Kinetic Melee

Starting to level up a Kinetic Melee/Shield scrapper. There doesn't seem to be much information out there build-wise.

Anyone got any advice on what to concentrate on? Recharge? Regen? How to leverage Power Siphon to its maximum. The attacks seem a little underpowered. Any powers to avoid? Thanks in advance.

Not a ton of info yet due to not a lot of exerience with it, but I'll share my insights on a lvl45 KM/SR (selected for thematic reasons):

1. Not convinced attacks are underpowered - seem fine to me.
2. On recharging PS, you probably know that consentrated strike sacrifices its crit for instantly recharging it (which will hold Gaussian 6/6 set for me) - it's very nice. I also use a force feedback proc in Burst and Quick Strike (some peeps dont like QS).
3. I didnt take confront or Repulsing Torrent. On a performance note: RT animates too slowly, has knockback, and doesnt have a lot of damage, and doesnt count towards Power Siphon talley (bad). Consider Energy Torrent from body mastery - what I will be doing. Hopefully this will change in a update.
4. I havent seen a lot of benefit as far as building for recharge: /SR is a little overkill. Part of me would rather have /inv (especially with the fitness change in i19), /wp. /SD is never wrong, but I did not like the one-armed animations. Power Siphon doesnt stack past 5 counts and I can already get 2 Consentrated Strikes to hit with in the time of a 5 count. In short, the mechanic of PS and animation times really seem to bottle-neck recharge based performance such that most toons would be able to do well enough with little investment. Alternative damage sources should be used (AAO, the new FE from Fire Armor, etc.) to really boost performance in this reguard.
5. I'll probably build for soft-cap, some resistance, and with i19 leadership or med pool.
6. In short KM is a very flashy middle-of-the-road set that has some interesting mechanics and effects ( -dam to target - not really helpful for scraps due to 7.5%(?) as it is for tanks 10% (?)). It seems that they designed it with some internal constraints to minimize the likelyhood of min/maxing it to a build like Shredmonkey's DB/SR. But like I said too soon to tell.

The tier9 has the stupidest animation I've ever seen. I got it and was like.. wait this is an attack?

Also; hit PS then use your weakest attack in order to strongest then use the strongest attack available.

LOL, this is starting to sound like the Dark Melee shadow punch thread with BilZ and Arc., but the damage is too good to not use! I agree, and its a little out of flavor with the rest of the attacks, too. Everything else is awsome soft-style MA (I dig the knockdown on QS - reminds me of old Steven Segal moves with a shot to the neck). Consentrated Strike needs an alternate "energy gathering" animation. More like a combo of the "bring it" animation and Cobra Strike. Or just the Stalkers AS, but that will never happen.

Yeah, one-handed or two-handed, Concentrated Strike looks like you're about to break your back trying to gather the kinetic energy in the attack.

I've got a KM/SD up to 48 now and he's going good. Don't be afraid to spam Power Siphon as the proc chance to insta-recharge it with Con. Strike is pretty high, and there's been numerous times where it's been recharged the very first time I use concentrated strike after popping it. Quite handy.

Shield Charge + Burst with a stacked AoO + Power Siphon is deadly, of course. Makes me hate knockback on teams after taking the time to pack them tight, though.

Skip repulsing torrent, skip confront as usual. I skipped quick strike since you end up with so many attacks you don't really need it, but some might suggest otherwise for leveling or some such. I have vet powers and the low levels go so fast for me I didn't notice a problem.

It's nice that the set has knockdown in focused burst and burst, and stuns in the others. Burst can really help if you get a nasty alpha with the RNG hating you.

Thanks for the good responses all. I'm new to both Kin Melee and Shield so can't draw on any experience. Anyone got a decent build to study?

I'm also looking for some advice,how do I get a good recharge on Syphon Power?

Same as any other power. Slot Syphon Power for reharge, get some sets which lower your recharge and pick up hasten.

IMO, KM/SD would be slotted like any other /SD build: mostly dependent on budget, so check on threads that have budget soft-capped builds and wether you want to spend the INF on Hami-O's for the DDR (defense debuff resistance).

IIRC, my fire/sd, which is *completely* purpled used LoTG def and global in all toggles plus a cytoskeleton x3 (hami-o) in battle agility. Enzymes may work, too. 3x Membrane in Active defense - double-stacked should get you to ~92-93% DDR(4 if you want 95% or 3 lvl53's *rare*). Combat jumping also had the 2 LoTG's plus BoTZ and BoTZ in super speed. Then IO sets in the attacks to shore up holes in remaining defense. Steadfast unique and possibly Gladiator Armor unique. At any rate there should be cheaper builds out there esp with thunderstrike and using more makos, ToD sets and Aegis or w/e. (sorry for a lame post - at work).

OK so slight thread hijack. I am working on this build trying to get a solid 6 attack chain. This is an I19 build and the slotting in Phys percection is my set for stamina. So please ignore the End for the time being.

The Basic Chain is BB>SB>FB>DD>SB>CS with siphon power or Shield charge as needed.

An thoughts now how well this may workout?

JD

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Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Body Blow -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(19), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(21), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), T'Death-Dam%(23), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(3), RedFtn-Def(3), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(5), RedFtn-EndRdx(5), LkGmblr-Rchg+(13)
Level 2: Smashing Blow -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(25), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(25), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), T'Death-Dam%(29)
Level 4: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(15), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(15), RedFtn-Def(17), RedFtn-EndRdx(17), LkGmblr-Rchg+(19)
Level 6: True Grit -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Numna-Heal(11), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(13)
Level 8: Power Siphon -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(9), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(9), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(48), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(50), GSFC-Build%(50)
Level 10: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(33)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(42), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(48)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(34)
Level 18: Maneuvers -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(29), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def(43), RedFtn-EndRdx(43), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 20: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 26: Focused Burst -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(34), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def(33), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFtn-EndRdx(42)
Level 30: Grant Cover -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(46)
Level 32: Concentrated Strike -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(37), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(40), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(40), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(45), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(45), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(46), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(48), P'Shift-End%(50)
Level 47: One with the Shield -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Assault -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A), Empty(43)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A), Empty(45)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

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1. Build looks ok (as far as recharge and attack chain - I didnt look at it for soft-cap or DDR cap- which it dosent make), assuming DD should have been BB for bodyblow in your chain. That chain seems to be what people a shooting for for now. I think that will change as Focused burst with its 2 sec animation really slows it down compared to QS, but most people will think that will be too many power at that point.

2. My KM/SR is now 50 and I have some edits to make. Burst doesnt take knockdown only stun (?) so no FF proc there. TR and Focused burst also dont take sets that should be represented in there descriptions - seems like a "flagging" error. So my ultimate build will have to wait.

Edit: FYI, here is the thread where people did number crunching - http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=233025&page=2

power siphon-> BB SB QS BB SB CS

CS: 204%
SB: 195%
BB: 100%
QS: 0%
(recharge required)

^Was the attack chain I'd pulled from one of the initial threads when it came out.
Haven't built a km/sd yet... I've been working more with other builds lately and haven't really gotten around to this one.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.707
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze I hate to be the bringer of bad news... but Willpower sucks!!! you're better off rolling a regen

This is the alternate animation for CS, starting at 1:06