So You Want to Be a Corruptor? (A Guide, v2.0)

So You Want to Be a Corruptor? (A Guide, v2.0)

Wayyyyyy back in July, 2006, I was surprised nobody had gotten around to writing a general Corruptor guide. I mean, every other AT had gotten that love...so unfair. So in the interest of equal rights for all ATs, I whacked one out. Five years and 14.5 Issues later, after a regretful but necessary leave of absence starting right around when I promised all my guide updates, I've returned to update this guide not only for Going Rogue, but for Freem! Warning: Shenanigans may or may not follow.

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So, you want to be a Corruptor? Well, whether you picked the AT because the name sounds cool, because you were a Blaster Hero or Defender Hero who wants to reap the fruits of villainy, or just Joe shmuck who picked up the box and rolled up a random toon, here's the skinny.

A few abbreviations before starting: Dmg = Damage, Acc = Accuracy, Def = Defense, Res = Resists, Rch = Recharge, End = Endurance, Spd = Speed, AoE = Area of Effect, KB = Knockback (D for Down).

First, credit North Star (Truth): Disclaimer:
Corrupters are a balanced hybrid; they do both damage and group support (in the form of heals, buffs, and debuffs.) Both roles are important; a corrupter overly focused on damage is just a gimped blaster; a corrupter focused on support is nothing but a gimped defender. As a personal preference, I want a character who can solo effectively, bring a lot to groups, and be viable in PvP. There's a lot of ways to play a corrupter; this is my personal opinion. Mileage may vary.


And now back to your scheduled programming:
Rule numbah 1: You are NOT a Blaster.
Rule numbah 1A: You are NOT a Defender.
Rule numbah 2: You can put them both to shame.


I'll go back over these rules in the "CoH rehab" section, but for now, we'll stick with more generics. Corruptors ARE the ranged damage AT for villains, and are also the primary buff/debuff class. Yes, it's true that Doms pack some ranged damage, but their true purpose is to DOMINATE a spawn. Yes, Masterminds have many (and now many more!) of the same secondaries we do, but their job is to be a mindful master. This means you're filling TWO roles, because your job is Corrupting things! That means making it {better/worse} {and/or} killing {it/its-target}. While you don't have to choose, you do need to manage them both (or all four, depending). This means (first and foremost) you have to put up with people who want a healer. No, seriously. The two most common misconceptions about what you do are covered in Rule numbah 1. So what's the deal?

Your primary is identical to a Blaster Primary (or Defender secondary, which gives you access to a Blast set that Blasters still cry themselves to sleep at night because they can't have it). Almost. Although you're technically supposed to look at your Damage as being 115% of a Defender, it helps to look at it as 75% Blaster damage. You also get Scourge, which gives you free criticals more often the lower an enemies' health gets. So, a Scourge attack actually does 150% Blaster damage! For those of you who missed that, that means you're more effective picking off weaker targets than starting on one at full health. In team settings, be the vulture, at least when you start out.

Only there's that other lingering catch, your Secondary. Your secondaries look a lot like Defender Primaries...but you aren't as effective as theirs are on a power by power basis. This is not an excuse to not take your buffs if you have them! Any buff is well appreciated by team-mates, and the longer your team-mates are alive, the longer YOU'RE alive. Even if you take every power in your Blast set, make sure to pick up the better powers from your secondary, or you're going to regret it in the long haul. No-one wants to play a gimped Blaster (too much Primary, not enough Secondary) or a gimped Defender (too much Secondary, not enough Primary), but will love playing the mix that gets to solo well and be welcomed on teams.

"But Mr. Nemo, what about Going Ro-"
Shush, you, I was getting there. With Freem coming, it's important to mention that Going Rogue will be premium content, but still purchasable by non-subscribers. So while TRULY free players will be restricted to their faction's side, all VIPs and anyone willing to purchase it directly will be able to visit any gosh-dern zone they please. So how do you, as a Corruptor, contend with Blasters and Defenders, and cope with the rush of Kheldians, Tankers, Scrappers, and Controllers you will inevitably see? By being the same Corruptor you've always been. You still bring support to the table that Blasters can't match, and Scourge can push you past Offender levels of damage (Defenders are still offended by this). Since teams allow for eight players, and leagues for many, many more, pure villain teams and leagues can still punish the same content pure hero and mixed-faction teams defeat. So don't get worked up about the competition, just focus on being the Corruptor you are.


Here's a look, more from a power-set perspective. Your concept toon is great...but here's a (very) basic overview of what your sets DO:

Primary

1) Archery - Not exactly Assault Rifle's little sister. In the words of a friend "You do everything Assault Rifle does, except worse. But you hit the target." You don't get Flamethrower and Flame Patch...you get Flaming Arrow and Explosive Arrow. ((blows a kazoo)) Worse, despite the tooltip you DON'T actually get a ToHit buff D= oh noez! Instead, you get a base-accuracy boost in every power of essentially 10%. This means, in fact, that ToHit Buffs and Accuracy enhancements work BETTER for you...and you will pretty much hit everything with your dinky arrows.

2) Assault Rifle - Grab bag. You have top of the line ammunition (and a flamethrower!), and are a high damage, high endurance cost set. Smashing and Lethal damage (your bread and butter) are often resisted in-game. Despite this, your damage output is still often as good or better than other sets (unless you PvP, in which case you're sporked because everyone and their grandmother seems to have a S/L Resist and/or Defense power; sorry, dem's the breaks). Instead of a Nuke, you get Full Auto, which recharges far faster and can be very useful to follow up AoEs from teammates (especially with Scourge!).

3) Dark Blast - An interesting middle of the road set in terms of damage, you do Negative Energy damage, which is not often resisted by NPCs or Players. You get reasonable damage and some interesting powers (some with DoT). Your attacks also leave a target with a -Acc penalty...and every bit less they hit you and your team helps. You also get some soft control (Immobilize) and even a minor self heal. You may be trading damage for utility, but that utility facilitates more damage.

4) Dual Pistols - You know GunFu! Woah. Firstly: Dual Pistols is NOT a strict re-do of Assault Rifle or Archery. You can change your damage essentially at will from 100% Lethal to 70% and 30% of your choice of Fire, Cold, or Toxic. TOXIC. This also changes your secondary effect from Knockback to Slow, DoT, and -Dmg, respectively. You also get two powers that are not in the standard 'shooter' repertoire: Executioner's Shot is the very-close range, high-damage power from other Blast sets, and Piercing Rounds means your Snipe can hit multiple targets if you aim very carefully (and of course, they obligingly line up for you).

5) Energy Blast - My personal favorite (but I'm heavily biased in this case). This, like Assault Rifle is a fairly high damage, high endurance set, but is not as draining. As Energy damage, it's kind of hit or miss: mobs that resist it resist it a lot, but for the most part only certain groups do. The other portion of your damage is actually Smashing/Lethal, which is also hit-or-miss. However, you have KnockBack in every power (except Aim), and managing this can be the key to both a great solo career and a happy team. Mismanaging it can lead to a dead you and a pretty angry team.

6) Electrical Blast - You do energy damage! Unlike Energy or Sonic, however, it's ALL Energy damage, there's no Smashing or Lethal lurking around. You'll annihilate Freakshow and despise the Devouring Earth with every fiber of your being. For a change of pace, you are sufficiently different from other Blast sets that we get to call you weird. You get a damage pet, a Hold, your nuke is targeted AoE instead of Personal based, and you get Short-Circuit [which is amazing]. While your endurance drain won't impress Elite Bosses and up, you can make Underlings through Bosses hate you...and not be able to do a thing about it.

7) Fire Blast - Damage. Lots of it. And then some more. You get high single target damage with some area blasting capacity and Damage over Time (DoTs) for hit targets. However, this damage and lingering damage mean you'll draw aggro on teams, so you'll learn fast (or die trying). Fire may be just about the second most commonly resisted damage type in the game on average (right there behind Smashing and Lethal), but don't let that stop you!

8) Ice Blast - This set gives cold damage (fairly rarely resisted) and slows, along with Holds! You get two, in fact. You also get a Rain (like Fire), and your Nuke is a super-rain. You actually debuff a fair amount with Slow in everything, plenty of -Rch, and some -ToHit thrown in for good measure.

9) Radiation Blast - Fast recharges, decent Energy damage, and -Def to hit targets (which facilitates more hit targets). Built like a "Standard" Blast set, it's anything but standard. Blasters wailed and wailed for access to this set...and the devs had pity..but still left them in the dark. Get it? Because they didn't give Blasters Dark Bl...oh, nevermind.

10) Sonic Blast - Never been with a screamer before? They're great. With -Res in every attack, you facilitate more damage to hit targets, and while your first attack (as Smashing/Lethal, mostly) may not be THAT impressive, follow-ups (from teammates, too) will look and work better.



Secondaries

1) Cold Domination- Perhaps misnamed (you're no Dominator), this set still has some wicked buff/debuff potential, at the expense of no healing. No rez, either. You have two ally shields (one VERY situational), an area buff, and an ally HP buff (Brutes will love it), as well as Dmg/Res debuff (with KD), a Dmg debuff, and an endurance killer.

2) Dark Miasma - Debuffer. Dark will debuff the enemy, keep them still, and have an accuracy dependant heal that's gonna make a Thermal jealous. You do have an ally AoE buff, a drop, a pet, a target toggle debuff, some fear...did I mention the debuff? This set is perhaps one of the most survivable secondaries available to you.

3) Fire!!! *cough* I mean, Thermal Radiation - You prove that setting things on fire is good for them. With heals, ally shields, three great ally buffs, a rez, and a killer debuff and End drain power, you've got a lot going for you. The common misconception, however, is that this is "Empath Lite." You are not an Empath. Debuffing enemies so they fall faster is a wonderful thing to do, and something you should do often. Heal, but don't put up with any team that tries to say that that's all you should be doing (and it may not be wise to stick with a team that you're scrambling to heal, despite your other pluses).

4) Kinetics - Whirling Whirlwind Shredder Team of DOOOOOoooom(tm). This set breaks the mold play-style wise: you WANT to be in melee. You also want accuracy, since you can buff and debuff in one go, but need Acc to do it. Few things will make you sadder than seeing 'MISS' when you use Transfusion. With some -regen, lots of -Dmg, plenty of -spd and -rch and the accompanying (magnified) +Dmg, +Spd, +Rch, and even nice +End Recovery and AoE target Heal (rivaling even Twilight Grasp from Dark), this late blooming set will make the end game on large teams a thing of joy.

5) Pain Domination - Again with the Domination thing...what's a Corruptor to do? The new kid on the block, PD is predominately a healing set. And at first glance, it's build like Empathy. Don't be fooled: you're STILL not an Empath. No, you really aren't. You are a very active buffer and debuffer, even if somewhat limited by your direct means. Your enemies will be easier to hit and easier to rough up through -Def/Res. Your allies will hit like a semi with nitro boosters. The beatings will stop when morale improves.

6) Radiation Emission - Considered the AV killer set, and it's not hard to see why. You can debuff just about everything straight to heck (AoE, no less), have a self based AoE Hold (and a nice AoE one-shot hold). You can also rez fallen allies (after using them to blow the bippy out of the spawn with Fallout) and you STILL have the fabled Accelerate Metabolism (+Dmg, +Spd, +Rch).

7) Sonic Resonance - This set gets little love, because it's misunderstood. This set is heavy on the -Res debuffs and +Res buffs. You can't rez or heal (a major minus in most playbooks), but you have two good ally shields, some AoE buffs, an ALLY TARGET AoE debuff (rather unique, and a great way to debuff things around a Brute), and -Res debuffs that are nothing to dismiss offhand. You can even give (some fairly impressive) Mez protection to your buddies. Honestly, it's a shame more players can't seem to fall in love with this set.

8) Storm Summoning - Another gift of essentially Going Rogue, you are a strange mix. You're stuck with a useful cone KB power, have access to a direct heal, and a toggle team +Stealth/Def. The rest of your powers mix debuff and control through -ToHit, Knockback, Fear, Disorient, -Range, -Spd/Rch, and -Def/Res. Oh, and Lightning Storm definitely strikes twice.

9) Traps - Traps is an odd set, to be sure, and is different from the Blaster version. Your odd grab bag includes the famous Caltrops and Web Grenade, with a limited pet, a mobile ally +Def buff, a locational +Regen buff, Seeker Drones, and the also famous Trip Mine (and its not-nearly-as-loved red headed stepchild: Timed Bomb).

10) Time Manipulation - SOON[tm] Once we know more, v2.01 will tell you

11) Trick Arrow - Say what, now? Oh, right, because we have Archers now. Trick Arrow is actually a pretty sweet set, but the redraw for using anything but Archery can get pretty annoying when you have to keep swapping back and forth. That said, you're capable of a fair bit of control and can debuff just about every game stat there is [more than Rad, but not as awesomely] to large groups for a substantial amount of time. You are not only Jack of Everything, you look good doing it. Rock on.


There are a lot of Corruptor Guides available, and each one will give you tips and tricks. Some will tell you how to put out truly impressive damage, others will give you a solo powerhouse or PvP monster, and others will give you a toon built for team-play. Your play-style is up to you (it's YOUR fun, not mine), but I recommend the balance mentioned above, since even if just to help yourself out, every secondary has plenty of gems that are also great team-play buttons.

Now, if you're new, there are plenty of other guides to help you out, and I can't really help you much more. However, if you played in City of Heroes it's time for rehabilitation.


(Thinking you're a) Blaster Rehab
The Blaster mindset has issues if ported over to a Corruptor toon. Part of this is that with the exception of Kinetics (and having certain, specific power combos from other sets), getting into melee at all is likely a death sentence, unlike Blasters who can Blap. You get no special damage buff for being in melee, you get no melee powers, even. Unless you have Kinetics or a specific build built for it: STAY OUT OF MELEE. Also, (us) Blasters tend to love opening fights with attacks and making things fall over fast. As a Corruptor, doing so will get you agg you don't need, and you have less hit-points to take it with. Until your toolbox includes the debuffs and/or control you need to open a fight, avoid doing so. Even then, co-ordinate with your team for agg mitigation to someone who can handle it (and you can sometimes heal). You're better off sniping from the edge of the battlefield, setting up the team as a mighty hammer, and playing vulture (that's what Scourge does, after all). If you have a Nuke, however, there may potentially be ways to open that DON'T involve a faceplant and still involve lots of dead mobs. Many Corruptors can self buff to an extent, and when teamed with other Corruptors (especially Kinetics buddies) can reach the damage cap and really explode into fights by buffing each other. Whatever the guides tell you, if you find yourself faceplanting, it's time to rethink your tactics, and maybe consider dropping a Range SO into your attacks (an extra 16' or so does more than many realize). Use your tools, and if you constantly remember Rule numbah 1, you can go a long ways towards obeying Rule numbah 2.


(Thinking you're a) Defender Rehab
If you've played a Defender, you actually may not have too much to go over, since you are likely used to managing when to buff/debuff, setting up chains and combos properly, managing aggro for your squishy self, and blasting. It doesn't require too much rethinking to shift to the new equilibrium you'll find as a Corruptor. If, however, you don't play Defenders too much, are trying for a more Empathic style of play, or have misconceptions about what Defenders actually do and how they contribute with both buffing/healing AND their debuffing and blasts, you are gonna be in trouble carrying that over as a Corruptor. Playing a team-friendly or solely team build is nice...but you're a villain! Picking up EVERY power in your secondary isn't always wise, and even if it is, you need the right Blast powers. I mean, come on, you're freezing your allies, summoning the darkness of the Netherworld around them, setting your allies on fire (SETTING...THEM...ON...FIRE!!!!), breaking the laws of physics (and probably allies' bodies), actively manipulating their pain response, overextending their bodies' resources, infecting them with (potentially lethal) radiation, screaming at them constantly, covering them in wind/sleet/hail and a freaking hurricane, using hazardous inventions around them, or firing sharp sticks with gimmick payloads willy-nilly into their midst. You are obviously not nice. You do more damage to wounded things!!! Ay carumba. Keep your allies alive, but remember that defeating enemies is also 100% damage mitigation from that mob. Don't hesitate to be a vulture and pick off the wounded so that your allies can move to other threats. You don't want too many Blast powers (barring some exceptions), but you want an attack chain at least. If you have an attack chain (for when things are going sweepingly well), a buff/debuff suite (for helping things go well), and learn to use utility powers and soft (or even hard) control, you can fill both your roles, and learn to balance things to do both when needed.


The moral of the story: learn your primary. Learn your secondary. Always remember that both are equally important, and find the balance that's right for you. Now go prove that you're what Defenders wish they could grow up to be and make those Blasters jealous!



Thanks to all you Corruptor guide writers out there, and thanks for sticking with me. If you spot typos or have other input about how this guide can be better, either post in this thread or PM me! This guide is not meant to be the definitive "C0rrupt07 1s j00" guide, but instead something to help any Corruptor choose what they want and run with it. Help make it better for all the fledgling villains out there, so that Paragon City will fall that much faster.

Thanks for the update Nemo, nice to see you back. I've just come back as well, going to be making my first corruptor and this guide helps allot.

Do you have any thoughts on Beam Rifle and Psychic Blast on primaries and poison on secondary, looks like the only three Powers you haven't done.

Very nice guide!
Just one minor correction - Piercing Rounds is not a snipe, meaning it has normal range (80) but also no interrupt like the snipes