Dark Miasma & Dark Blast Guide (Lets try again!!!)

[Kalyth]

Ok Lets try this again!

Most of the statistics are taken from Hero Planner though I have made some corrections taken from developers post or personal experience/testing. The suggested slotting I list is just how I slot the power for my personal preference.

Many people believe Dark Miasma Defenders are about debuffing Accuracy. Well it is true it has several powers that do this but Accuracy debuffing is more a role for its younger sister Dark Blast. Dark Miasma is more about being a jack of all trades. Debuffing (Damage and Accuracy), Control and Defending. So I will move on to the individual powers.

Twilight Grasp
Type: Range Single Target Debuff/PBAoE Heal
Cost: 15
Activation: 4
Recharge: 8
Range: 70
Overview: Damage debuff (12.5%) Accuracy debuff (?) for about 20 seconds. Additional effect of a PBAoE heal for you and your teammates. While it is not the most reliable of heals (requiring a hit and 4 seconds to use) a few accuracy enhancers will make it alot more reliable for that purpose. Also the debuff aspect is nice, even better when stack with the debuff from Darkest Night.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Acc, Heal, Heal, Heal, Recharge

Tar Patch
Type: Dropped AoE Movement Slow
Cost: 15
Activation: 3
Recharge:45
Range: 120
Overview: Not everyone will agree on this power but I like it. It creates a nice large area on the ground that slows the movement of enemies. It will even effect Bosses with just one application. Currently there is an issue with it not slowing mobs that move through it after it is dropped but this is being fixed with issue 2.
Suggested Slotting: 2-3 Slow enhancers is sufficient to hit the slow cap on most enemies even a few levels higher.

Darkest Night
Type: Anchored AoE Debuff Toggle
Cost: 1.5 (???)
Activation: 3
Recharge: 10
Range: 70
Overview: Generally viewed as one of the signiture powers of Dark Miasma. Darkest Night is a very nice Damage (37.5%) and Accuracy (15% ???) debuff. Stacked with Twilight grasp this can cut the damage from mobs but 50% while reducing the number of time you will be hit due to the accuracy debuff. One of the downsides of this power is that it requires an Anchor and the anchor can die,ending the effect or run off and aggro other groups. Good idea is to make sure that everyone understands how the power works and try to anchor it on a target that survive the majority of the fight.
Suggested Slotting: End Reduction, Acc Debuff x5

Howling Twilight
Type: Ranged AoE Disorentate/Slow/Recharge/Damage with a PBAoE Revive centered on user.
Cost:37.5
Activation:3
Recharge:3m
Range:20 for the Attack/Debuff portions (this will increase to 80 with issue 2)
Overview: Alot of debate about this power but Issue 2 will improve it greatly. It auto hits as far as the attack/debuff portion goes so is great for slowing/disorentating a group of mobs. The damage it does is minimal. The Disorentate effect lasts about 20 seconds base and the Slow effect about 30. It is only a magnitude 2 Stun so will not stun Lt. or Bosses (and some minions depending on mag resists) by its self but combined with other disorentate powers or effects it is very effective for getting the extra magnitude needed to stun bosses. Currently as a res it is lacking, basically it will not restore enough life to revived to give them much of a fighting chance in combat. However, this will be improved with Issue 2. The changes seem to make it much more user/team friendly as a revive power.
Suggested Slotting: End Reduction, Stun, Stun, Slow, Slow, Recharge (but depends if you plan to use it primarily as an attack or a revive.

Shadowfall
Type: Toggled Team Stealth/Defense/Resist Energy, Psychic, Neg Energy
Cost: 1.5
Activation:2
Recharge:15
Range:User
Overview: I love this power. It provides team stealth, a slight defense bonus and resistance to Neg. Energy, Energy and Psychic damage (about 25% base). It does have a downside of slowing the user (but not your team) but some movement powers can be used to offset this.
Suggested Slotting: End Reduction x2, Damage Resist x2, Defense Buff x2 (This is how I plan to slot it once issue 2 goes live. Others would suggest slotting out the damage resist or not slotting it at all. Its a nice power and the slots wont be wasted so experiment and see what you like.)

Fearsome Stare
Type: Cone Fear/Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 12.5
Activation:2
Recharge:12
Range: ???
Overview: Well its a fear and that means currently it will send everything running. While that does have uses those are limited. However it is slotted for the Fear change coming after Issue 2 is done. With the change it should be somewhat of a hybrid sleep/hold. So it may add a lot of extra control to the Dark Miasma set once that change goes live.
Suggested Slotting: No suggestions, will have to wait for change to comment on this.

Petrifying Gaze
Type: Single Traget Hold (Magnitude 3)
Cost: 11.5
Activation:2
Recharge: 8
Range: 70
Overview: Very nice single target hold. With a few hold enhancements it will reliable hold bosses indefinitly with two initial hits and occasional reapplication. Even unenhanced it can be used to hold multiple minons or a couple of Lts. with ease. It also says that it reduces the targets defense but havent seen a noticable change in hit rate and it cant be slotted for defense debuff enhancements.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Acc, Hold, Hold, Hold, Recharge (may not need to devote a whole 6 slots to it but i really like this power)

Blackhole
Type: Targeted AoE Foe Intangible
Cost: 37.5
Activation:1
Recharge:45
Range:50
Overview: Used to make force multiple villians intangible, unable to attack or be attacked. Mostly useful as a panic button power. However it can be used to split large groups by centering the area on a target on the outside so as only part of the group is intangible giving you team a bit of time to take care of what is left. Its base duration is long enough that it will should recharge before the effect ends. Some teams may not like the use of this power and it is always best to explain its use before hand. It is in the works to change it to a toggled power, allowing you to turn it off when the group is ready to deal with the intangible foes. So will see if its usefullness increases witht that change.
Suggested Slotting: I wouldnt suggest slotting it much if at all. It is of limited use and slots would mostlikely serve you better elsewhere.

Dark Servant
Type: Pet
Cost: 45 (current) 37.5 (Issue 2)
Activation: 3
Recharge:3m
Range: 60 (??? as per hero planner, though seems shorter to me)
Overview: Currently the pet is well basically broken. It only last 45 seconds and is immobile. He uses the following powers; Fearsome Stare, Tenebrous Tentacles, Twilight grasp and has a damage aura with a accuracy debuff component. However with Issue 2 he is getting an upgrade. Once upgraded he will be mobile, last 4 minutes and with recharge reduction you can have multiple Dark Servants out at once. His fear ability will be changed to Petrifying Gaze and he will now be using Darkest Night as well. I have used him on test and am very happy with him. With 3 Recharge enhancers you can have two Dark servants up at all times.
Suggested Slotting: Recharge x4, End reduction, Acc (with 6 recharge you can have 3 Dark servants for a limited time.)

Well there are the basic powers. While a Dark Miasma Defender may not be the best at any one job, Controlling, Defending or Blasting. It is a very versitile powerset allowing you to provide the abilities that the team may be lacking or picking up the slack in different areas when things get rough.

The powers that i feel are the must have would be
Twilight Grasp: can be used as a debuff or a heal so like 2 powers in one.
Darkest Night: A very effective debuff
Petrifying Gaze: Behold the power of Holds!!!
Dark Servant: Well once Issue 2 goes live.

TIPS
*Advise your group to stay close to you to insure they benefit from Shadowfalls resist/defense and your heals.

*Create a bind to state your Anchor for Darkest Night, so teammates can adjust their targeting accordingly.

*With the stacking of debuffs, Twilight Grasp, Darkest Night and maybe even somemore Darkest Night from your pets, you should be more than capable of seriously weakening villians you are facing. Debuffing their damage down to a tickle when they actually manage to land a hit with the accuracy debuffs.

*Let people know that your heal is slow and can miss so they can plan accordingly (get a primary healer, know to use insperations, etc...)

*If you are the only healer in your group i would suggest proactive healing. Start that heal even when people are only barely wounded. It functions as a debuff so your not really wasting it even if only a fraction of its healing is needed.

*Dark Miasma fits very well with Dark Blast as it should, gaining additional accuracy debuffs and well as added control abilities. Though other blast secondaries work well with it as well.

Now we will move on to Dark Blast. The Dark Blast section will be aimed at having Dark Miasma as a primary. Also the endurance cost will be taken from Hero Planner, even though Defender secondaries have recieved two adjustments to Endurance cost sinse HP was last updated (to my knowledge). The actually cost will be lower than those listed but should have about the same ratio compared to each other.

* Accuracy debuffs: Almost all of the dark blast powers have an accuracy debuff component to them. In general the Accuracy debuff will last about the same duration as the recharge on the power. I dont have exact numbers on the accuracy debuff %, so any help here would be appreciated.

Dark Blast
Type: Moderate Damage (Neg), Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 7.5
Activation: 1
Recharge: 4
Range: 80
Overview: Decent blast with a short duration accuracy debuff.
This will be your staple blast power.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Damage (as much as you would like). Some suggest slotting Accuracy debuffs.

Gloom
Type: High Damage (DoT), Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 11
Activation: 1
Recharge: 8
Range: 80
Overview: Gloom seems to do almost twice as much damage as Dark Blast. Though it is Damage over Time. The accuracy debuff of this attack last longer as well. I find this power nice for wearing down bosses and Lts. I cycle between Darkblast and Gloom and that seems to work well for me.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Damage (as much as you like)

Moonbeam
Type: Sniper Superior Damage, Accuracy debuff, (Accuracy bonus with Issue 2)
Cost: 21
Activation: 6
Recharge: 12
Range: 175
Overview: This is your sniper blast. Issue 2 will be giving it the accuracy bonus that all sniper blast have. It has a longer range than most sniper shots. It is important to note that this blast is interuptable so some caution should be taken in using it. It works great as a pulling tool and also as nice front loaded damage. With some practice and timing it can even be used in melee successfully without interupt enhancers. I find it useful also for taking out bosses by keeping them held with Petrifying Gaze while I blast them with moonbeam.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Damage (Some might wish to slot an interupt enhancer).

Dark Pit
Type: Trageted AoE Disorentate (Magnitude 2)
Cost: 19
Activation: 1
Recharge: 30
Range: 70
Overview: Much debate over this power. It has an accuracy penalty so will require accuracy enhancers to offset that. Also this is a late blooming power, but once enhanced it gets the job done. By itself it will generally only effect minions, but paired with another Disorentate power (Howling Twilight) it makes for a really nice combo to stun Bosses and Lts. With two Disorentate Enhancers it will keep even level targets stunned long enough for it to recharge.
Suggested Slotting: Accuracy x2 (should give you a reliable hit %) Disorentate enhancers

Tenebrous Tetacles
Type: Cone Immobilize (Mag 3), Moderate Damage DoT (Smashing/Negative), Acc Debuff
Cost: 15
Activation: 2
Recharge: 10
Overview: A very nice multipurpose attack. The damage it does is dot with the first tick being negative energy and the remaining damage being Smashing. The cone is a nice wide cone so very good at catching whole groups of villians. It is very useful in keeping all of the villians together and in the area of Darkest Night or for AoE attacks. It also helps to keep stunned villians from wondering around to much. The immobilize duration will last long enough even unenhanced to keep the targets immobilized while it recharges.
Suggested Slotting: Many options on slotting for this one based on how you wish to use it. Some use it as a damage power slotting for damage. Others as a Immobilize/Debuff slotting for those functions. I use a cone range increaser to match its range more closely with Nightfall for area effecting groups.

Night Fall
Type: Cone Moderate Damage DoT, Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 19
Activation: 2
Recharge: 10
Overview: A power of great debate, some like it some dont. It is a long narrow cone but has about the same width as Tenebrous Tentacles at its end. It does slightly better damage than Tenebrous Tentacles and seems to have a better accuracy debuff. Some suggest skipping this power and just slotting Tentacles for damage. I like the 1...2 punch that this power gives when used with Tenebrous Tentacles. It takes some getting used to as the cones are two different sizes but with some manuvering (stepping forward for Tentacles and back a few steps for Nightfall) it works nicely for AoEing a group.
Suggested Slotting: Acc, Damage

Torrent
Type: Cone Knockback, Minor Damage, Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 21
Activation:1
Recharge:15
Overview: The damage of Torrent isnt really much of a factor here, its not much at all. However this is a nice area cone knockback. It works well even unenhanced. Its great to position the villians back together to keep them in the area of Darkest Night or other area of effects. It works on bosses in general though some have resistance to knockback. Its recharge is a bit long so you could always reduce that with recharge enhancers.

Life Drain
Type: Moderate Damage, Accuracy debuff, Self Heal
Cost:22.5
Activation: 2
Recharge: 15
Range: 60
Overview: As its name implies this power will drain life from your target and use it to heal your wounds. It does about as much damage as Darkblast, and will heal about twice that much. Its endurance cost seems a bit high, but perhaps the adjustments to end cost with Issue 2 will help that somewhat. It seems that it would take some slotting to make it really useful and you may be better off just used Twlight Grasp to heal yourself. Thought it does have a faster activation than Twilight Grasp.

Darkstar
Type: PBAoE Extreme Damage, Accuracy Debuff
Cost: 16.5 (Will drain all current endurance)
Activation: 3
Recharge: 6m
Overview: This is your Nova blast, nice damage and a very solid accuracy debuff. In most cases using this powe will kill your toggles as it drains all of your endurance and happers your endurance recovery for a short time. Though powers such as recover aura and other endurance recovery powers will allow you to begin regaining endurance immediately and also may allows toggles to remain up if they tick of end recover happens inbetween the use of this power and the tick of endurance drain from toggles. Once slotted up for damage this power can lay waste to minions and even sometimes knock out Lts. of equal level. If you have multiple Dark Servants out the lack of toggles my not be a factor.
Suggested Slotting: Damage x6 (it has a nice accuracy bonus around 40%)

* Tenebrous Tentacles seems to be the the power of choice for almost every Dark Blast user.

* Tenebrous Tentacles and Dark Pit are great at adding more control to Dark Miasma

* Dark Blast, Gloom and Moonbeam are the basic attacks of this set. Take them based on how much of a blast punch you want. You can get by with just 2 or even 1 of them but I perfer them all and I am happy with all three.

Feel free to comment or add anything you think I have missed or had incorrect. Specific numbers on End costs or Accuracy debuff numbers would be nice. Also please add any tactics that you find useful.

Please try to avoid Debates/arguments on fixes and over power issues in relation to other Defender types. All of that has been debated elsewhere. If we could just focus on information, ideas and tactics for Dark Miasma/Dark Dark Defenders.

Thanks

[ed_anger]

constructive posts please. if you have strategies that work for you with the dark powersets, please post them so people can see how others do what they do. good work, kalyth...

[EvilDrWongPhD]

If I'm gonna try and pick a fight with a larger group of badguys, I usually try and stick to this simple routine:
1) Darkest night in the middle of the group. Wanna try and get as many of them covered as possible, cause getting killed by their first volley blows.
2) Tar Patch to keep them from scattering too much.
3) Line up Fearsome Stare for maximum badguy coverage and ... uh... stare fearsomely. This will further debuff their accuracy (though I'm not sure exactly how much more) and it will keep them busy trying to decide whether to miss you or run away.

From that point I Petrifying Gaze when needed and reapply Fearsome Stare and Tar Patch as necessary. Fights still take forever, but I get killed a whole lot less when the badguys are too afraid to hit and too slow to get away ;)

[RemusShepherd]

Something that's important to note is that the tactics you use as a DDD change drastically as you level.

In the early levels (1-16), you will be a blaster with a sizeable heal whose only drawback is that it needs to hit an enemy. You can be the main healer in a team if you're fighting whites or below. You may never use Darkest Night or Shadowfall except in certain situations (DN against bosses and AVs, SF against...well, Clockwork at that level). Your biggest concern is endurance drain -- you run dry quickly, and you should be going for stamina as soon as possible.

At these early levels, the best tactic is to lay down a Tar Pit (if you have it), then start a fight with Moonbeam, then keep cycling your blasts and heal when necessary. Very simple...as long as you have endurance.

In the mid-levels (17-32 or so) you will see lots of changes. Your heal begins to feel inadequate, as enemies can kill teammates while you're in the middle of the the 4 second animation. Your blasts will begin to pale in comparison to a blaster. But you will get powerful control powers (Petrifying Gaze, Tenebrous Tentacles) that will let you take the role of controller in a team. Your tactics will shift.

In these mid levels, you will learn to solo like a pro, and accept a new and powerful role in a team. You can lock down entire groups of enemies with Dark Pit, TT, and PG, then take out the lts with single-target attacks and let TT and/or Nightfall melt the minions away. Once you have Stamina you can cycle your attacks indefinitely, and fight with SF and/or Darkest Night running. You'll use DN on either the center of a locked-down crowd, or on dangerous (and durable) bosses that need to be crippled in combat. You'll use your heal more to debuff bosses than to save team members. These are your glory days, the levels where you are at your best -- you can be a controller, a blaster, and defend your team all at the same time.

At high level (33+) you will start seeing problems again. Enemies will throw stun/sleep/hold attacks that you cannot protect your team against. Your blast damage will further pale compared to blasters. The only thing you get to compensate is a pet that is mostly a tool for further control, and a psionic resistance buff that high-level tanks will desperately need.

I can't offer first-hand advice for the high level game...not quite yet. But your control powers and your pet will be the most important things you bring to a team. Soloing may be more difficult -- you must totally lock down any villains with holds or stuns before the fight begins, or you are doomed. And your heal will be useful only as a debuff, as many enemies will kill you in one shot if they hit. You will probably reslot your Shadowfall for psionic resistance to help your teammates, and rely on other defenders in team to stay alive. You're still very powerful and a good teammate, but you're not what people expect you to be. You will be a controller and a pet user, and pretty good at those roles. Sad that the 'defender' label still sticks around.

That's what I see as the career of a DDD. Mine is level 30 now; I'll let you know more about high level tactics as I discover them myself. :)

[Stephen_Hawking]

I did a little number crunching with havok's and howling twilight via update2.

On paper it seems if you have perma hasten and 2 SO recharges, or 4 SO recharges you can keep the howling twilight debuff on permanently. As a clickie, it would be pretty useful to decrease damage. (if anyone has the exact numbers for the debuff it would be nice to compare).

Anyway, using it on top of your darkest night powers the acc/dmg debuff stacks. That means the annoying stuns, that bother every toggle user would be alleviated by this power.

So I guess from looking at the numbers, i would slot 4 recharges with perma hasten, and 2 end reducers. That would put it at a reasonable 21 end cost, and a recharge of 55 seconds. Which basically means I can fire off 5 to 8 attacks before needing to refresh it, and most fights wouldn't last long enough to benefit from any increased duration.

I.e. You fight for like 20 to 30 seconds currently at most (a lot less with blasters) so having a aoe disorientate power available more often is a better option than having a longer lasting one shot. And recharges still make you able to stack the power. Ideally, I might say, 4 recharges, 1 end redux, and 1 disorientation duration.

Basically I feel like dark miasma would greatly benefit from a perma howling twilight state when update2 goes live it seems to at least be better than debuffing than the rad guys.

Hope that made sense for why we should slot it out fully, and gives hope for those dark-elec guys who want to blast a bit, but dont have the neat immobilizing effects, have no slot to spare for tar patch, etc.

Edit: And I remember the old thread talking about defense vs resistance, if you think about it this way, you may get a low debuff with Howling twlight as 10%, but even with 10%, that's 5 slots spared from shadowfall as a defense buff, and using those slots for dmg resistance.

Basically, while its a roundabout way to get your defense/dmg resistance, it seems pretty darn effective.

[Dark_Seductress]

Excellent work on this post KalythR. I am looking to see how my 26th DDD does out in the field post Issue 2. Thanks for posting this.

**Flamers, stay out. This is a guide thread***

[MeleeMadness]

Hey, I have a 26th lvl DDD in semi retirement too. nice. I have started her on some missions to try and get that AXE from Miriam. Cant seem to get Miriam as a contact yet though.

Also, was thinking. Has anyone ever plopped down dark fluffy in PP next to some noobies fighting in an effort to help them? But the noobies think OMG, a Murk or Whatever is on us!!!! I laughed when I initially thought that. I could see them running away until someone says "he healed me". COuld be kinda funny but also promote the AT to newer players so they will be more friendly to the new DDD players. Anyway, dont know if fluffy can help others if they are not group with you, can it?

[Soltares]

I noticed that with a single Interrupt Reduction DO in Moonbeam that I could generally get it off even when a single mob was hitting me, by waiting for him to strike, and then activating it immediately. A useful thing, pre-Hover, and even occasionally useful afterwards, since I could Tar Patch and then stick to sniping targets from outside of their gun range if things got dicey (or if they had some power, like with Tsoo Yellow Ink Men, or Life Mages, that made me want to stay the heck away from them...).

[Fall_of_Man]

Well my first hero was a DDD and I played him to level 22 before rerolling another DDD that is now at level 24.

I have some comments on the power sets.


First off I agree with the original post saying that Dark Miasma isn't all about debuffing accuracy, its also about control. My DDD has been very successful, especially when I am teamed with a controller or defender who has defense buffs because my defense buffs and control powers in combination with another defender's buffs makes for amazing defense. In fact yesterday I did Ind Port TF in a team of five - controller, defender, defender, scrapper, tanker - and so long as we didn't play sloppy we literally did not get hit by enemies (purples and reds) thanks to a total of five defense buffs plus my enemy debuffs. Upping team defense while lowering the enemies accuracy and damage is a sweet combination. :)

However control is also a huge part of my game as a DDD. I start off pretty much each battle with Tar Patch so that upon first aggro the enemy group does not get a chance to scatter. This also causes many enemies to not attack right away (slowed enemies generally have decreased attack rate because they won't attack until they reach their destination). Then I hit the group, which has stayed tight thx to Tar Patch, with Dark Pit. I have Dark Pit slotted with three accuracy DOs and it hits pretty much everything but bosses most of the time, now they are slowed and disoriented. Time for Tenticles, and boom they are now also immobilized. Then comes the icing on the cake. Now that they are all slowed, disoriented, and immobilized I hit them with Fear. This even further reduces their accuracy and makes some of them quit attacking. This also works as a save if the battle goes bad. Fear is a new power for me so I haven't got a good chance to feel it out yet.

If there is a boss in the group or a particular enemy I worry about I hit him with Darkest Night and of course I will run Shadow Fall so long as my endurace is up and I feel my team needs a defense boost.

I also slot my one heal power, Twilight Grasp, with accuracy SOs and recharge SOs and since doing this I have found that it rarely misses anymore, even when I target bosses to bounce it off. If it does miss it recharges quickly and thankfully this healing power has fairly good healing ability.

As for the other attack powers in the secondary set, well I skip most of them so far. My teammates do damage better than me and I don't plan to solo as a defender. All those powers will do is draw unnecessary aggro onto me and waste my endurance. I do have Dark Blast and Gloom, both of which have damage, accuracy and acc debuff enhancements and in a group I rotate my enemy target so I can debuff as many enemies as I can.


One thing to note about the Dark set is that the Dark Miasma seems to stack on itself somehow, not sure how it works. Like if I hit an enemy with Tenticles and the immobilize part of the power misses but then a few seconds later if I hit the enemy with another Miasma power those tenticles will jump up and grab the enemy even though it missed at first.

[Ku_Rin]

[ QUOTE ]
Something that's important to note is that the tactics you use as a DDD change drastically as you level.

In the early levels (1-16), you will be a blaster with a sizeable heal whose only drawback is that it needs to hit an enemy. You can be the main healer in a team if you're fighting whites or below. You may never use Darkest Night or Shadowfall except in certain situations (DN against bosses and AVs, SF against...well, Clockwork at that level). Your biggest concern is endurance drain -- you run dry quickly, and you should be going for stamina as soon as possible.

At these early levels, the best tactic is to lay down a Tar Pit (if you have it), then start a fight with Moonbeam, then keep cycling your blasts and heal when necessary. Very simple...as long as you have endurance.

[/ QUOTE ]

ok, i am a level 11 dark defender and so this is the only part that I can justly disagree with because i don't do that and i do just fine.

I do use tar patch because it kickes butt, however i do not use moonbeam and i don't attack much. I have recently obtained dark pit, which i use to disorient. i then target around the center and use darkest night. (i always have darkest night on) On occation i use my rez if it is ever needed, but it usually isnt because no one is geting killed. Lather rinse repeat.

works pretty well for me so far.

[Peacemoon]

Does Tar Patch give an accuarcy debuff?

[EvilDrWongPhD]

No, Tar Patch is only a Slow.

[Cyber_Coyote]

Tar Patch WILL give an ACC debuff and will take enhancers for it come Issue 2 due out any time now.

[Peacemoon]

hmm, now i'm not sure what to think :)

[WhatRoughBeast]

[ QUOTE ]
Tar Patch WILL give an ACC debuff and will take enhancers for it come Issue 2 due out any time now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'vwe been hearing some people talking about this. Can anyone confirm if this is true, and provide a link to it?

[OlG_78]

[ QUOTE ]
Tar Patch WILL give an ACC debuff and will take enhancers for it come Issue 2 due out any time now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Do you have an idea of the debuff range? -10%, more?

It’s not a reduce attack rate, but can be useful…. :)

[StormbringerTA]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Tar Patch WILL give an ACC debuff and will take enhancers for it come Issue 2 due out any time now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Do you have an idea of the debuff range? -10%, more?

It’s not a reduce attack rate, but can be useful…. :)

[/ QUOTE ]

Just logged in the test server and looked at Tar patch...

1. The Information part only lists (-Speed)
2. The Enhancer screen only lists as acceptable enhancers as..
A. Recharge Reduction
B. Reduced Endurence Cost
C. Increased Slow
D. Increased Range

So if there is change coming to this, it has either not been implemented yet, or they have implemented it and they have made no changes to the text or the enhancers it can accept.

[Cyber_Coyote]

Gah, then they altered it. I was on last week and although I had no slots available in tar patch it DID accept toHit debuff enhancements THEN. I was pretty stoked about it at the time.... :( I swear I saw that on the list, got all types of excited. Just popped over to the test server, it uploadd a new patch and no -ACC :confused:

[WhispenCoH]

Twilight Grasp debuffs enemy damage by about 12% and reduces their accuracy.

One thing I'd bring out regardling later game tactics. Every fight that starts where I have Howling Twilight refreshed I use dark pit + howling twilight as the opener.

You can get Howling Twilight off so fast if you queue it during Dark Pit that you don't even get hit back unless you missed a few enemies.

On test its even easier since Howling Twilight has a very nice range now. The combination with a couple disorient duration enhancers in each power will leave most groups of badguys completely harmless until only the LTs and Bosses are still alive.

Certainly long enough to get Darkest Night, Tentacles and Tar Patch into play.

[Gregorgon]

I cant begin to state the wonders of the combination of TT and nightfall.
I dont know much about the primary dark, but I am completely hooked on the secondary with my rad.
Now combined with RI (I imagine the same effect or very similiar effect with the dark anchor) then TT, I follow directly behind with the nightfall.
In the end you can have an entire group missing nearly every shot, and continue to plug both killing off the group, or letting your team-mates have a great time with no consequence using AOE powers.
Course your darkies dont get the neat effect we rad guys have with RI/EV TT combo, nothing says loving like TT's in a field of green goo :)
All in all I love the dark secondaries, just wanted my input in there :)
Hope to see a few more Darkies out after issue 2, I think I have teamed with one in all my months on CoH

[RemusShepherd]

[ QUOTE ]
One thing to note about the Dark set is that the Dark Miasma seems to stack on itself somehow, not sure how it works. Like if I hit an enemy with Tenticles and the immobilize part of the power misses but then a few seconds later if I hit the enemy with another Miasma power those tenticles will jump up and grab the enemy even though it missed at first.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tentacles has two animation pulses. One lasts as long as the damage lasts. Once TT stops doing damage, the animation restarts and lasts until the immobilization effect ends. What you're seeing is purely graphical.

[Agent_Unknown]

On live servers my solo strategy tends to be Shadowfall and Darkest Night up, then melt the group away with Tentacles and Nightfall. I have both AE attacks 6 slotted with 1 end redux, 5 damage (I run 4 slotted tactics atm).

Against bosses, particularly the holding kind, I use Dark Fluffy to distract them, then I use Pet. Gaze (2 slotted both Hold duration) to lock them down. This tactic works well against any single boss, I haven't figured out a way yet to solo multiple bosses with the tools we have available on live, though I think leading with Dark Pit + Howling Twilight might work (I don't have HT on live).

On test, things have changed drastically. First and foremost, I've dropped all of my dark blast powers except Dark Blast, Dark Pit, Tenebrous Tentacles, Nightfall and Blackstar. At level 38, I have all my Dark Miasma powers except Fearsome Stare and Black Hole. I picked up Hasten, I also have Assault (will be replaced with Maneuvers when respec goes live) and Tactics, Swift, Health and Stamina, with Recall Friend and Teleport as travel powers.

So far, I've been running Dark Servant with 4 SO recharge(w/perma-hasten), 1 SO Heal and 1 SO Hold Duration. I get 3 Dark Fluffies out constantly. They assist quite well with crowd control, healing and debuffing.

For soloing with the new set up, I get all my fluffies out, lead with Dark Pit + Howling Twilight, then throw Darkest Night on the group of mobs and start melting them with AEs. If there are bosses in the group, I try to keep them held (if the fluffies aren't already) and I mix in Dark Pit when I can to minimize the damage out put of the minions.

In groups on test, I tend to fall into a crowd control role even if another controller is there. I'll alternate between CC and blasting and throw in heals when needed. If the group is particularly control heavy I'll tend toward debuffing and blasting.

[ed_anger]

great information thread, post strategies and discussions here.

[Futurias]

[ QUOTE ]
Gah, then they altered it. I was on last week and although I had no slots available in tar patch it DID accept toHit debuff enhancements THEN. I was pretty stoked about it at the time.... :( I swear I saw that on the list, got all types of excited. Just popped over to the test server, it uploadd a new patch and no -ACC :confused:



[/ QUOTE ]

It never accepted -ACC debuffs. Now that it works as a presetup "slow" movement, it isn't so bad. It's supposed to be buffed on the slowing too. So hopefully it won't totally stink.

[WhispenCoH]

Not only does it not stink, it's incredibly useful when you figure out a couple strategies for using it.

It combines superbly with any fear effect like our own, or rain of fire, or freezing rain, etc.

It's big enough you can kite enemies around it.

It works so well with Torrent that I feel like I'm cheating.

It's a great pre-pull barrier to lay down so that when the action starts nothing will cross it in a timely fashion to smash your blasters.

[Snowlock]

Good guide you've got here!
I started a DDD a little after issue 2 hit and just got to 22 last night. I've been soloing my way through the low levels, and doing the task forces as they pop up.
My problem comes from having too many powers to chose from at low level! Hopefully I will be able to start picking up some of the powers I missed from this point onwards.

[Umagon]

did Fearsome Stare's fear effect change to the sleepish effect? if so how well does it work?

[ed_anger]

fearsome stare has not changed yet. im curious to see which power, that or black hole, will be more useful to deal with overwhelimg situations when they are both changed.

[BlueWolf]

tagging for favorites


thanks for info.

[Jeepers]

Have any of the above listed "Issue 2 Changes" actually gone through yet? Fearstome Stare being changed to a Sleep effect?

Has Dark Servant been updated yet?

Anyone know?

[NSANY]

Not sure what the expected changes for DS were, but I saw a guy roaming in Brick yesterday with three DSs faithfully following behind him, so they are mobile. (I'm a lowly lv17 DDD, so I have much to learn and get ramped up on)

[Dysmal]

Yes, all the Dark Servant changes (mobility, altered rechage and end cost to compare to controller pets, and replacement of Fearsome Stare with Petrifying Gaze in its arsenal of powers and fixing of their Darkest Night power) are live. Dark Servant radically changes the way you play. Once you have 2-3 out at all times, you're wonder how you lived without them. Just last night, between my casting Petrfying Gaze and the pet's casts of it, I managed to hold a +1 level AV for a good length of time.

[NinjaMonkey]

I wanted to tag this thread and also add a question. At 15 with my DDD I'm enjoying Howling Twilight. Since it's early it's hard to tell how useful it will be later but one thing I found strange was the supposed END REC aspect. Maybe I just need to wait for SO but right now I don't see this power helping with my end recovery.

I'm debating whether or not to make this part of my disorient / hold powers. I will of course get TT but right now I really like Dark Pit. I was thinking that with Hasten and maybe some recharge enhancers I could make HT part of an attack cycle were I keep the mob either held or disoriented. The end recovery would be awesome but right now I just don't see it happening at all.

[roberto1]

[ QUOTE ]
I wanted to tag this thread and also add a question. At 15 with my DDD I'm enjoying Howling Twilight. Since it's early it's hard to tell how useful it will be later but one thing I found strange was the supposed END REC aspect. Maybe I just need to wait for SO but right now I don't see this power helping with my end recovery.

I'm debating whether or not to make this part of my disorient / hold powers. I will of course get TT but right now I really like Dark Pit. I was thinking that with Hasten and maybe some recharge enhancers I could make HT part of an attack cycle were I keep the mob either held or disoriented. The end recovery would be awesome but right now I just don't see it happening at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Howling Twilight is a decent disorient power, and you can use it in conjunciton with Dark Pit to stack disorients on bosses. However, Dark pit is better for Disorienting becasue it's got a lower end cost and recharge time.

The END REC aspect of the power has to do with the Resurrect aspect. That is, the resurrected ally will recover endurance scaled to the number of targets the power hits while in range of the rez'd ally. The caster doesn't recover any endurance.

[Teux_]

I just wanted to revive this excellent DDD guide with a few updates.

Twilight Grasp - Animation time reduced to about ~2 seconds from it's previous time, and the healing was bumped up at the same time as Transfusion from the Kinetics powerset. Result? A decent heal/debuff turned into an excellent combat power.

Tar Patch - I do not have this power, but I believe that the slow pulse has been slightly sped up so it can catch villians running through after the patch has been laid down.

Darkest Night - No change since guide published, excellent power.

Howling Twilight - Increased range for debuff and res, with an additional bonus of increased health benifit for your teammates for each mob. Three or four villians is all you need to bring a teammate back to full health. Result is a very good disorient power that is now also a good combat res.

Shadow Fall - No change since guide published, excellent power.

Fearsome Stare - With the fear changes in Issue 3, Fearsome Stare can now be a powerful additional to the DDD's arsenal. It's only drawback at this time is that any debuff or damage power will temporarily "break" it's hold, allowing the feared villian to attack. This makes it less useful when combined with other debuffs or our DOT attacks, but overall still a good crowd control power.

Petrifying Gaze - No change since guide published, excellent power.

Black Hole - No change since guide published. Situational power, but still useful at times. Good for seperating out bosses from groups.

Dark Servant - Core power, excellent pet. Mobility was added with Issue 2 as mentioned in the guide, but otherwise no real changes.

All defender and tanker powers were given a slight upgrade to damage and a reduction in endurance costs sometime around the release of Issue 2. Accordingly, the original numbers may be off a bit.

Dark Blast - No changes, quick attack with no drawbacks.

Gloom - No changes since guide published. Good damage but somewhat less useful in groups as DOT damage may be wasted.

Moonbeam - Moonbeam was given the same inherent accuracy bonus as other sniper attacks. Other than that, no change.

Dark Pit - No change since guide published.

Tenebrous Tetacles - No change since guide published.

Nightfall - No change since guide published.

Torrent - No change since guide published.

Life Drain - No change since guide published.

Darkstar - No change since guide published.

Just wanted to update and bump this excellent guide. If anyone has any corrections or suggestion, please feel free to add to this thread. I will try to monitor it and edit accordingly.

[PantherShade]

Fearsome Stare has been fixed, and debuff effects will no longer interrupt the fear effect.

[KnightSilent]

Heh...I currently run a DDD lvl 24 that is badly in need of a respec. Glad I found this thread when I did. Without a respec, he's pretty much useless...:-p

[Ultra_Violence]

Yes Fearsome Stare is now so powerful I wonder if I need Petrifying Glare. 2 Stares can fear most Bosses and it refreshes very quickly even "out of the box" (without additional slotting). Only disadvantage over hold is that mob can shoot back if attacked and that mob has an attack power up. There 2 ways to deal with this:

1) Slotting a To-Hit Debuff or 2 and running Darkest Night means they won't hit anything anyway.
2) Queue up attacks so you hit mob(s) which a number of attacks in a row, before their attack can refresh again. Example: Snipe then 2 fast animation attacks will usually only allow mob to shoot back once.

Besides the Cone of Effect the other advantage that FS has is that it doesn't require a lot of slots. Since PG only effects one mob, most 6 slot it with accuracy, refreshes and durations. But FS with a To-Hit and an Accuracy does just fine, saving a lot of slots or becoming even more powerful if slotted. All for about the same cost as PG.

The biggest problem with DM is which powers NOT to take. Power sets like this are great fun but frustrating because you can't fit everything into 1 build. My Dark/Rad Defender only uses 2 power pools (Jump and Fitness) and still can't get all the powers I want LOL.

[Messageboardname]

I'm having MASSIVE accuracy issues with my Dark/Dark powers. Admittedly I only played till level 3, but I have a level 5 Acc TO (which isn't much) but I miss probably 50% of the time without a word of a lie.

50% miss rate! I'm absolutely serious. What the hell is wrong?

[Combat]

My level 19 DDD has rezzed a same level hero to 100% health and 100% endurance once.This is without any enhancements and only one mob.
Is this a bug or a recent fix to the power(if its a fix a good power in my line-up has just become a great one :) :) :))?

[Feared]

It was fixed recently. All heroes are now asked if they want to rez or not and all are restored to full health and full endo. Power kicks [censored] :)

[Dysmal]

RE: Howling Twilight

Please note that since it is now a full rez, you can no longer add Heal or End Recovery enhancements to HT. Any ones you have slotted you might as well replace, since they arent doing anything now.

[J0hnnyB]

Cuppajo: (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2092861&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=93&fpart=1#2092861)

[ QUOTE ]
"Dark Miasma/Tar Patch now also debuffs affected targets’ damage resistance and prevents foes from jumping and flying. "

[/ QUOTE ]

This power just got more interesting...

[JustMe_NA]

Ok I should have posted here sooner :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my lev 50 D3. IMO they are truely a pain at lower levels, and like any controller (not quite as bad) have troubles till pets. Some things to think about is no they dont have protection from sleep hold and annoying stuff like that, you will have pets. I once took on a mentalist and the only attack I could throw out was new pet. Go figure I got a stun badge during this 40 minute fight, but while i was held and really truely beging to hate rikti, my pets kept me alive. So yea there is draw backs but there is compensation as well. Also I should note on I3 I can go head to head with any av and not be killed, now D3's will never do enough dmg to put one down solo, its uber to be able to battle them into a stale mate even with such horrid end issues, I would never give up my D3. If you all have questions or would like build advice, i use this handle for global chat feel free to message me, or pm me and I will try to answer any questions you have. Did i mention I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my D3 :)

[Fire_Mist]

quick question about shadow fall, if you use it and grant invis to all team mates with all your debuffs running, can they hit your team? i know swift will negate the slow movement aspect of SF, can you have SF+stealth+swift on all together and walk same speed or a little slower?

[Jaek_]

don't know about swift and all negating the slow effect of stealth etc, but i do know that hurdle + Combat Jumping > sprint, if you just jump, and stealth doesn't affect the speed of it (the length of the jump)

[MysticArcane]

Swift on its own doesn't quite cancel the speed drop from stealth or SF, but with swift+sprint+SF(or stealth) you will go slightly faster than someone with just sprint on. I would guess you would be a tad bit slower with both SF+stealth+swift+sprint...

But really.. why take stealth when SF has a better stealth component(based on my experiences this is true) and I am not sure but I thought it had a higher base defense buff(it is at least equal to stealth).

cheers

[Fire_Mist]

other question is do stealth and sf stack?

[MysticArcane]

Yes, but again, why drag your speed down any further.
You are nearly invisible with SF( maybe 10ft visibility to a +3 minion, just tested that out last night), and with DN acc debuff on, you will pretty much never get hit vs +1 minions.

I just wouldn't see the point to having both, unless you were aiming for Phase Shift, in that case, go with Grant Invis to enhance your defender status..

Good Luck!

[Starfire_One]

I'm trying to make my D3 as good as she can be. Can any of you please critique my build and tell me what you think and what changes you think I need to make. The only thing I don't want to change is the Super Jump (It is part of my character concept and a really good travel power). Thanks

Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Miasma
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Blast

01 : Dark Blast acc(01) endred(5) thtdbf(15) thtdbf(46)
01 : Tar Patch slw(01) slw(3) slw(11) slw(39)
02 : Darkest Night thtdbf(02) endred(3) thtdbf(5) endred(9) thtdbf(39)
04 : Moonbeam acc(04) endred(7) thtdbf(17) thtdbf(46)
06 : Combat Jumping endred(06) defbuf(7) defbuf(21) defbuf(43)
08 : Gloom acc(08) endred(9) thtdbf(17) thtdbf(46)
10 : Twilight Grasp acc(10) endred(11) thtdbf(13) thtdbf(40)
12 : Howling Twilight endred(12) slw(13) recred(15) endred(40)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14) jmp(37) jmp(43)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Petrifying Gaze acc(18) endred(19) hlddur(19) hlddur(21) hlddur(37)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(40)
24 : Tenebrous Tentacles acc(24) thtdbf(27) immdur(34) immdur(48)
26 : Shadow Fall endred(26) defbuf(27) damres(36) defbuf(37)
28 : Hasten recred(28) recred(29) recred(29) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Acrobatics endred(30) endred(42)
32 : Dark Servant recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Life Drain acc(35) endred(36) thtdbf(36) thtdbf(50)
38 : Blackstar recred(38) recred(39) recred(50)
41 : Dark Consumption acc(41) endrec(42) acc(42) recred(43)
44 : Dark Embrace endred(44) endred(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(50)
47 : Soul Drain acc(47) endred(48) thtbuf(48)
49 : Oppressive Gloom acc(49)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl acc(01)
01 : Sprint jmp(01)
02 : Rest recred(02)

[Chimaera_NA]

What are you trying to achieve? Mostly solo play? balanced? group play only? I will make some simple comments now though, why wait til 10th to have twilight grasp? It's a simple way to keep yourself alive when you take damage and you will, plus it allows you to also heal your allies if on teaming. Why take hurdle if you are going to have combat jumping, I do not believe they stack and it is rather redundant, might as well take swift instead so that you have natural 25% increased running speed which you will need since often you should not have sprint running to save end. Why takes hasten so late in the build, if you took it sooner you would have it perma by around 20 or so which would then allow you to focus on slotting stamina.

[Psychic_Surgery]

Here's my current attempt at a DDD Defender. Gonna go for the dark epic pool as well. I'm currently at level 20 in this build and it's great. I feel very powerful when I am on a team. I only took 3 power pools not including the epic which left me open to take more of the dark powers. I love this character. So much fun to play.

Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Miasma
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Blast

01 : Dark Blast acc(01) dam(19)
01 : Twilight Grasp acc(01) hel(3) hel(5) hel(13) hel(50)
02 : Tar Patch slw(02) slw(3) slw(7) slw(13)
04 : Darkest Night thtdbf(04) thtdbf(5) thtdbf(9) thtdbf(15) thtdbf(34) thtdbf(36)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(11) recred(23) recred(25) recred(27)
08 : Shadow Fall defbuf(08) defbuf(9) defbuf(11) defbuf(15) defbuf(36) defbuf(36)
10 : Swift runspd(10)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Tenebrous Tentacles acc(16) dam(17) dam(17) dam(37) dam(43)
18 : Petrifying Gaze acc(18) hlddur(19)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(27)
22 : Night Fall acc(22) dam(37) dam(37) dam(40) dam(46)
24 : Assault endred(24)
26 : Tactics thtbuf(26) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31)
28 : Dark Pit acc(28)
30 : Howling Twilight recred(30)
32 : Dark Servant recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) hel(33) hel(34) thtdbf(34)
35 : Fearsome Stare acc(35)
38 : Blackstar acc(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(40)
41 : Dark Consumption endrec(41) endrec(42) endrec(42) endrec(42) endrec(43) endrec(43)
44 : Dark Embrace damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Soul Drain acc(47) acc(48) acc(48) recred(48) recred(50) recred(50)
49 : Oppressive Gloom acc(49)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl dam(01)
01 : Sprint runspd(01)
02 : Rest recred(02)

[B1sh0p]

[ QUOTE ]
Why take hurdle if you are going to have combat jumping, I do not believe they stack and it is rather redundant, might as well take swift instead so that you have natural 25% increased running speed which you will need since often you should not have sprint running to save end.

[/ QUOTE ]

I realize this is an old post and all, but CJ and Hurdle do indeed stack, and provide a pretty decent jump with Jump enhancements in the default slots.

[LaKittyBelle]

I've just reached level 29, and found out that the lower-level powers do a fantastic job for being a Controller/Defender combo archetype, but the higher-level choices seem somewhat useless to me. So I've gone with alternate power-pool sets (Leadership, for example, with maneuvers and assault) which are good defender-type buffs for your teammates. I'll be interested to see how my Dark Servent works once I reach the point of it being available.

[Nod]

Holy dark resurrection!