Bradley_IFV

While it might seem somewhat appropriate to piggyback off of Willpower, I would also recommend avoiding a rehash of the same powers from that set (Mind Over Body, Heightened Senses, Strength of Will). I would also prefer avoiding two powers (I don't otherwise mind the Fortunata rehashes) in order to get the status protection that almost all other melee sets get in one power.

I would get behind Mask Presence as a Hide analogue for the other ATs' versions of the powerset.

World of Confusion might be placed a little early in the set, but I also have it in my set linked above. I don't have Drain Psyche, but I could see it being in my set as either a replacement for Ignore Wounds (a little too Willpower vs. psychic?) or a swap-out for Mirror Images (my Stalker PBAoE Placate power).

For the suggested change by Angelxman81: Compared to Grant Cover in Shield Defense, I don't think Mind Link fits as cleanly into a straight-up armor set versus the support-hybrid Fortunata/Widow Teamwork set.

Beyond the issues of overpowered- and broken-ness, it seems like this is more of a powerset extender rather than an epic power pool, which is intended to be selectable by any character in that AT, not just those that used one or another powerset. For example, an Energy Blast/Mental Manipulation Blaster can select Fire Mastery as his APP, even though it doesn't continue either his primary or secondary powerset.


APPs also tend to have powers that are different in style from those in their primary and secondary powersets. Continuing the example, the NRG/MM Blaster with Fire Mastery has access to:

1. Bonfire - Location Minor DoT (fire), Foe Knockback
2. Char - Ranged Moderate DoT (fire), Foe Hold
3. Fire Shield - Toggle Self +Res (smash, lethal, fire, cold)
4. Melt Armor - Ranged AoE Foe -Res (all), -DEF (all)
5. Rise of the Phoenix - PBAoE Minor DoT (fire), Self Rez

Bonfire and Char are not too out of line from what Blasters might see in their primary or secondary, but defensive toggles (Fire Shield), significant debuffs (Melt Armor), and self rezzes (Rise of the Phoenix) are definitely not par for the course in Blaster primaries and secondaries.

An Ancillary or Patron Power Pool should not have a power in it that is identical to a power already available to the character (e.g., you wouldn't want to include Empty Clips in a "Pistol Mastery" APP for Blasters, as you could have a DP/??/PM with two copies of Empty Clips). Most likely, you wouldn't have a strictly "Pistol Mastery" APP for any of the AT's, as none of them offer three or more primarily damaging powers in their sets - the most you typically see is two. There's also the issue of having a power pool with weapons that players will want to be able to customize, which I'm not sure we'll be able to get anytime soon.

You probably want to spend more time looking over the existing APP's and PPP's to get a better idea of the types of powers and their power levels, before attempting to design another of your own.

OK, looking at your basic concept:

You've got a melee fighter whose defenses are based on emitting and absorbing radiation. The two primary examples for radiation defenses in the game are the Radiation Emission powerset and Shivans.

Radiation Emission focuses first on debuffing foes, with -DEF, -ToHit, -Dmg, -Res, -Regen, -Recharge, and -Speed all making appearances. Next, buffing of allies starts with Radiant Aura (team heal), continues into Accelerate Metabolism (+Dmg, +Recovery, +Recharge, +Speed, and status protection), and ends in Mutation (ally rez with +Recharge, +Recovery, +Dmg, +ToHit).

Shivans, on the defensive side, are listed as having damage resistance to energy, cold, fire, and negative.

The melee classes have to have some sort of protection versus smashing and lethal damage, as nearly all melee attacks include one of these two damage types. So, combined with the Shivan resistances, you're looking at the six most common damage types, S/L/F/C/E/N, and nothing yet for toxic or psionic. To not stray too far from Shivans, smashing and lethal protection should not dominate. As bodies emitting massive amounts of energetic particles, what's a little more heat or energy? To go with that, they should have plenty of energy to spare to combat cold and negative energy damage. All in all, fairly balanced between S/L/C/N, higher for F, and highest for E. The only thing I can think of for justifying toxic defenses is that their abnormal physiology wouldn't be affected in the same way as normal bodies by venoms and acids and such; I would maybe justify a toxic resistance as part of an ongoing regenerative effect, but not as a general part of the radiation emission.

The buffs and debuffs of Radiation Emission offer a different way to run melee defenses, closer to a mix of Fiery Aura and Regeneration, with nearby defenseless enemies that can't punch their way out of a paper sack, and increased damage, attack rate, recovery, and regeneration for the character.

What you came up with:

Your resistances seem entirely wrong to me - you've got lethal, smashing, and negative at decent levels, and energy might be a tad low, but you've got off-the-charts unenhanced protection from toxic damage, yet nothing for fire or cold. The absence of psionic resistance is in line with my above assessment. If anything, toxic should be in-line with negative, along with fire and cold, energy can be that high or a little more, and lethal and smashing should be there or lower. If you have some melee-range debuffs, the primary source of lethal and smashing damage - melee attacks - should be limited enough to make up the difference.

Along with the two toggles and one auto-power for resistances, you have three damaging powers - just like Fiery Aura does. The effects of the damage powers are different - you have the -DEF debuff for the Tier 2 power, you have a Heal/Regen effect (instead of END/Recovery) for the Tier 5, and Hold versus Disorient (for Dark Armor's Oppressive Gloom) for the Tier 8. You've also co-opted Lightning Reflexes from Electric Armor, but added a +Recovery effect as well. You didn't take advantage of radiation's debuffing capabilities to cripple your foes' strengths.

You have a stealth power here ... for tankers and brutes, this makes no sense, certainly not even as much as Energy Aura and much less than Dark Armor. If anything, you should have an aura that blinds foes, improves perception, and nulifies stealth powers nearby. This would probably be a good choice to swap out for Hide or they could adjust this to a more powerful click power that can act as a PBAoE Placate.

I almost never comment on Superman Tier 9's, as they are their own monsters, and should be compared first to each other and not used to balance the set.


What I would want you to do:

1. Swap out your Tier 5 healing Consume for a (timed?) toggle debuff, probably in line with Enervating Field (-Dmg -Res(all)).
2. Swap out your Tier 6 stealth for the blinding aura, above.
3. Swap out your Tier 7 auto-power for a click self-version of Accelerated Metabolism, either keeping the added status protection or improving the recharge.
4. Change your resistance powers to be Tier 1 30L/30S/30E +Regen, Tier 3 30F/30C/30N +Regen, Tier 6 20E +Regen (or 30E and less +Regen). You end up with a good blend of the 6 most common damage types, with more in energy, but nothing for toxic or psionic.
5. Your Stalker swaps are Hide as Tier 1, Tier 1 +res to Tier 2, drop Tier 2 damage aura, and change Tier 6 blind to placate,

The new set is less of a re-colored version of bits and pieces of existing melee defense powersets, and more in line with established CoX precedents for radiation powersets. Feel free to take or drop whatever you like from what I've offered.

Seconded on offering assitance: You can reach me at either @NC Thunderbird, or @Last Kid Picked, and I'm willing to play with just about anyone. I only have one 50 on Justice right now, so I'm not completely wrapped up in the 45-50 TF's. Just let me know that you saw my name here.