Archived Post
04-13-2011, 09:12 AM
So, I was thinking about making yet another character. I have been in the mood to use Unarmed Martial Arts, even though I already have a level 40 with those powers.
To mix things up a bit so it doesn't feel like the same old same old, I figured I'd go with a Jester-themed character. On the one hand, there are a lot of Harlequin type costume pieces I have access to, and have never used... and on the other hand, Righteous Fists (the unarmed martial arts energy builder) looks so SPASTIC that I think it may fit the jester theme.
(Sidenote: My "serious" martial artist uses Clobber as an energy builder because it's less spastic-looking IMO.)
Anyway, that's the WHY... now I need help with the HOW... :)
Oh, and note that this is not a leveling build ---- I just picked powers as I thought of them; I will likely choose them in a different order.
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Superstats:
Level 6: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Presence
Since I'm using Unarmed Martial Arts, Dexterity is a no-brainer. I originally listed Presence as an alternate stat because I was thinking I'd need it to properly scale Mindful Reinforcement... but I'm not really sold on that power (for this character --- it's a great power, just not really what I had for this character).
I don't remember if Bountiful Chi Resurgence scales off PRE as well, but even if it does, I'm not sure I want to superstat PRE.
I'm leaning more toward REC ---- yes, it shares a gear slot with DEX, but with diminishing returns and the fact that multiple-stat gear has more overall stat points than single-stat gear, I am hoping it won't be too bad. Also of concern is the fact that energy might be an issue without REC superstatted.
Powers:
Level 1: Righteous Fists -- Drunken Master
Drunken Master gives me extra stacks of Focus; might need to rank it up to get more energy, but the Rush buff from Dragon Kick may be sufficient.
Level 1: Thundering Kicks -- Floating Lotus Blossom
Not sure the stacking Dodge buff is worth the loss of damage, but this IS a single target attack and not the heaviest hitter in the first place. So maybe tap tap tap to get a little dodge boost every now and again would be worth the advantage? I dunno.
Level 6: Parry -- The Elusive Monk
The damage loss for using Elusive Monk is not that extreme, last I looked, and the extra protection may be worth it. The party animation suits my nimble jester concept quite well, even if it's not the 'best' block replacer.
Level 6: Acrobatics -- Versatility, Rank 2
While well within character, I may push this back to level 35 and drop all the advantages from it; as a travel power it's not that friendly.
Level 8: Dragon Kick -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Ah, how I love this power. :) I toyed with getting Lashing Dragon Tail to increase my Avoidance... but I figure it's better to just defeat my foes outright than to get a slight buff and give them a chance to hurt me longer.
Level 11: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Again, quite within character for my bouncy jester.
Level 14: Inexorable Tides -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Another great power; I most often use this cone legsweep just to knock foes down --- as mitigation. But it also works great for giving me time to charge up Dragon Kick. And ranked up to Rank 3, Inexorable Tides plus a fully-charged Dragon Kick should do impressive AoE damage.
If the Heavy Weapons set comes out before I get around to getting a Lunge power, I may get the Heavy Weapons lunge that is an AoE, to further this pattern: lunge in, doing AoE damage, then legsweep everyone for more damage, then fully charge Dragon Kick to finish them off. I'll have to hope they have some kind of giant Circus Strongman Mallet to use ;)
Level 17: Form Of The Master -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Pretty self-explanatory; Ranked to 3 since the PLAN is for fights to not last long, so I won't have time to build Focus stacks by using the energy builder (and Drunken Master) or by dodging / Critting, etc...
Level 20: Smoke Bomb
Mainly for giggles, I could drop this power if something else caught my eye.
Level 23: Masterful Dodge
Little extra protection when things get hairy (could be very useful if I get Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki)....
Level 26: Pounce -- Nailed to the Ground
Thunderbolt Lunge LOOKS more martial-arts-y... but all it does is Root/snare. Mighty Leap stuns, which I love, but it looks too heroic. I am not 100% sure I remember Pounce's animation but it seems like it would fit a tumbling, bouncing jester's antics to "pounce" on a foe and knock him down. Of course, that knockdown may screw up the knockdown from Inexorable Tides....
As noted above, if the Heavy Weapons set comes out in time, I may get one of the lunges from THAT set. Nailed to the Ground is there simply because I gots no ranged attacks nor means of staying up in the air!
Level 29: Howl
More menacing than perhaps fits the comedic nature of the character... the animation is such that I could envision a maniacal LAUGH instead of a howl --- arms outstretched, head thrown back, cackling madly. Pragmatically, the Enrage buff could come in handy and with the Form I can only ever have ONE stack of Enrage so this would be all I'd need. COULD easily drop this for another power, though.
Level 32: Mindful Reinforcement -- Rank 3, Rank 2
The REAL sore spot. Mindful Reinforcement is a great power, no doubt.... but having a giant glowing sphere surround my harlequin just doesn't feel right. Alternative means of protection like Biotic Shielding also don't seem right (makes him look like he's covered in plastic or something). The default choice would be Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki... the healing is just so SMALL and I have to remember to use it so often, and I get that damage hit...
Level 35: Ego Placate
GREAT power I see used so little. With an instant-cast, I can make a foe just -forget- me for like 10 seconds base. Great for stopping a villain during charge-up of an attack.
Level 35: Teleport
Not exactly in character, but SUCH a useful power.
Level 38: Way of the Warrior -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Haven't played around with the Way very much, but it might be that I could get in the Brawler role and with this offensive passive my Lunge-Legsweep-ChargedDragonKick combo would decimate even higher-level foes with ease. Of course I'd be even MORE vulnerable to retaliation than with LR.
I've been trying to think of other "jester" type powers I could get... the giant circus mallet lunge would be a nice touch, for example.
I thought about getting Attack Toys (even perhaps just the base level)... having a teddy bear running around with me would suit the character, I'd think.
I also toyed with Particle Mine + Tractor Beam ---- place the mine then use the Tractor Beam to pull a foe ONTO it.... but that's not a very practical thing to do unless there's only ONE foe... and there's never only ONE foe....
I suppose the Rocket Launcher from Munitions could be funny as a kind of "over kill" schtick ----- funny little jester with his strange hat pulls out a massive rocket launcher from nowhere and fires....
Costume shouldn't be any problem, but it's the powers that are stumping me for now...
Thanks for any help / advice!!
To mix things up a bit so it doesn't feel like the same old same old, I figured I'd go with a Jester-themed character. On the one hand, there are a lot of Harlequin type costume pieces I have access to, and have never used... and on the other hand, Righteous Fists (the unarmed martial arts energy builder) looks so SPASTIC that I think it may fit the jester theme.
(Sidenote: My "serious" martial artist uses Clobber as an energy builder because it's less spastic-looking IMO.)
Anyway, that's the WHY... now I need help with the HOW... :)
Oh, and note that this is not a leveling build ---- I just picked powers as I thought of them; I will likely choose them in a different order.
Build by championBuilder 0.4.1 (http://champions.zarzu.ch)
Download this Build here. (http://champions.zarzu.ch/download.php?download=4132g60c00360c10460c7027zz03 2070c121070c201070c401070c22105094050c2160i21350i4 070f311050f605zz0470c291075y1085y20z5y20x5y20y5y20 i5y20j5y20k25y0015y0057Jesterh0000000000000000)
Superstats:
Level 6: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Presence
Since I'm using Unarmed Martial Arts, Dexterity is a no-brainer. I originally listed Presence as an alternate stat because I was thinking I'd need it to properly scale Mindful Reinforcement... but I'm not really sold on that power (for this character --- it's a great power, just not really what I had for this character).
I don't remember if Bountiful Chi Resurgence scales off PRE as well, but even if it does, I'm not sure I want to superstat PRE.
I'm leaning more toward REC ---- yes, it shares a gear slot with DEX, but with diminishing returns and the fact that multiple-stat gear has more overall stat points than single-stat gear, I am hoping it won't be too bad. Also of concern is the fact that energy might be an issue without REC superstatted.
Powers:
Level 1: Righteous Fists -- Drunken Master
Drunken Master gives me extra stacks of Focus; might need to rank it up to get more energy, but the Rush buff from Dragon Kick may be sufficient.
Level 1: Thundering Kicks -- Floating Lotus Blossom
Not sure the stacking Dodge buff is worth the loss of damage, but this IS a single target attack and not the heaviest hitter in the first place. So maybe tap tap tap to get a little dodge boost every now and again would be worth the advantage? I dunno.
Level 6: Parry -- The Elusive Monk
The damage loss for using Elusive Monk is not that extreme, last I looked, and the extra protection may be worth it. The party animation suits my nimble jester concept quite well, even if it's not the 'best' block replacer.
Level 6: Acrobatics -- Versatility, Rank 2
While well within character, I may push this back to level 35 and drop all the advantages from it; as a travel power it's not that friendly.
Level 8: Dragon Kick -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Ah, how I love this power. :) I toyed with getting Lashing Dragon Tail to increase my Avoidance... but I figure it's better to just defeat my foes outright than to get a slight buff and give them a chance to hurt me longer.
Level 11: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Again, quite within character for my bouncy jester.
Level 14: Inexorable Tides -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Another great power; I most often use this cone legsweep just to knock foes down --- as mitigation. But it also works great for giving me time to charge up Dragon Kick. And ranked up to Rank 3, Inexorable Tides plus a fully-charged Dragon Kick should do impressive AoE damage.
If the Heavy Weapons set comes out before I get around to getting a Lunge power, I may get the Heavy Weapons lunge that is an AoE, to further this pattern: lunge in, doing AoE damage, then legsweep everyone for more damage, then fully charge Dragon Kick to finish them off. I'll have to hope they have some kind of giant Circus Strongman Mallet to use ;)
Level 17: Form Of The Master -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Pretty self-explanatory; Ranked to 3 since the PLAN is for fights to not last long, so I won't have time to build Focus stacks by using the energy builder (and Drunken Master) or by dodging / Critting, etc...
Level 20: Smoke Bomb
Mainly for giggles, I could drop this power if something else caught my eye.
Level 23: Masterful Dodge
Little extra protection when things get hairy (could be very useful if I get Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki)....
Level 26: Pounce -- Nailed to the Ground
Thunderbolt Lunge LOOKS more martial-arts-y... but all it does is Root/snare. Mighty Leap stuns, which I love, but it looks too heroic. I am not 100% sure I remember Pounce's animation but it seems like it would fit a tumbling, bouncing jester's antics to "pounce" on a foe and knock him down. Of course, that knockdown may screw up the knockdown from Inexorable Tides....
As noted above, if the Heavy Weapons set comes out in time, I may get one of the lunges from THAT set. Nailed to the Ground is there simply because I gots no ranged attacks nor means of staying up in the air!
Level 29: Howl
More menacing than perhaps fits the comedic nature of the character... the animation is such that I could envision a maniacal LAUGH instead of a howl --- arms outstretched, head thrown back, cackling madly. Pragmatically, the Enrage buff could come in handy and with the Form I can only ever have ONE stack of Enrage so this would be all I'd need. COULD easily drop this for another power, though.
Level 32: Mindful Reinforcement -- Rank 3, Rank 2
The REAL sore spot. Mindful Reinforcement is a great power, no doubt.... but having a giant glowing sphere surround my harlequin just doesn't feel right. Alternative means of protection like Biotic Shielding also don't seem right (makes him look like he's covered in plastic or something). The default choice would be Bountiful Chi Resurgence with Resurgent Reiki... the healing is just so SMALL and I have to remember to use it so often, and I get that damage hit...
Level 35: Ego Placate
GREAT power I see used so little. With an instant-cast, I can make a foe just -forget- me for like 10 seconds base. Great for stopping a villain during charge-up of an attack.
Level 35: Teleport
Not exactly in character, but SUCH a useful power.
Level 38: Way of the Warrior -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Haven't played around with the Way very much, but it might be that I could get in the Brawler role and with this offensive passive my Lunge-Legsweep-ChargedDragonKick combo would decimate even higher-level foes with ease. Of course I'd be even MORE vulnerable to retaliation than with LR.
I've been trying to think of other "jester" type powers I could get... the giant circus mallet lunge would be a nice touch, for example.
I thought about getting Attack Toys (even perhaps just the base level)... having a teddy bear running around with me would suit the character, I'd think.
I also toyed with Particle Mine + Tractor Beam ---- place the mine then use the Tractor Beam to pull a foe ONTO it.... but that's not a very practical thing to do unless there's only ONE foe... and there's never only ONE foe....
I suppose the Rocket Launcher from Munitions could be funny as a kind of "over kill" schtick ----- funny little jester with his strange hat pulls out a massive rocket launcher from nowhere and fires....
Costume shouldn't be any problem, but it's the powers that are stumping me for now...
Thanks for any help / advice!!