Con and Rec

bluecenturion

So... I tried figuring how to build for power on Champions, but it is a very complex system, and the Devs seem to be fond of nested formulas that they do not want to show everyone. Squeezing every ounce of sweetness out of a build really becomes a guessing game. At least that is what it looks like to my newb eyes.

Then I just took a concept build I liked (power Armor) and made Constitution the Primary and Recovery the Secondary. *blinks What happened? Endless green bar, endless blue bar. at 27th level my blue bar sits at 145/145 allatime. The build is hybrid, but plays like a tank. Did I miss a memo on these boards about how to build the tank blaster? I sit with a chain gun and melt EVERYTHING.

I can assume a few things 1) I aint the 1st to notice this 2) since it is not posted a lot in the guides, this is a mediocre at best trick which leads me to 3) what else am I missing?

hubrix

It just feels like you're doing high damage. Get to 40 and parse yourself and you will notice that mini gun alone is pretty terrible damage. Anyway assuming you're using Overdrive, it's commonly known that it scales better with REC rather than INT or EGO as its tooltip states.

kallethen

Con is widely considered the stat to choose if you want to tank. Not just for the HPs, but it's spec tree has great options for tanks.

Rec works great with Power Armor if you have Overdrive as your energy unlock.

As for damage output, the mini-gun is great. It's even better if you take advantage of Power Armor's big gimmick and run other slotted weapons at the same time. On my toon, I run Minigun and Micro Munitions as toggles, and tap spam Tactical Missiles. Running multiple weapons at once is where PA really shines, and your Rec with Overdrive will help keep that going.

bioshrike

Also keep in mind that the majority of PvE is very easy if you're freeform. Grab a nice defensive passive, one of the toggle "form" powers, (I'm including concentration in here), and a self heal, (I like conviction, but BCR works better if you can get together some dodge gear), and you're set..

agentnx5

1. Little local-lingo, colloquial jargon correction here, please: write stats in all caps, first 3 letters (the exception being D/A for dodge/avoidance; not to be confused with DA or da for Dark Aura)

So your 8 main stats are (in order of expensiveness from most to least):
CON, DEX, EGO, STR, INT, REC, PRE, END.

It's imporant to write it like that so people don't get confused when the background context is missing. You can have an ego, but EGO is a stat. There are Pro's and Con's to most suggestions, but CON is a stat.

Minor syntax adjustment, shows you've been around awhile when you do it.



2. CON is the king of all stats and has been steadily increasing in market price on the in-game economy. It has now been consistently outpacing even the Gambler's core.

As of me posting this, you can get a CON R7 (R7 = rank 7 mod of either the armoring or enhancement types) for 600g to 900g (g = gold / globals / "resources") whereas a Gambler's R7 core is 350 to 550g. This has been the trend since the start of this year (they were tied in December 2012).

Why has CON been increasing in price?

Demand is continually outstripping supply.

Why?

Because CON is an awesome stat! Great specialization advantages, a bonus that doesn't suffer from logarithminc "diminishing returns" (CON's bonus, bonus HP, is linear), and works with many powers in a linear fashion such as defiance's energy bonus & nimble mind.

Is this a bad thing?

Nope! Nothing wrong with that. But certain stats are left being mostly useless like PRE & END. This isn't the fault of CON, it's that those other stats give mediocre or poor bonuses... Compare CON's mastery to PRE's, or use END with no REC... Yeah...

Additionally the supply isn't increased to meet this demand. If anything people keep CON for themselves, which limits the supply and raises the price even more!



3. I can't comment on your REC experience unless you post your build. I'm going to assume you're likely using Overdrive, Supernatural Power, or the Energy Surge exploit.

bluecenturion

It's a pretty standard Power Armor build I am using. It's my highest level character (now 27) and I pretty much have little idea what I am doing. I named the character "Mission Drone" made it look like an automated thingy (my concept of a automated remote control robot exploring the world of CO) and i am just running every mission I can get.

I do use Overdrive. My stats are CON, REC, and EGO. I chose Ego for the 'extra' range damage. If I could easily change it I would consider going END at this point. Then (I am really guessing here) I could run an energy bar at 200+/200+ and what I lose in "extra ranged damage" i would more than make up for in more weapon systems blasting more stuff.

Most (all) of my gear is boosting CON and REC, with a slightly greater focus to REC.

I do not know about the expolit, tell me more lolololol

Seriously, the character feels abusively strong. I use the same tricks against the biggest Super Villains that I use against random henchmen, it just takes a minute or so longer to melt them. In trouble? Pop the "Unbreakable" bubble. I rarely use the 'reconstruction circuit' heal, since it eats energy, and I kill faster than they kill me, so usually it is better for me to just keep firing. I think i might use Recon Circuit more if I had the larger END bar, but again, it is just a luxury at this point, not necessary at all.

agentnx5

bluecenturion wrote: »

It's a pretty standard Power Armor build I am using.

There's no such thing as a "standard" in freeforms... Archetypes are standardized, but you seem to be freeform. So it'd help the discussion to be specific. This is a nice web-based tool for that, and you can even click on the export link for a forum-post-friendly copy & paste format:
http://powerhouse.nullware.com
(click on the character planner)



Check out the Builds & Roles subforum sometime!

bluecenturion wrote: »

I do use Overdrive. My stats are CON, REC, and EGO. I chose Ego for the 'extra' range damage. If I could easily change it I would consider going END at this point.

END & REC go together like bread & butter, although you'd really want to get a Heroic Helmet of Efficiency with a Gambler's core and a Heroic Gloves of Precision with a Gambler's core. (+ critical chance % and major cost redux)

FYI: The bonuses innate to the 8 main stats that do not suffer from diminishing returns are:

• Bonus hitpoints
  (from CON)
  
  
• Max energy limit
  (from END)
  
  
• Melee Knock Strength (from STR, equal to STR's value)
  
  
• Ranged Knock Strength (from EGO, equal to EGO's value)
  
  
• Cooldown Reduction
  (from INT)
  
  
• Energy Cost Discount
  (from INT)
  
  
• Stealth Sight
  (from INT, how well you can overcome Perception Stealth)
  
  
• Aggression Stealth
  (from DEX, basically how close and for how long until enemy NPC's notice you or attack you)

bluecenturion wrote: »

I do not know about the expolit, tell me more lolololol

*facepalm* That stupid device not working like it should is ruining things... (basically a consumable that isn't getting consumed, so you can spam the hell out of it) and all the fools who are building around being reliant on it are going to fall on their face when the crutch is kicked out from under their arm.

You could also consider electric powers with END & REC... Ionic Reverb + Ball Lightning /w Triplicity + Power Armor = theme build synergies FTW!