Brute, adding aoe damage and utility to any build

[thilenium]

Morning!

My global handle is @Thilenium and my ingame characters start with or contain 'Thile' in their name - no exception. So far I have played and equipped about 20 characters. ten of which I took through the incarnate stuff. Others I 'swiped left'.
This is just a small idea for those who like Build-Crafting. It is to improve on your Brutes area of effect clear among other benefits. I use the combination of 'Blink Blitz' and 'Ball Lightning' or 'Dark Obliteration' myself and find it very satisfying. Using a macro that i describe below i can fire the two at a target. With a low activation time the combined damage equals or beats the damage of a regular Primary area of effect skill while also adding utility at an acceptable cost.

all the best, Thilenium


Summary Brute ('Your choice' - 'Your choice')
+ improve on your area of effect damage
+ independent of a Primary or Secondary
+ medium investment for a medium overall improvement

Contents
a) Blink Blitz
b1) Ball Lightning from the Mu Mastery Epic power pool
b2) Dark Obliteration from the Soul Mastery Epic power pool
c) Slotting those powers
d1) integrating the combo into your interface
d2) integrating the combo into your interface, fixing the auto-power

a) While 'Spring Attack' and 'Dive Attack'* do more damage (about twice as much) it is not for the damage alone that i take 'Blink Blitz'. 'Blink Blitz' from the Teleportation power pool has with a 30 ft-radius, a large area of effect, with low-medium damage and at a 32 seconds cooldown. What makes it better is: The Activation time with 1 second is near instant and transports you a medium distance to your target. The second cool thing is that its radius does a better job at taunting enemies even while they are scattered. And the buff to defenses comes in handy to counter the alpha-strike of enemies. This is a neat little bundle of utility with a single digit-reactivation time, with some cooldown.
Add into the mix that 'Blink Blitz' is available to you from level 14 on, so that you suddenly have a decent area of effect skill even during the low level TFs.
This skill sometimes lands you in obstacles. with enough cooldown you can use it on a mob to get out of it again. or you can use the command /stuck.

*'Dive Attack' is somewhere described as having a 60 ft radius. that is not so. Testing it I think that it is the same as 'Spring Attack'. At least that is how it is on Rebirth.

b1) Ball Lightning from the Mu Mastery Epic power pool
There are two targeted area of effect powers in the Epic power pool that require just one skill to unlock 'Ball Lightning' and 'Dark Obliteration'. Both skills have a very similar cooldown to 'Blink Blitz', do low-medium damage as well and make a great combination for a macro (see below). They are also satisfying to use due to their low activation time. While there are other differences between the two, i simply see them as damage add and for me the main difference is the skill required to unlock them.
To unlock 'Ball Lightning' i recommend 'Electrifying Fences'. This is another small area of effect which also immobolizes and does low damage. Since it has a low cooldown you can couple this with your area of effect skill from your Primary. That is at least how i did it.

b2) Dark Obliteration from the Soul Mastery Epic power pool
To unlock this one i recommend 'Gloom'. A single target ranged skill which does damage over time and moderate damage with it. If you have a gap in your single target attack chain or want an additional ranged taunting power, this one is for you. I use it on my 'Super Strength - Shield Defense'-Brute which allows me to skip the lowest skill of that primary that does neglectable damage.

c) Slotting those powers
'Blink Blitz' requires you to choose two other skills from that power pool beforehand. I choose 'Recall' and 'Blink' most of the time. In order to not waste those slots you can put 'Synapse's Agility: Endurance Drain Resistance' in the first. This is a global buff and does not require you to actually use the skill to activate it and gives you +20% debuff resistance against endurance drain. All the other buffs available for that skill require the actual use of the skill to activate. 'Blink' can be slotted with the same thing, or 'Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed' or 'Shield Wall: + Res (Teleportation), +5 Res (All)'. These are not wasted skills.

I use Armageddon-set in 'Blink-Blitz' and Ragnarok-set in 'Ball Lightning' or 'Dark Obliteration'. Both sets cap recharge for the respective skill and also give great overall stats like +15% Accuracy and +10% Recharge each. I can almost justify taking those skills for the set-boni alone. If you want to use only 5 slots, leave the first one in the set, the +damage one, out. It is not needed at all.

d1) integrating the combo into your interface
/macro AoE "powexec_name Blink Blitz$$powexec_auto Punch$$powexec_auto Dark Obliteration"
>> Example for how your macro should look.

/macro AoE "powexec_name Blink Blitz$$powexec_auto (Name)$$powexec_auto Ball Lightning"
>> Use 'Blink Blitz' and 'Ball Lightning' in succession. The (Name)-part in that line including the brackets has still to be replaced by any activation skill by name.

/macro AoE "powexec_name Blink Blitz$$powexec_auto (Name)$$powexec_auto Dark Obliteration"
>> Use 'Blink Blitz' and 'Dark Obliteration' in succession. The (Name)-part in that line including the brackets has still to be replaced by any activation skill by name.

d2) integrating the combo into your interface, fixing the auto-power
After you are done with that macro above there is still one thing to fix. because now the targeted area of effect skill that you chose is suddenly the auto-power. You probably want your regular auto-power back.

/macro (Name) "powexec_name (Regular skill)$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto (Skill from your Primary)"
Copy the macro into a text-file and replace the placeholders AND the brackets with the things below. When you have done all that, copy the whole line into your game.
Name: Name your macro. If you use more than 4 letters, the letters will not be properly displayed.
Regular skill: after using the macro in d1) you probably want to follow it up by your best area of effect skill. Remember: 'Blink Blitz' puts you almost instantly right in the middle of the targeted group.
Skill from your Primary: This skill will be marked as auto-power. What this does is basically have the skill fire whenever it is ready. You would usually use the lowest recharge one to diminuish gaps in your attack chain. You can also make a skill auto-power by pressing 'Strg'+left-mouse-button, which for most Archetypes is an immediate damage improvement since level 1 'Brawl'.


Using Mids import the following using Menu: Build Sharing/Import DataChunk
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[Redlynne]

I use Armageddon-set in 'Blink-Blitz' and Ragnarok-set in 'Ball Lightning' or 'Dark Obliteration'. Both sets cap recharge for the respective skill and also give great overall stats like +15% Accuracy and +10% Recharge each. I can almost justify taking those skills for the set-boni alone. If you want to use only 5 slots, leave the first one in the set, the +damage one, out. It is not needed at all.

I prefer to do THIS with Blink Blitz on my Ninja/Time Mastermind.

Level 24: Blink Blitz  (A: 81.2%, D: 121%, E: 81.2%, R: 46.4%) (Defense: 15%) (Defense: +7.5)

• (A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage: Attuned
  
• (33) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance: Attuned
  
• (34) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Attuned
  
• (34) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Attuned
  
• (34) Superior Avalanche - Recharge/Chance of Knockdown (3.5 PPM): Attuned
  
  • 3.5 * ((32 / ( 1 + 46.4 / 100 )) + 1) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 30 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 40,000))) = 37.76% per $Target
    
• (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 25+5
  
• Hybrid Assault Radial Embodiment (6.0 PPM)
  
  • 6.0 * ((32 / ( 1 + 46.4 / 100 )) + 1) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 30 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 40,000))) = 64.73% per $Target
    

If memory serves, the Avalanche PBAoE Damage set (which can be catalyzed to Superior @ Level 50) is obtained from Winter Event card rewards ... and the Winter Event is currently running.
{ nudge, nudge }
{ wink, wink }
{ say no moar, say no moar }

A Blink Blitz with a 37.7% chance to Knockdown is ... pretty decent, since it will often times be sufficient for you to Seize The Initiative and "defer" some of the retaliatory attacks when you use Blink Blitz to initiate an engagement. Forcing retaliation to be staggered, rather than unified, in time is quite beneficial to builds that rely on regeneration as a significant share of their protection scheme (less incoming all at once, more time to deal with what does hit you).

[Kismet]

I agree that Blink Blitz is a fabulous AoE. I don't currently use it on any characters because I just don't like teleportation in general. When I have experimented with Blink Blitz, I've much preferred to turn it into a proc bomb because it does have some great slotting options available and the long recharge sets you up to land those procs with great frequency, even if you wind up adding a little recharge to the power.

You've mentioned Armageddon, which has a fabulous proc. I'd add that the Avalanche proc works really well in turning Blink Blitz into a crowd control power. Obliteration is intriguing as well because even just adding either the A/R or the A/D/R enhancement to the proc yields +2.25% S/L res. Fury of the Gladiator, Scirocco's Dervish, and Eradication are all fine choices. Of course, nothing saying you can't take partial sets of two, as well, to maximize the really useful set bonuses.

As you mentioned, Blink Blitz also makes a great Luck of the Gambler proc mule.

Dark Obliteration has even better slotting options, in my opinion. It accept both the Annihilation and the wonderful Witchcraft procs. Positron's Blast is good, but the Cloud Senses proc is a tad better since fewer mobs resist negative energy damage.

You've already mentioned the Ragnarok set, but if you use the proc without adding any recharge (i.e. go with 4-5 procs and only slot set pieces that lack recharge for Acc or Dam) you significantly increase the chances of landing the knockdown effect.

Of the crowd controls available in the game, KD is the most broadly effective. (especially is you stack up multiple KD equipped powers in a chain) Using Blink Blitz and either Ball Lightning or Dark Obliteration back-to-back results in a heap of KD, when slotted as I've described. Also, there are plenty of attacks, particularly in the melee sets, that include KD effects. For example, Mace, Stone Melee, Super Strength, and Staff have several. But Claws is a real winner since even though its only got two, they both have 1 second activation times and relatively short recharges (though with Shockwave it's actually KD, but an Overwhelming Force proc fixes that right up).

Anyhow, thanks for sharing your ideas. I'm just adding my two influence.

Have fun and see you in game!

[thilenium]

I use 'Armageddon' for its stats. also it caps the recharge. also also I do not want the enemy to be knocked down, in fact they have to start running towards me immediately to be caught in the other area of effects. When I do builds i try to squeeze in all the global recharge and accuracy i can get. Sustain and survivability. And i use a lot of complete sets or 5 out of 6. Yup, kinda boring and straight forward but it works for me.

[Redlynne]

I agree that Blink Blitz is a fabulous AoE. I don't currently use it on any characters because I just don't like teleportation in general.

Blink+Blink Blitz are fabulous on builds that "want" to be in melee range, including those that have short range Target AoE/PBAoE aura powers (such as Kinetics and Time Manipulation, among others). Blink Blitz is also wonderful with melee powersets that are "lacking" in AoE attacks (such as Martial Arts, which is limited to Dragon's Tail for any AoE potential at all), because Blink Blitz is both an AoE and a gap closer, making it easier to maintain "contact" with a $Target.

Blink Blitz also makes a great Luck of the Gladiator proc mule.

This is the clincher (for me, at least).
There are a lot of set bonuses that are "good enough" on 5-slots, leaving the last slot for LotG global recharge. That's an incredibly good return on investment.

The alternative, of course is a frankenslotted proc bomb using 5-slots plus a LotG global recharge.

The fact that you can do this TWICE in both Blink and Blink Blitz, which combine for +13.5 Defense (all) and +15% global recharge, this 1-2 combo goes a long way towards reaching Defense softcaps (45% or 59%).

Compare those +10 slots invested with the +5 slots you'd need to invest into a Build Up with 6-slotted Gaussian's for the +2.5 Defense (all) 6-slot set bonus when you've got a defense protection scheme build, instead of a resistance protection scheme build.

Of the crowd controls available in the game, KD is the most broadly effective. (especially is you stack up multiple KD equipped powers in a chain)

I've been finding this to be the case when playing my two Defenders (Time/Dual Pistols and Kinetics/Dual Pistols, both of which have the Swap Ammo power). I actually wind up using Standard Ammo (Lethal only, Knock) most of the time, because of the crowd control and defense debuff advantage (leading to fewer missed attacks). Against "annoying" LTs and Bosses, I'll typically switch over into Cryo Ammo for the movement speed and recharge debuffs (which are powerful on Defenders) as a kind of soft control "neutralizer" that prevents them from attacking too much. I'll use Incendiary Ammo (chance for Fire DoT) against Clockworks, which in Praetoria have no melee attacks, and I basically never use Chemical Ammo (damage debuff).

So most of the time it's either Knock or Slow that I'm delivering with my choice of ammo type, and the Knockback/down is remarkably effective at disrupting the "flow" of actions and mobility by my $Targets. That disruption/soft control is often times more valuable than a few extra Fire DoT ticks reducing the number of attacks I need to use by -1, relative to the alternatives. Knock and Slow, especially if combined, can be especially effective at preventing runners, which in turn can save a LOT more time than what a few extra Fire DoT ticks would be doing.

Granted, those experiences are in the context of running missions in Nova Praetoria, Imperial City and Neutropolis (and their respective Undergrounds) ... but the game doesn't change THAT dramatically by the time you reach iTrials so as to invalidate the earlier experience(s) and "feel" for how combat progresses.

Or as I like to say, the way you play from 1-10 determines how you'll play at 50+.

[Kismet]

I use 'Armageddon' for its stats. also it caps the recharge. also also I do not want the enemy to be knocked down, in fact they have to start running towards me immediately to be caught in the other area of effects. When I do builds i try to squeeze in all the global recharge and accuracy i can get. Sustain and survivability. And i use a lot of complete sets or 5 out of 6. Yup, kinda boring and straight forward but it works for me.

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to knock the enemies down, especially if you're going to melee them. You've got Blink Blitz, just go to them and bring all your effects.

You obviously don't want all the global recharge you can get because you skip Hasten on all the builds you've posted. On most of them it's just one power pick, 2 level 50+5 recharge IOs and you're at perma-Hasten or close enough that most people wouldn't care.

Furthermore, in your SS/Bio build you've not used a single Force Feedback proc. With Rage easy to double stack, you're looking at +40% to hit which means you can slot procs all you want and not worry about hitting in most situations (this isn't even considering the +Acc bonuses in most of the purple sets, some ATOs, and several other sets).

What I'm suggesting is if you get away from using the Agility Alpha on most of your builds and DON'T slot recharge in powers like Foot Stomp, KO Blow, and Hand Clap (though you'd really want an Imperial Might proc to avoid scatter in Hand Clap and maybe some Acc because it has a penalty), you can reliably chain the +100% bonus from the FF proc against groups of enemies. For Foot Stomp and Hand Clap, you only need it to trigger on one enemy in those powers' relatively large areas of effect to activate the proc.

This is what I do on Vulcana (SS/Fire Brute). She has 16 procs of various kinds in Foot Stomp, KO Blow, and Hand Clap alone, does heaps of damage, yields plenty of net recharge (her base global recharge is atrocious), and tanks everything I-trials has to offer with only the use of some T4 Lucks against OGs and a few Sturdies of any rank for facetanking the Avatar of Hamidon. Sure, the league helps with buffs/debuffs, but even on leagues without a lot of support I can make it work. The sturdies drop on their own or can be easily made by way of the match-3 game, and T4 Lucks can be easily acquired by simply choosing Super Inspirations for Common, Uncommon, and Rare rewards since I've got all my incarnate powers up to T4. If the Lucks don't drop, there's always the match-3 game to make them. I very rarely buy inspirations of any kind. You've got 20 slots, so why not use them?

I mention all of this not to just point out how effective force feedback procs can be in the right context, nor just to point out how powerful Hasten can be for such a low cost in terms of slotting and power pick, but to challenge the notion you've expressed in your SS/Bio Brute post that characters tanking end game content need to somehow be super specialized and give up damage. If you can survive War Walkers, Hamitar, AM, etc and give up almost nothing in terms of damage, then why not?

Attached is the next version of Vulcana I'm planning, which merely trades out Darkest Night for Weave to muster a little more global recharge by way LoTG muling and have just a tad more base S/L defense (the only defense that matters in the vast majority of situations in CoH) to build on with the t4 lucks to hit the incarnate 59% soft cap. Frankly, the T4 lucks can be a bit of overkill because there's often +def buffs in the league, but I like to cover my bases as best as possible.

You go ahead and do you. I'm only responding because you seemed to be asking for feedback both on the Discord and in-game, and you seem to be presenting things you believe to be facts that just don't match either my play experience or even the base numbers in-game, like the assertion in your Dark/MA Tanker post where you actually claim that Radiation Armor is somehow starved for end like Dark Armor is. I question whether you've even played Radiation Armor because Gamma Boost is a font of +rec that on a Tanker you can literally start the game with. Radiation Armor also features the second best -rec resistance, second only to Electric Armor's 100% -rec resistance. And if you're still looking for more end, simply slot Radiation Therapy with a Theft of Essence proc. By the way, that same trick with Theft of Essence works with Dark Regeneration to defray the enormous end cost.


Getting a good gaming mouse like a Naga or the much less expensive but just as effective Red Dragon would allow for much simpler macros and easy access to far more powers since you can have at least 10 programmable buttons at your thumb, which you can turn into 20, 30, or even more effects by way of using a chord key like Shift or Left Control.

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[Redlynne]

I mention all of this not to just point out how effective force feedback procs can be in the right context

I have to agree on this point.
In terms of equivalencies, 1x Force Feedback proc yields the same "recharge value" (+100% for 5 seconds) as a +7.5% global bonus over 66.667 seconds ... or a +5% global bonus over 100 seconds.

100 * 5 = 500 / 7.5 = 66.667
100 * 5 = 500 / 5 = 100

Considering that when slotted into AoE powers, it gets "easier" to make Force Feedback procs happen (just attack "into traffic"), you can with skilled planning reap quite the reward from putting Force Feedback procs into multiple AoE powers to increase uptime. It effectively winds up working surprisingly well when confronted by piles of opposition (rather than 3 Mobs = 1 PC).

On fast recharging powers (10s or less, base) it might not make much of a difference, but on LONG recharge powers (20s or more, base) it can actually make a dramatic improvement in the availability of "heavy hitter" powers, particularly those with a recharge time of 60s and higher. Being able to keep the Force Feedback procs "rolling in" is just completely game changing in how a build is capable of playing.

[thilenium]

I agree with you guys on adding more utility to 'Blink Blitz' and the use of Force Feedback in Knock-up powers. The very reason i tried Titan Weapons out, which is all knock up.

- Blink Blitz and knock up/down. Blink Blitz has a huge radius with 30ft. If I knock the enemy up/down it will take them longer to approach me and come into range of my other area of effects. I think that will delay my clear speed.
- Slotting the -res in it never ocurred to me. that is actually a good idea. But I also like the extra resistances from the 6-slotted Armageddon so I probably will not try it out on this toon.
- Force Feedback recharge proc and Haste. Here is my attack cycle: I use 4 area of effects, then Knockout Blow on the boss, 2 area of effects, 1+2 single target attacks on the boss again. and then all 4 area of effects are up again. Even if i could use the area of effects more often it would at that point not really hasten my clear, as the boss would still stand. Also Haste would mean an extra button and loosing some utility (either Invisibility or Hoover).

[thilenium]

@Kismet

This build looks supercool. I like it how you managed to cap out smash and lethal resistances. I like the choice of the Epic Power pool (I actually chose that for another SS build i did). Also, I like you integrating Hand Clap. I always thought it to be good CC but could never quite fit it into the build. I am somewhat oblivious to proc-builds (I tried it once, but it didnt look too reliable to me), but i do know the Force Feedback proc and that its duration stacks - i heavily use it in my TW-FA-Firefarmer.

You can fit a To-hit set into Rage unless you double buff it. And in order to make Hasten permanent you ll have to go for Destiny: Ageless Core Epiphany or Destiny: Ageless Radial Epiphany. If you use the first you might be able to loose consume and free up a skill-slot.
>> scratch that, you are using two of the recharge procs.

I approached it a little more conservative (better overall resists, knockup resists now at 99%) but i have almost halfed Foot Stomps cooldown and made Haste permanent. Lost some HP though:
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[Redlynne]

- Blink Blitz and knock up/down. Blink Blitz has a huge radius with 30ft. If I knock the enemy up/down it will take them longer to approach me and come into range of my other area of effects. I think that will delay my clear speed.

Depends on your priorities.
MOST controls (soft or hard) will "delay your clear speed" in some form or fashion. However, knockdown in Blink Blitz substantially depends upon how you deploy it. Are you using Blink Blitz as an alpha strike gap closer (instead of Blink)? Are you using it as a follow up attack once your attack rotation gets going after the herd has begun their dogpile? Are you using Blink Blitz to prevent runners (plural) from fleeing after the tides of battle have turned against them? Are you using Blink Blitz to achieve a temporary reprieve from incoming damage?

I can easily envision scenarios where it is best to open with Blink (single target) to grab aggro, use a melee range PBAoE to help with grabbing aggro, in order to create a delay during which mobs outside of melee PBAoE range have time to close and get closer ... and THEN hit the dogpile with Blink Blitz to try and proc knockdowns onto the cluster around you.

My point being that TIMING can make all the difference in how Blink Blitz can work FOR you, rather than AGAINST you, like you're citing above. Using Blink Blitz as your 3rd attack in rotation when opening, rather than as your 1st attack (in order to teleport gap close), can make a lot of difference.



On my Ninja/Time Mastermind, Ku no Ichi, I will routinely use Blink (1st) as the gap closer, with Blink Blitz as a follow up attack (usually 2nd, 3rd or 4th, depending on context and relative tactical positioning). I've got enough recharge in that build to keep the +Defense buffs from Blink perma, so long as I keep using Blink when recharged ... and Blink Blitz is nearly perma, but provides a very meaningful "safety margin" of +Defense buffing, so using Blink Blitz when recharged is just prudent.

[thilenium]

Are you using Blink Blitz as an alpha strike gap closer (instead of Blink)

Yeppers, that way exactly. For pure damage Spring Attack would be better. I do not use 'Blink' as a gap closer or even melee attack because I do not like the constant new placements and camera shifts that come with it. And since i have enough cooldown and the activation time is so low i use Blink Blitz + another targeted area of effect pretty much whenever.