City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Merits Query - What would YOU do?

ClawsandEffect

By ClawsandEffect,
Posted on: 2010-10-02 14:18 in Tankers

 

Posted

If you had a level 47 electric/ice tanker with 680 merits, how would you spend them? What IO sets or individual IOs would you go for?

 

Posted

I'd turn them into hero/villain merits, first and foremost.

Comrade Smersh, KGB Special Section 8 50 Inv/Fire, Fire/Rad, BS/WP, SD/SS, AR/EM
Other 50s: Plant/Thorn, Bots/Traps, DB/SR, MA/Regen, Rad/Dark - All on Virtue.

-Don't just rebel, build a better world, comrade!

 

Posted

if you don't already, get a full set of doctored wounds for energize, then yeah a-merit the rest

 

Posted

Don't use them until you're level 50. They will be much more profitable if you decide to sell what you get. I don't necessarily agree with what the other posters have said about converting them though. I personally think you're better off rolling them. That will bring in a steady income. I understand the thinking because it takes soooooo many villain or hero merits to buy the really expensive stuff. You could use the hero or villain merits for 5 random rolls but it costs 20 million to convert the merits so IMO it's a waste unless you save them for a specific recipe. If you're a rogue or vigilante it's a moot point because you can't use them.

 

Posted

Rolling alignment merits is better than rolling regular merits.

50 regular merits equal one alignment merit... and one alignment merit can be rolled for five rare recipes. Basically, you get twice as many recipes per merit.

Comrade Smersh, KGB Special Section 8 50 Inv/Fire, Fire/Rad, BS/WP, SD/SS, AR/EM
Other 50s: Plant/Thorn, Bots/Traps, DB/SR, MA/Regen, Rad/Dark - All on Virtue.

-Don't just rebel, build a better world, comrade!

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flarstux View Post
If you had a level 47 electric/ice tanker with 680 merits, how would you spend them? What IO sets or individual IOs would you go for?
Guys, check again what the OP is asking: he's asking what IOs and sets he should go for, and not how best to pad his wallet with selling recipes from random rolls.

In essence, he's asking for a build for an electric/ice tanker. with a budget of 680 merits.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smersh View Post
Rolling alignment merits is better than rolling regular merits.

50 regular merits equal one alignment merit... and one alignment merit can be rolled for five rare recipes. Basically, you get twice as many recipes per merit.
This.

A random roll with Reward Merits costs you 20 merits for ONE roll.

50 Reward Merits and 20 million inf get you 1 Hero Merit. A random roll with one Hero Merit gets you 5 Recipes instead of just one.

So, for all practical purposes, that works out to getting 5 recipes for half the price, because it would cost you 100 reward merits to get what 1 hero merit gets.

Additionally, recipes that cost 250 reward merits will cost you 1-2 Hero merits. (yes, you can get a LotG, Miracle, or Numina for 2 hero merits)

Going with Hero Merits, you will end up with 65 recipes if you convert and random roll, Reward merits will get you 34 if you random roll. High dollar items, you will get 2-3 with Reward Merits, and 6-12 with Hero Merits.

The only thing limiting you with Hero Merits is the limit on how many you can convert in a day, and the fact that it will cost you 20 million influence to do so. But if you DO convert them, you will get nearly twice as much out of it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

 

Posted

As to IO sets, it depends on where you're standing and what you can afford on the market in addition to your merits.

Your first goal is to softcap, I would think. Steadfast +3% unique is relatively inexpensive. Stick it in Permafrost or Tough.

You'll probably want to pick up some Kinetic Combats for your single-target attacks. Check the market for what you can afford, use hero merits for the rest.

Eradications (save for the quad and the proc) - Four of these in your PBAoE attacks, and a couple of Multistrikes to max you out. This is +end, +max hp, and +energy defense.

Once you can softcap S/L/N/E with one foe in Energy Absorption, the rest can go to recharge. That's when you start buying Miracle and Numina uniques, and LotGs. Obliterations are perfect for Lightning Rod. Multistrikes for Icicles. Season to taste.

Edit - I misread Electric/Ice as Ice/Electric. Never mind.

Comrade Smersh, KGB Special Section 8 50 Inv/Fire, Fire/Rad, BS/WP, SD/SS, AR/EM
Other 50s: Plant/Thorn, Bots/Traps, DB/SR, MA/Regen, Rad/Dark - All on Virtue.

-Don't just rebel, build a better world, comrade!

 

Posted

Thanks for the replies. I've never had this many merits on a character before and wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Going for the random Hero rolls sounds interesting.

Here's what I've got slotted so far:

Energize - 5-slotted with Doctored Wounds
Charged Armor - 4-slotted with Reactive Armor
Conductive Shield - 4-slotted with Reactive Armor
Static Shield - 2/4 Reactive Armor
Taunt - 6-slotted with Perfect Zinger
Power Sink - 2/6 Efficacy Adapter

Everything else is SOs. I have 4 melee damage attacks ready for Kinetic Combat or Smashing Haymaker, when I can afford them.

This tanker has been a lot of fun even with a less than optimal build, but the other day I started doing Tip missions with him and when he went up against some Carnies at +1/x3 with bosses it wasn't pretty. 2 respecs later, he's doing better.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flarstux View Post
Thanks for the replies. I've never had this many merits on a character before and wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Going for the random Hero rolls sounds interesting.

Here's what I've got slotted so far:
...
You didn't post a Mids build, so that raises the possibility that you don't have it. Here's the link:

http://www.cohplanner.com/

It's a great tool for planning your characters.

 

Posted

Here's what I'm shooting for. This is derived from ideas presented by Call Me Awesome and in particular from an Electric/WM build posted by Finduilas. Until recently I didn't have hasten or tough/weave as I like to stick with powers from the primary and secondary sets as much as possible, and that had been working just fine until the afore-mentioned Tip mission with Carnies (also had some trouble with Malta in one of those new ambush upon ambush upon ambush upon ambush deals).

My recently soft-capped Ice/WM tanker can handle Carnies, and so can my Invuln/SS. This Electric/Ice guy, though - yikes. Anyway, his defenses are still negligible with his current mostly SO build but the addition of Tough and Hasten has definitely helped.

Getting back to the merits, I was considering using them to slot one attack with Kinetic Combat, or maybe picking up the Miracle +Recovery unique and a couple of other IOs, but it seems like doing the random roll thing with Hero merits might be the way to go, selling what I can't use to finance the rest of the build.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.81
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

OR-rch: Level 50 Science Tanker
Primary Power Set: Electric Armor
Secondary Power Set: Ice Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Charged Armor -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(9), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(13), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 1: Frozen Fists -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 2: Conductive Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(9), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Ice Sword -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 6: Static Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(17), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19)
Level 8: Grounded -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(29)
Level 10: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg(31), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(31), Zinger-Acc/Rchg(40), Zinger-Taunt/Rng(40), Zinger-Dam%(46)
Level 12: Energize -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(19), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(21), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Heal(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(25), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(27)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(21), EndMod-I(23)
Level 22: Ice Patch -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Lightning Field -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(27), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(31), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 26: Power Sink -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(33), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(36), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(36), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(46)
Level 28: Frost -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(39), Posi-Dmg/Rng(40)
Level 30: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 32: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 35: Freezing Touch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 38: Frozen Aura -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(42), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Oblit-%Dam(50)
Level 41: Kick -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(45), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 2: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

  • 8% DamageBuff(Smashing)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Lethal)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Fire)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Cold)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Energy)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Negative)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Toxic)
  • 8% DamageBuff(Psionic)
  • 28.94% Defense(Smashing)
  • 28.94% Defense(Lethal)
  • 3.938% Defense(Fire)
  • 3.938% Defense(Cold)
  • 8% Defense(Energy)
  • 8% Defense(Negative)
  • 3% Defense(Psionic)
  • 20.19% Defense(Melee)
  • 5.5% Defense(Ranged)
  • 4.875% Defense(AoE)
  • 4% Enhancement(Heal)
  • 41.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
  • 27% Enhancement(Accuracy)
  • 5% FlySpeed
  • 189.75 HP (10.13%) HitPoints
  • 5% JumpHeight
  • 5% JumpSpeed
  • Knockback (Mag -4)
  • Knockup (Mag -4)
  • MezResist(Immobilize) 15.4%
  • MezResist(Sleep) 1.65%
  • MezResist(Stun) 3.85%
  • MezResist(Terrorized) 4.95%
  • 8% (0.134 End/sec) Recovery
  • 40% (3.13 HP/sec) Regeneration
  • 3.78% Resistance(Fire)
  • 3.78% Resistance(Cold)
  • 5% RunSpeed




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Posted

I wouldnt bother with recovery Uniques until the rest of your build is flushed out. Softcapping and recharge are priority one, and seriously, if you actually NEED the recovery uniques on an ElA, you are doing something very very wrong, especially since you have stamina.

I would get those Kinetic Combats and LotGs before anything else, but thats just me.

Dark Armor is like that kid you knew in school that didn't know when to shut up, and no matter how bad he got beaten down, he got right back up again and kept on talking.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flarstux View Post
that had been working just fine until the afore-mentioned Tip mission with Carnies (also had some trouble with Malta in one of those new ambush upon ambush upon ambush upon ambush deals).



Getting back to the merits, I was considering using them to slot one attack with Kinetic Combat, or maybe picking up the Miracle +Recovery unique and a couple of other IOs, but it seems like doing the random roll thing with Hero merits might be the way to go, selling what I can't use to finance the rest of the build.

its worth adding the healing procs into Health, just the Numina's and Regentive Tissue have the almost same effect as Health unslotted. I tend to 3 slot Numina for the additional 12% (which is the 2slot bonus but 3 adds more health)

If you're unable to move slots about, change your current Health slotting for 1 generic heal IO and the Numina Heal and Numina Regen/Recover proc.
That itself will give you 105% regen.

I'd advise taking the 3 concealment powers with i19's launch and not using them, at the cost of dropping Combat Jumping.
You could run Stealth if you don't mind the animation, that'll almost be the same as CJ and due to Inherent Fitness having Swift you'll be at the same movement speed you are now.

Taunt's overslotted for my tastes (But some people do like the set bonuses) and the KD prot in grounded isn't needed as you already have protection against mag 15.

You could drop Taunt to 4 slots, use the Mocking set and ED cap Health and add the procs to it.

That way with the LotG rechs in the concealment pools, you should be perma-hasten'd and perma-energized at the cost of only 1% S/L def.

You'd also have a power left over, so you could take SS, slot a stealth-proc into it and use SS and Invisibility to stealth missions.

EDIT:
That Malta tip mission is meant to be difficult imho, I (accidently) ran it at +2/*8 in a full team and was probably the most fun my team and I had all day.

Here's the changes I'd personally make.

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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flints View Post
I'd advise taking the 3 concealment powers with i19's launch and not using them, at the cost of dropping Combat Jumping.
You could run Stealth if you don't mind the animation, that'll almost be the same as CJ and due to Inherent Fitness having Swift you'll be at the same movement speed you are now.
What's the rationale behind this? CJ is a much more useful mobility power than Stealth, especially since you can get Stealth's concealment with a stealth IO. You get the same amount of defense, so what's the advantage of taking Stealth over CJ, let alone three powers in the Concealment pool?

I'd probably keep CJ and pick up some ancillary powers instead.

My Characters

Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Finduilas View Post
What's the rationale behind this?
None, in fact you can keep CJ, I made an error in my part because I saw that they were at the cap of power pools so I had to drop one of them to see how the added +global rech would work.

I did forget that with Fitness being Inherent, there's no issue in the build for being at the power pool cap.

EDIT:
And the reason I wouldn't take APP/PPPs in i19 is because the build looks slot starved for them already, aside from taking body mastery, leaving them unslotted (putting the Miracle +recovery in physical perfection. a Rech in Conserve Power and End Redux in Focused Acc, which I would only use when against CoT and in the CoP's Storm AV due to the end cost) you could take the 3 Concealment powers and mule them to cap the rule of 5 on the global +rech IOs.