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Looking for ideas for new character - what powerset(s)?

p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
in Builds and Roles
Hi, your friendly neighborhood champions-man here. I just got my last character to 40, and am ready to start levelling another one. I need help and advice as to what powerset I should try next. I am looking for something focussing on Ranged damage. I will be playing PvE only, and only soloing. I will be using as gear either a full set of armadillo, or half armadillo / half heirloom. And FYI, my fun in this game is in the levelling up, as soon as a character hits 40, I permanently retire them to start a new one. Also, I don't do Alerts, Story missions, I prefer the standard straight up regular missions. I do not like hard content, I prefer easy content.

I am almost certain to take Regen as my slotted passive, it keeps me alive quite well normally. (Though I am not utterly closed to checking out something equally effective is someone wants to make a strong case.) I nearly always go with Int/Rec/Something Else, since I love energy costs being down and Equilibrium being up, makes it so I nearly never have to use my energy builder, especially in the later levels. The third superstat depends on what makes me more effective and my overall DPS higher. With my Mind character I just did, it was Int/Rec/Pre.

As to powers that I have already explored, I've levelled the following to 40: Fire, Electrical, Power Armor, Telepathy. I found both Fire and Power Armor to be particularly beastly as dishing out crazy DPS, I would love my next character to be in their league. I am less happy with my TP character, it worked well enough, but was slow. Sleep made sure I generally was safe, beating up on snoozing baddies, but in comparison to Fire (and Power Armor) it took a lot longer to defeat each group.

So for my next character, I looking for something with Ranged damage as I level comparable to Fire/Power Armor, and compatible with Solo PvE Levelling play.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    To quickly rundown the remaining Ranged sets:

    TK: Can have very good dps at higher levels w/ attacks like TKA, TKL, and TK Maelstrom, but may have more energy issues while leveling.

    Earth: Ranged Earth is decent. Though its dps is mediocre overall, it does have pretty good AoE and CC options, plus a bit of possible healing from Fissure.

    Darkness: Has a bit of everything for ranged- including pets and healing, but its dps is pretty sub-par w/o Ebon Ruin, and ER itself is pretty costly to use heavily. Shadow Embrace is low dps, but is pretty easy to AoE grind with.

    Celestial: Best for healing and support, obv. Can get decent dps w/Conduit pulses, but that takes a ton of energy- def not that fit for leveling. Can also lock-down mobs a bit w/ Expulse and/or Vengeance spam, though the dps isn't great.

    Ice: Can be very strong ST dps, and decent (but costly) AoE w/ Avalanche, or passable and cheap AoE w/ Frostbreath. Energy Unlocks aren't an easy fit w/o breaking theme, though, and Shatter generally isn't worthwhile.

    Wind: Very good AoE grinding, but can get its **** kicked if it gets overzealous w/ Hurricane spam vs. tough mobs and doesn't have defenses/heals to back it up. Wind's ST dps isn't as good, since Gust is just a basic blast, and Typhoon is quite costly. Crushing dmg resist from Stormbringer can be handy pretty often.

    Force: Dependent on FC to do decent burst dps, but FC is incredibly expensive- pretty much prohibitively so when leveling (unless ya rotate in energy forms, but you wouldn't want to use an EF as a passive due to bugs and FC disabling ur passive). Knocking foes silly can be fun, though, and its possible to make a decent Force build that doesn't use FC, and instead uses Geyser + Blast taps to quickly build up knock immunity w/o being too disruptive, and then following up w/ a Force Detonation for some burst dps.

    Archery: Great reach, mobility, and CC options, and plentiful AoE to choose from. Loses a bit in ST dps, though, where it needs Explosive Arrow taps, that are good but a bit costly to weave in.

    Muni: Easy, efficient, and powerful. Non-pistol Muni isn't quite as good, but still performs well (Soldier AT can attest to this). Not many flaws w/ this set from a pure ranged dps stance, though its a bit crit-reliant w/ KI, and pistols themselves are limited to a 50ft reach.

    Gadgeteering: Boomerang-based Gadget builds w/ NW passive clear trash ludicrously well from Sneak, otherwise AoE w/ Gadgeteering is spotty, though it has decent ST dps options w/ PBR or Exp Blaster w/ Death Ray. Tons of misc utility powers to pick from as well; this powerset can be arranged in many ways.

    Sorcery: Not great for dps overall, though Skarn's is powerful as an AoE and even on ST dps- its extremely expensive to spam and its dps is back-ended on the maintain. Primal Sigils can also net good dps, though they can be destroyed rather easily and are immobile. Overall, Sorcery is more of a Support + Hybrid set of trees w/ some potential for pet armies.

    Infernal SN: Easy and simple.. possibly too much so w/ Epidemic spam + Supernatural Power. Take this tree if ya want to feel powerful in AoE; though Infernal's ST dps isn't as quite good as its AoE dps overall.




    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    Wow, thanks for the meaty reply!

    Archery, Muni, Gadget: I will probably skip these as I like my powers to be powers and not devices/scifi.

    Your description of Earth, Darkness, Celestial and Sorc make them sound softer - TP felt soft enough, would like something harder hitting. Agan, like Fire/Power Armor - those two powers felt like they hit like a brick truck!

    That leaves TK, Ice, Wind, Force, and Infernal. In mission I tend to have to fight groups, and at the end end I have to fight a mega boss. If you had to pick two of the above five that hit the hardest pretty consistently from level 15 or 20 on, which two would you say make baddies melt the fastest? (Or have Fire and PA spoiled me for all other power sets?)

    One thing I am starting to fear is that CO has FAR less replayability than CoX did - with CoX you had 10 archetypes, each of which had 5-10 primary power choices and 5-10 secondary power choices, and then even THEN you had the choice of which primary and secondary powers you would get.

    CO has some of that, but not nearly as much. CO is more like having a single archetype, like having CoX with only one archetype instead of ten. :(

    But since CoX is gone, I'll keep trying to see what I can find in CO to play. (DCUO being a distant third.)
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    For AoE, Wind or Infernal would be the picks, for ease of use. For single targets, Ice or TK (they can still fare decently AoE, but not as well overall imo). Force w/o FC is somewhat lacking in dps, and w/ FC it can be tricky to have enough energy (esp when leveling)- even if FC can make for some fun alpha strikes.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    Which is worse (or better), Wind or Infernal's ST DPS or Ice or TK's AoE DPS? In other words, is Wind/Infernal worse at Single Target than Ice/TK is at AoE, or vice versa? ;)
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    Hm, tougher call. It kinda depends on the powers ur comparing. Like Infernal Blast + 10x DP stacking + Defile's debuff > Gust's dps (or just spamming R3 Epidemic w/ Defile's debuff), but adding Typhoon in can potentially even the score there. Avalanche is very strong AoE dps, but in a tighter sphere and is expensive; Frostbreath is pretty much the opposite case of that (cheap, no lockdown, wide reach, much lower dps). TK Maelstrom is good burst AoE dps, but since its on a cd you'll prob want a filler AoE like TK Eruption (which is okay, but somewhat costly can can scatter mobs if charged more than halfway), or TK Burst (which doesn't seem to scale w/ most toggles properly), or to lower TKA's ST dps to take its splash AoE adv.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    OK, going to do TK on my NEXT character (most likely) because I just got done with TP and need a change. Going to skip wind for now so as not to knock baddies everywhere, that gets annoying, so the winner for this round is ICE. (Seriously thinking of coloring the ice yellow and naming my character Yellow Snow!)

    So what are you best recommendations for a solo leveling build for Ice, heavy on DPS (able to do both crowds and the occasional 3 slot boss), but with Rec as a SS, possibly End or Int too (I like Int's +perception and how it reduces energy costs, maybe an Int/Rec/Ego??), Definitely Regen for passive as always, and likely be gearing with 3x Armadillo and 3x Heirloom (which I just completed).

    Thoughts for an Ice character under these conditions?
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    edited August 2015
    Could tinker around w/ something like this:

    PowerHouse (Link to this build)

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

    Talents:
    Level 1: The Glacier
    Level 6: Healthy Mind
    Level 9: Boundless Reserves
    Level 12: Investigator
    Level 15: Quick Recovery
    Level 18: Negotiator
    Level 21: Amazing Stamina

    Powers:
    Level 1: Ice Shards
    Level 1: Ice Blast (Rank 2, Hard Frost)
    Level 6: Frost Breath (Rank 2, Frost Bite)
    Level 8: Concentration
    Level 11: Regeneration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 14: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 17: Molecular Self-Assembly
    Level 20: Avalanche (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 23: Unbreakable (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 26: Fire Snake (Rank 2, Trail Blazer)
    Level 29: Resurgence (Rank 2)
    Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
    Level 35: Ice Cage (Sub-Zero Cellblock)
    Level 38: Rebirth

    Travel Powers:
    Level 6:
    Level 35:

    Specializations:
    Intelligence: Preparation (2/2)
    Intelligence: Enlightened (3/3)
    Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
    Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
    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: Mass Destruction (2/3)
    Mastery: Intelligence Mastery (1/1)
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    I'll load that in and mess with it, thanks for the suggestion. In terms of the energy unlock, for Ice looks like you prefer Molecular Self-Assembly to Overdrive - will MSA return much more energy than Overdrive in this sort of sitch? Many more things coming off of cool down than maintains in play? (Especially if Int specced?)
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    edited August 2015
    OD can be good, but in a build where only the AoE attacks are maintains, and its not PA running >1 at once, OD won't return much overall. I suppose give it a shot if ur just AoE grinding, but then again Frostbreath is cheap enough to not necc need the extra energy, and Avalanche may kill many trash mobs before OD even procs once.. so I dunno. EUs are a bit of a sticking point to Ice- its main flaw imo.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    OK, MSA sounds good. Did your choice of Primary SS as Int merely follow in my footsteps, or do you think it's the best choice for what I am trying to build, given Specializations and all?
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    Nah, I just think that for leveling Int comboed w/ End + Prep is good for helping w/ energy, esp if ur using MSA and Conc as well.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    How about this? Messed around in powerhouse. This has 187 Equilibrium! Also chains of my Blast with Preemptive Strike, +15% dmg to attack that follow my blast. And it also gives Offensive Expertisex2, = 28% extra active offense recharge redux, plus all that int should be having one of my two Active Offenses up nearly all the time?

    Oh crap, forgot to get Concentration in there, will have to find a way. Not sure I need every ice power I took. On the plus side, Force Shield not only lingers 8 seconds, but generates energy. Also, I am not really getting Energy Storm, I am getting the new gravitic one.

    Any of the Ice Powers herein you think are skipable?

    PowerHouse (Link to this build)

    Name:

    Archetype: Freeform

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

    Talents:
    Level 1: The Impulse
    Level 6: Energetic
    Level 9: Daredevil
    Level 12: Investigator
    Level 15: Amazing Stamina
    Level 18: Boundless Reserves
    Level 21: Accurate

    Powers:
    Level 1: Ice Shards
    Level 1: Ice Blast (Rank 2, Hard Frost)
    Level 6: Frost Breath (Rank 2, Frost Bite)
    Level 8: Ice Sheath (Rank 2, Supercooled)
    Level 11: Molecular Self-Assembly
    Level 14: Regeneration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 17: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind)
    Level 20: Avalanche (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 23: Ice Cage
    Level 26: Shatter (Rank 2, Crushed Ice)
    Level 29: Ice Burst (Freeze, Dirtbag)
    Level 32: Wall of Ice
    Level 35: Energy Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 38: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)

    Travel Powers:
    Level 6: Tunneling
    Level 35: Millennial Flight

    Specializations:
    Intelligence: Preparation (2/2)
    Intelligence: Enlightened (3/3)
    Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
    Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
    Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
    Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
    Avenger: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
    Avenger: Preemptive Strike (3/3)
    Vindicator: Merciless (2/3)
    Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
    Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
    Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    Perhaps lose Ice Burst (who needs mobs all over the place) and replace with Conc?
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    edited August 2015
    Energy Storm isn't worthwhile, imo. If ya want a Support ultimate, use Gravity Driver (if ya have it), if not then ya can skip the ultimates for this. Shatter is mostly a waste of time too, imo. Ya could prob do better w/ Firesnake (colored blue) in there. I'd prob drop either Ice Burst or Wall of Ice if ya want to make room for an AD.

    If keeping Ice Cage, I'd take its cell block adv since its a nice interrupt. Could also consider getting Focused Strikes for Ice Blast.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    flowcyto wrote: »
    Energy Storm isn't worthwhile, imo. If ya want a Support ultimate, use Gravity Driver (if ya have it), if not then ya can skip the ultimates for this. Shatter is mostly a waste of time too, imo. Ya could prob do better w/ Firesnake (colored blue) in there. I'd prob drop either Ice Burst or Wall of Ice if ya want to make room for an AD.

    If keeping Ice Cage, I'd take its cell block adv since its a nice interrupt. Could also consider getting Focused Strikes for Ice Blast.

    Yes, I had said "Also, I am not really getting Energy Storm, I am getting the new gravitic one." above - I just didn't see Gravitic Driver in the Powerhouse app online.

    I'me glad to hear you confirm my experience in testing Shatter on PTS. It didn't seem like it was doing a lot. I'll think about Firesnake, interesting idea. Ice Burst I was only thinking of for the Paralyze, but I can probably skip it. And I will compare the Active Offense recharge reduction with Offense Expertise vs getting a few percent more chance of Crit. My goal *is* to keeping an Active Offense up at all times.

    Your input is much appreciated, thanks for the tips. ;)
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    Yes, I had said "Also, I am not really getting Energy Storm, I am getting the new gravitic one." above - I just didn't see Gravitic Driver in the Powerhouse app online.

    Ah I see. Well, keep in mind Gravity Driver is more of a power for debuffing for groups. If we're talking just solo content, its prob not going to be as useful.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • p4nj4kr3jnp4nj4kr3jn Posts: 189 Arc User
    Well, I for sure will test it in PH, if it fails to impress, it's out. ;)

    Speaking of fails to impress, I picked up MSA, and the ONLY thing (at level 15) it's currently triggering off of is Ice Sheath! Apparently neither my Ice Blast nor my Frost Breath count. So I switched out MSA for Overload, figuring that at least I would get energy from when I hold down my Blast or Breath halfway, but NO, I get energy from Overdrive from Breath, but for who knows what reason, Ice Blast does not count as a maintain!! IMO, that's broken.

    Well, at least I am getting energy back for using Breath. I'll re-examine which is better, MSA or Overload, once I get Avalanche and Ego Surge and a couple of Offensive Expertises, see which is returning more energy more often.
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