Crushing Impact vs. Kinetic Combat

Hiya,

I currently have 4 sets of the Crushing Impact slotted on my lvl 50 Fire/SS Tanker. I love the global recharge.

But I keep hearing all the rage about slotting Kinetic Combat's in there for the Smashing/Lethal & Melee Defense.

I know Kinetic Combat's are expensive. But I'm wondering if it's really that important to have them slotted in there.

Do you prefer the global recharge or the smashing/melee defense?

It depends on several factors. What are your build goals? Does your tank have trouble staying alive? Do your attack come back fast enough? Are you near the S/L soft cap?

Since the 2 sets offer very different bonuses, its dependent on what you want to get out of your build. (Or perhaps how much inf you have socked away)

Kinetic Combats are expensive for a reason, and that reason is S/L Def is awesome, and Kinetic Combats give tons of it! And with only four slots, meaning you don't have to sacrifice enhancement values to get it.

They're totally different animals. Crushing Impact is a nice, cheap source of global recharge (along with nice health/accuracy bonuses and some pretty awesome enhancement values -- and heck, a little Psi RES at six slots for those who are serious about stacking it).

Kinetic Combat is, as already noted, the go-to set for Smash/Lethal DEF.

The latter is more valauble because: A.) Kinetic Combat is rarer simply by virtue of the fact that it stops dropping at level 35, and B) melee builds generally have an excess of powers that can take a 5% recharge bonus, and you're only allowed to stack five of those on a given build.

So let's say you're playing an Invulnerability Tanker. You have six powers that can take Resistance sets, at least two powers that can take DEF sets, at least two powers (Dull Pain and Health) that can take Heal sets, one power that can take a ToHit buff set, and at least two powers (Unstoppable and Stamina) that can take Endurance sets. All of the above, with the exception of the DEF powers, only offer 5% recharge bonuses (Impervious Skin, Doctored Wounds, Efficacy Adaptor, Red Fortune, Adjusted Targeting), unless you're willing to shell out for purples.

And then as a Tanker, you have a melee attack Secondary, which usually gives you another 6-7 powers that only offer the same, redundant 5% global recharge bonus (Single-target melee damage -- Crushing Impact, and Point-Blank AoE damage -- Obliteration). So you see, even if all you care about is global recharge, there quickly comes a point after which a melee character runs out of attractive (and/or affordable options) to further that goal.

To sum up my overly long ramble: It's not that Crushing Impact is bad; it's that CI occupies the powers in most melee builds where you're most likely better off going for a different bonus -- be it S/L DEF via Kinetic Combat, or melee/ranged DEF via Touch of Death or Mako's Bite, or even S/L RES via Gladiator's Strike.

But yeah, if all you're looking to do is improve a basic melee build on the cheap, Crushing Impact's a great set.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

Thanks for the info all. I think I will look into slotting up Kinetic Combats than once I get some cash.

I'm sure there is varying ways of slotting these up. I've noticed that you really only need the bonus of up to 4 of the same set of Kinetic Combats for the Smashing/Lethal bonus. Than the last two slots are free.

Does anyone have suggestions on what to slot the 2 free slots? I'm thinking some kind of damage or recharge. Or both.

I have the Cardiac Alpha, so endurance isn't all that bad anymore.

I like to use either 2 mako's bite for enhancement value or 2 pounding slugfest for +regen depending on my build goals.

While it's nice to add two slots to a KC set if you can, if you're short on slots (and I often am) using the Mako's Bite Acc/Dam/End/Rchg will give you decent enhancement values for all four attributes. Get a high level one, though, since with just one there's no set bonuses to worry about losing.