The Black Condore

[Ultimo]

So, many years ago, I made my own comics.  One of the characters was called the Condore (not sure why I spelled it with the e on the end...), and I'm trying to recreate him for the game.  His combat style was similar to the Angel, since he's based on him.  Winged, he would fly by, get the attention of the enemy, then avoid their attacks from a distance while his teammates took them out.  To me, that's a TANKER.

 

I've created him with Super Reflexes (ie. avoiding attacks), but I'm having trouble deciding on an offensive set.  I've kind of narrowed it down to Street Justice or Martial Arts, but I can't quite decide which to use, and I thought I'd seek opinions here (as I often do).

 

Which is better for a flying character?  The animations can look wierd on Martial Arts, but Street Justice also has some wierd animations with the wings and everything...  Does one synergize with the Super Reflexes better than the other?  What advantages are there between them?

 

Any thoughts are welcome.

[ZemX]

38 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

Winged, he would fly by, get the attention of the enemy, then avoid their attacks from a distance while his teammates took them out.  To me, that's a TANKER.

 

Except for the "from a distance part".  Tankers are designed to be in melee range.  They CAN to some extent grab and hold aggro at range but not nearly as well since the taunt aura and most (or all, depending on powerset) of their secondary powerset are melee range powers.  7-10ft range in other words.  You have ranged Taunt plus whatever the secondary has if it has any ranged attacks.  Speaking of which....

 

Claws might be your best bet if you want to do any ranged work.  Focus (40ft) and Shockwave (30ft).  Then you can find additional pool powers for more ranged attacks.   And I bet claws doesn't look weird in flight either.  But I don't have a lot of personal experience there since it's my least favorite travel form.  It does have a number of different claw customizations though so you may find something that fits.

 

Savage Melee is similar to Claws in theme but doesn't have any ranged attacks except for the teleport leap attack that then puts you in melee range.  That might be played as a "swoop in" attack by a winged character.  The Build Up is kind of animalistic (roar and all) though so that might not fit your theme.

[Psyonico]

Honestly, staying at range makes me think Sentinel over Tanker, and SR is pretty darn good on Sents.  But, if you wanted to stick to tanker, Street Justice will probably look a little less weird flying than MA.

 

Have you thought about Staff?  Sky Splitter's +resist would stack nicely with SR's soft capped defense, and you've got a ranged attack with Serpent's Reach.

[Ultimo]

Honestly, I solo most of the time, if I actually had to do any real tanking, he'd likely stay in melee range.  I'm speaking conceptually when I say he'd stay at range (though, if it's an outdoor map, I might use a hit and run strategy, flying by with an attack (slotted for taunt), then getting out of reach, using a ranged taunt, then doing another move by, and so on).

 

I did look at claws, but there wasn't a version of the claws themselves that I liked, so I decided to pass on the set.  I tried Savage Melee too, but the animations don't work well with the wings.

 

[Doc Spectre]

Maybe the much maligned Kinetic Melee, has ranged attacks anyway.

[Ultimo]

35 minutes ago, Doc Spectre said:

Maybe the much maligned Kinetic Melee, has ranged attacks anyway.

I have a character that uses it, and the animations take too long (a lot of waving and swinging of arms).  As I say, he's a hit and run kind of character, kind of a speedster, so the slow animations don't work.  As I say, I'm more or less settled on either Martial Arts of Street Justice, I just can't quite decide which.

 

I'm LEANING toward Street Justice.  The animations seem quicker, the attacks hit harder, and he gets a couple of AOEs while Martial Arts only gets one.  On the other hand, Martial Arts is a little more kicky, which suits a character who flies, because his feet would be closer to the enemy when he's above them.  More, it does get a Defense bonus from Storm Kick.  However, the attacks seem to be a bit slower, and do less damage.  So, I'm a bit torn.

[Psyonico]

Honestly, you don't need the defense from Storm Kick on an SR tank.  You can easily I-cap defense to all positions without it AND SR tanks get 95% DDR.

 

However, Eagle Claw's 10 second damage boost is nice.

 

I believe from a numbers perspective, MA is a little bit better than StJ, however, I personally prefer the feel of StJ.

[Sovera]

3 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

I have a character that uses it, and the animations take too long (a lot of waving and swinging of arms).  As I say, he's a hit and run kind of character, kind of a speedster, so the slow animations don't work.  As I say, I'm more or less settled on either Martial Arts of Street Justice, I just can't quite decide which.

 

I'm LEANING toward Street Justice.  The animations seem quicker, the attacks hit harder, and he gets a couple of AOEs while Martial Arts only gets one.  On the other hand, Martial Arts is a little more kicky, which suits a character who flies, because his feet would be closer to the enemy when he's above them.  More, it does get a Defense bonus from Storm Kick.  However, the attacks seem to be a bit slower, and do less damage.  So, I'm a bit torn.

 

The damage of StJ is mainly funneled to the T9 where with MA it's more spread around. The AoE of MA is just sad though though it plays well with supporting another AoE once you reach the epic pool (not that I really see anything there fitting your concept except perhaps the cone in Energy Mastery as being a wing buffet gust thing). But it does have a capable ST rotation with Storm Kick, Cobra Strike, and Crane Kick.and the AoE by level 20. Crippling Axe Kick is barely more damage than Cobra Strike and not worth the wait of leveling/exemplaring with just two attacks IMO. The extra 10% from Storm Kick is not really adding much to Super Reflexes since that set oozes defences. You could consider making it a Brute since their lower defences would make the combo actually pay off, but on a Tanker it's just overkill in defences. The differences in toughness between both shouldn't be huge considering how early the Brute would come online from the pairing of SR and Storm Kick.

 

 

On the other hand since StJ funnels the damage to Crushing Uppercut AND has a combo system you want to spend those combo points there, but CU has bad recharge making it super awkward to make a ST rotation going. You'll need something like four ST attacks so that three of them can be juggled until CU is back up. At best CU will be up every 7 seconds which is a really long time to wait. Sweeping Cross is a finisher and will eat your combo points, so that leaves either leveling to to 20 without a second attack in order to take Shin Breaker and combo it with Rib Cracker and Heavy Blow, or you play it safe and take Initial Strike, Heavy Blow, and Rib Cracker

 

Sweeping Cross remains a possibility since you can do Initial Strike, Heavy Blow, Initial Strike, Sweeping Cross, then Initial Strike, Heavy Blow, Initial Strike, Crushing Uppercut. It's not a damage heavy combo because using T1 and T2 in the attack rotation, but it's safe and simple and should not require tons of recharge. Initial Strike is not an interesting attack though.

 

With (a lot) more recharge Initial Strike could be swapped for Rib Cracker and become Heavy Blow (does KD so can fit a FF proc), Rib Cracker (does -res), Heavy Blow, Sweeping, repeat but finish with CU.

 

If you REALLY don't think you will ever exemplar you can add Shin Breaker since Shin Breaker takes a -res proc that helps, but that means one attack at level 1, one at 20, and the third at 28, but Sweeping is another AoE and that does help.

 

 

Overall MA is much simpler to set up and play but it depends on what you'd like to go for.

[biostem]

2 hours ago, ZemX said:

Claws might be your best bet

I second this.  Plus, you can select one of the less obvious claws weapon models, so it looks more like you are just kind of punching the enemy.