LightMaster

Adding to what Snarky said, part of what makes Corruptor a more definitve top tier even among the ”really good” Archetypes is the insane flexibility it can go, especially with power sets that complement each others. Being able to do at least decently all of the Tritiny roles, more consistently compared to the HEATs, is something that must not be ignored. Any ranged Archetype can do, the Corruptor can do that (perhaps better) and more. DPS? The Blaster hits harder in every time, but the Corruptor’s Scourge mechanic and -Res / -Regen spam allows it to make it close second, or far better against critters with huge HP like Arch-Villains / Heroes alongside Giant Monsters. Heals / Supports? The Defender is incomparable in numbers and can never go wrong for important buffs, but the Corruptor is second best at providing heals, buffs, debuffs and more, and pack up more immediate and eventual damage at that. Aggro control? Even if a Corruptor is nowhere as tanky as a well-built Brute or Tanker, it and the Defender can come close thanks to a combination of self-buffs or neuteuring enemies’ damage (i.e. Poisonous Gas), access to armor, or have second best DPS in most situations next to Blaster (because, again, -Res / -Regen and Scourge) means it can finish off dangerous foes very fast. In essence, what seems to be “Defender but deals more damage for less powerful support” ends up being the true jack of all trade among standard Archetypes, if not a master of all. The better part is that it’s not overpowered to a fault, just great all around as a ranged Archetype, allowing other Archetypes to shine: Blaster, as already stated, has the best immediate DPS, so if all other roles are already covered, more Blasters never hurt. Defender, as stated above, have even greater buff / debuffing potentials, at cost of dealing less damage than even a Controller. Scrapper and Sentinel as third best DPS overall that, while having less survivability than Defender and Corruptor in practice, each have their own values; Scrapper being top-notch overall Melee DPS while Sentinel have Opportunity / Vulnerability for unmissable -Def / -Res debuff to add more damage. Stalker have built-in Stealth and Assassin’s Strike, making for highest ST damage among Melee Archetypes. Their Hide also makes them great for stealthing through missions. Tanker, at least in Homecoming as of today, have a very strong aggro control with unparalleled survivability. Brute is in-between Scrapper and Tanker, and have the bonus of least responsibilities (the “do whatever I want” Archetype), oftentimes named as the most consistently good Archetype for soloing, and a viable alternative to Tankers for those who think Tankers deals too little damage. Controller and Dominator for more straightforward crowd control, with Controller leaning to additional support while Dominator for more offense approach. Illusion/ is a different beast with more emphasis on aggro control and damage than mezzing. And finally, the Mastermind for focus on pets and being more powerful if there’s two or more Masterminds due to the simple nature of “More buffs for my henchmen, please!” While the HEATs and VEATs’ jack of all trade attempt got overshadowed by the Corruptor as time goes by, they can still be very fun Epic Archetypes to play, have unique mechanics and can still fill in roles just fine. The Fortunata variant of Widows in particular makes for a rare tanky controller-esque type that not even the Corruptor can fill so easily. tl;dr Corruptor’s top tier due to filling all Tritiny easily, but not to the point of making other Archetypes obsolete.

Lore: Document SG Name: Danger Hive RP/RP Friendly: RP friendly; ERP not recommanded Theme: Bee-themed Magitek empire with “be with the bros” and “fights as a living” ruleset; stationed in a galaxy far, far away from Praetor Earth Redside/Blueside: Goldside (but morally Redside) Recruitment Message: “In Praetoria, there is no true black-and-white situations, and where everyone have their own reason… or so they tried to led us to believe. In reality, the incredible incompetency of a certain Emperor Cole have doomed the Praetor Earth into everlasting oppression and supremacy of those siding with him.” “And now Hamidon is after the Praetor Earth. Not that I would miss it, but I know that people out there do not want to deal with this infernal planet anymore. As well as those having enough with the heroes and villains nonsense in the Primal Earth as I were told. This is where I came to give you a turn of the fortune, a chance to get a much better life than ever… at a price!” “By joining the Danger Hive, our bee-themed superarmy that was under the nose of many, many over the years until now, you are expected to do your responsibilities and give yourself and the others a chance to thrive, to become better than before. Be it becoming our soldier, personel, or even a Special Bee that keep your power and costume of your choice. So come on in, and don’t miss the beat! Hehehe…” ”So come to my lovely army, the biggest of them all, and I, the superbly awesome Vexpa Rex, will ensure that you will have a great time fighting, partying and living with us! Apply today to the Danger Hive, you don’t wanna miss the action!” The statements regarding the situations on Praetor Earth made by our beloved Vespa Rex are not reflective to the Danger Hive as a whole and should not be used as an excuse or prealable for any attempt of unprovoked offenses towards the kingdom. You have been warned. To join, send a DM to me in this site or in Discord, with samtendo09 for the latter. Be sure to have a few messages you sent in the official Homecoming server to ensure authencity, otherwise I am not taking chances!

Oh yeah forgot to mention, it’ll occur in Everlasting.

Have you ever wondered what happened if the Battalion (aka the Coming Storm) invaded has Live CoX not shut down in an untimely matter? Are they as threatening as people thought and the afternath is felt, or were they shut down easier than expected and is a result of an even more destructive collaboration? What if the effort by Mender Silos and Ouroboros as a whole turned out to be all in vain, or if they were right all along about handling the danger? And what happens if Lord Nemesis managed to know about Mender Silos’ true identity? Would the war between Paragon City and the Arachnos have a final victory for either side, or would there be something or even someone that causes a horrid aftermath for both? All that will be explored in the ALTER-U series, a bi-weekly event involving a custom AE arc. Each “chapter” will explore the happenings and aftermaths of the potential events, acting as a pseudo-sequel to the City of Heroes official story a whole, but with slight creative liberty on the characters to prevent things from being too predictable. This thread can be used for providing feedback, story critique, difficulty, etc, but remain civil for the thread as a general rule of thumb of Homecoming forums. There are simple rules for each chapter: Your actions might have weight on future chapters depending on how severe they are. That said, Godmodding and powerplaying actions will not be tolerated, which means you can’t kill an important NPC ICly without the agreements of the other players. Level range is 50-54, so yours truly will use any of my level 50 toons to ensure many have a chance to contribute in battles. You are not required to RP, but it can help making the story immersive. If your character die ICly, you may want to use another for future chapters. Following up on first rule; the missions outcome are pre-determined, but your words and actions toward NPCs when RP’ing may have an impact in future chapters. Do not commit any act of betrayal. Betrayals will be handled by NPCs anyways. And most of all, it’s meant for a fun adventure, so we adjust in Notoriety and other factors to ensure people enjoys. Chapter 1: Aftermath of Battalion Wednesday, June 4th 2025, 7:00 PM EST A decade after the invasion of the Battalion, the aftermath showed that the people of Primal Earth are still recovering from what is the biggest multiversal war to date. The heroes of Paragon City and villains of Arachnos are back to the old war, with no decisive victor this time. Then, you heard a threat from Lord Nemesis himself. “Consider your days numbered, heroes and villains of the Earth. I have discovered the method of immortality… that led me to become some time-travelling goody-two-shoes! If I cannot be immortal without becoming a fool called Mender Silos, then I will find another way to achieve eternity!” Same ol’ Nemesis, same ol’ unpredictable plans. You cannot run risk letting him get away from all of what he have done, and you and possibly a team runs to investigate an abandoned warehouse that is rumored to contain powerful artifacts…

Makes sense, but I myself doubt we’ll get them anytime soon given HC devs want to focus on the smaller details first and foremost. With how long we went just for a second page to come, and with the gap between the two issues, the planned iTrials might never come into fruitation. Even with the advances of a few Solo Missions and Dr. Aeon Strike Force, granted.

This user gets it. Redside barely got lucky thanks to their own Strike Forces and the Patron Unlock missions, and by the look of the story, Praetorian Earth is not gonna exist anymore outside of Ouroboros. But that does tells me something… What if Praetorian Hamidon managed to invade Primal Earth? It’s already a greater threat than Primal Hamidon, but the Battalion (the Coming Storm) is already established as the biggest threat yet when they finally comes, so adding Praetorian Hamidon on top of that might be overkill in stakes and can cause potential scope creeps to Homecoming devs.

@Uun@Rudra Both of you have a valid point. The reason why I only suggested in the first place is due to popularity of randomizers and I myself is a huge fan of those, but you helped me realized this is really not the game that could make use of it without breaking game balance to unrecognizable level. As for Rudra specifically, the reason for the PvP restriction is for the fact that there’s too much RNG involved for a viable build in PvP, while simultaneously even more difficult to balance than just PvE. It’s the opposite of Temporal Warrior only accessing PvP zones due to already starting at level 50 and having access to all Incarnate Powers for free, leaving PvE oriented players in the dust if they are allowed for PvE zone.

Have you ever wondering what happens if you have access to a Power Set of randomized Powers? And by that, I mean “powers from random, different power sets”, not just randomly picking up two power sets from the available power sets of your archetype. Part of why I made this suggestion is due to the enduring popularity of fanmade and even official randomizers that adds a lot with the game’s replayability, giving from simple reordered stages, to even a roguelite experience. Disclaimer: This is not a high priority suggestion and is more of a for-fun thing for advanced players to experiment with. As such, take it all with grain of salt and while suggestions are welcome, it is not recommanded to engage in snarks or sarcasms as it will not help with potential development. The Game Masters also have the right to lock this thread if they see unfit for Homecoming. Basic Premise The Power Sets Randomizer (or just Randomizer) allows you to roll two randomized power sets once you picked up your Origin, clicked on the “Randomized” mode in either Primal Earth or Praetor Earth, and select any Archetpye. Once fully created, your character cannot participate in PvP areas (such as Arena and PvP Zones), but can still participate in Gladiators and Base Raids. The reason for PvP restriction is due to potential combinations that would break the pace of PvP or makes whoever has it too powerful to fight against; for Base Raids specifically, it is up to the Base organizer to restrict it by explicitly says whether or not characters with Randomized Power Sets can participate. There will be three type of Randomizers: Logical, Off-Archetype and Chaotic. Logical simply follows the same type of Power Set your picked Archetype but otherwise puts different powers from different power sets, while also respecting the “Tier” of the finalized Power Set. While the VEATs can benefit from different starting power set and can exchange from each others, the HEATs have no benefits from selecting this option other than from each others, creating an “Hybrid” Kheldian. Off-Archetype means the randomizer can roll powers from another Archetype’s power set, but otherwise sticks to the general type of power sets. This means that, for example, a Blaster can roll a Dominator’s Assault Power Sets, and only those set for one Power Set, while also rolling the melee-type Archetypes’ Melee Power Sets with same rules as before. The Tier ruling remains the same. Mastermind’s Primary and Henchmen Power Sets are exempt due to being ingrained with the Mastermind’s Inherent Power and other factors in mind, but the Mastermind may otherwise roll a different type of secondary power set. The VEATs and HEATs remain the same as in Logical. The Stalker will always have a variant of the Assassin’s Strike for their Primary, and Hide in their Secondary, due to these powers being fundamental parts of the Stalker’s playstyle. Chaotic is the most complicated, disregarding logic and randomizes every single possible player power into two chaotic Power Sets. The only logics are the following: Mechanic-related powers remains exclusive to the Archetype. This means the Henchmen-summoning power remains on Mastermind and that Archetype always rolls three Henchmen-summons, one first-upgrade and one second-upgrade. It also means the Nova and Dwarf forms remain exclusive to respective Kheldian / HEAT. Stalker always receive a Hide and a variant of Assassin’s Strike. Tier 1 will remains tier 1 version, as to not make the starting Randomized character a sitting duck. In all cases, Powers of the same name (i.e. Total Focus, Inferno) will not roll twice within both Power Sets. Potentially incompatible power sets will also be taken in mind; if Shield Defense is picked first, then two-handed weapon Powers (including Archery, Dual Pistols, Assault Rifle and Beam Rifle unless AE logic applies) will not be rolled, and vice versa. In the Power Selection when creating a character, the player is given an option to reroll the entire Primary or Secondary Power Set if the combination would be too undesirable (i.e. too little good powers in general, or too many powers that don’t fit the Archetype). Once the character creation is finalzied, the power sets cannot be rerolled. Ancillery Power Pools and Patron Power Pools are also randomized using the same selected logic as above options and the general rules, such as no rolling the same power already picked in Primary and Secondary, and the Epic Power Pool versions are randomized within each others. The other Power Pools, as well as Incarnate Powers, will remain the same as normal. Any randomized player will have the option to have the Randomized player tag, akin to “Help Me!”, “Helper” and “Roleplaying”, with the tag name color in lime-green or white. Additionally, if possible, the player will also have an “R” mark alongside their Archetype icon in both Team and League windows. Other than a permanent 50% XP bonus (stacks with XP Boosters) until reaching Security / Threat Level 50, there is no reward exclusive to Randomized characters. This is to prevent messing with the already volatile economy of the Homecoming Auction House. The 50% XP bonus is just so Randomized Players doesn’t get stuck with weak or situational powers for too long. An alternative is to create a new Archetype called “Randomized”, “Shuffled” or “Mixed-Upper” with an exclusive Inherent Power that boosts damaging Powers with Light or Minor damage, but won’t have access to Mastermind’s Upgrade Powers and can only carry one type of summon power per Power Set. For the lore reason, it can be a friend of Null the Gull sent to check how things’ going recently, a sick experiment of a scientist / doctor, a human from an odd dimension, or a war robot that have a huge variety of built-in weaponry. What do you think of this idea? Would it be a fun experience, or would it have no place in CoX?

Methinks the Legacy of Light order of the Legacy Chain should have the Carnival of Light’s FX proliferated to them since their current effect are generic white-colored energy. Not a high priority list among the examples above, given the reflavoring of “Energy = Light” for some player characters works well in the context CoX so it works fine to the Legacy of Light, especially since Peacebringer’s Luminous Blast and Aura are Energy-based and Kheldians are being of light. Still, it may help for some consistency between the Legacy of Light and the Carnival of Light, given the Carnival of Light are partially remnant of the Legacy Chain in Praetorian Earth. Or if we one day get Light Blast / Melee / Affinity / (Praetorian) Mastery etc. proliferated from the Carnival of Light, given Illusion Control and the upcoming Pyrotechnic Control straigth up utilizes light as part of it’s flavor and as more direct contrast to the numerous Darkness-based powers similarly to Peacebringers and Warshades? The Legacy of Light will appreciate having them for use. (To reduce overlap with other Energy-based powers, they deal / reduce / dodge Energy + Psionic damage, akin to Illusion Control dealing Psionic damage.)

Not a bad idea, per say, but making each of these power pool the same for all Archetypes can end up making for very skewed balancing in execution. In fact, Archetypes that are meant to be held back by low Damage Scale (Defender, Controller, Tanker for single target) ended up risking of undermining their weaknesses too much. Additionally, with a damage scale of 1 for all Archetype, Scourge, Containment and Fury became a lot more devastating, and Corruptor is already very much capable of matching, if not surpassing even Blasters, with the right build, and is still very close in damage output. Combining their debuffs (particularly -Regen or -Res) or the ever-useful Kin, it’s essentially a top tier among the already well built ATs for a reason, especially as far as Four Star or Incarnate contents goes. With just one of these Scale-1 Power Pool, a Corruptor suddenly became even more powerful if their Scourge do work on them, or using those Power Pool to weaken the foes’ HP before finishing them off with their Primary. Fury, likewise, makes the Brute going from a solid (if relatively boring) middle ground between Scrappers and Tankers to overshadowing Scrappers in damage output because of the fact that Fury scales with almost every single power, melee or even ranged, and not just the Brute’s Primary. To give an example, Temporary Powers usee a normalized scale of 1, which allows the Brute to hit surprisingly hard with at least one of those after building at least 65% of Fury. 0.750 Damage Scale for Brute is to encourage to keep fighting; with a 1 damage scale, even a 50% Fury gives it comparable damage output to a Stalker or even Scrapper. Around 80%, the damage output goes insane. Remember, it also works with ranged powers despite the Brute’s playstyle, so picking up a mostly-ranged Power Pool aming your ideas can indeed turn it into a tankier, harder hitting Sentinel, allowing it to pick off fleeing foes or stragglers with ease. There is a reason why the different Damage Scales for each Archetype are included for power pools, both standard and Epic ones.

This user gets it. Maybe provide +ToHit bonus and small +Def (especially vs Psionic) for most of this Power Set’s powers? Those will allow Empathy to do some much needed Offense support by making their teammates to concentrate more by word of encouragement / calming aura, and Psionic enemies tend to be aggravating to fight against as very few means existed to dodge them. Power Sets that have lower than average Accuracy would also appreciate the persistant ToHit bonuses.

Welcome to the 2nd edition of More Ancillary Ideas for Sentinel! As before, the following three ideas use one of the new patterns: 3 Control + 2 Melee, giving pressuring crowd control while having viable Melee options… 3 Melee + 2 non-DMG PBAoE, granting Sentinel more tools to take advantage of their 1.100 Melee damage scale… And 3 PBAoE + 2 Control, for increased self-defense or helping teammates out. (Disclaimer: Most Control Power given to Sentinel in these ideas doesn’t have Mez, instead focuses on AoE non-mez debuff like -ToHit, -Def, -Recharge and -Res.) Idea 1: Physics Mastery (3 Control + 2 Melee), based on @megaericzero’s Physics Mastery Based on Kinetics and Gravity Control. “You have advanced Mastery over kinetics and gravity and are able to control foes. This combination allows you to overwhelm foes by decreasing their resistance or defense, while also having a few Melee options that also decrease the foes’ defense.” Tier 1-1: Quick Strikes (Melee, Foe -Res), from Kinetic Melee Tier 1-2: Crushing Field (Ranged, Targeted AoE, Minor Smash DoT; Foe Immobolized, -Def(All), -Fly), from Gravity Control Tier 2: Burst (PBAoE Melee, Moderate Smashing DMG; Foe -Res(All), Knockdown), from Kinetic Melee Tier 3: Gravity Distortion Field (Ranged Targeted AoE; Foe -Speed, -Fly, -Def(All) and -Res(All)), from Gravity Comtrol Tier 4: Fulcrum Shift (Ranged Targeted AoE; Foe -Def(All), Team and Self +Def(All)), from Kinetics Idea 2: Stength Mastery (3 Melee + 2 non-DMG PBAoE) Based on Super Strength and a pinch of Energy Aura. Leviathan Mastery already provide Knockout Blow for Sentinel. “You have gained humoungus strength that can break even sturdy foes apart. While the selection of melee attacks doesn’t provide much debuff, they make up for it with a devastating amount of power and knock the foes down!” Tier 1-1: Haymaker (Melee, High Smashing DMG; Foe Knockdown), from Super Strength Tier 1-2: Hand Clap (PBAoE; Foes Disorient, Knockdown), from Super Strength Tier 2: Strength Drain (PBAoE; Foe -End, -DMG; Self +End, +Def, +DMG), based on Energy Aura’s Energy Drain Tier 3: Foot Stomp (PBAoE Melee, Moderate Smashing DMG; Foes Knockdown, Disorient), from Super Strength Tier 4: Super Hurl (Targeted AoE Melee, Extreme Smashing DMG; Foe Knockback, -Fly), a stronger version of Super Strength’s Hurl. Idea 3: Poisonous Mastery (3 PBAoE + 2 Control) Based on Poison and Radiation Emission. “You have advanced Mastery over poison and weaken the foes’ strength, regeneration and defense. The poison you conduct is also radioactive, allowing for some crowd control by extracting radioactive chemical out of the poison and into the foes.” Tier 1-1: Envenoming Spray (PBAoE; Foes -Def, -Res, -Regen, -Heal), PBAoE version of Envenom Tier 1-2: Lingering Radiation (Ranged Targeted AoE; Minor Toxic DMG, -Regen, -Recharge, -Speed), from Radiation Emission Tier 2: Venomous Gas (Toggle PBAoE; Foe -DMG, -Res, -Regen and -ToHit), from Poison Tier 3: Fallout (Post-Defeat Ally PBAoE, Extreme Energy DMG; Foe -DMG, -ToHit, -Def, -Res), from Storm Blast Tier 4: Noxious Breath (Ranged Coned; Infect Foes + Light Toxic DoT; Infected Foes and nearby Foes -Def, -Res, Special (Hold Vomit)), combines Neurotoxic Breath and Mastermind’s Noxious Gas from Poison And a bonus for Defender + Corruptor, they have their own version of Light Mastery. Illusion Control, one of the basis for Light Mastery, already deals a lot of damage from a Controller, and the Defender + Corruptors’ existing Masteries has a good mix of self-resistance and self-boosting powers (with Psionic having Control instead) so I try not to give something too powerful for the two Archetypes as to not overshadow Illusion Control itself, especially since Corruptor is already top-tier for four-stars contents. Thusly, the Defense boost focus on Psionic, which tend to be painful at the hands of foes (including player opponents or custom foes using Psionic damage Power Sets) as not many shields offer defense nor resistance against it, making it valuable for Psionic-heavy midgame and endgame content where Seers or other Psionic enemies are common. Some aspects of Peacebrigner’s Luminous Aura, including their FX, are also taken to fit with the “light bending ability” that Illusion Control is known for. Light Mastery (Defender / Corruptor version) “You have mastery over Illusion and Light, granting you some much needed defense and crowd control by blinding them and boosting your defense from almost all type of damage, especially Psionic.” Tier 1-1: Blind (Ranged Targeted AoE, Moderate Psionic DMG; Foe Hold/Sleep), from Illusion Control Tier 1-2: Light Swirl (Toggle: Self +Def (All DMG except Toxic; higher DEF vs Psionic)), a less powerful but crash-free toggle version of Luminous Aura’s Light Form Tier 2: Spectral Absorb (Targeted AoE; Foe Fear, -DMG, -ToHit; Self +DMG, +ToHit), based off Illusion Control’s Spectral Terror Tier 3: Luminous Revival (Self-Rez, PBAoE Extreme Energy/Psionic DMG; Foe Knockback and Stun), from Luminous Aura’s Restore Essence with traits of Renewal of Light Tier 4: Summon Phantasm (Summon Phantasm: Ranged, Light (if Corruptor) or Moderate (if Defender) DMG (Smash/Energy/Psi)), from the Dominator’s version of Illusion Control

The Incarnate system is one rife with potentials for large-scale trials and Task / Strike Forces where in-universe higher power level is expected. However, after Live was shut down, four Incarnate Slots remain lost in time as a result: Genesis, Mind, Vitae and Omega. While the idea of Omega Incarnate Slot is already explained via Developer Commentary on the Homecoming Wiki and the Genesis Slot in the first page of the Lore AMA after Live CoX closed down, but what of the Mind and Vitae slots? There is little to no sources that explains what these two could do. Given both Omega and Genesis could be Toggle or Click based on the description, I like to imagine either Mind or Vitae being Auto so that we have one less thing to click about for the Omega-tier Incarnate stuff, with the other being Toggle. Mind Rewarded by earning enough Advanced Psychic Incarnate Experience. Auto Power; permanent and no Endurance cost during Level 50+ activities. Grant the mind from another Archetype, gaining one of their unique abilities in the process, to allow for mix-and-match aspect during Level 50+ activities. It can serve to patch up a weakness or amplify one’s strength. It’s a play of “open your mind”, with accepting a new power from an Archetype not of your own. You can equip the Mind power of your matched Archetype, but it will be much less effective doing so. Likewise, Epic Archetype, especially Kheldians, gain greater benefits to compensate their jack-of-all-trade traits and beign complex to play. Do note that equipping any Mind based of another Archetype than yours does not grant access to compatibility of Invention Enhancements based on that Archetype. There is one Mind power for each Archetype, including the Epic Archetypes. The following with the general ideas without Core or Radial are: Blasting (Blaster): Increase mez resistances and can attack (but not move) when mezzed. Brutal (Brute): Inflicf -Resist(All) on damaged foes and the lower the player’s HP, the higher the damage output. Controlling (Controller): Increase duration of mez statuses, and deal increased damage to mezzed enemies. Corrupted (Corruptor): Increased damage on enemies with 50% or less of max HP. Defensive (Defender): Improved buffs + non-mez debuffs, plus an Endurance Discount the lower the teammates’ HP. Dominating (Dominator): All buffs has a +End proc, and all Debuff has a proc that deals short but crippling DoT Energy + Negative + Toxic damage. Masterful (Mastermind): Provide a passive +Res(All) and +Def(All) PBAoE bonus to surrounding teammates and leaguemates; up to five Masterful bonuses are active per player. Stubborn (Scrapper): All attacks has a chance of dealing double damage, including Judgement powers. Only provide increased percentage chance for Scrapper and Stalker, but stacks with Corruptor’s Scourge chance seperately. Sentimental (Sentinel): All damaging attacks and debuffs decreases the foes’ resistance to debuff by 10% each. Sinister (Stalker): +Stealth when not attacking after five seconds, and double damage on first attack. Only provide smaller increased damage on Stalker and Scrapper, but can stacks with Corruptor’s Scourge. Determined (Tanker): +Resist(All DMG and Debuffs) and adds more targets for AoE, PBAoE, Cone and Chain attacks. Peaceful (Peacebringer): Provide a passive Regeneration and Recharge Speed bonus to surrounding teammates and leaguemates; up to five Peaceful bonuses are active per player. Unforgiving (Warshade): Inflict a passive PBAoE DoT Negative damage to all nearby enemies. Up to two Unforgiving aura are active per foe. Restless (Arachnos Soldier): The lower the player’s Endurance, the higher the Resist(All DMG) bonus; higher Endurance cost. Nightly (Arachnos Widow): Significantly high Defense(All DMG) bonus when low health. Vitae Vitae is difficult to determine from the name without stepping over Alpha and Hybrid, but it does seems to be unlocked by gethering enough Advanced Physical Incarnate Experience to contrast with Mind. Maybe an idea of peak performance of the mortal (or even now-immortal!) body may help gives an distinction, as a super-mobility + offense combo that allows to quickly evade a bad situation or take on foes by surprise. Toggle Power (with one exception) with a maximum of twenty seconds, and can require a hefty amount of Endurance that cannot be Discounted in any way. Examples below are: Curre (Running): Dashes through the foes and knock them off or down for four seconds upon activation! Deals Superior Smashing/Fire damage at each hit. Saltus (Jumping): Jump incredibly high and fall down at lightning speed, with no falling damage to boot. First two stomps deals Superior Smashing damage. Lanuae (Teleport): A click Location AoE attack that allows for very long range, and deals Extreme Psionic/Lethal damage, but activate only once before recharging. Volatus (Fly): Fly around with extraordinary light that deals Extreme Smashing/Energy damage and always knockdown flying foes, but is the least mobile among the options. Nere (Spinning): Spin like a mad lad (or laddie) and, during the first three seconds, deals Superior Cold/Fire damage to all foes caught on the frostbite tornado. Less mobile than others, but provide a large +Def(All DMG and Debuffs) when active. Are thise ideas acceptable, or do you have something else in mind? Let me know and hopefully the HC devs will one day consider these ideas to bridge the gap between Genesis and Omega.

That means a team of seven Tankers makes 105% Damage bonus or eight making 120% from Assault, which causes their AoE attacks to be even more insane and make their single target attack closer to critless Scrapper in damage output. Tactics grants a total of 70% (7 Tankers) or 80% (8 Tankers), while Maneuvers grants 14.0% or 16.0% (rounded down according to in-game overview) but both can be Enhanced for even greater effect. Corruptor and Controller grants similar boost in Leadership, while VEATs and Defender have the better Maneuvers, and Defender alone the biggest Assault and Tactics boost. That said, these five Archetypes are much frailer than Tankers due to not having Armor primary/secondary, and the Armored Classes in Sentinel, Scrapper, Stalker and Brute offers the weakest version of the three basic Leadership powers despite their Armor nowhere as sturdy, regenerative or evasive as the Tanker’s.

I’d like to see the rest of the Most Used AT leaderboard. Been thinking why Corruptors managed to be more used than Defenders, who got stronger scale for buff/debuffs, and I saw a lot of Corruptors in endgame content videos as well. Then I realized the one single Inherent that makes Corruptor more appealing than Defender for some… Scourge. Scourge alone allows Corruptor to be an effective finisher with damage comparable to Blaster against damaged enemies, especially if they managed to stack up +DMG on the team or -Res on the enemies. It can result a truly destructive Inherent by exploiting DoTs, doubling the DoTs (or even tripled in Blizzard’s case) which damaged enemies will drop like flies. No other ranged Archetype has a similar “Deal Double Damage” critical hit system except Controller’s Concealment, though Controllers can only take advantage of it by using high damaging primary powers (like Illusion Control) or Arcane Bolt. Even then, Concealment doesn’t seems to be compatible with DoT, wheras Corruptor’s Scourge work the absolute best with DoT powers, and it stacks with Proc IOs (like -Res or extra damage) as well because Proc IOs also works well with most DoT powers.

Maybe instead of a reroll, rolling yellow allows you to use almost* any colorable Power Set, including Kheldian HEATs and Arachnos VEATs? (*Not Water/Marine nor Ice/Cold for obvious reasons) For brighter yellow (like light yellow or beige-yellow), use the Bright option, this is to represent light element in a way, given that light is represented through Illusion Control, and fittingly substitued by Energy, alongside Radiation. Fire, for example, can also use Bright to represent solar stars. Warshade and Dark/Darkness power sets cannot be chosen with brighter yellow. Darker yellow (as in, golden yellow) instead uses the Dark option, representing a more hell-like flavor or sinister to a chosen Power Set. Peacebringers and Illusion Control cannot be chosen for darker yellow.

Pardon the late reply, but I appreciated the feedback, I learned something new about CoH now. Meanwhile, I figured that I bring more Surge Power Set examples. Ice Surge 1- Frozen Armor (reused from Ice Armor) 2- Ice Shield (reused from Cold Domination) 3- Glacial Armor (reused from Ice Armor) 4- Cold Inhale: Self +Res(All DMG) 5- Glacial Shield (reused from Cold Domination) 6- Permafrost (reused from Ice Armor) 7- Refresh: +HP, +Rec 8- Frostwork (reused from Cold Domination) 9- Mammoth’s Blizzard: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Ice DoT, -Speed Thunder Surge 1- Charged Armor (reused from Electric Armor) 2- Shock (reused from Electrical Affinity) 3- Conductive Shield (reused from Electric Armor) 4- Static Charge: Self +Recharge 5- Charging Health: +HP, +Rec 6- Faraday Cage (reused from Electrical Affinity) 7- Lightning Reflexes (reused from Electric Armor) 8- Discharge (reused from the Mastermind version of Electrical Affinity) 9- Oni’s Lightning: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Energy DoT, Stun Energy Surge 1- Kinetic Shield (reused from Energy Aura) 2- Transfusion (reused from Kinetics) 3- Energy Protection (reused from Energy Aura) 4- Siphon Power (reused from Kinetics) 5- Kinetic Relaxation: +HP, +Rec 6- Power Shield (reused from Energy Aura) 7- Kinetic Focus: Self +Res(Negative statuses like Mez and -DEF) 8- Energy Drain (reused from Energy Aura) 9- Kheldian’s Justice: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Energy DoT, Disorient Dark Surge 1- Dark Embrace (reused from Dark Armor) 2- Twilight Grasp (reused from Darkness Affinity) 3- Murky Cloud (reused from Dark Armor) 4- Soul Absorption (reused from Darkness Affinity) 5- Soul Mend: +HP, +Rec 6- Twilight Boost: Self +Damage(All) 7- Obsidian Soul (Auto version of Obsidian Shield) 8- Shadow Fall (reused from Darkness Affinity) 9- Hades’ Avenging: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Energy DoT, Fear Ninja Techniques 1- Ninja Reflexes (reused from Ninjitsu) 2- Mushi no Hogo (Affinity-style version of Ninjitsu’s Kuji-Rin which is click-based and affect nearby allies) 3- Zen no Shūfuku: +HP, +Rec 4- Gurūpuburesu (Affinity-style version of Ninjitsu’s Seishinteki Kyoyo which also affect nearby allies) 5- Quick Stealth: Self +Stealth, Special (Guaranteed Critical Strike if still Stealthed by this power) 6- Danger Sense (reused from Ninjitsu) 7- Bo Ryaku (reused from Ninjitsu) 8- Blidning Powder (reused from Ninjitsu) 9- Bee’s Rebirth: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Toxic DoT, -Res(All DMG)

Deviser The Deviser offers little to no control nor healing support from their power sets, but make up for it with far better effeciency of Power Pools and Temporary Powers, as well as an equally great melee and ranged prowess and a fantastic survivability behind the Brute and the Tanker. The Deviser plays similarly to the Corruptor and Blaster, trading away some damage (and all support when compared to Corruptor and Defender) for much better survivability, beaten by the Brute (2nd) and Tanker (1st) in that department. It’s more akin to a jack-of-all-trade like the Guardian from the Rebirth server, but with less emphasis on defense and more on offense, as well as little to no aggro management. Meant to be beginner-friendly while also powerful if built well. The one thing the Deviser will do that the other ATs can’t do significantly better is the use of Power Pools, Epic Power Pools, Temporary Powers and even Prestige Attacks, thanks to their Inherent called Improvise, which will be detailed soon enough. Another aspect within their Surge secondary power sets is their Explosive Revival that never offer Untouchable but does severely damage surrounding foes and grant them a debuff. Primary: Assault Secondary: Surge (NEW! Combines Defense and Buff/Debuff power sets) Ancilleries: -DEF oriented and another Tier 9 / nuke Survivability: 7 Melee Damage: 7 Ranged Damage: 7 Crowd Control: 2 Support: 5 Pets: 2 (Base Damage: 1.050 Melee and 1.050 Ranged) Inherent: Improvise - Automatic - All of the Deviser’s powers not derived from Primary or Secondary set gets a 30% Endurance discount (60% for Toggle powers) and 15% accuracy bonus. Powers from the Power Pools gain an individual, additional benefit. Temporary Powers and Prestige Attacks have their Damage boosted by 50%. Powers from the Epic Power Pools for the Deviser has shorter cooldown compared to other Archetypes’. Additionally, Improvise grants the Deviser’s damaging Primary and debuffing / explosive Secondary Powers a chance of Improv Bonus (short of Improvisation Bonus) the more different powers they used, up to 100%, before resetting to 20% if Improv Bonus activates or if no other Power is used within two minutes. Improv Bonus afflict the targeted Foe and surrounding Foes a small but stackable and long-lasting -Def(All) debuff. Full details of Power Pool boosts here. Unique Powerset: Surge (Combines Defense and Buff/Debuff powers into one, alongside their unique explosive, damaging rez that can work on self or non-pet ally.) 1 - Defense Toggle 1 2 - Buff/Debuff 1 3 - Defense Toggle 2 4 - Buff/Debuff 2 5 - Surge Boost: Akin to Build Up, but to one stat. 6 - Auto Defense 7 - Life Boost: Self +HP and +Rec. 8 - Buff/Debuff 3 9 - Explosive Revival (Barring Defense Toggle 1, Buff/Debuff 1 and Explosive Revival, the Power Set order can rearranged in any order) Example: Fire Surge 1- Fire Shield (reused from Fiery Aura) 2- Warmth (reused from Thermal Radiation) 3- Plasma Shield (reused from Fiery Aura) 4- Cauterize (reused from Thermal Radiation) 5- Warm Up: +HP, +Rec 6- Temperature Protection (reused from Fiery Aura) 7- Heat Surge: Self +DMG 8- Heat Exhaustion (reused from Thermal Radiation) 9- Phoenix’s Inferno: Ally Rez or Self-Rez; PBAoE Foes Superior Fire DoT, -Def(All)

It’s unfortunate that the Warden would be redundant with the Tanker’s improved AoE capacity thus dealing more overall AoE damage vs other Melee Archetypes, thus would be like a melee oriented Controller with decent DMG and fantastic survivability. The Protector though, this one sounds promising! It’s not a lot of support-oriented ATs that focus on providing resist/defense boost while having impressive survivability on it’s on and mediocre at worst damage output, so the Protector would help providing greater survivability for a lot of frailer Archetypes like Controller, Blaster, Corruptor and Dominator.

Managed to thought of more examples of the Manipulator potential Primary Power Sets. Lightshow Command “Using light to make the foes believe they are fighting at the wrong side, the Lightshow Command also provide Defense for the Controlled Foes to dodge from various attacks, including Psionic damage.” 1- Lightshow: An Energy-flavored Command, deals light Energy DMG on foe if fails. 2- Bright Shield: Provide a moderate Defense to Psionic, Energy and Negative Energy damage to Controlled Foes. 3- Scorching Beam: Moderate Energy damage, On Foe: -Defense to all DMG 4- Seizure Aura: PBAoE Slow, -ToHit to all affected foes. 5- Photosynthesis: Build Up type boost to a single Controlled Foe. 6- Bright Firework: Targeted AoE that deals Moderate Energy damage and Minor Fire DoT on non-controlled foes, while Controlled Foes are given a buff to their +ToHit and Accuracy. 7- Energy Boost: An Auto version of Energy Aura’s Energy Cloak for Controlled Foes. 8- Solar Strike: A Location AoE power that deals Extreme Energy damage to multiple non-controlled foes. Moderate chance of inflicitng -To-Hit on the foes. 9- Rainbow Booster: Grants a Defense(ALL) boost to the Manipulator, nearby allies and all of the Manipulator’s Controlled Foes. It also provide a massive Resist and Defense to all standard damage (Smahsing, Lethal, Psionic, Toxic, Fire, Cold, Negative, Energy) and moderate DMG and Recharge boost to all active Controlled Foes. This cost a massive amount of Endurance for the Manipulator to use. Fungi Command “Using a specialized species of fungus to temporarily take over the foes’ brain, this Command Power Set focus on providing gradual healing and resistances to debuffs.” 1- Fungus Bomb: A Toxic-flavored Command, deals light Toxic DMG on foe if fails. 2- Symbiotic Cover: Provide a moderate Resistance to all type of debuffs to Controlled Foes. 3- Spore Wind: Moderate Cold damage, On Foe: -Speed 4- Pollen Circle: PBAoE -Recharge, -Resist to Cold and Lethal DMG to uncontrolled foes. 5- Pollen Boost: Build Up type boost to a single Controlled Foe. 6- Vine Slicer: Coned AoE that deals Lethal damage with light Toxic DoT on non-controlled foes, while Controlled Foes are given a buff to their Damage output. 7- Ablative Pollen: An Auto version of Bio Armor’s Ablative Carapace for Controlled Foes. 8- Mushroom Hurricane: A PBAoE power that deals Superior Cold damage and Toxic DoT to multiple non-controlled foes. Moderate chance of inflicitng -Recharge on the foes. 9- Feral Switch: Grants a debuff Resist to the Manipulator, nearby allies and all of the Manipulator’s Controlled Foes. It also provide a massive Resist and Defense to all standard damage (Smahsing, Lethal, Psionic, Toxic, Fire, Cold, Negative, Energy) and moderate Damage and ToHit boost to all active Controlled Foes. This cost a massive amount of Endurance for the Manipulator to use. Pressure Command “By putting your titanic strength into good use as you fight the foes into submission, you can also provide them resistances to Cold, Lethal and Smashing damage.” 1- Submission: A melee-ranged Smashing-flavored Command, deals Smashing DMG on foe if fails. 2- Body Reinforcement: Provide a moderate Resistance to Lethal, Cold and Smashing damage to Controlled Foes. 3- Dreadful Uppercut: Moderate Smashing damage, On Foe: Knockback and Stun 4- Domineering Presence: PBAoE Slow, -Resist to Smashing and Lethal DMG to uncontrolled foes. 5- Motivate: Build Up type boost to a single Controlled Foe. 6- Stomping Wave: Coned AoE that deals Moderate Smashing damage on non-controlled foes, while Controlled Foes are given a buff to their Recharge and resistance to Smashing damage. 7- Physical Boost: An Auto version of Invulnerability’s Resist Physical Damage for Controlled Foes. 8- Brutal Hurl: Basically the cooler Hurl; a coned AoE power that deals Extreme Smashing damage to multiple non-controlled foes. Moderate chance of inflicitng Disorient on the foes. 9- Berserker’s War Cry: Grants a moderate DMG boost to the Manipulator, nearby allies and all of the Manipulator’s Controlled Foes. It also provide a massive Resist and Defense to all standard damage (Smahsing, Lethal, Psionic, Toxic, Fire, Cold, Negative, Energy) and ToHit and resistance to Resist-Debuffs boost to all active Controlled Foes. This cost a massive amount of Endurance for the Manipulator to use. If anyone has an idea for Comnand Power Sets, you can be my guest!

Alright, decided to take a shot for more Sentinel’s Ancillery stuff. As you may notice, the Sentinel’s Ancillery Pool tend to be very formulaic compared to other Archetypes’ Ancillary Pools; three Control powers, one Melee and one PBAoE, with one of them replaced by a summon for Patron Pools. This formula also make Sentinel Epic Pools feel unfocused, causing Sentinel players to either pick only one from any chosen Epic Power Pool, or not at all. Doesn’t help that Sentinels doesn’t need Mez Control power all this much. Of course, the Epic Pools themselves are all useful in their own right, allowing Sentinels a lot of customization and not worry about their thematic Epic Pool being bad, but at the same time, it also means there are no “must-haves” for endgame-level contents. Thusly, the Ancillary Pools I thought for the Sentinel have either of the following; 3 Control + 2 Melee, 3 Melee + 2 PBAoE or 3 PBAoE + 2 Control (with PBAoE either support, control or damage-dealing), allowing better focus on giving the Sentinel more to do. The Control powers will also focus on stat-modifying debuffs rather than mez debuffs as a pseudo-crowd control as well, akin to the Affinity power sets that inflict the former type of debuffs. Idea 1: Nature Mastery (3 Control + 2 Melee) Based on Nature Affinity and Spines. “You have advanced Mastery over nature and are able to control foes. You may also have access go spiny melees that can inflict slowdown, reduced recharge and Toxic Damage over Time on foes.” Tier 1-1: Corrosive Enzymes (Ranged, Foe -Res and -DMG), from Nature Affinity Tier 1-2: Lunge (Melee, Moderate Lethal DMG, Toxic DoT; Foe -Rech and -SPD), from Spines Tier 2: Ripper (Coned Melee, Superior Lethal DMG, Toxic DoT; Foe -Rech, -SPD and Knockdown), from Spines Tier 3: Spore Cloud (Toggle Targeted AoE; Foe -DMG, -Regen and -ToHit), from Nature Affinity Tier 4: Entangling Aura (Toggle PBAoE; Foe Hold), from Nature Affinity Idea 2: Light Mastery (3 Melee + 2 non-DMG PBAoE) Based on Energy Melee and Illusion Control. “You have adanced Mastery over light to help allies around you to hide and blind foes around you. You can also use the power of energetic light to inflict Energy and Smashing damage with each their own potential debuff.” Tier 1-1: Group Invisibility (PBAoE; Team Stealth and +DEF), from Illusion Control Tier 1-2: Power Crash (Coned Melee, Moderate Energy/Smashing DMG; up to three Foes Disorient), from Energy Melee Tier 2: Flash (PBAoE; Foe Hold), from Illusion Control Tier 3: Whirling Hands (PBAoE Melee, Moderate Energy/Smashing DMG; Foe -DEF), from Energy Melee Tier 4: Energetic Nova (Melee, Extreme Energy/Smashing DMG; Self -HP; Foe -ACC and -ToHit), from Energy Melee with Illusion Control Flash’s FX; uses the fast animation of Energy Transfer, but have harsher -HP to balance it. Idea 3: Storm Mastery (3 PBAoE + 2 Control) Based on Storm Blast and Wind Control. “You have advanced Mastery over the power of the storm and can make foes around you more likely to miss. Additionally, you are able to control further away enemies by draining their Endurance.” Tier 1-1: Hailstones (PBAoE, Cold DMG; chance of Knockdown on Foe), from Storm Blast Tier 1-2: Keening Winds (Ranged Targeted AoE; Foe Chance of Confusion, Foe EndDrain, Self +End), from Wind Control Tier 2: Wind Shear (Toggle PBAoE; Foe -SPE, -Fly, -ToHit and -DMG), from Wind Control Tier 3: Cloud Burst (PBAoE, High Cold DoT; Foe -Rech and -ToHit), from Storm Blast Tier 4: Turbulance (Ranged Targeted AoE, Moderate Cold/Lethal DoT; Foe EndDrain, -Rech and -ToHit), based off Vacuum from Wind Control

Alright, so: By default, Tier 1 to 4 uses a small explosion FX. Tier 5 to 8 uses an explosion FX used by Tripmine. And Tier 9 uses an explosion FX right when a Cyberwarrior explode (Summer Blockbuster exclusive bosses, in the Time Gladiator second half) Explosion Swap uses no animation but changes the FX; Gravitas uses dark-themed explosive FXs of Dark power sets or FX of Gravity power sets, EMP using either Energy or Electric power sets, and then Energy or Psionic power sets, or Peacebringer’s Luminous Blast FX, for the Flashbang variant. As for the individual attacks; Bomb Punch uses the animation used by Energy Punch. Bomb Kick uses the same animation as Kick from the Boxing Power Pool. Both Blasting Clap and Dynamite Clap uses the Hand Clap animation of the Super Strength power set. Assassin’s Bomb uses the animation for Energy Melee variant Assassin’s Strike. Preparing Explosives uses gun clip sounds, and uses Battle Fury aura for FX. Uses standard power-up animation. Provoke/Taunt/Placate uses standard animation. Roundhouse Boom uses Shin Breaker animation, and added a spinning effect for the character to give an impression of doing a roundhouse. Armageddon Punch uses Knockout Blow animation of either Super Strength or the Blaster, Mastermind and Sentinel version of Leviathan Mastery. Would those work? Meanwhile, I’m thinking about doing some more Ancillery Masteries for Sentinel, it got pretty few compared to other Archetypes.

Certainly a mixed but understandable reception around. From what I gather: Replacing a power entirely might turn Respec even more of a shore for level 50s, so a rework for power sets specifically to Brutes is out of question. Brutes do at least fulfill their role as “Fright Train” of melee combattants, very well even. There are also some here, and I assume many even, who do like Brute because they are an intermediary of Scrappers and Tankers. The real issue I’ve seen is Fury itself, which isn’t even an unique mechanic given it is just glorified critical hits of sort. Reworking Fury itself, or rather buffing it, might help Brute’s own Inherent to be unique or at least give another good justification of using Brutes over Tanks. My suggestion of Fury increasing To-Hit chance as Fury builds up is pointed by a replier that it’s plausible if the devs agreed. Defensive buff built in Fury (like +Resist) might be too familiar to Tankers. Overall, Brutes feeling inferior to Tankers is just a manner of perspective, which the perspective might not even be accurate depending on who you ask. However, it can be agreed that Fury itself may be outdated, which might be a reason of such perspective, given how effective the other Archetypes’ inherents are, including Sentinel’s current Inherent as of 2024.

The Brute Archetype. The “middle child” of Scrapper and Tanker ever since CoH and CoV becoming one game, and the one who orient around the Fury mechanic. In theory, it is meant to hit harder than Tankers and tankier than Scrappers, but in practice, it can be seen as a master of none. Not helping is that as of 2024, Tankers have an even more admirable AoE DPS compared to Scrappers and Stalkers thanks to their Gauntlet Inherent. It is not like the Brute is underrepresented, as there are still a lot of players who do enjoy and make the most of Brtues, myself included. That being said, for harder contents like Incarnate Trials, I believe the Brute need something that allows it to stand out from the other Melee-oriented archetypes without stepping on their toes. The Conundrum As said before, the Brutes are seen as the middle ground of Scrappers and Tankers. However, other than the Fury Inherent, the Brute does not have anything that the other melee Archetypes cannot do better, including AoE Melee as the Tankers does a way better job nowadays. Of course, the problem isn’t easy to solve. If Brute’s damage output is buffed, then they’ll end up overshadowing Scrappers. Obviously, they should not be tankier than Tankers. Alongside, increasing the power input of the Brute’s available melee AoE in power sets would only make it too similar to Tankers as the latter is still superior at tanking things. The Brute’s Epic Power Pools are a good addition to it, so they don’t need to receive major changes. If anything, the issue have to do with the Archetype itself, not the Epic Power Pools, so buffing these Epic Power Pools would not make it exciting for Brutes who got overshadowed by Tankers in mid-game contents and can be overkill for Brutes who are doing fine in lategame content. Nothing said that Brutes are beyond repair without nerfing Tankers, because there is another villain-original melee Archetype that managed to stand out from it’s hero-original counterpart. Scrapper vs Stalker, the Damage Scale and Fury Inherent At a glance, the Stalker have less damage output compared to the Scrapper. However, not only the Stalker have access to Hide and Placate, which fits it’s lore and playstyle, but also their signature attack of Assassin’s Strike (or a variant depending on the Power Set), giving it a powerful single-target burst damage when in and even out of Hiding. This allows Stalker to play similar to a Scrapper with less damage, but able to sneak around and take down important targets, then escape from one threat or even more. The Brute can be seen as the villain-original counterpart of the Tanker, but it only managed to hit harder than Tankers due fo the Fury Inherent, not by inherently having higher melee damage scale. With that said, the Ranged Damage Scale of Tankers have 0.800 despite having little to no ranged attacks from their Secondary Power Sets. The Brute isn’t far behind with a 0.750 damage scale, but they themselves have little to no ranged attacks on their Primary Power Sets. Another interesting fact is that the Brute’s Fury Inherent doesn’t just boost their melee output, it also increase their ranged damage output. This means the Brute is able to deal a deceptively high ranged melee if allowed to, which is why it is able to deal high damage on ranged Prestige Attacks like Nemesis Staff and Blackwand once it’s Fury is high enough. But if Fury alone doesn’t make Brute enticing enough to be a tanky offensive melee attacker, then maybe allow the Brute to take advantage on the Fury Inherent than just “stay in the fights to deal more damage”. The Solutions Here are the following solutions that intend to take advantage of the Fury Inherent in order to help the Brute stand out without strictly overshadowing the other Melee-oriented archetypes. One or more may be implemented. Allow Fury Inherent to have To-Hit / Accuracy bonus: This one is straightforward but allows Brute players to worry less about putting Accuracy and To-Hit Buff Enhancements as the Fury also boosts the To-Hit chance by up to a whopping 50% (maybe lower) as long as they keep fighting. Replace a generic Taunt by a powerful coned / targeted AoE Ranged Attack with Taunting effect, but costs some Fury: Given that Scrappers have Confront while Stalkers have Placate, the Brutes could have a whole new ranged attack that can be used to both deliver high damage and provoke enemies, but can only be performed if the Brute’s Fury is 80 of higher, and cost some Fury at that. This not only allows Brute give a distinct niche of having an occasional ranged attacks, but also allows them to provide a powerful burst ranged damage that neither the Scrapper, the Stalker and the Tanker could achieve easily. This devastating attack is called an Outrage Attack. Ice Melee Example: Frost Wave which is like Energy Torrent but with Ice FX. Hits all foes that were ahead of the targeted foe for a Superior Cold/Smashing burst damage. Replace PBAoE melee and disruptive powers by Ranged Powers Equivalent (or close proximity): Given that Tankers are far better at melee-ranged crowd control than Brutes nowadays, it’s only natural that the Brute may prefer to hit some fleeing saps to take advantage of the Fury Inherent and to keep it’s Fury from draining when chasing a fleeing foe. This will also allow Brute to be mixed akin to Blasters and Dominators, albeit to a lesser extent, and can even take even more advantage of Power Pools and Epic Power Pools that has ranged damage more than before by having additional ranged tools in their Primary Power. Ice Melee Example: Ice Patch is replaced by Frost Breath for Brutes. Meanwhile, Frozen Aura is replaced by Glacial Fist, which launches a Bitter Ice Blast as the Brute punches the air and deals Extreme Cold/Smashing DMG. Anyone else have a suggestion how to make the Brute able to stand on their own?