Oh no.

I decided to see how Soul Noob was doing, because of all of the recent changes.  Answer?  I'm not doing too well on this Bounty Hunter.  I'm in pretty deep water.
As it already was, Soul Noob wasn't the best on the block.  I was a bit of an idiot (I realize it now) to purchase the Independence Cleaver and Carrierzooka for Soul Noob last year.  Now, where armor is the difference between life and death, I /facepalm/.  Plus, low-level weapons were buffed (Independence Cleaver and Carrierzooka were not buffed except that Carrierzooka gained +2 damage).  Low-level.  And to make matters worse (What is wrong with me?) I bought Overkill today. 
I wasn't prepared for the decline in stats. 

If I'm not lucky, I won't be able to pull out of the mid-20s rut and Soul Noob will just be another dead character.

Below the Surface- The Beginning

Merc1225 sat down on a gray, flat rock.  He was in the mines, a dangerous and unstable place.  The rock ceiling above him could easily cave in, entombing him for the rest of time.  However, the rocks did not worry him.  The possibility of war did.
Only a few days ago, the Shadow Guard who had guarded the Refinery so carefully for years had finally been beaten aside.  As she was hardened with experience, it had taken a party of warriors to defeat her.  She would not accept mercy, but the warriors let her live.  They did not care about her.  They cared about what was behind her. 
The Refinery was a large place, colossal compared to the rest of the Minetower.  It extended so deeply beneath the earth's surface that magma bubbled in glowing, orange pits.  What made the Refinery so special was what it housed- the Delta Vaults.  The Vaults housed things no man knew of, except for a select few and Baelius himself.  It was obvious, though, that the Vaults contained items that were of great power-or destruction.  Both the Legion and the Exiles intended to get to the bottom of things.

The party of warriors, however, did not expect the Mechachillids.  The insectlike robots overwhelmed the warriors, causing them to flee.  However, the damage had been done.  The Delta Vaults were discovered, and no one on Delta V did not know about the Vaults after that, from the captured King Alaric to the program M4TR1X.

Delta V did not need war.  There was enough war already.  The Frysteland War had resulted in many casualties, especially on the Krampus side.  He himself had taken part in the war, rising to the rank of Field Commander.  The slaying of Arctic Guards and Yeti Hulks did not do a thing to stop Alydriah Descarl, Administrator 1, the right-hand woman of Baelius.  This war would not result in any good at all.  Few wars did.

Sighing, Merc1225 teleported away to Central Station.

Tactical Mercenary Build

Hiya everyone- I've got a TLM build to share here.  Following my recent purchase of the Energy Rapier, I've designed a build that goes along well with it.  This build needs a couple of rare pieces of gear.  Sorry if you don't have any, but they're all seasonal-rare, so they should be coming back along soon.  So...first...the build (separate link to picture here).

What gear did I use?
Energy Rapier (Seasonal-Rare, get it now from the Lawman/Silas Auer)
Carrot Impaler (Seasonal-Rare, from the Bionic Battalion Saga)
Carrierzooka (Seasonal-Rare, coming back for the Fourth of July event, which is in a while)
Beast Master E M (Make necessary adjustments but do not switch elements.  Keywords: Gender and/or alignment.) (Seasonal-Rare, Frysteland War event) (+5 enhancements on dexterity)
Baby Yeti (I used it in this picture, but sometimes, I adjust to Rusted Assault Bot) (Seasonal-Rare, Frysteland War event)
This build only has five enhancements (on dexterity on the armor), but any more enhancements in any stat would work.  The strategy is pretty self-explanatory if you look at my skill tree, but if you can't make heads or tails of it, I'll happily tell you.
Against other TLM tanks and CH tanks, you must conserve your energy for healing (unless you know that TLM/CH has a habit of removing energy, especially with CHs.  Then just go with Field Commander).  If you happen to "lose" any energy (Whoops, I clicked Field Commander), the max reroute (30% conversion rate!) should help things. 
Because this build functions best with any bot that has 10-14 or higher base damage (aka Varium bots only- no Rusted Bot, unless you have no other choice.  But then you'll be looking at 21-25+30, which is relatively low.), I used the Baby Yeti (my only Varium bot on this TLM).  But I imagine that the Gamma Bot would really work (12-16, H4X!- waiting for a Delta Bot).
Against strength BMs, you must try to deal the same amount of damage as them.  You can use Field Commander (but it is risky- Strength BMs most commonly have Azrael's Borg or Bio Borg for obvious reasons, and if you do the math, the increased output in damage for 4 turns usually is less than regular damage output for 5 turns).  I think eventually you will have to rely on the power of the block, as tank healing won't do much ("Last turn of cooldown for Field Medic!" *BM Guns* *50 Damage* /Critical/ /Defeated!/).  You can only hope that their (probably noobier) partner will not troll you and heal them.  (Well, if they do, you should have taken them out first.  But if you're facing two Strength blood mages, well, good luck and hope that the god of Shadow Arts and/or Blocks is with you.)
Against Strength BHs?  Hmmm.  Tricky.  Try to Atom Smash first Sorry, I forgot that the Energy Rapier is a sword.  If you can't take out their Smoke Screen (or Massacre, which is almost always there), try to outdamage them.  Or tank.
Since I've mentioned tank twice, I guess I should tell you that this build is not very tanky.  At the core, it is a 5 Focus build.  If you truly want to become tanky and still keep the robot damage, switch to the Delta Knight (dang- I really should get it for my TLM, but Beast Master has 11% Frostbite chance), but only if your resistance is at least 30-36 (base resistance, don't factor in agility or encumbrance or armor bonus), which calls for heavy enhancements.
Now for choice of robot.  The obvious choice is Gamma Bot, which is unfortunately rare (back then we thought there would never be a non-varium bot) but has 12-16.  The next choices are Azrael's Borg (rare!) and Baby Yeti (rare!), as they have the next best base damage.  Next are the Assault Bot (not rare, although it costs 1250 Varium) and the current Pyro Fly (good for offensive uses: "Derp cannot use Field Medic this battle!"), because they only come in at 10-14.  If you really are desperate (aka nonvarium), I guess you'll have to use the Rusted Assault Bot.  (Oh wait, great idea! Rusted Gamma Bot!  Make the base damage 10-14 and make it cost 20,000!  Forget it, it's a slap in the face to those who worked their butts off for the real, genuine Gamma Bot.)
Just remember, guys, disclaimer: This build is not a guaranteed win build.  This is not a heavily variumated TLM, CH, or BM.  I made this build, therefore it is subject to fail.  It is still in testing.
Heh.
~ReconnaisX

The plate goes click. The TNT goes hiss. The piggie goes boom.

Some photos before I actually get into the post.

  <Staff- based off of the Lawman's Crystal Staff.
<Wrist Blades (I draw these a lot, along with swords)
  <Rare appearance of a club I drew (now you can see why I don't draw them much)- sorry for the lighting issues

~~Minecraft-- RCEs (Remotely Controlled Explosions)
I've got two things to talk about in Minecraft today.  One concerns the title and the other does not.  Firstly, I will talk about the sudden overpopulation of Snow Golems in caves and apologize for any inconveniences caused.
If you've made them before, you probably know that Snow Golems are great to watch as they lob snowballs at unsupsecting zombies.  They also fit in with the taiga environment.  Just one issue.  They melt.  They melt when in contact with water, with lava (extra-hot- Snow Golems don't like spicy things), and things like that.  Sure, SGs last longer in snowy environments, but just a little longer.  Putting them underground solves the problem.
Proof: A test.  I placed some SGs in a covered underground pit and viewed them through a trapdoor (apparently heat does not come through a trapdoor, although light does).  They lived until I accidentally spawned a Spider in there.  Since Spiders tend to jump a lot, by the time I had killed the Spider, all of the SGs had been killed and there were a couple of holes leading into the Void. Just kidding.  I mean they lived forever.  They're still there.
And now for the featured presentation- RCEs, which if you didn't read the heading, are Remotely Controlled Explosions.  They're really fun- I swear!  It's more civilized then just making TNT-filled tunnels and blowing them up by flint and steel.  I mean, the concept of the TNT tunnel is great, but why not add in a couple of Redstone Repeaters and a Redstone trail?  Then, when the plate goes click, the TNT goes hiss, and the piggie goes boom, you can say that you aren't responsible for the incident, although I've heard that pigs are smart and can figure that one out.  (Well, if they know, kill 'em.  Nothing like some cooked porkchops to end a day full of sonic booms.)
Come on.  Just try it.  Here, I'll give you the pigpen to start with.

~~EpicDuel-- Which seat should I take Which weapon should I buy?
It is a bit of an issue for me.  Three non-varium swords to choose from.  (Soon-to-be) 14,000 Credits.  For a Tactical Mercenary, the Energy Rapier seems like the way to go- for a typical tank, 5 Focus build.  The Crystal Laser Sword (I'm Exile) has +12 Strength, lending itself to some creative TLM builds- while leaving out Technology.  Rapier?  Won't even consider it (unless I desperately need something physical).  Hard choices...
EDIT: I went ahead and bought the Energy Rapier.  I can't tell how I can use it in a build just yet, because at last count (after purchase) I had 6 Credits.  Now I'm wondering if I should enhance the Energy Rapier for 4 slots with the 364 Varium I have left.

~ReconnaisX