Need a cheap build for a new player.

Hey, there. I'm relatively new to the game and I'm looking for a cheap AT/build to play that is easy and powerful. I'd like to be able to push as much solo content as possible. I don't mind investing influence in a character, I just don't have any, and my current character feels like he's lacking without really decked out purples (Fire/Storm controller, which I love, I just feel bad going into missions on normal difficulty, especially with my endurance issues).

So, here's the question - Is there a cheap AT/build that I can level and play that I can use to crush my enemies and play on higher difficulties, and maybe solo most of the story arcs I can complete through solo content? I am interested and alright with Brute, Scrapper, Dominator, Controller, Corruptor, and Blaster (although it appears to be hard to get a cheap one of these). I know about the CEBR way, but I don't think that's my cup of tea (atleast the farming of the AE with it, if it ends up being a good solo build that requires little outside of it's AE farm, that'd be fine).

I really enjoy this game, but I have little time with work, and my current schedule conflicts with most peak game hours, so it's hard to find groups for the small times I can pop on. Hence my desire for a cheaper, powerful character to go through, tear some things up, and maybe get some money at some point for my other characters that just require a bit more expensive IOs.

I appreciate the assistance.

Katana/Willpower Brute or scrapper. The Scrapper will do more damage, the brute will be more survivable. Willpower is a great combination of def, resist, and heals that is very smooth to level, and katana just throws it's survivability over the top with divine avalanche. Its very powerful on SOs alone.

Just about every reply you will receive will have a different suggestion.

I would have to suggest going Super Reflexes, it's a pretty easy set that requires a lot less attention than the resistance or regen sets. It's also easy and relatively cheap to slot up to reach the defense cap on Ranged/AoE/Melee. Red Fortunes, Serendipity, and Gift of the Ancients are cheap defensive IO sets and you can always use plain IOs.

SR is good paired with Dark Melee because SR lacks a heal of it's own and Siphon Life is a staple part of the attack chain. You can also get Aid Self, but to be honest, on the SR's I have Aid Self on I rarely use it.

Katana/SR. Fast attacks, cheap build. In fact, if you pm me i'll even give you my mids build so you can see exactly what you need to do.

But /sr is probably the cheapest secondary and defensive set you can play that can solo anything smaller than an AV. Even an AV with some fine-tuning and adjustments.

Sweet. Does SR scale well? It'd be nice if it's good-great with little influence investment, but also amazing once I get money and IOs stacked up.

I like to think it does, but I don't have a lot of experience or information behind the other sets. SR suffers from RNG the worst, as you have very little resistance you tend to get hit hard by whatever escapes your defense. There have been times I've felt like a god, where no force on Earth could touch me.

And then there are the moments where the RNG fails you and you take Jurassic's ten-ton hammer in the face. Twice. In a Row.

/SR is awesome. I have 2 at 50 at the moment.

I'd still suggest kat/wp or anything /wp for your first character, though. That gives you a nice go-to character for all content, it's cheap to slot and is a set and forget.

The thing about SR is that it's a one-trick pony. Out of the set you can get soft capped defense and not much else, except for +20% recharge. It's easier than any other set to get that soft-capped defense, but, any defense set can get you there.

Meanwhile if you took something like /Shield or /Energy you get a whole grab-bag of goodies to compliment your defenses. Both of those sets get some resists too, Shield gets +max hp and crazy damage bonuses (for a Scrapper), EA has an endurance tool/heal and +recharge bonus.

SR is a very simple set and can be built to it's maximum potential cheaply, but it does not lend itself well to expensive builds if that is your ultimate goal.

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

There are tons of opinions on what is "easy" to solo with... a lot of it depends on your playstyle. There are definitely a few that are are hard to solo with for anyone, but those are pretty obvious: just avoid combos with lots of team buffs and minimal damage output. For extreme solo power it's hard to go wrong with a Mastermind (Bots/Traps especially), Scrapper, or Brute. Controllers can also be great once you hit the 30s and get some IOs (even just frankenslotting) but they tend to be slow and hard on the blue bar at low levels.

As far as a cheap build goes, downloading Mids Hero Planner (when you can, the website is down right now) makes it a lot easier to plan builds. To start off with I'd suggest ignoring set bonuses and just frankenslotting. Pick cheap set IOs that add up to the enhancement values you want and you'll end up much stronger than you would be just using SOs and it will probably cost less than replacing those SOs every 5 levels. For instance, you can slot Char with:

Ruin - Acc/Dam/Rech
Ruin - Acc/End/Rech
Ruin - Acc/Dam
Maelstrom's Fury - Dam/End/Rech
Paralytic - End/Hold
Generic Hold IO

and end up with 50 - 60% enhancement to accuracy, damage, recharge, endurance, and hold using level 30-ish IOs, making it a good control power that also does extra damage. Slotting all of your powers that way starting in the mid 20s to low 30s makes a huge difference. The key is to just buy what's cheap... if Ruin is a bit expensive go with Maelstrom's Fury or Volley Fire. Just avoid sets that use rare (orange) salvage since that tends to cost a lot and you'll be able to make most IOs for under 100k influence... and as long as you sell your salvage drops on the market you should have a few million inf by the low 30s even if you don't get any lucky recipe drops.

The other thing you can do is hero or villain tips for alignment merits. You can get high end recipes like the Miracle +Recovery IO or Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Recharge IO for two A-merits, so if you need extra recovery or recharge you don't need to be rich to get it. You can also just buy a couple of minimum level LotGs with A-merits, craft them, and sell them on the market for 100+ million inf each and use the profits to fund a mid-range set IO build. Purples and PvP IOs can take a lot of time and effort (I don't bother with them personally) but you can make a very good build using normal sets just by running lots of tips, doing task forces, and running Incarnate trials once you hit 50. The big key is to find a character you really enjoy playing, because there's no sense spending weeks getting a great build only to get bored and shelve the character right afterward.

I also love /Super Reflexes, but Willpower might be the way to go. The endurance management is nice due to having inherent stamina stacked with the Quick Recovery power, and it is a layered set that uses defense, resistance and regeneration. I really like the regen aspect. With 2- or 3-slotted Fast Healing, and inherent health slotted the same way, and Rise to the Challenge, I go through a lot less green health inspirations between fights. Also, you just turn on your toggles and go, which lets you focus more on your attack set.

Katana/Willpower would be good, as someone else pointed out. The Katana attack that gives you melee defense (or is it smashing / lethal? I forget) is nice, since it becomes another part of your varied layered defenses.

Any primary with a bit of mitigation is good though. Super Strength has lots of single target incidental knockdown and later you get Foot Stomp. Tho dont take hand clap with willpower ... It knocks stuff out lf your foe-dependent regen aura (rise to the challenge).

I also have a ton of fun on my Stone Melee/Willpower brute. You clobber stuff with big earthen hammers, and you get fault at level 8, which is a point blank stun that does *not* cause knockback. So its great. The downside is that your level 32 aoe damage power has a smaller radius than foot stomp from super strength. But hey. Great set. Stone Melee can be enduranbce-heavy, but willpower nips that in the bud with Quick Recovery from level 20. And the set isnt too end heavy pre-20 anyway.

Or you could go flat out carnage and do Fire/Willpower. No mitigation, but lots of killing.

So yeah, Kat/WP, Stone/WP, or Fire/WP. All great choices. Oh and one other great thing about willpower is that it works just fine with SO enhancements. So its a super cheap option, but with lots of useful ways to improve with sets and money if you fall into some influence/infamy later. But if you never do, its still all good.

Lewis