Stone Melee / Firey Aura Equivalent

steelrat70

Yes, I know, I've already posted a build on one character and here I am in less than a week with another one.. what can I say, I have an alt problem

Anyhoo.. back in CoH, my main was a stone melee / firey aura / fire mastery brute called Volkanik. Whenever I had a sebatical from CoH, wanting to play him was always the reason I came back.

Oddly, when I first built him I deleted him and recreated him a number of times before he really felt right, and I'm having exactly the same dilemma in CO. Whilst I'm not expecting to fully recapture the endless awesome SMAAASSSHH of the original Volk, I'd like to get as close as I can to the "feel" as it were in CO. I've tried various combinations of Might / Fire, Stone / Fire, Might / Stone, Might / Heavy Weapons, Heavy Weapons / Fire, but every time I try I seem to fail miserably.

The key, I'm sure is trying to find those synergies in CO between the key powers that made that combination in CoH so much fun. In CoH, those key elements were:

Burn (Pyre in CO)
Siesmic Smash (probably Demolish in CO)
Heavy Mallet (Annihilate from HW)
Fireball
Healing Flames (any of the self heals in CO will probably do)
Fury (Enrage)
Tremor (Not sure which from the stone set would work best, but Fissure seems the most likely)

Again, mainly solo PVE, melee damage focus and the ability for off tanking in groups.

Here's version 1 of what I've come up with. It's probably a total mess, but better to start with something than nothing, right!?

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Behemoth
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Agile
Level 15: Indomitable
Level 18: Martial Training
Level 21: Shooter

Powers:
Level 1: Wield Earth
Level 1: Infernal Blast (Rank 2)
Level 6: Unstoppable (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Roomsweeper (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Enrage (Endorphin Rush, Giant Growth)
Level 14: Upheaval (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Pyre (Rank 2)
Level 20: Stone Shroud (Rank 2)
Level 23: Aggressor
Level 26: Thermal Reverberation
Level 29: Fireball (Rank 2, Unstable Accelerant, Challenging Strikes)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge (Unfettered Strikes)
Level 35: Fissure (Rank 2, Reconstruct)
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Fire Flight (Rank 2)
Level 35: Superjump

Specializations:
Strength: Physical Peak (1/3)
Strength: Quick Recovery (2/2)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Overpower (3/3)
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)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)

flamingbunnyman

The biggest advice I can give is:

I deleted him and recreated him a number of times before he really felt right, and I'm having exactly the same dilemma in CO.

Don't do this.

You can undo your power choices bt RetConning. ALL your power choices. You can strip the powers one at a time by paying resources (it costs about 900g to remove everything from a level 40 freeform), or you can use a Full RetCon to drop everything at once. If you're gold, you get one Full RetCon tiken at 40, an additional with your 100 day vet reward, and a few more with other vet rewards. You can also buy them with Zen (which you can buy with cash, or you can farm Questionite and use that to buy Zen on the Exchange).

If you're under 20, buying the equivalent of a Full RetCon with resources is dirt cheap. The more of your early build you get perfect, the less later RetCons will cost, because you won't have to remove as many powers.

The only thing you can't change is your gender. Everything else - name, powers, costume, EVERYTHING - can be changed by spending either resources or Zen. So don't waste XP by re rolling and starting over. Just rebuild.

Unless you're weird in the head and LIKE rebuilding characters from scratch (like me). Then go right ahead. But I know most people don't like backwards progress.

steelrat70

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of retconning and using resources to rebuild, but I'd already used up my veteran retconn and two purchased ones, even after doing numerous build tests in the training room prior to exiting and locking them! That's largely why I'm posting here, because of all the different variations I've tried, I can't seem to find that blend of what feels right and what works well.

Additionally, levelling to 15 or even 20 doesn't take that long in the scheme of things, so it's no real biggie to re roll if something really isn't working.

I do completely realise too that what I'm trying to do just may not be possible, and whilst I'm kinda fine with that, with COs versatile combat system, I would have thought it'd be possible to get a semblance of what made him "him" in CoH.

sagewithbubbles

steelrat70 wrote: »

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of retconning and using resources to rebuild, but I'd already used up my veteran retconn and two purchased ones, even after doing numerous build tests in the training room prior to exiting and locking them! That's largely why I'm posting here, because of all the different variations I've tried, I can't seem to find that blend of what feels right and what works well.

Additionally, levelling to 15 or even 20 doesn't take that long in the scheme of things, so it's no real biggie to re roll if something really isn't working.

I do completely realise too that what I'm trying to do just may not be possible, and whilst I'm kinda fine with that, with COs versatile combat system, I would have thought it'd be possible to get a semblance of what made him "him" in CoH.

What attacks are essential to the character's visuals for you?

steelrat70

sagewithbubbles wrote: »

What attacks are essential to the character's visuals for you?

That's a good question. In CoH the main ones were:

Seismic Smash (two handed over the head attack with fists clad in stone) - primary melee ST attack

Burn (equivalent to Pyre in CO) - always good for clearing out ads and a steady tick of DoT damage vs bosses

Tremor (Foot stomp, ranged cracked floor / stone effect with AoE disorient and KD) - great for crowd control, damage mitigation and ensuring targets stood still for your burn patch

Fireball (ranged ST or AoE fireball). Just a nice thematic ranged attack for runners.

Volkaniks concept revolves around someone falling in a pit of lava and their body absorbing the volcano's spirit and rage. Imagine a cross between The Hulk, The Thing and the Human Torch. In CoH, most of the fun (apart from the insane damage he could do, even if his defenses weren't as good as some) was the visceral feel of the combat. With the SM set, there was big crashes and rumbles, screen shake and the whole thing felt raw and savage.

I think that's why I've always tried to base it around the Might set. Nothing quite says raw and savage like a good old fashioned rock fist in the chops. Enrage for the Giant Growth advantage would be nice, but I can see this is looking very much like being an Ego / Concentration build.

If it helps, there's a video I made of him here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMHxaoWJr-0

*Update*

After the latest re-roll, I've got him up to level 11. The only change I've made is swapping Infernal Blast for Stone Shot. Thematic. Aoe component. Works well. I also took Upheaval instead of Enrage at 11, and will take Enrage at 14. Never seen the animation for Upheaval before and I love it. Long time since I've had a gleeful, slightly crazed laugh when I first see a power animation. Again.. spot on for Volks theme, and it seems like a nice single target big hitter, even if the charge time is a little on the slow side.