The Invaders... sort of.

[Ultimo]

So, I'm tinkering now with the third member of my variation on the Invaders.  I know, they're all my own characters so they'll never actually get to team up (except in AE missions), but I like doing this kind of thing.

My version of Captain America is the Stalwart Star, a Shield/Martial Arts Tanker (and boy, he's tough as nails, but uses a LOT of endurance).

My version of Namor is the Sealord, a Water Blast/Willpower Sentinel.  He's still pretty new, so getting better.  Not as durable as I'd like, but such is life.

My version of the Human Torch is the Incendiary Man... but I'm debating with myself just which class to make him, and I thought I'd poll the audience.

 

My first thought was to make him a Dominator, Fire Control and Fiery Assault, but I've been debating making him a Sentinel because I find the Dominator REALLY squishy.  However, that would give my "team" two Sentinels, and that just kind of rubs the wrong way.  What do you guys think?  Am I missing an option?

[Omega Force]

A dom is probably closest to how Johnny Storm actually fights, but you could go with a Fire/Thermal/Fire controller.  That would give the other two heals, better resistance, and more damage.

[Ultimo]

Ya, I'm still hanging onto him as a Dominator...  I can drop in the Fighting pool to boost his defenses some... but we'll see.

[Ultimo]

Here's a first pass...

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Incendiary Man: Level 50 Magic Dominator
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Assault
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Char -- EndRdx(A), Acc(33), Dmg(34), Dmg(34), Dmg(43)
Level 1: Flares -- EndRdx(A), Acc(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(34), Dmg(43)
Level 2: Fire Cages -- EndRdx(A), Acc(9), Dmg(9), Dmg(36), Dmg(46)
Level 4: Fly -- Flight(A)
Level 6: Hover -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(7), DefBuff(7)
Level 8: Boxing -- EndRdx(A)
Level 10: Fire Blast -- EndRdx(A), Acc(11), Dmg(11), Dmg(37), Dmg(46)
Level 12: Flashfire -- EndRdx(A), Acc(13), Dmg(13), Dmg(37), Dmg(46)
Level 14: Tough -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(15), ResDam(15), ResDam(31)
Level 16: Weave -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(17), DefBuff(17), DefBuff(31)
Level 18: Afterburner -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(19), EndRdx(40), EndRdx(40), EndRdx(43)
Level 20: Combustion -- EndRdx(A), Acc(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(37)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(23), DefBuff(23), DefBuff(29)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(29)
Level 26: Bonfire -- EndRdx(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(27)
Level 28: Consume -- RechRdx(A)
Level 30: Cinders -- EndRdx(A), Acc(31)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- EndRdx(A)
Level 35: Fire Ball -- EndRdx(A), Acc(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(39), Dmg(50)
Level 38: Blazing Bolt -- EndRdx(A), Acc(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(40), Dmg(50)
Level 41: Fire Shield -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(42), ResDam(42), ResDam(42)
Level 44: Blaze -- EndRdx(A), Acc(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(50)
Level 47: Rain of Fire -- EndRdx(A), Acc(48), Dmg(48), Dmg(48)
Level 49: Embrace of Fire -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 1: Quick Form
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Jump(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(5), Heal(5)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(3), EndMod(3)
------------

 

 

[Ultimo]

So, wow.  Been playing him a while now, he's only around L18... and BOY is he a lot of trouble to play.  I have another Dominator, Psi-Psi with some Stealth... and he's FINE.  Incendiary Man by comparison is HORRIBLE.  He can't hit a barn, even fully slotted for accuracy, and he's gasping for breath after defeating ONE on-level minion.  You'll notice he doesn't have Hotfeet, because it costs too much endurance to run... though he does use Weave most of the time.

 

Is it my imagination, or do fire powers use a disproportionate amount of endurance and are they more inaccurate?

 

Moreover, the "control" powers don't actually do anything to protect the character.  Foes in Fire Cages can still attack.  Char does help a bit, but Flashfires seems incapable of hitting anything, and when it DOES hit, it only disorients enemies for about 1-2 seconds, which is trivial.

 

Am I missing something?

[BlackenBlue71]

I've got a Dark/Regen Sentinel who can't hit a barn half the time. Despite his accuracy enhancers all being green. 

 

Darkness and Fire both use more endurance AND have more accuracy than they should on certain ATs. Fire as a secondary on a Dominator and Dark as a primary on a Sentinel both give me fits as far as accuracy is concerned. They both miss a lot more than my other ATs. I suspect the only reason I don't have Endurance issues on the Sentinel is because his secondary is Regeneration. The Dominator doesn't have any Endurance issues from Fire, just Accuracy.

 

How's the Sentinel working out? I have a Water/Ninja one, but she's only lvl 12ish.

 

 

[Ultimo]

My Sentinel (Sealord) is actually a lot of fun.  I'm playing him as kind of a Scrapper with ranged attacks for support.  Lay the water debuffs, melee for single targets, water for AOE.  It's been kind of a blast, and he's actually fairly durable with Willpower.

[Ultimo]

So I think I'm giving up on the Dominator version of the character.

 

He does pathetic damage... when he hits things, which is rare.  He's squishy as heck, can't do damage and isn't protected by his controls... so what good is he?

 

I considered the Controller, Fire Control and Thermal... but it just didn't quite seem in character.

I considered the Tanker, Fire Aura and Fire Melee... but that's not in character either.

I considered the Sentinel, Fire Blast and Fire Aura... but I already have so many Sentinels, I wanted something different.

 

So, I went to the Blaster.  BOY I'd forgotten how squishy Blasters are... but at least he can DO damage.  The Dominator wasn't any more durable, but couldn't do any damage either.

 

What do you guys think...?  How would you arrange a Human Torch-type character as a Blaster... or would you do something else I've not considered?

[Doomguide2005]

Are you doing SO's only, or only if you decide you like the character and at 50?  What difficulty are you trying to run on?

 

If just running SO's I would slot less for damage in your cc powers.  In particular I would slot your mez powers for their mez effects, let your Assault powers do the damage.  I'd  consider 2 acc, 2 endred, 2 mez to help with endurance usage and acc issues.  You could go 1 acc if fighting even level mobs of if 1) slot a Kismet +6% or run Tactics (single slot with 1 endred). Yes that's a toggle on top of end woes but hopefully 2 endred per power will have you come out ahead overall.  Slots can come from Hover and Combat Jumping, adding to their defense isn't really helping much, especially the 3rd defense SO, ED/diminishing returns will make that added defense tiny.

 

If IO's aren't completely off the table slot a Perf Shifter +end for the 3rd slot in Stamina.  Again ED makes this a better choice.  And slot a Miracle and Numina's uniques in Health (the equivalent of adding another unenhanced Stamina to the build).

 

Edit: assuming of course the Dom version hasn't been deleted.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Doomguide2005

[Ultimo]

I usually build characters in Mids using just SOs (in part because it creates a more generic, simpler result that's consistent across characters, in part because I generally can't afford anything fancy).  I usually play at more or less standard difficulty.  For some characters, I'll increase the number of foes, but decrease the effective level (so it should be about the same difficulty, but with more foes to beat up).

 

My Dominators do use the Assault powers for damage, but the damage the do is pretty anemic.  For my mez powers, at least at lower level, I'll usually slot 2 accuracy.  I rarely have less than 95% chance to hit (but still miss something like 8 of every 10 attacks).

 

A generous soul gifted me with four attuned Stamina Modification enhancements (Performance Shifter), but they simply don't help much.  I'd kind of like to transfer them to the Blaster, is that possible?

[Doomguide2005]

Yes if they are already placed either using unslotters or via a respec.

 

Then if either not placed or successfully unslotted use your email to move them to the character you wish to use them on.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Doomguide2005
Dumb autocorrect

[Ultimo]

9 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Yes if they are already placed either using unslotters or via a respec.

 

Then if either not placed or successfully unslotted use your email to move them to the character you wish to use them on.

Thanks, good info.

 

[ClawsandEffect]

For defense on squishier ATs I usually go villainside at 35 and open up the Patron pools for Scorpion Shield. It's really easy to softcap S/L/E defense with it with some effort, and using it alongside Weave and Combat Jumping nets decent defense on just SOs. 

 

I usually justify it as a double agent or undercover sort of thing. And I almost always run the Black Scorpion arc because the storyline involves something a hero would want to prevent from happening just as much as a villain. 

[Omega Force]

My badger went Redside undercover disguised as his evil twin.  Just grew a goatee, repainted his armor, and worked on his evil laugh (with the unwitting assistance of Vernon von Grun).