Help me find a melee toon I can enjoy

Hi everyone! I'm one of those players/weirdos that mostly prefer playing support characters, sitting in the backrow, buffing and debuffing.

However, I recently decided to roll a melee toon but haven't yet managed to find the right one, the combo that "clicks" and offers a playstyle I can enjoy. So, I decided to make a list with things I expect from my melee toon and hope you experts can help me:

1) Survivability: I'm not looking for a toon that can run back to back RWZ challenges or anything (although I guess that more about slotting than choice of powersets), yet I expect my toon to stand up and fight his battles and leave the floor inspection to the trained professionals. So, a reliable secondary with no glaring holes.

2) Soloability: While I enjoy teaming alot, I also play on odd hours and finding a team is not always possible. So, I want a toon I can grab and finish a few missions, without having to set the difficulty to -4. Also, being able to do many different things (ITFs, trials, some farming) would be awesome.

3) Decent damage: Doesn't have to be a top Pylon performer, but I hate feeling like I do the least damage in a team.

4) Well, I don't know how to call this, so let me offer an example. My main toon is a Bots/Trap. Now before you start screaming "OP!HAX!", the reason I enjoy that toon is not the softcapped defences, but the swiss-army-knife vibe the toon has, having access to defence buffs, aoe attacks, alpha absorbers and stuff like that. I realise I can't find these in a melee toon, but I like DA for example, with the fear and stun auras and the mega heal and the self-rez. Actually, knowing me, DA looks like it could be my favourite set, but after trying it out a bit I found myself gasping for blue stuff (pre-lv2stamina). So, if end drain is more manageable now I will definitely try DA again. I also like FA.

If I have overwhelming expectations from a melee toon (I haven't played one past lv12), then just post the combo you enjoy the most and find yourself going back to more often after all the purple farming or pylon soloing.

One final thing, I was told in-game that a SS/FA brute can fit most of my criteria and is an enjoyable toon. Do you think that's the case? Isn't FA a bit squishy?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Super Strength/Fiery Aura has done back to back RWZ challenges, so it doesn't have to be squishy. It's as much about power picks and slotting as it is about the secondary. On the other hand, it WAS Iggy Kamakaze playing the toon, and he can pretty much do anything with anything, so mere humans might have more survivability issues.

I'm a big fan of Dark Armor. It's one of the sets that you can build for near Tank-like survivability with enough work, but it's going to cost you in other areas. Still, it'll have plenty of survivability in a more balanced build. I'm a big fan of Katana, but if you're using Divine Avalanche for survivability, your DPS is going to suffer. Also, Katana isn't much of a swiss army knife.

How about Dark Melee/Dark Armor? Swiss army knife primary + swiss army knife secondary. Hmmm, lacking in AoE damage though, so even if single target damage is decent, you won't be a huge contributor on teams, particularly compared to an insane damage machine like Super Strength/Fiery Aura.

Hmmm. I'm not sure. Ah, well. At least you have some thoughts, even if you don't have a suggestion.

The combo system gives Dual Blades some sort of swiss army knife feel. You can choose to do extra damage, debuff -ToHit, Knockdown, and best of all you can fit -res procs which help out the team. Your AoE damage won't be lacking, but it won't be at Claws/Elec Melee/Spines levels.

Dual Blades also happens to be the top independent DPS performer, but it takes a lot of influence and slots to reach that level, and influence+slots are things both Dark Armor and Fiery Aura need as well. If you choose to go for the "Solid DPS" route instead of the "Top DPS" route Dual Blades is actually quite easy on slots and influence, but will have you skipping less powers.

I'll put in a plug for something less common, KM/SD. Every one loves shield defense (or at least can admit it is a powerful secondary). KM kinda gets mixed reviews, so here is why I like it for scrapping when paired with Shield.

(1). Power siphon + AAO gives nice sustained DPS over time. Lacking in some burst, a fast charging PS (which can be instant with CS) is probably one of the higher damage buffs there is (fully saturated Soul Drain with AAO would be higher) for scrappers.

(2) You have lots of knockdown with some stun for good measure. Your secondary effects actually mitigate tons of incoming damage to you or your team. If your tank or brute or other melee is not up to task, you will have most enemies flopping on their butts. You make your team look better and do better, even though it may not always be appreciated. Knockdown(not KB - you dont KB unless fighting lowbies, and you are a scrapper, so if you fight lower critters, you deserve the KB) is a melee toons mitigation dream.

(3) It looks great. I feel like I nuke when PS is maxed with a a mob surrounding me and I hit burst. The damage is not nuke damage, but it feels good and is fun, and I have always played the game for fun. I like the sounds, but they are not for everyone I admit.

(4) You get a ranged attack. Not all scrappers do and so having one is nice and yummy, and yes, it does Knockdown as well. (not shield specific here, and to max auras, i use this in melee most of the time).

(5) Mix of smashing and energy. Mixed damage is great for those occasional highly resistant in some cases of facing baddies who resist whatever you are packing damagewise.


Summary wise, I don't mean to advocate that KM is the best primary. I personally prefer Katana, Fire Melee and Dark Melee. The last two pair really well with shield as well by the way. I think KM offers a mixed bag of tricks, cool animations, and is really fun. Warning however: You have bad AOE until 18. Burst recharges fairly fast, but you need the Shield charge at lvl 35 to really feel complete. If you go solo, the single target damage is good, so you may not mind as much, but I admit I felt AOE envy in the early levels.

Ok, you want a melee toon, so, tank, brute, scrapper or stalker.

You mention dark armor and fire armor by name.

So, obvious first recommendation is a fire/fire tank, duh. They've been awesome since launch, and they're better now than ever. Plus, they're pretty interactive, you have to watch your blue, punch consume as required, and watch your red and punch healing flames as required, but I do not find them to be overwhelming to play like a claw/fire or a spines/dark. I don't have the reflexes for that crazy stuff.


If that's not your cup of team, I'd point at a fire/wp/soul brute. Possibly the best synergies in brute-dom. Plus, much simpler to keep alive than dark or fire. (MUCH simpler.) Also, the ranged attacks and debuffs of gloom and dark obliteration willl help give that 'i'm doin' stuff ma!' feel people seem to like.


If you want moar challenge....

Er, no, yer spoiled by a MM. I was gonna say fire/sd scrapper, but that's likely too much. Maybe a bs/sd.

But just look to the two above, they'll serve you well. Fire/fire/energy tank, or fire/wp/soul brute.

The most important thing to do is to learn to BE BOLD. No more back row for you!

The fire tanker is ideal for this, with the side benefit that few people will expect you to main tank for them....too often. You certainly CAN with a fire tank, but it's not basic anymore at that point

It's certainly true that there are numerous things that can beat their way through a Fire/Fire Tanker's mitigation. There are a lot fewer, however, that can do it before they themselves are melted to nothing. The oft-repeated maxim that killing the enemy is the best debuff is fully realized in the Fire/Fire Tanker build.

Either you are into melee or your not. Sure, each power set brings something unique to the table, I don't see any one set suddenly making you love melee.

One thing folks new to CoH melee should be aware of; Melee isn't very good until after level 20. Pre-level 20, you simply don't have enough powers or slots to get a "feel" for melee. When I role a scrapper, I completely ignore survivablity and focus on damage output before lvl 20, not because it's better but because it's more fun. When I role a tanker (which is rare) I ignore damage output and focus on survivablity, again not because it's better, but because I can "tank" sooner. Neither scenario is what melee is about.

Post level 20 you can strike a true balance between damage output and survivablity. For this reason, if you really want to get into a melee alt, I recommend you start with Will Power. Will Power isn't superior to any other mitigation set, but it's survivablity is straight forward and very incremental. Play something like Kat/WP past level 20 and see how it grabs you. If playing Kat/WP past level 20 does not get you excited, melee simply isn't for you. Keep in mind, I say this as an avid melee player who's favorite combo is not Kat/WP.

Thnx guys for all the suggestions. So, I came up with some combos I'm interested in trying. What I'm looking for is a Scrapper/Brute with decent damage output and top survivability. Which do you think will fit my needs better?

DB/DA, SS/DA, SS/FA, Kat/DA, Kat/WP, SS/ElA, SS/SD, something else?

Fire/WP, DM/INV, Ele/Ela and DM/SD are good too.

I used to be a support guy in just about every game I've played until recently, about 1 month before coming back to CoX.

Long story short, I rolled a Kat/WP Scrapper, Dark/Dark Brute and am nearing 50 on my Bane.

Out of all of those, I enjoyed the Kat/WP the most.
Take that as you wish.

I'm going to suggest (and I know it's the Scrapper boards and personally I prefere Scrappers) ELM/FA/SOUL Brute.

AOE? Covered!

ST? With Gloom in the mix covered. Not that it's really all that terrible relying on just Electric Melee when you have Burn, Blazing Aura going, and Fiery Embrace to enhance your ST, but adding in Gloom just helps with it.

Build for Defense and Recharge.

Burn and Lightning Rod on their own should have you feeling like you are contributing a lot of damage to the team.

ST damage output should only really be a factor when solo, and like I said FA helps even the worst ST set in that department (Soul even more so).

Thanks everyone for the awesome advice!!

I rolled a SS/DA and a SS/ElA brute, both at lv20 right now and leveling a KM/ElA right now. I decided not to roll a Katana yet and wait for Titan Weapons. Anyway, I'm having fun with all 3 combos.

I was just like you, started in i9 when it took at least three months of SOLID play to get a toon to 50, and my first was a mind/emp. After that I tried blasters, scrappers, then came back to trollers and dominators (some of which are awesome in melee btw).

I found my 'love' in Dark Armor (and Stalkers but that's off topic) paired with Dark Melee - I think it was because of the controllerish aspect of the armor, mez toggles, the high activity we're used to on a troller (a mind/emp or a well played fire/kin has to pay attentions to a lot of things to get the crowd control, damage and buffing/healing right, I find trollers way more tiresome than defenders because of that - when a defender is 'done' with the buffs he has mostly blasts and not a whole controlling primary to worry about). My mind/emp and my fire/kin remain the most stressful toons to play, having to watch blue bars, who's buffed and worrying about controls, so I get your swiss knife feelings.

Well I had close to that with my DM/DA (low AoE damage tho, but the damage aura helps quite a bit especially since all the minions are out of the fight on a dark armor toon) - cautious use of dark regen, control via mez toggles and touch of fear, not to mention the endurance woes. In fact since controllers are so uber (imo, but even if you disagree you have the Bots/Traps combo everyone calls 'gamebreaker' lol) I only learned that inspirations besides breakfrees and awakens were useful after playing my DM/DA to 50.