Author Topic: Did anyone have Dark Armor?  (Read 12885 times)

Ankhammon

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #20 on: September 01, 2014, 03:58:26 AM »
I did not know that acrobatics was even an option.

I mean you can use IOs for that too but which is better? Does Acrobatics strain on END

Yep. It also gives a little mag 2 hold resist.
It was used a lot back pre IO days, but not nearly as often after.
Cogito, Ergo... eh?

hejtmane

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #21 on: September 01, 2014, 04:23:32 AM »
Yep. It also gives a little mag 2 hold resist.
It was used a lot back pre IO days, but not nearly as often after.

They nerfed it as well the KB use to be 10 they reduced which is why people just went IO route it was the smarter option less endurance and higher kb resistance after the nerf

I had two dark armor scrappers my first was dm/da which i started in i2 shelved because the armors did not stack initially yes I know stupid when everything else did (early devs did some really stupid stuff) leveled him later and got to 50 in i5 also had a spines/da.

I loves /da but on scrapper runners gets frustrating if you going to go dark armor and are doing a damage set go brute if you want more survivability go tank both have taunt auras which makes it easier to melt them with your damage aura. IF I build another one I am going brute or tank

On the auras cloak of fear gives a -tohit; oppressive gloom makes the guys wonder away and takes hp (not enough to matter)

Pros and cons of the two control auras

COF

Pros: does a better job of locking mobs in place and mobs do not wonder sometimes they run from fear effect (but not often) and -tohit
Cons:need to almost 6 slot the power low acc; high endurance burn

OG

Pros: High acc; low end cost default slot and it rocks out of the box and needs nothing else is needed the only reason to slot past the first is for set IO bonuses
Con: enemies wonder away; -hp

If you want to go something close to the concept of savage I would go street justice or SS brute or tank

I was able to level both spines/da and dm/da pre-io days with nothing but SO's where available until HO at 50 and I ran tough weave maneuvers back then with no issues.

I IO'd  them later on a fully top shelf IO build end game rocks and with IO's endurance management is even easier.






« Last Edit: September 01, 2014, 04:29:38 AM by hejtmane »

impiousimp

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #22 on: September 01, 2014, 05:06:07 AM »
I'd love to think that Savage will come down the line if they manage to make the deal work.

Ankhammon

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #23 on: September 01, 2014, 05:33:32 AM »
They nerfed it as well the KB use to be 10 they reduced which is why people just went IO route it was the smarter option less endurance and higher kb resistance after the nerf

I had two dark armor scrappers my first was dm/da which i started in i2 shelved because the armors did not stack initially yes I know stupid when everything else did (early devs did some really stupid stuff) leveled him later and got to 50 in i5 also had a spines/da.

I loves /da but on scrapper runners gets frustrating if you going to go dark armor and are doing a damage set go brute if you want more survivability go tank both have taunt auras which makes it easier to melt them with your damage aura. IF I build another one I am going brute or tank

On the auras cloak of fear gives a -tohit; oppressive gloom makes the guys wonder away and takes hp (not enough to matter)

Pros and cons of the two control auras

COF

Pros: does a better job of locking mobs in place and mobs do not wonder sometimes they run from fear effect (but not often) and -tohit
Cons:need to almost 6 slot the power low acc; high endurance burn

OG

Pros: High acc; low end cost default slot and it rocks out of the box and needs nothing else is needed the only reason to slot past the first is for set IO bonuses
Con: enemies wonder away; -hp

If you want to go something close to the concept of savage I would go street justice or SS brute or tank

I was able to level both spines/da and dm/da pre-io days with nothing but SO's where available until HO at 50 and I ran tough weave maneuvers back then with no issues.

I IO'd  them later on a fully top shelf IO build end game rocks and with IO's endurance management is even easier.

Thanks hejtmane, I remember most of that now.

Back in the day I was dealing with my own broke dark character (dark/dark defender). Lots of issues with it also.

BTW, didn't CoF get the nerf axe too? Seems like it had a really nice -tohit on it.
Cogito, Ergo... eh?

Kobolt

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #24 on: September 01, 2014, 11:40:38 AM »
ohhh man DA was/is/will be fun I loved the animations was not a real big number cruncher...but here was my Brute Mandragora this was before we got tails...my vision for him done to perfection by said artist---> CoH artist the great Poison.


hejtmane

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #25 on: September 01, 2014, 02:35:58 PM »
Thanks hejtmane, I remember most of that now.

Back in the day I was dealing with my own broke dark character (dark/dark defender). Lots of issues with it also.

BTW, didn't CoF get the nerf axe too? Seems like it had a really nice -tohit on it.

Oh yea back during ED they over nerfed it but oh well; I mean they had to change it when they decided on ED they just went a bit to far.  The acc was cut in about half dropped from mag 2 to mag 3 the -tohit was around 30% or something in that range.

Ankhammon

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #26 on: September 01, 2014, 04:12:38 PM »
Oh yea back during ED they over nerfed it but oh well; I mean they had to change it when they decided on ED they just went a bit to far.  The acc was cut in about half dropped from mag 2 to mag 3 the -tohit was around 30% or something in that range.

Hmmm. I could see only getting single resist shields per time if the -tohit was that high and if it was a mag 3 fear.
Cogito, Ergo... eh?

impiousimp

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #27 on: September 01, 2014, 08:08:25 PM »
Okay so Dark Armor has more resists than defenses.

I tried to find powers to boost the defenses with no avail.

And then I put the same stuff into a scrapper builds and the numbers in resists and defenses came out higher as far as percentages.

Is that because Scrappers are already slightly more squishy than a Broot and need the higher percentages?  Lower HP and all of that.

Like, will Brutes still ave more survivability even if the numbers are lower due to the class differences and in respect to the archetype?

Minotaur

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #28 on: September 01, 2014, 08:30:18 PM »
I had a DA/SM tank and it was awesome, softcapped defence against S/L and the combination of oppressive gloom and fault stunned bosses.

Blackshear

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #29 on: September 01, 2014, 11:20:12 PM »
Dark Armor defended against stuff that no other set did prior to the release of Willpower.  It was visually interesting and suited certain themed toons very well.  That said, however, I found it drew a bit too heavily on the endurance bar.  Thus, I tended to skip it for Regen or Willpower.  My play style is go-go-go, with few to no rest breaks, and DA didn't really suit me in that department.

FlyingCarcass

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #30 on: September 02, 2014, 12:14:08 AM »
I had a spines/DA scrapper (only used SO enhancements) that was quite fun. Sure, he had trouble taking the alpha strikes and had perennial endurance issues from all his toggles (I also had hover and some leadership powers because "screw endurance!"), but he was extremely deadly to enemies once they were grouped up thanks to his many AoEs and his mez/fear powers. Plus that self-rez power that stunned nearby enemies was good from recovering from getting squished. As I recall he was the third character I got to 50. Good times.

Talon Blue

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #31 on: September 02, 2014, 12:25:11 AM »
There were two things that I wanted to do Villain side one was to experience as many story arcs I could and two was to build a Dark Melee/Dark Armor Brute. I intentionally turned off experience at given points and to see more Villain side content than I ever did with any other Villain side toon. I solo'd my Dark/Dark Brute to 50. It was a wonderful journey. I didn't IO it out too much, I tried to squeeze as much Endurance Recovery IO Set bonuses and as I could with KB resist IO's. Dark Consumption helped out a lot and I felt I could hold my own with it. As long as had endurance I was un-killable.

hejtmane

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #32 on: September 02, 2014, 12:40:15 AM »
Okay so Dark Armor has more resists than defenses.

I tried to find powers to boost the defenses with no avail.

And then I put the same stuff into a scrapper builds and the numbers in resists and defenses came out higher as far as percentages.

Is that because Scrappers are already slightly more squishy than a Broot and need the higher percentages?  Lower HP and all of that.

Like, will Brutes still ave more survivability even if the numbers are lower due to the class differences and in respect to the archetype?

Scrappers and brutes have the same starting numbers; brutes have a higher cap and more HP

Tanks have higher starting numbers than scrappers; higher resistance cap than scrappers and both brute and tank have taunt auras. The set is fun and plays different than most sets it is a well rounded set and if you softcap 45% against s/l it goes to a whole new level.

Like I said if I build a Dark armor toon again I am going brute or tank
« Last Edit: September 02, 2014, 01:56:53 PM by hejtmane »

hejtmane

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #33 on: September 02, 2014, 12:44:52 AM »
Hmmm. I could see only getting single resist shields per time if the -tohit was that high and if it was a mag 3 fear.

Yes but they sucked because no mez protection and other stuff I mean they could not even be in the talk of being relevant and worth playing when Invulnerability had perma unstoppable regen scrappers had like 3000% regen and everything else out classed it by a mile so for a while after stacking armor in i3 once you got to 28 they flew under the radar despite being quite powerful they where an endurance hog bot hey we had 6 slotted stamina back then  :)

TBoxer

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #34 on: September 02, 2014, 01:42:42 AM »
One of my favorite toons for forming and leading PuGs was a Dark/Stone/Earth Tanker. Oppressive Gloom + Fault was excellent for neutering an enemy spawn's ability to retaliate. And if I had pre-SO lowbies on the team with accuracy issues, I could drop Quicksand for some -def. That toon was a pretty decent enabler.
/jranger

impiousimp

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #35 on: September 02, 2014, 05:07:41 AM »
Oh man... It's going to kill me that Savage Melee won't be released...  Just rolled through the animations again in Icon and--- AAaaugh it looks so coooool.

Brightfires

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #36 on: September 02, 2014, 05:57:09 AM »
I briefly had a Dark Armor scrapper... the first version of Ke'khali.

I hated it. A lot.

I think she made it to about 37 before I deleted her in disgust and started over. I never made another one. <_<
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gstauf

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #37 on: September 02, 2014, 10:10:39 PM »
When Arcanaville did scrapper "defense" calculations (using defense in the broad sense of protection in combat), I believe she said Dark Armor was the hardest to calculate, because it relied heavily on player skill in terms of when to use the PbAoE heal.  In addition, the protective auras performed rather differently depending on the type of foe you were facing (minions vs. lieutenants vs. bosses).  I believe her overall conclusion was that even if you completely ignored the heal, it was very competitive with other armor sets, and with the heal, it was arguably the best armor set in the game.  I agree you really wanted IOs to make it perform well, though, even frankenslotting helped with End issues. 

I found it paired well with Katana, as you could stack Defense from the defensive katana strike whose name I don't recall on top of modest IO defense slotting and get to the soft cap without too many build sacrifices.  That allowed for use of a purple insp to start the fight, get the Katana defense stacked, and stand and fight some pretty tough EBs and such safely. 

HEATSTROKE

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #38 on: September 03, 2014, 01:10:28 AM »
 The main issue as I see it is the Use of IO's which can shore up the weakness of any armor set in the game..

hejtmane

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Re: Did anyone have Dark Armor?
« Reply #39 on: September 03, 2014, 01:52:36 AM »
The main issue as I see it is the Use of IO's which can shore up the weakness of any armor set in the game..

I ran two different level 50 /da sets just fine without IO's with 6 toggles back before IO's even existed it ca be done and endurance was not that hard to manage with proper slotting 2 acc 3 damage and 1 blue in you base attack goes a long way. Normal content you are fine

IO's allow you to take /da to an entire new level I am talking about making builds for av solo with them. solo +4/x8 content level builds