Munitions Vigilante

cheelangho

After all the help i received on my previous thread and experimenting a bit on my own, i believe i'm finally getting the hang of this, so, i proudly present my first original build :biggrin: well i admit it's very similar to other builds of this kind, but please believe me when i say i'm not copying someone else's build

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Happy trigger Vigilante

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Marksman
Level 6: Academics
Level 9: Coordinated
Level 12: Shooter
Level 15: Sniper Training
Level 18: Command Training
Level 21:idk what to put in here

Powers:
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo (Rank 2, Close the Gap)
Level 6: Submachinegun Burst (Aggression)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Fair Game)
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Killer Instinct
Level 17: Sniper Rifle (Rank 2, Tungsten Rounds)Chose this over Assault Rifle or Gatling Gun because i liked the extra range, and with my specs i believe i can strip off over 60% of anything below legendary, and i hope to survive long enough to finish them with 2GM
Level 20: Force Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3, Force Sheathe) How do i justify this?, well, i believe Parry is useless w/o melee attacks, and while this toon probably won't have energy problems, the advantage will help a lot with survivability
Level 23: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)The Ego buff from this sounds nice, but that diminishing returns thingy makes me consider Lock n' load instead, what do guys you think?
Level 26: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Unfettered Strikes)Again, neither the wiki or Powerhouse planneraren't clear whether the advantage affect all damage or melee only, in such case i'll go r3
Level 32: Lead Tempest (Tread Softly)
Level 35:
Level 38:

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Swinging (Flippin')

Specializations: And here are the Specializations, is ok to pick all crit chance specs as i did, or is it redundant?
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (2/3)
Ego: Exploit Opening (1/2)
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

carrionbaggage

Once you get Lead Tempest and learn to control its radius, Submachinegun Burst will likely feel redundant. I would probably float it up my retcon list until I could take Lead Tempest, then drop it unless it's important for character theme.

I think you've nailed the core components of a strong DPS build. I would suggest a few tweaks:


PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Happy trigger Vigilante

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Marksman
Level 6: Academics
Level 9: Coordinated
Level 12: Shooter
Level 15: Acrobat
Level 18: Healthy Mind
Level 21: Ascetic

Powers:
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo (Rank 2, Rank 3) Close the Gap isn't a bad advantage, but you'll need to be roughly in melee range to get the full damage bonus. Since you don't have another good reason to be so close, I would recommend Rank 3.
Level 6: Concentration
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3) Fair Game is a respectable advantage, but Rank 3 offers a lot of nice bonuses. See the notes on the Vindicator tree.
Level 11: Killer Instinct
Level 14: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki) Ranking up BCR doesn't increase the healing of its advantaged dodge-ticks, which is typically the source of most of its healing when you're under heavy fire.
Level 17: Masterful Dodge The advantage does boost all of your damage, though you'll need to be taking a lot of rapid hits for it to make an appreciable difference in your overall damage.
Level 20: Lead Tempest (Rank 2, Tread Softly)
Level 23: Sniper Rifle (Rank 2, Tungsten Rounds)
Level 26: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind) A dodge bonus plus aggro wipe; very useful when combined with the dodge bonuses from Quarry and Lead Tempest. You could float the advantage as your very last power pick, and retcon it out periodically if you want to solo a tough enemy. When the threat wipe occurs and the enemy has no other targets on its threat list, its health will reset.
Level 29: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind) I changed the talents to put your CON at 25, which means Nimble Mind gives a 10% crit bonus. You would possibly get a higher overall DPS increase from Rank 3 Ice Sheath (depending on your EGO, INT, and CON stat values), but I was worried it would break your theme.
Level 32: Unbreakable A useful Active Defense against a barrage of small hits. Not necessary, but helpful for a semi-squishy sniper.
Level 35:
Level 38:

There's a lot of options for those final two powers.

You could add in your Force Shield, but I don't think you'll get much use out of it. The resistance bonus from the advantage isn't very high; and as you mentioned, you shouldn't have any energy problems. It's not a bad choice if you block frequently, but I rarely meet anyone who blocks frequently. Most people play like they forgot what blocking is.

Another self-heal would be nice. Conviction and advantaged Holdout Shot are the frontrunners, since they can both crit. Bionic Shielding isn't a bad choice either, especially if you like to make your teammates look shiny.

Sonic Device would give you more upfront burst damage. Another Active Offense (Ice Sheath or Lock n Load) would also give a damage boost.

Gatling Gun's 100-foot range would meld nicely with your suggested Sniper Rifle strategy. Snipe them as an alpha strike, then maintain Gatling Gun as they close distance with you. Finish them off with Mojo or Lead Tempest, depending on how many are left.

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Swinging The dodge/avoid from the advantage is hindered by diminishing returns from Quarry and dodge/avoid gear. Swinging also needs to be your active travel power for Flippin' to activate...which isn't terrible if you're quick on the keyboard, but tends to be more of a hassle than it's worth.

Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3) Exploit Opening isn't a bad spec, but the whimsy of the random number generator makes it less effective than it seems.
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2) A good spec; but with superstatted INT and presumably some cooldown reduction gear, this might not make much of a difference. You could swap it for 2 points in The Rush of Battle, if you miss the health-on-kill from Fair Game.
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

cheelangho

Thanks a lot for the review and the helpful advice, really appreciate it, i think i'll make most of the changes you suggested; i picked SMG Burst because i wanted to have an area attack on the early levels of the character to deal with mobs, but as you said, it is redundant having it along with lead tempest

As for Ego surge, i took it because of the Ego buff only, so i might change it for Ice sheath like you recommend or Lock n' load to keep on theme - not that i concern too much about it, i tend to focus more on gameplay than keeping on character; but making a totally random toon isn't my style either

For the Block replace, i guess i'll go for r3 Energy shield for the huge base mitigation and "credibility" -it is easier to believe in a modern day desperado that owns a high tech gadget, than in a totally human hero that can survive a force cascade by blocking it with its bare hands :P - and yes, i do remember i got a move to block, learned it the hard way while soloing Adventure Packs and "accidentally" aggroing bosses in alerts with non-tank characters

flamingbunnyman

cheelangho wrote: »

And here are the Specializations, is ok to pick all crit chance specs as i did, or is it redundant?

It probably depends on who you ask. Myself, I always take Severity specs first, and if I don't get any Crit Chance specs... Oh well.

Why, you ask?

I can build Crit Chance with:
-Dexterity
-Specs
-Gear
-Mods
-Powers

I can build Crit Severity with:
-Specs
-Gear (but it's such tiny amounts as to be nearly worthless)
-Mods (but it's such tiny amounts as to be nearly worthless AND they come from mods that can't be fused, so R5 is the best you can get)

If I can't get any Crit Chance from anywhere else, I always have the option of throwing a Gambler's Lucky Gem in my Primary Offense gear. That alone is enough to give a healthy Crit Chance, especially if the Primary Offense has Crit Chance as well.

With Specs, I can push my Severity from the base 50% to over 120%. Without specs, I might be able to get it to 60%, if I gear really heavily for Severity.

cheelangho

Thank you Flaming Bunny, i've been spending too much time playing and doing other stuff to notice :biggrin:, now i know that building severity is easier with specs than gear, i'll keep that on mind for any future builds i come up with

As for the toon i intended to play with this build, it ended up as an Specialist AT, and i'm still undecise on what to do with my FF slot, i've tried both this build and the suggested ones on my previous thread and still cannot think of a concept that leaves me entirely satisfied , i'm probably going to keep experimenting till i get something i actually like or become insane, whatever happens first