How do you deal with MA's lack of AOE?

[Zewks]

I find that playing a character, especially when leveling up, is an absolute chore when that character has little or no AoE damage output.

 

At higher levels, especially in groups, when people are running +4/8, having 90% of your attacks be single target when there are 20 enemies grouped up around you, just feels bad.

 

Curious how others cope or get around this limitation when running MA?

[PLVRIZR]

4 hours ago, Zewks said:

Curious how others cope or get around this limitation when running MA?

First answer depends on how fast is your Dragon's Tail recharge?  Super Strength has only one AOE, but when it's up every 5 seconds, do you need more than Foot Stomp?  Once you hit level 20, you can also slot a Force Feedback +recharge, to keep it going (and going).  At level 25, you can put Luck of the Gamblers' global recharge in any defensive power.  They're not unique, so drop as many in as you can fit (don't exceed the "rule of five", however).  You did take Combat Jumping, right?  😆  Hasten is your friend, as well.

 

Don't forget that you'll also be spamming Storm Kick, for that +def goodness.  Whether you pick a boss to whittle down or take out minions and lieuts with Crane Kick, adding a damage proc makes that thunderous side-kick sound file even better, by doing extra damage (use a Sudden Acceleration or Overwhelming Force knockback to knockdown, to keep them from flying away from you).

 

Next would be pick a secondary that has AOE built in.  Fire, Rad and Bio armor all can fit that bill.  I haven't done a Brute version, but @Sovera's "Brunker" build is amazing on a tank (Fire/MA).

 

Finally, if you're already taking the Fighting Pool, Cross Punch is AOE, which not only gets bonuses for already having Kick, Tough and Weave, but fits the martial arts set, thematically.  Then you've got Ancillary/Epic pool choices and Incarnates...many with AOEs available.

Edited January 15 by PLVRIZR
nope, not an AOE

[Zewks]

10 minutes ago, PLVRIZR said:

Don't forget that you'll also be spamming Storm Kick (yup, it's also AOE), for that +def goodness.

 

Maybe im missing something, but both in game and in Mids, it says Single Target

[Spaghetti Betty]

3 minutes ago, PLVRIZR said:

Bummer, the Brute version must be ST.  Here's the tank version:

I think we're losing him fellas!

[PLVRIZR]

Just now, Spaghetti Betty said:

I think we're losing him fellas!

Hey, I fixed it!

 

I should just stick to the tanker forum, anyway...

[Spaghetti Betty]

PLV is at least right about Dragons Tail. It's meant to be a buzzsaw AoE ala Spin, Foot Stomp, etc. MA is an ST specialist set, but Dragons Tail is designed for you to spam it when it's up in between your ST attacks. You could always take another AoE from an epic pool if that's not enough for you. Might I suggest Dark Obliteration?

 

Imagine playing MA at launch when it was just a cone!

[PeregrineFalcon]

My first Scrapper to 50, back on the retail servers, was MA/SR. My main, on both retail and Homecoming, is a Energy Melee. I guess that I just don't expect melee to be be AoE. To me the very idea of a melee attack being AoE makes no sense in most cases.

 

So I guess the way that I deal with it, to answer the OP's question, is that I focus on what makes sense given the animations that I'm seeing and just having fun instead of caring about optimal DPS. Of course I also don't play on +4/x8 because the TTK is annoyingly long.

[Carnifax]

Wait, storm kick is AoE on Tanks? When did that happen? Is it just Punchvoke confusing things?

 

Edit: oh no, I see from the tooltip. That means i t GRANTS AoE defense. I knew that. 

 

On my Tank the answer was Rad. Proccing up Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero gave me good "alpha aoe" then Dragon Tail in fights with a forced feedback. 

Edited January 15 by Carnifax

[Sovera]

No, Storm Kick is not an AoE, it's a ST attack that grants defense to melee, ranged and AoE. It's that '+defense (melee, ranged, AoE' tag that confuzzled Pulverizer.

 

 

But yes, you don't 'fix' MA's AoE because there is nothing to do about it other than incorporating a secondary that has AoE as well. Now one one hand I would not undersell ST damage. In a team everyone's AoE will clean the minions and lieutenants in seconds anyway, right? So the focus should be on targetting the mobs that we already know will be alive after that (there's a way to show all the mob's HP and bars in my newbie guide right at the end).

 

But on the other hand when solo or even team split apart or whatever it feels nice to drop some AoEs and see the HP go down. As Pulverizer pointed out the MA + Fire Armor Tanker build is the one that has pleased me the most because Burn is a decent AoE on its own and Dragon's Tail has the opportunity to slot in a Force Feedback proc that pretty much ensures it will go off in an AoE situation in turn making the next Burn have a few seconds shaved off.

 

On a Tanker it's a build that's gimmicky AF making it have permanent 45% defense to melee/ranged/AoE as well as 90% resistances to all. But even without all the gimmicks it's still a Tanker and breezes through the levels with the combo of Dragon Tail + Burn. Anyway, it's the Turtle build in my Fire Armor signature.

 

I did make a Brute version but too many sacrifices were needed to do the same gimmick so it might be smarter to just focus on resistances and simply aim for 45% S/L which is really easy thanks to the 7.5% from Storm Kick.

 

If Fire Armor does not please you then you only have Radiation Armor left in terms of boosting your AoE. As Carnifax said you can proc out Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero. One of the downsides of doing this is the recharge being killed to max out the proc changes... which Dragon Tail and Force Feedback helps fix. Serendipity!

 

 

I don't consider Cross Punch a 'real' AoE alternative partly because we can only realistically take it in the 30-35 range due to the requirements (unless we push out more important powers for later) but it's something to look into since you're probably taking Tough and Weave anyway, so it's all a matter of finding 5-6 slots and one power slot.

[lemming]

In a proper martial fight, you're fighting the enemies one at a time.   "Please take a number, your boot to the head is very important to us"

 

But yea, my MA/Regen brute does a lot of Dragon Tail, plus Cross Punch.   Works well enough for my style of play.

[UltraAlt]

21 hours ago, Zewks said:

At higher levels, especially in groups, when people are running +4/8, having 90% of your attacks be single target when there are 20 enemies grouped up around you, just feels bad.

 

The game isn't designed to be played at +4/8.

 

Increasing the difficulty level and spawn size is there to make the game more difficult. You are experiencing that difficulty.

 

You could get some more AoEs out of power pools: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Leaping#Spring_Attack, https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Experimentation#Corrosive_Vial, and https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Force_of_Will ....

 

22 hours ago, Zewks said:

Curious how others cope or get around this limitation when running MA?

 

... but, of course, the easiest way to add more AoE damage is teammates. 

 

 

[High_Beam]

No AoE, no problem, Totally Cali has plenty of stiletto kicks for you.

 

I have never felt like  was defeating opposition spawns slowly due to a lack of AoE.  I just kick faster.  Dragon's Tail is fine; puts them on their ass.  But you take a four inch Christian Louboutin spike kick in the chest, you aren't getting up baby.

Edited January 17 by High_Beam

[wjrasmussen]

On 1/15/2024 at 10:20 AM, Zewks said:

I find that playing a character, especially when leveling up, is an absolute chore when that character has little or no AoE damage output.

 

At higher levels, especially in groups, when people are running +4/8, having 90% of your attacks be single target when there are 20 enemies grouped up around you, just feels bad.

 

Curious how others cope or get around this limitation when running MA?

Street fighting BOSS mobs.

[kelika2]

Fiery Aura.