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ultimates

xkagearashixxkagearashix Posts: 397 Arc User
in Power Discussion
so just curious as to what the community feels are ultimates worth getting and those that should be avoided

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    royalflvshroyalflvsh Posts: 165 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    I'm surprised you haven't received knowledgeable responses from this always helpful community yet. They're usually so responsive. There are other forum threads that discuss this very topic at length. Some of them are even recent.

    My own limited experience with ultimates is that Ego Blade Pandemonium is good. I'm still experimenting with the new electricity ultimate. That it's a PBAE is a disappointment. Everyone raves about Showdown for Munitions, but I haven't tried it yet. The Vorpal Blade ultimate for Single Blades is supposed to be really good as well.

    All the newer ultimates seem at least promising, though Fractal Aegis seems unpopular. Most of the original ultimates were not very good, except for Might's Unleashed Rage.
    Post edited by royalflvsh on
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    flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    I already replied to him since he asked this on my wall. Also, yea there's already threads that have discussed the ults.

    But to reiterate here: most ults are powerful or can have a purpose, and usually that's for the frameworks they are found in. Which ones will be 'good' largely depends on ur goals for the build and/or what you want the ult to add (burst dps, cc, group utility, debuffs etc).
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
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    avianosavianos Posts: 6,028 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    I will rate LOCKBOX ONLY ultimates from personal experience
    from non lockbox ones, Fire all weapon, Fury of the Dragon and Unleashed Rage
    everything else is MEH, avoid Energy Storm like the Plague
    1. Force Ultimate: Gravity Driver Excellent range ultimate, really good damage and utility
      Stuns and Knocks down the enemies and give them the Overpowered Debuff which is excellent for Endgame
      Great visuals
      Recommended :+1:
    2. Ice Ultimate: Fractal Aegis
      Unpopular ultimate
      Gives your +10% damage resitance for each character it hits (max 8) and +30% additional resistance for 20 seconds
      This power was created only for tanking utility, it has 0% DPS potential, you can hardly see the visuals because
      Not Recommended :-1: unless you want to build some agro tank but still you are better with any other ultimate because this one got overshadowed
      Poor visuals, poor damage, only gimmick is defense, just not satisfying to use
      Ice doesnt deservet this :|
    3. Electric Ultimate: Storm Strike
      Knocks down, deals additional damage to enemies effected with Negative Ions
      Consumes and appplies Negative Ions
      Good Dps, good visuals, utilities for both damage and tanking
      my only complain, its a melee-range ultimate :|
      Recommended :+1:
    4. Gadgeteer Ultimate: Mechanical Monstrosity
      Summons a huge mechanical spider that attacks the enemies with you
      Deals a lot of AoE attacks,
      Deals heavy Toxic, Electric and Slashing
      Overall its a nice additional DPS ultimate, my complains is that the pet is huge and the default skin colours are ugly, the pet generates its own agro and can die so its not really recommended for cosmics
      Recommended? :/ MEH so and so

    5. Laser Sword Ultimate: Meltdown
      Deals a massive AoE spike of damage around you
      Knocks down the enemies and applies 5 Plasma Burn stacks
      Good visuals, good damage, simply yet effective
      Recommended :+1:
    6. Munition Ultimate: Showdown
      Maintain ultimate, Deals Massive AoE in a huge Cone, roots the enemies
      The damage is amazing
      Some people are turned off by the goofy cowboy animation of the ultimate
      Unfortunately there is still bug going when you get interrupted when you are charging the ultimate ultimate (even if you cancel it yourself via blocking) it gets immediately on Cooldown... even if you dealt no damage
      to be clear, this ultimate has 2 parts, Charging to activate it and then Maintainting it)
      Recommended :+1: You may not like it if you dont use Dual Pistols
    7. Single Blade Ultimate: Vorpal Blade
      Deals a spike of slashing damage, hits 5 times
      applies 5 stacks of Bleed
      The animation is amazing, especially if you are fun of Samurai tropes, my favorite ultimate and really popular I may add

      Unfortenly the ultimate's damage scale only with Focus stacks, so you are limited on only using MA Forms
      Recommended :+1:
    8. Tekekinesis (RANGE) ultimate: Mental Impact
      Like Gravity Drive, a good range ultimate for TK powerframe
      Knocks down enemies, applie Overpowered debuff (once again great debuff for endgame team stuff) applies 5 stacks of ego leech on you

      Some people are turned off my the goofy visuals, since its a giant fist
      Green Lantern theme builds may like it
      Recommended :+1:
    9. Tekekinesis (MELEE) ultimate: Ego Blade Pandemonium
      Toggle Ultimate, summons Spinning Ego blades around you that deal damage per second (scales with rank) while
      your chance to critical hit with this is increased by 5% for each stack of Ego Leech you have

      since its a toggle it consumes a lot of energy, you may have issues keeping it activated while you are attacking if you are NOT using TK reverbation
      Recommended :+1:
    10. Heavy weapons ultimate: Power Chord
      Wait... why is this heavy weapons ultimate again? HW deserve something better than a silly power that it goes out of context
      This ultimate is a space oddity

      Uses your HW skin as a guitar... Deals Sonic damage (based on pulse)
      While maintaining it, you gain the rocking out buff which gives you a +3 all damage streght, stacks 10 times and lasts for 10 seconds

      it also has a group support ADV, which applies the rocking out to allies and not you

      Not really popular ultimate, in fact you will see than most HW characters prefer to stick with Unleashed Rage


      Recommended? :/ Perhaps, if you want to make a Guitarist gimmick builds or a Sonic DPS
      The damage is not that bad
    11. Darkness Ultimate: Endbringer's Grasp
      Summons a Dark hole which deals damage over time for 16 seconds
      Applies Fear
      applies Corruption effect on foes for 7 seconds, after the duration is over the corrupted enemies take % damage based on their rank (works only on Hechmen and Villain ranked enemies)

      This ultimate got nerfed by its own Gimmick
      the Gimmick is worthless for endgame, the trash mobs will die before they get corrupted

      However, the ultimate has still some good damage potential with the right build up (it can also Critical Hit)

      Recommended? :/ MEH it has dps potential and nice visuals but the Corruption Gimmick is really dragging it down
    12. Sorcery Ultimate: Crashing Incantation
      Deals Magic damage,
      Applies Overpower debuff on enemies
      Applies Jinxed Debuff (-10% all damage streght and -15% a;; movement speed for 8 seconds) when Jinxed expires the enemies get knocked down

      AWESOME ultimate, great damage and visuals
      Recommended :+1:
    ​​
    POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
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    flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    A pretty nice review overall. I'd say Fractal Aegis is fine- its just not made for pve dps. Its one of the only real defensive ults, after all.

    Again, most ults are good or can be good (or at least decent). On the low end, Planar Fracture is iffy (really just needs better debuffing power, imo, and I'd still take it for the casting anim alone :x ), and Energy Storm is trash for pve- but that's about it, imo.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
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    kamokamikamokami Posts: 1,633 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    xkagearashix said:

    so just curious as to what the community feels are ultimates worth getting and those that should be avoided

    You'll get more specific answers if your question is more specific. Are you asking for tanks? dps? melee? ranged?

    I'm going to assume by "best" you mean useful in terms of mechanics and ignore aesthetics or other more subjective interpretations. The most useful function of an ultimate is it's ability to help you deal a much bigger burst of damage than your normal power rotation. From that angle....

    Best:
    Pandemonium - being a toggle, is a great Ultimate since you can attack with the rest of your burst rotation while it's running. Easily the best tanking Ultimate.
    Vorpal Blade - massive burst damage with bleeds to follow
    Unleashed Rage - really big single hit damage, let's you get back to attacking quickly

    Great:
    Showdown - awesome mega-wide AoE attack that hits really hard
    Storm Strike - good damage
    Crashing Incantation - decent damage, great debuff
    Gravity Driver - decent damage, great debuff, huge aoe, some added crowd control
    Mental Impact - decent damage, great debuff

    Ok:
    Meltdown - decent damage, useful DoT applied afterwards
    Fury of the Dragon - decent damage, but it's a maintain...so you can't do anything while it's running and you can be interrupted
    Implosion Engine - great damage for a "DoT"....it's technically a destructible pet. Hits for a good amount, has utility, and allows you to get back to your rotation quickly. Love this in PA builds.
    Mechanical Monstrosity - decent damage, a bit dumb but then all pets are.
    Fire All Weapons - damage is good actually, but if your PA is set up to run 3 toggles then you're better off without it. Otherwise, it's good.

    Bad, but possibly useful sometimes:
    Power Chord - nice AoE team buff...use it right before a DPS check not during. This is a good Ultimate for support toons.
    Planar Fracture - decent DoT damage with application of a wide variety of effects with utility. Let's you return to your rotation quickly.

    Dumpster Fire:
    Fractal Aegis - terrible damage. Has a defense buff which is not substantial enough to save your life anywhere. If you're a tank, just take another heal instead.
    Endbringer's Grasp - used to be great. Now it's just a mediocre DoT with a chance to corrupt regular mobs...which would be much easier to just kill instead.
    Mind Link - I really wish this was good. The mechanics at play are really interesting and the power looks awesome. Too bad everything is capped based on your ego stat.
    Energy Storm - this could be a great bridge across powersets due to its mechanics. But it takes way too much set up to compete against most Ultimates.
    Master of the Mind - ugh. It's got some utility but still pretty bad relative to everything above this section.
    Post edited by kamokami on
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    flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    Oh yea I forgot that Mind Link was an ult (can you blame me?). Also, MotM isn't what it used to be. Its more of a combo AD/AO/flight now that doesn't replace ur powers (thankfully). Its not great, imo, but its def better than before.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
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    kamokamikamokami Posts: 1,633 Arc User
    flowcyto said:

    Oh yea I forgot that Mind Link was an ult (can you blame me?). Also, MotM isn't what it used to be. Its more of a combo AD/AO/flight now that doesn't replace ur powers (thankfully). Its not great, imo, but its def better than before.

    Ah good catch
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    xkagearashixxkagearashix Posts: 397 Arc User
    thanks for the responses, yeah I guess I should've mentioned for DPS...lol

    Showdown really intrigues me for my Muni/Arch toon, but I'm just very leery of the goofy cowboy animation
    Storm Strike would be good for my electric if not for the fact that it was a PBAoE

    question about Vorpal Blade, I know its a single blade power, but would it mesh with a dual blade toon?

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    avianosavianos Posts: 6,028 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    xkagearashix wrote: »
    question about Vorpal Blade, I know its a single blade power, but would it mesh with a dual blade toon?
    Absolutely, The power is not limited for Single Blades only (in fact, none of the ultimates are really limited to be used in their one frameworks)
    As long as you use a Focus form ( Form of Tempest/Tiger/Swordman/Master heck even Mental Discipline now) Vorpal Blade will scale perfectly

    I use it on my Dual Blade and Fighting Claws DPS characters as well, since their powerframes dont have themed ultimates yet​​
    POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
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    spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,450 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    gradii said:

    Why are you better off without FAW if you run 3 PA toggles? are 6-7k ticks of damage in wide aoe really inferior to your 3 toggles for the same amount of time?​​

    It's only useful for clearing out large mobs which generally means stuff that wouldn't have been hard to take out anyway. When it comes to single target dps, those 3 toggles are just as good as FAW in terms of raw numbers. Once you factor in that one of those three maintains is keeping up your damage debuff, then FAW isn't really impressive at all in single target damage situations. It's great for making Grab alerts or clearing TA trash faster tho - and of course nuking a QWZ group.
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    flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    Its also worth noting that not all PA builds will be able to run 3 toggles all the time, but yea FAW is more of a trash-clearing move than anything else. With three toggles giving you high dps constantly, its arguable w/ that sort of dps if you really need a sep attack for 'burst dps' anyways; in that case I'd prob just take an(other) AO (unless you want to take one of the ults w/ a debuff that helps w/ team dmg).
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
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    roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User
    Note: Crashing Incantation is a nice AoE attack, too. I don't remember how the debuffs are applied (main target vs. secondaries).
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    flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    roughbearmattach said:

    Note: Crashing Incantation is a nice AoE attack, too. I don't remember how the debuffs are applied (main target vs. secondaries).

    Overpower applies to all targets hit by the AoE, just fyi.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
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    pwestolemynamepwestolemyname Posts: 978 Arc User
    kamokami said:


    Mind Link - I really wish this was good. The mechanics at play are really interesting and the power looks awesome. Too bad everything is capped based on your ego stat.

    Of course, one of the main issues is that most Telepathy builds stack PRE instead of EGO. Pretty sure my Fire Tank has more Ego than my Telepath (not including AoPM bonus).

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    avianosavianos Posts: 6,028 Arc User
    Ehehehe, Mind Link is the only Ultimate I didn't even attempted to use in a character
    POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
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    pwestolemynamepwestolemyname Posts: 978 Arc User
    Also, it very much depends on what you are looking to do with your character. For Cosmic hunting, I highly recommend the debuff Ultimates. Yes, it won't really raise your standing, but it will help speed the execution of the mission, allowing to get on to other things. Whereas, for soloing, they are not nearly as useful. So, the one you pick should be greatly influenced by your goal for the character.
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