Okay, with the build details and Mids Reborn data chunk dealt with ... let's dig into the details and specifics of all the synergies and "stuff" going on in this build (and yes, a lot of this won't make as much sense if you aren't looking at Mids for the fiddly bits).
Yes, this is where the
WALL OF TEXT CRITS YOU!!! warning becomes relevant again (as usual) for my build posts.
You have been warned (again).
Notes on choice of Levels for Enhancements to be slotted in:So what's up with picking enhancements that all seem to be either Level 22, 27 or 31 ... except for procs, common IOs and of course, HOs?
In a word ...
EXEMPLAR.
Or to put it into two words, a desire to make the build
Exemplar Friendly.
The first time I tried to create a build plan after Issue 9: Inventions released, I did what most people probably did at the time ... I used all Level 50 sets and common IOs for my build (
MAXIMUM POWAH!!!).
Imagine my surprise when practically my entire build plan fell apart(!) any time I had to Exemplar down to Levels 1-46 because all my set bonuses had a lower bound cutoff of Level 47 (because the enhancements were all Level 50).
That rather ... rude awakening ... had be dive back into Mids and try to find a "sweet spot" of going
as low as possible on the Enhancement Levels without dropping below the throughput performance of SOs (spoiler alert: Level 26 is the parity point between IOs and SOs).
Later, the Flashback System was introduced and it had very clearly defined Level Range Bands built into it for replay of old content. For the purposes of wanting to slot Enhancements into a Mids build, the most relevant Flashback Level breakpoints then became Levels 19, 24 and 29 ... because SOs "began" at Level 25 (and could be slotted as early as Level 22). Furthermore, some Invention Sets had minimum Level ranges of 25-50 or even 30-50, so some flexibility in this area was called for.
The system which I eventually settled upon, and which you will see represented in pretty much all of my build posts, is that the Enhancements themselves (with only some exceptions) will typically fall into either being:
- Level Minimum For The Set: This is usually done for any procs (or proc-like) IOs, so as to maximize their ease of slotting and flexibility if ever unslotted for use in other builds (where "mobility" of Enhancements can become an issue)
- Level 22: Some powers are so "underwhelming" in their default buff throughput that "downgrading" an Invention Set's IOs from Level 27 down to Level 22 yields an acceptably small reduction in overall throughput for the power being enhanced. This is most often true of a power such as Leadership: Maneuvers where the "demotion" of a full 6-slot of enhancements will yield a reduction of ~0.15% Defense(All) in throughput differential (an acceptable reduction in the overall context of a build). The advantage of making this choice, despite the loss in enhancement power is that the global set bonuses offered by the slotted Invention Set are available over a wider range of Exemplar Levels ... in this case all the way down into the Level 19 Limit Flashbacks as well as the Level 20 Task Force and Strike Force options.
- Level 27: This is going to be the Enhancement Level assigned to "most" Enhancements slotted into a build, because these Enhancements are still "operable" and generating their global set bonuses when Exemplared down to Level 24 for that range of Flashback content, in addition to the Level 25 Task Force and Strike Force options.
- Level 31: This Enhancement Level choice is an outcome of the fact that some Invention Sets are limited to Levels 30-50, so the option to select a Level 27 version of that set is not available. The choice of Level 31 instead of Level 32 (as might otherwise be expected) is largely a function of the fact that the Moonfire Task Force exists ... and having global set bonuses "not get switched off" while running that Task Force is enough of a consideration to warrant the use Level 31 instead of Level 32 for Invention Sets limited to the 30-50 range (such as, most prominently, Numina's Convalescence). Yes, this is less of an issue for Villains (who can't participate in the Moonfire Task Force), but is a consideration for Heroes, Vigilantes and Rogues ... so on the whole I figure it makes for a Best Practices standard, even when dealing with intentionally Villain Only builds (just in case).
- Level 50: Anything that doesn't offer a set bonus (and isn't a proc of some sort) automatically gets slotted as a Level 50 Enhancement. Without any set bonuses to worry about, there's no advantage to "slotting low" on these Enhancements.
- (+2) HOs: Despite everything the Invention System brought in terms of slotting options, there are yet still some combinations of enhancement that produce the best results when using HOs. Accuracy/Damage, Accuracy/Mez(All), Damage/Mez(All), Damage/Range, along with other possibilities in the Endurance/Movement as well as some multi-Buff and multi-Debuff combinations ... HOs still offer the highest "enhancement density" value per slot in some notable contexts. Also, just like TOs, DOs and SOs, you can combine HO enhancements to raise their effective Level above 50. Until I can test exactly how "far" you can go with combining HOs, I'm presuming the limit is still going to be a maximum of +2 Levels (requiring a minimum of 3x HO per slot so combined, assuming no failures to combine).
So why those numbers?
Well, because ...
19+3 = 22
24+3 = 27
28+3 = 31
Since parity of enhancement "strength" lies at Level 26 for IOs, slotting set IOs for set bonuses in the range of Levels 22, 27 and 31 (aside from procs) then represents the "sweet spot" that can be found between Low and High for the broadest possible range of Exemplar Levels that yield consistently reliable performance from global set bonuses.
Notes on Defense Softcapping:Attentive readers of this thread will no doubt have noticed that the "baseline" Defense vs Melee/Ranged/AoE are all well in excess of 45% in this build ... and there's a reason for that. It's because some Foes get a +To-hit and/or Accuracy bonus (most notably in
Incarnate Trials) in addition to having a buffer margin against Defense Debuffing by more "ordinary" adversaries (in large numbers!).
The real "secret sauce" of this build as far as Defense goes is that Storm Kick (when it hits...) adds +10% Defense to All but Toxic and Psionic (and Untyped, of course) Damage Positions and Damage Types. That means that with a single hit from Storm Kick, this build (when complete and at Levels 24-50 for all set bonuses) can be sitting pretty at +64.X% Defense vs Melee/Ranged/AoE and still be softcapped against Incarnate Trial Foes with "room to spare" for Defense Debuffing.
That said, there are (of course) some "Kryptonite" counters to this protection scheme ... the most dangerous of which (in my experience) is the
Devouring Earth Quartz summoned by Lieutenants along with multiple stacks of Vengeance caused by defeating
Nemesis Lieutenants. Both enable large quantities of Foes to "shift the balance in their favor" against the Defensive Softcap, effectively "nullifying" the protection offered by Super Reflexes.
Another "Kryptonite" counter to Super Reflexes is the Mind Control powerset, with psionic attacks that have a a Damage Type (psionic) but not a Damage Position (because there is nothing "physical-ish" to defend against, it's "all in your head"). Mesmerize can't stack its Sleep MAG, due to how the power also does damage, but Dominate can be stacked against Super Reflexes, overcoming the protection of Practiced Brawler. Others include (of course) Ghost Widow's MAG 100 Hold power and other outliers ... such as (Raid) Hamidon's deliberately Untyped Damage which cannot be Defended against (Resist, sure, Regenerated out of, sure, Defense ... not so much).
At its core, a Defense based protection scheme (especially when soft capped) is extremely powerful against adversaries ranked as Elite Boss and below. Against Hero/AV and the Monster/Giant Monster class of opposition, Defense alone isn't going be enough to keep you alive, you will need ... MORE ... than just a pure Defense strategy. In Incarnate Trials, particularly the Underground Trial, there are threats such as
Lethal Force Authorized used by Extinction War Walkers (3 of them) which can easily overwhelm this build's (nominal) Max HP and Energy Resistance in the absence of +Absorb (now provided by Elude and Force Barrier!) to be able to "soak" the incoming damage from this devastating attack. The Avatar of Hamidon's Cripple attack will inflict a -100% Recovery Debuff in addition to "damaging" Endurance by -10 per second for 15 seconds (which is usually enough to completely drain to detoggle a facetanker), but which this build can now counter using either Elude and/or Victory Rush in order to "power through" getting hit by Cripple.
Notes on backstopping Defense Protection schemes:As anyone with experience playing Willpower will tell you, softcapped Defense is fine and all ... but without "something else" to back it up, you'll still wind up faceplanting when your opposition rolls double boxcars on you. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you've got next to no reaction time to do anything about it ... so it comes as a shock to both you and your team when you Drop For Debt.
The typical "answer" to this problem is to reach for Resistances and/or Regeneration and/or Absorb.
Resistances make the incoming damage "hurt less" when taken, letting you "soak more" incoming damage.
Regeneration makes the incoming damage "hurt less" by making the damage taken "evaporate" faster.
Absorb makes the incoming damage "hurt less" by effectively giving you a "deeper pool" of health that needs to be burned through before you drop for Debt.
The difference is that Resistances are Typed (S/L/F/C/E/N/Tox/Psi) while Regeneration "responds against everything" (given time to do so) and Absorb also "works against everything" too.
My understanding is that most Players instinctively reach for Resistances FIRST as their primary means to shore up the weak points of Super Reflexes, with Fighting: Tough being the long standing "go to" option for doing this. However, I personally have never been a "fan" of the Fighting Pool, viewing the need to pick up Boxing or Kick as a prerequisite for Tough (with the option of Weave) as being more trouble than it's worth. RI5 has also introduced alternatives to Weave in Acrobatics (Leaping), Aerobatics (Flight) and even Blink+Blink Blitz (Teleport) as additional sources of useful +Defense aside from Hover, Combat Jumping and Stealth.
Paragon Studios eventually revamped Super Reflexes such that the three Passive Powers (Dodge, Agile, Lucky) offered scaling Resistances as HP went down, to partially mitigate against the fact that Super Reflexes, as a Powerset, was "too pure" to have any Resistances built into it at all from game launch. On a Tanker, this means a 0-20% scaling Resistance(All) for each of the three Passive Powers (for a combined 0-60%).
Tack on the scaling resistances proc from the Reactive Defenses set along with the up to 3x stack of +Resist(All) from the Might of the Tanker ATO proc (+5% normal, +6.7% superior) and you're looking at a LOT of potential resistance available without needing to resort to selection of an actual Resistance Power.
Still, a Resistance Power that can slot Resistance sets is highly desirable, since there are Resistance set procs that can add 2x +3% Defense(All) along with the Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP proc ... and now Dodge, Agile and Lucky can all slot these procs natively in RI5.
But the way I figure things, given my past as a MA/SR Scrapper on Virtue, is that Resistances are "nice to have" but Regeneration is NEEDED ... and Absorb covers the edge cases.
The scaling resistances offered by Dodge/Agile/Lucky combined with the Reactive Defenses proc and Might of the Tanker proc (stacking) can yield "plenty" of resistance
when the chips are down and it is desperately needed ... but the rest of the time, what I (personally) would consider more valuable than Typed Resistance is ...
Regeneration. I have found through combat experience that with sufficient Regeneration and strong Defenses, resorting to the Medicine Pool for Aid Self is no longer necessary (and Field Medic does not work out as well as I had hoped in terms of synergies).
With FAST recharge on Force Barrier (47.32s on a 30s duration) and Elude (176.9s on a 90s duration) when factoring in T4 Agility Radial Alpha slotting for heaping helpings of +Absorb when you really need it to survive "Way Too Big" hits ... and/or give yourself some extra margin against edge cases ... so long as you don't overcommit on long animations at inopportune moments, this build will give you everything you need to survive against MOST opposition (including Incarnates).
And yes ... since I don't have (or need) Hasten in my build, I can put T4 Rebirth Radial Destiny on autofire and have a "permanent" bonus to my Regeneration with close to 100% uptime (it's REALLY NICE!) I don't even miss removing the Medicine Pool from my build plans and strategies.
Notes on why Maneuvers is a better choice than WeaveBack in the days (now over a decade ago), there was something of a fierce debate over the merits of Weave vs Maneuvers when it came to the Super Reflexes powerset in the Scrapper forum of the original CoH boards. The way I eventually came to appreciate the differences basically came down to this:
Weave is the Selfish Choice.
Maneuvers is the Altruistic Choice.To oversimplify things, 1x Weave = 2x Maneuvers for a soloist.
That's just a function of the basic buff level offered by the respective powers.
It's not exactly that, but it's close enough for our purposes of conversation.
That basically meant that if all you cared about was ... yourself ... then Weave was the superior choice for you, as a soloist.
But if you cared about group play ... Maneuvers was the superior choice, and you were only "losing out" relative to Weave when soloing.
The best way that I can illustrate this is with a Team-8 comparison.
Let's say that you've joined a Team-8 and your character has Weave and no one else does. What does that do in the team context?
- 1x Weave
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
Okay ... so what happens if two of you have Weave on that Team-8?
Well ...
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
Well ... DUH ... tell us something we don't already know! (I hear you cry)
Alright ... compare and contrast the above, with what happens with Maneuvers instead if you're the only one on the Team-8 with Maneuvers.
- 1x Maneuvers = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
- Nothing = x0.5 Weave
And now look at what happens when two characters on the Team-8 have Maneuvers ...
- 1x Maneuvers = x1 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
- Nothing = x1 Weave
I don't think I can stress the difference in value any more clearly than this.
The Fighting Pool (and Weave specifically) as an alternative to Leadership (and Maneuvers) is a choice between selfishness and altruism.
If you take Weave from the Fighting Pool ... you're the ONLY ONE who benefits.
If you're a soloist who never joins a group ... that works just fine (for you).
When the only one you care about is yourself, the selfish choice is (clearly!) the superior option.
But as soon as you start adding teammates into the calculus ... that all changes.
When YOU yourself have Maneuvers ... all you need is ONE TEAMMATE who also has Maneuvers to give everyone on your team the equivalent of the Weave power (and if more than one teammate has Maneuvers, you're ALL doing better than picking Weave).
To extend the comparison to its logical conclusion, compare and contrast THIS:
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
- 1x Weave
With THIS:
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
- 1x Maneuvers = x4 Weave
Now, you tell me.
Which team would you rather be on among the above choices?
When it comes time to making Power Picks, it's important to think about more than just yourself and how your build affects YOU when you play. You also want to be thinking about what your character brings to a Team when you join a group, beyond just your DPS and Mez potential (and so on and so forth). Leadership is the only Pool that makes entire teams BETTER just by having you around ... and the Fighting Pool doesn't do that (or at least, not in the same way or even to the same degree, usually).
The Fighting Pool is a SELF multiplier set of Powers.
The Leadership Pool is a TEAM multiplier set of Powers.There's a reason why I'm always trying to find room in every build I make in Mids for all three Leadership toggles in my build plans. That's because I would rather be counted among those who contribute to the success of my fellow Players, rather than merely looking out for
#1 and leaving everyone else to fend for themselves.
Yes, Weave "looks better" on paper (or in Mids) when all you care about are your own numbers ... and for a very long time, Tough was the ONLY Pool Power available to Super Reflexes that offered access to a Resistance Power that could slot Resistance sets ... making this choice a very difficult one for many builders, but that is no longer the limiting factor choice anymore ... not on Rebirth.
This same mentality informed my choice of Hybrid Slot.
Assault is the SELF multiplier option.
Support is the TEAM/LEAGUE multiplier option.Consequently, I never have to worry about "is this the right time to activate my T4 Support Radial Hybrid?" because the answer to that question is ALWAYS YES (except, perhaps, in the minutes before a big boss battle). Toggle on Support whenever it is recharged while clearing trash, since it multiplies the damage output of the entire Team/League (within the 80ft PBAoE). Stacked with Assault (Tanker), you're adding between 10.5-18.5% extra damage to everyone nearby to you, which can quickly add up to being a lot more added damage than you would ever be able to deliver yourself (even when averaging out the on/off of Support damage buffing relative to the "always on" Assault passive damage buffing).
