Easiest Team-Focused Build to Play?

[wheresmycow]

So, have a bunch of friends who play CoX for a variety of reasons.  One of them mostly just RPs because they claim to be terrible at video games.  Having never seen them play CoX, I don't know how bad they really are and they're probably exaggerating, but it did get me thinking on what would be the easiest team-focused build to play for someone who is 'terrible' at video games while still being effective.

 

Gut instinct for me says something buff focused, like a Time Defender.  Chrono shift and farsight great PBAoE team buffs, temporal mending is a PBAoE heal, distortion field and time stop are good CC you can just slap down in an area.  And if they're feeling really motivated, they can temporal selection their allies.  Another one I think would do well is a Kinetics defender, because fucking kinetics.  I feel it's more active than Time, but if you were only focused on buffs, it wouldn't get that hectic.

 

But that's just gut instinct, and there are plenty of people here that know way more than I ever will about CoX and builds.  I'm not necessarily looking for slotted out builds, this is more of a fun thought exercise, though it would be interesting to see what powers people would take.

[Seigmoraig]

I wouldn't suggest that they play buff sets, because you get very little positive feedback from that. Kinetics is very strong that's for sure, but you get next to nothing out of it yourself.

Most people want to see those orange numbers floating up over the heads of the enemies.

I would go and suggest that somebody like that plays a Sentinel instead. You get the durability of defensive sets while still being ranged so you can just follow the team around while always keeping a more global view of what is happening in the fights. Sometimes when you are melee and the camera gets real close in when playing in tight areas it can get messy at times and I can see how that would upset people who aren't used to that kind of thing.

Staying at range, while still being almost tank level durable which is very forgiving on "newbie" mistakes, like nuking before aggro is set, would be why I would suggest Sentinel above a buffer.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Seigmoraig

[Doc_Scorpion]

Rad/Rad defender...  Set your heal on auto fire and blast away (applying -DEF to the target) with your secondary.

[DougGraves]

Easiest to play once you know how is a bots/ff mastermind.   Summon and upgrade bots.  Put bubbles on everyone.   Leave bots in bodyguard mode and just use your personal attacks.

[TheOtherTed]

I had a lot of fun with a Dark defender on live - reasonably active (but not too active), surprisingly safe, and a pretty good AoE heal once slotted.  Weak on team buffs, and requires a bit of positioning and situational awareness, but some very nice AoE debuffs with decent controller-y elements.  I recall on live, however, that Dark defenders were a bit undervalued - not sure if that's still true.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend Kinetics.  I played one for years, and got thanked for all the wrong reasons.

[HelBlaiz]

I'd say a shield Tanker with leadership toggles. Them existing boosts the team's hit rate, damage, provides direct survivability with grant cover and maneuvers, and will be respectably durable. They will also provide indirect survivability by shield charging in, knocking things down, staggering the alpha and holding aggro with against all odds and taunt alongside provoke on all their attacks.

 

As long as they exist, they're helping, and they're tough to kill. They don't need to refresh buffs, micromanage pets, leverage debuffs, or hit clutch heals. They don't need Teh Uber DPS cycle, they just gotta attack stuff with whatever and taunt when it recharges. Just help them with their slotting and you're golden.

[siolfir]

Just because I'm surprised I haven't seen it already, Arachnos Soldier or Widow. The team buffs are toggles with a self-assisting click in the case of Widows, so you provide a lot of benefit just for being nearby, and otherwise you just attack a lot. They have mez protection, good survivability, and multiple builds offer a variety of playstyles.

[DR_Mechano]

1 minute ago, siolfir said:

Just because I'm surprised I haven't seen it already, Arachnos Soldier or Widow. The team buffs are toggles with a self-assisting click in the case of Widows, so you provide a lot of benefit just for being nearby, and otherwise you just attack a lot. They have mez protection, good survivability, and multiple builds offer a variety of playstyles.

Especially a huntsman build with the double leadership toggles. Not only do you get to do decent damage for yourself but you also boost the teams to-hit, defense and damage output by a decent chunk.

[wheresmycow]

Oh, these are some really interesting answers, especially the shield tanker and the arachnos archetypes.  I know some people can find tanking really stressful, so that didn't pop into mind, but I could see that working pretty well.  As for the arachnos soldier and widow, I didn't know they had that many team buffs.

[DougGraves]

Shield tanker is a harder tanker to play with click mez control.  Willpower is much easier.

[HelBlaiz]

Admittedly, being an AMAZING tank takes more than what I mentioned. I wouldn't even call myself a great Tank, and I consider myself at least respectably good at CoH, since it's not an execution heavy game and more strategic. The point of suggesting a Tanker is that it's the least punishing AT in the game. If a blaster throws an errant fireball, they die. If a defender misclicks a buff, debuff, or isn't on the ball with heals, it can feel terrible if disaster ensues shortly after, also an errant fireball can get them killed as well. Tankers? If they accidentally aggro a spawn, it takes so long for them to be bursted down, that you have time to run in and help, and the entire time, they're contributing to the group by eating the alpha anyway. Shield is great specifically because it provides yet another passive buff in grant cover to stack on top of the leadership toggles.

[siolfir]

1 hour ago, wheresmycow said:

As for the arachnos soldier and widow, I didn't know they had that many team buffs.

Arachnos Soldiers get Tactical Training: Maneuvers (+10% defense to all), TT: Assault (+15% damage), and TT: Leadership (+10% to-hit) in cheap toggles. They also get decent numbers for the Leadership pool Maneuvers (3.5%) and Assault (+15%), so just by standing within 60' they give you 13.5% defense, 30% damage, and 10-20% to-hit before any slotting is involved. They also get passive mez protection starting at level 1 (2 pts for Wolf Spider Armor, 4 for Crab/Bane on the respec and you can take Wolf to stack it with), so your friends won't get bored in the upper levels before they get Clarion waiting for mezzes to wear off.

 

Widows only get 5% on Tactical Training: Maneuvers, but get Mind Link (+10% defense, +5% to-hit, +30% psi resistance), have the same numbers for the other toggles, and get Indomitable Will for comprehensive mez protection. The Fortunata path also offers highlights from Mind Control and Psi Blast's nuke.

[Grouchybeast]

I am also bad at video games!

 

On teams, I like playing debuff-heavy defenders and blasters.  Blasters are the lowest-stress AT of all, because you have no responsibility.  Just shoot things, and if you die, oh well.  The team will be fine until you get back to them.  For the high-tech version, find a tank or brute, follow them, shoot things and if you die, oh well.  Debuff-heavy defenders are nice because you don't need to worry about juggling buffs and actively keeping people alive, and on teams the debuffing really shines when facing AVs, when you'll likely have plenty of time to apply toggles etc.  And the rest of the time, blast!

[DR_Mechano]

4 hours ago, wheresmycow said:

Oh, these are some really interesting answers, especially the shield tanker and the arachnos archetypes.  I know some people can find tanking really stressful, so that didn't pop into mind, but I could see that working pretty well.  As for the arachnos soldier and widow, I didn't know they had that many team buffs.

As Siolfir mentions, a Huntsman build which uses double Leadership toggles (from both their own pool and from power pools) gives huge buffs just by being around. They can be a little end intensive at times though and the best thing is you still do respectable damage, especially since you're running a 30% damage boost. A well built Huntsman is a bit of a beast in both damage and passive team support.

[Doc_Scorpion]

3 hours ago, Grouchybeast said:

On teams, I like playing debuff-heavy defenders and blasters.  Blasters are the lowest-stress AT of all, because you have no responsibility.  Just shoot things, and if you die, oh well.  The team will be fine until you get back to them.  For the high-tech version, find a tank or brute, follow them, shoot things and if you die, oh well.  Debuff-heavy defenders are nice because you don't need to worry about juggling buffs and actively keeping people alive, and on teams the debuffing really shines when facing AVs, when you'll likely have plenty of time to apply toggles etc.  And the rest of the time, blast!

Exactly why, when I want mindless fun, I take out my rad/rad defender or fire/fire blaster.

[Snarky]

Any attack/willpower Brute.  Take Taunt, take leadership toggles.  Easy is job one.  accomplished.  Will be very useful to any teammate you are near, both with toggles and drawing enemy fire.  Use Taunt.  You do very respectable damage so are having fun. GL  

[The Bobby Llama]

20 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Easiest to play once you know how is a bots/ff mastermind.   Summon and upgrade bots.  Put bubbles on everyone.   Leave bots in bodyguard mode and just use your personal attacks.

Just want to second this one (along with a reminder to add Leadership as well).  Masterminds aren't very demanding on reaction time or quick decision making, which are the sort of skills people who are terrible at games are typically lacking.

[wheresmycow]

I consider myself pretty good at the video games and I kind of want to try some of these builds.

[VileTerror]

siolfir speaks wisdom!

But there is one important point to note for a new player, and that is a build with double Leadership Toggles is SUPER Endurance heavy.  The baked-in Leadership for Soldiers and Widows is cheaper Endurance-per-second than the Pool Power versions, so I'd recommend just the natural Leadership first.  When the player gets more confident with IO builds and using Temp Powers like the Recovery Serum; then they can dip in to the extra Pool Leadership Toggles with more confidence.

[Rokkeb]

If you guys have a lead player, like a brute or tank, I would say Sentinel is the best for someone unsure of their ability to play the game well. They can stay at ranged and blast away. They have an armor set so they won't die easily/alot like a blaster might early on. 

 

And if their ever not sure what to do, just target the tank/brute/lead and keep spamming their attack buttons. Just don't pick energy blast, and they can't go wrong basically. 

 

 

[Troo]

On 2/13/2020 at 12:44 PM, wheresmycow said:

easiest team-focused build to play for someone who is 'terrible' at video games while still being effective.

..easiest team focused for a non gamer who wants to be useful.

ice/kin (i'd choose corruptor)

rad/kin or dark/kin might also be of interest (these avoid knockback or scatter powers, dark/ provides an additional heal while rad/ does a lot of debuffing)

 

If they want more of a smash type character it is hard to go wrong with a super strength/invulnerability brute. It's a good character to learn the game on.

/Willpower or /Shield if wanting to avoid how Rage works.

 

Just my 2 cents. Nothing wrong with many of the suggestions made so far, though I might suggest leaving arachnos soldiers and widows for after they get a little experience.

[Richard Nelson]

Personally I'd go Bots/ff, it's a low pressure build with room for mistakes. I'd also go Corr and brutes over defenders and tanks. If you play a tank people expect you to tank, they tend to be kinder to brutes. This also applies to corrs with defenders, the lower expectations make teams more forgiving of mistakes.

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, VileTerror said:

siolfir speaks wisdom!

But there is one important point to note for a new player, and that is a build with double Leadership Toggles is SUPER Endurance heavy.  The baked-in Leadership for Soldiers and Widows is cheaper Endurance-per-second than the Pool Power versions, so I'd recommend just the natural Leadership first.  When the player gets more confident with IO builds and using Temp Powers like the Recovery Serum; then they can dip in to the extra Pool Leadership Toggles with more confidence.

and that is why I threw out Any attack/Willpower Brute.  with leadership toggles and taunt.  It is the bar-none easiest AT and armor set in that AT, and it has sick amounts of endurance available.  It can help a team....just run up to anything hit, taunt, hit hit hit, taunt  Then having ALL THREE leadership toggles going, and still being like la dee dah.  In fact....I now go to create this beast.  Why you make me alt?  

 

[Troo]

46 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Why you make me alt?  

I may borrow this.

[VileTerror]

I make you Alt because I care.

To Alt is to show thy love to the City.  

Love thy City, young man.  Love thy City.