Just starting again need help with Water/SR leveling build

[Apok]

Hello fine people, I haven't played CoX in ... I don't remember. I just started here and have made a Water/SR and have no idea how to even remotely build it. I'm just looking to have fun, run whatever TF's and the likes to level up to 50 (by this point I should have a handle on what I'm doing). I just need some help on how to build for the journey, I still need to DL Mids but will be doing that right away. Any help and knowledge about the build and power combo would be very much appreciated. 

 

Thanks all !

[oldskool]

You've taken one of the easiest pairs you could.  Water Blast overall is a very solid set and you're not going to break it while leveling.  Same goes for Super Reflexes.  You get 1 respec per 10 levels (total 5).  So don't be scared to experiment.  You can type /respec in the chat window anywhere when you're out of combat to "fix" anything you may consider a mistake. 

 

Now, I'm going to suggest you plan to take everything from Water Blast, and most of Super Reflexes.  It may sound like a lot of powers, but you'll have more slots than you know what to do with.  

 

Without having a real budget or build agenda beyond "just have fun", I really don't see much point in making you feel like you should stress on powers.  Sure, Water Blast has powers you can potentially skip, but there are an awful lot of reasons why you'd do that.  There are also good arguments for why you shouldn't skip powers right now.  So instead of overwhelming you with nuance, let's keep it simple.  

 

Just plan to all the attacks in Water Blast + Tidal Forces.  This will ensure you will always have an attack at the ready since Aqua Bolt has a baseline 3 second recharge.  Quickness in Super Reflexes will reduce that by 20% without you doing anything to it at all.  Since you'll have a high number of attacks there is little reason to even consider taking Hasten from the Speed pool.  Hasten is widely popular for a lot of good reasons, but in this case you can potentially ignore it.  

 

Water Blast's entire draw (beyond nice visuals) is that its AoE damage is very good.  Water Burst, Whirlpool, and Steam Spray are your basically available AoE powers.  You could eventually drop one or more but for now... explore them.  Geyser is your capstone and strongest power.  I recommend you take it.  Tidal Forces is to-hit and damage buff.  It also immediately grants you full stacks of Tidal Focus, which is the combo-like mechanic of the set.  Take it.  You can keep the default slot if you want or expand it to total of 3.  Use recharge reductions in there to make it available more often, but don't worry about modifying the +to-hit effect.  You can, but really it isn't the most effective thing you could be doing. 

 

You don't need to max out the slots for all your attacks.  You could go very minimal on Aqua Bolt as it isn't a high priority power, but do try to get the others to at least a total of 5 slots.  Go for 1-2 accuracy, 2-3 damage, and perhaps 1 endurance reduction.  Recharge reductions are luxury perks for 6 slotted powers, and not that important when talking about a very barebones basic build.  

Super Reflexes, take everything with the possible exception of Elude.  At level 10 you'll have the option to take either Master Brawler or Practiced Brawler.  Master Brawler is the preferred choice to many players of Sentinel /SR, but this is pure preference.  Master Brawler pushes the mezz resistance to your toggle powers vs being an active click.  Master Brawler also grants an absorb shield which is just another health bar that depletes first.  

Super Reflexes doesn't require a lot of slots.  1 endurance reduction for the 3 toggles, and 3x defense enhancement in the same powers.  Dodge, Agile, Enduring, and Quickness are all passive.  Dodge/Agile should get no more than 3 slots with just general SO/IOs as they will cap the total enhancement easily.  Enduring should get 1 to 3 endurance modification.  It can take other enhancements, but for simplicity it functions like a more powerful version of Stamina (slot that a bit too for best results).  Quickness needs nothing.  Elude needs nothing but the base slot.  

 

With just generic even level SO's the above will get you 28% melee/range and 31% AoE.  With judicious use of purple inspirations you can temporarily get close to the 45% defense soft-cap on 1 small purple inspire.  The first purple defense inspires you start getting grant +12.5% defense to all.  So that converts your melee/range to 40%.  Dehydrate has a heal over time, and Master Brawler grants an absorb.  You should be fairly durable between all these things.  

Pool powers like Weave, Maneuvers, Hover, Combat Jumping, and Stealth can help fill the gap.  You can get into the upper 30% to just over 40% defenses using 4 of those powers that grant defense.  

Now, if you can save up a few million, then I'd suggest you look into the pricing on the Steadfast (that's the set's name) 3% defense to all unique IO.  You'll need a power like Tough to slot that in.  That IO will get you closer to the soft-cap when running all the other powers.  There is a second 3% defense to all, Gladiator's Armor, that is more expensive since it is a PvP set.  That can run between 10 to 15 million.  Getting both of these is a global 6% defense buff and can dramatically help streamlining power choices while hitting 45% defense.  

That's pretty much the barebones basics of it.   A more advanced build can get complex and there are a wide array of options on how to do that.  We can cross that bridge another time if you want or other posters can toss their 2 cents in. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by oldskool

[Apok]

I appreciate the in depth help on the build, I guess my only real questions after that would be travel power, Weave, Maneuvers, hover, combat jumping, stealth and tough should be enough info where to spend points beyond the primary/secondary.

[SwitchFade]

Removed.

Edited May 11, 2020 by SwitchFade

[oldskool]

18 minutes ago, Apok said:

I appreciate the in depth help on the build, I guess my only real questions after that would be travel power, Weave, Maneuvers, hover, combat jumping, stealth and tough should be enough info where to spend points beyond the primary/secondary.

I wrote more than I wanted.  😛 

 

It ended up feeling a disservice to you to say "it doesn't matter; honestly, it doesn't".  So I felt it necessary to give some basic ideas on where to go. 

 

On travel powers... 

 

Take whatever you like or skip it.  From the Pay-to-Win vendor you can get Ninja Run + Jump Pack + Sprint.  That's good enough to get around and its not that much slower than Fly but lacks the freedom of movement.  Its not as fast as Super Speed, Teleport, or Super Jump.  It also may not be as thematic.  

 

When I was writing the response I included Fly into the build I was imagining by dropping Elude.  So total powers were: 

 

9 out of 9 in Water Blaster

8 out of 9 in Super Reflexes

3 out of Fighting (Boxing or Kick... doesn't matter/Tough/Weave)

1 out of Leadership (Maneuvers)

2 out of Flight (Hover/Fly)

1 out of Leaping (Combat Jumping).

 

That's all 24 power slots accounted for.  You could swap Combat Jumping for Stealth if you want it.  You could drop Fly and pick up Elude.  You could not use any of those powers.  Totally up to you.  Have fun experimenting as you level and don't be afraid to respec.  I've used respecs more times than I care to track at this point. 

 

[Apok]

Pay to win vendor ?

[Caulderone]

13 hours ago, Apok said:

Pay to win vendor ?