Speed Boost? Yes/No

I've had a Dark/Kin corr waiting to be IO'd, mainly been avoiding it because of the question. To take speed boost or drop it......

I know most would prefer every kin to have speed boost. But, I absolutely hated buffing my team every minute on my road to 50. I've seen maybe 4 kins total in my years here that don't have SB. It never bothered me as I focus my toons to solo regardless of AT. I don't want to "have" to rely on outside buffs that might not be there.

So the question is, how many people would it piss off? I mostly won't take it in my final build, just wanting to get the general idea of what others think.

I wouldn't find your address and fly over to your house in my private jet and punch you in the face or anything, but I would be a bit annoyed. It's, hands down, the best short cooldown buff in the game for the benefits it provides.

What I ended up doing was binding a macro from 1-8 on my Numpad that cast Speed Boost on the corresponding party member. Just hit it from 1-8 when it starts to run out on the first member in your group. Anyone that's out of range is out of luck.

I'm very tolerant, but I'm always surprised when I see a kin without SB. I always purposely ask 'what? how come you don't have sb?' (just so they know they're missing on the most desired power from kins, I don't kick them or anything) and also, to actually know why they haven't taken it, because I'd never skip it (bind it to a key like me and SB only when you feel they need it if you're too tired).

But as I said I'm tolerant, if I'm leading a team and the empath has the medicine pool and the only attack is flurry, I tell her the med pool is unnecessary because of this and that and if it's a cool player and doing nothing stupid, I always let him/her tag along.

But tbh, I've seem very harsh reactions and kicking occurring due to a kin not having sb. ymmv of course.

PS: Vermain I love your sig.

This same type of question has come up in numerous threads and basically it's your build so if all you plan to do is solo drop SB and enjoy. If you occasionally team use dual builds and have a team build that includes SB. Now I realize trying to completely IO one build is very expensive let alone 2 but the Devs have said time and time again the game is designed to be played, and played well, using nothing but SOs. So IO out your solo build and just use SOs on the team one and you should be fine. Oh... Um those Devs were, of course, assuming people play at +0 X1 not +4 X8 so if your one one of those teams you MAY have some trouble. LOL


I'm sure if you go with no SB at some point you'll run into someone that will HATE you because you don't have it but from the other discussions like this that I have seen here most people have the attitude that its your build and as long as it works for you and you contribute when teaming .. Enjoy!

I expect a Kinetics character to have Speed Boost. I consider SB to be one of the best buffs of the game, and it helps teams go through missions faster and rarely running out of endurance. When I have run into folks who don't have SB or refuse to use it for the team, I don't get upset or kick them from the team . . . but I won't team with them again. I find that most people who don't take Speed Boost tend to be selfish . . . not all, but most. SB is a small inconvenience that provides a big benefit for the team.

Now, if you want to solo almost entirely, that's fine. If you want to team, you should warn people that you don't have it so the team leader can choose whether to invite you or not with an understanding of your choice to not take the power.

If you don't like it, don't take it. I suggest you warn people that you don't have it when joining a team, and ask for their understanding.

It's why I ask, it seems people forget Kin is more then SB. On my brutes, I'm always waiting for FS not SB. I have the 1-8 as macros, but could bind them to my numpad as well. It's more really that I want to be blasting things then buffing endlessly. I would still bring to team everything else Kin has to offer.

The question actually came up when I showed my wife my toons build. She has an Earth/Kin troller at 50 and was surprised to see it in my final build. She said I'd hate buffing the team. Granted I solo'd a lot and lvl'd on smaller teams on his road to 50. Things are less intense on paper missions as opposed to SF/TFs.

It wouldn't hurt my build to leave it in honestly, I was just curious the general consensus.

YES. There is no reason to not take SB unless you solo. ~3 (more realistically, to be quite sure none stay alive for a second, 4) SB'ed Trappers can one-shot the entire LRSF

Also, now for not such an extreme case. Moar SB = Moar traps out at the same time! And Trap effects stack.

It's your character, so build it how you want.

As for your concerns, I have a couple of suggestions. There's no reason to SB an entire team or to constantly apply it, save it for when there is likely to be a need (prior to or during a battle, or TCS's suggestion.) Don't slot for Run Speed.

I don't consider SB a free travel power for others, my use of it is primarily for +End Recovery and +Rech, if my team can spam their attacks all the quicker, then it's all good.

You DO know that you can assign keys to select all your party members (numerically) and just press keybind that uses SB? Makes it so painless.

Melees are the one who need SB the least, unless they depend on a rech heal. Dom/Trollers benefit in having their AoE mezzes up more often, /Poisons can put up Noxious Gas More, etc. etc.

TCS, I've got two Trap toons at 50 myself. I well aware of their effects. My trappers do fine w/ and w/o SB.

But to inform you, Reasons not to take SB:

You don't like buffing every 90 seconds
You prefer to deal damage (mind you, this toon is a corr)

All valid reasons and fair in point to the person with SB. I have SB on his current build and will try to adapt. I'll see where I end up later on with use

I take SB as a team expects it.....however I do wish people wouldnt run off and be out of range when im sb'ing then ***** about it......do they know how annoying the whole SB thing is for a kin

A /Kin without Speed Boost is ridiculous, but then again it is your character. I don't think anyone expects to be boosted every second of every mission, but it is nice to have it when its needed.

Playing buffing powersets can get tedious. Shielders (Thermal/Cold/FF/Sonic) have to rebuff the entire team every 3 1/2 mins or so (4 mins minus the time it takes to start a buff cycle). For Kinetics, it is every 1 1/2 mins or so (2 mins for SB minus the time it takes to buff cycle). It can get tedious, yes.

However, SB is one of the most powerful tools in a Kinetics arsenal, and I think almost everyone would expect you to have it if you're playing a Kinetic.

That said, some (not all) are more than happy to be tolerant if you don't want to take SB and SB people, but...unless you're dead set against being forced to SB people all the time, I'd recommend taking it because A) people will expect you to have it and use it because B) it's just that good.

The amount of energy it takes to continually SB people is part of why I don't play Kinetics every night of the week, but the limitless endurance it bestows your teammtes is priceless.

Just to reinform everyone, I know what recharge does. I know what SB does, in fact I know what most sets do w/o looking it up.

The question was a question of personal opinion on the power. Not "teach me what this does"

@Kioshi
Sorry my Doms are all perma'd w/o help, so I don't personally see most of your argument as truely valid. IMO those doms need to grind and get perma'd so they don't need a kin.

I learned my lesson...I only play /Kins once or a few times every 6 months. The amount of energy it takes to play one can bring me to my knees.

I really hate how buffing ppl with SB can mess up my dmg cycle and how they don't give a pttoty if I'm using my other powers to aid the team. Yes the team deals more dmg but when you play a Kin you feel like you only have 1 power and that's SB. I've seen people cryout in outrage when someone skips SB but they don't even blink an eye when the kin skips fulcrum, transference.