So what's the 'strength' of Martial Combat?

[deathevan]

I've been playing with this set on a Water blaster for a while now and I've been just trying to figure out how it can be best used. Reach for the Limit/Reaction Time/Inner Will all seem to be really solid powers, but it seems like many of the powers are very skippable and I was just wondering if anyone with a bit more experience with the set could give some pointers on it.

 

From what I can glean, it's more of a utility set as opposed to something that would give you a lot of Burst DPS.

[Fatman]

As someone currently leveling a Pistols/Martial Blaster, I think I can toss in a few words. You're generally right in assuming that it's a "utility" set, especially with the way Reach for the Limit works; for burst, I wanna say... Energy might be better?

• Reaction Time. Take it at 20 and never look back. This should be obvious, but it wasn't to me, since I was unaware of the i24 "sustain" power changes. Accurate Healing IOs can be slotted into this power, so if you want to add those two proc IOs, feel free.
  
• Inner Will. I'm not too fond of this power; specifically, the animation and its cooldown time. I've only really been using it as a free Break Free every now and then. The 50% self +mez effect boost is great, but it will never improve with your combat level, and Inner Will's restrictive activation conditions means that you can't use this as you can with Power Boost from Energy Manipulation.
  
• Eagle's Claw. It's slow. But that recharge and range debuff is nothing to sleep on. Plus, its stun will stack with Throw Sand and your own T9 primary's stun component.
  

Like you, I skipped a lot of the powers. I couldn't find any room in my current build to fit Throw Sand in, and I rarely use its melee powers outside of Ki Push and Eagle's Claw. That said, Ki Push is really good, in my opinion. Quite possibly my favorite Tier 1 power out of all the Blaster secondaries.

 

And this post just reminded me that I should probably update my own build topic here.

[summerheat]

I think Throw Sand is the only one I’m not planning to take. I like the set overall, and it meshes well with the concept for my dual pistols/martial blaster. I do miss some of the self-buff utility I got with energy manipulation, but it’s not too shoddy.

Was reach for the limit at one time a click? It seems weird to not have a build-up click but I stopped playing before i24 and well before had stopped rolling new toons. I like that it’s auto, but change is weird.

Reaction time... I don’t have it on that much, but I like it. Slot for slows makes it nice when I get surrounded, and the alpha strike of reaction time -> Burst of Speed -> nova, which takes out quite a few before I do as most blasters do.

 

What I DO absolutely like in the set is the amount of knock “back” aspects, which I’ve heavily relied on being a soft control in my rotation. Usually I can dominate a fight with ranged attacks until they’re close to melee, knock them around with storm kick and dragons tail, finishing them with ki push to return to the ranged and (usually) finish them off.

 

Inner will gets underused in my build, but going up against rikti and Malta are reminding me what happens when I forget it’s there. In those occasions, it absolutely shifts the balance in combat in my favor, as their hard controls get shrugged off and my soft controls start taking effect.

[Sailboat]

Ki Push is hysterical.  Can it be slotted for knockback distance?  Hellion Golf in super slo-mo!

[Fatman]

Ki Push is hysterical.  Can it be slotted for knockback distance?  Hellion Golf in super slo-mo!

Yes, but keep in mind that the knockback occurs after the "slo-mo" repel and hold part.

[Banana Man]

pros:

-big aoe slow toggle, that also gives you absorb

-Pretty good aoe potential

-Ki push is both good and hilarious

-You can kick someone’s face then backflip off it

 

Cons:

-Reach for the limit kind of sucks compared to build up, ESPECIALLY when considering a IOed level 50 build

-pretty terrible for single target dps

-can’t really make use of -res procs in any reliable capacity

 

Conclusions:

On a tier list, the set would be something like B+. If you want to make the “optimal” /martial blaster, I’d pair it with something that has good single target damage, and some aoe to round it out. Ice or fire would be best, psi if you want a more single target focus.

[Wenlocke]

I'm currently experimenting with EN/MA and so far it's.. interesting. Definitely the blapperiest blapper I ever saw. Kicking someone in the face and then sending them sailing off into the sunset is funny though.

[deathevan]

Thanks for all the input guys! Your guide helped me especially, Fatman

[ScarySai]

It's a set that sort of encourages getting in there and blapping. I've yet to finalize any builds, but in theory, high recharge with some defense baked in should make it really strong.

 

For DP/Martial, it's pretty good for keeping things from running while you rain down your AOE. Also, it gives you plenty of high-damage attacks to use when waiting for your hail to come back.

[DocRadio]

Man.... I left the game before Pistols were even a thing for blasters. I think radiation blast and dark blast had just been added for blasters.

Going to be fun getting back to my favorite archetype.

 

Also shooting someone in the face akimbo after using eagle's claw sounds like fun on a bun.

[Mr. Vee]

Loving my sonic/ma blaptroller so far. I've never felt so safe on a blaster, even really expensive ones back in the day.

[jubakumbi]

Man.... I left the game before Pistols were even a thing for blasters. I think radiation blast and dark blast had just been added for blasters.

Going to be fun getting back to my favorite archetype.

 

Also shooting someone in the face akimbo after using eagle's claw sounds like fun on a bun.

 

With DP/MA, I duo with a Arch/TA blaster.

Both around 28-29 right now.

Filled with basic IOs on both, plus a couple extras on both.

 

I bascically 'tank'. Either start with purples and reds or finish with greens as available.

We set to 5 players.

I teleport in with the MA attack, Dragon's Tail everything, leap out while fire Hail of Bullets, then MA teleport back in so I can kick the remaining mobs, jump out firing whatever is up...

So much fun.

We just roll on through most everything, never ever was able to do this well on Live with blasters until they were Set IOed to the ears.

[That Ninja]

Man.... I left the game before Pistols were even a thing for blasters. I think radiation blast and dark blast had just been added for blasters.

Going to be fun getting back to my favorite archetype.

 

Also shooting someone in the face akimbo after using eagle's claw sounds like fun on a bun.

 

With DP/MA, I duo with a Arch/TA blaster.

Both around 28-29 right now.

Filled with basic IOs on both, plus a couple extras on both.

 

I bascically 'tank'. Either start with purples and reds or finish with greens as available.

We set to 5 players.

I teleport in with the MA attack, Dragon's Tail everything, leap out while fire Hail of Bullets, then MA teleport back in so I can kick the remaining mobs, jump out firing whatever is up...

So much fun.

We just roll on through most everything, never ever was able to do this well on Live with blasters until they were Set IOed to the ears.

Do you have a pine build of this? I've been really interested in Martial Combat and been waffling between doing either a blaster or sentinel DP build.

[Jolin]

Okay, I'll ask. :) I have concepts for AR/martial, Dp/martial, and DP/ninja. DPs are remakes of a back in the down DP/nrg blaster. Which do y'all think would play better. I see a lot of Dp/ma builds, but none of the other two. Wanted to get some thoughts.

Thanks Jolin

[jubakumbi]

Man.... I left the game before Pistols were even a thing for blasters. I think radiation blast and dark blast had just been added for blasters.

Going to be fun getting back to my favorite archetype.

 

Also shooting someone in the face akimbo after using eagle's claw sounds like fun on a bun.

 

With DP/MA, I duo with a Arch/TA blaster.

Both around 28-29 right now.

Filled with basic IOs on both, plus a couple extras on both.

 

I bascically 'tank'. Either start with purples and reds or finish with greens as available.

We set to 5 players.

I teleport in with the MA attack, Dragon's Tail everything, leap out while fire Hail of Bullets, then MA teleport back in so I can kick the remaining mobs, jump out firing whatever is up...

So much fun.

We just roll on through most everything, never ever was able to do this well on Live with blasters until they were Set IOed to the ears.

Do you have a pine build of this? I've been really interested in Martial Combat and been waffling between doing either a blaster or sentinel DP build.

 

Just noticed this.

I have slotted one accuracy IO into each attack, three damage IOs, and in most cases now some reacharge in all attacks at level 41.

The only specials I have are a -KB, the PvP chance for -Res, and last night a shiny LoTG +Recharge.

 

Any sufficiently mez-heavy enemies hurt us bad, as do the CoT and other dark casters.

 

Still works pretty well, definiately going to invest in a long-term build.

[atletikus]

Martial brings fun into blapping! Unlike some say here; the set isn't actually weak for single target damage...it's actually one of the strongest. Ki Push (the most fun), Storm Kick (fast recharging and reliable DPS), and Eagle's Claw (arguably the best high tier melee attack through all of blapper-dom), all come with assured mitigation through repel+knockback/down and stun. Coupled with the slowing effects of your large aura, it makes /martial blappers almost as capable as /ice leveraging superior levels of hurt up close. This is a case where practical damage output is more consistent with theoretical damage output than other sets. 

 

Also, unlike some others say; I was not all that impressed with the AoE capability. I believe you need to go balls deep to make the most of the scrapper route where and grab both Burst of Speed and Dragon's Tail, which both chain nicely together, but are not stellar damage-wise with and with small radii.

 

Reach For The Limit is an auto-power Build-Up alternative that gives you about +15% ToHit and 37% Damage for about 15 seconds. The chance of it triggering is somewhere around 5% per single target, but seemed to trigger more consistently with AoE. This feeds you with a sense of urgency to chase that buff and to keep fighting while the buff is active...which synergizes really well with the Blaster inherent who also works in a similar way. It promotes a kind of fast and furious brutish play-style. This feels like a strength, that is also a weakness as you can't spike your damage quite as high as most other sets...like alpha AoE on large groups you want defeated yesterday. But for single hard targets, the sets dual offensive/defensive nature, makes this much less of an issue. Expensive IO-builds with high global recharge are likely better served with a standard Build-Up though, then again high global recharge also allows you to keep blasting which lets you benefit more from the Reach For The Limit proc. As they say; your mileage may vary, but I would *STRONGLY* recommend *NOT* to combo /martial with a primary set that lacks an Aim power. Especially since the Gaussian's proc now almost guarantees triggering in slow recharging click-powers.

 

It may not be the absolutely best set purely looking at the numbers; but it manages to combine both offense and defense in an addictive and viable mix. If fun is your focus, then you can't go wrong with /martial!

[NetBlaise]

 

With DP/MA, I duo with a Arch/TA blaster.

Both around 28-29 right now.

Filled with basic IOs on both, plus a couple extras on both.

 

I bascically 'tank'. Either start with purples and reds or finish with greens as available.

We set to 5 players.

I teleport in with the MA attack, Dragon's Tail everything, leap out while fire Hail of Bullets, then MA teleport back in so I can kick the remaining mobs, jump out firing whatever is up...

So much fun.

We just roll on through most everything, never ever was able to do this well on Live with blasters until they were Set IOed to the ears.

 

What build are you using with Dual Pistol/Martial Combat? and How did you lvl with it...  I just made one. I'm only lvl 5 atm...

[jubakumbi]

What build are you using with Dual Pistol/Martial Combat? and How did you lvl with it...  I just made one. I'm only lvl 5 atm...

 

Just taking as much AoE as I can and experimenting. :)

[Frostweaver]

I know it's relatively Minor pointers, but RFTL tends to CONSTANTLY recharge and ready insta-snipe, even at low levels, and after you port 3 times you have about an 8% damage boost. With a short-range aoe set like pistols this actually improves the st dps a bit more than it looks like on paper. hop-hop-hop dragontail nuke snipe as an opener almost always triggers RFTL and murders at least one boss even at +4.

 

It's not aim-bu-nukefire to kill everything but a sliver on bosses, but what is left is trying to kill the team with a recharge of like 13 seconds per attack. And you also come out of it with full end.

 

The interesting thing to note about the aura, is that after you go in and assassinate everything, you can turn it OFF. This gives you about an 8 second speed boost to get back to range, but it ALSO gives you an 8 second 40% boost to recharge.... which helps enormously on steamroll teams for getting that nuke back out every spawn, without the constant drain of hasten. Or you can easily perma hasten while you are fighting quickly.

 

if you can happy click, MC gives you some amazing versatility on both Malta grinds and steamrolls... and steamrolls is where a lot of Blaster sets start to suffer from recharge fatigue.

[WumpusRat]

I have a Dual Pistol/Martial blaster I'm working on now. She's up to 26th level, and chugging along pretty well. I don't have burst of speed slotted for damage, but rather just for cooldown, so I can use it as a quick repositioning tool. Freak boss getting in your face and ki burst didn't send him floating away like a soap bubble? Blip away and keep shooting from a new position. It definitely feels like an anime-style gunkata character, just hyperactively zipping around the battlefield and raining bullets on everyone. :)

[Frostweaver]

Well, I don't know if you have notice, but burst has a weirdly large radius for a melee aoe.  It's damage is not great, but I have it frankenslotted with procs/recharge/damage and it's just low enough to keep from pulling aggro off the melees while you set up to murder everyone.

 

But yeah, thematically it's cooler than liquid Nitrogen. And how sick is it to INSTANTLY be way on the other side of the spawn, pummeling it, forcing all the stuff that the tank aggro capped to run through his aura again to get to you?