Valkyrie: A Power Armor Tank

tdits

I'm probably going to get my current toon to 40 this week, which'll be a first for me since I have chronic altitis, and I was planning on doing a PA Tank next. I'd like some advice on it.

Edit: Apparently Valkyrie is a restricted name. So, I went with Die Walkyrie, which obscures the Macross reference a bit, bit it's still awesome. I added Chest Beam, swapped out Implosion Engine for Circle of Primal Dominion, and removed Blast Radius from Tactical missiles so I could rank the circle to 2. I also switched to Guardian Mastery, since it is actually useful in this build.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Die Walkyrie

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Disciple
Level 6: Negotiator
Level 9: Impresario
Level 12: Coordinated
Level 15: Wordly
Level 18: Academics
Level 21: Shooter

Powers:
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Tactical Missiles (Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Mini Gun (Rank 2, U-238 Rounds, Infrared Guidance System)
Level 8: Personal Force Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Micro Munitions (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 14: Lock N Load (Rank 2)
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Field Surge (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Overdrive
Level 29: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Phalanx Defense System)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Circle of Primal Dominion (Rank 2)
Level 38: Chest Beam

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Jet Pack (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Teleportation

Specializations:
Recovery: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Recovery: Staying Power (2/2)
Recovery: Efficient (3/3)
Recovery: Second Wind (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Guardian Mastery (1/1)

Here's the build after I applied the advice from this thread to it.

ajanus

Ouch! Primary REC! I think I'm BLIND :biggrin:

The reason Primary REC is a bad idea in general, is because you are locked into End also, or else sacrifice about half the recovery that your Primary SS gives you. Then if you want to stat for End in your gear, assuming you don't take End, you still end up giving a lot of superstats up in order to make room for it.

You could:

PSS EGO and take Insight to make up for no Int. Then take Rec/End as secondary. This still eliminates energy issues, but gives you a ton more dps.

sparkrocker

You should read Cyrone85's posts on PFF and check out some his builds. You need a good shield, block helps PFF. drop Protection field, it sux. Here is a link to Cyrone85's PFF tank http://champions-online.proboards.com/thread/2609 you could take the non-attack powers and fill in PA stuff.

tdits

Staying power should mostly make up for the lack of End, especially with an Int secondary lowering the costs. I'm mostly taking it to abuse Efficient and Overdrive. While REC isn't normally a good choice for primary, it rocks with multiple PA toggles.

I guess I could take END as a secondary instead of DEX, but I don't think I'll need to. Still, SS are easy to retcon, so I'll try it both ways when I hit 40, and see which works better.

EDIT: Yes, Cyrone is the master of PFF. Well, gee. If Protogen doesn't need Arbiter + Overseer + Compassion to Tank, then I guess I can go with the old standby of Guardicator and Concentration. Which would let me use Super Charged for MOAR CRITS. I can definitely drop Plasma beam to free up a couple of advantage points for Lock n Load, and I can proably drop Chest Beam too for Evasive Maneuvers, which would get me the dodge that PFF so desperately needs.

Although, Compassion might scale for me better anyway, since I do have REC primary. I guess it depends on how much better Concentration's damage bonus scales.

How does this look?
PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Valkyrie (PFF Version)

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Disciple
Level 6: Negotiator
Level 9: Impresario
Level 12: Coordinated
Level 15: Wordly
Level 18: Academics
Level 21: Shooter

Powers:
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Tactical Missiles (Blast Radius, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Mini Gun (Rank 2, U-238 Rounds, Infrared Guidance System)
Level 8: Personal Force Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Micro Munitions (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 14: Lock N Load (Rank 2)
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Field Surge (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Overdrive
Level 29: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Phalanx Defense System)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Implosion Engine
Level 38: Plasma Beam

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Jet Pack (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Teleportation

Specializations:
Recovery: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Recovery: Staying Power (2/2)
Recovery: Super Charged (2/3)
Recovery: Efficient (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Recovery Mastery (1/1)

carrionbaggage

tdits wrote: »

I guess I could take END as a secondary instead of DEX, but I don't think I'll need to.

Do you have the budget for Legion gear? Legion's Gloves of Precision w/ Gambler's Lucky Gems would help you guiltlessly drop DEX.

END could be a possible choice for a primary. You could abuse Kickback with advantaged Wrist Bolter, and Endurance Mastery would offer more benefit than Recovery Mastery. Just something to consider.

If you do stick with REC primary, I would move points out of Super Charged and/or Efficient to take Second Wind. In tough situations, PFF thrives on recharge to use Masterful Dodge and Field Surge as often as possible.

tdits

Sure, I can drop Super Charged for Second Wind. Efficient is really the big benefit for using REC tree anyway. It makes Overdrive absurd.

When I get my hands on some legion gear, I'll consider dropping Dex. But I find super stating it is more fun when you're leveling.

Alright, I edited my first post to include the new build with Second Wind. It looks good to go, unless Cyrone or Pulsewave have any comments.

PS. Kickback sucks, why would you ever do that to yourself?

sparkrocker

I like the updated builds, looks fun! Just a thought: why not drop plasma beam for chest beam to get the debuff?

tdits

Good point, for some reason I was thinking that the debuff was an advantage, but that's Minigun. Chest Beam has it built in.

tdits

Okay, I've hit level 40 with Die Valkyrie and I have a couple of thoughts on the build now that I've gotten this far with it.

1) I should have gotten Power Gauntlet. The interrupt would have been nicer to have than the slightly better damage.
2) I probably should have taken a rank out of Evasive Manuever and put it into my blast. In fact, I'm not even sure if I should have taken it at all. I never use it.
3) While Dex is very fun to level with, I probably should have gone with EGO instead.
4) Never, ever, ever take Guardian last. The Best Defense is a tier 2 spec, but Aggressive Stance is tier 1. By taking Vindicator as my first spec I locked myself out of the defense loop until level 35. And even longer for Locus.
5) I spelt her name wrong. If you look at the Wagner opera, it's spelled Die Walk?re.

So, all in all, if I could afford a respec this is what the final build would look like:

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Die Walk?re

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Impulse
Level 6: Negotiator
Level 9: Wordly
Level 12: Academics
Level 15: Amazing Stamina
Level 18: Investigator
Level 21: Daredevil

Powers:
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Power Gauntlet (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Mini Gun (Rank 2, U-238 Rounds, Infrared Guidance System)
Level 8: Personal Force Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Micro Munitions (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Level 14: Lock N Load (Rank 2)
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Field Surge (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Evasive Maneuvers
Level 26: Overdrive
Level 29: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Phalanx Defense System)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Circle of Primal Dominion (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Rebirth

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Jet Pack (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Teleportation

Specializations:
Recovery: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Recovery: Staying Power (2/2)
Recovery: Efficient (3/3)
Recovery: Second Wind (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Guardian Mastery (1/1)