Archived Post
11-09-2011, 01:35 PM
Preface
Well, this is my first build thread. I've no idea how well this will go, but I'm going to give it a shot. I'll make my reasons as to why I'm doing this clear in this preface.
Meet Sublime...
17131
...he's had a bit of a storied past. I've run many builds on him but I've found that I'm either too squishy for my tastes, or I run into a lack of energy, or the damage is wimpy. I wanted a Munitions guy who could hold his own, solo, whilst doing decent damage. I'd been disappointed by everything I'd tried up until the point where I just decided to go back to the drawing board and put everything I knew to use, to rebuild Sublime from scratch.
I've put a lot of effort into him, as he has one of my favourite origin tales, perhaps the one I'm most proud of. I like the character, and I've wanted to see him succeed. And now? Winning! That's what he's doing, and he's doing a lot of it. His new build has been a great success, it was a triumph, et cetera. I'm pleased. I am so much so that I actually wondered if perhaps this Munitions build would benefit others, so here I am.
The idea behind this build is an arms specialist, you've a lot of guns and you're not afraid to use them! The notion is that the build doesn't punish you for having a lot of guns, and each gun has its place and purpose. So hopefully the end result is that you feel like a pro. You've specialised your use of those guns!
The only other thing worth mentioning is that, so far, this build works great as a levelling build, too.
Now, without further procrastination or general ado...
The Build
Superstats
---Level 6: Super Dexterity
---Level 13: Super Intelligence
Travel Powers
---Level 6: Swinging -- Rank 2, Rank 3, Flippin'
---Level 35: Teleport
Powers
---Level 1: Steady Shot
---Level 1: Assault Rifle -- Rank 2, Mow 'Em Down
---Level 6: Shotgun Blast -- Breaching Round
---Level 8: Quarry -- Rank 2, Fair Game
---Level 11: Form of the Tempest
---Level 14: Gatling Gun -- Rank 2, Listen To Reason
---Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence -- Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki
---Level 20: Holdout Shot -- Stim Pack
---Level 23: Killer Instinct
---Level 26: Inertial Dampening Field
---Level 29: Resurgence -- Rank 2, Evanescent Emergence
---Level 32: Masterful Dodge -- Unfettered Strikes
---Level 35: Lock N Load -- Rank 2
---Level 38: Evasive Maneuvers -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Talents
---Level 1: Tech Savvy
---Level 6: Shooter
---Level 9: Coordinated
---Level 12: Impresario
---Level 15: Finesse
---Level 18: Healthy Mind
---Level 21: Shrug It Off
Role
---Avenger
Build layout courtesy of championBuilder.
Breaking it Down
Steady Shot: Just an energy builder, much like any other. Energy builders are fairly homogenised these days. And really? Steady shot looks classy, it's surrounded by an aura of awesome, you stand there, you pull the trigger, boom. Nothing's going to shake you.
Assault Rifle: This is yer basic single-target maintain. You point and click. Results follow. You'll be using this against super-villains and up, quite a bit, as it can drain away their health nicely. And its use ties in with shotgun blast, below.
Gatling Gun: This is pretty much like Assault Rifle, but it's great if you have a lot of henchmen to deal with as it hits in a cone, and those little ticks of damage add up. Plus, it does two nice things for you. It fears those its hits, reducing their damage output, and it also grants you a stack of Enrage on a full maintain, which gives you a nice, albeit temporary, damage boost.
Shotgun Blast: You'll use this for juggling. A shot of this moves melee opponents away from you, and a few shots puts many mobs beyond their own attack range, but not yours, so you can attack them whilst they jog back to you, sometimes even taking them down before they get there. For this reason, Shotgun Blast is a good opener, and it works well if you punctuate the above maintain attacks with it.
Bountiful Chi Resurgence: This heal is fairly amazing if you activate it whilst in combat. I sometimes like activating it just before I tap Shotgun Blast, and it works as a temporary form of Regeneration. That's not enough by itself, but with your other heals included, you'll just last through most of what the game throws at you. You'll be far from invincible, but if you're clever, you can be fairly unstoppable.
Quarry: This does so many lovely things for you. It boosts your damage, it boosts your damage some more, it boosts your ability to deal with damage (via dodge), and it provides you with heals for every critter you take down. What's not to love? It's a fairly great offensive passive.
Resurgence: This is a heal that comes into the build later on, to help deal with harder content in the game at that point. Not only that, but if you use it when you're under 50% health, it grants you a stack of Enrage or refreshes your existing stacks. Now, you may think that this is silly with Form of the Tempest due to extra stacks falling off, but the form allows for one stack and that's what this grants you! And even if you have a stack already from Gatling Gun, it'll just refresh the stack you already have from that. Win/Win scenario, eh? Oh, and it's one of the two powers you have that can break you out of holds, so there's that, too!
Holdout Shot: This is just another stylish attack thrown into the mix, it's something fun to work in between shotgun blasts and maintains, and with its short cooldown, you can tap it often. The best part of this attack, though? It also comes bundled with a heal. So every time you tap it, you heal yourself. And this is where the Quarry/Holdout Shot/Resurgence/Bountiful Chi Resurgence grouping comes into play. So now you know! Keep those four up properly and you're laughing.
Form of the Tempest: This is just here for keeping your energy up. It'll help with that.
Killer Instinct: This gives you a nice boost of energy every time you score a critical hit with a Munitions power. And as you can guess, you'll be scoring crits a lot with this build. That's what this is almost all about, after all. Between this, and your energy returns from Form of the Tempest and Lock N Load, you'll have so much energy that you won't know what to do with it all. Great for an unending stream of maintains!
Lock N Load: A clicky power with a cooldown that increases your damage, your crit chance, and reduces your energy costs across the board. This is great as an 'oh crap' clicky when things get too much, and it's handy for spamming (every time it comes off cooldown) whenever you're up against a boss. Oh, and if you're held it's one of the two powers you have that can break you free of a hold. So there's that, too!
Inertial Dampening Field: You already have some great defences with dodging, but on top of that, this provides a flat damage reduction that can be a lifesaver, sometimes. It also reduces damage output, slightly. So it's a thing that you can toggle on if you think you're going into dangerous scenarios, but you can leave off if you're just mowing down easy stuff.
Masterful Dodge: A clicky that greatly increases your defences. If you find that you're in a bad situation and health is running out fast, this will boost your dodge so much that you'll be nigh invulnerable, at least for a little while, anyway. This will give you enough time to get a heal or two off, then you're back into the fray. As tends to be the case with this build, there's a nice bonus to this power, too. When this power is active your damage is increased, so if you decide upon a last stand scenario, it may just see you through. Versatility is really the key, here.
Evasive Maneuvers: This will increase your dodge chance for a while, it makes a good companion to run alongside Masterful Dodge, for when you don't have MD available to you. It's just another way with which you can bolster your defences when you need them bolstered. But since this level of defence will only be really necessary toward the latter end of the game, and perhaps specifically for end-game, this power has been left until last.
Swinging: So, you're probably wondering why I'm mentioning a travel power, here. Right? Well, it's due to the Flippin' advantage. I recommend you keep swinging on ALL the time, except for when you're teleporting. You get a bonus to your avoidance, thus damage protection, that way. Plus, you can jump whilst doing Assault Rifle maintains, which is the funniest thing ever.
So, you're probably thinking at this point... why no block?! I don't blame you. I don't use them, you see? I know, you're probably thinking 'you fool!!' at this point, and again, I don't blame you. The thing of it is though is that when you block in the Avenger role, you don't get any energy returns, and the only half-decent block for Avenger characters is Force Shield. But when I take Force Shield, I tend to rarely use it anyway for the aforementioned energy reasons. Generally, a shield on Avenger characters seems completely useless, I can't think of a good reason for it. The everyday block is just fine for blocking onomatopoeia-laden super attacks, I've found.
I may toss a block in there though if it's a serious issue, but I don't think it should be.
(Continued in the next post.)
Well, this is my first build thread. I've no idea how well this will go, but I'm going to give it a shot. I'll make my reasons as to why I'm doing this clear in this preface.
Meet Sublime...
17131
...he's had a bit of a storied past. I've run many builds on him but I've found that I'm either too squishy for my tastes, or I run into a lack of energy, or the damage is wimpy. I wanted a Munitions guy who could hold his own, solo, whilst doing decent damage. I'd been disappointed by everything I'd tried up until the point where I just decided to go back to the drawing board and put everything I knew to use, to rebuild Sublime from scratch.
I've put a lot of effort into him, as he has one of my favourite origin tales, perhaps the one I'm most proud of. I like the character, and I've wanted to see him succeed. And now? Winning! That's what he's doing, and he's doing a lot of it. His new build has been a great success, it was a triumph, et cetera. I'm pleased. I am so much so that I actually wondered if perhaps this Munitions build would benefit others, so here I am.
The idea behind this build is an arms specialist, you've a lot of guns and you're not afraid to use them! The notion is that the build doesn't punish you for having a lot of guns, and each gun has its place and purpose. So hopefully the end result is that you feel like a pro. You've specialised your use of those guns!
The only other thing worth mentioning is that, so far, this build works great as a levelling build, too.
Now, without further procrastination or general ado...
The Build
Superstats
---Level 6: Super Dexterity
---Level 13: Super Intelligence
Travel Powers
---Level 6: Swinging -- Rank 2, Rank 3, Flippin'
---Level 35: Teleport
Powers
---Level 1: Steady Shot
---Level 1: Assault Rifle -- Rank 2, Mow 'Em Down
---Level 6: Shotgun Blast -- Breaching Round
---Level 8: Quarry -- Rank 2, Fair Game
---Level 11: Form of the Tempest
---Level 14: Gatling Gun -- Rank 2, Listen To Reason
---Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence -- Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki
---Level 20: Holdout Shot -- Stim Pack
---Level 23: Killer Instinct
---Level 26: Inertial Dampening Field
---Level 29: Resurgence -- Rank 2, Evanescent Emergence
---Level 32: Masterful Dodge -- Unfettered Strikes
---Level 35: Lock N Load -- Rank 2
---Level 38: Evasive Maneuvers -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Talents
---Level 1: Tech Savvy
---Level 6: Shooter
---Level 9: Coordinated
---Level 12: Impresario
---Level 15: Finesse
---Level 18: Healthy Mind
---Level 21: Shrug It Off
Role
---Avenger
Build layout courtesy of championBuilder.
Breaking it Down
Steady Shot: Just an energy builder, much like any other. Energy builders are fairly homogenised these days. And really? Steady shot looks classy, it's surrounded by an aura of awesome, you stand there, you pull the trigger, boom. Nothing's going to shake you.
Assault Rifle: This is yer basic single-target maintain. You point and click. Results follow. You'll be using this against super-villains and up, quite a bit, as it can drain away their health nicely. And its use ties in with shotgun blast, below.
Gatling Gun: This is pretty much like Assault Rifle, but it's great if you have a lot of henchmen to deal with as it hits in a cone, and those little ticks of damage add up. Plus, it does two nice things for you. It fears those its hits, reducing their damage output, and it also grants you a stack of Enrage on a full maintain, which gives you a nice, albeit temporary, damage boost.
Shotgun Blast: You'll use this for juggling. A shot of this moves melee opponents away from you, and a few shots puts many mobs beyond their own attack range, but not yours, so you can attack them whilst they jog back to you, sometimes even taking them down before they get there. For this reason, Shotgun Blast is a good opener, and it works well if you punctuate the above maintain attacks with it.
Bountiful Chi Resurgence: This heal is fairly amazing if you activate it whilst in combat. I sometimes like activating it just before I tap Shotgun Blast, and it works as a temporary form of Regeneration. That's not enough by itself, but with your other heals included, you'll just last through most of what the game throws at you. You'll be far from invincible, but if you're clever, you can be fairly unstoppable.
Quarry: This does so many lovely things for you. It boosts your damage, it boosts your damage some more, it boosts your ability to deal with damage (via dodge), and it provides you with heals for every critter you take down. What's not to love? It's a fairly great offensive passive.
Resurgence: This is a heal that comes into the build later on, to help deal with harder content in the game at that point. Not only that, but if you use it when you're under 50% health, it grants you a stack of Enrage or refreshes your existing stacks. Now, you may think that this is silly with Form of the Tempest due to extra stacks falling off, but the form allows for one stack and that's what this grants you! And even if you have a stack already from Gatling Gun, it'll just refresh the stack you already have from that. Win/Win scenario, eh? Oh, and it's one of the two powers you have that can break you out of holds, so there's that, too!
Holdout Shot: This is just another stylish attack thrown into the mix, it's something fun to work in between shotgun blasts and maintains, and with its short cooldown, you can tap it often. The best part of this attack, though? It also comes bundled with a heal. So every time you tap it, you heal yourself. And this is where the Quarry/Holdout Shot/Resurgence/Bountiful Chi Resurgence grouping comes into play. So now you know! Keep those four up properly and you're laughing.
Form of the Tempest: This is just here for keeping your energy up. It'll help with that.
Killer Instinct: This gives you a nice boost of energy every time you score a critical hit with a Munitions power. And as you can guess, you'll be scoring crits a lot with this build. That's what this is almost all about, after all. Between this, and your energy returns from Form of the Tempest and Lock N Load, you'll have so much energy that you won't know what to do with it all. Great for an unending stream of maintains!
Lock N Load: A clicky power with a cooldown that increases your damage, your crit chance, and reduces your energy costs across the board. This is great as an 'oh crap' clicky when things get too much, and it's handy for spamming (every time it comes off cooldown) whenever you're up against a boss. Oh, and if you're held it's one of the two powers you have that can break you free of a hold. So there's that, too!
Inertial Dampening Field: You already have some great defences with dodging, but on top of that, this provides a flat damage reduction that can be a lifesaver, sometimes. It also reduces damage output, slightly. So it's a thing that you can toggle on if you think you're going into dangerous scenarios, but you can leave off if you're just mowing down easy stuff.
Masterful Dodge: A clicky that greatly increases your defences. If you find that you're in a bad situation and health is running out fast, this will boost your dodge so much that you'll be nigh invulnerable, at least for a little while, anyway. This will give you enough time to get a heal or two off, then you're back into the fray. As tends to be the case with this build, there's a nice bonus to this power, too. When this power is active your damage is increased, so if you decide upon a last stand scenario, it may just see you through. Versatility is really the key, here.
Evasive Maneuvers: This will increase your dodge chance for a while, it makes a good companion to run alongside Masterful Dodge, for when you don't have MD available to you. It's just another way with which you can bolster your defences when you need them bolstered. But since this level of defence will only be really necessary toward the latter end of the game, and perhaps specifically for end-game, this power has been left until last.
Swinging: So, you're probably wondering why I'm mentioning a travel power, here. Right? Well, it's due to the Flippin' advantage. I recommend you keep swinging on ALL the time, except for when you're teleporting. You get a bonus to your avoidance, thus damage protection, that way. Plus, you can jump whilst doing Assault Rifle maintains, which is the funniest thing ever.
So, you're probably thinking at this point... why no block?! I don't blame you. I don't use them, you see? I know, you're probably thinking 'you fool!!' at this point, and again, I don't blame you. The thing of it is though is that when you block in the Avenger role, you don't get any energy returns, and the only half-decent block for Avenger characters is Force Shield. But when I take Force Shield, I tend to rarely use it anyway for the aforementioned energy reasons. Generally, a shield on Avenger characters seems completely useless, I can't think of a good reason for it. The everyday block is just fine for blocking onomatopoeia-laden super attacks, I've found.
I may toss a block in there though if it's a serious issue, but I don't think it should be.
(Continued in the next post.)