earth and wind build?

bigfoot765

Been trying to sort out my desert themed character sandstorm im normally ok with making builds but i cant seem to make a good one for this character i would appreciate some help.

His powers are mainly earth and wind (i make the wind orange to make it look similar to sand) but i dont mind a few powers from other sets.

thejellomold

This is what I'm currently leveling with for my sand slinging character. He's at 24 right now, so I can't speak with more than theories about the later powers (eg, I'm operating on hope that the advantages in Gust and Landslide will make a fun means of getting into the thick of things for Quicksand/Hurricane action). This is also my first attempt at actually making a freeform, so any tweaks you see are definitely welcome.

Changes I'm thinking about so far:

• *Hurricane and Quicksand are very similar (with Repulsing Waves adv), but at the same time both really fun. Quick seems to hurt things more each tick, but Hurricane seems to have more ticks. Not sure what I'd switch out and for what.
• *Kinda wanna try Rec instead of End as a SSS. Even with Rec in the talents, the base energy doesn't give a lot with which to start the fight.
• *I'm not in love with Conviction as a heal. One of the (few) things I enjoy on my Mind is Empathic Healing. May switch to that.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Dust Rabbit

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Squall
Level 6: Daredevil
Level 9: Shooter
Level 12: Accurate
Level 15: Wordly
Level 18: Impresario
Level 21: Amazing Stamina

Powers:
Level 1: Wind Lash (Stiff Breeze)
Level 1: Gust (Rank 2, Toppling Winds)
Level 6: Hurricane (Rank 2)
Level 8: Wind Reverberation
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Stormbringer
Level 17: Updraft (Rank 2, Dispersal)
Level 20: Concentration
Level 23: Quicksand (Rank 2, Repulsing Waves)
Level 26: Typhoon (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Wind Barrier
Level 32: Unbreakable
Level 35: Lock N Load (Rank 2)
Level 38: Land Slide (Rank 2, Rock Solid)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Tunneling (Rank 2, Earthen Embrace)

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Exploit Opening (1/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (1/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (1/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (1/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (2/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Avenger: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

jaysank

Nice idea, combining the stagger and Crushing damage from Earth and Wind.

For your first problem, I'll be honest; you should probably chose either Hurricane or Quicksand. They both achieve the same thing, so it is entirely your decision.
In terms of differences, you are correct in saying that Hurricane deals more damage, as each tick deals two hits of Cold and Crushing, while Quicksand only deals one tick of Crushing. This doesn't mean that Hurricane deals twice as much damage Quicksand, but Hurricane does deal more damage than Quicksand. Additionally, Hurricane has a knock at the end of a full maintain; whether this deters you or not depends, but flinging people and applying knock resistance might not be what you want. Advantages wise, Quicksand's Repulsing Waves is useful with its stagger component, where as the Perfect Storm Advantage on Hurricane is basically useless for you, as the extra tick of Electrical damage is low and you can't really take advantage of Negative ions or Chill.

*EDIT*If you do replace one, you could replace it with some survival mechanism, like another Active Defense, Evasive Maneuvers, or Smoke Bomb.*/EDIT*

It's tempting, but swapping End for Rec is probably a bad idea. Your energy will be higher at the start, but you will resort to your energy builder more often as you no longer have Secondary End to fuel Wind Reverberation. Using your energy builder is essentially not attacking, so End is probably a better choice. On that note, I suggest taking off the Stiff Breeze Advantage on your energy builder, as you shouldn't have to rely on your energy builder long enough for you to benefit from it.

The reason that Conviction is popular is because you can click it once and have its full benefits immediately, while Empathic Healing requires some time to be maintained. Additionally, Conviction works well with super Int and Molecular Self-Assembly. Since you have neither, Empathic Healing might heal more, as the cool-down on Conviction will prevent you from spamming it. Honestly, either heal works, so long as you actually have a heal.

I know that you have Primary Ego to repel and knock people, which is fine, but you might benefit more from Primary END, Secondary Ego, and Secondary Rec or Dex. If you want to throw around Typhoons, this will make it easier, at the cost of damage.

Your specializations are fine. If you find your build is squishy, try swapping out one of the trees for Guardian or other, more defensive trees, as your only forms of mitigation are your repels and Unbreakable.

I hope this helps.

bigfoot765

thanks for the help

beldin

jaysank wrote: »

Nice idea, combining the stagger and Crushing damage from Earth and Wind.

For your first problem, I'll be honest; you should probably chose either Hurricane or Quicksand. They both achieve the same thing, so it is entirely your decision.

It's tempting, but swapping End for Rec is probably a bad idea. Your energy will be higher at the start, but you will resort to your energy builder more often as you no longer have Secondary End to fuel Wind Reverberation.

Yeah .. i also think you only need one of them, both are simply large PBAoE, however Hurricane
has the advantage that you can move while using it.

REC may be a better choice if you use overdrive as energy unlock, since i personally always
had the feeling that wind reverb was really bad.

thejellomold

To echo bigfoot, very much thanks for the tips!

thejellomold

I started playing around in the powerhouse, cutting out duplicate powers (2 blasts, 2 pbaoes), and came out with something I like even more than before. All the stats, talents, and specs are the same (thus far). Now I open with Whirlwind (+Vortex adv to gather them up), toss a charged Stone Shot (+Shard Burst adv for more delicious aoe) while the whirlwind is tapering off, follow that with a quick Landslide (+Rock Solid adv to knock everyone down), and then Hurricane anything that is miraculously still standing. Everything short of Superheroes is flattened long before I'm done.

I played a little with Typhoon, but the only time I'd be able to fire a full one is mid fight. Dust Devil is in there mostly as an experiment. If it can be the situational fire-and-forget power I'd like it to be, then I'll be happy. Maybe good for an extra little bit of pain on tough mobs while I'm doing my thing.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Dust Rabbit

Archetype: Freeform

Powers:
Level 1: Wind Lash
Level 1: Stone Shot (Rank 2, Shard Burst)
Level 6: Hurricane (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Wind Reverberation
Level 11: Empathic Healing (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Stormbringer (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Land Slide (Rank 2, Rock Solid)
Level 20: Concentration
Level 23: Whirlwind (Rank 2, Vortex)
Level 26: Dust Devil (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Wind Barrier
Level 32: Lock N Load (Rank 2)
Level 35: Unbreakable (Rank 2)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Tunneling (Earthen Embrace)