Knighthawk

I don't understand why anyone would give this guy a hard time. He likes a challenge and wants to find like minded people to play with... yet people feel the need to shout him down.

If I had more time to devote to CoH I would try it just for the challenge and experience. So to the detractors I say, 'Give the guy a break. He wants to find people to play with just like the rest of us.'

Well since I missed the hero Hami I have a Rad/Kin Corruptor I can bring for the villain one.

First reply! Woot!

I'll show up with my PB Guilded Phoenix.

I'd prefer not to be known as 'Knighthawk... Na..."

I actually wrote up a small guide about Kinetics/Electric Blast sets... I hope this helps.

Electric
Main Entry: elec•tric
Pronunciation: i-'lek-trik
Variant: or elec•tri•cal /-tri-k&l/
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or operated by electricity —elec•tri•cal•ly /-tri-k(&-)lE/ adverb
- Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary

Blasters and Defenders share this power set but their approaches couldn’t be more different. There are only a couple of “toolbox” powers, like Tesla Cage and Short Circuit, but for most part it is mostly attack powers. The interesting thing about this set is the endurance recovery side effect. As you blast sometimes you will get endurance back from the draining effect. It’s a nice bonus but don’t rely on it. This effect activates infrequently and the amount gained back isn’t consistent.

The Electric Blast set is often used by Kineticist due the nature of the electricity in City of Heroes. Electricity drains endurance every time you are damaged by it. Adding this with the natural endurance draining effect of some Kinetics powers develops a synergy between the two.

Power Breakdown

Charge Bolt: Light attack power that recharges quickly. Blasters get the choice of taking this power or not. As a Defender you have to take it. The utility of the power will see a steady decline as you level. In the mid game it becomes a filler attack to hit as part of your cycle. Late game you’ll find that you hit it out of habit more than anything else, because the damage doesn’t phase anything at this point.

Lightning Bolt: This is your damage foundation for the set. You get it at second level and will use it throughout your career. It’s a solid attack power.

Ball Lightning: Ranged AoE attack. This attack is similar to Charge Bolt except it hits everything in about a 15ft. area. This makes it more useful than Charge Bolt and worth slotting for damage.

Short Circuit: Your bread and butter. This power drains endurance of targets within a 20ft. area around you and halts their recovery. Cycling this power as fast as possible will keep you alive. Once you floor the endurance of your targets they just stand their looking at you while you beat upon them.
Note: this power will not drain Malta Sappers of any endurance. Actually no endurance draining ability works on a Sapper.

Aim: Bonus to hit, minor bonus to damage. Hitting your targets more is always a good thing and the damage bonus is nice. It has a long recharge time unless you slot it for recharge so I find that its usefulness is somewhat diminished. This is one of those powers you either use a lot or hardly use.

Zapp: Sniper attack. It does a nice amount of damage, but if you’re more of a melee based character you are unlikely to use this power on a consistent basis. You will likely find other power more useful to you.

Tesla Cage: Single target hold. Mid to late game you will start running into Malta Sappers. I believe that the developers put this power in this set to deal with them. This is the power I ended up replacing Charge Bolt with in my attack chain. Slot it for Hold duration and you can lock down a target for the whole fight.

Voltaic Sentinel: I guess you could call this a “pet”. You summon a ball of electricity and it zaps things. It only last for about 45 seconds and it basically hit random targets with Charged Bolts. Be careful if you summon it and have to travel, cause he will zap things as you run by them drawing agg. I found that I didn’t have time to recast him over and over during combat.

Thunderous Blast: This is your Nuke. I does a lot of damage to a large area. It also leave you drained of endurance and unable to recovery endurance for awhile. I’ve found that putting a endurance modification enhancement in it will sometimes offset the drain effect but this is spotty at best and shouldn’t be relied on.

I don’t consider myself a ‘master’ at Kinetics, but I believe the experience I’ve gain for playing so long might be helpful to other. I wouldn’t categorize this as a guide per say, but more of a list of observations about this power set.

Kinetics
Main Entry: ki•net•ic
Pronunciation: k&-'net-ik, kI-
Function: adjective
: of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith
- Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary

Kinetics is an interesting power set for Defenders. Most of the set rely on a certain amount of defensiveness in nature. Whether it’s accuracy debuff, defence buffs, or just massive amounts of healing. Kinetics seems to be more offensively minded than the other sets. Sure there is a fair amount of damage mitigation, but who gets the benefit of that? You and your teammates do. It could be in the form of damage buff/debuff or speed buff/debuffs.

There was once a quote about Kinetics Defenders not being able to make a team any more successful, just faster at doing what they were already doing. This is true to an extent. A Kinetics Defender can indeed make a successful team more efficient and a struggling team successful. The team has a lot to do with it, but you can hedge your bets a bit with some well timed Transfusions and Speed Boosts.

Power Breakdown

Transfusion: This is your only heal ability. You must target an enemy and a healing area will appear around your target. This power is perfect for melee support. There are two side effects of using this power. One, it drains about 20% of your targets endurance. Two, it has a –regen component to it. The –regen is little known and I don’t have numbers on it, but it comes in handy when you need to overcome an Arch-Villian or Giant Monsters regen.

Siphon Power: Single target damage debuff, PBAoE damage buff. Very useful early level to help with your damage output as well as mitigating the amount of damage you take. The damage buff portion is center on the caster so allies must be near you to receive the buff.

Repel: Basically it a bubble of kinetic energy around you that knocks back any target that gets in melee range. Each target knocked back with drain some endurance as well as having a constant drain to keep it activated. Not many people take this power due to the knock back effect which seems counter productive to Transfusion and other melee based powers. I believe that the original concept of this power was to be “soft” control ability, but it is rarely utilized as such.

Siphon Speed: Most people see this power and think, “Cool a travel power before level 14!” Then they quickly get frustrated with missing with it and drawing aggro. This perception is wrong. It can be used as a travel power but that is not its design. This is a single target speed and recharge buff/debuff. Think of it more like a mini-Hasten and you’d be closer.

Increase Density: Ally only buff that give them resistance to smashing and energy damage. It also protects them from Teleport Foe, Disorient, Holds, Immobilization, and Knockback. One side effect is a slow effect on your ally. You can also use this to remove the Stunned effect after an ally rezzes.

Speed Boost: Ally only speed, recharge, and recovery buff. This is want Kinetics is famous for. Affectionately called “Crack” by most melee types. This is a staple power but very tedious to maintain upon a team. Most people love this power but most Kinetics hate having to refresh it due to its short duration.

Inertial Reduction: Team Super Jump… that pretty much sums it up. I found that this is a much more secure travel power than Siphon Speed. No to hit, you just cast it and go.

Transference: Single target endurance drain/endurance heal. This power ends most endurance issues that characters have. It is targeted so you will have to slot accordingly. Note: this power will not drain Malta Sappers of any endurance. Actually no endurance draining ability works on a Sapper.

Fulcrum Shift: This is the Holy Grail. Even when they toned it down it is still that good. This power can put an entire team at the damage cap and keep them there. Think Siphon Power, but bigger. Target something in a large mob and fire it off. Within that mob it’s like a Siphon Power went off for everything in the mob. You’ll turn Tanks and Scrappers into forces of nature that bring destruction at a whim. If the NPC mobs could feel fear, they would run for their lives at the sound of Fulcrum Shift firing off!

Epilog

I have three level 50 characters. Two Defenders and one Corruptor. The Corruptor and Defender are Kinetics based. Blame altoholism or lack of playing time… I blame Knight Hawk. The character. He’s a Kinetic/Electric Blast Defender. After I got him to 50 everything else seems easy.

Playing from 1 to 50 with him was hard. I won’t lie about that. I don’t consider myself a bad player, but I’ve done things the hard way. I solo’ed a lot. I did the Respec trial multiple times when it first came out leading me to spend levels 24 thru 30 in debt. I have a tendency to be slightly suicidal with Knight Hawk because I know what he’s capable of when I’m on my game. Even at level 50 I still spend hours playing him and planning respecs the make him more efficient.

I jokingly told Baztikulous once that if there was a patron saint of debt it would be Knight Hawk, yet I learned so much playing him. So I experiment a lot now but I don’t really dedicate myself to any one alt. Mostly I just try to help out others with whatever mission or task force they have. Everything I learned with Knight Hawk I now apply to all my other characters and it makes a difference. Maybe that is why I just can’t seem to retire him…

Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to live with it.

(ignores the actual content of this thread) Happy Birthday!

Yay! Golden arcs of electricity!

Once upon a Positron there was a bug. It's purple Mankey liked saving walruses deaths. Until a green shoe fell off a pretty cloud of root beer fluff cleaving off seven little toes while chewing Bubblegum. After seeing the drunk Pinnacle-ite puke chunky bits of magnets, it stumbled into a garbage carafe. Feeling pretty depressed, it died a Lonely death.

Elsewhere, there were some hungry hippos dancing on me for every time one slurps from the fountain of Wayne. In the early dawn, sirens wailed under a pale little moon made of nothing. People thought they saw Ghost Widow munching on Doritos with Valerie. But it wasn't Doritos, it was a magical corncob that sexy Jay designed with care.

This time, she wanted 12 umpa-loompas and 5 slimy Pterodactyls with Listerine. Suddenly the wizard Spanksalot grumbled with great big annoyance. Dirty scoundrels sacked small vermin left by evil midgets wearing pink Fedoras and speedos. However, Elvis wasn't having cheesecake; he stopped to adjust Stacy's corset that had melted rubber down its frog but sadly, he died.

Cheney shot the lawyer in the buttocks with spitballs made of recycled garbage with asparagus. After blowing the mayor, he loaded up 12 hundred bucks obtained illegally so he licked garbage which Statesman tossed overseas. I then drank sour kiwi Rum. Drunken Avenger then sang Imagine. Afterward, Lily Tomlin beheaded the Tele-tubby while it eating

Left for WoW... came back.

Left for WAR... came back.

City of Heroes isn't perfect, but then again nothing is. It is a very fun game for me and being able to design my own missions has been wonderful as a creative outlet. I'm not into the whole self promotion thing so I don't get a lot of votes or anything but I do it so I can tell stories within the superhero world.

I have a good SG that I'm part of and I have fun playing with different characters/builds/players. All in all I'm happy playing the game. These so called nerfs are just minor obstacles for me to overcome and figure out how to play the game like I want in spite of them.

That's my .02 influence.

I give you Dark Hawk!

Radiation Blast/Kinetics

1085: I will not 'step out for a spot of tea' during a Black Op with my Euro Solo.

1086: I will not taunt the ful conversion borg by offering a 'lube job'... again.

1087: I will not shout 'How's Trimspa treating you now!' to a member of the Willow Sisterhood that is biosculpted to look like Anna Nicole.

1088: I will not try to talk my party into rigging the bodyloto count.

Sorry... I'm in NC. (I'm really sorry)

I volunteer Sonic Onslaught!

The Police officer stood their with a miffed look on his face, “You know you have to have a register at city hall before you can just go out and beat up on thugs.”

Chris looked at Brian, “Um… it was kinda our first time.”

Brian smiled, “Yeah we just stumbled in it.”

The officer smirked, “Well I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but if I catch you beating up on Warriors with out a license again… I’ll write you a ticket. You two are free to go.”

“Thanks,” Chris smiled. They looked over at the Warriors as they were loaded into a police van, “What happened to the girl that was fighting them?”

Brian smiled, “She got ported out when she went unconscious. Man we kicked major butt!”

“Yeah I guess we did.” Chris thought about what they had done, “It’s not everyday you can say you beat the crap out of a bunch of super powered thugs.”

“Darn straight.” Brian replied, “So you still want to go talk to Professor Warren?”

Chris smirked, “Nah, I think I’ll wait on that one.” He looked up to his friend and laughed, “By the way, nice axe Baz.”

Brian tossed it from hand to hand, “I think we should head down to city hall tomorrow. Maybe this hero thing will work out for us.”

The Warriors are an odd gang. They’re obsessed with physical conditioning and martial prowess. They have a sense of honor but it’s skewed. It’s a lot like that TV show where they get a bunch of mixed martial arts fighter in the same house and have them train together. But instead of just fighting each other for a contract, you add mystical weapons a let them loose on Talos Island…

Unfortunately this wasn’t Talos Island.

The young girl was hovering in the air throwing flares of flame at the Warriors as they shot arrows back at her. Brian had run right in the middle of them. He was moving much faster than normal but they had seen him. Looking over the situation with superhuman speed he did what any other College football player would do… He tackled the nearest Warrior.

Chris emerged into the clearing to see Brian tackle on of the warriors as the rest turned to aid their fallen ganger, “Idiot, my roommate is an idiot.” Chris could see the wave of golden energy emanating from everyone in the fight. It suddenly dawned on Chris that was he was seeing was their movement. He could see and feel the kinetic energy in the area!

The young girl swooped in to try and save the ‘hapless civilian’ that collided with the Warrior, but as she got close two of the gangers pull maces and attacked. Her momentum combined with their assault knocked her unconscious as she flew in. Brian had taken a couple of blows from the Warrior he tackled but he was still fighting.

“darn it…” Chris muttered. He concentrated on the energy and reached out with his hand trying to will the kinetic energy to expand out. Suddenly a green glow erupted from one of the Warriors and he appeared tired, but Brian also began to heal.

Chris looked in wonder, “Well that’s not what I had in mind.”

Brian struggled with the Warrior on the ground, but he was quickly on the losing end. The Warrior flipped the athlete over and straddled his chest holding an ornate Axe. As Brian struggled with the Warrior he grabbed the shaft of the Axe.

Suddenly an ancient voice filled his mind as the two wrestled over control of the weapon, “Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy…” it repeated.

“Shut up!” The Warrior snarled.

Brian shouted, “It’s not me, dumb [censored]!” and with that he took one hand off the axe and punched the ganger in the groin… hard.

A small whimper escaped the Warrior’s surprised face and he slowly fell to the side leaving Brian lying on his back holding the axe

“Worthy.” The ancient voice said in Brian’s mind…

“The chains that bind those to fate,
Will rattle loudly on this date.

Kismet calls and we will answer,
For all the combat you shall master.

The chant is done, the spell is woven,
And evil’s hold shall now be broken!”

Brian’s scream cut through the night as Chris charged forward cursing, “Oh crap, crap, crap!” He reached out with his hand causing another green glow to erupt from another Warrior as he rushed into the group. He pulled on the golden tendrils of kinetic energy like ribbons wrapping around the Warriors and let the energy build. He could feel the hair on his arms stand up and the charge in his body building. With a thought he outstretched his arms and electricity exploded from his body shocking the Warrior surrounding him.

Brian opened his eyes to the sight of Warriors being electrocuted. His mind filled with ways he could take advantage of the situation and how to dispatch these so-called warriors. With an ease of movement not his own he swung the axe sending the group of them flying through the air unconscious.

Brian and Chris were making their way across Campus heading to Science building.

“We’ll cut through the Park.” Brian said as he jogged ahead.

Chris watched him run and could see golden tendrils of energy wafting off of Brian as he moved. Reaching out Chris grabbed the tendrils and gently pulled on them slowing Brian down. The golden energy wrapped around Chris. He could feel the energy coursing through his body causing his hair to stand up on his arms. The energy danced around inside his until he concentrated and focused them into his hands. A small spark jumped one hand to another creating the smell of ozone. Chris looked up at Brian slowly running. Almost like a mime moving in slow motion.

“Wellthisisn’thalfbad,” Chris said entirely too fast, “OhgodIsoundlikeachipmonk!”

Slowly Brian stopped running and looked at Chris, “What…did…you…say…?”

To Chris it was painstakingly slow and had spoken three times before Brian finished the question, “IthinkIslowedyoudownandspedmyselfup. Kindafreakyhuh? IalsothinkthatI’mgeneratingelectricalenergy,butI’m notsureaboutthat.”

Brian looked perplexed but he began to regain his normal speed as Chris began to slow down, “Whoa… what the hell was that? You sounded like a chipmunk on crack.”

Chris smiled, “You sounded slower than usual, which is hard to imagine considering how slow you normally are on the uptake.”

“Die in a fire.” Brian wittily responded to the crack, “What’s that smell?”

Chris turned around and looked. He could see everything he could normally see, but there was a large buildup of golden energy through the trees that only he seemed to see, “I think something is going on over there.”

Chris began to make his way through the trees as Brian called out, “Hey wait up!”

“Well hurry up!” as Chris motioned to Brian that same golden energy enveloped Brian accelerating his natural speed and he raced by Chris. “Oh crap. Wait!”

But it was too late Brian had charged right into the clearing where a fire wielding girl was fighting a bunch of Warriors.

“That is freaky weird, dude.” Brian said to Chris as he stared into his glowing eyes.

“If you don’t stop staring at me I’m going to melt your face off.” Chris snapped.

Brian narrowed his eyes, “You can do that?”

Chris sighed, “No… just give me a little space. Okay?”

Brian backed away and sat down at his desk in the cramped dorm room. The bunk bed dominated most of the room with a set of computer desk sitting side by side on the other wall. There was a narrow passage that you could move back and forth but not without moving the computer chairs out of the way. Clothes were stuffed into a small closet in mesh baskets and hanging precariously from hangers.

Brian leaned back in his chair kicking his feet up on the desk, “You should talk to Professor Warren about this. He might be able to help.”

“I killed someone.” Chris’ voice was quiet, “I don’t know how much help he can give me.”

“It was an accident moron. You didn’t know that would happen. That detective even said so.” Brian grabbed his keyboard putting it in his lap.

Chris laid back on the top bunk, “But someone died… I don’t know if I can deal with that.”

Brian rolled his eyes, “Look, I did some research into the Might for Right Act. According to this you are not libel for reflexive action caused by power manifestation. It’s like charging an infant for jay walking. They are unaware of what is happening around them, so they can’t be held responsible for the outcome of the action.”

“I killed someone! Can’t you get that through your stupid Jock head!?!” Chris yelled.

Brian looked up at Chris glaring down at him, “Dude… I’m trying to help you. Don’t yell at me.” He sighed and went back to typing, “Look I’m just saying that it’s not your fault. It was an accident. We’ll talk to Professor Warren and see what he can do.”

“Unless he can fly around the earth and spin it backwards on its axis, I think I’m screwed.” Chris sarcastically replied.

“Chris!”

The young man’s head shot up from the book he was reading. He saw his girlfriend, Sarah, screaming at him just as he became aware of the sound of the horn. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the bus speeding towards him.

As the realization hits him his mind races back through his life. Flashes mostly, nothing really complete; Sarah’s smiling face, a sticker on the back window of his car, a day at the beach with his friends… Flashes.

Time seemed to slow as the bus drew ever closer. Chris knew there was no way he could get away before it hit him. Fear of the situation subsided almost instantly at the realization that he was going to die leaving a void that rage was more than happy to fill. He didn’t want to die, he hadn’t lived long enough for his life to end like this! A statistic, a freaking statistic! That’s what he would be! 4.5% of all people struck by moving vehicles are hit by buses. That’s what his life would amount to. Christian Turner would be the guy that got hit by a bus on campus reading a book while crossing the street. He could envision the Darwin Award write up!

He then stared at the bus charging towards him with hatred. This was going to be the instrument of his demise and Chris hated it. To be killed in such a trivial way. A victim of circumstance. He let his anger flow through him as he screamed in rage at the vehicle.

“STOP!”

And it did…

Glass shattered as the driver flew through the windshield. His body sailing through the air over Chris and landing twenty yards behind him! Cries and screams from inside the bus cut through the air as Chris stood there, less than a foot from the bus, in shock. Suddenly arms wrap around him and a familiar voice sobbed in his ear. He turned and saw Sarah with tears streaming down her face.

“Oh God! Oh God, Chris I thought I had lost…”

Sarah’s voice faltered and her eyes went wide as she stared at Chris. She slowly backed away, her body trembling.

“Sarah?” Even to himself his own voice sounded surreal. His mind still trying to comprehend what is happening around him as he asks, “What’s wrong?” Part of him wanted to laugh. 'What's wrong?!? I was almost killed! What's not wrong?', he thought.

Her voice, trying to stifle the terror that his evident throughout her body, barely makes out the words, “Your eyes… My God your eyes!”

Slowly Chris turned back to look at the bus, his eyes caught his own reflection in the chrome of the grill. The distorted figure that stared back at him both fascinated and terrified him. It looked like him, wore his clothes, and even held the same book that he was reading, but the eyes… where the honey brown eyes of Chris Turner should be, glowing golden orbs now resided!

He stepped away from the bus and turned to face the sudden crowd that had gathered. A group of people were working on the bus driver trying to keep him alive on the pavement where he landed. Everyone else was staring at Chris with a mix of horror and fascination. Chris scans the crowd seeing the same people he sees everyday, classmates and friends. But now they stare at him like some freakish thing that appeared in there nice normal world, unknown and unwanted. His gaze stops at Sarah as she backs away from him crying. He reached out for her as she turned and ran away sobbing.

“Help.” Chris quietly said as burning tears began to flow from the glowing orbs where his eyes once were, “Help me!”

*begins stalking Aerones...*

Don't mind me!

Hey Aero... You did such a good job on Knight Hawk you should give Sonic Onslaught a try!

I'll throw my hat in with Sonic Onslaught.

I'd like her to fight either Dazzler or the Hulk... maybe Synapse would be cool (both being speedsters).

Very cool!

The Knight Hawk pic is awesome... makes me want to go to the gym and work out!

Go with Knight Hawk.