The Universal Kid - multi-build concept toon

mysticfortune

Yet another CoH refugee trying to find his place in Champions. I've found that one of my favorite alts from CoH translates really well here, the toon in question is named Universal Kid. The concept behind Universal Kid is that Danny Doogle (the kid), is a boy genius who through mastery over super science created serums which allowed him to take on the forms of his favorite Universal Monsters.

With the structural limitations of Archetypes in CoH, I ended up making him a Willpower/Dark Melee Tanker, who made use of all 10 costume slots and clever use of costume change emotes. (I made a video demonstrating his form changes, which you can find here --> The Universal Kid). However, his concept always called for a greater range of freedom to pick powers specific to each 'form'. Here in Champions I have found that option through the use of on the fly build swapping (awesome feature!).

As this is a concept character I am looking mostly at 'style', but I would also like to have a half decent build. Going over different builds I have found 'here and there' and through personal testing I have created a Freeform build that utilizes a mix of powers that I like, and feel 'fit' well for the concept.

The Build

Name: Universal Kid

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Unleashed
Level 6: Enduring
Level 9: Brilliant
Level 12: Body and Mind
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Healthy Mind
Level 21: Covert Ops Training

Powers:
Level 1: Sonic Blaster (Refraction of Sound)
Level 1: Shred (Rank 2, Penetrating Strikes)
Level 6: Regeneration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Night Warrior
Level 11: Bite (Rank 2)
Level 14: Aspect of the Bestial
Level 17: Devour Essence (Rank 2, Phlebotomist, Accelerated Metabolism)
Level 20: Massacre (Rank 2, Blood Mess)
Level 23: Shockwave (Rank 2, Leg Rumbler, Challenging Strikes)
Level 26: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 29: Resurgence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Venomous Breath (Rank 2)
Level 35: Sparkstorm (Electric Personality, Challenging Strikes)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics
Level 35: Bat Flight

Specializations:
Strength: Physical Peak (2/3)
Strength: Quick Recovery (1/2)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (1/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Strength: Overpower (1/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (2/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (1/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

The Forms

Danny Doogle

Role: Unspecified
Unique Power: Sonic Blaster

Boy Genius


Wolfman

Role: Melee
Unique Powers: Night Warrior, Sneak, Shadow Strike




Count Dracula

Role: Hybrid
Unique Powers: Bite, Devour Essence, Bat Flight




Frankenstein's Monster

Role: Tank
Unique Powers: Shockwave, Sparkstorm




Gill-Man

Role: Hybrid
Unique Powers: Venomous Breath



Comments, Suggestions, Criticism welcome.

braxzana

Sounds like a neat idea. There are SOME powers that are so good you really only ever need to use that ONE power, and a slotted passive and an energy unlock or form, etc... which means it certainly COULD be feasible to have multiple builds where one "version" of the character ONLY uses certain of the powers.

And with the ability to have different builds that have different powers and --- perhaps as importantly --- have powers in the hotkey bar or NOT depending on whether that version can access them, you could make truly separate character versions.

Like, if you wanted to, you could remove Shred from the hotkey bar entirely and THIS character just never uses it because there is another power that they use instead, and when in that form, that power is in the same key slot as Shred ~used~ to be... so if you're like me and you get used to hitting a given key for a given TYPE of attack (AoEs, single target, etc) then you could easily swap between characters without having to re-learn which keys to press.

While not as ambitious as your concept, I've been meaning to make Gestalt ---- a character who is actually two different characters (ala Firestorm from DC) who can merge into a third, more powerful gestalt form. I hadn't really progressed the idea beyond that general stage, but e.g. I could have one character with fire powers and another with ice powers and when merged I could use ALL those powers but when in one of the "sub" forms, I could make the hotkey bar ONLY display the powers for THAT version.

Like, in fire-guy form, my passive might be Fiery Form and only fire powers would be on the bar.... but in ice-guy form, I would have Ice Form and only ice powers would be on the hotkey bar... then in Gestalt form, maybe I'd use Invulnerability (so as to not favor Ice or Fire forms) and I would be able to use any ice OR fire power.

kallethen

I remember pre-On Alert, there was somebody who had shapeshifter build using a similar concept. Different powers for different forms all in the Build slots. He also used Become devices for additional shapeshifting forms. In your case, I imagine the Halloween devices would be very in concept (Frank and Mummy especially).

reddestshirt

You could also look into advanced key binds to make you change costume automatically when you use certain powers. Problem is of course that there is a cool-down to changing costume.

lokikin

I must say, well done sir!

You've done an excellent job of capturing the original Universal looks with what's available in game.

I have a similarly themed character named Creature Feature, but I took the easy way out. The main character is Jekyll/Hyde and he packs the Become Frank, Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, and Ghost devices...

I tried the Gill Man, but gave up. Now I might steal yours... :biggrin:

mysticfortune

Thanks for the comments folks. Universal Kid has quickly become my favorite character, rising faster to 40 than my namesake did. I think this is due to the fact that the versatility in the build allows me to switch up tactics depending on the situation. Although it could also have something to do with the fact that my namesake remains an Archetype build..

I'm having a lot of fun with this build. I picked up Sparkstorm at 35 and I must say, I really love the visual combination of Shockwave+Sparkstorm... however, it murders my energy bar. I may have to look into a secondary energy unlock, which means I will have to drop -something-, and that's going to be tough because as it stands, I am still using Frenzy even though the build I posted doesn't have it.

If only one could give up the secondary travel power slot for another power... Who the heck needs two travel powers anyways?

With regards to setting up the action bars individual to each build, I suppose I should have mentioned that I had already figured that out. Still, thanks for the tip.

Also, thanks for the praise on the costumes, I am very proud with how they all came out. I actually think they look more accurate than their CoH counterparts. My favorite is Gill-Man, which is fairly basic but the combination of the toad face and Roin'esh neck piece really sell the look of the Gill-Man. Of course when it comes straight down to cool factor, Dracula wins by a mile with the ability to turn into bats.

All-in-all, I am loving this character. Any thoughts on the power choices, or Talents/Specialization tree?

braxzana

Well, Venomous Breath is a really excellent power and it pains me to see it not maxed out with advantages. There is even a 1 pt advantage that is awesome (forget the name of it, but it makes foes puke, I think, which acts like a sort of stun when it does go off). And as I recall it's not too energy intensive.

Night Warrior might be a problem since it's really only worthwhile if you use those powers that benefit from it (the built-in single target assassin strike, for example). Once you're out of stealth, it is quite sub-par (but you could swap shapes then, I suppose).

I'm also not fond of Accelerated Metabolism - just doesn't seem worth the cost for the benefit it is supposed to provide. Still, with one advantage point left over, that's SOMEPLACE to put it.

I don't know the specializations by name, so I cannot comment on those. Most of them seem geared toward very specific uses, like criticals or AoEs or single target or Blasts or Heals or Shields. A lot of powers (if you are not a critical-using build) simply don't benefit much from many of those specializations.

carrionbaggage

This character puts a smile on my face every time I see him in-game. Here's a variation of your build, trying to iron out power synergies and solve your current energy issues:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Universal Kid

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Unleashed
Level 6: Relentless
Level 9: Quick Recovery
Level 12: Negotiator
Level 15: Physical Conditioning
Level 18: Healthy Mind
Level 21: Body and Mind

Powers:
Level 1: Sonic Blaster
Level 1: Shred (Rank 2, Penetrating Strikes)
Level 6: Frenzy (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Defiance
Level 11: Pounce (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 14: Aspect of the Bestial
Level 17: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 20: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Bite (Rank 2, Furor Venenum)
Level 26: Devour Essence (Rank 2, Phlebotomist)
Level 29: Venomous Breath (Rank 2, Paralytic Bile, Infectious Bile)
Level 32: Thunderclap (Collateral Damage)
Level 35: Sparkstorm (Electric Personality, Challenging Strikes)
Level 38: Shockwave (Leg Rumbler, Challenging Strikes)

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

Specializations:
Strength: Swole (2/3)
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (2/3)
Warden: Slaughter (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Sentinel: Torment (2/2)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Wither (2/2)
Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)


Slightly Altered Monster Rundown

Wolfman (damage)
Role: Melee
Passive: Night Warrior (could swap for Way of the Warrior, if you prefer)
Powers: Acrobatics, Shred, Frenzy, Pounce, Bite, Sneak, Shadow Strike

Count Dracula (one-on-one survivability)
Role: Hybrid
Passive: Defiance
Powers: Acrobatics, Bat Flight, Shred, Frenzy, Pounce, Bite, Devour Essence

Frankenstein's Monster (tanking)
Role: Tank
Passive: Defiance
Powers: Acrobatics, Shred, Frenzy, Shockwave, Sparkstorm, Thunderclap

Gill-Man (ranged utility)
Role: Hybrid
Passive: Defiance
Powers: Acrobatics, Shred, Frenzy, Pounce, (maybe Bite, if you're feeling like a piranha), Venomous Breath


Notes

To fulfill the power requirements of each monster, I dropped all of your Active Defenses/Offense. Players typically use the Active boosts to respond to different situations; in your case, you'll adapt by switching monster forms. Losing a hold breaker will feel a bit frustrating, but not game-breaking.

I dropped Regeneration for Defiance (for its substantial energy proc and to free up advantage points), and swapped Vindicator for Sentinel. This is definitely a retcon build, as it depends heavily on Sentinel Mastery. Each monster form now has a way to cause Stun (Bite/Thunderclap/Venomous Breath), and with a respectable CON stat Sentinel Mastery should give you around 400 hp per second per target. This also gives the fragile Wolfman reliable health regeneration, where before he only had Resurgence and the dubious Rush of Battle. You'll have to rebuild your stack of Defiant! whenever you morph out of Wolfman form, but that's not a big deal.

I left out three spec points in the Sentinel tree because, as far as I can tell, nothing else in that tree does anything for this build.

With Int superstatted, I added MSA as your energy unlock. Wolfman, Dracula, and Gill-Man can reliably proc it with Pounce; Franky with Thunderclap (I figured a pouncing Frankenstein's monster would look a little out-of-character).

Each monster form can now remove travel powers from pesky flying enemies, via Pounce or Shockwave.

Shred and Frenzy provide common single-target/AoE spam attacks to each monster form. Dropping Massacre lowers your burst damage, but Shred does just fine as a staple single-target attack (with its crit rate boosted by Slaughter).

Acrobatics is now Rank 3. Nobody wants to be their team's caboose.

Overall, this version offers much better energy management and more Resistance without sacrificing any of your thematic powers. And with Frank and Gill's AoE stuns, you can potentially regenerate health faster than Regeneration. Losing the Active powers does make me a little uncomfortable, but I think the tradeoffs are worth it for a PvE build.

I hope that wall of text was helpful!

panthershade

Champions Online also has character changing items that you can buy for Zen or Questionite. You can get most of those monsters (Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, & F. Monster) as items, and each one will change your character, including the powers. You could then focus your build on the ones without items.

I've been working on a similar idea, "Master Morph", but I just wanted a shape-changing character. I had considered making the base character a pet master, but I'm not sure if that will work.

Good luck on your build.

riverocean

Man I'm totally necroing this post.. but I remember Universal Kid and Mystic Fortune from COH. This concept and build is jut amazing. Very well done.