Melissa Armstrong - Steampunk Machinist

avianos

Melissa is one of my First OCs, who FINALLY got to be made in CO (after a frustating battle with the Female Tailor)
Part of my original Squad
A 18 years old Tomboy, Plucky Dwarf girl who Trolls her own Teammates, one of the few Female casts of mine (from 55 characters, only 8 are females) Pretty much the reason I wanted the PRANKSTER Perk as a Title was because of HER

Not pictured, the Heavy Weapon Wrench, i forgot to take screenshot of it before the server went down
Sorry its Melissa, I cannot just describe her, you need to see her as well! I used the HECK out of Armor Superconductor once it finally became available for Females! Fits the Steampunk theme!
Toxic Steel fit the Combat armour
Im really satisfied how her CO appearence turned out, not many of my characters translate very well in CO
Colour pattern ingame is totally not inspired by Samus Aran, her theme colour is green actually, but i found out shades of Orange and yellow synergize very well

Warning* Powehouse Planner hasn't been updated yet, so Cleave (Rampant ADV) Absorb Heat are not here, I repost the build once powerhouse gets updated
Something to match her Impulse fighting style

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Melissa Armstrong

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Chiller
Level 6: Boundless Reserves
Level 9: Acrobat
Level 12: Accurate
Level 15: Quick Recovery
Level 18: Amazing Stamina
Level 21: Impresario

Powers:
Level 1: Sonic Blaster
Level 1: Gauntlet Chainsaw (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Bionic Shielding (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Cleave (Defensive Stance)
Level 11: Eruption (Magma Burst)
Level 14: Thermal Reverberation
Level 17: Defiance
Level 20: Land Slide (Rock Solid)
Level 23: Form of the Tempest
Level 26: Frag Grenade (Incendiary Grenade)
Level 29: Support Drones (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Guard
Level 35: Gatling Gun (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Implosion Engine (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: R.A.D. Sphere (Rank 2)
Level 35: Rocket Jump

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (2/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)


I DO NOT WANT a boring Build for her, I want as many attacks as possible to fit her theme,
Originally I was going to stick with Heavy Weapons which is her original concept, then I thought I could focus on Gauntlet Chainsaw, then things got even complicated when i saw Gatling Gun fitting her and THEN the Heavy Weapon revamp happened!

Now allow me to Baboozle you with my Build-Character overanalyze

1. Why such Compicated Build? Because Melissa
2. Defiance for the points flexibility
3. 100% PvE
4. Melissa is Well-rounded, neither a Tank nor a DPS (see Mighty Glacier or in this case Glacier Waif
5. DEXTERITY primary since I use both Melee and Range attacks, the DEX Bonus are neat here
6. END can be Swapped with REC, but thanks to Defiance she is pretty much a Battery which is storing energy
7. Form of the Tempest since its the only thing to make Melee Range Hybrid build
8. I COULD use Aspect of the Murdering Hobo Machine with STR primary
9. I COULD use Overdrive over Thermal Reverberation, but currently Thermal is pretty darn good for leveling
10. Gauntlet Chainsaw is actually the focus
11. Cleave and Eruption are here for the Wrench skin
12. No need for Active Defense and Offense
13. The recent synergy of Heavy Weapons with Fire made some interesting combos
14. Frag Grenade with the Clinging Flames ADV fit perfectly
15. The build has Knocks from Eruption and Land Slide (Rock Solid) to troll the enemies
16. I found Thermal Reverberation is BETTER for leveling Gauntlet Chainsaw
17. Implosion Engine can be added since I adore this ultimate
18. Plenty AoEs
19. following my Build rules, always 2 Self Heals

Overdrive or Thermal Reverberation, here is the question
Currently Leveling with Nemesis Heirloom gear, I have zero cost Discount and Gauntlet Chainsaw is incredible energy hungry
Concerns

1. Sonic Blaster animation interupts my attacks when i forget it on always Toggle, and its kinda annoying
2. Since i won't rank Defiance, she will start always with 1 stack (which its ok)
3. STR/CON/INT can ALSO work judging from some tests on characters I tested Gauntlet Chainsaw with
4. I was trying to even make the Spec Choice complicated! I found out that Avenger Specs work perfectly with Melee attacks
5. I hate Aspect of the Machine, i unlocked it but non of my character got used of it! if i swap FotT with it, i will be forced to rank it to 3 and say bye bye to the extra energy

and Yes, I don't only play with Anthro characters! in fact I have plenty humanoids I have over 100+ characters for pete's sake

FUNFACT: Melissa is suppoced to fight on a steampunk robot, just like Tron Bonne from Megaman Legends fights with her robot, Gustaff
or
like Anise Tatlin from Tales of the Abyss fight with her Tokunaga
This build was made for her Robot, I really don't want to design it as an Individual character

Female tailor SUCKS, i cannot make a bulky robot like I can do with the Male one... this is why I prefer playing as my male characters
I can only hope in the future the female tailor gets updated... or we get Vehicles shaped like that robot​​

flowcyto

Well, for such a non-tank build I'd prob use AoPM as the passive instead, just cause you can't guarantee to always be hit in groups, and it offers more dps boosts. Thermal Reverb prob will give you more energy here than OD w/ upto only one maintain running at any time- provided ya keep CF up. And yeah, I'd prob keep FotT here- its just the best fit for the build atm.

I'd also take Expose Weakness over Evasion in Dex PSS. Avenger + Vind could work for the build too, but I'd prob keep Guardicator since it'll tie you less into having to constantly maintain something (for RA).

The build is a bit all over the place w/ the attacks, but looks fine & fun overall.

avianos

flowcyto wrote: »

I'd also take Expose Weakness over Evasion in Dex PSS.

OOPS! That was a Misclick! I always pick Expose Weakness and Deadly Aim with DEX primary

flowcyto wrote: »

Well, for such a non-tank build I'd prob use AoPM as the passive instead, just cause you can't guarantee to always be hit in groups, and it offers more dps bo

I can see it working, AoPM always works for well rounded, and right now it seems I have more Free ADV points that I need

flowcyto wrote: »

Avenger + Vind could work for the build too, but I'd prob keep Guardicator since it'll tie you less into having to constantly maintain something (for RA).

Avenger would make an oddball!
To be honest I was trying to use your Melee-Blaster setup, but doesn't fit very well

flowcyto wrote: »

The build is a bit all over the place w/ the attacks, but looks fine & fun overall

It's really fun to play

Also I would like to add that this build is also great for team support, especially if I go with AoPM
I will have Bionic Shielding, Support Drones and Absorb Heat's AoE Factions​​