I have no idea how to play this game

scorpagor

So I've been here for several years, created tons of characters, played all of the game's content, collected most of the perks, etc etc.

My course of action when building a character has always been: pick some fun powers, gear completely towards my superstats and hope for the best.
This has worked out pretty well so far, but now I've gotten interested in improving my character(s), so that's where I need some help.

Here's my current main:



Primary gear is Silver Champion regognition stuff.
Secondaries are general purple lvl 40 drops.

Thoughts on how to improve? Are some of my stats too high/low? Should I spread more stats across the board?

And I also would like to know which stats are impacted by diminishing returns?

crypticbuxom

The absolute best course of action to figure out how to build better is to interact with the community. Watch people duel each other. Ask them what specs they used and what gear mods they favor. Ask people in the custom channels (trade, coPvP as just two examples). Read the forums like the builds and Hero Games sections.

Getting in the COalition vent where there are lots of veteran players who can give specific advice on the functions of each combination of powers and specs, and pretty much anything about the game. Or any group of players who interact with each other.

The way to get to advance yourself is that you will eventually have to talk to people live about your questions and thoughts.

cptmillennium

The DEX specs you have which grant crit chance from offense and avoidance from secondary super stats aren't likely giving you much benefit. The crit severity and resistance debuff specs in the second tier are WAY more valuable.

Rising Knee is best with the Flowing Strikes advantage, but you don't really have a hard-hitting single attack to follow it. Maybe think about getting Burning Chi Fist. You could easily drop either 100 Hands or Dragon Kick since you don't need two melee cone AoEs. You do want to keep one Dragon attack for Rush though.

bravehoptoad

You might want to lay your character out here: http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.html.

Makes it easy to see what you've got going on...only thing missing is equipment.

jamesbonnell

Agree with cpt millenium - I've ditched Combat Training in dex since the dodge pass, go Deadly Aim and Expose Weakness.

I'd go so far as any Dex build that doesn't take Expose Weakness might be better off with an entirely different superstat - it's pretty much THE reason to take Dex.

Dex mastery on the other hand, I've kind of started to phase out if I can do something better. If you have Thundering Kicks (looks like you do), and you use it a lot - i'd recommend Warden Mastery instead. it's pretty good.

And sure, you lose crit sev - but you gain it back and more with Deadly Aim in the mix, on top of wardicator. You don't really get much avoid from Dex mastery these days. and extra dex is nice but not that useful.


I might say you have too many attacks though.

Mind you, I'm not on the "one single target and one AOE is all you need" bandwagon, but a lot of times, you can get more rounding and be more survivable with something like Evasive maneuvers.

I think you're probably fairly squishy for Rampages without at least some Con - you don't need to SS it, but I try to get damage folks above 7k regularly.

Assuming LR is your only passive, it's a solid defensive build.

What I've done a lot of times is google particular builds I want to try, read what folks have to say, try it on PTS, and learn as much as I can. There's a LOT of information about builds out there.

If you post a powerhouse preview, I can look at it more in depth., but that's my $.02.

flowcyto

Yea Dex tree choices are a bit off, as others mentioned.

I'd back the suggestion to replace 100Hands w/ BCF- in light of using Rising Knee w/ Flowing Strikes

You should not need all that Recovery at lvl 40. Ya can prob get by w/ the base 70-90. In fact, since you have LR in a tanky build, swapping Rec for Con SS is prob a better idea. Just get maybe one Recovery mod or 2ndary gear and you should be fine.

Prob also dun need both Rising Knee and Backhand Chop. I'd use the latter w/ Stinging Bee on an Enrage/Str build w/ Dex SS"d just to get a bit extra from 1 stack of Focus, but on a Focus toggle build ya dun really need it over Rising Knee + FS and 2 strong charged attacks.

Would prob also trade FotM for FotT, so ya dun need to get hit to build up ur toggle. Ur crit% is high enough for it to work.

sammiefighter

Generall speaking, and with a IMO implied and not knowing your level of experiance:

1) You gotta pick what works for you, and fits your play style. Maintains, Chargeups, Fast Action, Melee, Ranged. So those generic attack powers end up being easily replaceable. Once you have a "theme/playstyle" in mind some powers do work together better with specific advantages.

A few powers that work together well can make a build. From the numbers it looks like a good dodge based build (Evasive Manuevers Perhaps if you are feeling squishy?), so I don't need to tell you to check your form/passive fits your gear and stats and role.

2) If you are 'tweeking' a bit, head over to the PTS and tweek your tree, some of those "Secondary superstats do X" don't do alot. Especially with diminishing returns. Playing with all the advantages here helps too.

The obvious improvement is to take 1 Mod away from DEX and move it to CON, the power difference is probably neglatible (take of 1 piece of armour off to check), but you get more survivabilty. I do like to spread my stats though.

scorpagor

Okay so after taking some of your feedback into account, this is what I've come up with so far:

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Acrobat
Level 12: Martial Focus
Level 15: Impresario
Level 18: Relentless
Level 21: Quick Recovery

Powers:
Level 1: Righteous Fists
Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Floating Lotus Blossom)
Level 6: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Rising Knee (Flowing Strikes)
Level 11: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: One Hundred Hands (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Dragon Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Form of the Tempest
Level 23: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 26: Parry
Level 29: Crashing Wave Kick (Subtlety of the Tides)
Level 32: Intensity (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge
Level 38: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Cape Glide

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Warden Mastery (1/1)

As for gear, I use a heroic (silver champion recog) set with rank 5 mods, an armor and enhancement mod for each of my 3 superstats (+110 for each).
Defense and support mods are gambler's lucky gems.
Offensive mod currently provides extra offense, should I also switch that to a lucky gem to increase crit rates?
And are secondaries with +recovery enough for power management?

cptmillennium

You may want to check out this thread.

Something like this might work well. It leaves a few power and advantage selections to play with for concept, but I'd highly recommend R3 Conviction. You may not need Evasive Maneuvers at all, but if you're not hitting 100% dodge you could always throw it in.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Recluse

Archetype: Freeform

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

Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Martial Focus
Level 9: Physical Conditioning
Level 12: Acrobat
Level 15: Covert Ops Training
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Survival Training

Powers:
Level 1: Righteous Fists
Level 1: Thundering Kicks (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
Level 11: Thunderbolt Lunge (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 14: Dragon Uppercut (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: One Hundred Hands (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 23: Form of the Tempest
Level 26: Masterful Dodge
Level 29: Lock N Load (Two Smoking Barrels)
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 38:

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Cape Glide

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Slaughter (2/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)