Builds - how many can a character have? Do you unlock them or you just start with the option? What builds do you use?

[DougGraves]

I love controllers for support, but I like soloing dominators more.  Now I've discovered I can make a dominator with the medicine pool as a healer as an alt build.  So I am going to make them with a damage build and a healing build.

 

I'd like to make more builds for them - a soloing build with stealth maybe.  So how many build slots do characters get and do you have to unlock them?

 

Also - are respecs by build or total.  If I do a respec TF do I get one respec to use with any build, one for the build I was using, or one for each build?

 

Is there a guide to using multiple builds?

 

I bet Snarky didn't read this far.

[Mjolnerd]

Any given character can have a total of three builds. They unlock automatically at certain levels -- the second one comes at 10 and the third at 50, if I'm remembering right.

 

Respecs are per-build. One respec, one build -- using it will respec the current active build.

[Greycat]

Yes, second are level 10, third is 50 (or at Incarnate unlock.)

 

Treat each like individual characters for everything but level. You have to select powers for each up to whatever the max on that character is, and enhance each.  So it can be expensive.

 

As far as a guide? I wrote a short one on live - accessible via internet archive here. And I think it answers most of the things you asked.

[Yomo Kimyata]

1 hour ago, DougGraves said:

 

 

I bet Snarky didn't read this far.

 

That's because the sun came up.

[Snarky]

I almost always use one build. There is one exception, when i will be soloing a lot with a toon.  Then I might do a second build.  Money isnt even the issue.  When you switch builds all your powers including incarnate go into cool down.  Real pain. 

[twozerofoxtrot]

3 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Now I've discovered I can make a dominator with the medicine pool as a healer as an alt build.  So I am going to make them with a damage build and a healing build.

 

[DougGraves]

12 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

 

Let me explain.  Healing is the ability to restore health to a character when it is below its maximum level.  And it is doing it at once, rather than by buffing regeneration.

 

A build is a set of powers and enhancements.  Characters can have 1-3 builds.

 

Aid Other, Aid Self, and Combat Medic are healing powers.  Combat Medic does not heal on its own, but it improves the healing of the others.  

 

So a build which differs from another only by having 3 healing powers is a healing build.

[ZemX]

Is it true that you have to re-buy P2W powers for each build as well?  (e.g. Team Teleport, ATT, etc.) I heard this in-game but haven't tried it yet.  I don't have any additional builds.

 

I would try it now but I am... *looks around*... "working".

 

[Ironblade]

3 hours ago, ZemX said:

Is it true that you have to re-buy P2W powers for each build as well?  (e.g. Team Teleport, ATT, etc.)

I don't think so.  I made a second build on one character and there is no way in hell I would have re-bought those powers (since I would not need them on this build) and yet, he has all of them.

[Mjolnerd]

P2W powers (and accolades, unlocks, etc) are all per-character, not per-build.

 

BUT, as Snarky mentioned up above, switching builds puts ALL of your powers on cooldown -- so P2W things like, say, a self-rez power with a half-hour cooldown aren't going to be usable right away.

[Yomo Kimyata]

19 hours ago, Snarky said:

I almost always use one build. There is one exception, when i will be soloing a lot with a toon.  Then I might do a second build.  Money isnt even the issue.  When you switch builds all your powers including incarnate go into cool down.  Real pain. 

 

There are all kinds of reasons to make a second build.  However as Snarky has noted there is a cooldown on switching (which you can do via macro or bind).  This cooldown seems to interrupt every toggle and treats every rechargeable power as if it was just activated.

 

I'm looking into a dual build character where it has one build to fight through the mobs and a second to fight the AV or GM.  The cooldown isn't a problem if you have a minute of two to prepare.

[SeraphimKensai]

Here's the biggest drawback, if you switch builds you have no enhancements. So my VEATS that have three builds I've had to IO all three of their builds. It adds up a bit to find you're IOing three characters at once.

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

38 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Here's the biggest drawback, if you switch builds you have no enhancements. So my VEATS that have three builds I've had to IO all three of their builds. It adds up a bit to find you're IOing three characters at once.

 

 

Not a drawback at all.  CONSUME!

 

[MrAxe]

I need a 4th build for my main. Usually I only need 1.

[biostem]

I've found that certain ATs and powerset combinations lend themselves more to being able to take advantage of multiple builds more than others.  For instance, a Kheldian can have a tri-form build and a human-only one.  A have an Arachnos Soldier with a bane build and crab spider build.  On many of my sentinels, I like to create 3 builds - a DPS one, a durable/tough one, and a team support one using either the fire or elec APP with the team heal...

[Scarlet Shocker]

It used to be that swapping builds was a complex process so it seemed that unless you did something like dedicated PVP and PVE there was little point to it. I don't know if that's changed but I struggle to see real benefits of multiple builds

[Greycat]

11 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

It used to be that swapping builds was a complex process so it seemed that unless you did something like dedicated PVP and PVE there was little point to it. I don't know if that's changed but I struggle to see real benefits of multiple builds

 

It *really* depends - AT, powerset, etc. - if the benefit's immediately obvious or not.

 

For instance, if you're a blaster, you're probably set for everything and may never use them. *Maybe* ssomething for RP or if you take that into PVP or something, but generally, you make things be dead that weren't before.  That'll pretty much be true for all the melee ATs, Dominators, probably Masterminds as well. You might use it as a sort of respec if something big comes along but you don't *really* want to completely undo your old build.

 

Many support sets seem fine with a single build as well. However, once you get into, say, Empathy, Pain Dom, or anything kind of heavy on team buffs, having a solo and team build can be *really* handy. For instance, an Emp/* Defender trying to solo things doesn't really need the rez, clear mind, heal other, absorb pain or fortitude. They can use those for, say, a self stealth, leadership for a little extra boost or other powers they may not otherwise fit into a team build (or sacrifice offensive powers to fit in.)

 

And, yeah, as mentioned, Khelds can have human-only and multiform builds, or lean more towards a certain bit of specialization.