Worst builds?

[Mantidae]

Necro/Poison is a miserable experience for leveling for what it's worth...

 

Can't keep pets alive, cant have end, cant do anything but resummon xD

 

I did this. It was so awful that I wasn't willing to stick it out for the Grave Knight. I also maintain that zombies are the stupidist pets in the game.

 

The worst is probably the MAN build, which I think was a Defender that only used Brawl as an attack and never used the primary set or pool powers.

[Skyhawke]

Back in the day, I had a character called The Traveling Man.  He had every power in every travel power category.  It was a pure "for fun" character, but he played like ass. Unless it was the Terra Volta trial.  He was an illusion controller and I actually took Superior Invisibility since it sorta fit.

[Chuckers]

Worst builds are the teammates who p/l'd their way to 50 and has no friggin' clue on how to play their character. The Tank that can't manage aggro, the blaster that doesn't understand AOE's pull everyone, etc...  :)

[Sothoth]

Worst builds are the teammates who p/l'd their way to 50 and has no friggin' clue on how to play their character. The Tank that can't manage aggro, the blaster that doesn't understand AOE's pull everyone, etc...  :)

 

To be fair, I've seen plenty of people who played their character to 50 and still don't know how to manage their aggro.

[Without_Pause]

Worst builds are the teammates who p/l'd their way to 50 and has no friggin' clue on how to play their character. The Tank that can't manage aggro, the blaster that doesn't understand AOE's pull everyone, etc...  :)

 

That's a player and not a build.

[Crysis]

Demon/TA Mastermind was pretty horrid.  Thematically, it was a joy.  I played a demonic Cupid kind of character.  But even though I really thought it would be cool to have Demons triggering Oil Slick, in practice it was pretty weak sauce.  Also the ONLY character I ever fully IO'd out, hoping all the while to make it better in the process, that I then summarily did a handful of /respecs and used a dozen enhancement unslotters on to give to other alts.  Deleted that toon shortly thereafter.

 

Still think perhaps I just played it wrong but it was easily the worst slog to 50+ I ever did.  Only toon I ever forced myself to play (because I'm OCD like that).

[kinshiro]

I will stand on the hill of Grav/FF Controller.

 

I hope you like pushing people around for 4 levels and doing minimal damage cause that's what you get.

 

This was my original build on the classic game and I do not regret not picking this combo again. It was horrible.

[chase]

Some folk on Freedom had an event that challenged the notion of "gimped builds."  We made our own strangest contradictory builds and ran through the gauntlet in random PUGs. 

 

My wife's contribution was Retinal Burns, a fire/fire blaster that slotted no accuracy and avoided ranged attacks wherever possible (this was pre-fire-scrapper).

 

Mine was Major HMO- an empath defender with very little empathy.

 

 

Major HMO is an empathy defender, but much like his namesake, he has very misguided priorities. In fact, it should be quick to note that the Major has only two powers from his primary set. The rest, unfortunately, aren’t covered by your plan.

 

Major HMO is instead focused on keeping clients… err… foes… at a safe distance by maximizing the energy blast set's knockback powers wherever possible. Rather than attempting to provide the best healing services, he just wants you to stay away from anything that can harm you.

 

From the pool powers, I've taken flight because, as the slowest travel power, his response rate again reflects the organization he represents. The fitness primary pool was also a must- as preventive care is much more cost-effective than reactive treatment. ...And of course, no Major HMO would be complete without a strong dose of evasive measures and the investment in the concealment pool guarantees that no matter who comes looking, only those with an appointment- or a referral- will see him.

[justicebeliever]

 

Mine was Major HMO- an empath defender with very little empathy.

 

This was hysterical +1 Inf

[Rokkeb]

I still havent see anyone take on the ice melee dark armor scrapper.

 

So it's got to be up there for least synergistic builds. Which tends to lead to not fun to play, which then gets grouped into the category of bad.

[BelleSorciere]

Necro/Poison is a miserable experience for leveling for what it's worth...

 

Can't keep pets alive, cant have end, cant do anything but resummon xD

 

Back in the live game I leveled one to 32 before deleting and rerolling her as necro/dark. I was hoping poison had been improved (and I heard it had) but yeah.

 

I ran into a tank last night that didn't have taunt...

 

I'm sorry? All tankers have taunt built into their attacks. Taunt itself is nice, but far from necessary.

 

I still havent see anyone take on the ice melee dark armor scrapper.

 

So it's got to be up there for least synergistic builds. Which tends to lead to not fun to play, which then gets grouped into the category of bad.

 

I almost want to be like "challenge accepted." Almost.

[Vanden]

Regen/Energy Melee tanker

 

What do you mean, this is for joke builds that don't take any actual powers, and instead intentionally gimp themselves by avoiding good options?

 

 

This is legitimately the worst power combo in the game, most likely - Regen is an atrocious defensive set built entirely on a one trick pony with little to no mitigation of its own, and Energy Melee got continually nerfed - it was nerfed in i4, i7, i10, briefly buffed in i11 to i7 levels, nerfed in i12, i14, and I think i16. It's just terrible, one of the worst damaging melee sets in the game across all archetypes.

 

What were the nerfs exactly? The only changes I remember for Energy Melee were the stun in Total Focus going from mag 4 to mag 3, some kind of buff to Barrage I don't recall the exact details of, and the infamous change to Energy Transfer.

[Burnt Toast]

1. I have seen many people who have played from 1-50 who play horribly. Seen an Elect/Kin Controller lvl 50 on a Market Crash TF recently... No Speed boost and no Fulcrum Shift..why? Their answer "I don't need them." I can see skipping SB; especially on a tight build, but.. Fulcrum Shift? They chose instead to take the ... medicine pool. They had way too many badges to have been PLd. Oh and I forgot they did have Inertial Reduction (eyeroll).

2. Maybe a blaster drew too much aggro - there is a cap to how many people the tank can keep on them after all.

3. Blaster pulling with AoE - See #1.

 

 

And... this is a thread about BUILDS not players :)

 

Worst builds are the teammates who p/l'd their way to 50 and has no friggin' clue on how to play their character. The Tank that can't manage aggro, the blaster that doesn't understand AOE's pull everyone, etc...  :)

[CaptainHit-Guy]

My hero, The Uncertainty, was a challenge build I created on Live and have since recreated here. The base is an MA/SR scrap but I only took the first 2 defense toggles plus Storm Kick. Once Power Pools unlocked at L4 that's all he takes, baby!

At L22 I have the complete Jumping set, the 3 attacks from the Fighting pool, Flurry from Speed and Concealment. His attack chain is all low dam and fast recharge but I go through end so fast because of the toggles and the time it takes to drop enemies.

He is tedious to play even though he doesn't drop very often at all. The one plus is how comical he looks in combat. The animation change from Jump Kick to Storm Kick is especially chuckleworthy😄.

[Myrmidon]

It’s always going to be petless MM. Thats why this topic doesn’t come up much, because this is a solved game.

 

This. Petless Mastermind wins hands down.

[ranagrande]

I played a lot of terrible builds over the years when I played CoX.

 

I had a petless Mastermind back when Thugs/ was the only way to have dual pistols.  I remember telling groups that I was actually a Corruptor, and everyone being confused, if they didn't just kick me.

 

My hero, The Uncertainty, was a challenge build I created on Live and have since recreated here. The base is an MA/SR scrap but I only took the first 2 defense toggles plus Storm Kick. Once Power Pools unlocked at L4 that's all he takes, baby!

At L22 I have the complete Jumping set, the 3 attacks from the Fighting pool, Flurry from Speed and Concealment. His attack chain is all low dam and fast recharge but I go through end so fast because of the toggles and the time it takes to drop enemies.

He is tedious to play even though he doesn't drop very often at all. The one plus is how comical he looks in combat. The animation change from Jump Kick to Storm Kick is especially chuckleworthy😄.

 

I did something similar to this once too, but as a melee Defender.  It was my entry into a SG contest to see who could create the most useless alt.

 

But the actual worst/(best?) character I had was a Stone Tanker who was loaded up with so many toggles that the only other power he could use was Brawl.  He was almost invincible though, and if he stood next to an enemy for long enough, they died.

[Judasace]

I don't know, a petless mastermind can still contribute to a team. They might solo slowly, but they can still solo. On the other hand, the classic 'healer' build is far worse.

 

What is the classic 'healer' build? It's an Empathy/doesn't-matter defender or doesn't-matter/empathy controller. Any aoe or single target heals? grab them asap. Rez ability? Grab it too. Buffs? Unneeded because you are a 'healer'. Attacks or control powers (if a controller)? Take the one you're forced to have at level 1, then immediately remove it from your power trays. It'll never get used. For pool powers grab your travel power of choice and the First Aid pool. And maybe leadership too since you're going to have so much room in your build. But don't actually use the Leadership toggles if you can help it because those aren't heals. If you're forced to take anything that isn't a heal or rez, remove it from your power tray asap because it's never going to be used.

 

Well, what you're describing here is a playstyle, deliberately not using tools you have access to. A bad build woudn't even have access to the tools. Any character can be bad of you go removing corepowers from the tray and refusing to use them because of "theme".

[OEM61]

I think rather than "worst builds" it should maybe be asked what are the worst power set combos for the various ATs.

 

Anyone can make a bad build.

These petless MMs people keep talking about, for example.

 

Anyone could strip their power tray and click brawl all day long.  That doesn't mean that an energy/energy blaster or dark/dark brute or whatever is "bad", just that the player is clueless.

 

But as far as that goes, I do not have the experience to really speak on it.

 

In the years that I played, the toons I really focused on all seemed to be just fine.  I never encountered a power set combo on an AT that I felt really underperformed to the extent that I felt it was just not worth playing.

 

I built toons that I didn't like that much, but that, I think, was just a matter of taste, not a bad AT or bad combination of power sets on the AT.

 

[marcussmythe]

Anything with Energy Melee.  Worst AOE, dead heat with Ice Melee for worst single target, self-damaging on its ‘best’ attack, and it brings disorient to the party - I could have played Mace and been better at AOE, Single Target, and Not Killing Myself, and still have the priviledge of watching stunned mobs wander away at superspeed.

 

 

[Mr. Vee]

I'd think TA/AR would be about as bad as you could get without intentional gimping. Underpowered to middling on both ends with double redraw hell. I had to re-skim the thread cuz I couldn't believe it wasn't mentioned, and still I'm 50/50 on whether I just missed it twice.

 

But I'm sure despite the pain that lighting the oil slick with flamethrower would be fun. So maybe beam/ta, better gun but with beam mechanic maintenance to maximize the redraw and (possibly?) no way to light your oil without team or ancillary help.

[Sailboat]

But I'm sure despite the pain that lighting the oil slick with flamethrower would be fun. So maybe beam/ta, better gun but with beam mechanic maintenance to maximize the redraw and (possibly?) no way to light your oil without team or ancillary help.

 

Energy damage lights oil slick too.  Beam does energy.

[Kyksie]

If you don't count deliberate bad builds like 6-slotted Brawl, the worst would probably be two end-guzzling powersets. Like, say, Titan Weapons is super awesome but it would be terrible paired with Dark Armor.

[Balanced]

I'd think TA/AR would be about as bad as you could get without intentional gimping. Underpowered to middling on both ends with double redraw hell. I had to re-skim the thread cuz I couldn't believe it wasn't mentioned, and still I'm 50/50 on whether I just missed it twice.

TA/AR is slow and difficult solo, but it's not actively self-defeating, and it can be a substantial team contributor. It's definitely not great, but I wouldn't call it the worst combo. (I had one at 30 on Live, and soloed the Old Posi TF with him at-level. It was an interesting puzzle/tactical challenge, but it took forever.) I really wish the devs hadn't panicked while TA was on Test and stomped all over it, though.

[BelleSorciere]

I'd think TA/AR would be about as bad as you could get without intentional gimping. Underpowered to middling on both ends with double redraw hell. I had to re-skim the thread cuz I couldn't believe it wasn't mentioned, and still I'm 50/50 on whether I just missed it twice.

TA/AR is slow and difficult solo, but it's not actively self-defeating, and it can be a substantial team contributor. It's definitely not great, but I wouldn't call it the worst combo. (I had one at 30 on Live, and soloed the Old Posi TF with him at-level. It was an interesting puzzle/tactical challenge, but it took forever.) I really wish the devs hadn't panicked while TA was on Test and stomped all over it, though.

 

I will never stop being disappointed in the devs for seeing that eight TA defenders on a team would trivialize content just like eight Rad defenders and decided it had to be stopped at all costs.

[marcussmythe]

If you don't count deliberate bad builds like 6-slotted Brawl, the worst would probably be two end-guzzling powersets. Like, say, Titan Weapons is super awesome but it would be terrible paired with Dark Armor.

 

... Hold my beer.  :)