Kinetic Melee

[Deathevn]

Good afternoon everlasting . I’ve been kicking around ideas for a brute and I thought I would ( finally ) give kinetic melee a shot . Figured brute may be a good place to do that .

 

its common knowledge that it’s on the bad side of available sets but does anyone have any experience with just how much trouble I’m inviting here ?

[Snarky]

35 minutes ago, Deathevn said:

Good afternoon everlasting . I’ve been kicking around ideas for a brute and I thought I would ( finally ) give kinetic melee a shot . Figured brute may be a good place to do that .

 

its common knowledge that it’s on the bad side of available sets but does anyone have any experience with just how much trouble I’m inviting here ?

it has a crap gimmick build up.  you have to mitigate knockback on cone.  it is energy melee's stoned brother

[Meknomancer]

57 minutes ago, Deathevn said:

Good afternoon everlasting . I’ve been kicking around ideas for a brute and I thought I would ( finally ) give kinetic melee a shot . Figured brute may be a good place to do that .

 

its common knowledge that it’s on the bad side of available sets but does anyone have any experience with just how much trouble I’m inviting here ?

 

 

@Sir Myshkin has posted the only 1 i've seen on the tanker forums with ways to maximise damage, i've only tried it on a scrapper with rad armr and didn't think much of it but tankers benefit from increased aoe radius so i'd go for that. Page 6 on this link, the one with with bio armr:

 

 

Edited July 17 by Meknomancer

[Erratic1]

Its a crap set even on Tankers but Tanker make the most of it.

[Without_Pause]

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

it has a crap gimmick build up.  you have to mitigate knockback on cone.  it is energy melee's stoned brother

I would die on the hill that Claws is what KM should have been and Claws is what Savage is. Claws with ranged attacks? WTF? I did the powerset break down recently in General between Claws and KM because it is that close in terms of fit. Not numbers. Oh no. Certainly not numbers.

 

If I had to die on any hill for KM, I would pick Assassin due to getting AS or Tanker as mentioned due to larger AoEs. 

 

In terms of the Repulsing Torrent, yes it needs a KB to KD IO, but that's not really the issue. The issue is doing 30.667 DPA with essentially the same numbers for Recharge and End as Shockwave and yet Shockwave does 55.29 DPA with FU boosting it even more, and FU can stack. You should easily be looking at Shockwave being double the DPA of Repulsing Torrent. Shockwave also roughly animates in half the time. All I'm saying is, when the game balance party happened, the person representing KM wasn't mentally all there. 

[SableShrike]

My namesake Tanker is an SR/KM flyer.

 

Few things I’ve learned in the 479 hours (as of last night) I have on him:

 

Concentrated Strike is skippable.  The animation I find goofy, it animates way too slow, and most times you whiff it as someone on the team has killed your target.

 

The first three singletargets are almost mandatory to charge your Power Siphon before a Focused Burst or AoE Burst.

 

Damage procs save the set.  I have my ATOs  in my lightest attacks, but all the bigger hits  have maxed Damage, no Recharge, and three damage procs each.  More bigger number better.

 

I use Repulsing Torrent instead of Taunt.  With maxed damage and a few damage procs, it’s significant AoE and flops the spawn.

 

KM may be best on Tanks or Stalker, as it gets glorious AoE radius or Assassin Strike respectively.  But as a Brute you wouldn’t be as reliant on Power Siphon: Rage is basically a better version.

 

I’ve had Sable so long I don’t even have a Mids file for him (I can respec him from memory, talk about wasted brain space).  But lemme see if I can recreate him to show ya some tricks.

 

Warning: this is not cheap.  He’s my flagship character and is fully dripped in purples and Boosters.

 

Here's my Tank:

 

Sable Shrike - Hero Tanker
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.7.5 rev. 20
──────────────────────────────

• Primary powerset: Super Reflexes
• Secondary powerset: Kinetic Melee
• Pool powerset (#1): Flight
• Pool powerset (#2): Fighting
• Pool powerset (#3): Medicine
• Pool powerset (#4): Experimentation
• Epic powerset: Energy Mastery
  

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Focused Fighting

• A: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance
• 3: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 3: Reactive Defenses: Defense
• 5: Reactive Defenses: Defense/RechargeTime
• 5: Reactive Defenses: Endurance/RechargeTime
• 7: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage
  

Level 1: Quick Strike

• A: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 17: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 21: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage
• 23: Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 23: Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Recharge
• 25: Superior Might of the Tanker: Recharge/Chance for +Res(All)
  

Level 2: Body Blow

• A: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 7: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• 9: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage
• 9: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 11: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Damage/RechargeTime
• 17: Superior Gauntleted Fist: RechargeTime/+Absorb
  

Level 4: Smashing Blow

• A: Invention: Accuracy
• 25: Hecatomb: Damage/Endurance
• 27: Hecatomb: Damage
• 27: Hecatomb: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 29: Touch of Death: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 29: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 6: Practiced Brawler

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
  

Level 8: Focused Senses

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 31: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• 31: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 31: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 33: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 10: Hover

• A: Microfilament Exposure
• 11: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
  

Level 12: Evasion

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 13: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• 13: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 15: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 15: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 14: Fly

• A: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)
  

Level 16: Repulsing Torrent

• A: Invention: Accuracy
• 34: Centriole Exposure
• 36: Centriole Exposure
• 36: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown
• 36: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Range
• 37: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 18: Evasive Maneuvers

• A: Hypersonic: Flying
• 19: Hypersonic: Endurance/Flying
• 19: Hypersonic: Endurance
• 21: Hypersonic: Flying / Increased Fly Protection
  

Level 20: Power Siphon

• A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up
  

Level 22: Quickness

• A: Invention: Flight Speed
  

Level 24: Burst

• A: Invention: Accuracy
• 37: Armageddon: Damage/Endurance
• 37: Armageddon: Damage
• 39: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage
• 39: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage
• 39: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 26: Dodge

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 34: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
• 34: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 28: Focused Burst

• A: Invention: Accuracy
• 40: Apocalypse: Damage/Endurance
• 40: Apocalypse: Damage
• 40: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 42: Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing Damage
• 42: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 30: Agile

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 42: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 43: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 43: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
• 43: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 32: Lucky

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
• 46: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 35: Focused Accuracy

• A: Rectified Reticle: Increased Perception
  

Level 38: Elude

• A: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
  

Level 41: Physical Perfection

• A: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self
• 46: Performance Shifter: EndMod
• 46: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  

Level 44: Boxing

• (Empty)
  

Level 47: Tough

• A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%
• 48: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• 48: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP
  

Level 49: Aid Other

• A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb
  

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Brawl

• A: Invention: Accuracy
  

Level 1: Gauntlet

Level 1: Sprint

• A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth
  

Level 2: Rest

• A: Invention: Healing
  

Level 1: Swift

• A: Invention: Flight Speed
  

Level 1: Health

• A: Miracle: +Recovery
• 50: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery
• 50: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
  

Level 1: Hurdle

• A: Invention: Jumping
  

Level 1: Stamina

• A: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self
• 48: Performance Shifter: EndMod
• 50: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  

Level 14: Afterburner

 

 

Edited July 20 by SableShrike

[LKN-351]

3 hours ago, SableShrike said:

I’ve had Sable so long I don’t even have a Mids file for him (I can respec him from memory, talk about wasted brain space).  But lemme see if I can recreate him to show ya some tricks.

 

Theres a trick for that 😉

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Build_save_(Slash_Command)

[SableShrike]

My tired brain thought there may be:  thanks for pointing that out!  I’ll favorite the page lest I forget again.

[LKN-351]

It doesn't add Accolades or Incarnate powers but it does everthing else although you can only do one buildsave at a time. The next time you run the command it overwrites the first time.

 

For ease of operation I put a shortcut to the buildsave folder in with my other MIDs builds.

[Spaghetti Betty]

I took a bit of a dive into Kinetic Melee myself. While it's factually the worst performing melee set, it is, uh, "fun", I guess!

There is something about the gameplay loop that keeps me coming back to my Bio/KM Tanker. It could be the Bio/ aspect, or the fact I like the concept of the toon. Who knows?

 

Everyone that I've shown my Tank to says its output is pretty surprising. You can find the build in this thread here:

 

Edited July 20 by Spaghetti Betty

[lemming]

1 hour ago, LKN-351 said:

It doesn't add Accolades or Incarnate powers but it does everthing else although you can only do one buildsave at a time. The next time you run the command it overwrites the first time.

 

For ease of operation I put a shortcut to the buildsave folder in with my other MIDs builds.

Try /buildsavefile FILENAME

[LKN-351]

2 hours ago, lemming said:

Try /buildsavefile FILENAME

 

I'm aware of that and it's handy but this thread is about Kinetic Melee. I wanted to help whoever reads that out but not stray too far off the main topic lol

 

@SableShrike can learn more about it if he clicks the link though, theres some helpful modifiers on the wiki page.

[wednesdaywoe]

One of my mains is a Bio/KM tank, though I played KM on brute as well. Not trying to convince anyone that it's actually secretly really good, but I've managed to get enjoyment out of the set once I changed how I was slotting my attacks. Before I would just 6-slot with whole sets, but now I'm loading up on +recharge procs everywhere I can put them. On KM, you have several good places for those. That along with a couple of damage procs in every attack. I skipped Concentrated Strike altogether.

 

Between the single target attacks, the cone (slotted with KB->KD), and the PBAoE, I'm constantly reducing the cooldowns on my longish Bio powers, and Siphon Power of course. My recharge is high enough that the PBAoE and Cone are a complete attack chain. Also, the cone is just fun to use as you approach a big group of enemies, feels like bowling.

 

[Dark Current]

@Deathevn I have one and did a video of the build, solo strategy and team tactics for my 50/50 showcase last year:

 

Edited July 26 by Dark Current

[Epistasis]

So I'm the person who has been posting all over the Scrapper forums about Kinetic Melee advice ;).  The set *is* fun, it's a veritable Swiss Army knife without having to dig into pool powers, it's just... slow.  I don't see many other KM out in the wild, but last night on Torch I was grouped with a KM Tanker, and asked him how he liked it, and that I was thinking of trying it on either a Brute or Tanker.  He said he loved it, and on a tanker, the low DPS wasn't so much an issue.  I also told him that I loved all the stuns built into the set (reluctantly took my Absolute Amazements out recently in favor of more dps), and I'm wondering if any of you tankly KMs actually use them (slotting for stun).  Stacking mag on stuns and watching lieutenants and even bosses reel for seconds at a time warmed the cockles of my heart even if it didn't help my dps (hey, they weren't damaging anyone else, amirite?)

 

I'd love a reply or two from the KM beefcakes :).

 

Sincerely,

Poetry InMotion

KM/SR Scrapper

Torchbearer