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 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.
Because ...
Notes on the Sorcery PoolRune of Protection ... is the answer to a whole host of Resistance related concerns for Super Reflexes as a powerset.
Why?
Because it is a Resistance Power that can slot Resistance sets.
Tough now has ... competition ... as the "go to" Resistance Power choice.
Now in my case, I'm just using Rune of Protection mainly as a set mule power and as a "break glass in case of DERP!" option, hence why I take it so very late in my build strategy ... but even as a Final Power Pick that will be rarely used, the impacts on the build overall are incredibly profound.
First of all, being able to slot the two +3% Defense(All) set IOs available to Resistance sets (grrrr...) makes a MASSIVE difference in terms of what set bonuses are needed to reach the Defense Soft Cap (or in my case, the Incarnate Defense Soft Cap of 59%!) ... just like being able to use Storm Kick for +10% Defense(Most) also makes a huge difference in being able to achieve this "lofty goal" without needing to resort to Elude. But perhaps more importantly, because the desired Enhancements are actually procs, you can acquire Minimum Level procs and they will be "operative" even when the Rune of Protection Power itself is unavailable due to being Exemplared. In other words, the Enhancements that can be slotted into Rune of Protection are FAR more valuable to the overall build than the active use of the power itself!
Furthermore, unlike with the Fighting Pool (again), there are "no wasted Power Picks" when taking the Sorcery Pool in the overall context of this build.
Mystic Flight is (in my opinion) an out of the box superior option compared to Fly (and the Flight Pool in general). Being able to "short range teleport" using Translocation (bundled with Mystic Flight) inside indoor maps creates tactical movement opportunities that simply are not available from other options (at least, not without requiring more Power Picks). Being able to "bypass" choke points and/or reposition yourself to best tactical advantage to start an engagement (or scout around corners) has a value that is difficult to appreciate until you've experienced it first hand.
In early iterations of this build, I was looking more towards Arcane Bolt as the necessary stepping stone towards prerequisite access to Rune of Protection ... but then I later shifted over into a desire for extreme Regeneration set bonuses and the option of using multiple 2-slot Numina's Convalescence set bonuses became the
beyond obvious choice to reach that overarching goal. At that point, it was an easy decision to swtich to Sorcery: Spirit Ward, primarily as a set mule for additional Regeneration global bonus stacking, but also as a supplement to the Medicine: Aid Other choice of prerequisites in that Pool. The combination of Aid Other and Spirit Ward then makes for a remarkably potent "OH NO YOU DON'T!" response when a teammate is in danger of getting faceplanted. The added buffer of a +Absorb like Spirit Ward was thus simply too compelling of an option to pass up.
I chose Mystic Flight at Level 4 simply so that no matter what Level I have to Exemplar to ... I can always fly.
If I didn't need Level 6 for Practiced Brawler (Mez protection as early as possible!) then I might have considered choosing Mystic Flight at Level 6. However, given the ... imperatives ... of getting Super Reflexes set up (and slotted up!) as quickly as possible, selection of a Travel Power after Level 4 would have been a very long wait indeed ... so Level 4 was the only logical slot available for this Power Pick. Since I don't care for the Rune Aura that comes native with Mystic Flight, I just go into the Tailor and set the Power for Minimal FX on Mystic Flight and move on with enjoying the game.
Notes on the Medicine PoolAs previously alluded to in my "Rikti Magus are my natural prey..." rant above, I am a big believer in the value of the Medicine Pool (and Aid Self in particular) to the Super Reflexes survival scheme. Being able to "erase damage taken" through use of Aid Self is simply game changing!
I mean, having lots (and lots!) of Regeneration is ... nice ... but it's not the same as having a Heal on demand as a Power.
Aid Self is really a "clutch" Power for Super Reflexes.
Except ... with the Preventive Medicine set slotted into Aid Self, it's even better!
Why?
Because of the +Absorb proc and set bonuses (all of which are lovely!), all of which increase the odds of surviving an "unlucky double boxcars" dice roll result rather dramatically. Any attack that might take you out in 2 hits can (potentially) be disrupted by the +Absorb proc slotted into Aid Self ... giving you enough reaction time to actually USE Aid Self and not need a Rez.
But the synergy goes even beyond that ... because Super Reflexes is a Defense (Soft Cap) oriented protection scheme.
Yes, Aid Self has an Interrupt built into it ... but Super Reflexes can stand in the middle of a crossfire of hatred and have a pretty fair chance of NOT GETTING HIT (and you'll hate DoTs the most when you do get hit!), meaning that the odds of being able to "ignore" that Interrupt time are, well ... better than average (or at least, better than you would expect just looking at the outside label on the tin).
The cast time for Aid Self is 4.33s (4.448s arcanatime for animation), but the Interrupt duration is only 1s ... so if you can simply not move or take damage for the first 1s of the animation, you can successfully Aid Self to heal yourself ... and with Super Reflexes, this is a LOT more reliable than it would be with other powersets. Just don't stand in Caltrops (or any other Damage/Mez over Time AoE) and you should be good to go! Back on Virtue, I developed a "habit" of knowing when the 1s Interrupt phase of casting Aid Self was finished and would actually start moving(!) before the casting animation was finished (but after the Interrupt time had already elapsed). That way, I didn't have to "stand still" for the entire casting animation ... just the Interrupt time. This allowed me to reposition for my next attack volley while Aid Self continued animating, with the Heal successfully getting cast on myself, which could sometimes make difference in relative positioning during rapidly evolving combat situations.
When you can have
FIVE RIKTI MAGUS pounding away at you in melee during a Mothership Raid and STILL be able to use Aid Self without interruption most of the times you attempt to use the Power ... yeah, you're good!
Originally, I was going to choose Injection as my Power Pick prerequisite to get to Aid Self ... but then I started really reading Field Medic and ... a possibility presented itself that I hadn't considered before.
Without an Interrupt, Aid Other could be used
while on the move(!) (no need to stop to wave the green tricorder around!) and Aid Self would actually turn into an Endurance GAIN Power(!), in addition to being a Heal(!) ...
Being able to use Aid Self to top up both the green AND blue bars was simply too good of a synergy to pass up ... especially since this build overall was turning into a very Endurance hungry endeavor (Crippling Axe Kick and Eagles Claw only have 21.06% Endurance reduction slotted natively, and Dragon's Tail is even worse with only 18.43% Endurance reduction slotted natively!). Although I had the Panacea, Miracle, Numina's Convalescence and Performance Shifter procs in the build giving me access to more Endurance ... I know from past experience that it might not be enough (when needed).
Enter Field Medic modifying Aid Self into being an Endurance booster ... PERMANENTLY ...
The alternative would have been to take Leadership: Victory Rush instead ... but Victory Rush has a fixed recharge and duration, giving it a 40% uptime (at best, since it's a 2m duration on a 5m recharge that cannot be reduced). By contrast, Field Medic MODIFIES Aid Self in such a way that Aid Self becomes an Endurance GAIN every time that Aid Self is successfully cast (and with all the Defense offered by Super Reflexes, it can be cast pretty darn reliably so long as the Player isn't full of DERP!). This combination then "solves" to a remarkable degree any kind of "endurance starvation" the overall build plan might have encountered when unleashing its full power over an extended duration of long combat.
I tried multiple variations of this build ... some with Field Medic and some without ... but I always kept coming back to the overriding need to "heal blue" in addition to the need to "heal green" as a necessity for survival. In the end, I dropped a different Power in favor of keeping Field Medic, and now I'm glad I did ... because I discovered something.
Like I mentioned above, removing the Interrupt from Aid Other means that Aid Other can be used while moving (casting does not "root" you in place to cast!) and Aid Self adds 5% Endurance five times over 8.1s of duration (easily more than the endurance cost to cast Aid Self, so net gain in blue bar!). What I didn't know was ... what would happen when I Exemplared? Would the fact that Field Medic was taken at Level 30 mean that the modification to Aid Other (no Interrupt) and Aid Self (Endurance gain) only "work" at Levels 25+ when Field Medic is "accessible" as an active Power to Click?
Actually ... no.
Once you have Field Medic in your build ... it permanently modifies Aid Other and Aid Self ... regardless of your Exemplar Level.
I found this out on a Synapse Task Force (Level 20 enforced) where my Aid Other power retained the No Interrupt property, even though Field Medic was "greyed out" and unavailable.
This means that (theoretically speaking) ... if you wanted to ... you could take Aid Other at Level 4 and Aid Self at Level 6 ... and Field Medic at Level 49 ... and both Aid Other and Aid Self would be
permanently modified regardless of Exemplar Level. This means that Field Medic is quite possibly
THE ABSOLUTE IDEAL LEVEL 49 POWER PICK for any build plan to be use as a Level 50 Respec.
Field Medic doesn't "need" slots like other Powers do.
The only Enhancements that you can slot into Field Medic are Endurance Reduction (very likely a waste with Aid Self in play!) and Recharge Reduction ... and that's IT.
A Level 49 Power Pick that doesn't need any slots but which still modifies Aid Other and Aid Self in AWESOME WAYS
regardless of when you selected those Powers for your build when you Exemplar??!
YES PLEASE!!
The only reason why I haven't exercised that option here in this build as presented above is because I want this build as recorded to be a leveling path from 1-50, rather than present it as a Level 50 (only) Respec option (and how you get to 50 is Your Problem, Scrub).
The other reason for configuring the sequence of Power Picks the way that I have in this build, with Field Medicine at 30 (rather than at 47 or 49), is so that Aid Self (which is available at Exemplar Level 19!) can be used as a "blue bar heal" before things get ... expensive ... for the Endurance budget with the addition of Maneuvers, Assault and Tactics, on top of the endurance guzzling attack powers of Crippling Axe Kick, Dragon's Tail and Eagles Claw. One of those cases of making sure the "endurance budget" would be capable sustaining long duration heavy combat before introducing the "cure" for that particular ailment.
Notes on the Leadership PoolManeuvers? YES.
Assault? Yes.
Tactics? YES (because +4s happen when running ITFs and Trick or Treating!).
If I had more Power Picks to spare, I would have added Vengeance and/or Victory Rush to the build plan.
Leadership is the ONLY Pool that makes entire TEAMS better at what they do.
Some people eschew Maneuvers, feeling it's not worth the buff for the endurance cost.
For an individual soloist, that may be true ... but in a team context (small or large team), that calculus quickly changes.
Some people figure that Assault isn't worth the endurance cost either, especially on Archetypes with less than favorable modifiers (like Scrappers and Tankers). If you look at the numbers in Mids, toggling Assault On/Off, it is really easy to get discouraged ... seeing attack power damage numbers move up/down by such paltry single digits.
Again, for the individual soloist, that may be true ... but in a team context, it can wind up be the equivalent of a Team-9 effort rather than a Team-8, which CAN make a difference.
And if everyone on a Team-8 has the Assault Power ...
Tactics ... is a bit of a special case, because of the Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control set and proc.
First of all, in any (and every!) Super Reflexes build strategy ... if you aren't 6-slotting Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control SOMEWHERE in your build
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!!Depending on how the Build Up proc calculates here on Rebirth, Tactics is either a very good or a very bad place to 6-slot the Gaussian's set.
- If you get a proc chance per Teammate within the PBAoE (every 10s), then in a Team-8 context you can get a lot of Build Up procs (the cumulative dice rolling every 10s raises the proc chance).
- However, if you only get 1 proc chance per 10s (regardless of the number of allies being simultaneously buffed by the aura), then Tactics is going to be a bad place to put the Gaussian's proc, since it will only have a 6.5% chance to proc every 10s.
For a very long time, I resisted the temptation to add Focus Chi (the Tanker build up) into the build and I was 6-slotting Tactics with Gaussian's ... but then I remembered that "most" of the enhancement value of the Gaussian's set was "wasted" on Tactics (endurance reduction, okay fine I'll take it, but recharge reduction has little to no value in a quick recharging toggle like Tactics!).
However, where the Gaussian's set WOULDN'T be wasted and could deliver "full power benefits" of slotting more reliably would be in an actual Build Up Power ... such as Focus Chi.
And then I remembered that because Focus Chi, like so many other build up type powers, has a long (90s) recharge ... it would actually offer an extremely high proc chance to the Build Up proc in the Gaussian's set.
So I went looking for the 90% chance "recharge breakpoint" for a Power with the parameter values of Focus Chi (90s recharge, 1.17s casting time/not arcanatime) ... and found that the 90% chance to proc breakpoint lay at 73.35% recharge enhancement.
Well at Level 27 (except for the proc), the Gaussian's set offered under 60% total combined recharge natively ... meaning a 90% chance for a DOUBLE BUILD UP (for 5s) if Gaussian's was moved from Tactics into Focus Chi. I ultimately wound up choosing Level 22 instead of Level 27 as my Enhancement Level preference for both Focus Chi AND Maneuvers so as to be able to access their set bonuses at low as Exemplar Level 19(!) without losing too much enhancement value throughput into the final power effects (~0.15 Defense for Maneuvers and a loss of ~1.6s of recharge time on Focus Chi).
The net result is that as slotted, Focus Chi buffs damage by +80% for 10s ... and the Gaussian's proc has a 90% chance to stack an additional +80% during the first 5s of those 10s (hence DOUBLE BUILD UP) ... with the fine control of being able to do this On Demand(!) ... and you had better believe I found a "use case" for that demand (but more on that later).
Given the analysis of alternatives, if I could find a way to squeeze Focus Chi into the build, I could repurpose Tactics as a One Slot Wonder power and move all 6-slots of Gaussian's into Focus Chi ... but at that time, the build I was using (not the one I posted above) didn't have any room left over for Focus Chi, so I would need to drop something else. For a while I tried dropping Field Medic, but the results that yielded were consequentially unpalatable, so for a couple of weeks I was basically stuck. I needed 25 Power Picks to do everything I wanted to do, but only had 24, so something else needed to go. I couldn't drop anything out of my Super Reflexes primary ... everything except Elude was beyond MANDATORY!
So something needed to "give" ... and when it did, my build would wind up flirting with the damage cap for Tankers ... but that story is coming below ...
