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aironfaar
Posts: 8 Arc User
(parallel thread in the inofficial forum: http://champions-online.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=powerarchetype&action=display&thread=2759)
Hey guys,
I haven't been playing since shortly before skill trees and the new itemization arrived, so I missed quite a lot of changes and know next to nothing about those things. Being someone who tries to lay out a plan before I even really know the ropes (in this case, because I don't have the time I used to have for testing stuff in CO
), I wanted to try to convert one of my old builds to the current version in a way. It was a theme build, a feral, animalistic berserker to be more precise. Yep, bestial supernatural. A self-sustaining tanky dps that could fill in the tank spot if nobody else was there. I'll just copy and paste the most recent version I could find from the championBuilder to give you the idea:
Build by championBuilder 0.4.1
Download this Build here.
Garsun: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Strength
Level 13: Super Constitution
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury -- Rip And Tear!
Level 1: Frenzy -- Fear Sense
Level 6: Supernatural Power
Level 6: Acrobatics -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 8: Defiance -- Rank 2
Level 11: Aspect Of The Bestial -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 14: Pounce -- Nailed to the Ground, Crippling Challenge
Level 17: Massacre -- Bloody Mess, Rank 2
Level 20: Unbreakable -- Better You Than Me
Level 23: Howl -- Make Them Tremble
Level 26: Enrage -- Giant Growth, Rank 2
Level 29: Bionic Shielding -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 32: Inertial Dampening Field -- Rank 2
Level 35: Bite -- Furor Venenum
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Retaliation -- Rank 2
Talents:
Level 1: Superhuman
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Body And Mind
Level 12: Healthy Mind
Level 15: Impressive Physique
Level 18: Shrug It Off
Level 21: Diplomatic
With Enrage and Inertial Dampening Field being forms now, I decided to keep Aspect of the Bestial. The Enraged! buff and Bestial Supernatural stuff is essential to the build. The rest, however, isn't. That means I can just pick another slotted passive too as without Inertial Dampening Field, my passive defense boils down to Defiance. Also, if I choose different means of defense, I can just as well rethink my self-heals too. That leaves me with the following "core" power setup (don't mind the order, I just picked whatever my cursor came across first; the distributed advantage points aren't final either, it's just the "must have" stuff so far):
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name:
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 15:
Talents:
Level 1:
Level 6:
Level 9:
Level 12:
Level 15:
Level 18:
Level 21:
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury (Rip and Tear)
Level 1: Bite (Furor Venenum)
Level 6: Frenzy (Fear Sense)
Level 8: Supernatural Power
Level 11: Aspect of the Bestial (Rank 2, Rank 3, Giant Growth)
Level 14: Howl (Make them Tremble)
Level 17: Massacre (Blood Mess)
Level 20: Pounce
Level 23: Unbreakable (Better You Than Me)
Level 26:
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 38:
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Ninja Leaves
Specializations:
And that's where I start to be clueless. I didn't select any superstats as I couldn't decide which one to choose third yet...and thus couldn't decide which one to take as a primary. The talent selection depends on the superstats. The two I decided to take are Strength and Constitution - with Enraged! scaling in strength with, well, Strength and in duration with Constitution, that's a bit of a no-brainer. I did have a few ideas what to do though, so here's a more or less short rundown:
Idea 1: sticking to the roots
- Slotted Passive: Defiance or Invulnerability
- Block: Retaliation
- Self-Heal: Bionic Shielding
That leaves two power slots open. That led me to the following additions...
- Masterful Dodge and Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki. My dodge rating was pretty poor back then, but a means to increase it could be...
- Primary superstat: Constitution; 3 points into Deflection in the skill tree
- Secondary superstat 2: Dexterity
That led me to another idea. One that I suppose is rather...unconventional, not to say inefficient.
Idea 2: furious dodging.
- Primary superstat: Dexterity; 2 points in Evasion, 3 points in Quick Reflexes
- Slotted Passive: Lightning Reflexes or possibly Way of the Warrior
- Block: Parry with The Elusive Monk
- Self-Heal: Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki
- Masterful Dodge
That leaves one more power to be chosen. I could go for Bionic Shielding, but maybe, with all that dodging and Bountiful Chi Resurgence, I'd be better off taking something else. Maybe an Active Offense like Aggressor for the Enraged! synergy.
Idea 3: convincing myself that the character could be an occasionally pissed (1 stack Enraged! through Howl), but mostly focused, cold-blooded predator type.
I'm not really fond of this as it is a compromise theme-wise, but with all the dexterity and dodging put into the build in Idea 2, it appears as though dropping Aspect of the Bestial for the sake of Form of the Master or Form of the Swordsman would work better. Focus scales with Dexterity after all, I will dodge quite a lot if I go the Lightning Reflexes route, and Enraged! was applied using bleeds anyway, so there are plenty of ways to switch to that. Also, I might, maybe, swap the superstat Strength for something else, possibly more useful...and it could solve potential energy management issues. Hold and knock resistances could be increased by choosing Constitution as a primary, going for Unyielding and Resilient. That way, I could also take Deflection again to get some more dodge, like in Idea 1...
I didn't spend a lot of time on that idea yet as I'm still reluctant to tweak the theme, but if I have to do so for playability, so be it.
The other ideas I had...well, I didn't write them down and can't reconstruct them. Most of them were slight variations of the above anyway.
As you can probably see, I really need some input here, for as of now, I can't even create the character without potentially making mistakes because I don't know which initial talent to choose. Everything from helpful pointers to complete builds based on my core or even modifications of the core that still fit the theme are highly appreciated. Heck, I'm even grateful if you read this far. That said, thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you.
Aironfaar
Hey guys,
I haven't been playing since shortly before skill trees and the new itemization arrived, so I missed quite a lot of changes and know next to nothing about those things. Being someone who tries to lay out a plan before I even really know the ropes (in this case, because I don't have the time I used to have for testing stuff in CO
), I wanted to try to convert one of my old builds to the current version in a way. It was a theme build, a feral, animalistic berserker to be more precise. Yep, bestial supernatural. A self-sustaining tanky dps that could fill in the tank spot if nobody else was there. I'll just copy and paste the most recent version I could find from the championBuilder to give you the idea:Build by championBuilder 0.4.1
Download this Build here.
Garsun: Level 40 Champion
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Strength
Level 13: Super Constitution
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury -- Rip And Tear!
Level 1: Frenzy -- Fear Sense
Level 6: Supernatural Power
Level 6: Acrobatics -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 8: Defiance -- Rank 2
Level 11: Aspect Of The Bestial -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 14: Pounce -- Nailed to the Ground, Crippling Challenge
Level 17: Massacre -- Bloody Mess, Rank 2
Level 20: Unbreakable -- Better You Than Me
Level 23: Howl -- Make Them Tremble
Level 26: Enrage -- Giant Growth, Rank 2
Level 29: Bionic Shielding -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 32: Inertial Dampening Field -- Rank 2
Level 35: Bite -- Furor Venenum
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Retaliation -- Rank 2
Talents:
Level 1: Superhuman
Level 6: Physical Conditioning
Level 9: Body And Mind
Level 12: Healthy Mind
Level 15: Impressive Physique
Level 18: Shrug It Off
Level 21: Diplomatic
With Enrage and Inertial Dampening Field being forms now, I decided to keep Aspect of the Bestial. The Enraged! buff and Bestial Supernatural stuff is essential to the build. The rest, however, isn't. That means I can just pick another slotted passive too as without Inertial Dampening Field, my passive defense boils down to Defiance. Also, if I choose different means of defense, I can just as well rethink my self-heals too. That leaves me with the following "core" power setup (don't mind the order, I just picked whatever my cursor came across first; the distributed advantage points aren't final either, it's just the "must have" stuff so far):
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name:
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 15:
Talents:
Level 1:
Level 6:
Level 9:
Level 12:
Level 15:
Level 18:
Level 21:
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury (Rip and Tear)
Level 1: Bite (Furor Venenum)
Level 6: Frenzy (Fear Sense)
Level 8: Supernatural Power
Level 11: Aspect of the Bestial (Rank 2, Rank 3, Giant Growth)
Level 14: Howl (Make them Tremble)
Level 17: Massacre (Blood Mess)
Level 20: Pounce
Level 23: Unbreakable (Better You Than Me)
Level 26:
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 38:
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Ninja Leaves
Specializations:
And that's where I start to be clueless. I didn't select any superstats as I couldn't decide which one to choose third yet...and thus couldn't decide which one to take as a primary. The talent selection depends on the superstats. The two I decided to take are Strength and Constitution - with Enraged! scaling in strength with, well, Strength and in duration with Constitution, that's a bit of a no-brainer. I did have a few ideas what to do though, so here's a more or less short rundown:
Idea 1: sticking to the roots
- Slotted Passive: Defiance or Invulnerability
- Block: Retaliation
- Self-Heal: Bionic Shielding
That leaves two power slots open. That led me to the following additions...
- Masterful Dodge and Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki. My dodge rating was pretty poor back then, but a means to increase it could be...
- Primary superstat: Constitution; 3 points into Deflection in the skill tree
- Secondary superstat 2: Dexterity
That led me to another idea. One that I suppose is rather...unconventional, not to say inefficient.
Idea 2: furious dodging.
- Primary superstat: Dexterity; 2 points in Evasion, 3 points in Quick Reflexes
- Slotted Passive: Lightning Reflexes or possibly Way of the Warrior
- Block: Parry with The Elusive Monk
- Self-Heal: Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki
- Masterful Dodge
That leaves one more power to be chosen. I could go for Bionic Shielding, but maybe, with all that dodging and Bountiful Chi Resurgence, I'd be better off taking something else. Maybe an Active Offense like Aggressor for the Enraged! synergy.
Idea 3: convincing myself that the character could be an occasionally pissed (1 stack Enraged! through Howl), but mostly focused, cold-blooded predator type.
I'm not really fond of this as it is a compromise theme-wise, but with all the dexterity and dodging put into the build in Idea 2, it appears as though dropping Aspect of the Bestial for the sake of Form of the Master or Form of the Swordsman would work better. Focus scales with Dexterity after all, I will dodge quite a lot if I go the Lightning Reflexes route, and Enraged! was applied using bleeds anyway, so there are plenty of ways to switch to that. Also, I might, maybe, swap the superstat Strength for something else, possibly more useful...and it could solve potential energy management issues. Hold and knock resistances could be increased by choosing Constitution as a primary, going for Unyielding and Resilient. That way, I could also take Deflection again to get some more dodge, like in Idea 1...
I didn't spend a lot of time on that idea yet as I'm still reluctant to tweak the theme, but if I have to do so for playability, so be it.
The other ideas I had...well, I didn't write them down and can't reconstruct them. Most of them were slight variations of the above anyway.
As you can probably see, I really need some input here, for as of now, I can't even create the character without potentially making mistakes because I don't know which initial talent to choose. Everything from helpful pointers to complete builds based on my core or even modifications of the core that still fit the theme are highly appreciated. Heck, I'm even grateful if you read this far. That said, thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you.
Aironfaar
Post edited by aironfaar on
0
Comments
Although on re-reading your post you can ignore some of what I said.
My Amazon author page
How to build a freeform character...the Kenpo way
Demon Keypo's Building Guide
Freeform Builds Directory (Last updated: 04/23/2016)
Serving since September, 2009 / 65 Characters, 63 Level 40's
Of course if you throw Dodge gear/spec on top of Defiance, Invulnerability, Medical Nanites, Regeneration or some of the magical Auras you'd fare even better, I would think. Multiple types of defense and all that.
It may break concept, but if you used Void Shift instead of Pounce, you could get another source of fear-generation through the advantage. Definitely looks different than Pounce, though (more 'magical' what with the poof of teleport and all).
I'd be tempted to get Versatility on Acrobatics - quite handy, that.
Stat-wise, if you go with Defiance you want CON superstat and that would also let you get the spec to bolster dodge with DEX as a secondary superstat. If you want STR as your other secondary superstat, you may run into energy management issues.
I never really liked Supernatural Power, but I may have been using it wrong since a lot of people DO like it. I got the impression it works best with maintained powers, for some reason.
If you want STR primary superstat (for the greater lifting strength, melee dmg, etc you can probably get by with CON secondary superstat with Defiance or choose some other passive ---- as far as I know, Defiance is the only slotted passive to still scale with a specific stat.
I would be tempted to get REC as a secondary superstat to help with energy issues but not sure what to sacrifice for it.
I confess my own Bestial character (Menagerie) is not very high level because I haven't worked out the energy issues to my satisfaction (he's also in pre-OnAlert gear, still, which can't help).
What the heck... got a little time so I whipped up MY version of a bestial character:
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Menagerie
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Survival Training
Level 9: Quick Recovery
Level 12: Acrobat
Level 15: Impresario
Level 18: Amazing Stamina
Level 21: Paramilitary Training
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury (Rip and Tear)
Level 1: Regeneration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Frenzy (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Pounce (Nailed to the Ground)
Level 11: Howl
Level 14: Shred (Rank 2, Penetrating Strikes)
Level 17: Bite (Rank 2, Furor Venenum)
Level 20: Massacre (Rank 2, Blood Mess)
Level 23: Aspect of the Bestial
Level 26: Retaliation
Level 29: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Locust Swarm
Level 38: Venomous Breath (Paralytic Bile, Infectious Bile, Locust Breath)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3, Versatility)
Level 35: Bat Flight (Rank 2)
Specializations:
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Tough (2/3)
Constitution: Deflection (3/3)
Constitution: Quick Healing (2/3)
Warden: Slaughter (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Arbiter: Enforcer (3/3)
Arbiter: Ruthless (2/2)
Arbiter: Arbiter Aura (3/3)
Arbiter: Rend (2/2)
Mastery: Warden Mastery (1/1)
My Menagerie can shapeshift (via different costumes) into various animal forms, you see. I debated, at one point, making him control a pet army (the name Menagerie would then refer to the pet army and not his OWN shapeshifting-into-many-animals)... but combining the two felt odd and I didn't like ONLY being a ringmaster of pets. That said, I MIGHT drop one of the later fluff powers for one of the unbound animal summons.
There's my bestial build. A bit different in that it's Focus based instead of Enrage/Aspect. I'm sure it'd still work well if I used Aspect instead of a MA Form.
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The following build is what I have in mind at the moment (again, I didn't think about the order in which I'll take the powers; I'll figure that out while leveling as I always do):
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Garsun
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Strength (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Master
Level 6: Mighty
Level 9: Agile
Level 12: Enduring
Level 15: Martial Focus
Level 18: Physical Conditioning
Level 21: Acrobat
Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury (Rip and Tear)
Level 1: Supernatural Power
Level 6: Frenzy (Fear Sense, Challenging Strikes)
Level 8: Howl (Make them Tremble)
Level 11: Aspect of the Bestial (Rank 2, Giant Growth)
Level 14: Pounce (Crippling Challenge, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 17: Shred (Penetrating Strikes, Crippling Challenge)
Level 20: Massacre (Blood Mess)
Level 23: Defiance (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Bionic Shielding
Level 29: Unbreakable (Better You Than Me)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 38: Parry (Rank 2, The Elusive Monk)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Ninja Leaves (Rank 2)
Specializations:
Constitution: Unyielding (2/2)
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (1/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Deflection (3/3)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
Protector: Debilitating Challenge (2/2)
Protector: Defensive Expertise (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Upper Hand (2/3)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Protector Mastery (1/1)
Now for the reasoning behind it all. Further input is still highly appreciated, especially of the "yeah, that could work", "it might work even better if you'd (...)" and "it might not work because (...), maybe try (...)" type...and most importantly whether I can actually tank with that, heh.
Powers:
Bestial Fury - Theme choice. The advantage felt like a perfect addition. If I should find that I'm not using it often enough to justify the distribution, I'll move the two advantage points somewhere else.
Supernatural Power - Easy means of energy management. I'm not sure whether it still suffices, but in my original build, this plus Defiance was enough to keep my energy from depleting.
Frenzy - Theme AoE. Also, synergizes nicely with Howl and has Challenging Strikes which I'll need if I want to tank.
Howl - Damage mitigation, a minor little bit of crowd control through Make them Tremble, Enraged! refresher. Also, it does have a nice flavor for my character to it.
Aspect of the Bestial - Essential for keeping up Enraged! with all the bleeds. I don't want to hit my foes with pillows, after all. If I find that one maintained stack of Enraged! suffices, I might move those two advantage points somewhere else.
Pounce - Close the gap while maintaining the theme! Crippling Challenge is an easy pick. I added Nailed to the Ground when I made the experience that the ranged guys I played with enjoyed taking the aggro of flying ranged mobs that stayed at a distance I couldn't cross easily. It was always a pain to reach them...until I made them fall.
Shred - This one replaced Bite. It does fit the theme a bit better, makes better use of Supernatural Power as it's easier to control due to being a tap. True, I miss out on a stun, but gain a spammable Crippling Challenge attack with high chances to apply bleed (50% on the first two, 100% on the third hit as I always have at least two stacks of Enraged!) and a decent resistance debuff.
Massacre - The single target attack of choice when the target is bleeding and the Enraged! stacks are doing fine during solo play. I don't know yet how it behaves while single target tanking, but I hope I can still make use of it then without losing too much aggro gain.
Defiance - I decided to stick with this as Regeneration doesn't quite fit the theme as I picture it and Invulnerability lacks the energy management. Remembering how my energy behaved when I played the pre-On Alert version of this build, I don't want to think about how some situation might end without it.
Bionic Shielding - Always has been one of my favorite heals. I remember that even without Presence, it did a nice job to keep me alive, plus I was able to do some support when I wasn't alone. I want to do that again!
Unbreakable - This active defense has been my favorite "Oh, crap!" button with this build due to both the Enraged! buff and the fact that it saved me numerous times. I took it for that memory and to make some more use of the Protector tree.
Masterful Dodge - While I heard that it's possible to stack up copious amounts of dodge and avoid through itemization, specialization trees and powers, I figured that this little bad boy couldn't hurt, especially not if used in conjunction with Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki.
Bountiful Chi Resurgence - Even while playing the pre-On Alert version, I felt that Bionic Shielding was amazing already, but not good quite enough as the only self-heal. Considering this build will hopefully be able to dodge nicely, I thought Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki to be the best way to fill that spot.
Parry - I didn't feel comfortable with the idea that my only source of Avoidance was items and the situational Masterful Dodge, so I decided to take Parry with The Elusive Monk. Rank 2 as I like to have a somewhat stronger block than just an unranked one.
Primary Super Stat:
Constitution - While I really like all the specialization trees of Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, I decided to make the latter my primary when I chose Defiance.
Secondary Super Stats:
Strength - Scaling with Enraged!, melee damage and the possibility to pick up and throw objects. I'm obsessed with doing that. Just ask the guys I used to play with. The ones I was in TeamSpeak with also heard occasional maniacal laughter when I found a nice object to pick up and throw.
Dexterity - Source of Dodge through Balanced from the Constitution tree and more Dodge plus Avoidance from Parry with The Elusive Monk. The added Critical Hit rating can't hurt either.
Specializations:
Constitution:
Unyielding 2/2 - Resisting crowd control is always good, in any given situation. Hold resistance through Constitution stacking? Yes, please!
Resilient 2/2 - Knock resistance overkill due to secondary super stat Strength, anyone? Same reasoning as above.
Fuel My Fire 1/3 - With constitution granting thirty times more points than Tough 1/3, I figured the last mandatory tier 1 point was better spent in this one. Might be helpful if my energy management doesn't live up to my expectations.
Deflection 3/3 - This is part of the reason for why I took Dexterity as a super stat, after all.
Armored 2/2 - Chosen for Defense bonus overkill to synergize with The Best Defense.
Protector:
Fortified Gear 3/3 - Same reasoning as Armored.
Bulwark 2/2 - Even more health in the Tank role and the possibility to be off-tank or even main tank in the Hybrid role, the latter in case the healing power increase through super stats is needed? Sounds fun!
Debilitating Challenge 2/2 - Because Crippling Challenge is all the more fun with this.
Defensive Expertise 3/3 - With two Active Defenses, this seemed like an obvious choice.
Warden:
Fortified Gear 3/3 - Same reasoning as last time!
Ruthless 2/2 - It felt like I needed to do something to bolster those critical hits I get through superstatting Dexterity. If this can be done through equipment without losing too much, I'll put these points into Elusive.
The Best Defense 3/3 - With +80% Defense from equipment, this should cause a sweet damage boost!
Upper Hand 2/3 - Since I'm not sure how good Offense is exactly, I decided to put the remaining two points into this. If I find it to be better, they'll go into Tenacious; I will be hit after all. If AoEs turn out to be a problem, there's also still Elusive to swallow these points.
Mastery:
Protector Mastery - I feel I don't need the additional damage resistance from the Warden Mastery's buff. While even more Constitution and Defense from Constitution Mastery might be nice, I liked the idea of my Active Defense powers popping back up from their cooldown as a last resort when things get really ugly, so I took this.
Now that my thoughts and decisions are explained, I have a few specific questions that I'd like to receive answers to besides the one for general input:
1) The itemization I have in mind boosts all the three super stats, Strength preferrably to at least 320 in order to be able to lift every kind of throwable object, along with Dodge, Avoidance, Critical Chance and Critical Severity as needed. However, I do not know whether boosting that many attributes is actually possible. That said... Is it?
2) If it is, how much effort would it be to increase all these stats to reasonable levels?
3) Did I forget any important attributes that I could or should boost through equipment? I'm not sure whether I know every kind of attribute that can be found on equipment, after all.
I think I had more specific questions than that, but just can't think of them right now. Either way, I again thank you for taking the time to read this far. I hope to hear from you!
Aironfaar