Looking for Unarmed Melee Build Advice

valoreah

Hello,

I'm fairly new to CO and looking for some help/advice for building an unarmed melee character. I'm a CoX veteran refugee and I'm trying to build something as close to my Martial Arts/Super Reflexes character from City of Heroes. I'm sure there are those out there familiar with those sets from CoX.

The concept is to get as much dodge/avoidance as possible while maintaining decent DPS. Here is what I have come up with so far. Any advice is appreciated.

Details:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Martial Focus
Level 9: Amazing Stamina
Level 12: Martial Training
Level 15: Survival Training
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Agile

Powers:
Level 1: Vicious Strikes (Drunken Master, Accelerated Metabolism)
Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Floating Lotus Blossom)
Level 6: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Backhand Chop (Stinging Bee)
Level 14: One Hundred Hands (Ghostly Strikes, Accelerated Metabolism)
Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 20: Form of the Master (Storm's Eye Prana)
Level 23: Masterful Dodge (Unfettered Strikes)
Level 26: Intensity (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Rising Knee (Flowing Strikes)
Level 32: Elbow Slam (Falling Hammer, Accelerated Metabolism)
Level 35: Shuriken Throw (Chained Kunai)
Level 38: Dragon Kick (Lashing Dragon Tail, Accelerated Metabolism)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Acrobatics

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Brawler: No Escape (3/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Flanking (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (1/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

I don't fully understand the advantages, so are these good choices?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

swedsandbro

First of all, you gotta rank up your attacks if you want decent DPS, not gonna work to leave them as is. Second, you don't need Lightning reflexes to keep a good dodge up, quarry from archery works just as well and even buffs your damage. Third, you need an energy unlock: Molecular self assembly from gadgeteering. Procs of cooldowns and scales of int, so perfect for you. Fourth, you need another heal besides Bountiful chi resurgance nowadays, since it can only tick once every .5 seconds now. Here's a build to try out:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Martial Focus
Level 9: Body and Mind
Level 12: Coordinated
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Acrobat
Level 21: Healthy Mind

Powers:
Level 1: Vicious Strikes
Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Form of the Tempest
Level 14: One Hundred Hands (Rank 2, Rank 3, Ghostly Strikes)
Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 20: Dragon Kick (Rank 2, Lashing Dragon Tail)
Level 23: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 26: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Dragon Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Conviction (Rank 2)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge
Level 38: Intensity (Rank 2)

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

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (2/3)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Brawler: No Escape (3/3)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Setup (2/2)
Brawler: Flanking (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)


Above, thundering kicks r3 combined with Evasive maneuvers r3 will net you a total of 42% flat dodge chance. That means that you only need a passive 58% Dodge chance to reach 100% dodge chance in combat. It's easy to reach that much with Quarry and dodge gear (A lvl 40 primary with a Tier 5 Gambler's lucky gem plus quarry r3 gives you 57.2% base dodge chance).

Added conviction for self-healing. Tap, short cooldown that procs MSA, used and trusted as well. Also changed around with talents to give you some extra Con.

Changed from Form of the Master to Form of the tempest. It's just better to gain focus while critting then dodging, especially with One hundred hands.

Also added Dragon Uppercut as a single target spike, but you can change it out if you find it goofy-looking like I do.

keikomyst

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Leo Marks

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Fist
Level 6: Coordinated
Level 9: Martial Focus
Level 12: Body and Mind
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Acrobat
Level 21: Healthy Mind

Powers:
Level 1: Vicious Strikes
Level 1: One Hundred Hands (Rank 2, Rank 3, Ghostly Strikes)
Level 6: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 11: Form of the Tempest
Level 14: Crashing Wave Kick (Subtlety of the Tides, Crippling Challenge)
Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 20: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 23: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
Level 26: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Sleight of Mind)
Level 29: Dragon Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Intensity
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

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

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Brawler: The Glory of Battle (3/3)
Brawler: No Escape (1/3)
Brawler: Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
Brawler: Ruthless (2/2)
Brawler: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Here's mine! You can swap out Parry for something else though since block replacers are kinda... meh nowadays. Work Thundering Kicks in and replace WotW with Quarry if you want maximum dodge chance.

valoreah

Thank you for the advice and for sharing your builds. I appreciate the help. :biggrin: Are there any "must have" advantages for unarmed builds? Also, where can one find information on stat caps for CO?

CoX had a great tool (Mids Hero Designer) that helped with builds and gave all the stats. Is there something similar for CO?

Thanks again.

sagewithbubbles

valoreah wrote: »

Thank you for the advice and for sharing your builds. I appreciate the help. :biggrin: Are there any "must have" advantages for unarmed builds? Also, where can one find information on stat caps for CO?

CoX had a great tool (Mids Hero Designer) that helped with builds and gave all the stats. Is there something similar for CO?

Thanks again.

There aren't really stat caps in CO. There's just heavy diminishing returns on things after a point.

For setting up builds, take a look at powerhouse.nullware.com . It lets you pick powers, advantages and specializations. At the moment, there's no tool available that does the advanced stat calculations that Mids would do, though.

Mainly because all stat information has to be collected by players, and given that we've had two major changes in the way stats/gearing work since the game went Live, no one's bothered (as by the time they got it finished, it'd likely be changed again).

The wiki has quite a bit of power information on power's base stats, though.

agentnx5

An alternative to consider:

http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=195361

It works very well for the friend I designed it, and hilariously in-theme too!