I've tried pretty much all the melee frameworks.

And while I like the superfast "kinetic" action of melee (especially martial arts, both blades and bestial), I find the rinse-and-repeat play that is the same attack (or two) over and over boring.

What might dispel the dullness? Why a mix, of course!

If I were to list the things about melee builds that make them fun, I'd say:
- Fast-acting, quick-hitting powers
- Bleeds (and some way to burst them)
- Big knockback
- Those cool "Dragon" attacks that feed the "Rush" buff
- Those cool Might area of effect powers (e.g., Shockwave, Havoc Stomp)
- Frequent crits
- Throwing things
- Flying from foe to foe (e.g., Mighty Leap, Thunderbolt Lunge, Pounce)
- A big character
- Travel power choices of Acrobat, Superjump or Swinging
- Maybe stacking Enrages...maybe

Now I know these can be combined into something a bit more tactically nuanced and varied than rinse and repeat. I feel it in my bones. And the fact that all these frameworks use DEX, STR, CON and passives that boost physical melee damage of all sorts (crushing and slashing, etc.) suggests a synergy.

The devil is in the details, though. So how might such a build look? And can it done without major sacrifices — without such boneheaded compromises that you couldn't help but feel like chump?

Others (like Pulsewave) have blessed us with fun public builds that have made the CO experience better. Can we do that here?

Any thoughts? Any interest? Are you up to the build challenge?

Advice would be very much appreciated.

- ELB

Okay, since this was bouncing around in my brain, I gave it a shot. Please note that there are obvious holes (like no talents chosen and few advantage points spent, just the essentials) in this prelim build, but this contains many of the ingredients:

Build by championBuilder 0.4.1

Download this Build here.

Mixmaster Melee: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Strength

Powers:
Level 1: Clobber
Level 1: Roomsweeper
Level 5: Mighty Leap
Level 5: Swinging
Level 8: Bite
Level 11: Form Of The Unleashed Tempest
Level 14: Energy Shield -- Laser Knight
Level 17: Dragon Kick
Level 20: Unstoppable
Level 23: Demolish -- Below The Belt
Level 26: Reaper's Embrace
Level 29: Eye Of The Storm -- Blade Beyond The Veil
Level 32: Havoc Stomp
Level 35: Acrobatics

A few comments and caveats:

- This is meant to be a "levelable" build, although two retcons in key places would not be unwise.
- I SS'd DEX and STR because they are the most fun. Form and crits need DEX. Unstoppable and throwing tanks and stuff needs STR. CON and EGO will have to be gotten through talents and equipment.
- I don't love Might as a starter here, but I feel Roomsweeper is essential for knockback (later Haymaker perhaps) and of all the "lunge" powers, I prefer Mighty Leap for the built-in stun (feel free to argue why another is better).
- Form of the Unleashed seems to unite all the attacks, because crits can happen with any of them (bleeds, not necessarily, for example).
- Energy Shield w/Laser Knight seems out of place, yes? Sure. But it is a great combo w/Unstoppable, I think, for that offense-defense mix.
- Of the four "Dragons," I picked Dragon Kick because it is AOE, and grants a stun. Seems pretty sweet. Dragon's Wrath (DB) penetrates damage resistance (nice). Dragon's Bite is good for bleeds (also nice). A tough choice. Perhaps at a retcon point the pick will go elsewhere.
- I chose to hold out for Unstoppable because its damage boost is +50 physical. Way of the Enlightened Warrior's is +27.
- Demolish seems an obvious choice to mix things up, as it debuffs damage resistance. The Below the Belt advantage increases this further, making you even more nasty.
- If you're going to get the guy bleeding (especially those tougher foes), then you simply must have Reaper's Embrace.
- The last two were tacked on, and perhaps come too late in the build, but it's quite hard for me to select what to put when. Eye of the Storm w/Blade Beyond the Veil will improve your defense further, while still providing AOE offense. And Havoc Stomp is higher-damage AOE. Once one or both of these are in place, a retcon could be used to replace dragon kick, for example, with a more useful option.

Clearly, while there's some defense here, this build is currently long on attacks and short on a lot else. Some clickies are needed. There should be a hold breaker. There should be at least a mega-heal. I tend to get my builds fairly tight to L14-L17 and then they come a bit unglued.

Any help/thoughts would be very much welcome.

- ELB

P.S. And now I'm beginning to wonder exactly what this character's concept/look — a biting, sword-wielding, punching, stomping, swinging, energy shield using powerhouse — would be like.

A puppy. :)

Here's my Bleed build.

Build by championBuilder 0.4.1

Download this Build here.

: Level 40 Champion

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

Powers:
Level 1: Bestial Fury -- Rip And Tear!
Level 1: Reaper's Caress
Level 5: Bite -- Furor Venenum
Level 5: Acrobatics
Level 8: Thunderbolt Lunge -- Nailed to the Ground
Level 11: Parry -- Parry
Level 14: Masterful Dodge
Level 17: Way of the Enlightened Warrior -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 20: Bountiful Chi Resurgence -- Resurgent Reiki, Rank 2
Level 23: Form Of The Unleashed Tempest
Level 26: Reaper's Embrace -- Rank 2, No Mercy
Level 29: Submachinegun Burst -- Aggression, Rank 2
Level 32: Venomous Breath -- Infectious Bile, Rank 2
Level 35: Havoc Stomp -- Cry Havoc, Rank 2
Level 35: Flight
Level 38: Aspect Of The Infernal -- Rank 2, Rank 3

Talents:

The basic idea is to stack bleeds fast. Cause Infections. And rupture the bleeds. Dex/Ego for Crits Geared for 70 Str, thenn Dex, con, ego.

An easy way to use this is Havoc Stomp and Venomous Breath to leave you 1 on 1 with a super villain or master villain. From there SMG foloowed by a triple Reaper's Caress to a Bite Fest. From there a tap on venomous breath to the almighty Reaper's Embrace. (if you are using a toxic single blade this becomes insanely high burst damage) If Reaper's Embrace applied the 2 bleeds go to Reaper's Caress if not go to SMG.

It's true that my initial stab -- pardon the pun -- probably didn't have enough bleed-inducing attacks to be an effective bleed build.

Yours is quite interesting. Thanks for the food for thought.

- ELB

MrELB (Leveling Build/1-21): Biting, Sword-Wielding, Punching, Stomping, Energy-Shield using "POWERHOUSE"!

Superstats: STR/CON
Talents (for DEX): One Of Mind And Body – Agile | Coordinated | Shooter | Finesse | Impresario | Accurate

TP 1: Acrobatics -- Rank 2
EB: Bestial Fury

Level 1: Pounce
Level 5: Bite
Level 8: Roomsweeper -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Energy Shield -- Laser Knight
Level 14: Howl -- Make Them Tremble
Level 17: Unstoppable
Level 20: Supernatural Power

Level 26: Reaper's Embrace


Theme "Powers"

• (BESTIAL): Bestial Fury, Bite, Pounce, Supernatural Power
• (MIGHT): Roomsweeper, Defensive Combo, Demolish, Havoc Stomp
• (MA): Acrobatics, Dragon Kick, BCR, Masterful Dodge
• (BLADES): Reapers Embrace, Eye of the Storm
• (TECH): Energy Shield, Hover Disk

"Mechanics"

• (BLEEDS): Bestial Fury+Adv., Reapers Embrace+Adv.
• (DEBUFFS): -RES. (Demolish+Adv.), FEAR (Howl+Adv., Havoc Stomp+Adv.), KB/KU (Roomsweeper, Havoc Stomp)
• (BUFFS): ALL PHYSICAL (Unstoppable), ALL DAMAGE (Enrage>Bite+Adv./10%, Roomsweeper/100%, Havoc Stomp/50%)
• (RESISTANCE/MITIGATIONS): Eye of the Storm, Energy Shield+Adv., Defiance (Def. Combo+Adv.), Dodge (Dragon Kick+Adv., M.Dodge), Healing (BCR+RR), Havoc Stomp+Adv.
• (OFFENSE/ST): Demolish, Beastial Fury, Bite, Pounce, Defensive Combo, Reapers Embrace,
• (OFFENSE/AoE): Roomsweeper, Dragon Kick, Havoc Stomp, Eye of the Storm

Suggested "Stat'ing"

• SS (STR/CON)
• Talents (DEX)
• Gear/Primaries: STR(O), CON(D), EGO(U)
• Gear/Secondaries: To equally distribute DEX & EGO for crits, slot as needed

Suggested Advantages

• Bestial Fury (Rip And Tear!), Pounce (Nailed to the Ground), Bite (Furor Venenum), Unstoppable (Rank 2, Rank 3), Reaper's Embrace (No Mercy)

Suggested Powers AND Advantages

• (OFFENSIVE): Dragon Kick (Lashing Dragon Tail), Demolish (Below The Belt, Rank 2), Havoc Stomp (Cry Havoc)
• (ACTIVE/HEALING): Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki), Masterful Dodge
• (TRAVEL): Hover Disk (Rank 2)
• (ALTERNATES): Eye Of The Storm (Blade Beyond The Veil), Defensive Combo (Surge Of Strength)

Ok, lets try to lay this "Ugly Bag Of Snakes" i've created out straight shall we?

"Theme"

From your starting build, your desired mechanics, and your description there seemed to be only one answer for this...
...VAMPIRE!

So I sorted the powers into their appropriate "themes", and went from there.

To be able to put the powers you wanted in a usable fashion, there needed to be some "progression" in the theme.
I went for "Beastial>Might>Tech>Blades". With that in mind, i designed the first 21 levels (until the first retcon).
After that, i simply added "Suggestions" for powers. What order you put them in is up to you.

(Due to the builds "mutt" theme, it's tier progression was limited. 17th/Tier & 26th/Tier 3 are the break points.)
(I left in "Eeaper's Embrace" so this could be seen visually.)

To include ALL of this into a build, is probably unwise. BUT, i did try to get in as much as was feasable.

(Due to "Forms" inherent dislike of "Enrage", and that some powers wanted generated Enrage, "FotUT" was dropped.)
(Also, i just couldn't get it into my head that this "Kick-Ass!" character used "Swinging", so it was swapped for "Acrobatics".)

After "Theme", i broke it down into "Mechanics" so the strengths (and the weaknesses) of the build could be looked at.
I also provided suggestions for: Stats, Advantages (over 21), and remaining Powers and Advantages.



In closing, it's late (as evident by my quote from @Shep_Dostov's),
and this build was more complicated than i thought, so i probably missed something.

(If so, my bad :D )

If anyone see's the "glaring holes" in it, please feel free to point them out so @MrELB has the best build possible!
Because i'd like to see this...

Biting, Sword-Wielding, Punching, Stomping, Energy-Shield using "POWERHOUSE"

...concept in action myself

Yah one nice thing about mine is if you use a power replace toxic single blade you can get a triple crit on Reaper's Embrace. 1 for the toxic ability, 1 for Reaper's Embrace, and 1 on the Rupture. For this it's better to stack dex.

Sorry to go off topic here but AngelOfCaine has the coolest double post I've ever seen.

Angel,

I think you've nailed it, to the degree such a long and broad wish list can be nailed. What I was struggling with was getting in all I wanted AND a good number of sources of bleeds, which you managed. I think it will do well. I shall test it soon — I already have a toon at L14 that's got two retcons saved.

Thanks for all the work. The breakdown/analysis was impressive.

My only criticism is that I wonder how valuable Supernatural Power will prove to be, because the energy rush only applies to Supernatural powers, and I expect the high-tier powers from other sets may be the especially costly ones.

- ELB

YW

RE: Supernatural Power
IDK, i thought since Bite was the best "bleeder" available it would get used heavy and provide enough for SP to be useful.
(But i can guarentee that "unstoppable" gives almost as good a END return as Defiance does when used with at least 2 of the "big 3" KB powers: Roomsweeper, Uppercut, and Haymaker.)

One of the reasons i went into such depth in the "analysis" was i'm working on a similar project myself.
(Only not as "Broad".)

I'm going for: Bestial/SB/Might.
So this was a good exercise for me...


PS: Post the build you end up using at 21? I want to see want works