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stardiver
Posts: 76 Arc User
Over the last few days, a great number of people have praised Champions Online to me and told me I could make the kind of character I always wanted. I decided to give this idea a shot... But I don't really know how to do that. So, I've come asking for help. Yes, I read some of the guides, but there is a LOT of information in them and I have a splitting headache from unrelated causes, so I wanted to ask for help directly. Here's what I want to make:
Samuel Tow, my original character, who is defined by his use of a katana and dual pistols combo, and his superhuman reflexes allowing him to dodge any attack. I have spoken with others on the subject, so I know a few basic facts, but those aren't really enough. Champions Online seems a tad more complex than I'm used to in an MMO, and I'll be jumping head-first into the deep end to make this happen, so I fear I'll need help. To this effect, I have a few explicit questions, but feel free to answer any questions that are only implied.
First of all: Is it possible to make the above character by using the Power Armour Laser Sword powers? I'm told these exist, but as Free account right now, I can neither see them nor figure out what they do. Would those be enough just between each other? Can I customize the laser sword? Or should I go with Single Blade?
Secondly: What do I do about super stats and specialisations? I'm told to pick Strength as my primary super stat, but what if I want to deal decent damage with a sword AND with pistols? Is this even doable? And what about specialisations? I don't even know what those are.
Finally: What I want to design here is a primarily melee character with ranged weapons used for added damage, support and concept. Does that mean I have to pick a "defensive" passive? Is that even a meaningful question? By concept, Sam has to be able to dodge very well, and that's a major character trait that needs to come through in action.
P.S: Does this game have any two-handed melee weapons? Swords, axes, hammers, anything? I can't really tell at this point.
Apologies if this post is redundant or feels like I didn't do my homework. I tried, and I'll keep trying in the future, when my head stops ringing like a bell.
Samuel Tow, my original character, who is defined by his use of a katana and dual pistols combo, and his superhuman reflexes allowing him to dodge any attack. I have spoken with others on the subject, so I know a few basic facts, but those aren't really enough. Champions Online seems a tad more complex than I'm used to in an MMO, and I'll be jumping head-first into the deep end to make this happen, so I fear I'll need help. To this effect, I have a few explicit questions, but feel free to answer any questions that are only implied.
First of all: Is it possible to make the above character by using the Power Armour Laser Sword powers? I'm told these exist, but as Free account right now, I can neither see them nor figure out what they do. Would those be enough just between each other? Can I customize the laser sword? Or should I go with Single Blade?
Secondly: What do I do about super stats and specialisations? I'm told to pick Strength as my primary super stat, but what if I want to deal decent damage with a sword AND with pistols? Is this even doable? And what about specialisations? I don't even know what those are.
Finally: What I want to design here is a primarily melee character with ranged weapons used for added damage, support and concept. Does that mean I have to pick a "defensive" passive? Is that even a meaningful question? By concept, Sam has to be able to dodge very well, and that's a major character trait that needs to come through in action.
P.S: Does this game have any two-handed melee weapons? Swords, axes, hammers, anything? I can't really tell at this point.
Apologies if this post is redundant or feels like I didn't do my homework. I tried, and I'll keep trying in the future, when my head stops ringing like a bell.
|
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Post edited by stardiver on
0
Comments
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As long as you know that going in, and are prepared to deal with it, it will be easier to accomplish what you want i believe.
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As far as a "Defensive" passive reference, i'd go with "LR" (Lightning Reflexes) if i'm reading your concept right.
But i'm no expert on what CO calls "Dodge Monkeys", so i'll let someone else give you advice on that
.
'Caine
| ME | A "Guide" Book" | | I, have a "DREAM! | ( Member since Feb 2008 ) ... ?
[SIGPIC]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/AngelOfCaine/STILLS/Misc/CO-Sig_01e.png[/SIGPIC]
Hey Samuel, AllYourBase here. I'm just as lost as you are with this stuff, but I'm trying to learn it, too. In case you haven't found it yet, CO's wiki is http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/
Anyway, as far as archetypes go, have you looked at The Specialist? It seems like what you're describing. http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/The_Specialist
Here's a youtube link about The Specialist by someone called IronMarble who seems to make a lot of CO videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr8tB4Tn5xI
I don't know anything about this, yet. I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to answer.
There's The Devestator, which at first glance seems to resemble Titan Weapons. Might be what you're looking for. http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/The_Devastator
I hope I've been able to help you some.
You can also find me on City of Heroes, while the lights are still on:
CoH forum handle: AllYourBase
CoH global handle: @AYB (I'm generally on Triumph)
Wait, why is that a problem? Are there "items" that enhance physical damage but not energy damage? Consider that I know next to nothing about the game, even after reading the Wiki some. If it's a problem, I'd rather not try a first build that's hard and needs special knowledge.
As far as I can tell, I don't think an AT will do what I want Sam to do. Everyone I've spoken with has told me I need a freeform character, so I'm shooting for one of those. I know ATs will handle the "behind the scenes" math for me for the most part, but going Freeform will mean I need to know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Annoying thing is that Quarry favors INT. Thats not so bad tho. INT helps with energy managements and cooldowns.
DEX primary, INT+<something> secondary. Use talents and gear to get around 70 STR. STR gives melee damage bonus., but not alot above 70 (soft cap). Quarry will give you enough EGO to hit ranged damage soft cap.
DEX for criticals. More damage. And maybe for Form of the Tempest. It scales of DEX, boost melee and ranged damage. More melee then ranged. If you are more into ranged damage, take Concentration. It scales of INT (or EGO). But you'll have INT if you plan to take Quarry. So its fine.
As you have INT you could take Molecular Self-Assembly (MSA). Gives energy whenever one of your power comes out of cooldown. Like any given lunge. Its a power you want to use to get into melee ASAP. Another nice power is Conviction. Nice self-heal. Cool part is that it has short cooldown, so not only it heals you, it feeds you with energy.
| ME | A "Guide" Book" | | I, have a "DREAM! | ( Member since Feb 2008 ) ... ?
[SIGPIC]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/AngelOfCaine/STILLS/Misc/CO-Sig_01e.png[/SIGPIC]
Secondly,if you want to deal melee damage,get strength as a primary superstat,then take Ego as a secondary for dealing ranged damage,then if your a flat out DPSer,take recovery as your third and final superstat,it keeps your energy equilibrium high,and sets the rate at which you recover energy.
and finally,there are three main playstyles here,DPSer,tanker,and support,if you want this character to be a supporter like you stated,then you need to either heal others,buff them,or debuff enemies,so you need a passive like medical nanites or AoPM,along with buffing,debuffing,and healing powers.HOWEVER,if you want to be a tank and soak up damage for your team and you,then you need something like lightning reflexes or invulnerability as your passive.Hope this helped!
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That said - I don't know if I want to build for Dexterity or not. It messes with critical chances, yes, but doesn't it also mess with dodge chances, as well?
Also, dodging: That's a central part of Sam's concept and not something I want to compromise on. "Enough" isn't enough in this case. I want something that's very good at dodging, and it turns out I don't know what that is.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Well, it's either basic swords OR the laser sword, not both. If I have to pick, I'll pick basic swords. So that's one decision made, then.
Is there a stat that's responsible for dodging? I do want to focus on "damage," but as I said in the previous post, I'd also want to focus on dodging. Basically, Sam comes down to three things - sword, pistols, dodging. If possible, I'd like to specialise in all three.
I explained it badly. When I said he has pistols "for support," I meant that they're a secondary weapon, used when the sword is either not applicable (against fliers) or otherwise not optimal. In continuity, Sam's sword is supposed to be powerful enough to cut through anything and make cuts significantly longer than its blade, so this is easily his primary weapon. The pistols are a backup weapon, but they are not meant for team support. What I want is a damage dealer with a strong dodging ability, and I'm willing to compromise to meet somewhere in the middle. I also want to skip as many ally-only or ally-mostly powers as possible, since the guy is intended to be a loner.
It's not a very complicated idea, I just don't know enough about Champions Online to make it happen.
*edit*
And yes, Freeform is what I'll be shooting for, no pun intended.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
In so far as I can tell, Dexterity doesn't seem to do much for Dodge unless you take Lightning Reflexes as a passive defense - but the Dodge chance from LR is relatively small. Check out the CO Wiki's page on the Dodge mechanic here:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Dodge
Correction: LR's Dodge chance is increased by whatever your superstats are, not by Dexterity specifically. So, yeah, you can get dodgy without Dex, apparently...
I looked at the Wiki, but Quarry doesn't seem to have any dodge listed at all. The thing says it increases physical damage some and elemental damage a little, but nothing is listed for dodge. And I will look into that backflip, definitely.
OK, so I don't have to worry about Dexterity, then. Right, so I should go for Strength as a primary super stat for the sword, Ego as a secondary set for the pistols and... Is there any stat which increases dodge chance? If not, should I just pick Intelligence for the energy, or... I need to review what each of the stats does.
Here's a related question: Should I even care about all the non-super stats? Like, say I pick Strength, Ego and... Whatever adds health. Should I worry about recharge reduction or status effect strength? Or do I simply never put any points in them?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
I recommend Dexterity.
Take Int and Ego as your secondary superstats and then Quarry as your passive. Play in Brawler (melee stance).
Brawler stance boosts melee damage. Ego boosts ranged damage. Your melee and ranged attacks will more or less balance out this way. Neither will be as good as they could be, but that's the current situation for hybrids in this game.
I would avoid laser swords for this build. It will not hybridize well with munitions attacks. Use single or dual blade attacks from Martial Arts.
Keeping your concept in mind, and aside from Quarry, I'm not seeing any powers which scale Dodge on any stat other than super stats, so I think you're good. Other potentially useful stats:
You can probably ignore Presence altogether - while it can help with aggro reduction, it's mainly for healing and tanking IIRC. I don't really know how Int works for energy; I tend to go to End or Rec (but not both) for that.
I tend to pick a fourth stat that I'll fill in with gear and "leftover" talents, usually End or Rec. I'm not recommending that, really; I'm not a min-maxer, but I find it enough to get by.
Status effects - unless you're going for a pseudo-controller, don't bother. BTW, you'll already have status effect resistance with Str and Ego.
Quarry is very good with INT as your primary superstat (INT and EGO buff is a percentage of your INT). The problem here is that melee powers are relatively low cost per use powers and the melee powersets have very few powers with recharge times so both of the passive INT benefits will give you small returns compared to other powersets.
Avoiding crits on a matter of principal is going to hurt you in more ways than one. You're better off neglecting critical severity on your principals so you can take advantage of things like Form of the Tempest, Killer Instinct and a multitude of other effects that relly on crits to trigger. If you leave your crit severity at 50% your crits can trigger other effects for you but it won't be a huge portion of your DPS.
Regardless, the big question is whether or not you plan on going gold (subscription) or staying silver. If you're going to stay silver you'll need to get a freeform slot to build what you want. I have a lifetime sub from the beta so I have no clue how freeform works with silver accounts.
As far as your concept goes, yes it's very doable. Single blade, munitions dual pistol abilities and dodging are all in the game. Putting them together in a functional freeform build is also very easy and making sure you are effective isn't much harder. The superstats you pick are much less important now than they used to be since almost everything simply scales off whatever superstat you pick. In the end the combination of single blade attacks, dual pistol attacks and some mixed abilities from other powersets (like evasive manuever) makes for a build that is fun to play sincle you'll be jumping all over the place while everybody else just stands there mashing keys.
It does use Dex as a primary, but it is specialized for dodge/avoid rather than critical, though your crit rate will regrettably still be rather high considering high dex on it's own still boosts crit rate...
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name:
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Strength (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Unleashed
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Tireless
Level 12: Impresario
Level 15: Mighty
Level 18: Martial Focus
Level 21: Relentless
Powers:
Level 1: Reaper's Touch
Level 1: Reaper's Caress (Rank 2, Cleaving Strikes)
Level 6: Lightning Reflexes (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Thunderbolt Lunge
Level 11: Holdout Shot (Stim Pack)
Level 14: Form of the Tempest
Level 17: Bullet Beatdown (Rank 2, Not Without Incident)
Level 20: Parry (The Elusive Monk)
Level 23: Reaper's Embrace
Level 26: Intensity
Level 29: Lock N Load
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 38: Conviction
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3, Versatility)
Level 35:
Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Initiative (1/2)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
Many parts of the build can be traded out for other options if needed, but this build is primarily melee damage, even though Dex is primary in this build I would aim for taking your Str up as the highest, primary Dex in this build is simply for the Dexterity Spec tree allowing you to build for dodge/avoid. Lightning Reflexes is the best passive for a dodge build since it provides a stacking buff each time you fail to dodge increasing dodge chance until you successfully dodge.
Holdout Shot would be your healing ability with Stim Pack advantage on it, it's actually a very efficient heal IMHO comparable to BCR without the reduction to damage.
The lunge in this build can be changed out for any other lunge if you don't like how this one preforms, it was just selected to fill the role of a lunge since going melee primarily you will want one.
I don't really have any experiance with single blade abilities so i'm not sure if the ones i selected in this build are really worth it or not...
Strength is a very marginal choice as a superstat unless:
You want to punch people into orbit with heavy melee knockback powers.
You plan to use Enrage as a toggle form.
You are a PvPer concerned about having the highest knockback resistance possible.
Unless one of the above applies, Strength is a poor superstat choice. A muni/blades hybrid all but begs for a Martial Arts toggle form, specifically Form of the Tempest. Which scales off Dexterity.
Muni has little knockback, Single and Dual Blades has little knockback. Enrage would be both difficult to build and to maintain, and the OP did not mention an interest in PvP.
Why Strength?
The melee damage bonus from the stat alone isn't that high, certainly not as high as could be gained through Dexterity which will double dip for crits and a useful toggle form.
Is the character conceptually superstrong? Just how strong? With a modest 70 point investment (at max level) in Strength you can chuck snowmobiles and forklifts. Do you specifically need to be able to lift cars and trucks for character theme?
If not, skip Strength as a superstat.
Why? I'm not trying to be difficult, I'd really like to know why I'm doing this. From looking at the stats, Strength boosts melee damage and I want melee damage at the top of the charts. I realise I can take a "role" for melee damage, but wouldn't it make more sense to build for it? Again - I don't know what I'm saying.
Wait, "martial arts" is a catch-all for all the blade sets? I thought those were separate pools of powers. I thought they were always separate pools of powers, even back in Open Beta. Are they not? Well, that shows how much I know, then...
Good point. I'm usually not a big fan of multiple builds, but it's nice to know this is an option. What are the requirements on swapping builds? Such as, do I need to speak with someone to do it, is there any major cooldown or such? I ask because City of Heroes requires me to visit a trainer and puts me on a 15 minute cooldown, since it recharges all powers, including the 1000-second ones and the half-hour ones.
Right, that narrows it down. But what do you define as "leftover" points? You mean when I start hitting the softcap on my "main" stats? What was that, 70 points? That makes sense, on reflection. And wait, am I not supposed to build for my primary stat with gear?
It's nice to hear I have status protection from Strength and Ego, though. I read another one had protection from "control" effects, I believe. Does that refer to things like slows and sleeps, or is it resistance to debuffs?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Well, I somewhat misspoke. I don't want to AVOID scoring criticals, I'm just not interested in building for them. I don't like %chance for something to happen. Either I can rely on it or I can't, and if I can't rely on it, it doesn't make me happier to have it. I know this is a stat-based MMO, but I still try to make it as predictable and controllable as I can. Criticals are definitely not something I want to rely on to any large extent.
I plan on going gold. Buying a Freeform slot is the biggest rippof I've seen since I was asked to pay $20 for another row of enhancements. I realise this may not seem true to everyone, but I can't afford to pay the price of a new game for a single slot. I'd rather subscribe to the game and get a load of other benefits.
Yeah, that's the sort of character Sam is supposed to be - fast, mobile and deadly. I really don't like the blade models in-game that I've seen so far as they're all kind of short and all one-handed, but I LOVE the anime pistols, so it ought to even out. Plus, the animations aren't as bad as I remember them. Kind of spastic, but I kind of like the single blade attacks. And I'm not shooting for greatness. Something that's enough to get me through content solo will suffice.
I don't mind having a high critical hit change. It can only help. I just don't like playing a build the performance of which depends on scoring critical hits. And I've seen how powerful builds like this can be. A friend of mine specced a League of Legends Gangplank for a lot of attack speed, critical hit chance and critical hit damage and was dealing massive, massive death. It's just not the type of character I like playing, so I'd rather not build for a playstyle like that.
I assume the "lunge" is a distance-closing melee attack? I didn't even know Champions had those. Is that a single blade attack? Speaking of which, is there any way to get my character to block with his weapon instead of just his left hand?
No. Quite the opposite, actually - Samuel Tow's power isn't found in strength, it's found in speed and precision born of scientific experimentation, as well as superior technology in the form of guns, sword and a host of other gadgets that the game can't depict. This is something of an argument I had with someone on the City of Heroes forums the other day, as well - how if I want to build for melee damage here, I need to build for strength. The consensus was if it didn't make sense for me to be chucking trucks, I could simply not do it.
But I was under the impression that melee damage is tied to strength, and since melee damage is Sam's primary "thing" (he is the remake of a City of Heroes Scrapper), I thought strength should be the primary stat. I don't mind building for Dexterity if that makes sense, but I get the feeling you're suggesting a build that revolves around criticals, which isn't consistent with the character's concept. I said "precision," yes, but that's not the precision to deal devastating strikes where brute force would fail, but rather simple accuracy. I don't want a character with low sword damage who has to hope for a melee crit.
And another thing I was advised - and multiple times - was to take a defensive passive if I want something "Scrapper-like," which is basically someone with strong melee damage and decent personal survivability. I don't mind taking an offensive passive, not at all, but I don't want to make a "glass cannon" or your "typical fragile rogue." I get that Champions doesn't like to give me City of Heroes like dodge chances of 95% chance to not be hit (that might be kind of much here), but I'd like to get as good at dodging as is reasonable.
As I don't understand the system, I don't know how that is achievable. But I DO want knockback resistance. I HATE being knocked back.
*edit*
Ah, I remember something else I wanted to ask - can "super stats" be changed once the character is made and does that cost real money?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Strength does indeed improve melee damage, just as Ego improves ranged damage.
All of your chosen superstats (regardless of which ones you choose) will also boost all damage, ranged and melee both.
Additionally there is a statistic called "Offense" which can be gained through some specilizations, but is primarily gained from gear. This also improves all damage.
Then there are offensive passives. Each character may only slot one passive at a time, although you can take more than one passive power and switch between them as needed. -Few people do this in practice- The vast majority of us build each character around a single passive and use it constantly. Offensive passives provide a large damage bonus to specific types of damage. Fire Form from the Fire tree boosts all Elemental damage, for example: Fire, Ice, Toxic. Electrical Form from the Electric tree boosts only Energy damage: Electric, Particle, Sonic. There are also Defensive and Support forms, these mainly do not provide any damage boost at all (there are a couple noteworthy exceptions, neither of which seem conceptually appropriate to your character so I will gloss over them for now).
And finally there are toggle forms. Toggle forms provide a stacking buff which improves all damage (as well as one which boosts healing and damage to a lesser degree). Each stack of the toggle will boost all damage to a degree which scales with a particular stat.
Generally speaking every character will want to take a toggle form. I'm not prepared to give you a run down of every toggle form at this time, but suffice to say each toggle will gain stacks from performing certain actions, and the stat that each form scales with varies. You want to marry your build to a toggle form which fits conceptually with your character, scales with a stat which is generally useful to you, and most critically, gains stacks via an action which you will be performing routinely as part of combat.
Understand that there is a cap to these damage buffs. It caps lower than you might think, with severe diminishing returns after that. If you take an offensive passive, superstat strength, play in brawler mode, and use a toggle form, you will be losing some of this damage. It simply won't do any good at all.
Just from superstats, Brawler stance with an offensive passive, and a useful toggle form (that scales off one of your superstats if not your primary superstat) you should be close to this cap by level 40 if not right at it. Throw in Offense from gear and you will be at cap.
This means the damage bonus from Strength/Ego will mainly be lost to diminishing returns.
The damage bonus from melee stance is substantial. If you plan to use a defensive passive such as Lightning Reflexes, you will not be able to use brawler stance. In this case superstating strength may make more sense, although it may not.
The final note is that critical hits exceed the damage/diminishing returns cap.
Critical chance scales with Dexterity. One of the ideal toggle forms for your concept also scales with Dexterity.
To me it is a no-question choice: Dexterity primary superstat. Form of the Tempest (from Dual Blades) as toggle form. You gain a stack of this form whenever you perform a critical hit, which with a Dex superstat will be often and all the time.
The toggle form which scales off Strength is aimed at the Hulk/Thing/Superman style characters. It gains a stack whenever you knock a foe.
Your conceptual attack style does not knock foes. This makes Enraged a very poor choice of toggle form, and makes Strength a dubious superstat.
"Martial Arts" is a catch-all for Single Blade, Dual Blades, Claws, and Unarmed. Similarly, the other power set groupings are Energy Projector, Technology, Mentalist, Brick, and Supernatural. Some power interactions and prerequisites and etc are grouping-specific, rather than set-specific.
Builds in CO refers to a different thing than builds in CoH - a CO Build is just a configuration of the powers/equipment you already have, it's not a totally separate set of power selections. You can change Builds whenever and wherever with the buttons above your action bar, subject to a short cooldown (10 seconds out of combat, 60 seconds in combat). So you can have a Build in Hybrid role with Lightning Reflexes, and another Build in Melee role with Way of the Warrior or Quarry or whatever, and swap basically whenever you need or don't need the additional durability. That's more of a high-level trick, though; at lower levels you don't have enough power picks to spare one for a second passive just for flexibility.
tldr; you get a big damage bonus to all damage from your superstats, regardless of which ones you pick.
you get a big boost to melee damage from brawler stance
you get a big boost to damage from an offensive passive (that fits your attack type)
you get a modest boost to melee damage from strength, whether it is one of your superstats or not (the bonus is in addition to the bonus from superstats, and are added together for purposes of hitting the diminishing returns cap).
The bottom line is that you can make a really derpy build in this game and still play and have fun. But people don't come to Combat and Powers for help making poor builds, since it's perfectly easy to make those on your own. People come here to ask about what is optimal, what is ideal, and what is effective.
I remember what it was like when I started this game, and I didn't have a lot of help, and my first few characters were terribad. It actually wasn't fun.
I think making sub-optimal theme builds is something that is more fun when you are a more experienced player.
When you're just starting out it's best to go with something tried and tested that we know will work.
That's why I'm pushing Dex/Quarry. We know it works. It works so well it can be boring for vets. But the OP isn't a vet and he'll love his first Dex/Quarry melee.
Firstly, I realise it's not a good idea to jump into a complex build as my first. However, in my situation, it's also the only option I have. I want to give Champions Online a chance that I never really gave it the previous times I tried it, and not just because of the demise of City of Heroes. For years, people have been telling me that Champions can do things no other MMO could, and I scoffed at them. This time I believe it, and I think making a build like this is the perfect litmus test. If it works. I'm sold, simple as that.
Secondly, I now get what you were saying about Strength. It gives melee damage, but not that much, and that can be made up in other way. Fair enough, Sam isn't supposed to be throwing trucks around. If the build can work with Dexterity, it probably should work with Dexterity. If it has to revolve around critical hits... Well, I won't like it, but I can give it a shot. Who knows, maybe I'll be converted?
I need to research passives and toggles. You sound as though there aren't many of them, which isn't the impression I got when I looked at the lists on the Wiki. I should probably look again. It's 5 AM now, but my head is no longer ringing like a bell, so once I get a good night's sleep, I'll hit the books. If there aren't many, I should be able to figure it out based on what you've suggested.
Will I really get enough survivability if I'm using an offensive "role?" I was under the impression that those were for the "damage dealer" type character who has other team-mates to handle the aggro. Last time I played Champions Online seriously, I rage-quit over being unable to kill a group of three basic "COBRA" or something like that minions in Canada at level 12. Died to them about five times in a row accomplishing nothing and then left in a hissy fit. I don't want to see this repeat.
And it looks like I really just need to buy a Gold subscription and look at the sets. It seems impossible to deduce what a set has and which AT comes from what set by looking at the pre-made characters. But this still leaves my biggest question - if I get it wrong, can I fix it later?
Suppose I agree to making Dexterity my primary super stat in order to draw from the Dexterity Speciality tree. What would I want for my secondary super stats? If I'm not taking Strength, I assume I'm also not taking ego, but then what else? And should I still up my strength for knockback protection and my ego for hold protection?
That about covers it. I'll try to get to level 10 on a premade AT to see all the costumes (currently 6, been busy with other stuff) and then head over to get a Gold account.
*edit*
And I apologise if I put this in the wrong place. I followed someone's directions to put build questions in this forum. I don't really want to worry about what's best, just what works without killing me horribly. I'll worry about optimising once I know what I'm doing. This is just to get my foot in the door, so to speak.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
That said, freeform characters can take healing powers and "oh shiii" buttons called "active defenses" which allow squishier characters to manage pretty well.
When I play an offensive passive character I generally have no issues whatsoever with the current single player content (the overall difficulty has flatly decreased substantially since the time you got rolled up by a squad of Viper henchmen).
However, in group play as an offensive character you will die. In a bad alert pug you will die a lot.
That said, in a bad alert pug you can most assuredly die on a tank character. Bosses that are intended for a group of 5 people working together will faceroll a pug that flails about ineffectually. They will laugh and you will cry. Literally. You will get a cutscene of them laughing over your crumpled body.
But solo stuff? It's pretty forgiving these days. Pretty forgiving.
I used to only recommend beginning players start with a defensive passive. It does make the game much easier (albeit slower). I no longer make that automatic recommendation unless someone is struggling with the game.
I also want to bring attention to something VERY important: I don't want a squishy character. Not even a squishy character who can kind of manage if I play him right. That's just not for me. I made that mistake with City of Heroes, trying to make Blasters work for something like 6 years straight, and all that gave me was pain and anger and three max-level characters I deleted and rerolled as melee ATs. I know I said Sam is supposed to be a damage dealer, but if I have to choose between squishy DPS and solid but not so damaging, I'd pick the latter. I don't want to play tank, but I don't want to fear for my life against anything but special enemies.
Black Mantis? He's a big boss, fine. I don't mind getting beaten down by him a few times... As I did. But regular goons? No. Even the big goons with, like, two bars of health I don't want to be too afraid of. If that costs me damage, then let it. What I want and what I need aren't always the same thing, and I'd rather get what I need to be able to play without ripping my hair out.
You said you recommended new players take a defensive passive, and I like the sound of that. Can you recommend one of those for me? We can go from there, as I feel I have a bit more of a grasp of the system now that you've explained it to me. People have suggested Lightning Reflexes, but I don't know if that's the only good choice. For a moment, suppose Lightning Reflexes is my passive of choice, which means a Hybrid role. What super stat would go well with this and what toggle would work?
P.S. And can I use parry with a weapon?
*edit*
Conceptually, I want a strong damage dealer. In actual practice, my primary concern is that I don't die very often
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
I'll second Tom's recommendations. I was a diehard defensive passive user since beta testing, and when I finally tried Dex/Quarry I was amazed at how resilient the build was. Taking Quarry's Fair Game advantage (gain health every time you defeat a foe) helps. For more health-on-kill goodness, there is the Rush of Battle Spec from the Vindicator specialization tree. For gear, in the Primary Defense slot you will want +Avoidance when when you can get it, and when you get the chance to slot a modification you'll want a Gambler's Lucky Gem for that Primary Defense item to get +Dodge. Iirc even while leveling my Quarry character was running close to 50% dodge and avoidance. What those stats mean is: dodge chance is your chance to dodge an attack. Dodging an attack means you reduce its damage. The amount by which you reduce its damage is your avoidance percentage.
On crits: CO is a very crit centric game. Other forms of damage boost are mostly additive. The way that works is: add all additive bonuses. Typically, an offensive passive character may have 60% from super stats, 70% from his passive, 20% or so from Ego (ranged) or Strength (melee), and 10% per stack from their toggle form. With one stack of the form, that means 150% combined. So, let's assume your power's base damage is 1000. With those bonuses, that power would do 2500 damage. If you added another additive bonus (say, 20% from the Offense stat), it would add 200 damage, etc. Crits on the other hand multiply the final damage number of 2500, not the base number of 1000. So, a crit with the example build and power would do 5K damage.
I'm not sure what your reluctance re crits stems from. Mine came from my reluctance to go to the extreme lengths to get crit chance "high enough" in other games. CO makes it fairly easy and that relieved my concerns.
Re; toggled forms. Unlike passive, which scale on super stats, forms scale on specific stats. The best form is the one that your best stat fuels. For Dex, that means a martial arts form. Imo the best of these is Form of the Tempest. Stacks are added every time you critically hit. The best powers for this are fast-hitting attacks (the faster you attack, the more chances you have to crit). Ultimately, the only other choice I see as viable if you go Dex is Form of the Swordsman if you will be primarily using Single Blade bleed producing attacks. However, if some of your attacking will be with pistols, then FotT is better, since stacks proc from any crit, whether melee or ranged.
Any way, hope your head is better, enjoy, and cheers.
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
I do want to pick on something else I noticed, though - it seems you guys are suggesting what I'd refer to as "non-conventional" means of self-protection, such as what I'd describe as "health steal." If at all possible, I'd prefer to stick to the more passive means of defending myself, meaning to avoid and resist damage, rather than suffer damage and heal from it. I don't have anything against healing, but I want to focus the build's defences on dodging first and foremost, with healing delegated to a secondary supporting role, rather than focusing on healing with dodging only there to lessen the need for it. I hope that makes sense, I just woke up. Yes, at 1 PM - I went to bed after 5 AM, remember?
Slight anecdote: I own Darksiders 2, and one of the BIG revelations about it that helped me make the game basically trivial was "crit chance" + "crit damage" + "health steal." A specific gear set gave me quite a bit of critical chance, I had a slow, heavy-hitting weapon that scored critical hits of upwards of 10 000 damage and fed me back life steal of I believe 30%, so 3000 health per hit, and the character had barely 4000 hit points all told. Two hits and I'd be back to full, more or less. That was pretty much purely cheating, but in a single player game, no-one gives a toss.
Is this the kind of build we're shooting for here?
Finally, I want to keep asking about defensive passives. Suppose I'm adamant about running one. Say Lightning Reflexes. What would I need to accomplish that? I don't really mind the game being "slower," provided that's not glacial pace, if it'll give me the kind of survivability which allows me to make mistakes and still not die horribly. Again I bring up City of Heroes Blasters, because they could be INCREDIBLY survivable when played right... And die horribly and instantly the moment I screwed up. This is the kind of character which had me pissed off as all hell and deleting level 50 characters with no sense of remorse of tossing away 700 hours' worth of playtime and six years' worth of anniversary badges. Basically, I'd rather err on the side of survivability than on the side of damage.
Oh, and on the note of aggro: Someone mentioned I wouldn't get enough aggro avoidance with some specific build, and I want to point something out - aggro isn't an issue. I don't intend to play on teams very much for the foreseeable future. I like being sociable over forums and global channels, but I'd rather not depend on other people for the majority of my gameplay. Maybe when I make more friends, but not right now. The last thing I want is to just hop in a pick-up group with strangers to run some event. In eight years of City of Heroes, I ran this sort of thing only enough times to count on the fingers of my hands.
P.S. Can I have two energy-builders, or must I stick to just the single-blade one?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
There are others. Like INT + MSA + lunge. It goes like:
- you are melee oriented char
- to be 'melee' you have to be in melee range (doh!)
- to get there fast you use 'lunge' power. A jump.
- lunge powers have cooldown
- with MSA every time any power comes out of cooldown it give you energy
- MSA scales of INT. And on top of that INT lowers cooldowns, so you can lunge more and get energy back faster.
Invulnerability is the most beginer friendly.
And take a heal power. Any given heal will do. Take it like yesterday.
Note: if you see a nice build on this forums, but it says its 'level 40 retcon', so not for leveling, it can be easily made leveling friendly by just adding a heal power as early as possible.
Super Heros don't use Energy Builders.
Nothing makes you feel powerful at low levels like Regeneration!
As for not wanting to rely on healing. Get over it.
You will need some means of getting health back. You will want some means of getting health back. You cannot build a character that simply does not take damage. Everyone takes damage. In a protracted fight, the difference between a freeform who has Conviction or Bionic Shielding and a Archtype who does not is a full face plant with dirt nap.
I'm concept-locked into dodging, unfortunately. It'll have to be a passive that has to do with that.
Will do. Do those have to come out of specific sets, or does any set have one?
What? Are you saying I should be gaining the energy needed for cost attacks from other means and that's why I should focus on Intelligence? Because I don't really have a problem with the Energy Builder system. In fact, I'd like to have one for swords and one for pistols.
Sorry, I misrepresented myself. I don't have a problem with having healing - quite on the contrary. But what I do have a problem with is relying on healing MORE than I do on dodging. Let's say that I want to protect myself by dodging enemy attacks first and foremost, and using healing to support that when dodging fails or enemy fire becomes overwhelming. I don't want to create a regenerator, not with this character. Which is why I bring up health steal and health on kill - I don't mind having those, but not as my primary source of protection.
You have been pretty adamant about suggesting a primarily offensive build that makes up for defences in other ways, and I'm not really sure those other ways are exactly what I have in mind. To be perfectly honest, I'd prefer to have a defensive build that makes up for offence in other ways. I like stability more than I like BOOM! HEADSHOT! essentially. I would, if it's won't gimp me, prefer to use a defensive toggle.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
The way the original powers designer expressed the difference between an offensive and a defensive passive is this, "The offensive passive user will finish a fight quickly, the defensive passive user will finish the same fight more slowly but will have more health at the end of the fight." While that still applies to AT's, the self-healing available in CO essentially means that freeform heroes (and a couple of AT's) can be like the Eveready bunny, and just keep going and going.
If you prefer the idea of a defensive passive, take Invulnerability (if you can stomach the sparkly SFX) and slot Conviction as your self heal, take Masterful Dodge and slot dodge plus avoidance as before. Melee on such a build still does respectable damage, but pistols will seem painfully slow by comparison to your melee attacks. Crits make up for that to some degree, but since crits magnify an attack's damage, the bigger the attack, the more crits do for you.
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
That's a pretty good description, actually. May I share a personal tangent that might shed some light on the situation?
City of Heroes is the only MMO I know if that has a dedicated melee straight-up damage dealer in the form of the Scrapper. Most MMOs that have melee will either make that character a very low-damage Tank who shouldn't be attacking anyway, or otherwise a high-damage squishy rogue who shouldn't "stand and fight." City of Heroes is also pretty much the only game in which I CANNOT play a Tank because their offensive powers come much later and so much of both their build and their behaviour revolves around stats and aggro management. But in any game that isn't City of Heroes (say, League of Legends or Smite), I tend to gravitate towards the Tank class over pretty much all the others. To this day, I STILL love Volibear more than anyone else.
What I'm saying is I want to shoot for a high survivability build with damage over a high-damage build with survivability. Killing slowly is, to me, much easier to swallow than having to be afraid for my life. I recall an old City of Heros adage: When a Scrapper sees a boss, he goes "Bring it on!" When a Blaster sees a boss, he goes "Aaa! Noo! A boss! Help!" It's not necessarily true, but the playstyle does tend to promote that line of thinking, and I know for a fact that's how I felt. A playstyle that requires me to be cautious and "good" in order to pull off amazing results isn't as satisfying to me as a build which allows me to be sloppy and still manage a decent performance.
By far the LAST thing I want is a character whose means of survival is to finish a fight fast enough for his vulnerability to not matter. Even when that works, it puts me in a position to be afraid, and I don't want to play a super hero game in which I'm afraid.
Apologies for the wall of text. I'm just trying to describe the kind of feeling I want out of the character as that's all I have to go on.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
(Sorry if this has been answered already)
It's super easy. You acquire builds later on and they're pretty easy to maintain. They'll appear right above your action bar, and will have a little mugshot of you.
Swapping builds is as easy as hitting F1, F2, etc. I think by the time you're 40 you can have up to 8 builds.
Managing them is easy. Hit C, click the Builds tab, and there you can choose from any builds you've gotten, give them a name (I often just use two builds and name them Offense and Defense), and choose the role that you want for the build. There's also a handy "Update" button, which you can use to update the build that's in the window with your current setup - you can choose to update the Powers, Costume, and Gear on any build. So, say you're setting up your Defensive build, you'd probably just hit Update and click all the options on, so that your second build will have the same button and gear setup as your current build, but then you'd change your role to Hybrid and then swap out your offensive passive for your defensive.
There's about an 8 second cooldown on swapping Builds, but it's longer (like 30 seconds, maybe more I think) while you're in combat.
CO approaches defenses very differently from CoH. Two things to remember: First, every attack hits - there's no such thing as "Defense" in the CoH sense. Second, there's a positive, roughly linear relation between how long it takes an attack to animate, and how much damage it does; the longer the time between starting the attack and damage delivery, the more damaging the attack is. Usually. It helps to grok both these facts when thinking about what passive defense to choose.
Invulnerability is probably the most straightfoward. You get damage resistance (similar to CoH) that scales with your superstats, but you also get a damage threshold (also scales with SS). Your DR is applied to the damage, and if the remaining damage is lower than your threshold, you only take one damage point. As you can imagine, this is great against minion-level attacks, but can be an issue with the heavy duty "brick buster" attacks.
Lightning Reflexes scales with superstats as well - but it also scales with an attack's animation time. The longer the attack animation, the higher effective DR you get against the attack (if I'm not mistaken, your Dodge and Avoidance are increased - I used to think it had a scaling "always on" DR component, but I'm less sure of that now). Great for dealing with heavy-hitting wind-up attacks, but vulnerable to death by a thousand cuts.
Defiance - not sure if this scales with superstats, or with Con and Rec. The wiki says the latter, but I could have sworn that all defensive passives were re-worked to scale with SS. Anyway, Defiance grants damage resistance that increases during a fight; each time you're hit, you get a stackable buff (up to 6 applications), and a little bit of energy. Good for prolonged fights - and if this does rely on SS, it may even exceed Invulnerability's damage resistance with time (but without the straight up damage reduction).
There's also Regen and Force Fields (and others?), but those seem less appropriate to your theme.
If you're really hung up on the Dodge mechanic at any cost, LR is probably the way to go for a passive defense. However, Invulnerability sounds more along the lines of what you'd mentioned earlier - being able to handle minions but having trouble with the big bosses. LR is pretty much the exact opposite of that. An Invul. or Defiance build with Masterful Dodge (and other dodge-granting abilities) might be a decently thematic compromise.
(Just a tangential heads-up: One issue people had back in the day was conflating concepts with the names applied to mechanisms, without really considering whether the mechanism worked the way they wanted it to.)
BTW, to randomly answer a question from earlier in the thread, Parry is basically an upgraded Block - you can use it with any weapon (or even without one).
INT is one of possible means. OK, not INT, but Molecular Self-assembly. Secondary energy unlock. Wiki: http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Energy_Unlock
Energy Builder is something you use at start. Because you have nothing else, not because its so good. Later, when you get energy unlock, form, etc, theres simply no need to use EB.
I realise this, and I do realise "dodging" is just another type of damage resistance, but I still don't want to rely on straight-up damage resistance as a primary source of protection. Not for Sam. The next character I'll be remaking will be the Steel Rook, who's your typical Power Armour Gatling Gun Guy, and he'll be going the way of Invulnerabiltiy, most likely.
I looked through the passives, and it seems to me like Lightning Reflexes is the only one that matches conceptually. I get the feeling it's not a great pick mechanically, but it is what it is.
I mean visually. Blocking looks kind of fugly, just putting the left hand up without any reason why that will make missiles or lasers hurt any less. I'm guessing there's no way to have the character visually hold up a sword and block with it, right?
Doesn't that require a build designed a build that revolves around this, though? As in, doesn't that mean I'm expected to build for energy generation out of elsewhere? And really, why would I want to skip my energy builder? I know it doesn't do much damage, but it seems to build energy quickly enough, at least so far. Is it somehow detrimental to use the power? I mean, it's there in the game. It seems odd for it to be pointless.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
You get 13 powers to pick. As most attack powers have no cooldown, there is no need to pick multiple attacks that do more or less the same. You pick one, the good one. You pick attack powers based on ingame situations. That would be:
- AoE vs hordes of henchman
- good single target attack vs big boss
- (optional) maybe a nice alpha strike
- (optional) some utility type attack power
Tipical build would have 2-4 attacks.
The same goes for 'powers that keep me alive'. A heal, some protection, etc.
If you add those things its' less then 13. So why not use these left over power slots to make your build be like that everlasting energizing bunny?
And even after that one or two power slots are left.
Edit: as someone said in another post, CO (build) is based around energy, not cooldowns.
That's a good point, actually, and one I hadn't thought of I guess my question is less about which powers to PICK, so much as which powers to SLOT, as there seems to be only one slot for a passive, and what I can put into it depends on what "role" I've chosen. Strangely, I couldn't find a "Brawler" role. I logged in specifically to look at them, and I see Hybrid, Tank, Melee Damage, Ranged Damage and Support. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place (the Build window).
So far, to give you a bit of feedback, I've been relying mostly on the Single Blade energy builder - Reaper's Touch - and the other standby power from the set - Reaper's Caress. To add to this, I'm using Two-Gun Mojo which is turning out to be by far the better damage dealer. I see that Reaper's Caress can turn into an AoE (cone) and that might be where I'm headed. Or I might look for more attacks, we'll see how that goes.
So far, the only thing that's given me serious trouble is the Nighthawk stuff, because the NPCs there are NOT appropriate to a level 5 character, and the Nighthawk Impostors are just nasty. Beyond that, common mooks all the way up to bosses don't seem to be that hard.
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Most of us keep calling it Brawler, which is just an older name for the same thing. Ranged Damage used to be called "Avenger" and Support used to be called "Sentinel" and Balanced used to be called "Guardian".
So for your build, I would go with Lightning Reflexes as your passive. I've had experience with this passive myself on a dodge build character, and despite what has been said lately in this thread Dodge IS indeed a viable defensive mechanic for dealing with henchmen. Add in Parry with the Elusive Monk advantage on it and you'll have even more dodge/avoid as you attack with melee. With Primary Dex and spec'd for Dodge, you'll still take damage but you will avoid a large number of attacks. Even with the "every attack hits" mechanic, Dodge/Avoid can still reduce small attacks from minions to 0.
The way the dodge/avoid mechanic seems to work is that when you "dodge" an attack you gain a flat damage reduction up to so much on that attack, while an "avoid" applies a damage resistance, in some cases you will both dodge and avoid an attack causing the attack to do next to nothing and on occasion nothing at all. Now I could be wrong on the actual workings of the mechanics but this has thus far been my personal experience with Dodge/Avoid.
Without Lightning Reflexes as a passive however, the dodge/avoid mechanic is incredibly crippled as the actual chances to get dodge/avoid to function effectively are absurdly low. Lightning Reflexes is needed for a dodge build to really function.
Since you're focus would be on Sword attacks, you have 2 options for Forms you can either take Form of the Tempest and build stacks off Crits, or Form of the Swordsman and build stacks off Sword Bleeds. I'd honestly recommend FotT since with Primary Dex, even when focused on Dodge, you'll still crit on at least 50% of your attacks. While Crit chance is fairly reliable in Champions, most attacks don't create such absurdly high crits as to make everything a cake walk with High crit rate.
You can then take either Bountiful Chi Resurgence (BCR), with Resurgent Reiki advantage, or Holdout Shot, with Stim Pack advantage, for your heal given your concept. Personally I'd recommend Holdout Shot so to not reduce your damage any further than it already will be from Elusive Monk and a Defensive Passive. It also has the added benefit of being an attack itself so you don't skip out on any damage in order to heal yourself.
For your attacks, I can't give any real recommendations for the Single Blade attacks since I've never used them myself, but your Pistol attacks I'd recommend Two Gun Mojo for a nice ranged DPS attack and Bullet Beat Down is fairly decent for some close ranged, though you'll probably be better taking a good Sword attack in it's place.
Grab Masterful Dodge as an Active Defense to pop when dodge just isn't working enough, this shouldn't be needed very often.
As a melee build a Lunge is very much important, not 100% required, but highly HIGHLY recommended.
I got talked into building for Critical Hits before, so that's where I'm going. Primary Super Stat dexterity, with a plan for making my secondary Super Stats out of Ego and Strength. For the time being, I'm building for those with gear, but I haven't really invested anything into that. If this turns out to be a mistake... As it well may, I take it there is always a respec or a ret-con or whatever those are called? Yeah. When building for critical hits, I think the "Form" which feeds off critical hits is best, and you're right that Lightning Reflexes seems like the best idea, at least conceptually. I'm surprised you're suggesting the active defence power, though, since I really liked that but didn't dare think it would be actually any good
A couple of esoteric points:
Yes, a lunge power would be a good idea, but I'm not that concerned with it at the moment. I had one when I played a stock AT, but now... Well, I spend a lot of my time when I'm away from enemies actually firing away with Two-Gun Mojo. I just took the perk that has the power deal more damage when I'm closer to the enemy, which is awesome. During that time, distance tends to close down to melee on its own. I'm thinking I'll pick that dual pistols attack that's a player-centred AoE at some point for AoE and either snag something else from Single Blade or just upgrade the one I have into an AoE. Crap... I can find names for those, um... Lead Tempest for the AoE pistols attack and Reaper's Caress for single blade. Possibly Scything Blade, though that might make for too many attacks. It is the bane of using multiple weapons.
Also, wait, that's not how I thought the "dodging" concept worked here. I thought I had a chance to dodge, and if I did, I'd get a damage resistance percentage applied to the attack. Are you saying there's also avoidance and a flat damage reduction? That seems... Interesting. I couldn't find that in the Wiki, but I'll go look harder next time.
In the meantime, Sam's working relatively well, but the Nighthawk enemies and the Nighthawk impostors more than anything else are kicking my ****. I fought a Nighthawk in the Lab mission that dodged EVERY SINGLE ATTACK I tossed at him and took a good third of my health off through a block. Ugh.
*edit*
And why does trying to buy Tier 2 of Athletics tell me I can't do that because I need to first buy Tier 2 of Athletics? Isn't that what I'm trying to do already?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
And yeah, the Nighthawk enemies scale to your level, but at level 5 you still have a way smaller bag of tricks than a level 40, so at low levels they can still be pretty hard. NPCs with Lightning Reflexes (look for the buff icon under their health bar) do tend to have very high dodge chances.
Single Blade has good single-target but mediocre AoE; pistol powers have good AoE but mediocre single-target. So they're actually pretty nicely complementary in that way. Sonic Device or Toxic Nanites also combine well with Lead Tempest, if you like the idea of having some kind of exotic ammunition. Eventually you may want Dragon's Bite and Reaper's Embrace to take full advantage of the bleeds you apply with Reaper's Caress, and also for the energy return from the Rush buff that Dragon's Bite gives, but that combo can wait until you've rounded out other areas.
Eventually, and ideally, you want to be able to attack without using your energy builder much or at all. There's nothing strictly wrong with it, but EBs don't deal very much damage, so it would be preferable to spend your time on high-damage attacks rather than low-damage ones. There are lots of paths toward this: Endurance, Recovery, and Intelligence all help; there are various Secondary Energy Unlock powers, which trigger from various things and scale from different stats; your Form returns energy each time you gain a stack of Focus; blocking also gives energy, and the Force Sheathe advantage on Force Shield will continue to return energy from being attacked for several seconds after you stop blocking; and the list goes on. You don't need ALL of those, and pistols/SB are less thirsty than some sets, but some degree of energy management is helpful.
There is a block power that blocks with a weapon, but unfortunately it's a Heavy Weapons power, which means it uses different weapon models than your Single Blade attacks, and switching suddenly like that looks kinda goofy.
For a dodge-focused character like yours, the best healing power is generally Bountiful Chi Resurgence (in any of the Martial Arts sets), plus the Resurgent Reiki advantage. It gives you ticks of healing over a duration, and the advantage gives you an extra tick each time you dodge. Combine that with Masterful Dodge and you can quickly recover health even while taking heavy fire.
You can respec ("retcon") at the Powerhouse. You remove one choice at a time, starting with the most recent one and going back from there, and pay a cost for each ability removed. The cost is quite low up until level 20 or so, low enough that you can pretty easily undo everything without help; at higher levels a full retcon is pretty expensive, but undoing the last few choices is still manageable. So if you decide you don't like your last power choice after all, that's easy enough to undo, but if you decide you don't like the power you took 30 levels ago, you'll need a lot of resources or a full retcon token.
New verse, same as the first. City of Heroes had the same kind of "level-less" enemies that weren't level-less at all. Clever players found out they were actually level 30, but level modifiers scaled to player levels. Trouble is, enemy health in City of Heroes rises faster than player damage, since players are expected to enhance their attacks and get better ones. So when your piddly damage as a level 5 gets scaled up against a level 30 enemy who expects much stronger damage, you suck. I'm actually impressed I can hurt those guys at all.
Swords for single-target damage, guns for AoE. Sure, that works, and it makes things simpler, too
I realise the Energy Bilder "auto attack" isn't a good option, but I kind of have to ask - does it get less effective in later levels? Right now at level 10, I can fill my entire energy bar in under two seconds just auto-attacking, so I really never have to just sit and watch the game play itself. Does that get worse later on?
Also: Blocking. I've taken quite a liking to the mechanic. It's not very useful for just blocking basic attacks like it would be in an action game as enemies don't really telegraph their actions, plus I'm pretty sure I have to block before they start winding up, but I still enjoy using it just to block for a while to create breathing room or when someone starts spraying with a tommygun. I do wish blocking did more, but I guess that's down to me facing enemies far out of my league who just do so much damage I can't be expected to block it effectively. Kind of like the Blue Laser in the Power House. I saw it one-shot a smartass earlier today, who though he could back away from the laser podium to dodge it. Nope! The emitter is player-targeted!
Overall, though, I'm looking to make the build sturdier. For now, I'll make do on my sword energy builder and Reaper's Caress and Bullet Mojo for attacks. I just took Lightning Reflexes before I had to go and I haven't tested it yet. AoE doesn't seem to be an issue yet so I'll work on that later. For now, I want to not die. The next one I'll take will probably be something to heal, so Bountiful Chi will probably be it. It seems like a decent choice, but I'll go over the previous suggestions to see if there isn't one better or with less of a damage hit.
Is there such a thing as a full retcon... Sorry, I KNOW there is such a thing as a full ret-con as I saw it advertised somewhere, but is that paid for in real money? How far back does it take me?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
BCR is mechanicly the better heal for a dodge build, however the cut to damage on it can be detrimental to some builds. Since your build includes the use of pistols already taking Holdout Shot is an viable option for you, and it's heal from the Stim Pack advantage is pretty reliable.
As for your stats, I'd recommend adding in either Recovery or Intelect for energy management, perhaps stat both since as others have pointed out before, the damage boots from Str and Ego are both easily replicated through the Offense stat from gear and specializations as well as the overall damage boost granted from all superstats in general.
Knock resistance from strength is good to have, however, this has been a bit buggy for a while now. I have a tank character with over close to 300 str, not yet lvl 40, but she still gets punted across parking lots by just about any Knock ability from mobs. As it stands holding block when you see a knock attack coming is the best solution to this problem, though blocking doesn't grant a guaranteed knock resist, it does however often reduce the power of the knock enough to merely push you back a few feet.
Also, I already picked Strength as a secondary super-stat. Should I retcon that away and pick something to do with energy?
*edit*
Also, is that a lemur with a giant tongue in your avatar?
*edit*
Something else I just ran across: "Skills." There seem to be three types - mystic, science and technology... I think. The kick of it is, each tree focuses around different things. Is there one "right" one I should pick or should I just go for whatever's the most appropriate?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
While additive damage bonuses are nice, the more of them you have, the less they contribute, percentage-wise, to your damage. I always pick an energy stat as one of my secondary SS's (usually Int so I can see the annoying Viper Infiltrators when they smoke bomb me, but sometimes Recovery). The more time you spend energy starved, the lower your DPS is. When you build a ranged/melee hybrid, you have to give up something. For me, that is always going to be STR and/or EGO unless the build requires them for some reason (i.e., if my toggled form is Enrage, then I need the STR, whereas if it's Concentration then I'd use Int over Ego. Since you're going Dex then neither is really required).
*edit*
I'd recommend Science, if only because Gambler's Lucky Gems are a Science drop.
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
In terms of healing, I checked out Holdout Shot and I'm not too happy with it. It has good stats (I think), but the idea behind the power doesn't sit well with me. I did look at one power from Power Armour that impressed me, though - Reconstruction Circuits. I don't know what it looks like and I'm really not there yet, but I CAN take it with enough "other" power picks. But I'd have to know what it looks like. If it's some kind of power armour overlay, that won't work, but if it's just a visual effect, that's simple enough. *edit* And Reconstruction Circuits seems like a better, faster heal with no downsides. What am I missing?
Here's a question, though - what's the deal with energy unlocks? I mean, I get that they're basically passive powers that provide a constant buff, but how many of them can I have at any one time? Can I just take 'em all? Should I take multiple? Will they even work?
*edit*
Also, about forms: People suggested Form of the Tempest and I agree with this. It seems like a good idea, based on my high dexterity stat. But what about Form of the Master? This seems to give me Focus on dodges, and I AM building for dodging. Won't that also work? This also seems to not reduce damage, but rather increase cost.
And having looked at the starts... Are we really worried about a 10% damage decrease? That doesn't seem like a lot. City of Heroes Granite Armour slashed my recharge by 75% and my damage by 40% and I still used it... Begrudgingly. So, what I'm saying is... Is there a "better" power here, or am I just going to have to pick?
Also, if Form of the Tempest cuts my damage by 10%, doesn't that 7.5% Focus buff kind of get lost in the shuffle?
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.
Downside is, it was made for Power armor, and as such it is a toggle power. Power armor toggles are a special type of power that take up "slots" (there are chest, shoulder and hand slots).
Toggling on one such power will diable all other powers from working, except other Power armor powers on a different slot. Reconstruction circuits is one such "chest" power - once you switch it on, it'll disable your use of all other powers, even your builder.
Since you're going for dodge, your best "heal" would be Burning Chi Resurgence together with the Rseurgent Reiki advantage. This heal is a HoT that'll heal you for a certain amount of HP every 2 seconds - the RR advantage will make it heal for additional health each time you scuessfully dodge. Downside: It's nerfs your damage by 10% while active, and it shows a bright green (colour changeable if gold) light over your chest area.
It's one of the best maintainable heals in the game IMO.
Form of the master only works on dodge - Form of the Tempest is more reliable, your high dex will make you crit with way more than 30% chance at high levels. Form of the Master loses it's usefulness when you're not tanking, FotT doesn't, and will proc on melee crits and ranged crits. FotT is the easiest and most flexible of the Form powers, IMO:
Yikes! OK, that's quite a downside. Chuck that one, then. Thank for the warning so I didn't have to waste a power pick and then waste money to correct it.
Do you mean Bountiful Chi Resurgence? I don't mean to correct you - far from it. However, since I don't know the game and its powers very well, I need to make sure we're talking about the same power. I just logged in to make sure the power I'm thinking about is called what I think it is, but it's possible I read wrong and you're referring to something else.
On Tanking: Does this only apply in a team situation where I won't be the one being attacked? Or is that applicable solo, when I'm all there is to attack? Just curious. Either way, if you say it's more reliable, I'll go with your recommendation and go with Form of the Tempest.
Incidentally, I love the FOTT acronym. It reminds me of my PAGGG for Power Armour Gatling Gun Guy
Of all the things I've lost,
It think I miss my mind the most.