Warning - I am crazy picky about things. >.< I don't ask for help lightly for exactly that reason.

Okay, two things to get out of the way at the very, very start:

1) This has absolutely nothing to do with Superman or the Superman mythos <.< The solar power here is referencing literal sun-based powers; since the character in question is empowered by a sun goddess.

2) The build in question needs improvement; however it also needs to be thematic, so I need people thinking on both ends of the scale at the same time as much as possible. Theme wins out whenever there is a conflict however.

Please make sure to read the commentary at the bottom as well as the build; to get an idea of exactly what I'm after >.> (I'm sorry for having so many restrictions, but I've learned if I just say "help me with this build" on any game forum; invariably I get good, powerful builds that don't fit the theme I'm after in any way shape or form. Not the other folks' fault, I just figure I need to be specific at the outset.)

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So, here's the build:

Note: I'm presently level 30, rather than 40; I'm mostly trying to refine the build up to the point I'm at; though feel free to suggest post-30 things so long as they fit the general theme as noted in the commentary below.

Powers -

Energy Builder - Throw Fire
Level 1 - Heat Wave, Rank 3
Level 5 - Ego Weaponry, Rank 3
Level 8 - Ego Blade Frenzy, Rank 3
Level 11 - Eldritch Shield (This will likely change to Force Shield after I respec)
Level 14 - Form of the Unleashed Tempest
Level 17 - Ego Form
Level 20 - Mighty Leap
Level 23 - Thermal Reverb
Level 26 - Ego Blade Breech, Rank 3
Level 29+ - ???

Talents -

Innate - The Hero

Brilliant
Energetic
Investigator
Negotiator
Tireless
Amazing Stamina

Super Stats -

Dexterity
Ego

Stat Totals -

Str 18
Dex 153
Con 45
Int 38
Ego 123
Presence 13
Recovery 51
Endurance 59

I also run in Guardian almost exclusively, since I feel I hit plenty hard.
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Okay, so, the theme is based entirely around the sun as a source of power; the Ego Blades are colored orange and act as fiery swords; which works quite well; and Ego Form colored orange makes a beautiful solar glow. Additionally Form of the Unleashed Tempest makes the whole affair look more fiery and well... like the character is a direct representative of a sun goddess. It works out pretty well in those terms.

The problem is... I still have 4 powers to go; and absolutely no idea what to grab that fits my theme and is effective. Especially due to the following issues:

1) Fire powers - I want to use them, but my energy is pretty weak. For Ego Blades attacks this is mostly a non-issue; however... however fire powers are... well mostly rather pricey in terms of endurance used. Since I'm Dex-Ego I'm finding it difficult to have enough endurance to even fully maintain stuff like Conflagration. (Which is why I don't have it yet.)

Other fire powers that I can run are also rather consternating - Fireball doesn't seem to be all that useful except as a setup for other fire attacks via Unstable Accelerant; which would be fine except of course I can't run those other fire attacks yet (if ever); and it does nothing for my melee. Pyre is rather redundant, since in melee I can dish out damage in an AOE at least as fast as pyre just using Ego Blade Frenzy. Flash Fires and Fire Snake are both rather low damage, and finally, Fire Breath puts me only a short distance away from melee.... in which case I may as well be in melee.

I realize redundancy is going to be a problem regardless of course; I'm willing to accept it to a point, but it feels like the fire powers and TK powers are all so heavily synergized to work within their own set, that trying to cross-pollinate is... rather futile. Is there something I can do to make this worthwhile without destroying my ability to melee?

Functionally the biggest thing I want is a decent single-target ranged attack. I don't expect it to keep up with my melee; but there are times, especially in lairs I've learned (ouch), that my meleeing attracts a LOT of attention, and sometimes it's best to back off but not quite stop. I tried Fire Strike for it, but spamming it looks kinda silly imo, and the damage is pretty mediocre anyway; though I suppose in theory I could pair it with Fireball with UA; but I dunno if that's really worth it.

2) Other Powers -

Another route I've thought to go is to aim toward some healing abilities. Most healing powers are visually workable if I color them properly; and healing isn't really out of concept; even if it is a bit different. Buuut I have practically no presence... meaning that if I'm going to do any healing, I need, at a minimum, more presence gear; and probably to re-arrange my superstats. Energy is also likely to be a significant issue, since again, my pool is rather tiny.

I also thought about debuffs, but most of the powers with those don't really look anything like I need them to. Psychic Vortex almost works as a miniature sun; but it's got that weird dark patch in the middle which ends up kinda ruining the effect. Most of the rest just... don't work out.

Then there's control powers. I already have a couple holds, one very short and weak; but Heat Wave is fairly strong and effective. ... but as we all known Controls are pretty well useless against anything above Master Villains, and anything Master Villain and below can usually be KO'd as fast as it can be controlled. I could however, at least in theory, see some merit in getting Vengence from Celestial, and getting Redemption Denied... that would be at least semi-useful since it's an AoE; and it definitely fits the look well enough. Also some potential use in Soul Mesmerism with Golassia, since it looks like a burst of weirdly slow fire and has some AOE potential. Still, even the more useful ones are somewhat questionable giving the speed I can just kill things usually. Often Mighty Leap is enough of a hold.

Summons are the same way... in theory there's nothing prevent summoning creatures from fitting; but none of the creatures available fits; so it just... falls flat.

What I'm left with is primarily Energy Form and Active Defense powers; and while one of each may work; I really don't want to end up like I did on my Munitions character; stacking a ton of defensive boosts at the tail end of my career.

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Finally - I am not wedded to my stat selection as-is. I'm willing to alter it to a point; though I'd like to keep a fairly high crit/crit severity level for Form of the Unleashed Tempest. (I'd really rather not give that up since it looks excellent, provides some endurance, and provides some damage) So basically, I can unsuper-stat Dex/Ego if necessary, but I'd like to keep them reasonably high even if they need to be reduced.


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So yeah, summed up:

I'm happy with the basics; I do plenty of damage, I'm reasonably survivable; and I look awesome (imo) - but on the negative side... I have no idea where to take this character with the last third of her power choices, and I'm not really thrilled with the notion of just loading up on defenses or on next hit powers or anything, even if I can rationalize them. I want either some level of ranged damage for when situations require me not being in melee, or some secondary role I can perform during those times/as needed.

Like I said at the top; I'm picky >< which is part of why this is so hard; but I figured since I'm so completely out of ideas, maybe the forums can help.

The obvious one that jumps at me is Flashfire. You clearly do not understand what Flashfire is. it is not a power that is about damage. It is the end of your energy woes. You start a fight with it, you re-stack every 15 seconds it in long battles, you watch the Thermal Reverbation ticks from Flashfire keep you going.

As far as survivability/healing are concerned: CON. Ego Form grants a little damage resistance, scaling with CON. CON also grants more hit points. So putting more emphasis on CON might be a good start. (I think dumping END in favor of it should work; if you go with FF/TR energy management, having your energy pool size up should become less relevant.) Iirc, Resurgence sclaes with CON, so that might be your emergency heal.

If you want solar powers here is the list:
- Beam attacks from power armor - all of them looks like rays of energy. ches beam looks like you concentrate light at one point and shoot.
- Orbital Cannon - yes, it looks like and sounds like tech power, but nothing beats orange Orbital Cannon as GIANT SUN BEAM from above (also depends since it has lazer aiming animation).
- Celestial Conduit - stream of light (description of the power) that can also heal.
- Illumination - bless your friends, curse your foes (Celesial Conduet will ricoshete to them)
- Expulse - if lvled up looks like a huge burst of light that repels foes (can kill you eyes thou).
- Unbreakable - you begin to glow in steady light and resist attacks, but if you attack back resistance fades (since you have NO defence at all)
- Rebirth (again you have no defence)

@Arkady - That's a good point; and I'm not really sure why I didn't think of Flash Fires as an energy producer. It makes absolutely perfect sense; I just.. didn't think of it >< Feeling a little dumb now.

Con vs End - Also a good point, and easy enough to remedy really; since all my End comes from talents and just a tiny bit from gear.

@Denna-Atary -

I'd considered Orbital Canon several times... but I think the tech aspects just override the otherwise awesome effect. It's just a personal thing, but it bothers me a bit too much for me to go with it. (I did mention picky right? ><) - The power armor beam attacks on the other hand I hadn't really considered... I'll have to test those out in the power house, since those may very well just work. I actually used those on my wizard character for a similar purpose, so it could certainly work out here too.

Celestial Conduit/Illumination - Is this really worth it without investing heavily in Presence though? I mean I'm willing to do that (especially since I think it helps Thermal Reverb; which with Arkady's suggestion becomes much more valuable) - but I'm not sure how much I can divert that way. I did do some tests with Illumination though, and the Mend effect looks absolutely stunning; and I've always been a fan of Celestial Conduit; it'd certainly look good. I'm just a little concerned about lack of Presence for the heal components. It's a worthwhile experiment though if nothing else!

Expulse - I did try this awhile back and really liked the visual; at the time I was iffy on how useful it was; but it has been awhile, and I never did try it out in a lair; which may well be what I need any additional powers for.

Unbreakable - Never thought about it... I'll have to give it a shot; surely can't hurt! (I've got a couple vet specs banked, and plenty of resources to work with.)

Rebirth - I've tried it a couple times; and I really like the idea of just getting back up to continue the fight - and the visual, while imperfect, isn't bad...

... but every time I try it it actually seems that the power kills me faster than the enemy can. I suppose if I grab an emergency heal before hand that might be OK though; It's certainly still on my list.

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Thank you for the suggestions, I'm going to give some of these a shot. I've still got 10 levels to 40 too; so any more ideas/suggestions are very welcome! >.>b

I'm surprised you haven't gotten resurgence. Vengeance from Celestial looks more like a solar beam than orbital cannon. Granted, it lacks the punch. Perhaps a properly tinted Collective Will or Summon Nightmare could be a "solar elemental" you could use? Until the Fire Shield power gets released in the FTP update, maybe try the Force Shield or Eldritch Shield? Oh, and just for fun, miniaturization drive + adv.

I always thought rank 2 heatwave + adv did more damage than rank 3, was I wrong about that?

You could always switch to Dex/Pre SS and grab Seraphim (its visual effect looks like light shimmering around you), which'll boost Celestial Conduit's damage and healing output, make your heals mega-awesome (high presence and chance of them being critical hits, making Celestial Conduit into a beast), while still boosting the damage on your ego blades. It's a very potent combo. Run in Sentinel, and you'll have no problems with energy, either. With Flashfire + Thermal Reverberation, you can even run in Guardian to avoid the damage and health penalty of Sentinel, and still have enough energy to do anything you want.

Powers to consider if going Dex/Pre:

- Mindful Reinforcement, strong shield, insta-cast, no cooldown, looks like a small sun shielding you
- Ego Surge, for those moments when you wanna unleash hell with your ego blades (gives you a second id blade)
- Celestial Conduit + Illumination w/ advantage, damage and healing is boosted by Seraphim
- Vengeance, looks like a sunbeam shooting down, damage is boosted by Seraphim, stuns enemies
- Expulse, you burst and unleash an explosion of light, knocks back enemies, damage is boosted by Seraphim
- Masterful Dodge, not related to Dex/Pre, but probably the best active defense power in the game, useful in any build

Something like this could work:

Level 1: Radiance
Level 1: Celestial Conduit -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 5: Illumination -- Brilliance
Level 5: Fire Flight -- Rank 2
Level 8: Seraphim -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Expulse -- Rank 2, Rank 3 or Vengeance -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 14: Form Of The Unleashed Tempest
Level 17: Force Shield -- Force Sheath, Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 20: Ego Surge -- Rank 2, Nimble Mind
Level 23: Ego Blade Frenzy -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 26: Ego Blade Breach -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 29: Mindful Reinforcement -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 32: Flashfire
Level 35: Thermal Reverberation
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

With this build/path you can:

- Stay in range and hurt enemies or heal allies with Celestial Conduit
- Protect yourself and allies with sun shields (Mindful Reinforcement)
- Destroy any enemies which come near you with your solar blades
- Never run into energy problems due to Thermal Reverb feeding you energy from Flashfire
- Still look awesome and sun-like, due to Seraphim's and FotUT's visual effect

@Pimpernel - It's certainly an interesting direction to go. I probably won't do exactly that, but I am at least considering Dex/Pre for similar reasons to what you mention. (I can build ego other ways)

I've thought about Seraphim quite a bit too; but I think I'll stick with Ego form in the end. I've really come to like the glow from it and having two ego blades all the time. (I want to stick to a DPS focused role with anything like healing being a secondary area rather than primary)

I did try Mindful Reinforcement at one point; but unfortunately it just didn't quite look right to me. It's too pale I'm afraid. (I think if I were to go this route I might use the Force power that acts similarly, since that does look a bit more like what I'm after. Iffy on whether I'll do that or not though.)

Still, the ideas are good and it gives me a lot to think about.

I suspect I'll be respeccing either later tonight or tomorrow, since I think I'm developing a plan. (I'm tempted to wait until F2P goes live; but that could be awhile and I really want this character to hit 40 before then.)

@Tetujin-Prime -

I will in all likelihood wind up taking Resurgence; I had dismissed it, but today in a lair I discovered that as much damage as I do, I really need *some* method of self healing... otherwise I evaporate like wet tissue paper if I'm not extremely careful about my DPS.

I had tried Nightmare and Collective will before, and unfortunately neither really worked out <_ _> Nightmare because the summons are kinda demon-ish, which doesn't really suit what I'm after at all; and Collective Will because of the whole psychic thing. - It's times like this I really wish we had a Fire elemental summon.\

Didn't know that about HW w/ Advantage... I'll have to give that a shot.

Just adding a coda to this post:

I finally respecced. Went Dex/Pre - I'm still adjusting to the stat change, but so far I like it.

Powers-wise -

I dropped Heat Wave* (will maybe grab it again later) and replaced it with Celestial Conduit. I'm still not totally sure about this - it works quite well if I've got Flashfires up and hitting targets though. I think the big thing is just going to be waiting to get my gear re-aligned some more, as I still have more Ego than I strictly need, while my Presence is a bit behind where it ought to be. It does good damage for me though; and the healing capability is nice to have too; especially since I crit routinely.

Switched Eldritch Shield out for Force Shield as well; and that's also working well.

So all-told I didn't change a whole lot power-wise, but the behind-the-scenes stat stuff made a fairly significant shift; and having Celestial Conduit pulling double duty is kinda like gaining two powers for the price of one.

Going forward, I'm thinking my last 3 powers are likely to be:

Illumination (For Conduit synergy; and Mend looks perfect)
Resurgence (For when I just don't have time to set up a flashfire and top off my endurance before healing)
And likely Heatwave (because I still love this power's look.)

We'll see though, any of that could potentially change; but I'm forcing myself not to respec again until 40, - preferably not until after F2P goes live.

Anyway -

Thank you all again for the advice and ideas; it's enormously helpful having people willing to work within my concept and give me perspectives I hadn't thought of. I'll still have to tweak things until I'm happy**, but I feel like I've got a direction to shoot for now.



*I love the look of this power; but I have to admit, it's only really useful in certain circumstances... and nine out of ten times I used it it was simply 'because it looks awesome'; since my swords would do the same thing faster. (Well, minus the hold; but Mighty Leap stuns em long enough for me to kill them usually)

**But that's just how I am; even if I have a near-perfect fully functional build, I still experiment constantly >< It's a thing.

Sounds very cool. Could you post a screenshot? :D

Sorry. I don't have anything to add regarding build.

V.

Sure thing Valania! It'll be later today though; I've had some stuff come up and I don't have time to get good screenies right now. I'll post em up in the Costumes and Concepts forum when I'm all set. (I admit I'm flattered anyone would be interested <,<)