Help with AT/powerset choices
By
Greenstar,
Posted on: 2011-08-10 08:58 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
A few suggestions before I mentioned anything.
-Help us help you;
-Do moar reading
-Tell us what 'type' of character you'd like to play (ranged or melee, support, tank or purely oriented on damage, with or without pets, etc.)
-Moar reading
-Any Archetypes you absolutely do -not- want to play?
-When you settle on an AT, go read its forum section; at least the first page or two, as well as the stickies.
-Trials are not the only part of the game. There's only 3 at the moment, and one of them is, arguably, not worth running. If you were to make a thread, asking the same thing but for AV/GM soloing, you'd get different answers. Some characters perform better in certain areas, but just about 99% of combinations can, at the very least, and if only for their damage or de/buffs, be useful in all areas.
-Epic Archetypes: No mention. Despair imminent: Why?
Now, if you want to be useful on every, single, trial I'd go for a Traps character.
If you're looking for more options: if I were to pick, solely on the idea that the character would be used only for trials, a resistance based set for a melee Archetype.
A self heal is immensely welcome too (Electric, Fire, Dark Armors and Regen are the first to come to mind).
Honorable mention for melee goes to SS/Fire Brute. Or Claws/Electric Brute. Or Fire/Shield Scrapper. Or...
Sonic Blast for a Defender. Rad/Sonic is an insane combo on a Fender.
Fire for anything that's focused on damage (Corruptor and Blaster, mostly; though I'd be tempted by the crashless nuke of Dual Pistol and Archery, even more so on a Blaster).
Dark Miasma or Radiation Emission for a debuffing set, or Kinetics for a buffing set. I feel that they multiply the league's (the teams on a trial) effectiveness more than the other sets, but that might just be me.
Cold Domination for a buffing -and- debuffing set. The shields will help people reach the softcap (hence why I mentioned resistance based sets for melee; there will be a few people with shields to softcap you).
I might have missed a few, or a bunch. Probably a bunch. But I'd strongly suggest playing something that you enjoy playing, before anything else. It will make it so the character isn't deleted or shelved into oblivion. Trust me; if you enjoy playing a Psychic/Device Blaster, because you have a concept or it's just a fun character, don't let anything stop you. It'll be a lot more fun than if you force yourself into playing something that just doesn't mesh well with your gameplay.
For trials, couple of observations first:
Choosing an AT or powersets *only* with trials in mind is kind of limited. Trials are only one part of the game. And in general, the hard part about trials is knowing how they work. Unless someone is going for a badge, most folks are terribly fussy about who gets drug along on a trial. Its not like you have to be optimized to make a contribution, be invited, have fun, etc. The best way to be a great raid character is to learn to play your character and get the most out of your powers, understand the game, etc. A cookie-cutter build of "the best" isn't likely to translate into awesome raid performance.
That said, if its all the same to you and you're interested in what sorts of things are nice in trials, here's my $0.02.
My general sense is that Masterminds and Stalkers are sometimes the weak sisters on trials. Not trying to bag on them, I'm sure there are folks who love them on trials. And on certain trials, the pets/control powers of controllers and dominators are not always useful (but of course are much more useful/noticible in non-trial activities).
Blasters = more damage, which is always not bad (well, except in the phase of the Keyes Trial where you aren't supposed to attack the AV at all :-) ). But they are pretty squishy, so risk/reward.
Debuffers/Buffers: corruptors and defenders combine buff/debuff support sets with ranged damage. On large teams, the impact of well used debuffs can far outstrip the extra damage brought by an extra blaster. Some sets have -regeneration, which is nice to use on AVs. Dark and Rad have very well-rounded sets of buff/debuff and I find both fun sets to play. Many people enjoy traps (I find it okay personally). Other sets have their fans. From a min/max perspective as far as ranged damage sets, Sonic and Fire are nice, Ice has some extra control, I enjoy Dark Blast. Ideally you'd get a set with some nice AOEs and a control or two, maybe a good secondary effect.
Melee: I'll second that you want a resistance based defense set with a self heal. Electricity has high energy resists, and you see a lot of energy damage in trials. I'd also recommend a non-smashing/leathal attack set (S/L tends to be resisted more than other damage types).
If you are looking for a duo, I'd go either 1 melee/1 buff/debuff or 2 buff/debuff. If you wanted to go 2 melee, don't feel like you *have* to have a debuffer, but as a debuffer I've *never* felt unwanted or unappreciated on teams who know what's up. If you rolled up a Brute and a debuff/buff Defender, you've got the nucleus of a fantastic team and can basically invite whoever and shift roles based on whatever you have. Tank, scrap, heal, blast, etc.
I don't claim this to be the best duo, but some time ago and friend and I went 1-50 with a Broadsword/Regen scrapper and a Kin/Psy Defender. My toon was the scrapper, and it was just a blast. It starts out a bit slow, but once the Defender gets Speed Boost you are much happier, and then once Fulcrum Shift hits...oh my. Big orange numbers.
I suspect that the /Psy could be better if replaced with /Rad or /Sonic, but the Defender liked being able to snipe things you could barely see as specks off in the distance 
Global Chat Handle: @Greenstar
Active on Justice & Triumph
A buddy and I are starting the game again this upcoming weekend after a multi year hiatus and I will be honest...we are total noobs =). Basically I was hoping for a list of the different ATs and three or four powerset combos that eventually turn into great trial/raid characters. Bonus points if you can tell me what their role in said trials/raids wil be.
So what so you say? Help a pair of noobs out? =)