Super Strength Area attacks?

[Shin Magmus]

   Mods, lock this thread.  We can skip to the end, we know how Ultimo threads go.  If someone could be made of concentrated Wrongium...

[Lazarus]

FROM another post

 

I have a few ideas.

 

  On 5/29/2025 at 9:25 PM, Gobbledygook said:

Turn Handclap from an AoE to a cone and have it deal damage.

Shockwaves from explosions deal serious damage.

I like this idea and would be in line with ALL other melee sets having 1 aoe and 1 cone.

 

  On 5/16/2025 at 1:49 AM, Biff Pow said:

Make Hurl's knockback AoE like Propel (from Gravity Control.) I agree about leaving a mark on the ground, this is something I like about the Mighty Judgement power.

ALSO  a good idea.

 

Then my RAGE idea 

RAGE 

toggle   .39 end/sec or .56 end/sec

+50% DAMAGE,  +10% TO HIT, +DAMAGE ON KB/KD, ( dam. proc on kd/kb)

 

With this rage looks more like the OFFENSIVE STANCE from bio armor.

[Ultimo]

I do think Rage should be adjusted, because the set it altogether TOO reliant on it... but that really wasn't the point of the thread.  I was more interested in giving Super Strength a couple of AOEs, a bit earlier in the set.  Putting an AOE on Hurl, and moving to an earlier point in the progression would accomodate that, I think.

 

 

On 7/5/2025 at 2:04 PM, Shin Magmus said:

   Mods, lock this thread.  We can skip to the end, we know how Ultimo threads go.  If someone could be made of concentrated Wrongium...

I'll post what I like.  If you don't like what I post, you're welcome to not read it.

[Captain Citadel]

On 7/2/2025 at 7:56 PM, Captain Fabulous said:

Keep ya grubby mitts off Rage! It's fine just as it is.

Not for nothing but I find it difficult to believe SS is a top-damage set considering how many critters resist smashing damage, and this comes from someone whose main has been an Invul/SS tank since 2004. I mean it holds its own, but I highly doubt it's at the top of the list.

That being said I wouldn't mind seeing the KB in Hand Clap reduced to KD so I don't have to burn a slot for a KB2KD IO and the stun upgraded to 100% chance MAG 3. A small amount of damage would be the cherry on top as it would open the door for a lot more procs.

And while I also wouldn't object to Haymaker being turned into a melee cone, I find Sands of Mu works well for that. Along with the Blackwand and Nemesis Staff they're great powers to use when Rage drops as they're immune to damage debuffs.

I get why people bring up these powers as solutions for the Rage crash problem, I just don't like it because the solution is effectively "just pull these other weapons/powers out of your ass and wreck your immersion for a bit."

My problems with SS have pretty much always been two things: the Rage crash, and the fact that both Foot Stomp and Mighty Judgement are compatible with flight powers, but Hurl isn't.

But I remember the last time I brought up the Hurl thing (this was probably a few years ago by now) some people thought I was asking for Hurl to just conjure a chunk of rock from thin air and be usable from 500 feet up. Makes me wonder if I'm like...the only Invuln/SS player that has Fly and Hover running all the time. I know Laser Beam Eyes and Energy Torrent are solid options for ranged attacks too, but if the whole point of my build is to play a character similar to Superman but lacking any of his powers beyond "flying brick" then I can't use those without breaking theme.

It'll never happen, but I think a bold solution to the problem with Rage (and the larger issue of so many mobs being resistant to Smashing/Lethal damage) would actually be to get rid of Rage entirely, replace it with standard Build Up like all the other melee sets, and then give SS a powerset-wide gimmick like a lot of other powersets do. In this case it would be a -Res debuff of some kind, symbolizing Super Strength's attacks striking with such force that even armored targets start to crack.

I know Sonic ranged powersets already exist and this is their gimmick, but if you think about it, this isn't exactly new. It's just not been done with powersets that use different "elements" if that makes sense. Like Dark Blast and Dark Melee have similar effects, and the same goes for Fire, Cold, Radiation, Energy, etc. I don't think "Sonic Melee" is really a powerset that we need, but -Res would be a cool effect for a melee set to have, and it would differentiate Super Strength from the other melee sets. Plus, we already have a bunch of different bladed weapons as separate powersets and yet they all have the same -Def gimmick. So even if we did get a "Sonic Melee" in the future, we could have two melee sets with -Res on them.

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, Captain Citadel said:

I get why people bring up these powers as solutions for the Rage crash problem, I just don't like it because the solution is effectively "just pull these other weapons/powers out of your ass and wreck your immersion for a bit."

I don't see how Sands of Mu really breaks SS immersion. But if that little bit of fluff around your fists really bothers you the Rage crash is also a good time to use Taunt or Handclap. I mean, you can use any powers really, but damaging powers affected by the debuff aren't going to do much other than generate punchvoke or apply a mez effect. Sorry, I just don't see the crash as a big deal. This is not to say I would be upset if it was removed (I think all penalties should be removed), but in the grand scheme it's not an issue. There are so many ways to deal with it.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Citadel said:

My problems with SS have pretty much always been two things: the Rage crash, and the fact that both Foot Stomp and Mighty Judgement are compatible with flight powers, but Hurl isn't.

But I remember the last time I brought up the Hurl thing (this was probably a few years ago by now) some people thought I was asking for Hurl to just conjure a chunk of rock from thin air and be usable from 500 feet up. Makes me wonder if I'm like...the only Invuln/SS player that has Fly and Hover running all the time. I know Laser Beam Eyes and Energy Torrent are solid options for ranged attacks too, but if the whole point of my build is to play a character similar to Superman but lacking any of his powers beyond "flying brick" then I can't use those without breaking theme.

You don't want to break immersion by using Sands of Mu, Blackwand, or Nemesis Staff, but you want to be able to conjure a giant chunk of the ground out of thin air? Superman can't do that (tho shooting beams out of his eyes is right up his alley). Some powers only work near the ground (Foot Stomp and Mighty Judgement should be on that list, but that's a different discussion). Hurl is one of them. It makes no sense otherwise. Even with Hover or Flight running you should be able to use it as long as you're close to the ground. But never mid-air.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Citadel said:

It'll never happen, but I think a bold solution to the problem with Rage (and the larger issue of so many mobs being resistant to Smashing/Lethal damage) would actually be to get rid of Rage entirely, replace it with standard Build Up like all the other melee sets, and then give SS a powerset-wide gimmick like a lot of other powersets do. In this case it would be a -Res debuff of some kind, symbolizing Super Strength's attacks striking with such force that even armored targets start to crack.

NYET comrade. Leave Rage alone! It's one of the few things that makes SS unique, and it's really irksome how so many of you want to see it converted to Build Up. SS powers already have secondary effects, including KB/D, stun, and hold. Giving it -res would almost certainly mean losing them.

[Captain Citadel]

48 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

You don't want to break immersion by using Sands of Mu, Blackwand, or Nemesis Staff, but you want to be able to conjure a giant chunk of the ground out of thin air? Superman can't do that (tho shooting beams out of his eyes is right up his alley). Some powers only work near the ground (Foot Stomp and Mighty Judgement should be on that list, but that's a different discussion). Hurl is one of them. It makes no sense otherwise. Even with Hover or Flight running you should be able to use it as long as you're close to the ground. But never mid-air.

I specifically said I don't want to do that, I just want Hurl to work while flying in the same way that Foot Stomp and Mighty Judgement do. I can punch the ground with my fist or stomp it with my foot while using a flight power at ground/floor level, but I can't pull up a chunk of rock? It's silly. The last time I tried to point this out though, it was as if nobody else in the whole game ever tried using those powers with a flight toggle, they kept trying to explain to me why those powers don't work while flying. They do, you just can't be above the ground. It works logically. Hurl doesn't, but if those two do, then it should too.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Fabulous said:

NYET comrade. Leave Rage alone! It's one of the few things that makes SS unique, and it's really irksome how so many of you want to see it converted to Build Up. SS powers already have secondary effects, including KB/D, stun, and hold. Giving it -res would almost certainly mean losing them.

Also no, SS wouldn't lose those effects if it gained -Res. Sonic attack sets have knockback, disorient, and sleep powers. Rage might be the only thing unique about SS, but SS is also one of the oldest powersets in the game and it shows. Rage is a pretty boring power. All it does is add damage to a powerset that has the most resisted damage type in the game, and the 10 seconds of literally zero damage is way too punishing. I know it has +ToHit as well but I never notice it because I've already got that from so many other sources, my accuracy is fine. It very much feels like a power designed for an era of CoH where we didn't have IO sets or diminishing returns on enhancements.

If they don't get rid of it, it would be cool if it could be made into a mutually exclusive choice node at least, so people could pick up a different power that doesn't crash (make it a toggle or an auto-power, idk) and adds -Res to all their SS attacks in exchange for no +Dmg buff. Call it "Controlled Aggression" or something.

[Psyonico]

1 hour ago, Captain Fabulous said:

but you want to be able to conjure a giant chunk of the ground out of thin air?

Reading comprehension FTL.  In the very quote you responded to he explained that wasn’t what he wanted:

 

2 hours ago, Captain Citadel said:

some people thought I was asking for Hurl to just conjure a chunk of rock from thin air and be usable from 500 feet up.

 

just like Foot Stomp and burn can be used while hovering at ground height, he wants that for Hurl, and I don’t see a problem with that request.