|
Post by SteelShaman on Sept 21, 2011 15:31:54 GMT -5
The very first character I ever made in an MMO was an Energy/Energy Blaster in CoH. As a result, it's been bugging me for some time that I didn't have a Force character in CO (since that's as close as you can get to the same thing here). So today I sat down and made Nova Storm. I spent some time reading various guides and talking with folks in game. The following build is the result. I guess I'm just asking for a "sanity check" of the build to make sure I haven't made any blunders. My only goals are:
1) Survivability 2) Decent damage 3) Absolutely positively no attacks that are not Force. Having powers from other frameworks is fine (and almost mandatory really) but none of my actual attacks are anything but Force attacks. The original CoH character this build is based on was itself based on a Marvel Pen and Paper RPG character that was an energy projector/gadgeteer scientist type.
Anyway, here's the build. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on how it could be improved.
Nova Storm: Level 40 Champion
Superstats: Level 6: Super Intelligence Level 13: Super Ego
Powers: Level 1: Force Bolts -- Energy Refraction Level 1: Force Blast Level 6: Force Shield -- Force Sheath Level 6: Power Flight -- Rank 2, Rank 3 Level 8: Force Eruption -- Rank 2, Gravitational Polarity Level 11: Aura Of Primal Majesty -- Rank 3, Rank 2 Level 14: Conviction -- Rank 2 Level 17: Molecular Self-Assembly Level 20: Force Geyser -- Hard Landing Level 23: Force Cascade -- Rank 3, Rank 2 Level 26: Protection Field -- Rank 3, Rank 2 Level 29: Inertial Dampening Field -- Rank 3, Rank 2 Level 32: Ego Surge -- Nimble Mind Level 35: Bionic Shielding -- Rank 3, Rank 2 Level 35: Teleport -- Rank 2 Level 38: Masterful Dodge
Talents: Level 1: The Impulse Level 6: Healthy Mind Level 9: Ascetic Level 12: Showmanship Level 15: Diplomatic Level 18: Worldly Level 21: Negotiator
|
|
|
Post by Sister Slade on Sept 21, 2011 16:48:32 GMT -5
That's fairly close to the build I use on my Force toon. He's designed to spam FC and does so fairly well. It's an energy hog, but Super Int and AoPM will take care of that along with Conviction and MSA. He hits hard, and Prot Field with a constant 5 sec CD (or lower) on Conviction will keep you constantly returning health. It's a great setup for success in PvE as Force, and works well for PvP too.
|
|
|
Post by SteelShaman on Sept 21, 2011 20:50:00 GMT -5
That's fairly close to the build I use on my Force toon. He's designed to spam FC and does so fairly well. It's an energy hog, but Super Int and AoPM will take care of that along with Conviction and MSA. He hits hard, and Prot Field with a constant 5 sec CD (or lower) on Conviction will keep you constantly returning health. It's a great setup for success in PvE as Force, and works well for PvP too. Cool, it sounds like I didn't do too bad when I put it together. I just read a bunch of guides and looked at some sample builds, then picked the powers that interested me, so I was worried I'd overlooked something or a synergy with some of the powers didn't quite work the way I thought it would. Thanks for the feedback.
|
|
|
Post by lintymint on Sept 22, 2011 10:09:42 GMT -5
Just to note, SSing Ego would be great for extra fall damage, but outside of open world stuff, few end-game bosses can actually be knocked around. Besides, AoPM does provide a bit of Ego, and even without any Ego, a full-charged FC would do something like 90ft of knockback. I believe the "typical" build for AoPM spamming is to SS Str and build Enrage in order to offset the fact you're not in Avenger. But really, its up to you: more fun with mobs vs. doing more damage to bosses.
More importantly, though, its probably worth the effort to move around some of your advantage points. Getting rid of Energy Refraction won't be something you'll miss, since you hardly ever have to use your energy builder with SS Int and MSA. Definitely put those points in Conviction. It'll be your go-to heal over Bionic because its on a short CD and procs MSA. Personally, I'd take out r2 on Force Eruption and put that on Geyser, since I'll need to use Geyser every once in a while to proc MSA so it might as well do more damage. (FC provides better AoE than Eruption anyway, but again, its up to you)
|
|
|
Post by SteelShaman on Sept 23, 2011 0:46:53 GMT -5
Just to note, SSing Ego would be great for extra fall damage, but outside of open world stuff, few end-game bosses can actually be knocked around. Besides, AoPM does provide a bit of Ego, and even without any Ego, a full-charged FC would do something like 90ft of knockback. I believe the "typical" build for AoPM spamming is to SS Str and build Enrage in order to offset the fact you're not in Avenger. But really, its up to you: more fun with mobs vs. doing more damage to bosses. More importantly, though, its probably worth the effort to move around some of your advantage points. Getting rid of Energy Refraction won't be something you'll miss, since you hardly ever have to use your energy builder with SS Int and MSA. Definitely put those points in Conviction. It'll be your go-to heal over Bionic because its on a short CD and procs MSA. Personally, I'd take out r2 on Force Eruption and put that on Geyser, since I'll need to use Geyser every once in a while to proc MSA so it might as well do more damage. (FC provides better AoE than Eruption anyway, but again, its up to you) Actually the "fun factor" of using Ego instead of Strength is exactly what I was going for. I'm not really worried about endgame boss dps, just leveling a character that makes me giggle when I send mobs scattering across 3 counties. As for shuffling the advantage points around, thanks for the tips. I'll definitely keep them in mind.
|
|
loem
Sidekick
Posts: 7
|
Post by loem on Sept 25, 2011 17:19:23 GMT -5
After looking over this build and the numbers I decided to give it a try myself on one of my RP/PvE characters (actually fits the character pretty well with a couple alterations). Only thing is that I'm having trouble with leveling due to the apparently low damage. I saw lintymint's post about SS Str instead of Ego. Would that help turn it into more of a single-target DPS? I'll admit, the knockback amount is loads of fun and is good for keeping mobs at a distance, just the damage is low so I tend to die before I can kill them all (and some master villains).
Also, was there a specific reason you had three tertiary stats, or were you just trying to balance things out a little? I was wondering if it might be more effective to have Con and Rec instead of Con, Rec and Pre.
|
|
|
Post by Sister Slade on Sept 29, 2011 1:40:01 GMT -5
Honestly, I don't use Strength on my force toon. Nor do i use enrage. You need to also take into account ego is not only just for fall damage, it affects how hard you crit. Which is what i focused on. With dex as a third stat, I crit a lot, and ego SS, I crit hard. I get the amusement of 202ft knocks, plus solid dps on any target. It's not the best, but it's still viable.
As for levelling, pick up FC sooner, and protection field. Grab Conviction when available. Not only is FC a group killer, it's also a boss killer.
|
|
|
Post by lintymint on Sept 29, 2011 19:27:12 GMT -5
Ah true that ^^
Crits are very good, especially with AoPM.
(Weird that I forgot to mention that, seeing how I have a dex/int AoPM spammer on pts...apologies..)
|
|
|
Post by SteelShaman on Sept 30, 2011 10:03:23 GMT -5
After looking over this build and the numbers I decided to give it a try myself on one of my RP/PvE characters (actually fits the character pretty well with a couple alterations). Only thing is that I'm having trouble with leveling due to the apparently low damage. I saw lintymint's post about SS Str instead of Ego. Would that help turn it into more of a single-target DPS? I'll admit, the knockback amount is loads of fun and is good for keeping mobs at a distance, just the damage is low so I tend to die before I can kill them all (and some master villains). Also, was there a specific reason you had three tertiary stats, or were you just trying to balance things out a little? I was wondering if it might be more effective to have Con and Rec instead of Con, Rec and Pre. I tried to work in some Presence so that Protection Field would be stronger since if I remember correctly it scales from Presence. And I agree with Sister Slade, I should probably have put Force Cascade and Protection field earlier in the build for leveling purposes.
|
|
|
Post by supercollide on Sept 30, 2011 10:23:50 GMT -5
Actually the "fun factor" of using Ego instead of Strength is exactly what I was going for. hehehe - I'm piecing a force build together too and so far AoPM, Ego Surge, DEX & EGO are dead certs! Mine's actually using force to represent sonics and will be a lead guitarist in the Bill & Ted's Big Adventure mold so fun is the main concept of that build. [EDIT - shaman - you might wanna pick Cyrone85's brains when he's online (use SECRET SG chat channel) - he's got a PFF tank that seems to work well]
|
|
|
Post by SteelShaman on Sept 30, 2011 14:37:46 GMT -5
[EDIT - shaman - you might wanna pick Cyrone85's brains when he's online (use SECRET SG chat channel) - he's got a PFF tank that seems to work well] I may just do that. Thanks for the tip!
|
|
|
Post by supercollide on Oct 5, 2011 3:51:27 GMT -5
[EDIT - shaman - you might wanna pick Cyrone85's brains when he's online (use SECRET SG chat channel) - he's got a PFF tank that seems to work well] I may just do that. Thanks for the tip! He's posted his build and a vid up here: forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=138804
|
|
|
Post by beldin on Oct 5, 2011 6:34:22 GMT -5
The build however seems to be more might than force.
|
|
|
Post by supercollide on Oct 5, 2011 6:46:24 GMT -5
The build however seems to be more might than force. Yeah seeing PFF actually working is what we're interested in, hopefully we can learn from it and separate the might stuff.
|
|
|
Post by Pion on Oct 5, 2011 14:41:07 GMT -5
The very first character I ever made in an MMO was an Energy/Energy Blaster in CoH. ME TOO!!!! I use Con/End with some Rec and Str thrown in for fun. Defiance is good for enrage and Imbue are nice for crits all of which rely on Con. Imbue is especially nice since it crits damage AND heals, so you can get a nice Resurgance even at R1. Energy Refraction is kinda useless IMO Conviction is nice (also boosted by Con I believe) Ego Surge and Nimbel Mind are clever, they may be better than Imbue for slightly more sustained damage, but force powers are very costly so I don't think you'd use all 15 seconds of Surge very effectively - I honestly don't know how well this would tradeoff, if Surge grants the usual 40%+ buff to damage +increased crit chance and SS Ego severity it might be worth it, but Surge is an energy form, so it would be canceled by your first Cascade, you would have to rely on something else during that 15 seconds for damage. Your ideas intrigue me and I would love to hear your progress...
|
|