Will Power/Kinetic Melee builds, advice needed

Hi:

I recently rolled a Will Power and Kinetic Melee Tanker, thought it would be a good character concept and also a way to try the new power set.

So far, I made it to level 38 with her, and frankly I am very disappointed with the damage she does. It feels like her mightyest attack is at best a light damage blow. Long and cool animation, decent cost in endurance drain, and jinsultingly bad damage for my time and trouble.

I am unlikely to blame the power set as opposed in blamming the player, that would be me. I am pretty certain I am doing something really wrong, so I am asking for help in 2 areas, what I am doing wrong combat wise, and how should I slot/build my Tanker. Please do not recommend Purple or PvP IOs in the design, any other IO is game.

At the moment all of my attacks are 5 slotted with 2 ACC Singles, and 3 DMG Singles, but they might at as well not be slotted, judging by the pityfull damage they do. Lately, I stopped using those wimpy, long winded attacks, and strictly use my vet powers (Sands of Mu, Blak Wand and Nemesis Staff) and Kick from fighting pool also 5 slotted and doing significant more damage than my kinetic melee ones; I do much better.

So please help me, the really bad performance of my alt, just does not make sense.

Hugs

Sue, Aka Stormy

Have you taken Power Siphon?

Sounds like you just realized you're playing a tank and not a brute/scrapper. The damage of KM is on par with all the other tank sets, so it's likely a perception issue.

Maybe you're used to a double stacked rage tanker. I don't know.

Things that could help you are leveraging the new bruising ability well (spread out that T1 attack) and use Power Siphon to it's fullest (Charge it with quick attacks, but use the biggest attacks at the end of your chain).

Mmm

Will try power syphon, it could be a perception thing. I have a fire/axe, mace/wp, elec/shield tankers, and I am fairly satisfied with their damage output. It just seemed kinetic melee was a bit on the weak side.

I will respec to make sure I get syphon power as soon as possible.

Hugs

Stormy

You can pick up some of the cheap IO sets and mix and match on your faster melee attacks to get good Acc, Dmg, and Rech too. That'll go a long way to helping you build up Power Siphon's buff quickly.

The first three singletargets let you do so easily if slotted well:

Quick Strick > Body Blow > Quick Strike > Smashing Blow > Quick Strike = 5 hits for max Power Siphon buff

THEN you can kick off Concentrated Strike, Burst, or what have you with the full 125% damage boost from Power Siphon. Makes a bit of a difference.

You could swap out Body Blow or Smashing Blow in your build for Focused Burst like I did, but be mindful of Focused Burst's noticeably longer animation time. It's not bad and gives you good ranged damage, but it'll eat into your Power Siphon time a little.

If you want to boost your damage remember that KM's attacks are all very quick, and as such you can slot a proc in each and you'll get a lot of benefit from them.

Definitely pick up power siphon; it's up much more than you'd expect, particularly if you have hasten. When using power siphon I take bosses down at about the same rate as my dual pistols blaster friend. He might just suck though.

If kick is doing more damage than any attack something is DEFINITELY wrong on your end. Kick does the same amount of damage as the first attack but has over double the animation time.

Giggles, I tried some changes as suggested...

I made sure to get Syphon as early as possible, also I am utilizing Will Power's Warrior's Challenge. Then opened up my engagements with a Syphon, followed by the PBAE melee attack, then the light damage brusing attack, followed by my heavy hitter attacks; and the performance was indeed much better.

At the moment I have slotted syphon with 2 Acc Buffs and 3 Recharge, and that also helps a lot; are the ACC buffs not really needed in the power?

My Mace/WP is a tanker, not a brute, and does satisfying levels of damage. Mace, like Axe, is a failry good DPS set, as tanks goes...

Hugs

Stormy