Solo suggestions.

[tekmansam]

Still pretty new to the game.  After two boring/failed toons, I'm finally playing a fire/staff tanker and it's working out pretty well (30+.)  Judging by a lot of the missions I've had to do, I'm finding the idea of trying to solo anything but a tanker a bit daunting.  I'm not going to be starting a new toon any time soon, but I have already started to think about it.  I was wondering if anybody has thoughts on what does/doesn't work for soloing.  I'm not necessarily interested in what is most "meta" as I will play what seems fun and appealing, but if anyone knows of any sort of comprehensive guides on which archetypes/builds have proven high solo viability that would be appreciated.  I always enjoy a good read.  Or, if you just have thoughts or want to start a conversation in this thread, that's fine too.

[Ghost]

Welcome to the game!

What made you decide to go the solo route?

 

[Blackbird71]

I play primarily solo, and the only AT I've really struggled with is Controllers.  Most Controller builds do not work well solo, or at least not until they get to the upper levels.

 

Some Defenders have been difficult solo, depending on the power sets, but most do all right.

 

It's funny you mention Tankers as I personally don't care for them solo; if I'm going melee I'll do a Scrapper or Brute; maybe an occasional Stalker.

 

Blasters work fine solo; it just takes a little more practice to manage the mobs and stay alive.

 

Sentinels get a lot of hate, and they do need some balancing, but they can be fun solo.

 

Masterminds, Dominators, and Corruptors all work fine solo.

 

Kheldians (Peacebringers and Warshades) have bonuses in groups, but their versatility can make them strong solo.  However, I recommend waiting until you are more familiar with the mechanics of a few different ATs before taking on one of these.

 

I can't comment much on the VEATs (Arachnos Soldiers and Widows) as I haven't done as much with them.

[Snarky]

Welcome to the greatest game in this time stream!  

 

I solo a lot.  I have taken many Brutes and soloed all Redside.  I stop experience (Menu, options) at levels 5, 14, 19, etc to ensure I get every contact, every mission.  I thoroughly enjoy the Redside arcs.  I am currently doing this on a Blaster.  (See "Notes from Redside" conversation thread in General for a blow by blow.

 

Really hope you enjoy the experience.  

[Bill Z Bubba]

Thanks to the tank damage buff that occurred here recently definitely improved the solo ride for tanks, so I'm not at all surprised you're digging that fire/staff. Doesn't hurt that you're dishing out a lot of AoE from both sets.

 

On the topic of what's fun to solo, for me, it's anything with mez protection. Tanks, brutes, scrappers, stalkers, sentinels will all fit under that category, all have armor and all do enough damage to fly through missions at a good pace.

 

That's not to say the other archetypes can't also solo at decent clips but as things ramp up, getting mezzed  becomes such an annoyance to me that I'd rather just not bother with them.

 

My favorites to solo are my claws and super reflexes using tank, brute and scrapper, my fire/bio sentinel and my shield/nrg tank. I've got plenty of other alts but those are my goto combos.

[Dona Eis Requiem]

As a brand new player back in the day, (granny voice)  I was advised to make a scrapper first. 

It was a good choice because you'll survive more than a squishy, and do more damage than the tanky types.

(I won't go into how that may or may not be true later in the game because that's pretty irrelevant to someone just learning the ropes, imo)

 

 I had a lot of fun learning with that toon. Did I die a lot? Yep. Did I learn why I died? Yep! 

Point being, don't be upset if you die often.  That's just the game teaching you your limits/deficiencies  at any given time.

You'll get better as you sort out the finer points of playing any archetype you choose.

 

I hope you have a friend playing who can be an in-game mentor  or find an SG willing to help you learn. 

I play almost entirely solo these days  but I've also played CoH before.

I imagine it's a bit more difficult starting out now as all you see are the calls for SPEED SPEED SPEED.... IO's only... Incarnates Slotted only...

Don't be discouraged; there are people out there who will help ya.  The Help chat will always answer any question you have in-game.

If you want to venture out into teaming just say something like "New player LFT"  so folks will know you're prolly not going to want to steamroll through stuff.  

 

Happy hunting and welcome to the City!

 

 

 

[Dazl]

First of all, welcome home. Every AT can solo, some just not as well as others. Controllers might be the hardest, and when the game launched it was even harder on controllers until we got our pets. Defenders can be slow since they don’t put out tons of damage, but their power to heal, buff and de-buff makes it easier to survive. Sentinels are good solo characters for new players. They may not get the love in the post 50 game, but they are a good ride to 50. Brutes go without saying. One of my favorite solo characters is my Dark/Dark stalker. Tons of damage and I can stealth through certain parts of the mission if I want to.

 

It’s understandable why people solo given a limited amount of play time and other factors. However don’t miss out on one of the great strengths of this game, grouping. Given all the AT’s and different power sets, no team is ever the same and always an adventure.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Some questions about what you like to do:

 

1.  Do you want to be challenged and die occasionally, or would you rather rampage risklessly like a chainsaw through bamboo?

2.  Do you prefer to fight a small number of opponents that are tough, or large crowds of easy ones?

3.  You've tried melee.  Do you want to stick with that or try something ranged?

4.  Do you want to fight AVs solo, or would you prefer to fight EBs?

[TheOtherTed]

Nearly any powerset with "Dark" in the name solos well.  Attacks (both ranged and melee) often debuff your enemies' To-Hit, armor and defender sets include a powerful self-heal, and fear is always a good time - especially solo.  I'm at the point where I have to force myself not to play dark sets.  It's a real problem.

 

I'm also a fan of controllers - sure, the damage is low, but once I got into the mindset of controlling the fight and playing the attrition game, I became convinced that they're the safest AT to play.

[iBot]

As stated a few things:

1.  Welcome to your great addiction.

2.  Echoed that all ATs in this game are viable solo.  "Fun" is another issue that is up to the individual.  With 1000 slots available there really is no reason why you can't try them all other than time but I've heard rumors that time is an illusion created by historians just to keep everything from happening at once.

3.  Fire/Staff tanker is probably one of the most offensive combos.  Another to try would be Rad/Dark melee.  If you like melee I'd also try to go brute -> scrapper -> stalker -> VEAT.  Plenty of non-melee ATs can be built to thrive in the close quarters arena as well so don't fear trying those out as you gain knowledge.

4.  Solo is fine but where this game shines is team play.  Find a group that you gel with and go with it.  Plenty of good SGs out there full of helpful people that will gladly show you all the cool things in one of our favorite games.

[arcane]

Basically every AT and powerset combo in this game can solo well, but (1) lower levels will be harder especially without low difficulty settings and (2) “squishies” will seem harder until you get some experience under your belt kiting/dodging/evading and combining/popping the right insps.

[tekmansam]

Follow up:  (Don't feel like half a dozen quote tweets.)

A little backstory. 

Spoiler

I am primarily a solo player by nature.  Dealing with pugs is bothersome and don't have any friends to play with.  I also like to go at my own pace and just chill.  There is also the fact that my main PC borked and I am currently playing on a potato that lags every time I drop burn.  I might consider installing it on my mac if I don't have to deal with wineskin.  I read an install guide before I started, but it might have been outdated as there does seem to be a 64 bit client now...so I don't know.  Anyway, I typically don't love melee dps toons in mmos.  I've played many a tank in my day, but was never quite fond of things like rogues, death knights, fury wars, etc (wowspeak.)  My first toon here was a dark/time corruptor.  Was fun until I hit lv 10 and had a mission where I only had to fight 2 mobs--that was it.  But they were orange and lv 12.  I hit a wall.  I know a lot more now, and realize I wasn't taking advantage of everything available to me, and so I'd likely be able to pull it off, but I made another toon anyway.  This time I decided that having a squishy with no meat shield was a mistake, so I made a mastermind.  Got her to 15 just fine, but grew bored.  That was when I sat down, thought about everything I learned about the game so far, and carefully considered all my options.  I decided that having to deal with large groups of mobs solo meant that I was going to need to be able to survive through res or def.  Status ailments were also annoying--especially sleep.  Also, self heals seemed essential.  I also wanted good aoe damage.  Careful consideration led me to the fire/staff tanker I created.  It was a bit slow at first, but once the build got going I was very pleased with it.

I guess what I'm looking for might be something meta after all.  God-tier solo builds.  When you are into the +3-5/+3-5 range endgame is it brute force, tankiness, or something else altogether that rises to the top?  I'd like to play many of the ATs and will at some point I'm sure, but I have read that most can solo at +1 or 2, but only some builds are really capable of that top tier of solo viability.  

[arcane]

If you want the security of melee without the melee, consider a Time defender.

[tekmansam]

10 minutes ago, arcane said:

If you want the security of melee without the melee, consider a Time defender.

Yeah, something like a time/energy defender with idk...combat jumping or hover could be fun.  I got to play with time a little as a secondary at low level, and when I recently did the Midnighter's Mansion arc in Dark Ward I got to see how terrible time magic can be when you 

Spoiler

had to grab the book and fight four living spells that used time magic.

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by tekmansam

[arcane]

9 minutes ago, tekmansam said:

Yeah, something like a time/energy defender with idk...combat jumping or hover could be fun.  I got to play with time a little as a secondary at low level, and when I recently did the Midnighter's Mansion arc in Dark Ward I got to see how terrible time magic can be when you 

  Reveal hidden contents

had to grab the book and fight four living spells that used time magic.

 

Wait until you get Farsight + Power Build Up or Power Boost 🙂 you can cap all your defenses without Fighting OR Leadership pools and pretty much hang out in melee at +4x8.

[Blackbird71]

1 hour ago, TheOtherTed said:

I'm also a fan of controllers - sure, the damage is low, but once I got into the mindset of controlling the fight and playing the attrition game, I became convinced that they're the safest AT to play.

 

I'd argue that Dominators are better at this for solo.  They still control the fight and have better offensive capabilities so that the fights don't drag on forever.

 

40 minutes ago, tekmansam said:

I guess what I'm looking for might be something meta after all.  God-tier solo builds.  When you are into the +3-5/+3-5 range endgame is it brute force, tankiness, or something else altogether that rises to the top?  

 

If all you're concerned about is the late game, then damage is key.  Almost any AT/build can cap out defense and/or resistance (though some ATs have higher caps on res) and be survivable, so then it all comes down to how much damage you can dish out to burn down the mobs.

 

This is the part of the game some of us refer to as "boring."  😜

[iBot]

I hate to say it but again any AT can be built to be a chaos tornado that shreds all but the most specialized mobs in the game.  The key to that level of power is understanding IO sets and how to squeeze the most out of each and every slot you put on your powers.  It also requires knowledge of how to maximize the pool and epic powers that you choose.  If your goal is to handle +4/8 you aren't going to get there out of the gate.  Too many factors against you at low level to do it until at least your 20s though it does vary by power sets meaning some can do it early 20s some can't do it until 40s and some can't do it until you reach 50 and unlock purples.  The key is to maximize your XP/Hr meaning fight at a level that you can run comfortably quickly.  That may be 0/2 or 0/4 or +1/2 or +2/6 or even 0/8.  You'll have to figure that out for the AT, your level of play, and your build.

 

As a basic guide to follow:

1.  Damage is king.  Kill it before it kills you.

2.  Resist is better than defense but a solid use of both is optimal.  The reason for this is no matter how high your defense you WILL get hit.  Best to reduce the amount of damage when it does connect.  What a lot of players do is build to cap one or two types of damage and then average around the rest.

3.  Debuffs act as damage multipliers at higher levels.  -res, -def, and -regen all help to mow down mobs faster.

4.  There are set bonuses that can help to mitigate status affects from mob attacks.  Stacking those can help those without inherent resists.

5.  There are a lot of powers available to you using buff stations, P2W vendor, and special powers earned in game that can make your solo play easier.  Seek them out.

[Riverdusk]

5 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

Nearly any powerset with "Dark" in the name solos well.  Attacks (both ranged and melee) often debuff your enemies' To-Hit, armor and defender sets include a powerful self-heal, and fear is always a good time - especially solo.  I'm at the point where I have to force myself not to play dark sets.  It's a real problem.

 

I'm also a fan of controllers - sure, the damage is low, but once I got into the mindset of controlling the fight and playing the attrition game, I became convinced that they're the safest AT to play.

 

Exactly this.  I actually tend to find controllers easier to solo than defender/corrupter just because they are so much safer.  As to damage, a number of controllers have direct attacks that with containment rival defender/corrupter blasts (illusion, mind, gravity) and now a days the improved arcane bolt is there for the taking.  Even just arcane bolt, the ST immob, and the hold is typically enough to get through mobs at a decent pace.  Lead off with the immob to set up containment.

 

Of course, I also look at maximizing all the temp powers that are cheaply available now a days too.  There are the usual nem staff, blackwand, and sands of mu.  Then at the P2W there is the baseball bat and hammer which are amazingly cheap and hit hard.  For AoE, controllers with an aoe immob can freely use plasmatic taser and grenade temps for cheap good aoe damage without even worrying about the knockback they do, if that is a concern.   All of those are only 5,000 inf for each set of charges.

 

Biggest drawback of the temps are the unenhanceable accuracy, but lower level characters get "beginners luck", you can also get a nice +tohit from running DFB once, and there is the P2W buff which is cheap at low levels.  A lot of controller primary/secondaries then also get +tohit or -defense powers.  A lot of controllers also tend to pick up tactics eventually.   All these take you pretty easily through to at least 32, when you get your pet, which tends to add a lot.  

 

I do low level MM's the same way as I find them really slow early on.  It goes a lot faster when you lead the charge with a good whack of a baseball bat.

[TheOtherTed]

6 hours ago, Blackbird71 said:

I'd argue that Dominators are better at this for solo.  They still control the fight and have better offensive capabilities so that the fights don't drag on forever.

I don't disagree, but all my Doms end up getting re-created as Controllers.  There's something to be said for playing with your food before you kill it.

[Bill Z Bubba]

8 hours ago, tekmansam said:

I guess what I'm looking for might be something meta after all.  God-tier solo builds. 

 

See my first post. 🙂

[Sir Myshkin]

12 hours ago, tekmansam said:

" ...but only some builds are really capable of that top tier of solo viability."

 

bzzt Nope! Any combination of sets in the game can be designed to work at ridiculous levels, it just takes the right kind of designer to get the build there. Not to say there aren't some just stinkers out there that the effort just shouldn't be considered, but it can be done! 😉

 

Based on what you've responded with so far I get the impression you're more of a mid to ranged type of player that'd prefer to cast and entrap things then get into the fray which leaves me a couple of suggestions for you.

 

Defenders

What gets classified as a support set in this game can contain both debuff and buff opportunities, but not all those buff options are solo friendly (or even caster-impacting for that matter). Thus far you've mentioned experiencing certain sets in the game, and a few others have talked about opportunities to move in a good direction. For early adapters to the game  that are soloing, Time Manipulation, Traps, and Trick Arrow are good options to start with as they have straight forward utilities and can be easily built to keep a player alive with little trouble; these sets also easily pair with pretty much any blast set.

 

My build suggestion for you as a Defender: Trick Arrow/Archery

 

Don't get this wrong, it won't be a typical Ranger! This combination supports the synergy of a single weapon cast and much of the Archery set is fast firing allowing quick reapplication and movement between primary and secondary abilities. Archery's T9 AoE is also a TAoE with a shorter than normal recharge allowing for more uptime for a solo player. Another prop to Archery is is slight bump to accuracy which is a nice plus when there's no other team buffs floating around. its light end use means picking up additional powers like Assault to amp up damage won't be an issue. This bow and arrow type of character carries a quiver with a lot of tricks occupy enemies.

 

Controllers

As you mentioned mez effects are a troublesome aspect of the game to deal with, and as much as they can be irritating for a player, you can use them equally as well against the enemies in the game with this AT. A bonus here is Defender primaries are shared as Controller secondaries meaning you can take Time, Traps, or Trick Arrow and play it as a Controller pairing just as well, but focused on using ahem controls instead of damage to defeat your enemies.

 

My build suggestion for you as a Controller: Fire/Time Manipulation

 

Fire Control is the highest damage performer between its attacks, Hot Feet, and Fire Imps, but can be felt as an end hog. Having a set-and-forget secondary like Time Manipulation, which also support long active recharge/end buffs helps dramatically support Fire in combat. Farsight being an AoE means it supports you and your trio of Fire Imps too, and these little monkeys are vicious lawn mowers that requires little attention from you to do their thing. Flashfire will easily stun large spawns, and Bonfire with a KB>KD converter will keep them flopping around like fish for days while Fire Imps tear them apart.

 

Sentinels

While not exactly a Melee character in reality, in concept this AT is built to act like your typical "meat shield" by getting housed in the same type of strong armors but supported with long range attacks. These builds end up being a duality of safe both in regards to their ability to keep raw distance from enemies as well as just natural safety of their secondary protecting them.

 

My build suggestion for you as a Sentinel: Beam Rifle/Energy Armor

 

This is a bit of an obscure suggestion to try and help break away from that World of Warcraft past by putting a modern techy rifle in the mix that happens to be a very good set for Sentinels and comes packed with decent AoE and performs well for ST too. Energy Armor once it's built out can cover pretty much every defensive type, and this can be a very solid "top tier" solo build that takes very little effort to pilot. Of the three this is probably the most straight forward and simplest to run and operate, and the one that'll feel "complete" fastest as it can be IO'd at 40 with most of its kit whereas the others will want more time to flesh out between 40-50.

 

 

[Coyotedancer]

Sentinels solo well and are mostly-ranged, so they might just be what you're looking for.

 

Some of the serious power-player types who only want to run THE BEST of whatever they're after seem to really dislike Sents, and in all fairness some of their damage sets really are better-done than others, but in general play? They actually handle pretty well. It's a very forgiving AT for new players learning their way around the game, too, I think.  

 

My own favorite AT to solo are Stalkers, but you said you wanted to avoid melee, so they're probably not the direction you want to go, OP. 

[Icono04]

If you are playing on a subpar computer, keep in mind that playing at +4/*8 (or really, +anything/*8) will put a lot of enemies on your screen and a lot of visual effects from their powers, which your PC might struggle to handle. It is for this reason that I personally avoid soloing against large numbers of enemies on squishy characters, because if my screen freezes up for 4-5 seconds due to graphics overload, that can sometimes be enough for a blaster/controller/etc. to get slaughtered. Less of a problem on melee characters and/or when playing a squishy on a team.

[Sovera]

On 8/5/2021 at 4:51 AM, tekmansam said:

Still pretty new to the game.  After two boring/failed toons, I'm finally playing a fire/staff tanker and it's working out pretty well (30+.)  Judging by a lot of the missions I've had to do, I'm finding the idea of trying to solo anything but a tanker a bit daunting.  I'm not going to be starting a new toon any time soon, but I have already started to think about it.  I was wondering if anybody has thoughts on what does/doesn't work for soloing.  I'm not necessarily interested in what is most "meta" as I will play what seems fun and appealing, but if anyone knows of any sort of comprehensive guides on which archetypes/builds have proven high solo viability that would be appreciated.  I always enjoy a good read.  Or, if you just have thoughts or want to start a conversation in this thread, that's fine too.

 

I'm probably re-hashing what has been said already but more voices might help giving credence:

 

- Basically all melee characters are going to be easy mode in this particular game. They come with a built in crowd control (near) immunity which becomes important, they have armor for protection (ranged characters either get buffs or more damage), and they tend to do a lot of damage (ranged will have wider AoEs and be able to take enemies before they get too close, especially if having chosen Fly as your travel power).

- As a new player I suggest a Brute. Their AT (class) mechanic makes them do more damage the longer they fight. In the low levels this is blown all out of proportion and you can go around two shoting enemies. Eventually this tappers off by level 20-22 and the damage goes back to being in line with other classes but until 20-22 you are a mini god.

- That said you can be spoiled if you try a Fire Armor/Claws Tanker character which has very good AoE and single target damage, plus a heal and endurance recovery power. All of it obtained before level 20. As you've no doubt found Burn is a lot of damage and it is obtained at level 18 for a Tanker unlike 28 for a Brute/Scrapper. Staff is nice, but slow, and the single target is a bit weak and the AoE isn't amazing since it is slow and relatively weak.

- A Sentinel doesn't have super damage but it's the single ranged character who comes with a crowd control (near) immunity like melee characters have. This coupled with choosing to fight in the air instead of melee range makes them exceptionally sturdy and a great starter character (I'm still going with Fire/Claws as a better starter).

- You can control the difficulty of missions with the little speech balloon down at the bottom of the chat box though if you didn't mess with it it's already at the near easiest.

- While the Tanker is the sturdiest of the lot a Scrapper will do more damage (but depending on the armor it may not have agro so enemies will run away), followed by a Stalker (very good damage and you can pick when and where to fight and open with a 'backstab' power that can one shot lieutenants, but this is a bit more advanced and requires some money. It also has zero agro so enemies will just run away when at low life) with the Brute between both. Ranged characters work in a pure basis of kill them first which can work, but not something I'd send a new character to since they can be overwhelmed or die to stuns.

 

Check my signature for links. The guide is particularly useful for new players and if you decide to try a Fire/Claws I have a build stashed there (also Fire/Staff).

[Snarky]

For solo there are ways you can break out of the rules and 'meta game' the crap out of content. 

 

The first is the Invention Origin system.  This allows you to use Sets of Enhancers to build crazy benefits onto your villain.  errr hero.

 

Another good way is base buffs.  There are 'empowerment stations' in many bases (you can make a base for free and add one yourself) that will provide hour long buffs to Resistance, Endurance, etc....

 

The Pay 2 Win vendor provides a multitude of little prizes. (most free, none charging real world cash)  these range from temp Endurance buffs to Health boosters to Intangibility power.  And....drum roll....calling for backup.  Temp powers that summon a few lackeys to help with crap this is too numerous or too tough to solo.

 

There are a multitude of other ways to crack the walnut but those are a few of the low hanging fruit that you might want to grab.