Most underrated power sets in game

[Snarky]

16 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

Incorrect.

 

Imperfect, yes

 

Unfinished; agreed

 

Needs some love: Definitely

 

Doesn't suck.

The "build up" in Kinetic Melee is situationally okay once in a while.  It was designed for a combat style that CoH is not (at least not currently)  By the time you warm up a Blaster has nuked the mobs and the team is racing down a tunnel.

[Zep]

On 3/15/2023 at 3:38 PM, Black Talon said:

Don't know if this really qualifies, but for me, it's Storm Summoning.  While this power-set comes across as almost disruptive in group settings - many have been the times with my SS/EB Defender that I've done not much more than hang out at the back, dispensing O2 Boosts and running Hurricane as a constant in order to prevent being jumped; that and the required biting sarcasm commentary so that Villain Group X can go to prison with another layer of blistering humility - I've found it to be extremely effective when working solo, with the Hurricane/Snow Storm/Freezing Rain combo serving as a great warm-up for Lightning Storm.  Haven't seen too many others handing out decks of compliments to Storm Summoning, but would certainly like to know if others have experienced much the same with this power-set.

You should have seen our 7x Storm 1xRad ITF.

 

The mobs, including the AV's just melted.

 

In the past I have seen Storm treated as the proverbial "Red Headed Step Child' (Note: I like read hair just using the expression) - at least back on the originel servers I rarely ran into other Stormies. On Indom I have ran into more than a few and have had some nice fun. 

 

With the expanded IO sets and some planning I think all the AT's/Sets can be very viable.  Stalkers still get some shade though (IMO) and a few sets like DP/Dual Blade. 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Zep

[twozerofoxtrot]

I'll always vouch for Pain Dom since you can slot Panacea's proc IO in there and it will have a chance to give health and end to everyone the aura effects, since the procs aren't listed as "self only." As far as I know it's thr only way to get Panacea's proc to not only work as it normally would in health while also benefitting teammates.

 

Not a deal breaker but if super handy and available really early on, as you can slot the proc as soon as you get the power. Helps take the sting out of early TFs with End Draining mobs.

[Zect]

I think Stalkers are extremely underrated. It's so fun to go around 3 shotting +4 bosses.

 

The dominant meta of Homecoming is mass-aoe/speedkill, so you might expect Stalkers, as a ST-focused AT, to be weak, and it's true they do not farm anywhere as well as a brute. However, on a team, the main bottleneck is actually the bosses that survive the initial broadside of aoe's and nukes. If you're able to ensure all the bosses die together with or shortly after the little trash, you make an extremely significant contribution to the team's progress. Also: critting aoe's.

 

I sometimes encounter people who have severely outdated/clueless opinions on stalkers, like I once met someone who thought that all stalkers can do is slow AS - basically still living in i23 or something. I think a lot of people still remember the AT as it was on live and have not updated their views.

 

Stalkers are also one of very few AT's and powersets that are (or at least give me a convincing illusion of being) somewhat skill-based. Compared to a mindless tank or brute lazily mashing footstomp, a stalker moving around the battlefield and picking out targets to shank, reacting to assassin's mark and assassin's focus procs, deciding when to scrap it out and when to go for a surgical strike feels more involved, more thoughtful. The little cower that minions do when you land a slow AS is not mechanically significant but feels very pleasing to me.

 

 

[Zect]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:38 AM, Black Talon said:

Don't know if this really qualifies, but for me, it's Storm Summoning.  While this power-set comes across as almost disruptive in group settings - many have been the times with my SS/EB Defender that I've done not much more than hang out at the back, dispensing O2 Boosts and running Hurricane as a constant in order to prevent being jumped; that and the required biting sarcasm commentary so that Villain Group X can go to prison with another layer of blistering humility - I've found it to be extremely effective when working solo, with the Hurricane/Snow Storm/Freezing Rain combo serving as a great warm-up for Lightning Storm.  Haven't seen too many others handing out decks of compliments to Storm Summoning, but would certainly like to know if others have experienced much the same with this power-set.

 

Storm was incredibly powerful on live (if somewhat unfriendly to the meta, which is a good thing) and its power levels skyrocketed all the way to mars with the release of non-unique KB2KD procs. I'm convinced the set was balanced around not being able to group stuff up neatly, because when it does the amount of damage it produces as a support set is sickening.

 

9 hours ago, LegionAlpha said:

Empathy set.

 

The problem with Empathy is that, like MM's, almost everyone plays them badly. I can count the number of good emps I have encountered in my entire history of playing coh on one hand.

 

A simple way to rate your empath is to look at the number of players they can consistently (>90% of the time) maintain fortitude on.

• 0: Dogshit
• 1: Garbage
• 2: Sub-par
• 3: Average. This is what SO builds are capable of, so this is the bare minimum for an emp.
• 4: Elite
• 5: World-class
• 6-7: God - you can get enough rech to maintain 7, but given movement, people being out of range, using other attacks or buffs etc. even very good emps may slip back down to 6.

Needless to say, nearly all emps are in the 0-1 range.

[StriderIV]

On 3/15/2023 at 6:04 PM, SaintD said:

Psi Melee ignores damn near every resistance in the game, while robots with the res to psi tend to be filler mobs who don't feel any worse to deal with than.....damn near everything resisting your smash/lethal battleaxe or whatever.

This. My Psi/Shield Scrapper is one of my favorite damage dealers to bring on tough ITF’s. I wish Insight wasn’t so wonky,  but when it lines up…. The thing CHUNKS.

[StriderIV]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:29 PM, Mjolnerd said:

Kinetic Melee. I don't care if it only does 95% (or whatever) of the damage some other sets do -- it does enough.

 

And I like the animations. People complain about the handwaving and "gathering energy" motions, but I love them. You just have to create the proper justification for them in your head, is all.

Kinetic Melee has my heart. My KM/Ice Armor Stalker is one of my all time faves.

[Random Axis]

On 3/15/2023 at 10:29 PM, Mjolnerd said:

Kinetic Melee. I don't care if it only does 95% (or whatever) of the damage some other sets do -- it does enough.

 

And I like the animations. People complain about the handwaving and "gathering energy" motions, but I love them. You just have to create the proper justification for them in your head, is all.

 

Kinetic melee is great. A while back I made The Worst Scrapper^TM as KM/Regen. Then it turned out that Gratuitous Windup was a ton of fun to play, and I leveled him all the way up to 50. 

[Gulbasaur]

On 3/15/2023 at 10:38 PM, Black Talon said:

Don't know if this really qualifies, but for me, it's Storm Summoning. 

My Storm Summoning Defender is my "I don't care, I just want fun" character and he rarely faces anything he can't do. I'd also give it an award for Best Abuse of Recharge as dropping three Lightning Storms at once really does feel great. 

 

I wouldn't call it underrated and it's arguably the least supportive support set, as half of it is kind of a blast set... But it's definitely fun.

 

I will say though that the Kheldians are underrated, particularly outside of the IO'd-up end game. They peak a bit early and then plateau, but that means they exemplar beautifully. 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Gulbasaur

[UltraAlt]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:45 PM, Scarlet Shocker said:

So with that preamble over, what sets do you think are excellent to play but don't necessarily get the love they deserve.

 

People are going to play what they want to play.

There is a focus from a vocal crowd that the best power sets are the numbers that crunch-out the highest and, of course, that will follow with what powers you should take when, how you should slot them, and what you should slot them with.

This yields a tiny number of options and leaves the whole domain of the rest of the game wide open for exploration if they dare.

 

I'm a character concept player.

Most of the time that means I think of a character and then pick powers that fit that concept.

Some of the time, I pick an archetype and then try out power sets that I haven't tried before and make a character conception that matches those choices.

Even less of the time, I pick a power pool set and try to build a character conception around the use of a power pool that I haven't explored.

 

And I guess this final one is where i see the road-less-travelled or underrated powersets.

 

I really love the Presence Pool to make fear-based characters. Usually that ends up meaning that I'm going to take a powerset(s) with fears as well.

Sometimes it's just fun to terrorize your enemies and make them watch in fear as you defeat their allies.

 

Concealment is fun too, but there are ninja options for that as well at this point.

 

I end up using Fighting for some characters, but I haven't tried making a character focused around those powers yet. I probably would try to mix it in with Street fighting and super reflexes if I did (or may end up doing probably at some point).

 

I know someone that focused a character around the teleport pool, but I haven't.

 

I almost always end up taking leadership maneuvers and tactics - so I'm not really going out of my way to hype those which are mainly team oriented.

 

Sometimes I mix in Leaping with blasters for the combat jumping (defense) and acrobatics (knockback and hold resistance) . 

[SaintD]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:53 AM, Supertanker said:

 

And it has Boggle! Confuse powers are so much fun.

 

Stupid animation, absolutely primo results.

Alpha strike? What alpha strike? This guy can have it.

[tidge]

On 3/17/2023 at 8:32 AM, UltraAlt said:

I really love the Presence Pool to make fear-based characters. Usually that ends up meaning that I'm going to take a powerset(s) with fears as well.

Sometimes it's just fun to terrorize your enemies and make them watch in fear as you defeat their allies.

 

I am not a fan of the need to pick either Provoke or Pacify to get both Fear powers (and Unrelenting!) from the Presence pool, yet I hope this pool never changes because it is simply too good when it is leaned into. Part of my mind can't believe that all AT have access to control powers as a power pool.

[UltraAlt]

51 minutes ago, tidge said:

I am not a fan of the need to pick either Provoke or Pacify to get both Fear powers (and Unrelenting!) from the Presence pool, yet I hope this pool never changes because it is simply too good when it is leaned into. Part of my mind can't believe that all AT have access to control powers as a power pool.

 

I agree. 

I don't like that the Provoke is the only "pull" in the set now. I like a single target versus a multi-target on any characters but a tank and tanks already have taunt.

I like a pacify but I don't use it as much as I should/could.

When I take the pool, I usually get both fears. I have only taken the self-rez on one character so far.

[nihilii]

Poison is an usual underrated pick, although I get the impression people are warming up to it.

I'd say Sonic Blast is underrated. Not that it's not played, but the revamp truly pushed it into top tier territory and I don't think it's getting recognition at that level yet.

Dark Blast and Dark Melee feel underrated. Maybe not in optimal contexts, but for casual characters. So much healing goodness and tohit debuffs, and the Dark Melee tweaks were really good to it.

Battle Axe is probably underated relative to how plain fun it is. The new version truly makes the set comfortable to play in a way no other melee set is. You get range (ranged AoE even), you get PBAoEs that don't require aiming, you even get to pull things closer to you to get whacked.

 

Symphony seems underrated. It's a solid control set in its own right and gets tons of free damage on top. It's basically Mind++.

[Scarlet Shocker]

3 minutes ago, nihilii said:

Poison is an usual underrated pick, although I get the impression people are warming up to it.

I love poison as a concept and a power set but I do struggle to play it. I find it doesn't match my play style well and while I try and get up close and personal with those toons that have it, some definitely work better than others.

[tidge]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

When I take the pool, I usually get both fears. I have only taken the self-rez on one character so far.

Unrelenting is a pretty sweet buff for high recharge characters. I especially like it on my Fortunata.

Edited March 22, 2023 by tidge

[IronJuke]

On 3/15/2023 at 6:04 PM, SaintD said:

Psi Melee ignores damn near every resistance in the game, while robots with the res to psi tend to be filler mobs who don't feel any worse to deal with than.....damn near everything resisting your smash/lethal battleaxe or whatever.

 

Psionic Melee also has my vote as most underrated offensive power set.  While it may be better on some AT's than others, it's not bad on any AT.  

 

[AxerJ]

On 3/16/2023 at 11:31 PM, Random Axis said:

 

Kinetic melee is great. A while back I made The Worst Scrapper^TM as KM/Regen. Then it turned out that Gratuitous Windup was a ton of fun to play, and I leveled him all the way up to 50. 

 

My KM/Regen scrapper is in my top 3 most fun chars to play! 

 

I think regen is a great contender for this topic. Regen is fun as hell, requires more involvement than others, and can still have supreme defense with a low cooldown MoG. And so much healing if they get through our def. And revive if that all fails, which is incredibly rare. And the scrapper KM doesn't lose its awesome ranged cone like its stalker set does. One of the coolest animations on that ranged cone, I think. 

 

My KM/Regen has water spout for more cc and that +100% recharge proc. 

Edited March 24, 2023 by AxerJ

[MoonSheep]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:07 AM, Zect said:

The problem with Empathy is that, like MM's, almost everyone plays them badly. I can count the number of good emps I have encountered in my entire history of playing coh on one hand.

 

A simple way to rate your empath is to look at the number of players they can consistently (>90% of the time) maintain fortitude on.

• 0: Dogshit
• 1: Garbage
• 2: Sub-par
• 3: Average. This is what SO builds are capable of, so this is the bare minimum for an emp.
• 4: Elite
• 5: World-class
• 6-7: God - you can get enough rech to maintain 7, but given movement, people being out of range, using other attacks or buffs etc. even very good emps may slip back down to 6.

Needless to say, nearly all emps are in the 0-1 range.

 

a lot of people have never played alongside a PvP empath and it shows in their playstyle - it’s a dual problem of people playing empaths badly and people not adapting their playstyle when they have a talented empath supporting them

 

when you have a PvP empath on your tail, it’s your license to go bananas and be outlandish with how you go about achieving objectives

[KaizenSoze]

Trick arrow, yes folks here seem to know it's powerful. In game though I rarely see it.

 

It's got everything you need to wreck mobs, -resists, -def, -regen, -toHit, and status protection while you do it.

[Krogoth]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:09 PM, KaizenSoze said:

Trick arrow, yes folks here seem to know it's powerful. In game though I rarely see it.

 

It's got everything you need to wreck mobs, -resists, -def, -regen, -toHit, and status protection while you do it.

 

In the same vein: Traps.

 -   It can feel slow on fast moving teams, but as soon as something starts to slow the team down Traps will crack it.

 -   The full suite of debuffs, status protection and defense buff.

 -   An alpha strike absorber in Seeker Drones.

 -   And its party trick: With high recharge in a drawn out fight it will put out more -resist than any other set.

[Doomguide2005]

On 3/17/2023 at 12:07 AM, Zect said:

 

Storm was incredibly powerful on live (if somewhat unfriendly to the meta, which is a good thing) and its power levels skyrocketed all the way to mars with the release of non-unique KB2KD procs. I'm convinced the set was balanced around not being able to group stuff up neatly, because when it does the amount of damage it produces as a support set is sickening.

 

 

The problem with Empathy is that, like MM's, almost everyone plays them badly. I can count the number of good emps I have encountered in my entire history of playing coh on one hand.

 

A simple way to rate your empath is to look at the number of players they can consistently (>90% of the time) maintain fortitude on.

• 0: Dogshit
• 1: Garbage
• 2: Sub-par
• 3: Average. This is what SO builds are capable of, so this is the bare minimum for an emp.
• 4: Elite
• 5: World-class
• 6-7: God - you can get enough rech to maintain 7, but given movement, people being out of range, using other attacks or buffs etc. even very good emps may slip back down to 6.

Needless to say, nearly all emps are in the 0-1 range.

It's an insane, exhausting amount of concentration required to do 6+ for multiple missions while also keeping your other buffs going (nevermind adding offensive blasts to the equation).   Burns me out quick and I become a slacker 😜.  Doubly so when the team is crushing it even when I'm in slacker mode 🙄.

[Spectral]

Is Dark Miasma considered top or not? I do see them as often as I see Poison... which is not very often.

 

I love it... every single power can be used for multiple things... Howling Twilight is a _brutal_ CC power, when used offensively... The heal has neat debuffs added, too...

Also.. I just love Fluffy (Dark Servant)... his AI is actually good (he cast 1 ranged and then runs straight into the enemy pack where his pbaoe aura will debuff mobs into oblivion).

Put Enflame from Sorcery on him and he'll also be great dps. Max his -tohit with enhancements, he can put out silly levels of tohit debuff.

[Seldom]

I would say the crab branch for soldiers doesn't get credit. They may not be great at putting down bosses, but a crab can have so much AoE it's absurd, all on an archetype that will have great staying power AND team buffs.

 

Mind control doesn't get enough props for being literally the best stealth-friendly powerset in the game. Two aggro-less AoE controls, one of which is auto-hit. One aggro-less ST control that can turn the nastiest foe on its buddies before the fight even starts.That's right, a whole third of the set sets no alert or aggro, two of those three turn enemies onto each other, and the set has three hold powers, as well as the least resisted control types in the game.

 

Broadsword doesn't get the props it needs as being as safe as it is, between parry and two awesome damager powers that juggle via KU/KD, it's good damage with good control.

 

Fire armor on stalkers used to be an issue, but with defense IO's and the updates to the powers, it now has three heals, decent resists...it's my toughest stalker now, and a great favorite. My savage/fire/soul stalker shreds, and can play pretty much like a scrapper with better burst damage.

[Scarlet Shocker]

3 hours ago, Barneysaurus said:

I would say the crab branch for soldiers doesn't get credit. They may not be great at putting down bosses, but a crab can have so much AoE it's absurd, all on an archetype that will have great staying power AND team buffs.

 

Mind control doesn't get enough props for being literally the best stealth-friendly powerset in the game. Two aggro-less AoE controls, one of which is auto-hit. One aggro-less ST control that can turn the nastiest foe on its buddies before the fight even starts.That's right, a whole third of the set sets no alert or aggro, two of those three turn enemies onto each other, and the set has three hold powers, as well as the least resisted control types in the game.

 

Broadsword doesn't get the props it needs as being as safe as it is, between parry and two awesome damager powers that juggle via KU/KD, it's good damage with good control.

 

Fire armor on stalkers used to be an issue, but with defense IO's and the updates to the powers, it now has three heals, decent resists...it's my toughest stalker now, and a great favorite. My savage/fire/soul stalker shreds, and can play pretty much like a scrapper with better burst damage.

 

I do like my Mind/Storm troller - but I think you've just given me an idea... Mind/Poison would give me 5 solid holds and a ton of stuff that isn't well resisted and my foes can all do my bidding while I stand there laughing 😄