Kin/Bio: Or why I still love Knockback! <3

[Steampunkette]

After screwing around a little bit in the costume creator a week or two ago I loaded up an old concept called "Peacekeeper" who used white-white Street Justice and Willpower as a sort of 'Spielbergian Light Combat" concept but forgot that I had Bio Armor on my secondary. When I scrolled through the powers to change them, I saw wind. Genetic Contamination, in particular, looked windy as heck.

 

I turned around and slapped Kinetic Melee on the character, set it up as a whitish-grey, and then started costuming because it looked great.

 

In game, in play, it looks even better.

 

Cyclone was born, my Wind/Wind Brute. Bouncy, Bright, and Fun she blasts enemies across the room and rebuilds their formations there.

 

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1496&c=694&a=1388&f=HEX&dc=78DA6594D952134114867BC8C4980DC2BE13B260582424A2D7966C5E400445BD4DA5621346C20493B10A2E79056FBCB24A5FC01BF772790F15041EC0A58A4B2DE349FEBF305599AAA9AFE7EFFEFB9CEE3E3D99DD85C0F3EBFB5795E19F2FE62A95EC5CF9A1A33DEB794BDB79ADE4F1CCEFE58B255B7BA43D50EFCD667451EBE4B2656BC7CA67AF394E2EBF1546D782DED0764527E7AC5276B55CC8D9B501E5ED5259F9D74AA56272A96815361D5FBDBDBEA3F5BD20E49A6AD985AEFAD7E2EE8E2E5BDBDA76728E55B2FB1777AC7C72D1D6E5C25E3693AB38BABC873CFB24A771793F87149FAAA936046953B514C84DD0BC4F5AE08B98D0A067441A09539D0B9331F07C948C805F42B488C7601C1FE3F81827C0F9038CF7553C2E7A5CD45AE96DA537446F88DE57929B9BB9B9BB8DBAD61122BBC0AE4EB2033C94381E78DC9E76B3AEF5B4817DAD64101C08802321F0B5C4F3C25B3D9079FC86BBD636FC53C867807C29E38218E70ADE45DCA13BE4E316CCF908F44BC1B461DDAA2D06FF91CCDDCEBD683F7061FC2138FA8D3C228FC1F7E2EDE45E74F27C223CAF08CF29C2F389F1BCA212BB1B1EA39BB9F79011E9EB655EBD59551F7F2C79F533AFFE2718177B463E05E30FB0AEB80D7E90BC06557D9FCCC19BD883F82DF0C23A799BE41E7925F630F31A5EC6FAD2A7E089E410660E61D64782F591607D24581F13ACA38F9243947B13FD8DBC26FE900AF34E56F13DF917FC249E319CAF39B68CBC2657C08B197295BC011A1EDCB3DA9E8D6F21B64BB429C69EEA95C6B0A9A62F21E6740ABEE92BE0CC2C688A27494F92753DC37A9E617DA759CF69D6775C3C29C64EED630D43E6D97D57EA84EB6CD4AAF2A85493926E52669B94CB4DCA9279F6A7A8AE34F67A91CD9A79F65750C62076C7FBFFD657BFFBA4DF603F6FC2CF462D0EED47A3360EED57A3360AED6DEDB672EE370DED770DED7FF54DDCB6

 

Because of Bio Armor's disparate needs and Kinetic Melee's own desires I decided not to try and focus my Defenses or Resistances for cap (soft or hard). I knew I'd need a lot of regen, too, because the set is built around a comprehensive sort of setup while Kinetic Melee desperately needs recharge. So I aimed my Energy/Negative towards Softcap and my Smash/Lethal to the actual cap. Then I grabbed a messload of Recharge to get DNA Siphon and Parasitic Aura up more often so I'd get some nice self-healing and regeneration bonuses.

 

The result, so far, is that I wreck most enemy groups without slowing down. Ever. I use both auras and my torrent to gather aggro off teammates and generally make a mess of the battlefield and I'm only level 43 (I use Attuned IOs but my build is not complete, I generally don't boost my IOs 'cause I'd rather have all the bonuses when I exemplar).

 

You'll notice I don't have a Taunt in this build. It's not that I don't have room for it (I could always drop Flurry and Whirlwind to pick it up at 24 or something and have room for Maneuvers), it's that I specifically don't want it.  Repulsing Torrent is just -so- good as an Aggro Generator because it combines AoE damage, Aggro Generation, and Soft Control. Plus if there's a single dangerous runner I can always fling a Focused Burst out in place of Confront. 😄 

 

But I did say 'Most' groups. Now obviously my build isn't complete because I don't have Weave, yet (I also don't have Flurry, I pushed that up toward the end in-game and took Boxing/Tough a little earlier). And this build is never going to be particularly well defended against Psychic Damage (22% is nothing to sneeze at, but come on that's less than a 50% reduction in incoming damage and I've only got 24% resist). But that's where Knocback Love comes in! ❤️

 

I start pretty much every fight against Psychics by blasting them end over end across the room. That's my Alpha: Spreading the group around a bit. I know, I know, it's not the most efficient way to win. I do aim for walls, though, -obviously- to try and get as much of the group onto the knocked down Psychics as possible. Then I start kicking their butts while they squirm around on the floor. Energy and Lethal attacks are coming at me, but even with my currently 31% Nrg/Neg defense and 72% Smash/Lethal resistance I'm not in serious danger at all! And if someone manages to get up, I've always got high chances for knockback with other attacks or could just torrent them right back into the wall.

 

Regen, Recovery, Defense, Damage Resistance, Recharge... all of them make Knockback even more powerful! I love it to bits! ❤️ 

[Steampunkette]

Also: 

 

 

Simple Pleasures are some of the best! I get to make Leaf-tornadoes!

 

Also Bullet-Tornadoes and Garbage-Tornadoes. Quick! Someone Trow Fish at me so we can make a Sharknado!

[Deathbunny]

I'm a bit of a noob here and an altoholic, so I'd love to see some feedback from the more knowledgeable crowd on this -- but to me, this looks fun as hell.  I don't know how a team would feel about all the KB, but I think I'd be laughing too hard to care.  I may have to try this out. :-)

[Bloodofcaine]

On 8/13/2019 at 7:38 AM, Deathbunny said:

I'm a bit of a noob here and an altoholic, so I'd love to see some feedback from the more knowledgeable crowd on this -- but to me, this looks fun as hell.  I don't know how a team would feel about all the KB, but I think I'd be laughing too hard to care.  I may have to try this out. 🙂

 

 

 The concept sounds fun, but I've been on teams where people get absolutely incensed if folks use knockbacks a lot. I recall Just  a couple days ago when I was running with a PUG doing PI missions and we had a warshade I believe. Team got so mad the knockback was disrupting their AOEs they kicked the guy. I personally don't mind, fun to me is more important than cold efficiency. I am usually the type to take handclap on a super strength character just cause I like how it looks.

[oldskool]

1 hour ago, Bloodofcaine said:

The concept sounds fun, but I've been on teams where people get absolutely incensed if folks use knockbacks a lot. I recall Just  a couple days ago when I was running with a PUG doing PI missions and we had a warshade I believe. Team got so mad the knockback was disrupting their AOEs they kicked the guy. I personally don't mind, fun to me is more important than cold efficiency. I am usually the type to take handclap on a super strength character just cause I like how it looks.

People do silly stuff all the time.  One time I got side-eyed on my Grav Controller with a quaint passive-aggressive comment of "You can always tell when a Gravity Controller is around" which was a jab on the knockback out of melee.  Of course the targets getting KB'ed were DEAD, but just the existence of KB is enough to make people mad.  This was despite the fact their target was already dropped before their attack animated.  I remember thinking to myself, "spend less time chasing near dead enemies and more time switching to LT's/Boss -- that I'm CONTROLLING and not hitting with Propel".  Also, Handclap with KB to KD + FF: Recharge is not only stylish but good potential utility.

 

@Steampunkette running around creating leave-nados looks fun all on its own.  I love it!

Edited August 14, 2019 by oldskool

[Bloodofcaine]

4 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

 

I am sure the Kinetics defender just had tons of fun when his anchor for Transfusion or Fulcrum Shift just went sailing across the room meaning his heal/buff did nobody any good. And there is no fun like being in the middle of a crowd, letting lose with your PBAoE only to have the crowd scattered (and not killed) just before your attack goes off. Fun a plenty right there.

 

 

 Never said fun for anyone else, I meant fun for "me" as in I don't really get anal about this stuff, even if my anchor gets disrupted, or anything like that. The enemy will die, there is little that poses a threat to teams these days, so it's not a huge deal to me. I can't speak for anyone else, this is also why I rarely PUG anymore. My idea of fun doesn't  always line up with other folks, and that's fine.

[Bloodofcaine]

28 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

And of course your fun is more important than anyone else's in a group setting. Of course YOU dont get anal about this stuff...you're having fun.

 

 Yes precisely, you left out the part about me not generally pugging because of that very fact.  If I know my playstyle doesn't mesh with others, I don't subject them to it. Not sure what point you are driving at. In other words, I do consider the fun of others.

 

 Edited to add, why else would I be playing this game if not to have fun?  Of course when I log in my main consideration is if I am enjoying myself. I know you are attempting to make that look like a self centered statement, but why do any of us play games? I certainly don't log in to be unhappy.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Bloodofcaine

[Werner]

I play with a friend who often tosses enemies out of my Burn patch. Do I like it? No. Does it ruin my fun? No. We're both having fun. And there's no reason why my fun (fire! fire! fire!) should be more important than his fun (whee! look at 'em fly!). But we aren't on PUGs. On a PUG, it's harder to know what people like or not. Maybe most of them hate knockback. If so, even if you think their hatred is irrational, avoid doing knockback. That's just courtesy. But maybe most of them don't mind. If so, even if you hate knockback, keep it to yourself and let others have their fun. That's just courtesy. If as a result of respecting their fun you're not having fun, find another group. No reason for anyone to have a miserable time playing a game.

[Erratic1]

My apologies to the OP and the readers of the thread for dragging the conversation away from the original post.

 

I will be deleting my previous posts in the thread to try to get things back where they should be.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Erratic1