Single target damage on Power Armour and Infernal sets?

sathoon · July 2018

I came back to CO at the perfect time to discover that freeform were now purchasable slots and not forbidden fruit for lifetime subscribers, AND that a sale on them and zen was underway.

With help in the thread next door, a nice looking regen-based build based on the Infernal power set was formed. And then side-lined when I heard that melee is vastly better than it used to be.

TL;DR

Regretting freeform stealth/crit melee build (despite melee indeed handling better), how well do Infernal and Power Armour trees handle single-target encounters against hard targets (primarily Super Villains) in a solo environment?

It's an utter joy to delete master villains and maim super villains after they've delivered their big "who's bad!?" speech with Night Warrior & Shadow Strike, and use the stealth aspect with teleporting to pick my fights with near-unlimited leisure, but I find myself frustrated by garden variety mob packs in between those medium-toughness fights, situations where I need to defend a target continuously, and the fact that if weird mob placement pulls another pack while I'm fighting one already, even active mitigation makes the whole thing messy and irritating. Melee appears to be much nicer than what it used to be when I initally played, but it's still a hard sell Vs the flexibility of ranged for me personally (to say nothing of flying henchmen being a greater challenge than they have any right to be).

First solution to my problem is to team up with someone who can take hits, but I'm an unsociable turd who likes to run adventure packs/ comic series solo. They're nostalgic for me. A time when I could earn Qlipothic costume pieces without UNTIL recognition.

So I fiddled around with massively off-spec powers one at a time because I just wanted to taste things, and I could see them in action on my freeform. I like how Infernal powers look and handle (especially Will-o-wisp and Epidemic), but the power set doesn't seem to leave much room for much burst when I'm in a pickle (and already have a tempest AT half-leveled, so I sort of already have a ranged character).

I also understand that Power Armour is difficult to play optimally and is a massive energy hog at the best of times. I'm curious how that drawback translates to it's ability to solo a Super Villain fight (something like Viperia from Serpent's Lantern). Because the idea of multi-target weapon systems that can clear half a room with ease SOUNDS awesome on paper, but it's if the set can accomodate some tankiness while also being able to make that final push (outside 'fire all weapons').

Is the grass really greener on the other side for me?

flowcyto · July 2018

Regen + Infernal is really good for grinding trash w/o much difficulty (compared to other sets). Its not the highest dps out there, but Epidemic is still good AoE dps w/ wide reach, and is easy to use w/ Supernatural Power. Infernal's highest ST dps attack is Defile, though its pretty expensive. A melee-Infernal build can also be done w/ DE (good dps and self-healing) and keeping Epidemic for AoE, though you'd prob have to use a toggle like FotT, which boosts melee more than ranged. If you want something that's easier to use, I'd prob just stick to an Epidemic build.

PA can get the highest dps of any ranged set by far, but it takes 3 attack toggles and tons of energy management to get there. You'd have to invest much in energy stats that you'd likely be more glassy than usual. You can settle on running 2 toggles at once for easier energy, but dps obv won't be as optimal then. For solo, I may instead make a PA build that uses alpha strikes w/ Hand Cannon and Shoulder Launcher. They're not PA's higher dps toggles, but they do pack a punch, and they take less energy to run than the others.

An alpha strike-focused PA solo build:

https://aesica.net/co/herocreator.htm?v=29&n=&d=15830bNQXPWa00000091009C009E00OA039F039D099M039N039O03ON01ER00MQ031L009R030ckr438W3T3B

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

Talents
Level 1: The Scourge (Con: 10, Ego: 10, Rec: 10, End: 8)
Level 6: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 9: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 18: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 21: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Power Bolts (advantages)
Level 1: Concentration (advantages)
Level 6: Overdrive
Level 8: Regeneration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Micro Munitions (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Phalanx Defense System)
Level 17: Shoulder Launcher (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Hand Cannon (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Reconstruction Circuits (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 32: Circle of Arcane Power (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Thundering Return (advantages)
Level 38: Fire All Weapons (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 35/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
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)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

CoAP can help you afford using 3 toggles at once for sustained dps. Micro Muni can be added in for more dps as the 3rd toggle, more sustained AoE dps, and to finish off weak mobs if you don't want to wait for the delayed toggles to fire. Gears mostly for Ego, w/ some Con and End/Rec.

bringmeaslab · July 2018

If you're asking whether PA or Infernal dps characters can do well soloing old content, the answer is yes, but pretty much anything can destroy adventure packs anyway. More generally, they're both good sets for dps. PA energy management is usually handled by a combination of the Overdrive unlock, the Insight spec from Ego primary, stacking Ego, and Circle of Arcane power. If you want a good AoE for mob clearing, you can take Lead Tempest in addition to the toggles. Infernal's heavy-hitter for single target damage is Defile, and it looks like you've already tried Epidemic, which is one of the best AoEs in the game.

sathoon · July 2018

Epidemic made me a happy face every time I messed around with it (despite the fact my character was set up for slash damage and not toxic at the time), and that alongside Will-o-wisp's 32 million different advantages are both attractive prospects for Infernal. Defile seemed like a heavy drain on energy for it's damage. But then that's the price of a power set being structured around DoTs I suppose...

The power set for the above PA example is similar to how I figured it might be set up. Phalanx Defense System sounds tasty if I'm interpreting it's effect correctly. Kind of puts me in a bind whether I want to fart all over the shop, or laugh as layers of micro missiles fall off me and explode, I fear I may end up compromising based on the premise of not wanting to spend more zen on costume packs in order to ape a specific look for a Power Armour character (not a Marvel character, it physically hurts me to see Ironman clones in-game).

Edit:

went PA, sad as it is that I can't stab tanks to death anymore. But I'm pleased with the fact that I don't really die, and that fact made several battles in Resistance that would of been hard/impossible solo for my stealth crit melee build, pretty damn easy.

@flowcyto trust me to break something, but while I was playing around with your suggested build, for reasons I can't fathom, I couldn't select micro munitions as early as you have it. So I ended up fiddling around a little to get the number of powers up to allow me to take things like Shoulder launcher / Hand cannon, and determined that Arcane Circle is better sooner, as the phalanx defence and regeneration passive let me trade burst hits repeatedly. Though now that I've gotten to grips with the build's durability, I find myself pondering why both Masterful dodge and Resurgence actives?

@bringmeaslab Lead tempest looks like a good time for clearing weak trash given it also has an advantage that pairs with Concentration, I'll make space for it!

morigosa · July 2018

Masterful Dodge and Resurgence do different things for you. MD is a powerful damage mitigator (cutting incoming damage by about half), but you have to hit it beforehand; if you're already at low health, hitting MD is probably not going to save you on its own. Resurgence r2, on the other hand, will basically full-heal you when you hit it; it's your go-to button for "Wait, why are my current hit points down in triple digits?"

That said... with Regeneration, you can probably get away without either of them: if you get low on health you can usually just hold block and wait for your hit points to refill. MD and Resurgence are both convenience powers, here; you hit MD just before pulling three packs of enemies or starting the boss fight, and that's that much more time to burn everything down without needing to watch your health. Likewise, Resurgence is a quick patch-up; it's an instant heal that can save you several seconds of turtling behind your block.

(Aside: I do, personally, quite like both night warrior and melee builds - but the character I have with night warrior who happily solos lairs... also has invulnerability and only swaps to night warrior for boss fights.)

flowcyto · July 2018

Blocking to turtle is useful sometimes, but will also greatly slow you down if grinding, and even then your only reliable heal power is a HoT (its decent, but slow-acting) and longer-cd heal devices. You don't strictly need ADs, but they are generally a good idea to allow you to handle conditions that have gone south and/or if you want to over-pull for a short while.

Lead Tempest is a good AoE for grinding, though I prob wouldn't take it for the PA build as its a bit redundant and will be disabled if/when you use slotted PA powers.

Single target damage on Power Armour and Infernal sets?

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