The Nuclear Option [Might/Fire/Force]

helbjorn

Someone recently asked about options for a radiation-based character, and this started the creative juices flowing. The original request was for a fire/force build that would approximate a radiation effect. I've taken my initial contribution to that thread and done some additional testing at level 40 with endgame gear and come up with what I believe is a pretty good approximation of radiation/nuclear powers.

The build is a melee/ranged hybrid, and uses Enraged as its damage toggle. This is to get the most from the big hitter - Unleashed Rage. Colored light green, this looks just like a giant blast of radiation. The passive, Earth Form, buffs the physical/crushing damage of the melee powers and Force Detonation, which approximates his ability to manifest micro-blasts of nuclear fission, both in his fists and at range. The ranged AoE is the Fireball/Conflagration combo, which when colored green approximate a focused blast of radiation and localized fallout, respectively. Fire is a good choice here, as the debuffing of Unstable Accelerant on Fireball makes Conflag's damage quite good, especially when spiked with Ego Surge/Nimble Mind. This makes up for the fact that it's not buffed by the passive and receives only a partial buff from Enraged. Vindicator Mastery helps a bit to make up for the lack of EGO.

Survivability is quite good with a number of passive/active HoT's and Earth Form's Crushing/Physical resistance, which makes up a majority of the game's mobs' damage. This build can pull the 5-man Hard Battle Station with ease. It's literally a blast to play (pun intended).

Gearing is pretty standard. Stat priorities are STR >/= CON = INT. It's important to get at least 200 INT in order to be able to apply full maintains of Conflag.

The new aura slots make creating the visual effects of a radioactive character much easier. I found the Id Mastery and crackle hands auras colored light green look about right.


PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Nuke [STR/Force/Fire]

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Devastator
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Healthy Mind
Level 12: Body and Mind
Level 15: Covert Ops Training
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Field Ops Training

Powers:
Level 1: Clobber
Level 1: Roomsweeper (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Earth Form (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 14: Conflagration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Fireball (Unstable Accelerant)
Level 20: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 23: Force Detonation (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 29: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Aggressor (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Power Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Athletics (Rank 2)

Specializations:
Strength: Swole (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
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: The Rush of Battle (2/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Vindicator Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

Seems like a perfect build

.. for Quarry XD

Its a good one though. Prob Gravi-viable w/ Earth Form.

helbjorn

Absolutely, Quarry is ideal for hybrid builds with a mix of physical and energy damage. I use it on other more dodgy-themed hybrids to great effect. For this particular build, you lose some physical DPS (~4%) and gain some energy DPS (~11-19%) with Quarry, but you lose significant defense.

Since the nerf, Quarry with three stacks of Audacity gives only about 8% more mitigation through increased dodge and avoidance on a similarly geared character, whereas Earth Form gives 25% Physical Resistance and 106% Crushing Resistance. I believe Cryptic math about halves those values to give actual mitigation, but that's still significant considering the majority of mob damage in the game is crushing/physical.

Another viable option for all-out DPS is Unstoppable, which will buff Unleashed Rage (while Earth Form does not), but you sacrifice some ranged physical damage and even more damage mitigation compared to Quarry and Earth Form.

For this build (at least the way I play it), Earth Form gives superior DPS over Quarry from the most-used powers Roomsweeper and Force Detonation while sacrificing a bit of DPS from UR and the fire powers. The trade-off is significantly improved overall damage mitigation.

spyderlad

I'm assuming you hve to respec into this build to get unleashed rage at 6t level. Or is there something I'm missing?

helbjorn

Or already have another character who has completed the Vibora Bay Apocalypse story line, I believe. Otherwise, yes, the build cannot progress unless you can take UR at level 6.

flowcyto

helbjorn wrote: »

Absolutely, Quarry is ideal for hybrid builds with a mix of physical and energy damage. I use it on other more dodgy-themed hybrids to great effect. For this particular build, you lose some physical DPS (~4%) and gain some energy DPS (~11-19%) with Quarry, but you lose significant defense.

Since the nerf, Quarry with three stacks of Audacity gives only about 8% more mitigation through increased dodge and avoidance on a similarly geared character, whereas Earth Form gives 25% Physical Resistance and 106% Crushing Resistance. I believe Cryptic math about halves those values to give actual mitigation, but that's still significant considering the majority of mob damage in the game is crushing/physical.

Another viable option for all-out DPS is Unstoppable, which will buff Unleashed Rage (while Earth Form does not), but you sacrifice some ranged physical damage and even more damage mitigation compared to Quarry and Earth Form.

For this build (at least the way I play it), Earth Form gives superior DPS over Quarry from the most-used powers Roomsweeper and Force Detonation while sacrificing a bit of DPS from UR and the fire powers. The trade-off is significantly improved overall damage mitigation.

Yeah, the math for damage resist is not straightforward, but it basically means for something like EF that the ~100% or so specific type resist is about halving the final damage on its own to that type.

I was also thinking Quarry because it helps w/ Vind mastery- boosting Ego to the soft cap (roughly) w/o needing to actually gear for any Ego at all, and then the feedback to boosting melee/str a small amount.

I know what ya mean about the defense aspect, though. Quarry after the nerf isn't really good enough to make a dodge-based toon on its own (I'm fine w/ that, considering how good its general dmg and stat boosts are)- and it def doesn't make for a sturdy dps by itself. I wouldn't try to tank or offtank w/ the passive anymore unless I had something like EM or TK to boost dodge% constantly.

I'm assuming you hve to respec into this build to get unleashed rage at 6t level. Or is there something I'm missing?

Yeah, its a build for a level 40 who's retraining, not a leveling build.

helbjorn

flowcyto wrote: »

Yeah, its a build for a level 40 who's retraining, not a leveling build.

It's actually a viable leveling build provided you can acquire UR at level 6.

kallethen

helbjorn wrote: »

It's actually a viable leveling build provided you can acquire UR at level 6.

But you can't take UR until you hit level 35, so this can't be a leveling build. After you hit level 35, you could retcon and take UR as a level 6 power.

flowcyto

Yeah, unfortunately just having one toon w/ the ultimates unlocked doesn't unlock them for the account and thus for new characters you make. Kinda wish it wasn't the case

Could always just move UR till late in the build and get a diff early teir ability to level w/ the build. Like, replace UR's slot w/ mighty leap or retaliation, then ya can level w/ it till ya get UR and rework the build.

oniganon

I don't understand the purpose of Conflagration in the build. It just seems randomly thrown in there, neither boosted by the passive nor triggering the chosen toggle form.

If you're just looking for a fire power to include for theme, perhaps use Flashfire and Thermal Reverb instead of MSA. And maybe Pyre or Brimstone, since they both have knocks...


Or if you're just looking for a ranged aoe, maybe try Avalanche and colour it green or something.

helbjorn

kallethen wrote: »

But you can't take UR until you hit level 35, so this can't be a leveling build. After you hit level 35, you could retcon and take UR as a level 6 power.

Apologies - I've been spending too long in the Power House. You are correct.

helbjorn

oniganon wrote: »

I don't understand the purpose of Conflagration in the build. It just seems randomly thrown in there, neither boosted by the passive nor triggering the chosen toggle form.

This was not posted as an example of a min/max build. The description states pretty clearly why the powers were chosen. In practice, they function pretty well for thematic inclusions (I can still get 1200+ point tics on debuffed mobs, which is about the same as Quicksand, which is crushing damage). Feel free to replace them with whatever doesn't offend your sensibilities.