-heal to warrant lower damage totals (which, once again, can be made up for with the tremendous number of slotting options), Ice Manipulation got smacked hard by the original developers.

Fortunately, Ice Manipulation got a makeover courtesy of the Rebirth devs, making Freezing Touch an outstanding melee attack and Frozen Fists not terrible. Unfortunately, both Frozen Fists and Ice Sword still suffer from anemic damage compared to equivalent powers in other sets. For some reason the modest -recharge and -slow abilities of these powers warrant them doing significantly less than obvious comparable powers.

Dark Blast: A power-by-power breakdown:

Dark Blast: Since all T1 blasts were standardized during Live, there’s little to compare between them beyond secondary effects. In this case, the -to-hit debuff which can be stacked with others in the set is a meaningful bonus. Still, I’ve skipped it for Gloom. Umbral Torrent makes a pretty good substitute for Dark Blast.

Gloom: Once again, the standardization of T2 blasts gave them all the same activation times, but at least their damage varies more than the T1s. Gloom does the most damage of any T2 blast; granted, it’s a DoT. I chose this one for my filler attack for Icebox. The whole Superior Defiant Barrage set gives great set bonuses, along with a stacking mez protection buff that helps when exemplaring. Also, due to Defiance, this power can be used while mezzed.

Umbral Torrent: A great combination of crowd control, -to-hit debuff, and reasonable damage in a long-range cone package. With the Overwhelming Force Proc, the annoying knockback becomes wonderful knockdown. This one accepts 7 different IO sets, so there are tons of ways to slot it. I currently have 4 Witchcrafts for the energy defense and recharge set bonuses, added -to hit debuff, and the -res proc. Overwhelming Force adds a little bit of damage and turns the KB into KB. A Force Feedback proc rounds out the slotting, although I’d say that I need to hit at least 5 mobs to have a reasonable chance of seeing it fire. I spam this one in most situations.

Aim: Straight forward +to hit and +damage. I’d rather have two 50+5 recharge IOs, but to hit the S/L defense soft cap I’ve compromised with a pair of Rectified Reticle IOs.

Moonbeam: It’s a snipe, so it’s awesome. It’s not Blazing Bolt, but only Blazing Bolt gets to be Blazing Bolt. All negative energy damage and with a -to hit debuff, this one comes in a distant second place to Blazing Bolt, imho. I’ve 5-slotted Apocalypse, primarily for the +recharge, but the +3% HP is nice, as is the damage proc. I’d probably better off with a Cloud Senses damage proc to round it out, but I love gambling on the Decimation proc.

Tenebrous Tentacles: As I mentioned, some people won’t like it just because it’s a mid-range cone with different dimensions than Umbral Torrent. I say, just move your character. Mobility is life for Blasters. TT does fair damage if you add up the DoT with the measly initial hit, but it takes 8 different classes of IOs, meaning that you can load it with procs. In this care, I’ve got a pair of Positron’s Blast IOs, one of which is the damage proc. Also, there’s a Cloud Senses damage proc and the Forced Indoctrination damage proc. The Ragnarok KD proc and the Annihilation -res proc round out the slotting.

Abyssal Gaze: This power is a solid ranged hold that does fair damage, includes a -to hit debuff, and the long recharge makes it an excellent proc bomb. The range is a little shorter than the other blasts, but there’s enough range boost in the build to make up for that deficiency. I’ve gone 3 Thunderstrikes for energy defense, Accuracy, and Damage. Some enhancement boosters mean that I’m taking advantage of the high Blaster damage scalar. Cloud Senses, Neuronic Shutdown, and Unbreakable Constraint are the 3 damage procs I’ve chosen. Though the recharge is a little long, this power makes for a good ‘third blast’ with the damage procs.

Life Drain: This is another multifunctional power that allows for fair damage, a solid heal, as well as some Franken-slotting for set bonuses. The damage is a little less than Gloom, and it has a slightly longer activation time. This power accepts 8 different classes of IOs, so there are a tremendous number of ways to slot this one. With three Thunderstrikes and three Preventative Medicines, I’ve gone for a mix of damage and healing. For reference, I get 222 HP of healing and a recharge of just over 3 seconds.

Blackstar: All nukes are great. This one has the added advantage of inflicting a massive -to-hit debuff on everything it hits and doesn’t kill (this is usually bosses with my typical tactics). I’ve 6-slotted it with Blaster’s Wrath, which yields some nice set bonuses and a damage proc.

Ice Manipulation: A power-by-power breakdown:

Chilblain: You’re stuck with it because it’s in the secondary, still it can stack with TT if you need to immobilize a boss or a vanilla AV fast. Unfortunately, this power grants targets KB/KD resistance, making it even less desirable. On the plus side, its -speed and -recharge are twice what you’d get out of Frozen Fists and Ice Sword, making it a modest slow instead of measly.

Frozen Fists: Compared with Energy Punch/Charged Brawl this attack is weaker damage-wise. On the plus side, it can accept the Winter’s Storm damage proc, which along with the Hecatomb proc could make up for the lower damage. I don’t think it’s horrible, but I didn’t have room for a second melee attack.

Ice Sword: Another slightly underpowered melee attack with a negligible secondary effect. The lower DPA than Frozen Fists makes it even less appealing. I’ve skipped this one in favor of the much better Freezing Touch.

Frigid Protection: This is the power that just keeps on giving. Frigid Protection provides a huge recovery buff that is well worth slotting so as not to waste any slots on End Reduction slotting in other powers. Additionally, Frigid Protection applies an absorb shield every 3 seconds. In the case of Icebox, this is a 118HP absorb shield 20 times per minute, which results in 2,360 absorb points over the course of a minute. This power allows a Blaster to essentially ignore most DoTs and even several minions when combined with Defense, Resistance, and the -Dam debuff that Frigid Protection applies to 11 enemies in its 30’ Radius. Finally, Frigid Protection applies a significant -Recharge debuff to enemies, along with a stronger -Speed debuff. I’ve gone with 2 50+5 End Mod IOs and 2 50+5 Heal IOs. This is a place where I’d love to put in 6 slots but make do with 4.

Build Up: My go-to for Blackstar. I rotate this with Aim as often as possible when DPSing AVs or dealing with spawns with multiple bosses/EBs. Gaussian’s fires 90% of the time when activating Build Up.

Ice Patch: Most useful while levelling, this deceptively large knockdown patch remains useful at endgame in some solo situations or against a large group of Olympian Guards that have just been knocked down with Umbral Torrent. Even enemies on the edge of the patch will be knocked down by it. Once mobs start falling, they rarely stop. Ice Patch also gives a massive -speed debuff so that most enemies (damn you, Council Wolves!) can’t get off the patch. Even if enemies can’t be knocked down, there are many times where I find myself waiting for the AVs to finish their speech or become targetable (Yes, I mean Dilemma Diabolique). Ice Patch grants a HUGE Defiance damage buff: +22.90%! A 50 Recharge IO is sufficient to keep 2 patches down and three for a little while.

Shiver: I really tried to like this power. I even took it on a Fire/Ice Blaster to see if it was worth using with Rain of Fire, but I found Ice Patch and Frigid Protection to be enough to keep enemies in place. Ultimately, I decided that Rain of Fire wasn’t worth using on a Blaster. Even if I had kept Rain of Fire, I wouldn’t see any use for Shiver. The problem with Shiver is that it only applies a -Recharge and a -Speed debuff. So many other powers, both within Ice Manipulation and Dark Blast, provide more functions. I always felt like I could be doing something damaging and more effective with the 2 seconds I spent throwing Shiver. I can’t recommend this one.

Freezing Touch: As meh as I am about Shiver, I’m enthusiastic about Freezing Touch. It’s a 1 second activation time hold that does fair damage up front and a great DoT quickly afterward that makes it the best DPA melee attack available to Blasters. Adding in a hold proc means that this power can often hold bosses in one hit. 5 Superior Blistering Cold (including the hold proc) and the Hecatomb proc yield a nice balance of damage, control, and defense.

Frozen Aura: Or as I like to think of it, ‘Ice Stomp’! Not as large as Foot Stomp but you can still use the animation. The damage is solid and all cold. The sleep effect is negligible, though. I’ve got 5 Armageddons (including the Proc) and Fury of the Gladiator -res proc. I’ve also used the Avalanche proc instead for even more KD. Ultimately, I valued the -res proc more, but the Avalanche proc is a ton of fun.

Pool Powers:

Leadership:

Maneuvers: This power grants a small defense buff as well as being a great Luck of the Gambler proc mule. This power also enables hitting the S/L/E soft cap, as well as opening up Tactics.

Tactics: We get +to hit, +per, and Confuse prot/res, as well as Fear res. By slotting a total of 8 Enhancement booster and slotting the Kismet proc somewhere, any Blaster can achieve permanent insta-snipe.

Vengeance: Partly in the build for the Luck of Gambler proc slot, partly here as a great team buff for iTrials or any team with a high mortality rate, Vengeance is a power I used to hate and have come to love. It’s rare that I play iTrials and don’t get to use this one multiple times.

Fighting:

Kick: Not the most optimal from a DPA/DPS perspective, I chose Kick because the animation makes me giggle. I almost never use this power. It’s here to open up Tough and Weave.

Tough: Yields resistance to the most common damage types in the game, Smashing and Lethal. Tough also allows for the slotting of the Steadfast Protection proc and the Gladiator’s Armor proc, both of which are necessary to hit the defense soft cap against S/L/E damage.

Weave: Yet another Luck of the Gambler proc mule. This one also allows for slotting a couple pieces of Reactive Defenses. I elected to use the Reactive Defenses pieces because I value the 1.5% S/L resistance over the paltry +10% regeneration boost and the tiny 1.12% HP boost from slotting 3 Luck of the Gambler’s instead. Going with 3 LoTGs instead is likely a minimal difference from the way I’ve slotted. Regardless, this power is necessary for reaching the soft cap for S/L/E defense.

Speed:

Hasten: This gives a huge global recharge buff. While I don’t have enough +recharge in this build to make Hasten truly permanent, liberal use of Umbral Torrent against groups of enemies goes a long way toward closing the gap, making Hasten effectively permanent in most situations.

Super Speed: This power acts as a mule for a Blessing of the Zephyr -KB proc. Furthermore, the -threat aspect of this power allows it to stack with a stealth IO in Sprint to make Icebox effectively invisible to the vast majority of mobs, except for Snipers, Drones, and a few others. Frigid Protection must be turned off to maintain this ‘invisibility’ because it is a huge PBAOE debuff aura.

Leaping:

Combat Jumping: Another Luck of the Gambler mule that also helps reach the soft cap for S/L/E defense. Also, this power grants great protection from Immobilize and tremendous mobility. While Hover can be great for positioning, CJ excels at mobility. By leaping and THEN activating a power it is possible to move and attack. I make liberal use of CJ to hit mobs at range while closing to hit them with melee or using PBAOE attacks while jumping back to range. While it takes a little practice, this power allows a Blaster to control when (and if) enemies get to use melee attacks while also using their own melee and ranged attacks in alternation. Combined with Icebox’s multiple ways to knock enemies down, slow them, Immobilize them, and debuff them, liberal use of jumping makes her incredibly survivable.

Mace Mastery:

Scorpion Shield: This power yields yet another LoTG mule slot, as well as a place for more Reactive Defense enhancements for 1.5% S/L res, more HP, and to maximize the S/L/E defense granted by this power. Scorpion Shield yields a modest amount of Toxic res that can’t be slotted for.

Battle Tactics:

Having Superspeed and a Stealth IO gives me the opportunity to decide when, where, and how I want to attack with Icebox. Even if there is an incoming ambush, Snipers, or Drones (or other enemies that can see ‘Invisible’ characters), the ability to knockdown virtually all enemies with Umbral Torrent buys time to set the table in my favor.

My most typical attack sequence with Icebox is to pop Build Up. This has a 90% chance of firing the Gaussian’s Proc, meaning that the next 5.25 seconds of attacks have a very high to-hit and loads of damage.

I’ll then hit a boss in the middle of the spawn (an LT will do in a pinch) with Umbral Torrent while jumping into the spawn. This does some damage, will knockdown up to 10 enemies, apply a -to-hit debuff, apply the Witchcraft -Res proc to the majority of enemies, and have a good chance of activating the Force Feedback proc.

Once in the middle of the spawn, I’ll bounce back out while activating Blackstar. This will kill all the minions it hits, usually all the LTs, and do significant damage to the bosses. Any enemies hit by Blackstar but not killed will have a -42% -to-hit debuff applied to them (on top of Umbral Torrent’s debuff), meaning that they are almost certainly floored in their accuracy, provided they aren’t AVs or GMs.

At this point, if the enemies are +1’s or +2’s, I will often hit the boss I have targeted with Moonbeam.

If the enemies are +4’s then some of the LTs may have survived, in which case I’ll jump back in and use Tenebrous Tentacles instead, which has three damage procs, as well as the Annihilation -res proc. I’ll immediately bounce back out, firing Frozen Aura as I go, which does good damage and has a chance to apply the Fury of the Gladiator -res proc.

The beauty of the -to-hit debuffs and the -res procs is that they benefit the entire League by either making it harder for the enemies to hit my teammates or making my teammates’ attacks do more damage.

Usually at that point I’m content to snipe with Moonbeam, spam Umbral Torrent, use Abyssal Gaze, and reapply Tenebrous Tentacles.

Should any enemies get into melee range, I have Freezing Touch ready to do piles of damage and hold bosses most of the time. Stacked with Abyssal Gaze, this will often briefly hold Elite Bosses.

If multiple enemies enter melee range, Frozen Aura should be ready, in which case I’ll fire it while bouncing out. Umbral Torrent, Tentacles, Moonbeam, and Abyssal Gaze should clean everything up. I’ll throw Gloom in a pinch, but it’s there as filler. If I’m taking damage, then Life Drain is perfect for healing up and finishing off damaged enemies.

Should Blackstar not be ready or there are two spawns close together and there is no tanking character, then I’ll open with either my Cryonic Judgement power or Umbral Torrent, duck around a corner or behind an obstacle, drop Ice Patch, and wait for everyone to come running.

The dumb AI will pile up on Ice Patch at the corner which will make the vast majority of enemies bounce, at which point Aim, Umbral Torrent, Tentacles, and Frozen Aura can clean up all the minions and most of the LTs. Moonbeam, Abyssal Gaze, Freezing Touch, and Gloom can finish the bosses.

The mix of high damage melee powers, debuffing and control cones at various ranges, and the extreme range of Moonbeam, all allow Icebox to do great damage at any range, against single targets or groups, as well as applying debuffs and controls the whole time.

Once again, some might not like the cones or be afraid of melee, but once you get the hang of bouncing and attacking, it’s possible to be at a range that is disadvantageous to the enemies but perfect for your attack.

Icebox Mids’ Build:

Villain Blaster
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.6.6 rev. 3
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Primary powerset: Dark BlastSecondary powerset: Ice ManipulationPool powerset (#1): SpeedPool powerset (#2): LeapingPool powerset (#3): LeadershipPool powerset (#4): FightingAncillary powerset: Mace Mastery

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Powers taken:

Level 1: Gloom
A: Superior Defiant Barrage: Accuracy/Damage3: Superior Defiant Barrage: RechargeTime/+Status3: Superior Defiant Barrage: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime5: Superior Defiant Barrage: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance5: Superior Defiant Barrage: Damage/RechargeTime7: Superior Defiant Barrage: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime

Level 1: Chilblain
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 2: Umbral Torrent
A: Superior Witchcraft: Accuracy/ Universal Debuff7: Superior Witchcraft: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge9: Superior Witchcraft: Chance for Res Debuff9: Superior Witchcraft: Universal Debuff/Endurance/Recharge9: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown11: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 4: Super Speed
A: Blessing of the Zephyr: Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 6: Aim
A: Rectified Reticle: To Hit Buff15: Rectified Reticle: To Hit Buff/Recharge

Level 8: Moonbeam
A: Apocalypse: Damage/Recharge15: Apocalypse: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge17: Apocalypse: Accuracy/Recharge17: Apocalypse: Damage/Endurance17: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)19: Decimation: Chance of Build Up

Level 10: Frigid Protection
A: Invention: Healing19: Invention: Healing21: Invention: Endurance Modification21: Invention: Endurance Modification

Level 12: Tenebrous Tentacles
A: Positron's Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance23: Cloud Senses: Chance for Negative Energy Damage23: Forced Indoctrination: Chance of Damage(Psionic)23: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy)25: Ragnarok: Chance for Knockdown25: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff

Level 14: Combat Jumping
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

Level 16: Build Up
A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up

Level 18: Maneuvers
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed33: Kismet: Accuracy +6%33: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

Level 20: Abyssal Gaze
A: Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage29: Cloud Senses: Chance for Negative Energy Damage31: Thunderstrike: Damage/Endurance31: Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance31: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance of Damage(Psionic)33: Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing Damage

Level 22: Tactics
A: Invention: To Hit Buff34: Invention: To Hit Buff34: Invention: To Hit Buff

Level 24: Ice Patch
A: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 26: Life Drain
A: Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage27: Thunderstrike: Damage/Endurance27: Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance34: Preventive Medicine: Heal36: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance37: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb

Level 28: Kick
A: Kinetic Combat: Accuracy/Damage29: Kinetic Combat: Damage/Endurance36: Kinetic Combat: Damage/Recharge36: Kinetic Combat: Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 30: Hasten
A: Invention: Recharge Reduction37: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 32: Blackstar
A: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Accuracy/Damage37: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Damage/Recharge39: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge39: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance39: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge40: Superior Blaster's Wrath: Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage

Level 35: Scorpion Shield
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed40: Reactive Defenses: Defense40: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance42: Reactive Defenses: Defense/RechargeTime

Level 38: Freezing Touch
A: Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage42: Superior Blistering Cold: Damage/Endurance42: Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance43: Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge43: Superior Blistering Cold: Recharge/Chance for Hold43: Hecatomb: Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 41: Frozen Aura
A: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge45: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage45: Armageddon: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge45: Armageddon: Accuracy/Recharge46: Armageddon: Damage/Endurance46: Fury of the Gladiator: Chance for Res Debuff

Level 44: Tough
A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance46: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance48: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime48: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP48: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%50: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)

Level 47: Weave
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed50: Reactive Defenses: Defense50: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage

Level 49: Vengeance
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed


──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Defiance


Level 1: Brawl
(Empty)

Level 1: Sprint
A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth

Level 2: Rest
(Empty)

Level 2: Swift
(Empty)

Level 2: Hurdle
(Empty)

Level 2: Health
A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance11: Miracle: +Recovery13: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery

Level 2: Stamina
A: Invention: Endurance Modification13: Invention: Endurance Modification13: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End


──────────────────────────────
Accolades:

High Pain ThresholdMarshalBorn In Battle


──────────────────────────────
Incarnates:

Intuition Radial Paragon
──────────────────────────────

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2

Player Help/Guides / Practical Incarnate Trial Main Tanking

« on: November 18, 2022, 07:09:48 pm »

TL;DR

For main tanking all trials, plus Ditch strategy for Avatar: +1 level shift, Taunt, achieve 90% S/L/E Resistance and 2,000+ HP along with one or more of: Barrier, substantial Psi Resist, or 500+ additional HP (real and absorb). Lower resists can be compensated for with more HP (to an extent). Nice to have: +3 level shift, Defense (some combination of M/R/S/L/E), Melee Hybrid and AoE KD effects.

For main tanking all trials, plus Facetanking the Avatar: +3 level shift, Taunt, achieve 110%+ S/T Resistance, 90% L/E Resistance, Barrier, and 3000+ HP (real and absorb). Recommended: even more S/T Resist, 500+ additional HP (real and absorb), Melee Hybrid. As with the other Avatar strategy, extra HP can make up for a resistance deficiency (to an extent). Nice to have: Defense (some combination of M/R/S/L/E), substantial Psi Resist and AoE KD effects.

Both Brutes and Tankers can carry out either strategy, but Brutes will have to work harder to meet some of those numbers. The Tanker ATO procs are awesome; the Brute ATO procs are filler.

Though I did indulge in a significant research on Reddit, the Canadian back-up of the live servers (for some reason those are in the Wayback Machine), and poaching Issue24/unchanged data from Homecoming, the bulk of my conclusions are by way of induction. I tested, in game, different armor types and slotting configurations to discover what worked best (or at least that I had the most fun with) in the various trials.

Any questions are welcome, but please only post strategies/tactics that you’ve personally game tested.


Purpose:

Our Rebirth version of City of Heroes is diverging from the Issue24 common source of the other servers. A repository of basic knowledge for main tanking incarnate trials would have encouraged me to try my hand at it far sooner. Sharing some of what I’ve learned since the game’s return in 2019, as well as inviting others to add their trial-proven strategies/tactics/tricks, is my attempt to give something back to the game that has given me so much joy.

This article is meant to be a resource containing realistic descriptions of main tanking responsibilities, strategies for executing those duties, and builds that can see it all done.

Though there are plenty of numbers in this article (we need metrics), my conclusions are based solely off in-game effect. Meaning, that while I love to play in Mids and I do appreciate the math behind what we’re doing, the effects of practical gameplay are all that matter to me.

What is incarnate trial main tanking? (What am I doing and why?)

Primarily, a main tank for I-trials takes the big hits/crowd control/damaging raid mechanics for the league.

Secondarily (but often just as importantly), a main tank acts as an air traffic controller, guiding an AV to a particular location or simply facing it away from the rest of the group, so that the League can beat down the AV from an advantageous/safe position.

Tertiarily, with all the resistances, HP, and Taunt, a main tank can create herd situations in UG and Magi so that the league can cut loose with massive area of effect abilities; who doesn’t like that?


How do I know if my character is ready for main tanking?

In the TL;DR above, a short form of the statistics that have proven themselves as conservative minimums for main tanking is listed. These numbers are meant as guidelines, not as any hard and fast measure. What works (and is hopefully fun) is all that matters for purposes of this practical resource. Those summarized numbers are expanded a bit below.

   Level Shifts: While +1 level shift is required to simply hold aggro on an incarnate AV, more shifts are certainly recommended. Level difference affects almost every defensive measure, so unless the tanking options are limited or you’re very experienced and have blown a ton of resources on enhancement sets, a tank with only one level shift is unlikely to succeed at main tanking. I couldn’t imagine Facetanking the Avatar with less than 3 level shifts, primarily because that AV’s main danger (Outside of Will of the Earth) is Infection’s massive def/res debuff.

   Resistance: Though Smashing and Lethal damage remain prevalent (the baddies never get tired of shooting or punching us), Energy damage can be the third rail of incarnate trial main tanking. Incarnate content, speaking generally, is loaded with Energy damage. Praetorians, the BAF Towers, Antimatter, War Walkers, etc. all inflict large amounts of spike and DoT Energy damage. Achieving 90% in these three categories is doable for the Resistance based sets (Electric, Radiation, Fire, etc.) largely due to generous set bonuses from the Halloween enhancements. Count the least Barrier will do for you, the superlative Tanker ATOs (if you happen to be a Tanker), and a Melee Hybrid enhancement (should you use it) to get an easily self-sustainable total. Please note, if Facetanking the Avatar, shooting for 110%+ Smashing and Toxic resistance is also called for, but since this is a one-off encounter (as opposed to the multiple War Walkers in UG) it is practical to carry around a few extra orange inspirations to go with the blues required for that strategy.

   Hit Points: If one can achieve 90% S/L/E resistance, has Barrier, and a firm grip on the tactics of tanking the various incarnate AVs, then one can get by with as few as 2000 hp (Maybe less).  More HP are certainly recommended for general tanking, and they are required for surviving the massive debuffs from the Avatar of Hamidon. Whether it’s by way of Absorb shields, Dull Pain/Hoarfrost, or stacking up set bonuses, it all counts as hit points. For purposes of tanking the Avatar of Hamidon, 3000+ HP is recommended. More hit points can be substituted for resistances, but I’ve not experimented enough to guess the ratio for replacing resistances with HP.

   Defense: None of the sets that I’ve tested for incarnate trial main tanking have significant amounts of Defense. This is not to say that Defense is wholly useless when main tanking incarnate content. Though many of the AVs have tremendous to-hit chances (Maelstrom) and/or debuffs (Antimatter and the Avatar), the Olympian Guards, Banished Pantheon, and the Praetorian army can hit hard, so having some defense is useful against the trash mobs in UG, Magi, DD, and TPN.

   AoE KD Effects: Though of no use against AVs, these kings/queens of soft control (and their single target cousins) make surviving the notorious shout of the Olympian Guard much easier. Beyond some large robot models, Devoured, and AV’s (along with their scaled down EB equivalents) very little in CoH has knockdown protection. Ragnarok and Avalanche both have excellent KD procs; most any character can use at least one of them.

What are the basic main tank tactics?

   Pulling/Gaining Initial Aggro: In every case except for Siege (in BAF), incarnate trial AVs require a single Taunt/attack (ranged or melee)/aura brush/Darkest Night anchor to get their attention.

   Breaking Line of Sight: After pulling an AV, putting distance between yourself and the enemy might not be enough. Hiding your character and playing peekaboo with AVs is the easiest way to move them around. In MoM’s second phase, for instance, a single taunt of the AV and an aura brush of a Storm Void, followed by a duck behind the pillar closest to the door will bring the AV and Void together on top of you.

   Holding Aggro: Distinct from pulling AVs, there are situations, primarily in UG, where other players’ powers work against facing the AV away from the rest of the league. Where warnings from the raid leader are ignored, inexperience prevents a player from understanding the consequences of their actions, or people simply make mistakes, the remedies that I’ve discovered to situations where the AV won’t sit still and face you include: inflicting damage on the AV, particularly before the rest of the league is called in; repeated Taunt, every time it’s off cool down; hanging Darkest Night on the AV, they seem to hold a grudge against toggle debuffs. None of that is guaranteed to work, unfortunately.

   Herding: Bringing large groups of enemies together for DPS slaughter. Any AoE thrown on one spawn before dashing off to another spawn will generally pull groups together. Breaking line of sight or taking advantage of Taunt’s -range effect can move things along faster. Darkest Night is a wonderful herding tool. DN also allows a Brute/Tanker to significantly debuff a trash spawn (maybe an ambush) that exceeds their aggro cap, thus giving them the ability to protect their team from afar.

When and where is main tanking called for?

Since each incarnate trial is its own multi-stage mini task force, the opportunities (and demands) for main tanking vary depending on the trial. Frankly, there’s little to no need for a main tank in some trials, while others become very difficult without one. So, each trial is listed below, along with notes on where and when main tanking can be helpful/necessary. This is not meant to be a guide to I-Trials in general, rather these are notes indicating where, when, and how a main tank might effectively play their part.

      BAF: A main tank is helpful for pulling Nightstar and Siege to the building north of the tennis courts. Fighting there, the league can stay out of the field of fire of the Energy damage turrets. Nightstar requires exactly one ‘hit’ (Taunt or attack), then the main tank can simply travel past the league and hide around the corner. Using SJ or Flying can coax Nightstar into doing the same, thus shortening the pull. Siege requires two taunts to keep his interest. The second Taunt needs to be fired at about halfway between his spawn point and the waiting league. Though Siege spawns farther away than Nightstar, it is easy to approach and guide him without getting hit by any of the turrets. Careful snipes or tough squishies can do both these jobs if a tank isn’t available.

      DD: Babysitting the two captive heroes in the final stage is the only real use for a main tank in this trial. If the two AVs spawn adjacent, then it’s easy enough to stand next to them, taunt the pair, and then lead them away from the scrum. If the two heroes flank Diabolique, then pick one to stand next to and taunt the other the moment it becomes targetable. Then, the pair can be guided away from the battle with Diabolique. Between taunts of the two off-AVs, feel free to shoot essences or Diabolique.

      Keyes: This is one place where all that Energy resistance is put to the test. Late in the first stage, Antimatter will materialize on top of a building with a curved roof between the 1st stage tower and the 2nd stage tower. If playing a Brute (and not Electric Armor), saving Barrier for this moment is recommended. A Tanker will need to be careful in utilizing their ATOs to buff their Resistance/Absorb because if Antimatter is slain before the final stage, the trial fails. While there's no way the main tank is going to beat down AM before the stage ends, inexperienced/inattentive players will start attacking AM if they see anyone else doing it.

In stages 2 and 3, AM materializes on the 1st terminal floor above the ground, but he rarely needs attention because of most leagues’ speed. If in Stage 3 AM appears and 6 terminals have not been primed, then the main tank will need to draw AM to a cleared terminal; this is an uncommon occurrence and requires a simple taunt/break line of sight combo.

The final phase calls for a main tank to pull AM to each terminal bank in the sequence that AM will employ them to stop time and regenerate at increments of 80/50/20 percent of his health. The purpose in pulling AM to each terminal bank is to shorten the period of his ‘Time Stop’ power. The shorter the freeze period, the greater the odds of avoiding the green stuff. Also, a short freeze reduces the odds of someone being disintegrated while frozen.

      Lambda: I see no particular use for a main tank in Lambda. An unshifted/undeveloped league might need two tanks, one for each elevator bank, but a league that weak seems unlikely to defeat Marauder in time. In a badge run, someone will need to pull the AV away from some consumables that, if broken, will fail the badge

      Magi: There’s very little for a main tank to do in a regular Magi run. Since Blasters can pull 17 Praets at a time to the crossroads by blasting and jumping, only the Tanker’s 25 target aggro cap or a Brute’s relative toughness aid in pulling during the first phase.

In the second phase, if the league is on the weaker side, Nega-Pendragon can be pulled away so that Shadow Hunter can be focused down. Frankly, the leagues on Rebirth (at least as of this writing) are so strong that dragging Nega-Pendragon away appears to slow things down.

In attempting the Triple Threat badge, two main tanks are required for positioning and surviving the pair of Shadow Hunter and Nega-Pendragon and for keeping Manticore’s attention for the pursuit team.

      MoM: A main tank is helpful, but not required. The damage to melee characters from the purple pools dropped in the first and fourth phase can be minimized by a main tank taunting the AVs and creating distance/breaking line of sight to pull them out of the damaging pools.

In the second phase, the AV and a Storm Void need to be pulled together, but given the convenient pillars in the room, anyone with a ranged attack can shoot both, hide, and pull them together.

      TPN: One tanking character is required to hold Maelstrom’s attention outside during the second telepathist phase. Fortunately, Mael’s damage appears to be all Smashing/Lethal. This means many Brutes/Tankers pack the Resistance and HP to survive him. A character who might not otherwise be considered a ‘main tank’ could carry out this job, perhaps with a little support, should they lack level shifts or enhancement sets.

The inside tank(s) have a little more to do. A lone inside tank (usually a Tanker or, if the league is small, a Brute) can pull the mobs from Terminals A, B, and C so that the DPS team can kill the techs and click the panels. If only a single Brute is available for the inside team, a competent (and they almost always are) DPS team can take care of the Praets pestering HD.

Beyond the large amount of incoming Energy damage, a single inside tank needs to manage their aggro cap. Even the Tanker 25 target cap can be exceeded by the combination of adds dragged in from the halls, respawns, and the orbs that the Praets spawn. Part of main tanking inside is watching for those respawns and managing mobs beyond your aggro cap. Taunting mobs when at aggro cap doesn’t help, but a ranged attack will do the trick. Also, killing the orbs when pulling the guards from the terminals is another way to keep under the aggro cap. Finally, a terminal’s guards vanish once the terminal is clicked, thus reducing the enemy count.

Two inside tanks of any kind render the aggro cap issue moot because the pair can simply divide tanking duties. While Taunt is useful for an inside tank, taunt auras and AoEs work fine for pulling terminal guards, so a character who couldn’t tank UG might be fine in TPN.

      UG: This is the main tanking Main Event.

Olympian Guards appear throughout the trial, making for a main tank worthy trash mob bonanza. Here is where Defense, AoE KD powers, and piles of HP illustrate a main tank’s rodeo clown qualifications. Enough OGs in one place will kill anyone; enjoy the excitement they bring.

Soon enough, though, the league encounters the 1st War Walker.

Because the War Walkers all have special AoE effects that they can trigger on anyone they label as ‘Targeted’, it is important that the main tank immediately turn any War Walker away from the league. Because OGs fill in to the left of the 1st War Walker (as you exit the elevator), I jump to the right side and behind the War Walker. If I have one, I throw an AoE KD power (Dark Obliteration w/Ragnarok is great for this) on the OGs and Taunt the WW. Because there are enough powers in the game that can break Taunt (Riptide, Water Golem, Phantom Decoys, Tanker/Brute taunt auras, accidental Taunts from other players… etc.), repeatedly taunting the WWs is generally a fine idea.

The 2nd and 3rd War Walker fights feature no OGs, but the AV should be moved in each instance to make the fight more manageable.

A single taunt/attack and breaking line of sight is required to pull the 2nd WW to the other side of the hall from the league and back along the far wall, bringing the WW closer to the league. Then, the WW can be turned around and the league summoned. The WW is moved to this location to prevent the 3rd WW from spawning on top of the league.

The 3rd WW needs to be pulled into the far corner, opposite the elevator out of the level. Generally, I find it easier to pull the 3rd WW across the tracks before guiding it to the end of the hall because it tends to either get hung-up on one of the central walls or its foot gets stuck in the tracks. In any case, once pulled to the end of the hall the tank can call for the rest of the league to beat down the WW. The 3rd WW is moved to that corner location because the lichen in the hall causes it to regenerate at an incredible rate.

The Avatar of Hamidon is a stark dividing line between strategies/tactics for completing the Underground Trial. In fact, misconceptions about this lone foe inspired me to start building this resource.

What does the Avatar of Hamidon do? (Why is it different than the rest of the AVs?)

Will of the Earth is the real enemy here, believe it or not. This yellow/purple hurricane that announces itself as ‘Consumed’ in red text on your screen will do damage after six seconds to everyone within its area of effect. The damage increases per character in the AoE, so WotE can easily cause partial or nearly full team wipes. On top of all the damage, the Avatar gets healed per character hit.

Crush is the other significantly damaging power of the Avatar. It’s a mix of Smashing (no problem) and Toxic (uh-oh, some sets have little to no Toxic resist).

Devour Foe does a bit of Negative Energy Damage. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like much. However, Devour Foe operates like how Soul Drain does for Dark Melee (it provides a damage and to-hit buff per target in a PBAoE). This means that if the Avatar is surrounded, it now has a substantial to-hit and damage buff.

Infection is a stacking 33% Defense and Resistance debuff. Briefly, the Avatar can achieve three stacks of Infection. This means that when employing the Facetank strategy a tank must be ready to contend with a momentary -99% Defense and Resistance debuff. The silver lining is that once the third stack expires, all the stacks appear to expire (meaning the full debuff vanishes, only to begin stacking up again…).

Cripple is an extra insult on top of the potentially massive injury inflicted by the combination of the previous three abilities. With Cripple, the Avatar fires a long, but narrow cone. It does no damage, instead Cripple applies a massive -Recovery debuff on everyone it hits. As best I can tell, it is auto-hit. However, Cripple does fire a red text warning. If one is standing in melee with the Avatar, it is very easy to dodge by shifting to one side (Doing this simple evasive action can have dire consequences if employing the Ditch strategy described below because you may have just let the Avatar get to the main tank).

On top of those four abilities, the Avatar fires off Seeds of Confusion (Tactics/Clarion/etc. are welcome here), and it respawns more Greater Devoured. This trash can become hazardous from the combination of the Avatar’s Infection debuff and the scarcity of Toxic resistance.

Because of this nasty combination of abilities and the very specific resistances/countermeasures required to directly face the Avatar of Hamidon, a strategy evolved unlike any other to deal with this unique enemy.

Why are we standing in this ditch? (The Ditch Strategy)

To deal with the combination of massive debuffs and Toxic damage, a strategy evolved that placed the bulk of the league as a barrier between a taunting tank and the Avatar of Hamidon. By creating enough range or breaking line of sight with the AV, the Avatar would be unable to activate any of its nasty abilities. With the entire league blocking its way, the Avatar would continue to try and get at the tank who it could not effectively attack.

In the initial phases of this strategy, the Avatar would be drawn into a tiny room off the large chamber that the Avatar spawns in, but too often the Avatar would body-surf and escape. Later, the small hall connecting the Avatar chamber with the approaching tunnel became the preferred bottleneck.

More so than with any other pull, keeping it simple is encouraged because by dawdling (rather than simply taunting/damaging/DN anchoring and running) the main tank is giving the Avatar the opportunity to inflict multiple debuffs that its adds can exploit. There is no reason for a tanker not to run past the league and hide around the corner after establishing aggro. Furthermore, by lingering near the entrance to the tunnel a main tank is setting up the league to be hit with a Cripple. Rarely have I stood in the Ditch and not been Crippled at least once or twice. More than once, have I blown more blue inspirations as a DPS in the Ditch than Facetanking the Avatar.

To carry out the Ditch Strat and protect the league from debuffs, the tanker must remain out of line of sight as much as humanly possible. Yes, ostensibly the toughest character in the league must hide behind the most vulnerable characters. Any time spent within sight of the Avatar is an opportunity for the AV to hit the group with another Cripple.

Combat Jumping is the strongest power I’ve found to maintain Taunt while simultaneously hiding myself from the Avatar. By popping out just into view, jumping back toward cover, then firing Taunt as I sail through the air, I can expose myself to the Avatar for only a fraction of a second. Several times (I don’t have an exact count) with my Tanker, Kewpie Gusto, I was able to stack Darkest Night, damage from Gloom, and Taunt, while keeping myself almost entirely out of the Avatar’s line of sight. In each of those instances where I managed to continuously jump out of line of sight while activating Taunt (and everything else went fine… more on that below) the Avatar fired off zero debuffs. To repeat, it is possible to employ the Ditch strategy and avoid all significant debuff/damage from the Avatar just by taunting and being unseen.

Simply walking/sprinting can also be used to pop out the tiny fraction of an inch required, before moving back to cover while simultaneously triggering Taunt. The uneven floor and the possibility of stopping short and causing a Cripple make Combat Jumping (or simply leaping) more reliable, IMO.

However, numerous things can go wrong with the Ditch strategy. The most obvious is the main tanker not staying out of line of sight. Some players just don’t seem to know that they can pop into view, jump, and activate a power while the momentum carries them out of line of sight.

Beyond positioning/line of sight issues, there is a laundry list of abilities that can interrupt the Avatar’s aggro. Water Golem, Riptide, Phantom Army, and any Brute/Tanker Taunt aura can break aggro. However, even when a player wisely skips Phantom Army, they might not realize that the decoy summoned by another power, Phantasm, behaves exactly like the Phantom Army, in terms of aggro theft!

To further complicate things, there are other powers that I’d be reluctant to ask someone to turn off. Integration (a /Regen Brute’s taunt aura) is also their mez protection. I wouldn’t expect a /Regen Brute to turn that off (it also might not matter, since I’m not convinced that all taunt auras are created equal). Super-Reflexes has its taunt aura in Evasion, does that character need to skip their AoE defense to accomplish the Ditch strategy?

Also, pets frequently keep the Avatar from breaking on the ditch line. This prevents characters in the ditch from using any melee powers, as well as making the main tank’s job much more difficult. It is quite challenging to hop within range of the Avatar, taunt, and hop far enough away to break line of sight when a mass of pets has the AV penned in at the entrance to the Avatar’s chamber. Usually, there are multiple Cripples in this situation.

Ultimately, to accomplish the Ditch Strategy, everyone in the league must surrender all player agency/autonomy. The main tank hides behind everyone else, while the rest of the league DPSs the Avatar, keeps it hemmed in, and avoids aggro. Any single player who ignores the instructions, does not understand them, or feels like trolling, can turn the very mechanical Ditch Strat into outright drudgery for all involved. If everyone is on the same page, the Resistances and HP of the main tank are irrelevant because they won’t ever be attacked. Level shifts to hold aggro and skill at Taunt/Hiding are all that matter.

Of course, none of that coordination matters if someone gets hit with Will of the Earth (the real enemy here) and doesn’t move. The entire league is packed together like veal calves in the bottleneck. Deaths are almost a certainty, as well as healing the Avatar.

Why don’t we just Facetank the Avatar?

The obvious alternative to the (literally) backward Ditch Strategy is to have the main tank place the Avatar somewhere that allows the entire league room to both avoid Will of the Earth and array themselves around the Avatar to provide maximum buff/healing/end gain to the main tank and one another. The large chamber that the Avatar spawns in is the perfect place. In fact, the Avatar often loiters near the center of the room.

To enact the Facetank Strategy (as I understand it as of this writing), the main tank Taunts/damages/Darkest Night anchors the Avatar and guides it to the middle of the room. If the Avatar happens to spawn in a corner, Taunt’s -Range component combined with tank positioning can easily draw the Avatar right where you want it.

After positioning the Avatar, it is then faced away from the hall where the rest of the league waits. Make sure to both do damage to the Avatar and Taunt it. If Darkest Night is available, make sure it’s active. When aggro is fully set with that trifecta (Taunt/Damage/DN) it is possible for the main tank to hold aggro over a subsequently summoned Phantom Army.

*Please Note: The ability to hold aggro over a Phantom Army summoned after applying the trifecta of Taunt/Damage/toggle debuff was observed with my Tanker, Kewpie Gusto (build below), and isn’t meant to be a guarantee of a main tank keeping aggro through any of the aggro-disrupting powers that will make the Ditch Strategy a slog with constant Cripples. While Facetanking, those aggro resets are merely inconvenient (the worst outcome is a few members of the league get hit with the long, narrow Cripple cone, not everyone.)*

Once the main tank is confident that they’re done everything they can to hold the Avatar’s attention (we’re talking three to four button clicks to attack, Taunt, toggle, etc.), then the rest of the league is called in. They stick to the Avatar’s back, beating it down and providing buffs/heals/end gain to the main tank while the main tank spams taunt, attacks, and survives… just like most of the rest of the AVs in the game.

There are a few catches, however, to the survival portion for a main tank in the Facetanking strategy, along with one huge advantage.

      Cripple: As a main tank, trying to dodge the Cripple cone is likely to cause more trouble than it’s worth. Be prepared to eat blue inspirations. Back in the Fight are best, but also harder to come by. Second Wind is easier to come up with. Make sure to wait for the end drain to run its course, but before toggles drop, to maximize the effectiveness of the inspiration. A dedicated character with Transference or any other direct end gain power alleviates the Cripple debuff. More than once have I Facetanked the Avatar and not used a single blue inspiration. Just the same, more than once have I used 6 blue inspirations. Come prepared.

      Infection: Because you’ve got the Avatar’s full attention (hopefully) you’re also the target of the stacking 33% Defense and Resistance debuff. Because the Avatar can attain three stacks (if briefly), the main tank needs to be prepared for Crush (Smash/Toxic). Many times, the main tank can survive that massive, but brief, period of vulnerability with the worst effects coming from adds that spawn in and immediately alpha strike the main tank. Playing main tank, though, demands preparation for the worst case of a Devour Foe-buffed Crush at maximum debuff. This is where a large health pool (Force Barrier from Gadgetry is the panacea for tanks here), a Melee Hybrid, Barrier, and all that Toxic Resistance, worthless in every other Trial, shines. Orange inspirations can easily make up a low-double digit deficit in one or both resistances. Be sure to meter the inspiration use so that Resistance and HP remain high enough throughout the fight, since they only last 60 seconds apiece. Rarely does Facetanking go more than four minutes.

      Will of the Earth: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, WotE is the real enemy here. No matter how well a main tank might prepare, in terms of build, positioning, and power rotation, nor how well played any support might be, everyone can be snuffed out by one person who didn’t take the purple/yellow hurricane of Will of the Earth seriously.

      Proximity to the League: Just being within easy reach of targeted and PBAoE buffs/heals from your mighty league is often enough to ease the burden of Facetanking the Avatar so that the thing folds like a wet paper bag (that could be a literal simile, since I’ve no idea what that thing is made from… it’s in the sewers… toilet paper, maybe?). The point is that you’re not alone in this. Several times, a Facetanking has gone so fast that I’ve not had the opportunity to reapply Barrier.

What might an incarnate trial main tanker build look like?

In succeeding posts, I will upload Tanker/Brute builds that I’ve used to main tank all of the incarnate trials multiple times. Note that I am not suggesting that these are in any way optimal builds, nor do I subscribe to the notion that there is a single optimal build to begin with (a large part of what keeps CoH interesting, IMO).

I do tend to tinker with builds, so there is a good chance that at some point I’ll no longer be using any of the builds posted. As much as I enjoy making builds in Mids, that tool has no metric for what I find ‘fun’ to play, hence the practical nature of this guide. These builds are only meant to be battle-proven baselines from which one can find their own idea of tanking ‘fun’.

3

Blaster / Stealth buff to Tactics for Blasters

« on: October 07, 2021, 06:30:39 pm »

After digging through the patch notes, I can find no mention of the wonderful change that's been made to the +to hit portion of Tactics for Blasters.

The number has been raised from the Live 7% that the other DPS classes get to 10% for Blasters!

Now, any Blaster with a snipe can get take Tactics, triple slot it, add 8 enhancement boosters spread among the 3 IOs, add the Kismet Global, and you have permanent insta-snipe.

An issue with that configuration are that the yellow circle indicating insta-snipe status will not appear (for some reason that is coded to only appear when you either meet or exceed 97.50% total to hit), but even with barely 97% you can fast snipe. (Note: it does occur to me that I went slightly over 97%, so I'm not actually certain you'll get instasnipe at 97% even).

Since at end game there are a great many to-hit debuffs, I keep a window open monitoring my current to-hit to avoid starting slow snipes because I didn't realize I'd been debuffed.

Just wanted to pass on the good news to anyone else who hadn't noticed the buff.

Snipe away!

4

(Almost Tested) Bug Reporting / Extreme Variation in Absolute Resolution Damage Proc

« on: August 30, 2021, 07:13:36 pm »

After spending about an hour playing around with Catalyzed versions of the two Guardian proc ATOs I noticed wildly variable amounts of bonus energy damage.

In my crude testing I tried to make sure that I was piling up roughly the same number of Resolve stacks (4-5) before firing off Tremor (which I love the new shorter animation time on, btw), the power that I'd stuck the Absolute Resolution proc into (along with a whole pile of other procs).

Unfortunately, I'd chosen to test on +3 Freaks (mostly because I like smashing Freaks), so their moderate vulnerability to Energy damage might throw off the math. That said, I got wildly different results each time I hit a spawn of Freaks with Tremor.

Numbers that I recorded (mind you, this was by hand with scrap paper, so there's only so much science here) ranged from 351.55 bonus Energy damage (yeah, that much from a single proc... on every enemy in the spawn hit) down to 114.64 bonus Energy Damage. I also had results in between these two extremes such as 296.43 and 244.02 bonus Energy Damage.

For comparison's sake, a regular damage proc (Obliteration's) did 50.13 smashing damage against the same enemy. A better comparison might be the Eradication proc that did 65.17, since it's Energy Damage. My Armageddon purple proc only did 74.82 against +3 Freaks.

Even if I did screw up the number of Resolve stacks before firing Absolute Resolution I don't see how you get a 236.91 point swing since Resolve is supposed to only add 30% per stack!

I did try experimenting with and without Build Up and Soul Drain and I didn't notice much a difference (i.e. sometimes with both of those running the bonus Energy proc would be in the low one hundreds, other times with neither active the bonus damage would be in the high two hundreds.)

Now, I do like doing all that damage, but it seems like a bit much, doesn't it?