New efforts!

[Safehouse]

Dark Melee...I honestly just couldn't get myself to like that set.  I tried it on a brute and scrapper and just couldn't get into that set. Mileage varies, but when the game does return I shall try it again.

Back when the game was up, my girlfriend at the time ran with a dark/fire scrapper, and she absolutely LOVED dark melee. She kept encouraging me to try it, so I finally created a new character... And my experience was like yours. I just could not get into it.

She swore by it though, and ended up being quite a beast with it.

[umber]

I swear, the binary view on Dark Melee seemed to be largely determined by any given player's reaction to Shadow Maul - either enjoying the giddy fun in the rapid-fire barrage of punches, or being game-mechanically annoyed at the three second animation.

And in general it being a "utility melee" set.  I suspect most players wanted their melee set to be little more than focus on the damage output, getting utility from elsewhere (if at all).  Others enjoyed a melee set that came with a mag3 fear, a buildup that required critters to trigger, and a heal-punch. 

Honestly, I always felt that the same folks who balked at Shadow Maul's animation were underestimating how handy Siphon Life was.  Maul slowing you down?  How about it being made up with a very hard-hitting attack that heals you at the same time?  Most heals drop your dps to zero while being used, here was an attack that hit as hard as *Disembowel* while also being up to a 20% heal.  I suspect that between Maul and Siphon we were coming out way ahead. 

Wanted to give Dark Melee another go via the revamped Stalkers but ran out of time :(

[Noyjitat]

Smite, shadow punch, siphon life, soul drain and midnight grasp.

With enough recharge you could have perma soul drain and it's nice stacking effect from multiple targets is better than buildup. And with smite and shadow punches already quick recharge you could really punch the hell out of your foes. Shadow maul had it's uses but it really only shined with lots of to hit buff.

[Drauger9]

If and when the game comes back if I feel the need to farm up a bunch of resources, I would probably roll Claws/Fire brute.  Until you can make really strong builds, you're really mostly endurance bottlenecked on AoEs.  I think Claws/Fire is the most endurance efficient farmer you can roll although I don't have specific calculations to prove it.  But because of a glitch that got a pass from the devs, Claws has really efficient AoEs and Fire has both extra offense and endurance recovery.

Interesting question.  If you were starting from scratch and had to both level it from one without significant power leveling assistance and also build it with nothing but SOs and common IOs, what would people choose to build for a farming alt that could build up resources fast for their other alts, if they were so inclined to do so.  I'm curious to know what people think would be faster or better than Claws/Fire brute, and why.

Claws/Fire brute was my main farmer when the game shut down. So much fun, the animations is what drew me to it because the visuals just made my character feel more active.

It depends for me, I don't like farming AE. I'll do it to level up quickly but for everything else. I like farming missions. So if there wasn't AE and I was starting from scratch. I'd probably go plant/fire/fire Dom, for the AoE control, early AoE confuse and AoE damage. Plus domination is one huge blue inspiration. If that was for purely farming, if I planned to power level alts (which I do LOL) on another account and again, there was no AE. I'd do SS/elect brute,  electric armor and fire armor to me are similar in many ways. The two main differences to me, is that electric armor had a pbaoe, that siphoned endurance. Where as fire armor had a pbaoe that did damage and then another aoe (burn that did more damage.)

The selling point for me with electric armor is Power Surge, it's almost like domination on a brute. You get increased endurance regen plus a bunch of extras. On a budget build running on SO until you can get the good stuff. It's a selling point for me atleast.

The end drain and -end recovery could turn some away, but as I've said in my previous post. There's ways around that combined with SS and it's foot stomp. I personally loved gathering up a huge mob right when Power Surge got ready to wear off. Popping about 3 purple inspirations, letting EMP explode, either eating a few blues or using power sink. Saving foot stomp for when the 3 purple expired to knock what was left of the mob down. By then the -end and health should have worn off. Either eating a few blues or power sink again and keep on trucking.

It was fun enough for me to keep him around and bring him back out every now and then or if I got bored with SS I'd get my elec/elec brute out. LOL! I had to many farmers..........

From what I remember it was an old and long drawn out debate on the CoH forums but I think fire armor was the top choice for a brute. Even if you was just starting out, even though other sets. Could be argued to be better in some ways in the short-term. I think fire armor always won out in the long-term.

[worldweary]

Dark Melee...I honestly just couldn't get myself to like that set.  I tried it on a brute and scrapper and just couldn't get into that set. Mileage varies, but when the game does return I shall try it again.

I did not really like Dark Melee but with Stone Armor it gave me two heals and with sets I could fill in Def and Res to everything.There are still so many combinations I never tried but will given the chance.

[Azrael]

Dark Melee Nergy brute.  Potent and elegant mob fighter.

Energy had defence.  Dark melee had hit debuff accuracy.

Made the brute hard to hit.  But could chainsaw attacks across a mob.  Wasn't a 'I win' button like Burn but it was rewarding.

As for a fire scrapper.  With shields.  Very devasting.  But boring.

I preferred the SS melee, shield charging with defence over 3 types of dam capped out with fire epic.  Variety of devastation!!!

Rage from SS.  Brute aggregate rage builder.  Try shield harge plus foot stomp plus fireball!

Shake council mobs to their core leaving a few bosses for the South paw k.o blow treatment.

Azrael.

Ps.  Dark melee did have a lot of utilty like heal, fear and hold plus the dizzying shadow maul which rocked.  And that build up to hit dam booster was cool.

[Shibboleth]

I swear, the binary view on Dark Melee seemed to be largely determined by any given player's reaction to Shadow Maul - either enjoying the giddy fun in the rapid-fire barrage of punches, or being game-mechanically annoyed at the three second animation.

And in general it being a "utility melee" set.  I suspect most players wanted their melee set to be little more than focus on the damage output, getting utility from elsewhere (if at all).  Others enjoyed a melee set that came with a mag3 fear, a buildup that required critters to trigger, and a heal-punch. 

Honestly, I always felt that the same folks who balked at Shadow Maul's animation were underestimating how handy Siphon Life was.  Maul slowing you down?  How about it being made up with a very hard-hitting attack that heals you at the same time?  Most heals drop your dps to zero while being used, here was an attack that hit as hard as *Disembowel* while also being up to a 20% heal.  I suspect that between Maul and Siphon we were coming out way ahead. 

Wanted to give Dark Melee another go via the revamped Stalkers but ran out of time :(

Put me in the latter camp that felt Dark Melee did perfectly fine damage...especially after using Soul Drain while standing in the midst of a crowd of enemies (which itself dealt damage).

[Arcana]

Put me in the latter camp that felt Dark Melee did perfectly fine damage...especially after using Soul Drain while standing in the midst of a crowd of enemies (which itself dealt damage).

Dark Melee was all psychology.  There was a time people hated it because they thought it did weak damage, then people started talking about "buzzsaw" builds and then everyone thought it did great damage.  Then Arcanatime came out and I pointed out its damage wasn't as high as the original calculations suggested and people softened on it.  Then SP's cast time was increased in the various melee punch adjustments and people started thinking its damage was weak again.  But actually, during this entire time DM's actual net damage didn't really change; even when SP's cast time was increased the change wasn't as high as people thought because Arcanatime lag was always making that power's DPA lower than originally thought.

DM's AoE was lower than average unless you were really good at leveraging Shadow Maul.  Otherwise, its single target damage output was better than average.  Beyond that, it had its pros and cons.  I had a DM/Regen I liked playing myself.

[brothermutant]

Buzzsaw builds!

I remember that phrase when looking up Dark Melee builds. It really worked if you knew what to do to a hard target (bosses or better), you did fine. The real downside to DM builds were mobs were great, solo targets were a bit trickier to kill. I liked the AoEs and I liked Shadow Maul (I used to Combat Jump out of mobs to set up the move).

[Joshex]

Pthhthh.  Soul Transfer makes Resurg look like a wet firecracker.  In fact, while Willpower was no slouch, and in the typical build it was usually more powerful than Dark Armor, once you start throwing in high end invention builds and incarnate powers in my opinion Dark Armor had a significant edge over Willpower in most cases.  One on one, soloing AVs, I'd take Willpower.  One vs lots, taking on entire rooms, Dark Armor.  In high defense or high tohit debuff environments, Dark Armor could get shredded where Willpower would stand tall.  But if Dark Armor could connect consistently with Dark Regeneration, in a high recharge high defense build it was really, really difficult to kill.  And if you did kill it, best be standing at least 25 feet away.  I had a high-recharge build for my EM/DA that got Dark Regen down to about 7 seconds of recharge *and* have enough endurance to power it at that rate (barely).  Compared to that even RTTC pales.

Not entirely jokingly I once suggested that all Blasters get Soul Transfer as an inherent power, skinned to their primary.  With a 60 second recharge.

yeah soul transfer had some advantages, it was much like rise of the phoenix without the KB, it allowed you to attack while getting back up and automatically agro the enemies back on you. the downside was the time it took to activate (which usually made it harder to hit the timing window to negate the death),  and the lack of the untouchable buff, and the /possibility/ for an incomplete HP and end refill. yeah when the player is well slotted it can usually get them up without a problem, but most players I saw who used it had to gamble with it and most of the time it ended with remarks like "well.. that was pointless."

as for buzz saw builds scrappers could tank with those, the best I saw was a shield electric scrapper. everything died.

[Biz]

Put me in the latter camp that felt Dark Melee did perfectly fine damage...especially after using Soul Drain while standing in the midst of a crowd of enemies (which itself dealt damage).

For me what killed the set was the sound effects. CoH power activation sounds tended to be pretty annoying after hearing them from 1-50, but for some reason DM's really irked me

[brothermutant]

For me what killed the set was the sound effects. CoH power activation sounds tended to be pretty annoying after hearing them from 1-50, but for some reason DM's really irked me

For me it was all the Peace Bringer's power sounds. Gawd I hated that set and I really REALLY wanted to like it. Was a big fan of being a blapper with decent resistances.

[Shibboleth]

Dark Melee was all psychology.  There was a time people hated it because they thought it did weak damage, then people started talking about "buzzsaw" builds and then everyone thought it did great damage.  Then Arcanatime came out and I pointed out its damage wasn't as high as the original calculations suggested and people softened on it.  Then SP's cast time was increased in the various melee punch adjustments and people started thinking its damage was weak again.  But actually, during this entire time DM's actual net damage didn't really change; even when SP's cast time was increased the change wasn't as high as people thought because Arcanatime lag was always making that power's DPA lower than originally thought.

DM's AoE was lower than average unless you were really good at leveraging Shadow Maul.  Otherwise, its single target damage output was better than average.  Beyond that, it had its pros and cons.  I had a DM/Regen I liked playing myself.

That was the other thing that drove DM love/hate--if you could figure out how to leverage Shadow Maul. Take a step back and everything would fill in nicely for you.

[HEATSTROKE]

My Favorites.. for different reasons..

Shield/Fire Tank.. Softcapped to all positions and Lots of AoE for mobs..

Shield/SS Tank.. I probably liked this for the dumbest reason.. but when you changed the animation on Knockout Blow to the two fisted uppercut it looks like you are bashing them with the shield..

WP/SS Tank... Just ridiculously hard to kill..

Elec/Shield Brute... built him as a Teleporting Attacker Shield Charge.. Lightning Rod.. Spring Attack and the Vorpal Judgement Power... he's over there.. wait he's over there.. no he's over there...

Energy Aura/SS Brute.. probably one of my most powerful toons when the game ended..

Softcapped to S/L/E Perma Hasten. Perma Energize. End Drains.. Fury and SS working together..

[Arcana]

yeah soul transfer had some advantages, it was much like rise of the phoenix without the KB, it allowed you to attack while getting back up and automatically agro the enemies back on you. the downside was the time it took to activate (which usually made it harder to hit the timing window to negate the death),  and the lack of the untouchable buff, and the /possibility/ for an incomplete HP and end refill. yeah when the player is well slotted it can usually get them up without a problem, but most players I saw who used it had to gamble with it and most of the time it ended with remarks like "well.. that was pointless."

Actually, Soul Transfer activated faster than Rise of the Phoenix (and for that matter Resurgence).  It dealt less damage, but had a wildly stronger stun (mag 30, which could stun Elite bosses and things with stun protection short of purple triangles).  It also had the same untouchable buff as Rise of the Phoenix and Resurgence (at one point the devs had given that buff out to only a few such powers, but eventually normalized that to all of them).

I'm not sure what you mean by "negate the death."  And since Soul Transfer autohit enemies (as did Rise of the Phoenix' blast) it wasn't much of a gamble to use: either there were targets nearby or there were not.  You could make a mistake, but mistakes are not gambles.

[worldweary]

My Favorites.. for different reasons..

Shield/Fire Tank.. Softcapped to all positions and Lots of AoE for mobs..

Shield/SS Tank.. I probably liked this for the dumbest reason.. but when you changed the animation on Knockout Blow to the two fisted uppercut it looks like you are bashing them with the shield..

WP/SS Tank... Just ridiculously hard to kill..

Elec/Shield Brute... built him as a Teleporting Attacker Shield Charge.. Lightning Rod.. Spring Attack and the Vorpal Judgement Power... he's over there.. wait he's over there.. no he's over there...

Energy Aura/SS Brute.. probably one of my most powerful toons when the game ended..

Softcapped to S/L/E Perma Hasten. Perma Energize. End Drains.. Fury and SS working together..

Just did a Energy Aura/SS Brute in Mids....sigh thanks HEATSTROKE,now I have another character I have to find a name and the influence for.:)  P.S.Please post that build :):):)

[HEATSTROKE]

This build worked awesome for me..


Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Bryan Fury: Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Super Strength
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Jab -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(27), HO:Nucle(48)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:35(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(3), LkGmblr-Def:35(3), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(5)
Level 2: Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(7), HO:Nucle(19)
Level 4: Dampening Field -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:35(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:35(9), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(23), RctvArm-ResDam:30(39), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(45)
Level 6: Haymaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(33), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(34), HO:Nucle(34)
Level 8: Power Shield -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:35(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(9), LkGmblr-Def:35(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(33)
Level 10: Entropic Aura -- EndRdx-I:35(A), Taunt-I:35(50)
Level 12: Knockout Blow -- Hectmb-Dmg:50(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(15), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg:50(29), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx:50(29), RechRdx-I:35(33)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(A)
Level 16: Energy Protection -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:35(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:35(21), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(23), RctvArm-ResDam:35(45)
Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(25), GSFC-Build%:35(27)
Level 20: Kick -- Acc-I:35(A)
Level 22: Super Speed -- Run-I:35(A)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(25), RechRdx-I:35(31)
Level 26: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:35(A), RctvArm-ResDam:35(37), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:35(37), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:35(39)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- Efficacy-EndMod:35(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:35(31), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:35(42), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg:35(42), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc:35(43), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:35(46)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def:35(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:35(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(36)
Level 32: Foot Stomp -- SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg:35(A), SBrutesF-Dmg/Rchg:35(39), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(40), SBrutesF-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:35(40), SBrutesF-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(40), SBrutesF-Rech/Fury:35(48)
Level 35: Energize -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:35(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:35(36), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:35(36), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:35(37), Dct'dW-Heal:35(42), Dct'dW-Rchg:35(43)
Level 38: Superior Conditioning -- P'Shift-End%:35(A)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%:35(A)
Level 44: Super Jump -- Jump-I:35(A)
Level 47: Overload -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(48), HO:Membr(50), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(50)
Level 49: Taunt -- Taunt-I:35(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:35(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:35(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:35(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Heal:35(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:35(17), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:35(21), RgnTis-Regen+:30(45), Numna-Heal:35(46), Heal-I:35(46)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:35(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:35(A), EndMod-I:35(15), P'Shift-EndMod:35(19), P'Shift-End%:35(43)
Level 50: Preemptive Total Radial Conversion
Level 50: Polar Lights Partial Radial Improved Ally
Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment
Level 50: Rebirth Partial Radial Invocation
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon
------------
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 6.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
  
• 6.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
  
• 23% Defense(Smashing)
  
• 23% Defense(Lethal)
  
• 3% Defense(Fire)
  
• 3% Defense(Cold)
  
• 6.75% Defense(Energy)
  
• 6.75% Defense(Negative)
  
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
  
• 13% Defense(Melee)
  
• 4.88% Defense(Ranged)
  
• 3% Defense(AoE)
  
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
  
• 42% Enhancement(Accuracy)
  
• 67.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
  
• 5% SpeedFlying
  
• 179.9 HP (12%) HitPoints
  
• 5% JumpHeight
  
• 5% SpeedJumping
  
• MezResist(Immobilized) 11.55%
  
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
  
• 8% (0.13 End/sec) Recovery
  
• 52% (3.25 HP/sec) Regeneration
  
• 2.52% Resistance(Smashing)
  
• 2.52% Resistance(Lethal)
  
• 3.78% Resistance(Fire)
  
• 3.78% Resistance(Cold)
  
• 1.26% Resistance(Toxic)
  
• 1.26% Resistance(Psionic)
  
• 5% SpeedRunning
  
• 1 Null
  

Code Select Expand

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[Codewalker]

but had a wildly stronger stun

You beat me to it, but the best part of using Soul Transfer was the moment of, "Oh, you think you can defeat me? Well how do you like my MAG 30 STUN??? Mwahaha!"

[worldweary]

This build worked awesome for me..

Thank You!!!

[triedac]

Just posting to post.  :P