Munitions build that is SOLID but not OP

[Archived Post]

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Scarlet Widow: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Endurance

Powers:
Level 1: Gun Slinger -- Accelerated Metabolism
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo -- Accelerated Metabolism
Level 5: Killer Instinct
Level 5: Swinging -- Flippin', Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 8: Personal Force Field -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Breakaway Shot
Level 14: Bullet Ballet -- Not Without Incident, Rank 2
Level 17: Lead Tempest -- Tread Softly
Level 20: Force Shield -- Rank 2, Force Sheath
Level 23: Field Surge -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 26: Holdout Pistol -- Stim Pack
Level 29: Orbital Cannon -- Anvil of Dawn
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 35: Hover Disk
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: Impetus
Level 6: Indomitable
Level 9: Shooter
Level 12: Daredevil
Level 15: Accurate
Level 18: Ascetic
Level 21: Sniper Training

I'd love some comments or feedback on this. I don't have much experience with Munitions, so any help if welcome. The point here is to try and make a build that is solid, and soloable, but is not OP with FOTM powers like Mini-mines. Also i'm trying to go the more "light munitions" direction, and purposely not taking the heavy weapons like chainguns and rocket launchers, for conceptual reasons.

This is for PvE only.

[Archived Post]

What no Shotgun or Sub Machine Gun burst? (Personal Preference Shotgun) Light munitions is fine but at least take something to help aoe besides Lead Temepst. You will have a tough time early on if you cant nail down henchmen fast due to their damage to PFF.

And on the notion of PFF late game its basically not-so-hot. I would pick Lightning Reflexes and Masterful Dodge some time so you can take advantage of Force Sheath more.

[Archived Post]

What no Shotgun or Sub Machine Gun burst? (Personal Preference Shotgun) Light munitions is fine but at least take something to help aoe besides Lead Temepst. You will have a tough time early on if you cant nail down henchmen fast due to their damage to PFF.

And on the notion of PFF late game its basically not-so-hot. I would pick Lightning Reflexes and Masterful Dodge some time so you can take advantage of Force Sheath more.

I agree it is severely lacking in AOE damage. Even Lead Tempest comes late. Shotgun didint' jump out at me as a good AOE power, but if it is i'lld efintly see if I can work that in. SMG might be a bit out of theme, so i'd prefer shotgun.

On the subject of Defense. I'd love to go invuln, but its not very good for me theme wise and i'd rather not invest in the CON either. Regen again, more of a theme issue. That left PFF and LR, and LR always seemd so completely underwhelming. Alos with EGO you've got 1/2 the PFF taken care of. Then again if I go DEX/EGO that covers LR so its doable.

I guess the question is whether or not you can manage with LR as your defense. I've only toyed with it, never given it a serious chance, but it just never seemed that good.

[Archived Post]

If I work in shotgun, and move to a LR build, it mgiht look something like this.

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Scarlet Widow: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Ego

Powers:
Level 1: Gun Slinger -- Accelerated Metabolism, Trick Shot, Rank 2
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo -- Accelerated Metabolism, Close The Gap, Rank 2
Level 5: Shotgun Blast -- Breaching Round, Rank 2
Level 5: Swinging -- Flippin', Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Breakaway Shot
Level 14: Bullet Ballet -- Not Without Incident, Rank 2
Level 17: Lead Tempest -- Tread Softly, Rank 2
Level 20: Force Shield -- Rank 2, Force Sheath
Level 23: Killer Instinct
Level 26: Holdout Pistol -- Stim Pack
Level 29: Orbital Cannon -- Anvil of Dawn
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 35: Hover Disk
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: Quick Trigger
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Shooter
Level 12: Indomitable
Level 15: Sniper Training
Level 18: Martial Training
Level 21: Jack Of All Trades

[Archived Post]

Instead of shotgun you could also try Force Eruption I guess. Pretty good damage, plus the knockback keeps em away. The advantage is also nice, 20% damage increase inside the smoke it leaves behind. It works on a tap also, no need to charge unless you want the AOE damage.

[Archived Post]

Instead of shotgun you could also try Force Eruption I guess. Pretty good damage, plus the knockback keeps em away. The advantage is also nice, 20% damage increase inside the smoke it leaves behind. It works on a tap also, no need to charge unless you want the AOE damage.

If you only tap it you don't get the full damage buff. Needs a full charge for that 20%.

[Archived Post]

Shotgun is BRUTAL AoE, by the way. Knockback + crushing damage; keeps them off you, knocks them down for a couple of seconds. I leveled that to 3 immediately, and it makes all the difference in the world.

[Archived Post]

I noticed you said you wanted to avoid mines because they were currently OP. I wish more players would consider "concepts" before "1337" :D

On that note however, I strongly believe they WILL nerf Mini Mines. So I took Mines with Lead Tempest. I drop into a group, drop mines, then hit tempest. Mass destruction, of course. But, even after they nerf mines (Even if they drop the damage by 50%), this tactic would still be solid. I currently can't even finish a full burn of tempest before everything drops. So I expect mines + tempest (Full burn) will produce the same effect post-nerf. Just my 2 cents...


P.S. - I have the same concept. I went with small arms fire, avoiding all the big guns...

[Archived Post]

He said no FoTM or OP abilities. That was prefaced before "concept" if you care to read. Shotgun is plenty fine AoE and has nice knockback abilities as well.

[Archived Post]

I understand what the OP said. If you happened to read instead of attacking, I stated that Mines will get nerfed. So, they will no longer be OP. I also applauded him for sticking to a concept instead of the FotM. If you misunderstood, then I apologize for not being clear enough..

[Archived Post]

PFF without End or Ego is a soap bubble--Lightning Reflexes or Regen would be more useful to you.

Bullet Ballet? It looks all stylish, but generally being in melee is bad news, especially when your setup is all about ranged. Keep moving, shooting stuff with guns, and generally stay out of melee range--melee attacks do more damage than most non-charged-up ranged you'll encounter.

Even as a pistoler on my 2nd Muni gal, I have to admit the Shotty does useful knockback. Also decent for seperating mobs when combo'd with the Breakaway Shot with Microfilament.

Don't know how to make the pretty colors, but:

Level 1: Gun Slinger -- Accelerated Metabolism
(This is all Gun Slinger needs. You'll rarely if ever use it, at most a shot or two before unloading with a full 2GM. Later game, you're abusing Sheathe and could care less.)

Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo -- Accelerated Metabolism, Close The Gap, Rank 2
Level 5: Killer Instinct
Level 5: Swinging -- Flippin', Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 8: Shotgun Blast -- Breaching Round, Rank 2
(What? KI before shotty? Yes. The first levels of the game are so easy you didn't need any more than 2GM. The extra end efficiency will keep you dishing out damage. There's literally nothing that can stop you anyway, even the AV at the end of Canada--Rakshasa. But if you need, you can get to 8 before doing either of those and just KB their butts while using 2GM.)

Level 11: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 14: Breakaway Shot -- Microfilament Wire
Level 17: Lead Tempest -- Tread Softly, Rank 2
Level 20: Force Shield -- Rank 2, Force Sheath
(I don't see how you can say "I don't want FotM", but then pick this one with its advantage. This is pretty much required on most ranged end-hog builds, and you're going to be sitting there unloading with Lead Tempest while covered in the Sheathe anyway. Hey, it's good because it WORKS.)

[Archived Post]

Ok, I see you went Ego on your second go. Yeah, Super Endurance isn't really needed with Killer Instinct, and if your sticking with Force Shield... well, then I don't see you really needing it at all.

I actually dipped into Telekinesis for a few powers there because the Super Ego works well for supporting those powers. What I've found is that Telekinetic Shield and Lightning Reflexes is a very good combination for Munitions. Telekinetic Shield has a built in sustained shield, but only protects against frontal damage for the sustained part. It goes well with Munitions because Breakaway Shot and Shotguns cone work perfectly with it (encouraging and helping to keep enemies in front of you), allowing you to pump 2 ranks into the damage reduction bonus on Telekinetic Shield without sacrificing extra damage reduction to get a maintained shield (as with Force Sheathe, unless the Sheathe is only 1 point?). Plus, looks like the Sheathe damage reduction is nerfed on Test.

I solo'd Stronghold: Menton, and the big named guy that comes in right after Menton dies, and I don't think I used my Psionic Heal during the whole thing (just healing up with whatever Green Orbs dropped), but I also abused the hell out of Mini-Mines. :P When getting the keys, I even got tricked by that one guard who turns off the bridge while you run at him... I had a feeling he was going to do it too, but after I fell, I used my environment, tried to keep my aggro minimal (Shotgun can hit pretty far away, which was bad at that time cause I pulled more then I had initially aggro'd >.<) and again, abused Mini Mines.

With a full block and dodge and Defiance from Breakaway Shot, I can reduce the Blue Laser to approximately 30 damage (from 868), IIRC. Course, Breakaway's Defiance is a bit of a problem to test as I have to run over to the block throwing room, Breakaway Shot myself to the doorway, and get approximately 5 seconds to test it (2 shots if no one else is using the laser) before it wears off... attackable NPC/object in the laser room please... >.< With the residual shield from Telekinetic Shield, I reduce it to around 250 damage taken, where my damage resistance alone would drop it to 759, I forget where Dodge put it I think it was mid-100's with only dodge, but that blue laser is hard to test only dodge with because it doesn't dodge based on your dodge %, but I guess it only dodges 10% of the time. Defiance and Dodge on top of that really make incoming damage very manageable while being able to continue attacking. You do have to be active though in your defenses refreshing Defiance every 20 seconds and your shield every 8 or so seconds. I still get hit for big hits when I'm not paying attention or get CC'd enough that my shield wears off and miss a dodge on a big incoming hit, but those cases are pretty rare and I can get defensive and recover from it during a fight.

One of the really fun things about this build is I also have the Acrobatics Travel Power, so I basically jump in, guns blazing from above, land while blocking, get enough Energy up for Mini Mines, drop them, then Breakaway Shot out of the mine field, followed up by some Shotgun blasts or Two Gun Mojo. While Mini Mines have a current stigma about them (FotM, OP....), the whole flow of combat with them, and how it just feels right to jump in, drop them and breakaway shot out of them as the explosion happens is pretty fun for me, it allows me to easily picture my hero in a comic book and boss fights pretty much ooze coolness.

So far Munitions is one of the most exciting powersets for me as a lot of the powers in it are appealing. That is, I've found more then 3 powers that I just love to use. For instance, Two Gun Mojo is a pretty good power due to the Crits from Ego/Dex and the buff it provides. It's the best Tier 0 power I've used as none of the other T0 powers I've tried have had as much use after I've picked up some other attack powers. Shotguns are just awesome, I just wish one of the sword on back costume items was a shotgun instead. :D

Lightning Reflexes is a decent defensive power, but it really needs an enhancement to make it work well. When buffed by Defiance and the residual shield from Telekinetic Shield, it really comes through for you, and with those 3, I basically don't need an active heal, as the Green Orbs are usually enough to keep me going. The build feels really solid, and I'm loving it.

EDIT: Mini Mines I hear is nerfed on the Test from what I've heard, so, I'm hoping this puts them in the right spot of being useful AoE without being considered overpowered.