Looking for input on build choices

[newguy]

As a new player, I’ve been advised that when creating a hero, I should pick a theme I like and build around that,  instead of worrying about the “best” powers and builds.   SO…with that in mind, I think I’ve found a build/theme that I can get excited about.   If you’ve ever played Dark Age of Camelot, think of the Thane class from Midgard…or perhaps the Marvel hero Thor…..melee plus lightning!  So I’m going with Staff/Electric Armor—kind of a martial arts Thor.  

 

I tried exporting the build from Mid's Hero Builder and couldn't get it to work right (probably my own ignorance), so I'll just describe it.  I took all powers from Staff, and all powers from Electric Armor except the last two (Power Sink and Power Surge).  I took Kick, Tough, and Weave from Fighting...then Super Jump and Combat Jumping from Leaping....then Assault from Leadership.   For my epic pool, I took Electric Fences and Ball Lightning from Mu Mastery.  Also, there are no enhancements...just my power choices.

 

Anyway, I’m asking for a little clarification/input on some areas...

1.  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having a Tanker with Assault instead of Maneuvers?

2.  I took my epic pool choices simply because I love AoE and having some lightning offense...so yes, just for my own enjoyment.  (No, I’m not focusing on farming.)  Would it be wiser for me to give these up and take the endo/regen powers from Energy mastery instead?

3.  I’m not 100% sure on the AT…I may go with Brute.  (I like the idea of plunging in and getting in enemies' faces and inviting them to "bring it!!!!", but I don't enjoy the responsibility of having to look around taunting foes...just being honest.)   Anyway, if I go with Brute, I would give up Taunt and Mercurial Blow and take Maneuvers (for the extra def) and Spring Attack (just because it sounds fun…and more AoE!).  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having this Brute in your group?

4.  With either AT (especially with the Brute) do you forsee me having endo management problems?  I’m asking mainly because I have no idea how easy/hard it will be to get all those high-end sets that give all those fancy bonuses, so I’m guessing I may be stuck with IO’s for a quite a while.  Is there maybe something else I can do to help this that I'm not thinking of?

Any other thought, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome!

 

[Ironblade]

1.  Personally, I don't take any leadership pool on tanks because they get lesser effects than controllers, corruptors, defenders - UNLESS it's a defense based armor set OR I want to mule a Luck of the Gambler +recharge.  Taking Assault or Maneuvers on your tank, in my opinion, would be a wasted power.  Your armor doesn't give defense, so the tiny bit Maneuvers gives is pretty much useless or a tank or brute.  A tank is not focused on damage so Assault adds on from a low starting point.  I think it makes more sense on a brute.  My main scrapper and my only brute both have Assault.

In a team context, I would have no opinion one way or the other on such a minor build decision on someone else's character. 

 

2.  Take whatever epic pool you want unless you are having endurance issues.  So, play the character and, once you get to level 35-40 or so, you'll know if you need to worry about endurance.  When I get to around level 35, I start slotting IO's and decide how I'm going to address endurance issues (if the character has them).

 

3.  A brute is a brute.  Unless they are offering to tank, I don't give a second thought to their power sets.  I view them as DPS.  Go nuts.

 

4.  You don't need "high-end sets" for fancy bonuses.  The EASIEST (and cheapest) features to build for are +regen and +recovery because, in any set that offers them, they are usually (always?) the first bonus.  I built a tank with over 300% regen CHEAP.  You can just as easily focus on recovery.

 

And I wouldn't expect you to have any troubles with endurance.  Electric Armor gives you two powers to help with end usage and recovery - assuming we ignore Power Surge, which you said you're not taking.  However, you might want to reconsider Power Sink - BUT I would wait until you're in the 40's and then decide if you need it or not.

 

 

So, general comments:

- Probably don't pick a tank for your first character.  I think you'll be disappointed by the damage output.  Brutes are fun.

- A lot of IO sets are shockingly cheap.  And, yes, some are very very expensive to a new player.

- Electric Armor is a fine set.  I took an electric/electric tank to 50.

- Staff is fun and has some cool animations.  I took an invulnerability/staff tank to 50.

- Going back and looking at your post, ditch Weave.  Same reasoning as Maneuvers - your armor set starts with zero defense so Weave and Maneuvers are a waste.

 

And, last comment: By the time you get into the 30's, you'll know from personal experience where the build has problems, if any.  You'll know what works and what doesn't for you and your play style.  At that point, come back with more questions.  You'll have a better understanding of what to discuss and people can offer more detailed advice.  And I'm not saying don't come back for advice before then.  Come back with any questions, any time, please.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Ironblade

[newguy]

15 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

- Going back and looking at your post, ditch Weave.  Same reasoning as Maneuvers - your armor set starts with zero defense so Weave and Maneuvers are a waste.

 

 

This statement, to me, is both liberating...and surprising.  So...if my armor set is built only around resists, then I should ignore defense altogether???

I'm fine with this...would love to drop Maneuvers and Weave and save that endo cost.....but I've seen so many builds (with resist-based armor) that take one or both of these...and have read where people have recommended a good mix, or good balance, of both resists AND defense.   Is this just a difference of opinion among different players....or am I missing something?

 

By the way, thank you for all the useful tips/info!!!!!!

Edited December 10, 2020 by newguy

[fitzsimmons]

I build almost all of my toons for defense.  For my Electric armor it’s Melee and S/L defenses.

[newguy]

44 minutes ago, fitzsimmons said:

I build almost all of my toons for defense.  For my Electric armor it’s Melee and S/L defenses.

But if building for defense is your goal, why would you ever choose electric armor?   Not trying to argue...just trying to understand the whole defense-resist picture better.  

[ScrewlooseCohh]

1 hour ago, newguy said:

But if building for defense is your goal, why would you ever choose electric armor?   Not trying to argue...just trying to understand the whole defense-resist picture better.  

There are two levels of build perfection here.

First you should maximise the output of the defensive powers that you have by slotting them and enhancing them well.

Then there is another layer of threat mitigation that you can get from IO Set bonuses.  This can help you max out what you already have (Resistance or Defence) and can add threat mitigation that your defensive powerset was never meant to have.

Adding 20% Melee Defense to a melee character that gets none from it's defensive powerset makes a whole lot of difference.

regards, Screwloose

"I am not young enough to know everything."

 

[PyrioldFarm]

On a resist set like elec/ a few points of defense wont make a noticable difference, especially because you can't have debuff resistance for -def, and a lot of foes throw that around. This can change when you can afford a lot of +defense things (mainly IO boni and a few pool powers). At the point where those debuffers will miss most of the time, the defense will help most of the time. So for a god mode tank, yes, get those defense boni. But to build up a resist tank they are mainly useless.

[nihilii]

I strongly disagree with some of the advice ITT.

 

Mitigation is multiplicative with different mechanics. Stacking defense on a resistance-based set helps tremendously. Yes, you will get defense debuffed often. The thing is, you will also get defense debuffed without defense - even faster! There is a common misconception with defense, namely the idea that if you have no defense, enemies hit you all the time. But this isn't true. You're often worse off without defense than with defense, because enemies don't start at 95% chance to hit you. Furthermore, your defense determines the effective floor once defense debuffed all the way into negative values. It's easier to use, say, Barrier or inspirations reactively if you start from -30% def than if you start from -50% def.

And on that topic, Barrier and luck insps are a thing. So are teammates. If you start from ~20% def to all, which is trivial on a Tanker (Weave/Maneuvers/Combat Jumping, Steadfast and Glad unique), you only need 2 small lucks or 1 medium one to softcap, and your mitigation improves tremendously. If a teammate has bubbles or Farsight and bumps you from 20% to 40%, it's going to matter so much more than if he bumped you from 0% to 20%.

 

Also... We are talking about Staff. Staff has Guarded Spin. Guarded Spin is a +DEF divine avalanche like power, and stacks extremely well with other sources of melee defense.

 

On Assault vs Maneuvers, or Leadership in general. Assault is great. Maneuvers is great. All of Leadership is great on Tankers. Tankers got their Leadership values buffed back in the Tanker buff earlier this year. Get one, get both, get both and Tactics, it is all up to you but there is no wrong choice here. Personally, I would never build a Tanker without Leadership. The values are worth it on a solo build, and they're especially worth it buffing your entire team and your pets.

Tanker is IMHO superior to Brute overall in the current balance. You get 2-3x the mitigation of a Brute, while dealing 85-90% of the damage.

I would be fine with either the Tanker or the Brute in your OP, and I think most people would. I think the Tanker would be objectively stronger as you build it (Spring Attack is fun but it isn't a great power). But really, either choice is fun.

[tidge]

I just wanted to quote a key piece of information:

4 hours ago, nihilii said:

On Assault vs Maneuvers, or Leadership in general. Assault is great. Maneuvers is great. All of Leadership is great on Tankers. Tankers got their Leadership values buffed back in the Tanker buff earlier this year. Get one, get both, get both and Tactics, it is all up to you but there is no wrong choice here. Personally, I would never build a Tanker without Leadership. The values are worth it on a solo build, and they're especially worth it buffing your entire team and your pets.

I used to avoid the Leadership pool on Tankers, but with the Homecoming buffs for Tankers it is now a very worthwhile investment. If you intend to be a team-based Tanker, I would go so far to say that the Leadership pool will be more useful for the team (boosts) than the Fighting pool's self-boosts. (Yes, I am aware of how Tankers use the Fighting Pool to address 'holes' and close certain 'gaps'... but I'm specifically thinking about teams which include others players an ATs that look out for each other and don't a priori want/need the 'toughest' solo tank for the team)

 

[Greycat]

10 hours ago, newguy said:

Anyway, I’m asking for a little clarification/input on some areas...

1.  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having a Tanker with Assault instead of Maneuvers?

2.  I took my epic pool choices simply because I love AoE and having some lightning offense...so yes, just for my own enjoyment.  (No, I’m not focusing on farming.)  Would it be wiser for me to give these up and take the endo/regen powers from Energy mastery instead?

3.  I’m not 100% sure on the AT…I may go with Brute.  (I like the idea of plunging in and getting in enemies' faces and inviting them to "bring it!!!!", but I don't enjoy the responsibility of having to look around taunting foes...just being honest.)   Anyway, if I go with Brute, I would give up Taunt and Mercurial Blow and take Maneuvers (for the extra def) and Spring Attack (just because it sounds fun…and more AoE!).  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having this Brute in your group?

4.  With either AT (especially with the Brute) do you forsee me having endo management problems?  I’m asking mainly because I have no idea how easy/hard it will be to get all those high-end sets that give all those fancy bonuses, so I’m guessing I may be stuck with IO’s for a quite a while.  Is there maybe something else I can do to help this that I'm not thinking of

1. Are you tanking all right? Then I don't care if you have either or both of these or not.

2. Are you having fun? Take what's letting you have fun. Tank stuff.

3. Are you having fun? Take what's letting you have fun. Punch stuff. Not sure which to take? You have 1000 slots. Make both. Welcome to the alt side.

4. Probably not.

[BZRKR]

With regards to leadership on Tanker/Brute/Scrapper/Etc:

 

Most of the armor sets have Mez types that they do not protect against.

IF you find that you have room in your build, some leadership toggles will help cover these (from the hcwiki):

 

Assault    Toggle PBAoE Team +DMG Res(Taunt, Placate)
Tactics    Toggle PBAoE Team +ACC Res(Confuse, Fear) +Perception

 

Sure they may be edge cases, and it's sometimes fun as a Tanker to get confused 🙂 but don't dismiss Assault and Tactics without considering everything they offer.

 

[fitzsimmons]

8 hours ago, newguy said:

But if building for defense is your goal, why would you ever choose electric armor?   Not trying to argue...just trying to understand the whole defense-resist picture better.  

On almost all of my toons, across all archetypes, +defense is typically one of my priorities.  Whether it's a couple of types (s/l/e/R), almost all of the types or positional (R/M/A).

 

S/L/E/Ranged is pretty common and relatively affordable on the non-melee types because of the boost you can get from a power like Scorpion Shield.  This is just an example.  However if you have a toon that runs something like shadowfall or arctic fog, you can possibly go for positionals instead.

 

Lots of builds available on the forums, I think more often than not, +defense is sought after, as close to 45% as possible without sacrificing too much.  It certainly is for me.

 

Here is the Electric Armor build I went with.  I don't play him a lot but he's fun.  I mis-remembered his defense status.  He's 35 to S/L and softcapped to Melee.  Looking at the build, I see a few changes I'd make pretty quickly but it's an older toon so I'll explain it away with that :).

 

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Regards,
Dave

Edited December 10, 2020 by fitzsimmons

[KC4800]

A rule of thumb I use on Weave and Maneuvers on a resistance based character:

 

If your powers take way too long to recharge, or you have one or 2 key powers with extremely long recharge times that you feel you would like to use every encounter, or every other encounter, then perhaps Weave and/or Maneuvers is warranted just to mule a Luck of the Gambler +Recharge in.

 

You don't need to even run these powers for the LotG +Rech to have an effect. You can pretend you don't have them, remove them from your power tray.

 

Since LotG only slots into powers that enhance defense, a resistance based character has no place to put them unless they take these otherwise useless powers.

FYI, Combat Jumping and Hover can also be used this way.  Your resistance electric armor could theoretically add 30% boost to recharge of all your powers by using these 4 powers, and never using them so they don't waste endurance for really no gain. Only you can decide if this is important to you.

[Yomo Kimyata]

1.  In general, I don't pay any attention to what powers anyone has on my team, especially not pool powers.  Have at it!  In general, I feel that your powers are your own to choose, with few exceptions.*

2.  Nerp.  Theme trumps everything except possibly endurance management, and probably not that either.

3.  I feel great about it!  See point 1.  But here is where the asterisk shows up.  Unless I am told otherwise, I am always going to assume that a tank has taunt and will use it.  I make no such assumptions from a brute.

4.  I've played a lot with staff and a little with elec armor and I think you'll be ok with endurance management.  Elec armor has two powers that help, IIRC, and they will come quicker on a tank than on a brute.  Also, Form of the Soul with staff gives recovery boost if you need it (at the tradeoff of losing some extra damage with Form of the Body.)  

 

[Ghost]

1. as long as the Tank is participating, Im happy to team with him/her - doesnt matter to me the build or look

 

[Ironblade]

14 hours ago, newguy said:

.but I've seen so many builds (with resist-based armor) that take one or both of these...and have read where people have recommended a good mix, or good balance, of both resists AND defense.   Is this just a difference of opinion among different players....or am I missing something?

 

13 hours ago, fitzsimmons said:

I build almost all of my toons for defense.  For my Electric armor it’s Melee and S/L defenses.

 

It's not that you're missing anything or that anyone is wrong.  A lot of people will build for defense and you can get really effective levels of defense on characters that start with none.

*BUT* it's expensive.  Building for +regen or +recovery is pretty easy and cheap.  Building for defense is neither of these things.  And, IN MY OPINION, building for defense when you start with none means giving up too much.  Instead of defense, I could build a DPS character for massive recharge and the recovery to support it.  If I'm building a resist tank, I'll focus on +regen and +HP rather than defense.  This is just a question of personal preference.

[fitzsimmons]

2 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

 

 

It's not that you're missing anything or that anyone is wrong.  A lot of people will build for defense and you can get really effective levels of defense on characters that start with none.

*BUT* it's expensive.  Building for +regen or +recovery is pretty easy and cheap.  Building for defense is neither of these things.  And, IN MY OPINION, building for defense when you start with none means giving up too much.  Instead of defense, I could build a DPS character for massive recharge and the recovery to support it.  If I'm building a resist tank, I'll focus on +regen and +HP rather than defense.  This is just a question of personal preference.

Yep, you nailed it.  It's personal preference.  My blasters are typically softcapped to all defense types except psi and negative and with negative they're a small luck away.  It sure ain't cheap but it's fun however when you do get hit, it hurts like heck!

[newguy]

2 hours ago, Ironblade said:

 

 

It's not that you're missing anything or that anyone is wrong.  A lot of people will build for defense and you can get really effective levels of defense on characters that start with none.

*BUT* it's expensive.  Building for +regen or +recovery is pretty easy and cheap.  Building for defense is neither of these things.  And, IN MY OPINION, building for defense when you start with none means giving up too much.  Instead of defense, I could build a DPS character for massive recharge and the recovery to support it.  If I'm building a resist tank, I'll focus on +regen and +HP rather than defense.  This is just a question of personal preference.

This is super helpful, and I have a much clearer picture, thanks to this and all the input on this thread...so much appreciated!  

 

I( probably won't have the wealth to pursue any expensive build, so maybe I should focus on the resist path.  However, I can't help but think that the small amount of defense I'd get from maneuvers + weave would still be better than no def at all, especially if there's no other power I'm really craving in place of them.

 

Thanks all!

[Saikochoro]

On 12/9/2020 at 6:59 PM, newguy said:

As a new player, I’ve been advised that when creating a hero, I should pick a theme I like and build around that,  instead of worrying about the “best” powers and builds.   SO…with that in mind, I think I’ve found a build/theme that I can get excited about.   If you’ve ever played Dark Age of Camelot, think of the Thane class from Midgard…or perhaps the Marvel hero Thor…..melee plus lightning!  So I’m going with Staff/Electric Armor—kind of a martial arts Thor.  

 

I tried exporting the build from Mid's Hero Builder and couldn't get it to work right (probably my own ignorance), so I'll just describe it.  I took all powers from Staff, and all powers from Electric Armor except the last two (Power Sink and Power Surge).  I took Kick, Tough, and Weave from Fighting...then Super Jump and Combat Jumping from Leaping....then Assault from Leadership.   For my epic pool, I took Electric Fences and Ball Lightning from Mu Mastery.  Also, there are no enhancements...just my power choices.

 

Anyway, I’m asking for a little clarification/input on some areas...

1.  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having a Tanker with Assault instead of Maneuvers?

2.  I took my epic pool choices simply because I love AoE and having some lightning offense...so yes, just for my own enjoyment.  (No, I’m not focusing on farming.)  Would it be wiser for me to give these up and take the endo/regen powers from Energy mastery instead?

3.  I’m not 100% sure on the AT…I may go with Brute.  (I like the idea of plunging in and getting in enemies' faces and inviting them to "bring it!!!!", but I don't enjoy the responsibility of having to look around taunting foes...just being honest.)   Anyway, if I go with Brute, I would give up Taunt and Mercurial Blow and take Maneuvers (for the extra def) and Spring Attack (just because it sounds fun…and more AoE!).  If you’re leading a group, how do you feel about having this Brute in your group?

4.  With either AT (especially with the Brute) do you forsee me having endo management problems?  I’m asking mainly because I have no idea how easy/hard it will be to get all those high-end sets that give all those fancy bonuses, so I’m guessing I may be stuck with IO’s for a quite a while.  Is there maybe something else I can do to help this that I'm not thinking of?

Any other thought, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome!

 

1. I never pay head to what leadership powers, if any, the team leader is using. On any given team, there is more likely than not going to be some leadership toggles going. I don’t really think you need to worry about people questioning your leadership power pick choices. 

2. Go with whatever epic primary most interests you. You might consider a patron epic pool instead. Hop over to red side, complete the arc and you gain access to the patron pools. Mu mastery is a popular pick that features lightning attacks some of which are aoe (ball lightning and electrified fences).  
 

3. Brute vs tanker choice is purely up to you. Both do perfectly fine in pretty much all content. Tanker will be tougher and brutes will do more damage. But the variances aren’t as great as some make them out to be. Tankers still do great damage and brutes can still be built super tough. 
 

4.  For endurance woes, you have energize to help a lot with any endurance issues. I’d also look to slotting the endurance proc IOs (numinas regen/Rec, performance shifter +end, miracle + rec, panacea +hp/end) before turning to power picks.

 

Now, to chime in on the discussion of chasing defense on resist based toons. I disagree entirely that weave and maneuvers are wasted power picks, especially on armors that have no native defense. Defense as a whole is probably the best source of mitigation. So even having only some defense is much better than none. The only time I skip the leadership pool is if I don’t need maneuvers to fit in all 5 LOTG + rech and/or don’t need it to reach defense softcaps. Otherwise I always take it because it is one of the most valuable pool picks.
 

On my resistance based armors I take and a lot weave and maneuvers and get both +def global IOs at a minimum. With other general slotting you will likely accumulate some additional s/l/m defenses as a by product of various sets often chosen for melee, pbaoe, and resist sets.  It would be surprising to not have over 20% defense to those categories and is pretty easy to get to 40% or even softcap to either s/l or melee defense on resistance based armors.  I personally shoot for 32.5% s/l or melee defense on my resistance armors. That puts me a small purple away from softcap. The difference in mitigation is certainly noticeable. 
 

That said, if you don’t want to chase defense that is perfectly fine. You will still do fine. But, depending on your budget, you may find that you want to take weave/maneuvers if for no other reason than to use for LOTG + rech. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Saikochoro

[fitzsimmons]

15 hours ago, fitzsimmons said:

Here is the Electric Armor build I went with.  I don't play him a lot but he's fun.  I mis-remembered his defense status.  He's 35 to S/L and softcapped to Melee.  Looking at the build, I see a few changes I'd make pretty quickly but it's an older toon so I'll explain it away with that :).

 

Regards,
Dave

I just did a re-work of this guy (nrg/elec brute).  Brought S/L up to near softcap now at the cost of S/L resists (down to 65% from 89%) and it's a much more expensive build now.  3 layers:

 

- Decent enough resists

- Some regen 35.99 HP/s with Energize running, 22 without

- Melee and S/L softcapped defenses

- MOAR DAMAGE and MOAR RECHARGE!

- Fixed the accolade selection choices.  Tempted to go with musculature instead of agility, meh.

 

I think I'll go with it.

 

At the end of the day, enjoy whatever you decide.  There's no wrong choice as long as you enjoy it.

 

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|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Xeres]

I made a TW/Elec Armor brute.  I did take power sink as TW is pretty end heavy and no end is a big problem for everyone.  I also built it to be a resist tank with a very large emphasis on Fire / Cold resist as capping smashing / lethal and energy resist is simple with Elec, and defensive sets have some nice resist bonuses.  So I have weave and maneuvers six slotted.  You may notice, resist set bonuses are mostly defensive, and defensive set bonuses are usually resist.

 

Here is a link to my build:

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Snarky]

You are on the right track picking a concept you enjoy and building to that.  The opposite extreme is building a Fire Farmer that micro examines every game mechanic and attempts to use only the most perfect build/rotation/macros

 

Finding who you want to run and enjoying that will be a reward in its own.  I fell in love with a Dark/Dark I had parked after someone asked me how they ran.  I jumped into a farm ands impressed myself lol.  Then i ran it as a a main for months. I recentl;y started a new dark/dark and ran the entire redside contact list with it.  When I got to 50 (yesterday) I discussed in Brute Forums builds.  Turns out my build I ran for months wassnt really optimal.  Neither is the one I "upgraded" to i am sure.  But they are fun.  

 

Fun is the best thing to have.  Pick what you like, learn a little, tweak, play it and love it.

[newguy]

On 12/10/2020 at 7:36 PM, Saikochoro said:

2. Go with whatever epic primary most interests you. You might consider a patron epic pool instead. Hop over to red side, complete the arc and you gain access to the patron pools. Mu mastery is a popular pick that features lightning attacks some of which are aoe (ball lightning and electrified fences).  

I actually mentioned in my OP that these were the epic pool choices I was leaning towards..from Mu Mastery.  However, If I understand your advice correctly, you're saying that even though these show up as options on Mid's, I really don't  have them as options UNLESS I complete a certain story arc on the villain side?

 

Is this arc that I need to complete really huge?

[EmmySky]

They are like 5 or 6 missions....not long at all.  Doing one patron arc opens all the choices for all the patrons.  

[Saikochoro]

5 hours ago, newguy said:

I actually mentioned in my OP that these were the epic pool choices I was leaning towards..from Mu Mastery.  However, If I understand your advice correctly, you're saying that even though these show up as options on Mid's, I really don't  have them as options UNLESS I complete a certain story arc on the villain side?

 

Is this arc that I need to complete really huge?

Yes, you have to switch over to villains to complete the arc. I think once you are level 35 and switch over using null the gull in pocket d, Arbiter Rein will automatically be unlocked as a contact.
 

Go talk to him in grandville and he will give you 4 contacts to choose from. It’s doesn’t really matter which one you choose as completing the first set of missions on any of them will unlock all the patron pools. I always choose black scorpion as I feel his patron arc is the quickest. As @EmmySkymentioned, it is only 5-6 missions with the last one being an EB/AV.  Usually takes me 20-30 minutes at the most to unlock. 
 

You can then use null the gull to switch back to heroes and leave your life of crime behind you. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Saikochoro