Been a while (in General)

So it's been a while since I've played CB2. I was starting over and just curious as to what's the best starting strategy these days, just to boost MPR quickly.

well hey man I'm just returning myself and really having a time of it..I would suggest reading ALOT all you can find here about the new stuff and get a new character with an NCB...don't ink tattoo's cus it eats them :) dont hit any buttons you dont know what they do as they all have a drain that goes FLUSH and takes your money...but it looks like the new thing is to run around single minion type and wipe the floor with all the Noobs and returning old users like me...
Im just sharked at it all..oh yes and hope you got some cash to spend too!! it helps cus with an NCB if you dont have gear or CBD, your toast

I'm noticing some of these things, I'm just running the old school Single FB mage trying to make a little impact. I have some cash it doesn't seem to be selling so I might as well sink it back into the game! Anyone know if single tanks have any use these days?

With the recent nerf to rewards, single tanks are overwhelmingly difficult to equip. I'd suggest staying single mage for a while.

Multi-minion teams with tanks are fine. I can't even upgrade my MH cos I'll go over my ENC. So it shouldn't be too bad. AFAIK the SFBM is a little outdated and not very effective, get some chants in there.

AS, AS, GA, SG

If money is tight, or if you want to save cash go mage. The AS/GA/Shocking Grasp strat described is a pretty good team.

Single tanks can work, even when cash is tighter. Use a ToA and pump all your cash into the weapon X. The ToA gives you PTH. A 3 million level tattoo, which with an NCB is quite easy to achieve quite quickly will give you over 100 PTH on your weapons (on each of your weapons if you equip a ranged weapon and a melee weapon). Meanwhile the pumped X adds nothing to your PR so you can enjoy decent rewards with a high powered weapon.

Oh, and the ToE: only blocks physical damage, which at the level you're fighting at is probably not very common, or too low to worry about anyway.

I think one of the cheapest and most effective strategies is the RoS.

Minion 1: MM mage training HP as well, about 1:5 ratio. Using HoC, AoI, BoE, and NSC.
Minion 2: All AS with the RoS, using a corn.
Minion 3: All AS with 100k AMF, using a corn.
Minion 4: DM to 40% of the RoS level, rest into GA, using a corn.

Should be very cheap and very effective to play.

The only characters to give you problems are very heavy DM ones and RBF users.

Otherwise, you should do very well.

Here is the perfect example:

http://www.carnageblender.com/inspect_opponent.tcl?opponent_id=126640

I am running a very similar strat myself.

If you find your GA is too low, you can make 2 of the minions learn DM and boost the GA to a level that is needed. About 2.5x your opponents highest damage.

But overall, it is a very cost effective, and very battle effective strategy.

Thanks for that tip Ranger, looks a bit expensive, how much would that gear run me?

The biggest things to get are the NSC for the mage and 3x corns for the enchanters.

Figure 2M each item. The AoI is also needed as is the HoC.

So figure about 12M in initial item out lay. Plus the tattoo. A base RoS is 350k or so.

I think you should be able to get a loan for most of the stuff or rent the corns.

I have a +10 one you can borrow for a while I am not using.

Upgrades are minimal. Just look at Rawr's character, the one I gave the link to in the thread and see how little NW he has in upgrades for his minions.

With a NCB and getting 100% challenge bonuses your first month or so, you could make 500k a week easy in profits. No need to buy BA if you do not want to, or perhaps only buy during xp time.

Even without buying BA, in 6 months, using a simple RoS strategy, you may get to 2.5-3M MPR.

I have about 10mil lying around, it sounds like something fun to try though. Whats a good upgrading technique on the armor. As in when is it necessary to actually add +'s to it, I haven't had a team with gear on this game in so long haha.

You want to leave the HoC base, as to not add PR.

You want to get the corns to at least +8, and name them at that level. I feel it is the best bang for the buck.

The NSC do well at +12 or so.

The BoE does not matter as each + only adds AC, the 5% magic is inate to the armor.

The AoI in not upgradeable.

Just look at the top RoS characters via Strongest Tattoos link on your Home page. See what they wear and go from there.

Thanks a lot ranger you've been a huge help, now i guess its time to make a WTB thread to play around with this haha.

There is a base RoS in auctions I think. 500k is a bit high but if you want it, it is not a bad buy.

You can also do this strategy without the RoS for a while growing since there are not a lot of heavy DM characters. And if you see one, just avoid it.

Then in time, buy a higher NW RoS for a fraction of its NW.

If you want to try my Corn, just shoot me a CM.

There are two +8 Corns in auctions right now, as well as a HoC that can be disenchanted to base. That might get you started.

Also,

If you going to start as a NCB, best to pool all your money on a base character, retire all your other characters, and buy BA to the hard cap of 1600.

Then you get a nice start on the NCB. Hopefully you can start during xp time for a bigger MPR boost.

Disenchanted to base? Has it really been that long haha. The corns are just a little pricey I'd hope to find something a little closer to base.

I was curious if ET teams still hold any significance. I want to try to bring back my old set up from when I first started.