The Ultimate Level 5

EDIT: This was The Ultimate 5, but is now The Ultimate 10! Just to get opinions, if nothing else.

So, I've had this idea brewing for a while, and some of the recent QoL changes have made this a lot more possible. What if I left a character at level 10, but still played all the content and earned as many badges as possible? I'm talking about a level 5 who has 400+ badges to show what all she's done.

With the ability to turn off exp, it's trivial to hit 10 and then disable it. With SSK, I can tag along on just about any team. And with the level-restricted zones being torn down, I can go basically anywhere. Pretty much the only thing I won't be able to do is TFs.

Why 10? Why not 5? Why not 1? Well, several reasons. Walk unlocks at 2, and my Pocket D and Mission teleporters at 3. Ninja Run unlocks at 4. Newspapers at 5, so I can run around in missions in my free time. I also get 8 inspiration slots instead of 3, as well as having 4 powers instead of 2, and at least a couple slots. I'd like to have access to the travel-related powers so as not to be too much of a burden on teams. Levels 6, 8, and 10 are good for power selections. Debt opens at 10, which I need for an accolade. And I can start putting in set IOs around 10.

The first question, which I've mostly answered already, is blueside or redside? Well, blueside has more accolades tied to TFs. Most of the people I know are also redside. So I'd like to do redside.

Second question is, what should I make? I'll need to make something that can at least feasibly contribute SOMETHING to teams, even if miniscule. I can't play melee toons because I'll have no defense, but I may be well off with a buff set. And preferably one that doesn't have to hit.

Right now I'm thinking a Pain Domination Mastermind. I'll be able to summon 3 of them if SKed up. I'll also have some powers for support that don't need to hit. Another option is Thermal Radiation. The real question then is which tier 1 pets are the most useful assuming they aren't backed by other pets?

So, any thoughts on feasibility? AT/powersets? What to do with slots? Names? Level of insanity?

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

If you're gonna go with Mastermind, I'd recommend lv6 over lv5 (get the first tier upgrade). I'd also look at a */Rad Corruptor: RI+EF is a powerful combo at any level, and AM would help a bit with any endurance issues you might have (plus buff your damage since you don't get SOs)

I'd recommend a Scrapper, or a Blaster; something that's solo-oriented from the get-go.

Since your efforts will require teaming; you will need to make yourself useful to teams despite your lack of power variety. Corruptor is definitely the way to go.

Rad is good and Pain Domination would work for teams who only expect you to rock the aura anyway.

If it were me, however, I would go with Sonic/Dark Miasma. Dark Miasma gives you good variety with Twilight Grasp as a group heal, with Tar Patch and Darkest Night as potent AoE debuffs. Your Sonic attacks will add an additional damage resistance debuff to stack with your Tar Patch. All-in-all not bad team support for a character with few options.

Heh, and thus the power creep. If Dis goes for the upgrade at 6, s/he may as well hit seven for the level ten Enhancements.

I'd suggest a Rad/anything Defender, so that you can have the two debuffs which are auto-hit and actually scale well to the higher levels.

Like Steelclaw I was going to recommend a /Dark Corrupter. I don't know how much benefit you'll really get from Twilight Grasp due to a lack of accuracy but Tar Patch and Darkest Night should work ok.

Rad defender or corruptor would be my choice.

Really hard to beat the RI+Ennervating field in usefulness

Claws/Regen Scrapper. QR at level 4 and you're pretty much set.

I'd go corrupter as well. You could go with 2 blasts and 2 support or 1 blast and 3 support.

With those limitations, I would go /rad as the secondary. A group heal, auto hit group debuff of defense and tohit, and a group boost to speed, recharge, endurance, damage, and resistance to mez.

With only the first blast or second blast as your choice, it doesn't matter too much what you pick. My favorites would be fire for damage, sonic for -res, dark for -tohit, or ice for slow.

You only get 4 slots to use. I would add one to blast and slot 2 accs, one to RI and slot 2 end, and 2 for AM all 3 recharge.

I do think that level 10 is much more realistic and a better bargain all around. 3 more powers, four more slots, and the ability to frankenslot cheap level 10 stuff will make it much more enjoyable, I think. And it also opens up a lot more AT and build possibilities.

Well blue side I'd say a Traps Defender since both FFG and Acid Mortar scale reasonably well even without much slotting.

Red side Dark and Rad would still work well. Storm might also be an option for Snow Storm and Steamy Mist

How does this look? He's a plucky little guy! If you do story arcs or AE you should be able to get the merits or tickets to actually get some of those level 10 "premium" IOs. And with swift, hurdle, sprint, ninja run, and AM (and a little stealth), you should have decent traveling.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 9 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attacks
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Fitness
Villain Profile:


Level 1: Shriek

• (A) Salvo - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Range: Level 10
• (3) Salvo - Accuracy/Damage: Level 10

• (A) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration: Level 10

• (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 10
• (3) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 10
• (9) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 10

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 10
• (5) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 10
• (5) Celerity - +Stealth: Level 15
• (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 10
• (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 10
• (9) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 10

• (A) Run Speed IO: Level 10

• (A) Jumping IO: Level 10

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 10

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• 1.56% Defense(Energy)
• 1.56% Defense(Negative)
• 3.13% Defense(Ranged)
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Sleep) 2.2%

• MezResist(Sleep) 2.2%

• 3.13% Defense(Ranged), 1.56% Defense(Energy), 1.56% Defense(Negative)
• Knockback Protection (Mag -4)

Might I suggest you DO NOT TURN OFF XP, just refuse to level up...
That way.. someday, when you feel like it.. you can try the ultimate level 10 build, level 20 build..etc...

I say, bank that XP, just don't use it until you want to!

I wish there was a way to turn off XP AND bank it. So that you wouldn't hear a ding at all until you turned XP back on.

And then . . . DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! . . . on and on for as many levels as you earned while you had it off and a long list of inspirations appear, blocking out your screen.

I feel like you're really crippling yourself by setting the limit as low as 5, if for no other reason than that you're effectively ruling out anything but corruptors. There's nothing in the world more useless than a mastermind before the first upgrade power, unless maybe it's a stalker without assassin strike. Dominators typically get their first interesting-to-a-team primary power at 6, too. And with only TOs for accuracy, and not enough slots to slot for anything but accuracy, no brute is going to be able to hit anything, or hurt it if he does. That limits you to corruptors, where you're most likely to find secondary powers that are team buffs or auto-hit and your primaries are more likely than the others to have useful side effects.

Among corruptor primaries, I'd be inclined to stick with Ice Blast for the recharge debuff or Dark Blast for the to-hit debuff. Among the corruptor secondaries, there are a lot of good choices, but the ones that really jump out at me as useful even with TOs at level 5 are Dark Miasma and Radiation Emission, or just barely maybe Pain Domination.

And since you only get four powers and four add-on slots at level 5, here's what I'd do, if I were going to do this at all on a villain, a dark/dark corruptor: 1 Dark Blast (1 acc) and Twilight Grasp (3 acc), 2 Tar Patch (1 rech), and 4 Darkest Night (3 endred). Every other fight you get to give your team +30% damage from the Tar Patch. And if they don't kill the anchor, you get to give them all +15% def(all) and +30% res(all) by debuffing all the enemies by that much. If it doesn't kill your endurance, you can pick one enemy and Dark Blast them repeated, adding another 7.5% to-hit debuff (effectively +7.5% def(all) to everybody on your team versus that enemy) to the 15% from Darkest Night. And you still get a weak AoE heal that has some slight chance to fire.

Now, if you were at all tempted to increase that to level 6, picking any mastermind primary and combining it with Dark Miasma, same slotting, would let you replace that worthless TO-slotted Dark Blast with minions with actually useful attacks. I'd go with Mercs, if I were never going to level beyond 6, because their defense debuffs would help alleviate your rotten accuracy from lack of slotting. A level 6 mercs/dark mastermind would be slightly better than worthless -- and hey, any time you SSKed to 18 or above, you'd get a medic.

I put a little more thought into your exercise, and I do see one potentially useful hero build that would stay at level 5 indefinitely. Well, three closely related builds: broadsword or katana or maybe dual blades plus regen on a scrapper. Why? Regen scrappers get both Fast Healing and Quick Recovery by 4. Take two attacks, and 3-slot with accuracy TOs; stick one heal and one endmod in FH and HR. You won't be hitting for much, but after the first hit the def debuff will be enough that you can hit consistently from then on. Your defenses are pure passives, and they're pretty good passives at that. You could solo with that build reasonably well, and as long as there was at least one tanker, defender, or controller on any team you SSKed to, you could probably survive and be better than nothing. Barely. Of course, you'd be toast the first time anything with a mez attack even coughed on you.

Edit: Yeah, going to level 10 expands your options substantially. You can even frankenslot with uncommon set IOs at that level, and by level 10, some (but not all) tanker, scrapper, and brute builds even have their mez protect powers.

I should probably also mention that I have 36 months worth of rewards, so I do have Mu and Wand to fill in an attack chain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

Go mind/emp. Sidekick a scrapper and you're pretty much unstoppable.

An open letter to NCsoft