OK so for some reason I'm not seeing how to determine if some powers are considered Ranged or Melee for the purposes of knowing if the attack will get a damage bonus out of Ego or Strength.
I've seen ranged attacks classified as melee and pbaoe's classified as range and then there are things like Fire Snake, which is in a ranged damage set but is a summon.
What classifies an attack as either Ranged or Melee in regards to the Ego/Str damage bonus?
I thought maybe it was something like Physical Attacks = Melee but then there are attacks that make Physical + SomethingElse (dmg).
Just in case this is confusing - I'm using PowerHouse and the Wiki for reference.
Usually they will outright say if a power is considered Melee or Range but sometimes not.
This confused me for a good long while, too, but I asked around and dug through the forums and (woefully incomplete) wiki, and managed to piece this together:
Most powers outright say "Ranged Attack" or "Close Attack" (i.e., Melee) in their descriptions. The confusing one is "Close Area Attack" (i.e., a PBAoE), which appears to use the ranged formula, even though you have to be in melee range to use it.
The most notable exceptions to this are melee-range powers from the Telekinesis set with "Ego" in their names (like Ego Weaponry or Ego Blade Breech), which also use Ego for damage despite being Close Attacks.
Generally speaking, untargetable and uncontrollable "Summons" like Fire Snake or Lightning Ball use the damage formula for ranged attacks (i.e., Ego), but "Controlled Pets" like Command Animals or Munitions Bots scale (for both health and damage) based on Int.
Is there a specific power you're not sure about?
Earth Splitter & Brimstone from the Devastator attacks are two examples.
When I compare the description in PowerHouse of Pbaoe Pyre, from the Fire set, to the PowerHouse description of the Pbaoe Brimstone - I see the words Ranged and Melee. And it makes sense that Pyre would be considered Range since it is in what would be considered a Ranged Powerset and there's the same logic with Brimstone.
Fire Snake was another one I was unclear on. And while we're at it, is there anything that boosts clinging flames?
And I got hung up on damage types for awhile, too. For example, Brimstone and Earth Splitter do Fire and Crushing damage and I was like.. So... do I get the same Str Bonus on both the Fire and the Crushing damage or is Fire considered elemental damage therefore ranged damage therefore Ego based.
I'm guessing, now, that a melee attack is a melee attack and a ranged attack is a ranged attack and there isn't this split on what gets bonus damage - the attack as a whole gets the Strength or Ego bonus depending on if the attack is considered Melee or Ranged. I'm hoping. So I guess I'm not entirely clear on this yet either.
Which I guess means I'm still not sure if Physical Damage is what is considered to be Melee Damage.
My eyes are getting a lil crossed at this point from a few days of guide reading and no playing and I'm sure this isn't helping things.
I'm so close to getting my theme(s) down!
Just as in CoH, position and damage type are entirely seperate things. Melee attacks scale with strength, ranged attacks scale with ego. Regardless of what damage they do. I don't know about the powerhouse but ingame I think all powers will state ranged or melee in their description. The only exceptions to this rule are ego blades which scale with ego despite being melee attacks and the strong arm advantage on some ranged powers in might and martial arts that'll make them scale with strength despite being ranged attacks.
Depends on the PBAoE, alot of PBAoEs are in fact "melee" attacks, alot of others are "ranged" attacks. Force PBAoEs are ranged, as are munitions PBAoEs. Some power armor PBaoEs are melee, and so use strength. All martial arts powers with some exceptions are melee, shurikan powers are ranged but have advantages to make them act like melee in terms of damage calculation. Telekinesis powers always use EGO even melee(which is why telekinesis characters are often weaker vs knockback then normal).
yeah it seems mostly use melee or melee weapon it falls under melee. I think even earthquake (that power where you beat the ground with ya fists) is considered strength even though by definition it's range.
While things like FF close attack AOEs fall under ego even though it's melee range. while the AOE for things like Brimstone fall under strength. And as mentioned marital art set all strength based even the range power.
TK is it's own, it's all EGO melee or not.
Most powers say ranged (ego) or close attack (strength) but there are a few that seem to can go either way.
All of this said is iirc.
Well I just looked in-game and (Heavy Weapon) Earth Splitter says it is ... Ranged.
Quote from: Xev on October 04, 2013, 11:59:06 PM
Well I just looked in-game and (Heavy Weapon) Earth Splitter says it is ... Ranged.
yeah?
Yeah!
Triple checked.
Now explain the system to me again..?
hehe
Annd I just read some posts on the official forums stating that you can't always trust the in-game descriptions for powers, either.
Luverly.
Long story short: If it specifically states melee in the description, it scales with strength unless it tells you otherwise. If it specifically states ranged in the description, it scales with ego unless it says otherwise. What set it's in or what damage it does is irrelevent.
I hear ya. A monkey wrench in that is that apparently the descriptions aren't always correct and haven't been for awhile.
I'm not planning to use this power now but as an example of something that threw me - It doesn't make sense to me why in a melee weapons power set they have attacks that are flagged as Ranged, such as with Earth Splitter. Well, and, in PowerHouse, it says Earth Splitter is a melee attack so that didn't help.
But yeah, I hear ya. From now on, if it says Melee or Ranged in-game I'll assume that that tag is probably correct.
Sure will be glad to get started on this first guy.. Pencil and paper is fun but.. I'm ready to get going.
Funny how I always start out to be a tank but then about always end up chasing the dps..
Quote from: Xev on October 06, 2013, 12:46:29 AM
I hear ya. A monkey wrench in that is that apparently the descriptions aren't always correct and haven't been for awhile.
I'm not planning to use this power now but as an example of something that threw me - It doesn't make sense to me why in a melee weapons power set they have attacks that are flagged as Ranged, such as with Earth Splitter. Well, and, in PowerHouse, it says Earth Splitter is a melee attack so that didn't help.
But yeah, I hear ya. From now on, if it says Melee or Ranged in-game I'll assume that that tag is probably correct.
Sure will be glad to get started on this first guy.. Pencil and paper is fun but.. I'm ready to get going.
Funny how I always start out to be a tank but then about always end up chasing the dps..
hey, who said you cant be both?
Soooo what is this "basic power" thing? I'm finally in the character creator and I have to choose one of these (and an energy builder) before I can move on.
Is that eating up one of my 14 powers? I've not got any of the powers in that list planned for this build.
>>
Ok so I found out that I could retcon out the basic attack for free. I'll get started yet!
Quote from: JaguarX on October 06, 2013, 02:16:53 AM
hey, who said you cant be both?
I dunno. At some point I always start leaning towards more dps instead of continuing to primarily build for survival.
A basic power is a power with no requirements. Each set has one, in addition to the energy builder. They're almost universally not very good.