Flying Brick Build

dpm2012

New to CO, and would love to play a "Superman" type character. I don't want any range, so more of a silver age Superman. Basically, really strong, really tough, and can fly. I have looked around and am having trouble finding recent build suggestions.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

flowcyto

Can just around look for a Might build. There's many older threads w/ builds focused around Might (mostly means Haymaker use). Would prob just adapt one of them.

Here's a basic Might build to get ya started, I guess:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Hero
Level 6: Covert Ops Training
Level 9: Physical Conditioning
Level 12: Healthy Mind
Level 15: Body and Mind
Level 18: Boundless Reserves
Level 21: Bodybuilder

Powers:
Level 1: Clobber
Level 1: Defensive Combo (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Defiance
Level 8: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 11: Mighty Leap
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Roomsweeper (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 20: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Haymaker (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Unbreakable (Rank 2, Better You Than Me)
Level 29: Uppercut (Rank 2)
Level 32: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 35: Retaliation (Rank 2)
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations:
Strength: Swole (2/3)
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

Can play in the Hybrid role when solo, for the higher dmg bonuses, and Tank role in groups if ya want to tank (since its somewhat designed around taking hits- though its focus could be changed away from that w/ a few tweaks).

vandenhamster

I know you said no ranged attacks, but considering how annoying Roomsweeper can be without a slow or stun effect on the mobs to keep them from being tossed around the room, I added one anyway. That, and because it does sort of fit the Superman idea. It can be replaced with Thunderclap for a similar effect.

Force Blast is only there for flavour (heat vision!) and could easily be replaced with another power of your choice.

PowerHouse   (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Savage
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Paramilitary Training
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Quick Recovery
Level 21: Relentless

Powers:
Level 1: Clobber
Level 1: Defiance
Level 6: Roomsweeper (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 8: Frost Breath (Rank 2, Frost Bite, Challenging Strikes)
Level 11: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 14: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 20: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 26: Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Haymaker (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Unbreakable (Rank 2, Better You Than Me)
Level 38: Force Blast

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Superspeed

Specializations:
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

dpm2012

Thanks for the tips, folks.

I hear you on the Roomsweeper thing. That can be annoying as heck.

I have been playing around with a build. I went with invulnerability and avoided roomsweeper and put in the AOE punch, 100 Hands (I think) from Unarmed, Martial Arts. It seems to work pretty well so far. I use Hyper Jump or whatever that is, to close the distance. I am level 30 with this build. I enjoy it, but have on idea how well it will do at 40.

Changing all my powers, talents and such as you move up levels can get costly. Right now, it would cost me 60g roughly to rebuild from ground up. Which I don't mind, I just need a bit of time to farm it.


Thanks!

flowcyto

Yeah Might's AoE is iffy- no singular one is w/o major downsides: TC has a good stun effect and pbAoE, but is on a cd so very low sustained dps; Roomsweeper is powerful, but the scatter KB can be crazy w/o using a control effect first, and its a small melee cone; Iron Cyclone is a nice wide pbAoE that can clump mobs, but has low dps and is costly, Stomp is an easy pbAoE, but a bit low dps and smaller radius- and charges can still scatter KB w/o other powers; Shockwave has ncie coverage and is easy to use, but is ranged and also low dps for melee builds). I'd have thrown in Shockwave or something but I wasn't sure how far ya wanted to stick to the theme and the melee-only aspect. Vortex Iron Cyclone is prob the most versatile AoE from Might, though its not fitting to whip a chain around, and its dps is still pretty low.

100Hands can work, though its still a pretty tight AoE range, and it doesn't stack Enrage.

sykov

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: The Powerhouse

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Endurance (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: Superhuman
Level 6: Enduring
Level 9: Mighty
Level 12: Boundless Reserves
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Covert Ops Training

Powers:
Level 1: Clobber
Level 1: Defiance (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Mighty Leap (Crippling Challenge, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Uppercut
Level 11: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 14: Haymaker (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Thunderclap (Collateral Damage, Challenging Strikes)
Level 20: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 23: Masterful Dodge
Level 26: Unbreakable (Better You Than Me)
Level 29: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Palliate (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Bionic Shielding
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35:

Specializations:
Strength: Swole (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Protector: Unrelenting (1/2)
Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
Protector: Defensive Expertise (3/3)
Protector: Resolute (1/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

^ Its a decent build, though I would swap the ranks in Defiance to something else.

vandenhamster

Yeah, I'd take the advantage points from Defiance and put them in Uppercut instead. The higher ranked Defiance doesn't really bring much to the table.

dpm2012

Thanks for the tips.

I played with that build a bit last night (the sykov one). My toon is only level 31, so I don't have the full build. I didn't dump any points into Defiance, as suggested.

I think I need to spend some more time with it. Not used to uppercut or haymaker yet. I have another build that I have just sort of freeformed my way around without too much research. It is mostly unarmed melee, with invulnerability, form of tempest (I think it's called), bountifil chi, masterful dodge, can't remember it all. It only has the energy build punching attack, thundering kicks and 100 hands for offensive powers. Everything else was spent on active defense, offense and buff. I have to say, the health bar on this build almost never moves really. The might/defiance build suggested in this thread takes way longer to kill things and the health bar actually goes up and down. On my other, " I have no clue what I am doing" build, the health bar only moves a bit if I am fighting oranges and master villains kind of thing.

dpm2012

I should add that the home made build that I mentioned is easy to play, I pretty much just spam thundering kicks until out of energy (only happens on master villains and such), then build energy a bit, return to spamming thundering kicks. If a real nasty opponent I may toggle between a masterful dodge and a bountiful chi.

It's super easy to play and seems to have super survivability. I even soloed the steel thingy story line. The one that starts with the npc citizens on fire, and then you do a CO version of Fantastic Voyage and then you have what IIRC was a 3 man suggested team at the end. I was able to solo that one with relative ease.

I should note that I have no idea if any of that is a good sign. I'm pretty new to CO.

vonqball

Invulnerability gives better protection vs large groups of enemies (and maintains & DoTs). Sounds like you also have some dodge in the build from the Tkicks. Are you running Con PSS? I find it can give a large dodge bonus, and the mini heals on crit can be pretty significant if you are using fast-hitting attacks (like 100 hands & Tkicks) and have lots of con and dex.

Alot of folks prefer defiance to invuln. Mostly for the free energy and the fact you don't need to rank it up. The might builds posted here really come into their own at higher levels. The ones using wardicator and strength mastery will eventually do very high damage while having gobs of HP... once you are fully geared.

dpm2012

I'll have to play around with a couple of different builds while going from 30 - 40. I have a couple of 31's that I've mentioned. That is one thing I really love about Freeform, you basically have unlimited freedom. It gets costly, however. Tweaking powers, talents, advantages and superstats gets expensive as you level up. The most gold I have ever had at one time was 60

dpm2012

Speaking of tweaking and trying different stuff: how exactly do builds work? Can each build have its own set of powers, etc? I don't really know how that works other than I see new little tabs show up for each build. I don't really know how to create separate "builds". I tend to just tear down the one I have, and rebuild it.

dpm2012

Found this, it kind of explains the basics:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/builds/basics

pantagruel01

The big problem with 'flying brick' builds is that melee tends to need to move a lot, and using Flight to move around in combat sucks. For comparison, here are actual combat speeds as far as I can tell (it appears unassisted running is 20):

• Superspeed: R1 40, R2 49, R3 57
  
• Acrobatics: R1 35, R2 42, R3 55. +3 per stack of Versatility.
  
• Flight: R1 20, R2 25, R3 30.
  

jaazaniah1

Judicious use of Mighty Leap (or other movement power) can help close the distance more quickly.

vonqball

If you want to go really "golden age" you can always take superjump instead of flight," leaps tall buildings in a single bound" and all that. SJ works great for melee .. unless there is a low ceiling.. then it pretty much sucks. Combo SJ with SS and you have your bases covered pretty well.