Melee Corruptor

[carroto]

I wanted to build a Corruptor that fights in melee with mostly melee attacks, although any attacks that can be used in melee range are acceptable (so no cones).  The idea was to have a melee fighter with buffs and debuffs.  I knew the damage wouldn't be great but I thought it would be a fun project.

 

My first attempt was Rad Blast/Sonic Resonance.  I got the mez protection that is required and the Rad Blast T1 & T2 (and to some extent T3) attacks are so weak that two of the Fighting pool attacks are actually better DPSA when you take all three.  So there was no regret in skipping those attacks.  Rad Blast has a PBAoE and a TAoE, so two AoEs that can be  used in melee range (plus the nuke).  Seems like a good combo for a melee Corr.

 

I took Electricity Mastery for Charged Armor and Thunder Strike.  That allowed me to cap S/L resistances and get pretty decent Energy resists.  Roughly 300% regen and the hope was that it would be enough against enemies doing those damage types.  This will probably come as no surprise to many of you, but it's still pretty dang squishy a lot of the time.  It's okay, not terrible,and with Rebirth Destiny can be pretty tough as long as I don't get locked into a long animation and fail to fire it off in time.

 

Even so, I came to the conclusion that something else would be required in order to make this character play the way I hoped, if that's possible at all.  My first thought was that a heal would make all the difference.  So I looked at Water Blast/Sonic Resonance.  There's a self-heal plus the same number of AoEs usable in melee range.  Also pretty garbage T1 & T2 attacks.  Seems like it could work on paper, but I never liked the slow animations in the set.

 

So anyway I started slowly leveling a replacement, but I'm not super jazzed about it.  So I'm soliciting any suggestions for either improving my existing build or some other power combos entirely that could make this concept work.

 

I'm on Linux so I'm stuck running an ancient version of Mids', which means I can't do a forum export of a build, but I'll attach my existing build here and hopefully that'll work.

Soul Mirror - Corruptor (Radiation Blast).mxd

[Darkir]

If you can use rebirth destiny in the build, can we use clarion destiny instead for the mez protection? This would allow us to use a different more melee focused secondary. 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Darkir

[carroto]

1 hour ago, Darkir said:

can we use clarion destiny instead for the mez protection?

 

I wouldn't rule it out.  I generally like my builds to exemplar well but my existing one doesn't degrade as gracefully as I'd like.  Below level 35 without the epic armor and Rebirth the survivability is significantly reduced, but at least there's still Tough and Sonic Dispersion (plus IOs)  for around 45% S/L resistance, plus the regen, so it's still at least decent.  Plus the mez protection goes down to level 15.  If I rely on Clarion for mez protection I'm losing an important part of a melee build any time I exemplar.

 

Still, if there was a build that would really scratch that itch with the limitation that it only worked at 50 I'd be willing to try it out.  What would you recommend?

[Uun]

I would recommend /Time. It offers a PBAoE -tohit aura, a significant defense buff in Farsight and a heal. You could pick up Rune of Protection for mezz protection.

[Troo]

9 hours ago, carroto said:

Still, if there was a build that would really scratch that itch with the limitation that it only worked at 50 I'd be willing to try it out.  What would you recommend?

 

Suggestions that only work at 50 with Incarnates (T3+).. bleh. (In part that's what is broken with the game and many players *steps off soapbox* )

 

Rad works really well for close up action. Pairing it with something that can keep you alive and floor an enemy's damage resists and or regen helps. I can see why you went sonic.

 

Rad / Dark

 

Fearsome Stare can put swaths of enemies in a timeout, Tar Patch does -spd -res and can stack while you whittle down your selected targets. Dark has a strong tool box for Corruptors.

[Darkir]

10 hours ago, carroto said:

I wouldn't rule it out.  I generally like my builds to exemplar well but my existing one doesn't degrade as gracefully as I'd like.  Below level 35 without the epic armor and Rebirth the survivability is significantly reduced, but at least there's still Tough and Sonic Dispersion (plus IOs)  for around 45% S/L resistance, plus the regen, so it's still at least decent.  Plus the mez protection goes down to level 15.  If I rely on Clarion for mez protection I'm losing an important part of a melee build any time I exemplar.

 

Still, if there was a build that would really scratch that itch with the limitation that it only worked at 50 I'd be willing to try it out.  What would you recommend?

 

Go rad/time, you'll have farsight and time's juncture in order to severally lower your chance of being hit by a mez even when exemplaring. At 50 you can use clarion and be softcapped.

[carroto]

8 hours ago, Troo said:

Rad / Dark

 

I appreciate the suggestion but FS is a cone which doesn't work well in melee range.  Sure I could fire it off as I move in, but I have a decent amount of experience with Dark Miasma and I don't agree that it's suited to this application.  Toggle debuffs are subject to cascade failure if a mez gets through and FS alone isn't enough.  Been there, done that.  On top of that I'm not a fan of DM in the current meta.  The slow animations make it poorly suited to keep up with fast-moving teams.

 

Additionally there are too many situations where there's a second group or an ambush or the mobs are spread out, etc. to where debuffs cannot be applied evenly.  That can be workable if I'm hanging back and blasting from range, but I don't see it working in melee.

[carroto]

7 hours ago, Darkir said:

rad/time

 

I'll have to give this one some thought.  I have a Fire/Time with perma-Chrono Shift with a decent amount of defense and it does work as a sort of ghetto mez protection because at least most of the defense doesn't shut down when mezzed, so I can usually safely wait out any mez that does get through and I'm unlikely to end up chain-mezzed.  Although that's a fun and powerful character, playing it gets a bit tiresome after a while having to keep up with multiple clicks all the time to keep my protections up, and if they wear off and I get mezzed I have no recourse.

 

IIRC Rune of Protection can be used while mezzed as a mez break, so I suppose I could include that in the build but I suspect that at that point it would be getting incredibly tight.  I'll play around with a build in Mids' but I suspect it will require too many sacrifices to include the necessary tools to make the concept work well.

[Uun]

2 hours ago, carroto said:

Although that's a fun and powerful character, playing it gets a bit tiresome after a while having to keep up with multiple clicks all the time to keep my protections up, and if they wear off and I get mezzed I have no recourse.

I fire off Power Boost, Chrono Shift and Farsight all at the same time every 90 seconds (or whenever Chrono Shift recharges).

[Dungeoness Eloora]

When you say you want to create a melee fighter with buffs and debuffs, is the requirement that you want to buff yourself, or provide buffs for an entire group? Even though pool power melee attacks are available to all ATs, most don't have the damage multiplier needed to make them worthy of using in a regular DPS rotation.

 

You can build a pretty sturdy Blaster nowadays, though admittedly less so in the early game unless you eschew offensive power picks in favor of defensive ones. You've got self buffs, strong melee attacks and of course ranged attacks when you want them. Some sets provide a side helping of debuffs in addition to soft CC. DPS also contributes to the success of a team in an equal but different way than buffs/debuffs do. I would still consider Blasters to be the ultimate bridge between meaningful melee and ranged damage.

Of note also is that their version of Thunder Strike, in the Electrical Manipulation secondary, animates almost a full second faster than the Corruptor's epic pool version. You mentioned being bothered by slow animations and, well, it's noticeable, trust me. Neutron Basketballomb also animates painfully slow, with pathetic damage to boot.

 

If you're set on being in melee range while contributing buffs to your whole team (the best ones also working on you) with a Corruptor, I second @Darkir's suggestion of Time as a secondary set. It is great all around for a little bit of everything - small heal, buffs, debuffs, soft CC, with a couple of powers that can be proc'd for some damage. I don't really have a strong recommendation for primary, particularly if the concept involves skipping or not using most of the best ranged damage powers in a given set because they don't animate like a melee attack.

 

If you want to play a formidable melee character that provides strong buffs and some CC to a team, while dealing actually respectable damage and not getting mezzed every 10 seconds, play a Fortunata Widow hybrid 😉.

[Troo]

On 7/18/2023 at 3:29 PM, carroto said:

 

I appreciate the suggestion but FS is a cone which doesn't work well in melee range.  Sure I could fire it off as I move in, but I have a decent amount of experience with Dark Miasma and I don't agree that it's suited to this application.  Toggle debuffs are subject to cascade failure if a mez gets through and FS alone isn't enough.  Been there, done that.  On top of that I'm not a fan of DM in the current meta.  The slow animations make it poorly suited to keep up with fast-moving teams.

 

Additionally there are too many situations where there's a second group or an ambush or the mobs are spread out, etc. to where debuffs cannot be applied evenly.  That can be workable if I'm hanging back and blasting from range, but I don't see it working in melee.

 

hey no problem.

 

you do you.

[Nemu]

You can try something offbeat like this:

[BazookaTwo]

On 7/20/2023 at 2:08 PM, Nemu said:

You can try something offbeat like this:

 

I need to dust off that pistols/traps corr, but he's not on my usual shard. It's still a fun character even if things aren't always awesome.