Wanting some advice on updating my martial artist.

[Archived Post]

So I have had a level 40 martial arts character for a few years now, and while I did manage to get him to the cap back when MA was seen as the black sheep of the power sets, I was very eager to get some new abilities a few years back when it was updated. And now it has happened again. I was hoping to use the Framework Guide to get some advice on what abilities work well together and the like, but it has not been updated yet.

Currently my character is a DEX/CON character who uses almost entirely MA abilities. He has little trouble soloing, though I did just try my hand at some Hero Games, and got my butt kicked (which is fine, since I only went there to unlock the Luchador costume), and I feel like I don't contribute a whole ton to the Blood Moon event fights. I plan on sticking with solo, since I'm completely anti-social, so I don't want to adjust my abilities too much, but any advice anyone would have would be awesome.

He currently has:
Evasive Manuevars
Molecular Self-Assembly
Righteous Fists
Form of the Master
Dragon Kick
Burning Chi Fist
Inexorable Tides
Lightning Reflexes
Thunderbolt Lunge
Parry
The Elusive Monk (I thought this was a Perk, but it's listed so I will list it here)
Bountiful Chi Resurgence
Resurgence
Masterful Dodge
Fury of the Dragon

(http://www.champions-online.com/character_profiles/1549037/view)

I tried out a bunch of the new abilities on the PTR so I wouldn't lose my build on Live, and I really enjoyed Hundred Hands (though I ran out of energy quickly I noticed) and Open Palm Strike. I didn't really try out Elbow Slam or the Uppercut, but the one MA character who took me to school in the Hero Games seemed to do quite well with that combination.

I know there is almost no reason to have Fury of the Dragon, but I feel like I really earned it, being that Wt is my only 40 character and all, but it barely does any damage for him and he runs out of energy about the time the dragon forms. Inexorable Tides knock up, followed by a fully charged Burning Chi Fist have treated me very well for some time now, but I did find the knock back from Open Palm Strike enjoyable. Being a melee character, I can see how it could be problematic however.

So what would you guys suggest. Are they any obvious abilities that could go from what I have chosen? Are the new ones I am interested in actually crap, and I shouldn't trust my experiences in the Powerhouse Arena?

As a complete aside, I do hope someday the retconning process could be streamlined in such a way to make all of this less painful. Having to get rid of every power I have ever bought just to change the second power ever seems unnecessary.

-WT

P.S. From the new MA abilities, any advice on the new Perks? I seem to have a bad habit of thinking the Perks sounding awesome and then find out later on that they are not too useful and I should have just ranked up to 3 with the ability.

[Archived Post]

The new powers don't feel as "martial artsy" to me, but they ARE awesome and I put them on a new character :)

I prefer Form of the Tempest since it gives you energy and focus when you CRIT, which with a high DEX will be -often-...

Make sure you have the Resurgent Reiki advantage on Bountiful Chi Resurgence --- extra healing when you dodge

If you swap CON to INT, then (I think) MSA returns more energy and INT in general lowers energy costs... you do lose hit points, however.

I put the Open Palm strike on my martial artist (it DOES look martial-arts-y to me) but since it has a 25' range, it cannot be used before you get aggro, so it's not really good for 'pulling' distant foes to you.... the energy builder has a greater range (even if it doesn't HIT, since it's melee, it'll still give you energy and taunt the foes to attack you from a greater range)...

[Archived Post]

I was a little concerned no one had done enough playing around with them to have any real advice for me, so I went ahead and picked my own powers.

I mostly stuck to the build I'd already had, but I removed Inexorable Tides, Evasive Maneuvers, Burning Chi Fist, and Fury of the Dragon. I replaced those with Open Palm Strike (with the Adv), Dragon Uppercut (also with the Adv.) and Hundred Hands (again, Adv.). I actually Super Statted into Dex/Con instead of Dex/Str (though I did take a lot of Str talents since it still adds to my melee strength), and I choose Intensity to replace Evasive Maneuvers since I never used the latter, and the former seemed like it might be helpful on account of not planning on being very DPSy.

It's turned out pretty well. I went and fought one of the Blood Moon villains (I cannot remember which, it's the one who uses mostly Sorcery and is on the SW corner of the Champs headquarters). The first time, I forgot to turn on Form of the Master, and while I was able to maybe get rid of half a bubble of her health, I ultimately died. I went and tried again, this time remembering my Form, and it was long, but incredibly easy. I never once got close to running out of life, and my energy gain, while not amazing, rarely left me waiting to make a move. I took said Villain down solo, with her imp summons and the occasional reanimated turakian.

I then went and completed the last three parts of Aftershock on my own (only on Normal however). Again, my health was never in danger, and unlike the Mind AT character I am playing, I didn't feel like it took too long to kill anyone. I ended up setting up my keyboard so that my Energy Builder is 1, then Thunderbolt Lunge, Hundred Hand Fists, Dragon Kick, Dragon uppercut, Open Palm Strike. This way a fully charged DK sometimes stuns the enemy, as well as often killing any surrounding henchmen. Dragon Uppercut is some incredible damage for me. And then I following it all up with a fully charged Open Palm Strike, which usually finishes them off. If not, Thunderbolt Lunge has usually recharged and I can zoom in for some HHF action to take them out. Rinse, repeat.

It is possible I have one too many attacks. My previous build only had five (well six with FotD but that really was just for the novelty), and I rarely felt like I was missing anything. Now I almost feel like I throw in either Dragon Uppercut or Open Palm Strike out of compunction rather than necessity or desire.

In regards to your comments Sorpaijen, I went with Master since I knew I was going with Lightning reflexes and I wasn't sure how often I'd be critting. Now that I see how often HHF crits, it might have been a good idea. Especially since that ability does sometimes drain me of energy.

And when I was choosing MSA again this time, I did notice that it scaled with Int, which I have a whopping 19 of, but since it was literally a free ability that I couldn't find anything else to replace it with, I couldn't imagine it was going to hurt me to have it even if it didn't pay off much. Now that I've seen how survivable I was, maybe I should look into raising my INT to balance out my energy need with my excessive health.

Glad someone else is messing with these powers, and shared their thoughts with me. Thanks

-WT