Seeking new and interesting builds to try...

[biostem]

Good afternoon, everyone!  I hope you are all doing well.  I've been stuck working home for a while now and looking for ways to stave off boredom.  I've been playing a lot, but most of the characters I play are very similar, power-wise, (mainly brutes with fast-recharging powers like claws, savage melee, etc or ranged characters with archery, or doms/controllers using gravity).  I would love some suggestions regarding different powerset combinations and ATs, which have very little downtime right out of the gate.  Thank you in advance for your input!

[Fan Mail]

Have you rolled a Blaster lately?  I'm having fun on my Fire Blast/Atomic - he's redside.  I'm finding that the Atomic secondary seems to be better than Energy secondary so far (Fan Mail is a Fire/EM Blaster - my "main").  At level 30 and climbing.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Fan Mail

[Oubliette_Red]

I really enjoy my Water/Poison Corruptor, lots of AoE debuffing. I think my teammates enjoy it for the same reason. 😄

 

[MunkiLord]

Gotta second the Blaster suggestion, they are monsters these days. My favorite so far has been my Ice/Fire, it's unfairly good on high end builds. Arch/Temp was also a ton of fun to play as one of my most played characters on HC.

 

Something that caught me by surprise is just how much fun my Darkness/Stone Dom has been. Dark is all kinds of awesome, and Stone feels so damn powerful, it also helps that it hits really hard. Seismic Smash on a Dom might be too good.

[WillowManson]

Roll a dual pistol blaster with martial combat for some true action hero styled fun. Nothing better then sending a baddie flying with a kick only to shoot them as they fly thru the air.

[Six-Six]

I can attest to the fun factor of this. very satisfying even in the low levels.

[Riverdusk]

Might look at a stalker.  Plays very different than a brute and is very strong pretty early on.  I didn't use to like stalkers at all, but with the changes made to them they are pretty amazing now.

[biostem]

Just now, Riverdusk said:

Might look at a stalker.  Plays very different than a brute and is very strong pretty early on.  I didn't use to like stalkers at all, but with the changes made to them they are pretty amazing now.

Can you recommend any stalker powerset combos?  I've tried them before, but they end up feeling like gimped brutes/scrappers to me.  Thanks again!

[Riverdusk]

10 minutes ago, biostem said:

Can you recommend any stalker powerset combos?  I've tried them before, but they end up feeling like gimped brutes/scrappers to me.  Thanks again!

That is somewhat subjective of course and depending what you are looking for.  A couple that I think are better on stalker than on brute or scrapper are:

Electric/Shield - massive AoE + still good single target that isn't gimped.

Ice Melee - If you ever wanted to try it, it is the best on stalker (the assassin strike is much better than the greater ice sword it replaces).  

 

I'm enjoying DM/SR right now, but probably nothing extra special about that one on stalker.  I actually kind of enjoy not having to constantly cast soul drain with it like my scrapper does, but that's more a personal preference.

 

Also don't judge stalkers too much until you get the two stalker ATO procs, they are game changers.

 

Edit: Also forgot about street justice, not tried it myself but another set I've heard is best on stalkers compared to other AT's.

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by Riverdusk

[Redlynne]

 

Er ... I mean ... Huntsman ...?

[Fan Mail]

You wouldn't be let down with an Electric Melee/Shield Stalker.

[biostem]

12 minutes ago, Riverdusk said:

Also don't judge stalkers too much until you get the two stalker ATO procs, they are game changers.

The thing is, if a character doesn't interest me very early on, then I'm not gonna stick with them.  I'm not doubting that they can do amazing things, but I need a character that I find fun to play pretty much throughout their entire career...

[Riverdusk]

7 minutes ago, biostem said:

The thing is, if a character doesn't interest me very early on, then I'm not gonna stick with them.  I'm not doubting that they can do amazing things, but I need a character that I find fun to play pretty much throughout their entire career...

Well, you can have them by level 7....if you have the influence of course.

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Riverdusk said:

Well, you can have them by level 7....if you have the influence of course.

Oh?  I'm assuming through the AH?  I was running TFs on a MM of mine to earn merits for hers, so I didn't know you could just get them elsewhere...

[Riverdusk]

Yep, on AH.  IIRC bought mine for around 7 or 8 million each.  And actually looking at them in game looks like minimum level might be 10 (I guess maybe they don't let you use them at -3 to their lowest level like other IO's do), but still not bad. 

[MunkiLord]

22 minutes ago, biostem said:

Oh?  I'm assuming through the AH?  I was running TFs on a MM of mine to earn merits for hers, so I didn't know you could just get them elsewhere...

I think Incarnate salvage and reward merits are the only kind of loot you can't get on the AH.

[Heraclea]

Right now I am heartily enjoying a blaster build that I thought would be quite scarce, but according to the March data enjoys middling popularity: Ice/Plants.  Made it to claim the joke name 'Ice Minstrel'.   With three ranged holds and Vines, this is the safest blaster I can remember playing.  Have felt no need to take any melee attacks from the secondary.  AoE is a bit lackluster before the t9 but looks like there is a lot of possibility to slot exotic procs.  Has invisibility, recall, and hasten; full up on pool powers instead of melee attacks. 

[EmmySky]

I agree with the suggestion of dual pistols martial combat blaster...pure fun...pew pew kick you in the face!

 

Also suggest fire/ice sentinel.  Damage is a little lower but super fun and very strong...mine was soloing Frostfire at like 7 or 8 and kept getting better.

[Without_Pause]

1 hour ago, Riverdusk said:

Edit: Also forgot about street justice, not tried it myself but another set I've heard is best on stalkers compared to other AT's.

 

 

One of the most fun rides to 50 was my StJ/ea stalker,

[Grouchybeast]

Yes, Dual Pistols/Martial Combat is crazy amounts of fun!  I don't know how well it performs against other sets, but I also don't care because the animations are so enjoyable.  I never get tired of kicking mobs into the distance and shooting them while they're still mid-air.  Burst of Speed + Hail of Bullets is a perfect combination, and the PBAoE slow in Martial Combat adds an extra dollop of awesomesauce.  I love watching mobs flail slowly around me while I pick them off and ponder which of my fine selection of AoEs to deploy when the survivors finally arrive.

[Call Me Awesome]

2 hours ago, Fan Mail said:

You wouldn't be let down with an Electric Melee/Shield Stalker.

This is absolutely correct.  It's decent early and matures into a monster with utterly massive AOE and decent ST damage coupled with great durability.  All the ATO sets are nice but they're a nice addition rather than the cornerstone the character's built around.

 

Mine is capable of clearing one of the asteroid maps at x8 in around 5 minutes, it's equally good on teams running most anything.  I found the character quite effective from the mid teens on through incarnate trials.

 

Every Stalker I've played plays like a Scrapper who gets to choose the moment combat starts.  Once you fire off your Alpha strike just pretend you're a Scrapper and kill them all.  You're as durable as a Scrapper and you have about the same damage output.

[PartyKake]

This is Hornet Stinger, one of the most fun characters I ever played.

 

She's dark miasma/ dual pistols, And a defender. Her damage is terrible, but the animations of dual pistols combined with ninja run, and her awesome outfit (Vigilante version pictured) made her a blast to play.

 

Action pose.

 

When I first played her on live she was nonstop fun until around level 22 or so, when I hit the brick wall of "You're a defender, go play in a group, dammit!" and I decided to go vigilante, and fixed her up a costume for that that changed her look. That made the whole game that much more fun.

 

If you get the chance, dual pistols are loads of fun (but don't expect to be doing all that much damage!)

bonus pic

[Snarky]

petless mm