LF help in finishing a tk build

[Archived Post]

Ok so I was hoping to get some input on finishing a tk build that I am currently working on. Up to level 16 so far on the live server. The build plays pretty well so far. With a rank 2 ego frenzy most henchmen die in one full maintain. Anything higher then henchmen, I kin dart till procs, and weaving in 50% te for the buff/debuff on supervillians or fighting group of 5+. Also with 3 holds from kin darts, ego blast, and ego choke, theres not much problems with bad pulls. I really like this build so far. Works well in pve (solo and groups) and I have to work hard to nail ppl in pvp but its fun and pretty rewarding. (note: incisive wit + frenzy is awesome since you can move while swinging away mowing down ppl).
Its played mostly as melee, but can switch to range or hold support depending on the situation.

Anyway, this is what I have planned so far, and would appreciate any help on improving this.


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w: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Endurance
Level 13: Super Constitution

Powers:
Level 1: Kinetic Dart -- Incisive Wit
Level 1: Ego Blast
Level 5: Ego Blade Frenzy -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 5: Fire Flight
Level 8: Telekinetic Shield -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Ego Choke
Level 14: Telekinetic Eruption -- Enhanced Form, Rank 2
Level 17: Shadow Form -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 20: Ego Sprites -- Slave Mentality
Level 23: Ego Blade Breach -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 26: Empathic Healing
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 35:
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: Abyssal
Level 6: Energetic
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Boundless Reserves
Level 15: Tireless
Level 18: Quick Recovery
Level 21: Amazing Stamina

[Archived Post]

Looks pretty good so far. I tend to always recomend defensive passives, so I hope you've thought about it carefully. If you haven't leveled a toon past 20 then you should probably grab a def passive. I've noticed that people who argue against it haven't tried to go without it at higher level. If you know what you are doing it might be ok, given that I see you've SS'd con, fully ranked tk shield, and are taking sprites, and have a heal.

Ego Blast? Really? And you've left it unranked. That reeks of a skill that won't be used. Ego choke + blast just adds insult to injury b/c now you have two ranged attacks.

[Archived Post]

Ego Blast? Really? And you've left it unranked. That reeks of a skill that won't be used. Ego choke + blast just adds insult to injury b/c now you have two ranged attacks.

These are two different kinds of ranged attacks. One is spike damage, the other is not. Ego Blast also applies a hold- a different kind of hold the Ego Choke. One is fire and forget, while the other is maintained. Ego Blast has a 100ft range while Ego Choke is 50ft.

Additionally, it may not be advisable to rank up skills when you are using an energy form such as shadow form. Because shadow form applies its damage bonus to the skill's base rank 1 damage (no matter what rank you have the skill at), you get very little added damage to a skill by ranking it up.

OP: you are missing Ego Storm from your build, and you may want to consider Condemn (from supernatural)

[Archived Post]

Question: Why take TK Shield instead of Force Shield? Well besides using the power choice to get further down the TK tree.. From my experience, Force Shield is a better block than TK Shield..

[Archived Post]

Wait, shadow form's bonus damage damage only applies to rank 1 attacks? whats the point of the offensive slot passives then?



Ego Blast? Really? And you've left it unranked. That reeks of a skill that won't be used. Ego choke + blast just adds insult to injury b/c now you have two ranged attacks.

Well the two reasons it hasnt been boosted yet;
a) Not sure what other powers im gonna pick up, so saving advantage points for now.
b) At the moment, a fully charged ego blast can do 85-100% of a henchmens health. Its pretty strong for a rank 1.





Additionally, it may not be advisable to rank up skills when you are using an energy form such as shadow form. Because shadow form applies its damage bonus to the skill's base rank 1 damage (no matter what rank you have the skill at), you get very little added damage to a skill by ranking it up.

OP: you are missing Ego Storm from your build, and you may want to consider Condemn (from supernatural)


I didnt know that shadow form only applied its damage bonus to a power's rank 1 damage. That in itself kinda makes the skill pointless for now. Thank you for bringing that to my attnetion.


Question: Why take TK Shield instead of Force Shield? Well besides using the power choice to get further down the TK tree.. From my experience, Force Shield is a better block than TK Shield..

Well, yeah It was to further down the TK tree. Since I skipped Ego weaponry, I needed another power and the block works fairly well. The other option to go further down was ego surge, but thanks to the patch, incisive wit adds a cooldown to ego surge, so taking ego surge seemed pointless. I do have force shield with force sheath on my other character and it works wonders. imo force sheath and the innate lingering buff that tk shield seems to be almost equal. plus i save an advantage point. Tk shields isnt a bad block at all = D








Last night I hit lvl 17, and logged out in the powerhouse with 1 power and 2 advantage points. I guess I will play around with getting certain skills a level earlier or getting a defensive passive.

I suppose what defensive passive?

a) personal force field: I have the endurance, but the not the go for the regen so thats kinda meh
b) invulnerability: no strength so this one is moot also.
c) lightning reflexes: no dex so also moot.
d) defiance: This sounds nice, a stacking damage reducing buff. But dont really have str to take adcantage of enrage. Also taking this, it would be a shame not to take defensive combo with it.
e) regeneration: Not sure about that one considering it was nerf a few days back.

I guess my options for a defensive passive is defiance or regeneration. Would the damage resist from defiance stack with the tk shield lingering buff?

were there any others? Brain farting now.


Thank you all so far for the nice input =D
sorry for the wall of text. but I really like this character =D

[Archived Post]

Well Force Shield makes your energy regen like mad if you're also taking a few hits, some of the bigger attacks the mobs throw can even give you a full energy bar instantly. And the sheath advantage isn't only for frontal attacks like the TK Shield is. But I guess they're still only minor upgrades that aren't necessary.

Now as for Regeneration, I've found that even after the nerf, it works quite well with blocks to get some life back in a pinch. It's not a power that'll save you if it gets really bad, but it can buy you some extra time to throw off another heal or hold and get some breathing room.

[Archived Post]

I didnt know that shadow form only applied its damage bonus to a power's rank 1 damage. That in itself kinda makes the skill pointless for now. Thank you for bringing that to my attnetion.

just to be clear, it still adds the bonus no matter what rank the skill is, just uses rank 1 base damage to calculate the bonus damage

When you do the math, the extra damage you would get from ranking the skill to rank 3 is not that much for spending 4 advantage points (when using energy form). I'm just saying those points may be better spent elsewhere.

In any case, I don't see where it makes Ego Blast pointless. I'm one shotting with it (i do have it at rank 2).

btw, it's the Force Sheathe advantage for Force Shield that makes it so good.

[Archived Post]

ok so playing around in the powerhouse, this is prolly what I may end up doing

Build by championBuilder 0.2.4 (http://champions.zarzu.ch)

Download this Build here. (http://champions.zarzu.ch/download.php?download=4131g60d00350f2070d20015zz0a 70d500150d7070d21305006060f10470d11015085270f50017 0f113070g53015zz04706452075y10l5y2075y2025y20p5y20 65y20o5y20z25y0075y0021)

: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Endurance
Level 13: Super Constitution

Powers:
Level 1: Kinetic Dart -- Incisive Wit
Level 1: Ego Blast
Level 5: Ego Blade Frenzy -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 5: Fire Flight
Level 8: Telekinetic Shield -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Ego Choke
Level 14: Telekinetic Eruption -- Enhanced Form, Rank 2
Level 17: Defiance
Level 20: Ego Sprites -- Slave Mentality
Level 23: Ego Blade Breach -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 26: Unbreakable
Level 29: Empathic Healing -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 32: Ego Storm -- Malevolent Manifestation, Rank 2
Level 35: Shadow Form -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Miniaturization Drive -- Reciprocating Gizmo, Rank 2

Talents:
Level 1: Abyssal
Level 6: Energetic
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Boundless Reserves
Level 15: Tireless
Level 18: Quick Recovery
Level 21: Amazing Stamina

[Archived Post]

just to be clear, it still adds the bonus no matter what rank the skill is, just uses rank 1 base damage to calculate the bonus damage


In any case, I don't see where it makes Ego Blast pointless. I'm one shotting with it (i do have it at rank 2).

btw, it's the Force Sheathe advantage for Force Shield that makes it so good.

Whoa Whoa! Misinformation abounds here! Offensive damage forms -do- take into account ranked damage. They only use the base damage. If you rank the skill, it changes the base. What they do -not- scale off is any increased damage from stats. If you have rank 3, that is your base. If you have SS end and Con, and very high both, and your attacks do more dmg because of it, it still uses RANK THREE base.


When you do the math, the extra damage you would get from ranking the skill to rank 3 is not that much for spending 4 advantage points (when using energy form). I'm just saying those points may be better spent elsewhere.

When you do the math? Excuse me? Did you do the math? Please post your testing, or link to show that what you said about ranking is true.

Back @ the OP -- it seems you really want ego balst, and to each his own. It may do 85-100% of henchman damage, but a full maintain of frenzy kills all the henchman anyway. I've always thought my TK build is tight on powers, but I guess your OK. I'm not sure about skipping anihilation. Its not as good a breach for soloing, but might be important once you see more action in lairs.

[Archived Post]

yeah i really like ego blast. the utility hold on it has saved me more times than i can count when choke was on cooldown.

[Archived Post]

yeah i really like ego blast. the utility hold on it has saved me more times than i can count when choke was on cooldown.

Then you should keep it :).

I leveled through my levels without EBB using using choke, and it didn't have a CD. Now that I have breach, I rarely used ranged at all.

But good luck :). And ranking is good, unless you don't use it alot.