Conceptual pondering: Peacebringer mostly at range

I'm one of those players who tends to be happiest at range. (Mastermind is my very favorite class, partly for this reason.) I've read a lot of discussion here and dabbled a little, but before I blast on ahead, I wonder how feasible it would be to take a character and slot up human and nova stuff pretty fully, and just take dwarf without extra slotting for use in mez breaking and such.

Ideal for me would be a human-only ranged build, but that seems not especially feasible. (Am I wrong? It seems like it'd be giving up a huge chunk of the actually damage attacks.) Human/nova is the logical next progression. But when I see folks write about human/nova, they seem to assume that you won't touch dwarf at all. I wonder if I'm missing something there, since it seems like it'd be handy for emergencies.

Thanks, Aneko, that's super encouraging.

PBs can make good blappers and although I usually run right in with the scrapper mentality with mine, I have taken advantage of the ranged attacks and sat back a bit especially when NS decided that I was the most dangerous person on the map during one BAF and would immediately go after me if I got too close.

Believe it or not, with reactive slotted the most damaging pb chain is 2 ranged attacks and one melee (RStrike>Blast>Bolt). RStrike is easily the best damage attack you can do, so you just have to decide if giving that up is worth it for you. If it's purely for concept, you can handle going ranged; if you're worried about damage, you might want to blap; if you're worried about survival...don't be.

My Quad-Form PB (human/nova/dwarf/light) doesn't use any of the human melee attacks other than Incandescent Strike. I've got Gleaming Bolt, Proton Scatter and Luminous Detonation for my ranged attacks, and I'm never hurting for something to do at range. I also use Assault and Tactics to "narrow the gap" between Human and Nova forms, to the point where I usually only use Nova form for range rather than for damage in the late game. Nova form is still useful when exemplared into the early game though.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

In my experience, the Strength of the human-form PB is that he is Flexible. He can do a little bit of everything (without resorting to Power-Pools) and do it relatively well.

You can Blast, and you have both Single-target and AoE attacks. Later in the build, you pick us some powerful melee attacks that allow you to Scrap - a little. And you have Shields, to give you some protection while you do it. Later still, you get a PBAoE and TWO nukes. You also have a Dull Pain clone, a Reconstruction clone, and a fairly unique ranged Heal Other. Finally, Light Form is your 'temporary god-mode'.

You have Other powers, which I find situational and unsuited to My playstyle, but which you may enjoy.

The other main strength of a Peacebringers, in general, is that they are self-contained and consistent. A Warshade's power fluctuates and depends on the availability of nearby bodies, while a PB needs no external factor to make him powerful. Every attack and ability is going to precisely as strong as the last time you used it.

The play-style that works for me, is to mix it all up. Blast at range, Scrap with the 'leakers' that make the mistake up running up to melee with you, Toss out the occasional 'fill-in heal', change ranges and Blast again, and if you see a tasty-looking pile of enemy, dash in and drop a Nuke on them. If you consider the Tankers and Scrappers to be line-of-scrimmage specialists, while the Blasters and Defenders do their thing from the rear-echelon, the human-form PB is the utility mid-fielder who keeps an eye on everything that's happening and fills in the breaks as needed.

Solo, it's more of the same, basically a 'Blapper', with the addition of shields and self-heals.

However, that brings up another issue - Kheldians are Much Stronger when they are on a team. A Peacebringer's inherent team-buff Balances his team. Low-damage teammates, like Tankers and Defenders boost a PB's Damage output, so a trio, with Tanker, Defender, and PB makes the PB a 'real Blaster'. Low-resistance teammates, like Scrappers and Blasters boost the PB's damage Resistance and making them even tougher. Teaming with a Controller gives the PB some Mez Protection and teaming with another Kheldian gives Slow/Recharge resistance.

Warshades are Reinforced by their teammates, getting Damage from Scrappers and Blasters and Resistance from Tankers and Defenders, while the effects of Controllers and other Kheldians remain the same.

Finally, and perhaps Best, as a pure Human-form Peacebringer you actually have enough slots to enhance all of your powers!!

So I see no reason not to go with a human-form Peacebringer, enjoy the full-featured ranged attack-chain, but Also take the melee-range attacks, to help deal with the inevitable.

Be Well!
Fireheart

Wow, thank you, everyone! Very hugely encouraging.

Radiant Strike has a fast animation - 1.07, in fact. So 346 DPA vs 214 DPA.

Though honestly, anyone who's that fussed about such things is, to my mind just wrong - this is a game more about burst than about DPS, and individual DPA routines are not meaningful enough to concern me, personally, unless the character is truly obssessive about maneuverability and fragile as a ball of tissue paper.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

Other factors? Total recharge time; holes in attack chains; ability to quickly remove individual key targets; endurance cost; positional requirements. My point is that pure DPA does not determine an optimal attack chain. You can build to have truly extreme cases of recharge like say, Dual Blades' three-attacks-that-don't-combo, but that's not what we're really talking about.

Now, you're right; for a large hard target like a 53, DPS is very important. But DPA is part of what makes up optimal DPS; it does not necessarily dictate the whole of it.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

I think we've gotten a bit lost from the original point. I don't know your stance, whether positive or negative on Incandescent Strike. Myself, I'm a fan of the animation, but I'm not playing my Peacebringer any more so what I think of its powers in situ is meaningless.

I was just trying to provide some amelioration and balance to the 'DPA is all' mindset that I feared could be presented. I don't even know what you think about IStrike at all. It's what leads to the forum-based rubbishing on Energy Melee, for example, and I have basically no respect for that attitude.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

If I was going to build a peacebringer who was only meant to attack at range I would include nova in the build. If nova didn't fit into my overall concept, I would re-think and probably settle on a corr or blaster.

It may be worth noting that I asked if there are lurking problems in taking the dwarf form and not slotting it after that for a build intended for range play.

There was then commentary on human-only ranged viability, which was very helpful, and then increasingly weird hostility about issues I don't understand, which isn't.

But nobody actually had a clear answer for me: In a human/nova build, would I find the mez relief and such from basic dwarf form helpful enough to allocate a power to it, or should I figure on getting it other ways?

EDIT: All of the above is assuming a SO or low-cost IO build.