Great Builds - CoV- 5 years as an Altaholic

After playing every Archetype and about 200+ toons later,
some only to level 20, others past 40, I would like to share
some observations and perhaps save someone else the
time it took me to learn some of these interesting builds.

I'm not going into great detail. There is lots of information
on most of the archetypes in the forums. I'm just going
to mention a few types I found to work real well and why,
and a pointer or two in the build.

All primary and secondary powers in the hands of a good
player can work well, BUT there are some power combinations
that work better. It is usually because the primary and secondaries
work better together, they have a certain synergy. A good example
would be the power RAIN OF FIRE combined with TAR PATCH.
Tar patch not only slows down the enemies but also has a damage
resistance debuff, increasing the fires damage. This game has many
such synergies and I have spent years experimenting with them.
All Archetypes have them and they are there to discover.
Here are some of the best:


BRUTES

Dark/Willpower (Super Survivability)
This brute has incredible survivability due to it's
multiple heals and low but balanced damage resistance
and defence. All the endurance you'll ever need due
to QUICK RECOVERY, especially if you take STAMINA
from the power pool as well.
TIP: Slot SIPHON LIFE with 3 accuracy and 3 recharge.
This gives you the maximum benefit of this power for heals vs damage.
The damage is so good for this power it is a shame to slot for just
heal.
TIP2: Use SOUL DRAIN and DARK CONSUMPTION for your AoE
damage. Once your rage is higher, use SD followed by DC to take
all those around you. Great for getting out of tight spots when overrun.

Dark/Electric (Tough with AoE)
A hard to kill brute due to higher damage resistance armour and
2 healing powers. Good AoE powers.
LIGHTNING REFLEXES makes all of your powers recharge
faster (including your heal - ENERGIZE). In essence, a 20% faster attack means 20%
more damage over time.
TIP: Slot SIPHON LIFE with 3 accuracy and 3 recharge.
This gives you the maximum benefit of this power for heals vs damage.
The damage is so good for this power it is a shame to slot for just
heal.
TIP2: Use SOUL DRAIN and DARK CONSUMPTION for your AoE
damage. Once your rage is higher, use SD followed by DC to take
all those around you. Great for getting out of tight spots when overrun.


STALKER

Energy/Regen
This is my favourite stalker - The High damaging stun
powers from energy melee makes for faster, safer kills
than some of the other melee powers. Energy has
3 extreme damage powers, making it possible to take
out some really nasty enemies fast. Regen works
well with powers like ENERGY TRANSFER which
uses some of your health to use.
TIP: Make sure to take TOUGH from power pool
to make your regen power work that much better.
Due to Regen's incredible healing rate, even the
smallest damage resistance and defence powers
help survivability a great deal. TOUGH, once slotted
will increase lethal and smashing damage res. to 15%.
That doesn't sound like a lot but when your healing
at around 10 times normal rates, you'll notice.
TIP2: It is possible to even stun a boss. Two hits
with a stun power will often do it - TOTAL FOCUS and
STUN for example.


MASTERMIND

Robotics/Storm (Maximum Damage from within a Hurricane)
My favourite MM was Robotics/Dark until I discovered this
combo. Great synergy and finally a great reason to pick up
HURRICANE. Your single heal keeps your bots healthy
and even has a few buffs attached. Steamy Mist helps
protect your bots from damage, especially energy that bots
are weak against. Freezing Rain to increase the damage your bots do.
Lightning Storm to add even more energy damage. All the
other powers are useful as well - SNOW STORM to slow down
the enemy and attacks, etc.


CORRUPTOR

Fire/Dark or Fire/Storm (AoE Monsters)
Both of these are AoE damage dealers.
Fire/Storm does slightly more damage but has weaker
defences and no personal heal. So if you want more
damage go for this one. If you want better survivability,
go with the Fire/Dark.
TIP: Take AIM and use it to increase your AoE powers
like FIRE BALL and FIRE BREATH.
TIP2: Take TAR PATCH or FREEZING RAIN to increase
the damage of your RAIN OF FIRE and slow down the
enemy.
TIP3: Also take FEARSOME STARE or SNOW STORM
to further slow down the enemy and reduce incoming damage.
Fire/Dark attack chain: FEARSOME STARE, DARKEST NIGHT, TAR PATCH,
AIM, FIRE BREATH, FIRE BALL, RAIN OF FIRE.
Fire/Storm attack chain: SNOW STORM, FREEZING RAIN,
AIM, FIRE BREATH, FIRE BALL, RAIN OF FIRE.

Pretty good points for the most part, about Siphon Life though: 3 acc 3 recharge isn't a very good slotting for it. Its a tricky power to slot because you want good acc/dam/heal/end/rech values which is pretty hard to do with SOs/generic IOs.

I would recommend people frankenslot Siphon Life, for example Acc/Dams from melee sets, Heal/Ends from heal sets and get recharge from triples from either type. Siphon Life is a fantastic power that both gives good healing and damage, it'd be a shame to neglect either (or both) aspects.

Great Points. Being an altaholic, I know I have a problem - leveling up and not fine tuning to max out powers. Anyway, you're slotting is better than a 70% averaging improvement across the board over my initial slotting.

When I read this list, I don't see any real variation. For example, you like fire blast, so you've paired it with a few sets. Certainly Rain of Fire/Tar Patch is great, but you could say the same about sleet with a Cold.

Then you do the same thing with Brutes. Dark Melee is good, but as I mentioned in your post in the brute forums, there are circumstances where other sets actually offer better mitigation than the heal of siphon life.

What you seem to be doing is trying to identify sets that synergize well with each other. There are many, many combinations that work great together, and of those that you listed, only the DM/Elec and the Fire/Dark are typical synergistic pairings, with the DM/Elec being less-so now that we have energize. Actually, Dark/SR offers a lot more survivability than a DM/WP brute offers, while a Dark/Shield offers better AoE potential than a Dark/Elec.

I also don't quite understand why this was reposted so many times. While it is nice that you are offering advice on some fun combinations, reposting it borders on spam.

I realize now after being informed by a number of vet players that these forums are not frequented much by newer players. Obviously I was unaware of this change in forum dynamics. The last time I posted, I think George Bush was running for his second term.
I will post more tactfully and minimully in future.

I turned your bubble from red to green. Your intentions were noble, and you didn't deserve any negative rep for these posts.

While a lot of vets frequent these boards (you'll see some with lots of posts), there are also new players that come here for advice for builds, for fun combos, and even to suggest an idea they might have.

Your idea of making a list of 'fun' combos was a good one. We do have the player guides forum here which is centered around helping players. I'd take a look around that forum to see how players do guides there if you haven't seen them.

Anyway, welcome back to the boards.