First FF attempt - unarmed. Advice needed.

hebdomas

After reading some threads on the forums, I decided to try and put together my first freeform build.


PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Unleashed
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Covert Ops Training
Level 12: Physical Conditioning
Level 15: Martial Focus
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Enduring

Powers:
Level 1: Vicious Strikes
Level 1: Crashing Wave Kick (Rank 2, Subtlety of the Tides)
Level 6: Inexorable Tides (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
Level 11: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
Level 14: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2)
Level 17: Form of the Master (Rank 2, Storm's Eye Prana)
Level 20: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 23: Thunderbolt Lunge
Level 26: Burning Chi Fist (Rank 2, Fists of Righteous Flame)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge
Level 32: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind)
Level 38: Night Warrior
Should actually be sneak.
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight
Level 35: Acrobatics

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Finishing Blow (3/3)
Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

I want something that has high survivability when soloing, but is still useful on a team.

Super stats: I'm not sure about strength, I keep hearing you only need 70. What stat would be more useful?

Powers: I think I chose the right powers, but I'm unsure at which level I should take them. Sneak was chosen mainly for conceptual reasons.

Specialization trees: I just picked what seemed useful. I'm not 100% on brawler, but there didn't seem to be anything better.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

kharma23

You mght want to consider strength as your primary SS. Some of the uber builders will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's around 200 where you start to meet dimishing returns there.

Also, STR has a nifty little specialization called Swole that gives you a nice little bump to your HP as you level. If you take that you could take something else instead of CON as your 3rd SS, like INT to help with cool downs and energy manangement.

I'm no build guru, but I hope that helps a bit.

reddestshirt

Primary strength has a bunch of nice specialization options, but diminishing returns on damage is at 70 already. You should only push past that if you really want knockback resistance or are using one of the rage forms. You should probably avoid it since you are using a martial arts form.

To clarify: I am not arguing against primary strength, only against getting strength gear as a martial artist. It will not help your damage noticably.
I would personally suggest taking Intelligence instead though.


Other notes:

Rank 3 Lightning reflexes is a nice boost, take the points from Form of the Master. Forms don't really need to be ranked up.

Form of the Master is for tanking and soloing. Pick another form if you plan to act as a damage dealer in groups.
If you do intend to tank, you need crippling challenge at the very least and you should probably get challenging strikes too.

You do not have an energy unlock. Your chosen skills are not really suited for any particular energy unlock, but Thunderbolt Lunge and Bountiful Chi Resurgence would trigger Molecular Self-Assembly enough to be worth it.

mijjestic

Weeeeelll...with Burning Chi Fist doing dimensional damage and CON as a stat, Spirit Reverberation would be good as an energy unlock IF the build had a way of applying fear. But not sure there's anything in-theme there

Note that in teams with a tank or in general in teams where someone else is sucking the aggro, Form of The Master won't necessarily be proccing. Solo, obviously this isn't a big deal, but in situations without this proccing, it won't be building stacks which means no energy from it, if the stacks drop no damage boost, and if the stacks are low not as much return off of Dragon Kick's Rush effect.

DPS that can crit reliably typically might instead go with Form of The Unleashed Tempest which procs on crits but of course doesn't have Storms Eye Prauna.

For something that can be taken out Inexorable Tides and Dragon Kick are kind of competing. AoE cone, mitigating effect (knock up vs. stun). And Dragon Kick overall seems better for the total utility it provides here. But IT is cheaper in terms of spamming.

Personally I'd try and avoid Parry and it's damage penalty for the marginal boost it'll end up providing with Lightning Reflexes and the other boosts already present here. Unless you're really trying to squeeze every possible dodge and avoidance point possible to tank. But it's something everyone has to test I guess.

hebdomas

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Fist
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Coordinated
Level 12: Healthy Mind
Level 15: Covert Ops Training
Level 18: Brilliant
Level 21: Enduring

Powers:
Level 1: Vicious Strikes
Level 1: Crashing Wave Kick (Rank 2, Subtlety of the Tides)
Level 6: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
Level 11: Form of the Tempest (Rank 2)
Level 14: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 17: Void Shift (Emerging Nightmares)
Level 20: Burning Chi Fist (Rank 2, Fists of Righteous Flame)
Level 23: Spirit Reverberation
Level 26: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind)
Level 29: Form of the Master (Storm's Eye Prana)
Level 32: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2)
Level 38: Night Warrior (Silent Running)
Should be Sneak.

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Flight
Level 35: Acrobatics

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Finishing Blow (3/3)
Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Changes:
-Switched super stats and talents to dex, int, and con.

-Dropped Parry and Inexorable Tides.

-Thunderbolt lunge was swapped for Void Shift (with Emerging Nightmares advantage - applies fear).

-Added an Energy Unlock in Spirit Reverberation. (Void Shift applies fear, Burning Chi Fist with Fists of Righteous Flames applies dimension damage.)

-Added Form of the Tempest for use in groups.

-Changed some advantages and the level at which some powers were taken.

Any other thoughts? Thanks for all the help so far!

reddestshirt

Having both Master and Tempest is kind of pointless. You'll do just fine solo with Tempest anyway, probably better than Master.


Storm's Eye Prana is a very small advantage that will likely not be of any use at all unless you are tanking really tough enemies. You already have plenty of defenses in the form of Lightning Reflexes, Dragon Kick, Masterful Dodge and Bountiful Chi Resurgence. You really don't need to stack more things on at that point.

You might want to get a block power in place of Form of the Master for those rare times you really want to protect yourself, perhaps Force Shield or Telekinetic Shield with advantage? (Force shield if you want more energy, Telekinetic for more protection).

hebdomas

Switched Parry for Force Shield with force sheathe.

Thanks for all the help!