The Perfect 11

[G-Tus]

Okay, so I know I'm weird but hear me out. I know we have 1000 character slots, but I have altitis, so if I don't limit myself, I will fill them all up and never spend time on anything else but creating alts and playing this game. So I said to myself: you get to have 1 of every archetype, and that's that. Now the difficult task of finding that perfect combination of 22 powersets to create "The Perfect 11"... (I don't count EATs, because you are pretty much forced to go one way in my opinion with those)

 

Basically why I created this topic is to figure out what my perfect 11 would be. I initially decided on certain powersets and AT combinations that I thought would make a perfect 11 for me, but now I'm in doubt about a couple of those choices. So I would like to get some help in deciding. Also, I'm very much interested in what other people would choose if they had to make a perfect 11. 

 

So first of all some of my own general considerations. I don't like using the same 'type' of powerset in combination, for example Rad/Rad, Fire/Fire etc. Also, I'm heavily influenced in my choices by visual style/animation and sound, hence I don't like certain powersets, even though they are really good ones. I basically only play in teams, so I have a preference for AoE heavy powersets. Long casting times irk me as well, because once you hit 50 everything dies so fast, it is not satisfying to be mid animation while everything is dying before you get a chance. I generally stick to just plain IOs, because I don't have the money to buy IO sets, or even patience to create an IO set build (other people are really good at it, so if I go IO set route, I try to find something somebody else made).

 

With all that out of the way, these are my choices with some comments on why I made them:

 

Blaster: Water Blast / Martial Combat

When Water Blast came out I really liked what it had to offer. Tons of AoE, a healing power, ranged nuke. Perfect for a Blaster. When considering which secondary to pair with it, I was kinda drawn towards Martial Combat. I liked the thematic pairing. I had the martial arts motto 'Mind like Water' in my mind, so I thought that would make a nice pairing. I really like the Dragon's Tail and Eagles Claw animations, but because the melee set is single target heavy, having them as an extra on a Blaster would give me access to those powers. I also really like Lightning Rod/Shield Charge, so having Burst of Speed is a big plus for me. If only Ki Push had the Crane Kick animation, even just as an option.... would be absolute perfection.

 

Brute: Dark Melee / Fiery Aura

In some long forgotten past I had decided I needed a Fiery Aura Brute because I might want to 'farm' in the future. I'm too lazy to farm, so I never got to it. However, I still made one. For the primary I think people usually go for Super Strength, or Spines nowadays. I don't really like Super Strength animations, and Spines with Slow effect doesn't seem ideal with Fury. I do like Soul Drain though, and because Dark Melee is low on AoE damage, I thought it might be a nice pairing with Fiery Aura to get some AoE goodness. So I made the pairing, and got it to 50. I'm still not too sure if this is the best choice. I like to play it, but it feels kinda squishy, so it probably needs a good IO set build to fully shine. I also don't really like that I need to have Combat Jumping and Acrobatics just to get immobilize and KB protection. My travel power of choice is always Fly, but having 1 character with Super Jump I will survive. Thematically it does work for me, kinda like a fire demon.

 

Controller: Earth Control / Darkness Affinity

Looking at all control primaries, two stand out for me: Earth and Plant. I decided on Earth for Controller, as it has everything, tons of AoE controlly stuff: hold, knockdown, slow, stun etc. All the defense debuff is also sweet. For controller secondary Darkness Affinity seems also to have it all: powerful heal, debuffs, buffs, rez, and even an extra pet, so basically a no-brainer. And I do like this pairing in terms of visual style and theme. However, during play I noticed that you can do so much, you don't even have time to use everything you have. Stuff is already dead before you get to do your thing. I still have to get used to playing a controller, not really my cup of tea as of yet. Maybe I need to get used to adapting to the situation, use what is most useful in the specific team you are in. I think this combination will eventually work out for me.

 

Corruptor: Radiation Blast / Time Manipulation

I never really played corruptors, so when deciding with primary to pick, I chose one I really wanted, but didn't have on other archetypes yet. The choice was Radiation Blast. I really like how radiation blast looks. For secondary I wanted something that thematically fit, and Time Manipulation seemed like a good choice. I also heard Time Manipulation is a pretty good choice for a corruptor. I haven't really played this one yet, so no further comment, but I do think this one will stick.

 

Defender: Empathy / Ice Blast

There is no way around it, I really like playing Empathy. Playing empathy feels like a completely different game to me. I have absolutely no awareness of what is happening in battle. I just stare at that team window and make absolutely sure everybody is at full health all the time. I love it. All the buffs empathy offers are great too, they help me accomplish my personal mission of keeping everyone alive. Of course I still had to choose a secondary set. I like the animations and visual style of the Ice Blast, and Ice pairs nice thematically, like putting an ice pack on a bruise. I still wonder though if we still need empathy in an incarnate age, but I don't think I will ever let this one go.

 

Dominator: Plant Control / Savage Assault

As I already took Earth Control as a Controller, I picked Plant Control for my Dominator, and basically for one reason: Carrion Creepers. Damn that power is awesome. I read in post about Plant Control that Seeds of Confusion is also really powerful, but I don't really understand why? It probably provides good crowd control, but to me it just seems to lower experience gain (even though that is not an issue at 50). Anyway, choosing a secondary. Thematically I chose Savage Assault. Not too sure about it though. Might swap for Earth Assault for some more AoE and murdering single target damage.

 

Mastermind: Beast Mastery / Kinetics

I've tried playing all sorts of masterminds, because I always thought they were the archetype for me, but I always felt sort of disappointed. It just felt like I always was just resummoning dead pets, applying the upgrade powers, watching them die, and redo it all over again. Maybe a mastermind is just not for me. So I looked on the Internet for some guidance. I found the God-Tier Mastermind post on Reddit (link) and basically had a read through. In the back of my mind I knew I still wanted a character with Kinetics, but after trying pairing it with Ninjas because of melee, and Robotics I found that I didn't really like those pairings. But here in this guide it said that Kinetics basically only synergizes well with Beast Mastery. I thought well I could give it a try. Never considered it before, and here it said that Beasts basically can softcap Def themselves, so sounds pretty neat. This was my fastest character to level 50 ever (though the mapserver events helped a ton). It synergizes so well, the beasts seem very survivable with Fortify Pack, I get the extra survivability from Bodyguard as an aggro hogging kineticist, and well, it's Kinetics, and who doesn't love Kinetics? Yes, definitely a keeper.

 

Sentinel: Fire Blast / Ninjitsu

Just like everybody else I thought Sentinels were just not it. Other ATs seemed to do better. I tried several, just ending up feeling pointless in a team. But I still wanted both Fire Blast and Ninjitsu in my perfect 11 roster, so I thought might as well pair them on a Sentinel. Thematically it felt like an Oni/fire throwing ninja, so that was nice. But what surprised me is how much I like to play it. One of the faster ones to 50. Even though it is not as high on damage as another archetype could be, but being able to cast Rain of Fire and not worrying 'I am about to die, the healer better pay attention' is really nice to me. It has got just the right amount of survivability paired with the fighting pool on just regular IOs. The endurance power provides just the right amount of endurance every now and then when I need it. And when the tanking team player dies, I just pop Kuji In Retsu to take over the task for a moment. Yes, I really like this one.

 

Scrapper: Spines / Ice Armor

To me, Spines absolutely has to be part of my perfect 11. And the same goes for Ice Armor, I just really like the way both look, so they seemed like a perfect pairing. They both also have Slow as a secondary effect on enemies, probably up to the point that you hit the slow cap (I have no clue though). Also double damaging toggle. I don't really think I need to say more, Spines is just awesome, and I really like pairing it with Ice Armor. Definitely had endurance problems during leveling, but seems reasonably steady at 50.

 

Stalker: Electrical Melee / Shield Defense

On live my favourite character was an Elec/Shield Scrapper. Never got to really like Stalkers though on live. On Homecoming Elec/Shield became a possibility on Stalkers, and aww yeah is it good, even better than on a Scrapper. I think 'nuff has been said about Elec/Shield Stalkers. They just pwn.

 

Tanker: Stone Armor / Radiation Melee

I'm a bad tanker. It's just too much at the same time for me: holding aggro, not dying, keeping the glass cannon Blaster from suiciding, not hogging all the attention from the support players, and also attack at the same time. It's just not my style of play. I'm lazy, I need something simple. Stone Armor seems like the best option for me. Just pop on Granite Armor and not worry (and hope there is no psionics). Added bonus fact that I really like shapeshifting powers, so with Granite, Stone Armor is just perfect for me. On live I had it paired with Fiery Melee, but I wanted to try something else, and I like radiation, so Radiation Melee seemed like a good option to try. Kinda like it.

 

So what could I use some help with in deciding?

What I was thinking, maybe I should swap the powersets of my Brute and Tanker. I find my Brute kinda squishy without IO sets, so maybe I could benefit from the higher default values Tankers get from defensive sets. Also, Granite Armor is really easy to hit immortal values on Tankers, that I think with a bit of work you can reach similar levels on a Brute, and Brutes get the added benefit of Fury compensating for the damage loss Granite gives. I wonder if anyone has experience with this? I also wonder if Savage Assault or Earth Assault is the better pairing with Plant Control on a Dominator?

 

I'm also very interested in what other people would choose if they were limited to just 11 characters. Would you be able to fit in all the powersets you like?

 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by G-Tus

[Without_Pause]

FYI, I have no problem generating Fury on my Ice/stone Brute when using Ice Patch. There is no such thing as too much control. There are only teams who don't play aggressively enough. 

[Xandyr]

Defender 

   Dark/DP. Just a fun set.

 

Blaster

 Toss up between Water/TA and DP/Martial. 

 

MM

 Man....I don't think I could narrow it to just one. I really like my Beast/Time, but I also enjoy playing my Mercs/TA (and Mercs/Nature, and Demon/EA)

 

Tank

  Again...so hard to deecide. My first tank was Bio/Rad, so it'll always hold a special place. All of my Staff tanks are just hella fun (wp/staff, rad/staff, stone/staff).

 

These are the ATs that I play the most.

 

 

[Troo]

On 4/19/2022 at 12:57 PM, G-Tus said:

Stalkers. They just pwn.

 

agreed.

 

On 4/19/2022 at 12:57 PM, G-Tus said:

I find my Brute kinda squishy without IO sets

 

could always go Super Reflexes on the Brute. maybe paired with Energy Melee. (pretty strong even on SOs)

[Without_Pause]

I find FA to be rather weak as an armor. It is very lead heavy as in as long as it is in the lead ahead of everything, it is really great, but as soon as something tags it like a debuff, it starts to run into issues. Fire Melee isn't great either so doing a demon theme isn't easy for melee. Shield/dark on a Tank would be nigh unkillable. Shield/wm might be a bit more fun though.

 

FYI, I don't use the T9 in Stone Armor for my Ice/stone Brute. I soloed Council at +4/x8 at level 48. I don't recommend it mind you. I'm just saying it can be done. At T3 for everything with no Lore I only had a single death soloing LR at +4/x8. It isn't a solo +4/x8 all the time type of build, but it is rather study and more so on a team.

[Onlyasandwich]

I really enjoy this question!

 

While I'll never have a totally static answer, it would be something like this:

 

Blaster: Fire/electric - The classic beast with the best of all worlds. Brings the already amazing ST damage in Fire/ to 11 with two of the best DPA melee powers out there. 

 

Defender: TA/A these days. TA is so fluid and powerful now, and works equally well solo and on teams. Any secondary is fine - this just happens to be a set on which I prefer matching theme. Every power comes back fast, and you don't have to worry about positioning for anchors, or whether teammates are nearby for buffs to gain maximum benefit. You just shoot things and it works out. 🙂

 

Controller: Fire/Storm - Nothing has quite the epic feel of Fire/Storm! Other combos may be similar in power, and almost everything else is easier on the blue bar, but Fire/Storm is not only visually stunning, but brings gobs of damage to the table alongside solid controls.

 

Tanker: Rad/War Mace - Rad is easy peasy and works in every type of content, and opens up slotting pretty well as you don't need any extra end support. War Mace is crunchy both for aoe and ST damage. Combined, you have a super flexible tank that can go all out in any content and does great damage in all situations.

 

Brute: I don't play a lot of Brutes, so don't have a very good answer here. I liked my TW/Electric pretty well, but others will have more useful input here.

 

Scrapper: I'll go with my DM/EA for now - smooth as butter in all content. Never dies, damage type that is rarely resisted, built-in blue bar and health tools. All the damage a Scrapper could want, but oddly soothing to play.

 

Dominator: Plant/Fiery/Fire - The APP here is important, as so much of a Dom's character is reliant on their Epics - more than on other ATs. This combo absolutely blasts out damage on all fronts, and can handle really tough content and surprises as long as you stay focused on cycling your controls where needed. 

 

Stalker: I've only played a few stalkers. It is home to be best combo for Elec/Shield, and I have one of those. It's really fun!

 

Corruptor: Obviously going to overlap with Defender, but there are some combos that gain more than they lose on Corruptors. I'm rather fond of my Kin/Dark. Kin I think feels more at home on a corruptor, and Dark gives some extra proc opportunities, as well as some interesting control elements that are otherwise lacking in the support set.

 

Mastermind: Another AT I haven't played a lot of. Demons/Dark is great fun though! Demons are very tanky, and Dark has all you need to support them. You can also proc out the whip powers to do respectable damage, giving you something fun and useful to do besides spamming heals and fearsome stare. Another very active combo that requires proactive application of debuffs and controls to stay alive. Very thematic as well.

 

Sentinel: I love my Elec/Nin! Electric is one of the few sets that actually stands out a bit on Sentinels vs. Blasters, given the extra damage afforded Tesla Cage here. Nin is a pretty complete kit, and allows me to work very autonomously. The confuse power slotted with the purple proc is a handy trick too.

 

[Cutter]

Some of these will be easy, others not so much. I'm limiting myself to combinations I actually have, so no theory-crafting. And full disclosure, this list is more like an Excellent Eight, as there are some ATs I just can't get into.

 

Blaster: Seismic/Devices - I'm not much of a blaster player, and find myself challenged to get one out of the 20's. But I've managed mid-30's so far with this guy, and he... doesn't suck I guess? There's really no thematic pairing here, just me looking to be as ranged as possible.

 

Defender: Electric/Rad - Electric Affinity has surprised me in terms of both how much it brings to a team, and how much I find myself enjoying the active playstyle. Cycling through all the buffs on a pretty regular basis but I still get time for some pew pew. Good all the way through but really shines in the low levels (when everybody's build has holes!).

 

Controller: Earth/Storm - My controllers are few and far between, but I'd have to go with the controlled chaos this pairing brings. The massive and varied debuffs always have some use, and make it easier to get there with the secondary.

 

Scrapper: Stone/EnA - I've hardly scrapper'd at all on Homecoming, where on live they were my most played AT. I've found this combination particularly satisfying - EnA hardly gets hit when properly kitted out, and has tools to help the blue bar which Stone Melee eats like nobody's business. The knockdowns and stuns provide plenty of mitigation to recover when the bad guys roll well.

 

Tanker: Dark/Elec - On the other hand, I have more tanks than anything else. Picking just one is tough. So I'm going with my reimagined main from live, simply for the nostalgia value. He's not the best at anything, but fills that special place in my heart. Aww... (Honourable mention: Fire/Ice)

 

Brute: Savage/Rad - Hands down the most fun hero I have right now. If I could only play 1 character forever, she'd be it. (Honourable mention: Ice/Rad)

 

Corruptor: Gonna have to take a mulligan on this one. I've got a Pistols/Pain languishing in the 40s, but that's more to do with sheer bloody-mindedness than anything else.

 

Dominator: And another mulligan. Tried a couple, don't like them at all. I guess if someone put a gun to my head I'd prolly go with Plant/X, but I don't know what X is.

 

Mastermind: And here's the third non-response. I tried Beasts/Cold, gave Zombies/?? a try, and Thugs/Nature too. In the end the management style just doesn't connect in my brain.

Stalker: Dual Blades/EnA - Made it to 50 on the back of 5 attacks, no idea how it would run under the recent DB changes. I poached the build off the forums and it was an enjoyable ride.

 

Sentinel: Water/Regen - Another "just plain fun" combination. Water is great on Sentinels (what target caps?), and Sentinel Regen is remarkable. (Honourable mention: Elec/Invul)

Edited April 27, 2022 by Cutter
added some honourable mentions

[KC4800]

Blaster: Rad/Mental - He can fight strictly ranged or blapper style, or a little of both. The best blaster makes you pay for trying to run in and melee you.

 

Defender: Rad/Water - The best Soloing Defender I have ever played, better than Rad/Rad because Water attacks are faster.

 

Controller: Illusion/TA - PA plus Oil Slick Arrow while Superior Invis'd is very safe.

 

Scrapper: DA/Katana - I don't play scrappers much, this is my old school toon.

 

Tanker: Fire/Savage or Rad/WM - I farm with tanks. Fire/Savage handles +4/8 easily vs Fire. Rad/WM vs Energy or SL.

 

Brute: EM/Inv - I don't farm with Brutes. This EM builds fury fast enough and Inv has its weaknesses, you just need to know the games foes to play this Brute best.

 

Corruptor: Energy/Traps - Set up the Bombs and Fold Space, then Energy blast the minutiae into the walls.

 

Dominator: Darkness/Martial - I don't play Dominators much. This is the Combo I took to 50 and incarnated.

 

Mastermind: Bots/Elec or Thugs/Emp - I play MM all the time, can't pick a favorite from these two, sorry.

Stalker: SJ/IceArmor - Play it like a Traditional Stalker with Chilling Embrace turned off. Play a team-based style by using CE, Icy Bastion, and Energy Absorption and all your great SJ moves.

 

Sentinel: BeamRifle/Ninja - A hover blaster who never gets hit, and never needs blues or greens. Feed him big reds.

Edited April 28, 2022 by KC4800