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Why Might?

Because Might is an unbelievably fun Power Set, and one that seamlessly encompasses one of the oldest Superhero Archetype.


Who are you? Why should we even listen to you?

Truthfully, you shouldn’t… But in my own defense, I have spent a great deal of time playing around inside the Might Power Set, both before and after the level cap. I fully retconned my Might builds a whole bunch of time in order to make the most out of it.

As for my tanking background, I have successfully tanked the biggest lairs of the game, along with all the Cosmics currently in-game at the moment. Teleiosaurus, Therakiel, Shadow Destroyer, you take your pick…


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Powers Overview :


* All power names are linked to the CO-Wiki and their respective descriptions *


Defiance

This Defensive Passive is sort of a compromise between Lightning Reflexes and Invulnerability. What this passive does, is allow you to produce stacks of the Defiant buff when getting hit every four seconds, which will increase your damage mitigation as a whole.

Though it should be noted, that the Defiant stacks are considered a completely separate entity from the passive, and as a result, their mitigation scales with CON instead of Super Stats.

Defiance also returns energy upon getting hit (kind of a big deal, given how energy-starved Might is); amount, which is influenced by REC. Also, this passive will keep a static amount of Defiant stacks upon you based on the rank of the power. Meaning that Rank 1 Defiance will keep one stack of Defiance on you at all time and so on...

This passive is one of the best tanking passives out there and is one of the fastest way to build up Enraged stacks by combining it with the Enrage power.

Please note however, that Defiance doesn’t sport nearly as much immediate mitigation as Invulnerability and requires time to attain the maximum number of stacks it can produce. So make sure that you ramp up your CON and rank the power accordingly, in order to survive the early Alpha Strikes and the couple seconds necessary for your Defiant stacks to build up.

Here's an approximate of the mitigation granted by each Defiant stacks based on CON :

5 CON : 6,5%
80 CON : 12%
100 CON : 12%
150 CON : 14%
200 CON : 16%
250 CON : 16%

250 CON + Six stacks of Defiant : 96%

Do note however, that this calculation doesn't take into account Cryptic Math, and as result, won't reduce a 100 damage down to 4.

- Force of Will

Quite frankly, Force of Will is next to useless in comparison to Rank 3. And I’ll tell you why, because this advantage grants knockback and stun resistance. Chances are, that you’ll already be stacking Strength (knockback resists) and there aren’t that many powers that have a Stun component to begin with.


Enrage

What this power does, basically, is add a single stack of the Enraged buff on you along with another one for every two stacks of Defiant you have on you upon activating the power.

Enraged is a stacking damage buff that scales with STR and whose duration scales with CON.

This power is very good when paired up with Defiance and Unleashed Rage. Having more Damage is never a bad idea; especially, if you run Defiance, because it will allow you to deal some very respectable damage, despite running around with a Defensive Passive.

If, on the other hand, you are running Unstoppable; then Enrage won’t be doing much for you, except perhaps help you maintain the stacks you already have. As such, you will have to figure out other ways to build up Enraged stacks, like a charged Roomsweeper or Havoc Stomp.

Here's an approximate of the damage increase granted by each Enraged stacks, based on STR :

5 STR: 4%
80 STR : 7,7%
100 STR : 8,7%
150 STR : 11%
200 STR : 13%
250 STR : 16%

250 STR + Eight stacks of Enraged : 128%

Do note however, that this calculation doesn't take into account Cryptic Math, and as a result, should be taken with a grain of salt.

- Endorphin Rush

I tried this advantage again recently, and once more, I was thoroughly unimpressed. This advantage might sound good on paper, but even with full stacks of Defiant, Rank 2 Enrage and loads of CON; it heals even less than Rank 1 Bountiful Chi Resurgence under a cooldown twice as long.

Do yourself a favor and skip this. There are much better options to spend your points on.


Aggressor

This power is a toggle that adds a direct percentage to your melee Crushing damage, and the nice thing is, that it also has a stack component that adds a cumulative damage buff; triggered when you use a knock power. (pretty much everything in the Might set…)

If you have no idea what power to pick, or have spare advantage points, take it, love it. As far as damage is concerned, it is much more beneficial to rank Aggressor rather than Unstoppable.


Demolish

Demolish is another great way to increase your damage output as Might. What this power does basically, is hit your target and apply a debuff that reduces the Physical (Crushing, Slashing, Piercing) damage resistance of your target. Which means that not only does it boost pretty much all melee powers from Might, but it can also be used in conjunction with Heavy Weapons, the chains as well as a whole bunch of other powers.

Furthermore, with the Below the Belt advantage, this power will add a second debuff on top of the first one, further enhancing all of your melee Crushing damage.

It’s a good power, other melee characters will love you for it, and it’s a neat Damage per Second increase.

If anything, Demolish compares rather favorably against the likes of Uppercut and Haymaker; its only flaw perhaps, is that it doesn't apply knock and costs just as much as Haymaker, without the added utility. Anyway, whether or not you choose to take any of those, Demolish should definitely be in your cards.

- Below the Belt

Add an additional melee Crushing damage debuff to Demolish, that stands somewhere between 1 and 13%. Take it, love it.


Unstoppable

In a nutshell, Unstoppable is an offensive passive that adds a direct percentage to all melee Physical damage (Crushing, Slashing and Piercing Damage) and half as much to non-Physical melee damage, which scales with Super Stats. In addition to that, this power also confers some resistance to knocks, as well as a small degree of damage absorption (all of which scales with Super Stats) and generates a certain amount of energy whenever you knock someone (the amount of energy generated scales with REC).

Overall, Unstoppable is pretty straightforward, much like any other passive that boosts a specific kind of damage. However, it should be noted that there is little point in ranking this power beyond improving your resistance to knocks; it's damage buff component just doesn't really benefits from being ranked, and as a result, you're probably better off just investing in Aggressor once you have the passive.

Do note however, that the energy-generation mechanic of Unstoppable is garbage; Might is costly, and you're no longer running with Defiance, so you might wanna take steps to ensure that your energy levels remains within acceptable parameters.


Clobber

Your bread-and-butter energy builder, along with Defiance and Block. It’s not that great as far as it goes, but it gets the job done.

Like all melee energy builders, Clobber can generate energy from range and will taunt your target into attacking you whenever you're not in range. (Don't expect it to do much beyond pulling)

As far as it goes, this power is mostly used as a gateway to higher tiers of Might and does a reasonable job at maintaining your Enraged stacks once advantaged.

- Onslaught

The shining gem that makes clobber a better option than the other builders; as far as Might goes at least. Basically, this advantage has a chance to add an Enraged stack on you, or if you already got some, refresh your stacks for a certain amount of time.


Haymaker

One of the most iconic and damaging power within the Might set. This power gets a lot of good press, namely for strong taps, big numbers and insanely long charge time…

Haymaker is pretty good at what it does, namely dealing large amounts of damage very quickly, knock your opponent when charged and even debuff your target once advantaged. Still, it costs a bundle energy-wise, so you might wanna take steps to ensure that you can get the most out of it.

Otherwise, a fully charged Haymaker can also grant two Enraged stacks when used right after a fully-charged Uppercut. A nice combo as far as it goes, though that's a pretty big investment considering that you will probably be taking Demolish as well.

However, Haymaker is poor choice to build and maintain stacks of Aggressor, as it doesn't knock opponents upon being tapped; unlike Uppercut. Still, there are other ways to deal with that, namely Roomsweeper and Uppercut.

- Nullifying Punch

This advantage is one of the very few powers capable of countering healing. What it does essentially, is reduce the effect of subsequent healing by 50% as well as interrupting any pre-existing Heal over Time on your target.


Uppercut

Very good single target power, if a bit shy in comparison to Haymaker. This power charges quickly, deal good damage and even causes knockup for additional fall damage.

The true advantage of this power lies in the fact that it is rather cheap in comparison to the likes of Demolish and Haymaker. Which can be extremely desirable considering the fact that most Might powers are rather expansive.

It can be used in conjunction with Haymaker to set up a combo, but personally, I think you don't really need the two of them in order to be effective. Pick whichever one you prefer, there isn't really a wrong answer here. Unless you have no other way to build up Aggressor stacks, in which case, I would strongly urge you to go with Uppercut.

- Head Trauma

This advantage suffers from the same problem as the stun advantage of Roomsweeper. Those on which you want to land this, are generally immune to it, though I have heard that some people have been getting good mileage out of it in PVP.

Me, I skip it in favor of Rank 3.

Beatdown

As a low-tier power, one might consider Beatdown as little more than a gateway to other much better single target powers. Though that’s not to say that it’s completely useless. Early on, and before I learned about the other powers, Beatdown was one of my most important powers, thanks to its ability to lock down mobs. The thing is, Beatdown has a chance to stun its target for a certain amount of time, which can essentially chain-stun Master Villains when you’re low on health.

Still, its damage is less than stellar (though still better than Defensive Combo). The Crippling Challenge advantage makes it much better as a tanking tool, but beyond that, if you can skip it, do so.

- Blindside Blow

This advantage pretty much increases Beatdown's damage against snared targets. Not a bad idea on paper, a terrible advantage in reality.

This power is not meant to be your main source of damage, and as such, should not be taken.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Truthfully, Beatdown isn't really meant to be your primary tanking tool. Defensive Combo does a much better job at that.


Defensive Combo

As the early mainstay power of The Behemoth, Defensive Combo is OK as far as it goes, but it's a rather average power that deals precious little damage; especially when compared to just about any other power within the Might Set; yes, even Beatdown deals more damage than Defensive Combo.

If you've got Defiance and are already getting hit, then you don’t need a separate power to maintain Defiant; and if you don’t, then you probably don’t need the mitigation. If you need an additional layer of defense, I can see someone taking this with Invulnerability or other Passives (assuming that you got a decent amount of CON), but otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

The true purpose of Defensive Combo however, is to build up threat rapidly by combining the power's innate threat generation with the one from Crippling Challenge. This power is probably the best carrier of Crippling Challenge for tanks that are running low on PRE, as it has proved more than once, that it was more than capable of filling the gap and even overcome it.

If you have sufficient PRE however, you could do well enough with just about any other carrier of Crippling Challenge; as Defensive Combo is next to useless out of melee.

- Surge of Strength

This advantage gives you the ability to instantly generate or refresh Defiant stacks, instead of having to wait for the third blow. But again, I can't see any reason why you should even consider this advantage. Unless you aren't running Defiance, in which case, it will net you two stacks of Defiant as opposed to one.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Crippling Challenge plays right into Defensive Combo's game and allows it to get to the top of the aggro chart really fast; unless you are competing with someone that also uses it. (Can fluctuate between having more PRE, Rank 2, etc...)


Iron Chain

Iron Chain is an OK power, it's not all that special, but it does have a rather interesting selection of advantages.

It doesn't benefits from STR nor from Brawler Role however, which makes it a somewhat questionable power.

Still it benefits from Kinetic Manipulation, so at least you can back it up with a passive now.

- Meteor Hammer

This adds a charge and knockback component to Iron Chain. Not a bad investment, especially if you use Enraged stacks to proc the knockback. Still, there are better choices out there, unless you are planning to go all chains.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Iron Chain is a better carrier of Crippling Challenge than Beatdown, but that's not saying much. So unless you have sufficient PRE and have to take Iron Chain, try to avoid sinking points here.


Shockwave

This power is one of my personal favorites in the Might set. A full maintain is more than enough to take out all henchmen, while also chipping away at stronger foes.

It snares, it can also interrupt charged powers when fully maintained and it will keep track of your target regardless of whether they move or not.

Overall, Shockwave is a very versatile power, especially when advantaged. The drawback however, is that it doesn't scale with anything in Might beyond Enraged stacks.

- Leg Rumbler

This is your tool to take out all of those pesky fliers from the sky. Take it, if you can.

- Challenging Strikes

Challenging Strikes is your primary multiple threat generation tool. This advantage adds a certain amount of threat to the power on which it is applied and will generate additional threat over time as long as the debuff is active. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 5% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Shockwave is your traditional carrier of Challenging Strikes, in that it is a cone power and can therefore be applied from range. Havoc Stomp deals more damage than Shockwave and can help you generate some Enraged stacks, but it isn't really as convenient as the latter.


Roomsweeper

Very good cone Area of Effect, and arguably one of the most iconic Might power. In fact, I constantly find new uses to make of Roomsweeper. However, the massive knockback of the power makes it kind of a love and hate power. It does good damage, but really shines from the falling damage it causes.

Roomsweeper is a good power to use, especially early on, with its fast charge and its chance to produce Enraged stacks when charged up to 50%. Using this power is one of the best ways to reliably build up and maintain Enraged stacks while running Unstoppable and opens up some interesting options defensively.

If you can swallow the knockback or knockup (targets under control effects get knocked up instead of back), take it, you won’t regret it.

- Concussive Blow

Something of a redundant advantage… Concussive Blow adds a stun component to Roomsweeper, which makes little sense, since that most mobs knocked by this power will already be plummeting to their death.

Also, most of the mobs on which this advantage would be useful, are also immune to stun. Skip it.

- Challenging Strikes

Challenging Strikes is your primary multiple threat generation tool. This advantage adds a certain amount of threat to the power on which it is applied and will generate additional threat over time as long as the debuff is active. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 5% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Roomsweeper isn't exactly an ideal carrier of Challenging Strikes, since that it is a melee cone power as opposed to a ranged one. It's not that bad as far as bosses are concerned, but during lairs, I often find myself tagging trash mobs with Challenging Strikes in order to pull them toward me, so that my teammates can focus on doing what they do best.

So I would recommend either Shockwave or Havoc Stomp for this advantage; unless you are a Behemoth, in which case I would urge you to get it until you get Shockwave.


Havoc Stomp

Havoc Stomp is a really good power, especially when paired up with the likes of Unstoppable and Thunderclap.

What it does exactly, is a toned-down 360 degrees Roomsweeper with much better initial damage than its counterpart. Furthermore, it also has a chance to generate multiple Enraged stacks when charged over 50%.

Overall, Havoc Stomp is much better than Roomsweeper as an Area of Effect, though its Enraged generation ain't exactly as predictable as the former. Its drawback however, is that it takes forever to charge and leaves you vulnerable to enemy attacks unless you've got Thunderclap.

Much to my surprise, it did quite well in Lemuria, unlike Roomsweeper and Shockwave.

- Cry Havoc

Adds a fear component to Havoc Stomp. It’s an OK advantage, just doesn't seem worth spending two advantage points.

- Challenging Strikes

Challenging Strikes is your primary multiple threat generation tool. This advantage adds a certain amount of threat to the power on which it is applied and will generate additional threat over time as long as the debuff is active. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 5% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Havoc Stomp is an interesting carrier of Challenging Strikes, but not necessarily an ideal one. On one hand, it possess a larger sphere than Roomsweeper, which might allow you to pull off some decent aggro, assuming that your teammates are willing to wait for you to get aggro; but it isn't really as convenient as Shockwave given that it is restricted to melee range.

Still, it deals melee Crushing damage as opposed to ranged Sonic, so it possess much more potential than Shockwave as far as damage is concerned.

Iron Cyclone

Iron Cyclone is a mid-range maintained Area of Effect that can be used in a 360 degrees angle. It has a knockback component that’s very good to interrupt other players. It deals decent damage as far as I'm concerned.

Still, for some reasons, this power doesn't scale with Kinetic Manipulation (or anything inside Might, beyond Enraged stacks) at this point in time. Probably an oversight when its tag was changed.

- Vortex Technique

The exact same thing the power does, only that instead of getting knocked back, mobs get knocked toward you. It also applies or refresh Enraged stacks on a full maintain.

Perhaps the most important thing about this advantage is that it allows this power to setup some more powerful Area of Effects like Havoc Stomp or Unleashed Rage. While at the same time, turning this power into a proper Area of Effect when dealing with the likes of VIPER Soldiers, Lemurians or Nemesis Minions.

- Challenging Strikes

Challenging Strikes is your primary multiple threat generation tool. This advantage adds a certain amount of threat to the power on which it is applied and will generate additional threat over time as long as the debuff is active. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 5% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

As a carrier of Challenging Strikes, Iron Cyclone offers much better range than Havoc Stomp, but still only half of what Shockwave is capable of. Furthermore, Iron Cyclone doesn't have much going for it, being classified as ranged Crushing damage and not scaling with Kinetic Manipulation.

It's a decent choice, but if you are really considering Iron Cyclone as a carrier of Challenging Strikes, you should probably have a look at Shockwave.


Retaliation

Your basic, un-intrusive Block Enhancement. It’s a good all-around block, which will give you a Retaliation buff when damaged while it is maintained. This buff will give a damage increase to your next attack, so it’s like this, block then dish it.

- Punitive Pummeling

Do not take this advantage... I am dead serious about this...

Basically, what this advantage does, is gives you a chance to trigger a small scale Roomsweeper while blocking. This cone attack deals no damage whatsoever, but knockback foes in front of you for a small parcel of fall damage.

It’s great conceptually, but I wouldn't consider it outside of a strictly ranged build. It makes setting up proper Area of Effects a nightmare, and it has a habit of triggering at the worst possible times...

Bottom line, Roomsweeper does the same thing and better at that, so skip it.


Mighty Leap

Your all-purpose lunge, that possesses a stun component at long range which can cause interrupts. Also, the cooldown is next to negligible, so you can lunge all over the place to your heart’s content.

- Bull Rush

It basically adds a knockback and a snare to all hostile targets around your dedicated target. It has its uses, but it’s really just a waste of advantage points.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

As a carrier of Crippling Challenge, Mighty Leap is perfectly alright; it's no Defensive Combo, but it gets the job done.

- Nailed to the Ground

It disables and locks out travel powers for five seconds. It’s not nearly as great as Shockwave against multiple targets, but it does lock out travel powers.


Iron Lariat

Iron Lariat essentially pulls your target toward you, knocking him down in the process, allowing you to chip away at his health while he recovers…

The whole point of this power was to pull your target back in melee range, so you can continue to fight in melee; which sadly, seldom happens when it is used at maximal range. And unlike Mighty Leap, it can be blocked to nullify its effect, whereas the latter will be capable of getting into melee regardless.

I’ve seen the Lariat backfire repeatedly, only pulling my target about halfway toward me, forcing me to chase him down as he recovered from the shock. The lunges generally accomplishes the very same thing, and better at that.

Bottom line, it gets the job done, but it’s not all that spectacular. I highly recommend taking Mighty Leap over this power, as it offers much more utility and is, overall, better at cutting the distance between you and your target. Plus, Iron Lariat suffers from a longer animation as well as a cooldown twice as long as that of the lunges.

- Kyoketsu Shoge

Arguably one of the most useless advantage of the set. It adds a charge component to the Lariat, along with a bleed debuff. The thing is, Iron Lariat has a rather long cooldown, so I wouldn’t recommend it.


Hurl

Hurl... is a very difficult power to size up...

On one hand it scales with Brawler and STR's melee bonus, but for some reason it doesn't scale with Unstoppable and wouldn't be much better using Kinetic Manipulation. (Brawler role would interfere with the chains and so on...) Plus, it has a cooldown on top of that, so I can't really see it dealing any sort of reliable damage.

However, given that Hurl has a range of a 100ft, it makes a rather interesting carrier of Crippling Challenge and Nailed to the Ground; while also snaring your target upon reception.

- Rubble Trouble

This advantage is nice on paper, not so much in practice. All it does, is add an Area of Effect component to an average power possessing a cooldown to begin with.

- Nailed to the Ground

It disables and locks out travel powers for five seconds. It’s not nearly as great as Shockwave against multiple targets, but it does lock out travel powers.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Hurl is an interesting carrier of Crippling Challenge, in that it is one of several powers capable of applying it at a 100ft range. It's not much, but it gets its point across.


Thunderclap

Thunderclap is an interesting point-blank Area of Effect, which possess the ability to stun just about any mob below the rank of Supervillain; it also works on players to some extent, or so I'm told.

It’s a good tool if you are running Lightning Reflexes or just about any offensive passive; it's also pretty helpful if you want to setup a ranged cone attack or a knockup Roomswepper. However, Thunderclap really shines when used in conjunction with Havoc Stomp and Unleashed Rage, as it can fill the gap between the former's charge time and the latter's hefty activation time.

With the proper buffs, Thunderclap can serve as a semi-useful instant Point-Blank Area of Effect. It also generates Enraged stacks when used on three or more targets.

As a carrier of Challenging Strikes, Thunderclap ain't nearly as interesting as it used to be, thanks to the fact that it no longer benefits from its cooldown. Just about any maintain would do the job, maybe even better at that.

- Collateral Damage

A waste of points, 5 feet increase doesn’t make much of a difference for this power. It does help out on the Enraged generation, but the cooldown and the advantage points necessary to buy this advantage, makes me believe that there are better choices out there.

- Challenging Strikes

Challenging Strikes is your primary multiple threat generation tool. This advantage adds a certain amount of threat to the power on which it is applied and will generate additional threat over time as long as the debuff is active. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 5% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Thunderclap has lost a lot of ground as a carrier of Challenging Strikes since it was fixed and its choices of carriers broadened; just about any power without a cooldown would be better than Thunderclap.

On the Behemoth, Roomsweeper is a much more attractive carrier of Challenging Strikes, so make sure you weigh your options before proceeding.


Unleashed Rage *

Great, just what Might was missing, an Alpha Strike. To put it simply, it is a large Area of Effect capable of knocking down and applying fear to all targets in mid-range. And the more Enraged stacks you have on you upon activating it, the stronger the damage. Though it should be noted that it is next to worthless on its own.

Given that it is one of the strongest Tier 4 powers out there, I can see no reasons not to pick this up; especially if you have come this far in Might.

It also doesn't consume any of your Enraged stacks and benefits from the Brawler role, in case you were wondering. However, it's not affected by the STR melee bonus.

* Do note, that in order to have access to Unleashed Rage, you need to be a Gold Member, have completed the Vibora Bay Crisis, bought up to 10 separate powers within the Brick Framework and have a spare Power Point on your Champion. *

Synergies :

There are many different powers that synergies directly with Might, particularly when it comes to offering alternate ways to build your Might toon. And that's exactly what this section is about.


Way of the Warrior

Way of the Warrior is just another one of these powers that opens up a whole new dimension when it comes to Might.

What this passive does basically, is buff all of your melee Physical damage (Crushing, Slashing, Piercing) as well as increase your dodge and avoidance rating; both effects which scales with your Super Stats. It also generates energy whenever one of your opponents dodges, but that almost never happen as far as PVE is concerned.

The thing about this offensive passive, is that it allows you to stack some dodge and have the opportunity to use DEX as one of your Super Stats, as opposed to taking STR as usual.

For instance, instead of going with Enraged stacks and Resurgence, you could go with something a little bit different by building Focus (scales with STR and DEX) using one of all the various toggles available in the Martial Arts Framework; as well as use Masterful Dodge and the Resurgent Reiki advantage on Bountiful Chi Resurgence, in order to capitalize on your dodging capabilities.

Also, keep in mind that Way of the Warrior follows the same curve as Unstoppable, and as a result, you're generally better off investing in your toggle as opposed to ranking it. In addition to that, having access to a Focus toggle will disable all but one of your Enraged stack while toggled on.


Kinetic Manipulation

This power is another offensive passive available inside Force, that boosts all of your ranged Physical damage (Crushing, Slashing, Piercing); allowing you to use the chains powers in Might more efficiently. This damage increase scales with your Super Stats and also grant some minor measure of resistance against Physical damage.

Now, before we get going, let me state that the the Might chains have much less damage potential than their Infernal counterparts, due to the fact that they uses Toxic (Elemental) instead of ranged Crushing damage (Physical). As a result, stacking Enraged and using the innate damage debuff on Demolish are about the only ways to improve those chains within Might. (Not that those are the only ones out there, just saying...)

Still, if you are really serious about using chains, you can do much much worse than picking up Kinetic Manipulation; though you might wanna keep in mind that Iron Cyclone doesn't scale with this passive at this point in time.


Howl

What Howl does, is basically add an Enraged stack on you, or refresh them when you already have some under your belt. Which is a tremendous help, since that it is very difficult to prevent the stacks decay when you are fighting or going through some downtime. You could keep them refreshed through the likes of Roomsweeper, Havoc Stomp and Clobber’s advantage, but truthfully, those are rather inconvenient and prevents you from using much stronger powers like Haymaker or Uppercut.

It does have a fear component, which is quite nice, since it is already implemented within the power from the get-go. And it also applies a single Enraged stack on your team, that is, when you don’t have any on yourself to begin with.

While it is not essential to your success as a Might enthusiast, it is tremendously helpful, especially if you are building Enraged stacks through other means while running Unstoppable.

- Make Them Tremble

An OK advantage, though perhaps sitting on a rather long cooldown. What this does, is essentially applies a snare to targets within your immediate vicinity, which may or may not be necessary if you are already running the likes of Brawler role, Shockwave or Hurl.

It’s not that big a deal, but still, it only costs one advantage point, so if you are ready to spend the advantage point on it, you should feel free to do so.


Energy Shield

To be fair, this is exactly the same power as Retaliation, minus the damage buff and plus 20% damage mitigation.

What makes Energy Shield truly shine however, is its advantage, which activates whenever you use a melee attack; improving your defense by a rather interesting amount, as well as slightly lowering the damage you deal while it is active.

Given that most of the powers within the Might Power Set are melee attacks, getting more defense for it is never a bad idea; you could certainly make much worse choices than taking it along with Laser Knight.

- Laser Knight

This advantage allows you to proc a lesser version of Energy Shield when using melee attacks. This shield improves your defense for a couple of seconds.

Laser Knight isn't exactly the monster it used to be, but it's still quite potent as far as it goes and does reasonably well when paired with the likes of Unstoppable. It's most certainly better than nothing, though you might wanna consider Ebon Void with Voracious Darkness if you're more of the tanking sort.


Parry

Parry is an OK block that allows you to return a portion of an incoming attack every six seconds; the amount of damage returned ain't all that crazy, but it's kind of nice conceptually.

What Parry does however, is provide an alternative to Energy Shield and Laser Knight, as its advantage triggers a buff that improves your dodge, avoidance and knock resistance whenever you use a melee attack; though like Laser Knight, it also slightly reduces the damage you deal while it is active.

That makes Parry a natural match for Way of the Warrior and all of the various dodge-inclined powers within the Martial Arts framework; unless you're thinking of mismatching different types of mitigation with Laser Knight.

- Elusive Monk

This advantage allows you to proc a buff whenever you use a melee attack. This buff improves your dodge, avoidance and knock resistance for a couple of seconds.


Eruption

Eruption is a great power; I honestly can't believe how I used to get around without it.

Despite its rather unimpressive description, Eruption plays right into Might's game, allowing you to generate Aggressor, refresh Enraged stacks instantly as well as to fuel both Molecular Self-Assembly (because of its three seconds cooldown) and the Thermal Reverberation energy unlocks. (because of its Magma Burst advantage) Furthermore, it also has access to Crippling Challenge, which is quite nice all things considered.

As versatile as this power is, all is not well however; Eruption's animation takes forever to complete, making it feel somewhat heavier than other powers within Might. Also, this power requires a lot of timing in order to maintain Aggressor, so I would recommend getting at least another power for more reliable knocks.

Still, Eruption pretty much trivializes the process of maintaining your Enraged stacks and can help quite a bit in dealing with energy issues; so I can't see any reason not to give it a shot.

- Magma Burst

This advantage adds a small fire Area of Effect to Eruption, with a 10% chance to inflict Clinging Flames upon its affected targets.

It's not that bad, considering that it can be used to fuel Thermal Reverberation; however, I wouldn't recommend it unless you also plan on making extensive use of Brimstone with the Aftershock advantage or use another power like Flashfire.

- Crippling Challenge

This advantage essentially adds a certain amount of threat to the power it is applied on, as well as taunt your target for 4 seconds and disables blocks from players and specific NPCs for 10 seconds. Furthermore, it adds a fluctuating 20% damage debuff, which goes down whenever its carrier attacks you and improves whenever you attack him.

Eruption is a great carrier of Crippling Challenge and while it is still inferior to the likes of Defensive Combo, its gimmick highly entices you to apply it whenever it comes off cooldown; which means that whatever it is you are attacking is most likely to target you instead of your teammates.

Overall, getting the most out of Eruption and this advantage pretty much force you to develop good tanking habits and I can't see anything wrong with that.

Advanced Strategies :


Statting

Choosing your Super Stats as Might can be a little daunting at first, especially since most passives scales off them to begin with. But for Might, the choices kinda imposes themselves for a number of reasons.

You see, Defiant (CON), Enraged (STR/CON) and Focus (STR/DEX) stacks are all considered separate entities from the powers that generates them, and as a result, do not scale with your Super Stats the way passives do.

Given that Defiant and Enraged are such staples of Defiance, the foolproof way to ensure that you are always performing at top condition would involve going STR/CON, whereas characters using Unstoppable can get away with just speccing STR to fuel Enraged and go for END in order to balance out the loss of Defiance's energy-generation mechanic and outweigh the cost of powers like Haymaker.

Similarly, dodge-oriented Might characters using Way of the Warrior for example, have little choice as they will probably be going for Form of the Tempest or Form of the Master, which provides Focus based on how often you crit or dodge. Which will result in them going DEX/END, for the same reason that Unstoppable uses END.

As a tank, another school of thought, is to stat CON/PRE to boost Defiant, the additional healing potency and improve their threat generation. Though to be fair, you don’t really need PRE to maintain aggro properly, though that would probably involve going with Defensive Combo instead.

People using Kinetic Manipulation can stat whichever way they prefer, though they would certainly benefit from going STR/DEX to boost knockback and dip into Force; or similarly, they could go DEX/EGO to boost their chains and whichever other power they would like to pick.

STR can be helpful to all melee-oriented builds thanks to the bonus it grants to melee damage at an investment of about 70 and the massive knock it adds to many of their powers. REC, on the other hand can be quite helpful to improve your Equilibrium, allowing you to let out a good Haymaker or Havoc Stomp right off the bat. While CON is quite helpful overall, thanks to the increase in health that it grants.

But in the end, it mostly depends on what you are going for.


Achieving Perma-Enrage

In a nutshell, Perma-Enrage is the concept of keeping up the maximum amount of Enraged stacks at all time, essentially removing the entire process of constantly refreshing its stacks through Enraged-generating powers.

There are various ways to achieve this, depending on how much power points and advantages you are willing to spend on that. The simplest way is to use CON to increase the duration of your Enraged stacks and invest ranks into Enrage so that its cooldown is shorter than the stacks duration; INT can also be used to reduce the cooldown on Enrage.

Alternatively, you could just make use of Enrage and Howl's separate cooldowns to ensure that your stacks never fall off; with CON thrown in for good measure. Otherwise, you could just take Eruption and be done with it, as its gimmick plays right into the mechanics of Perma-Enrage.

Still, with careful use of powers like Roomsweeper, Havoc Stomp and the Onslaught advantage on Clobber (Optional); you could most likely achieve the exact same result as the tricks mentioned above. The problem with this method however, is that you'll constantly have to keep track of your stacks and the time it take for you to charge up Roomsweeper to 50% while also being in range of your target. So it's kind of a drag to use.


Running Multiple Active Defenses

This might be overdoing it unless you PVP, but it is very possible to run more than one Active Defenses on your hero.

You see, every individual Active Defenses triggers a cooldown of one and half minutes on themselves upon being used, while adding a 30 seconds cooldown to all other Active Defenses you have bought. Which means, that it is very possible for someone to use Resurgence and then fall back to Masterful Dodge after 30 seconds.

This method can raise your Brick to near godly levels of resilience, and the great thing is, that you can use Nanobot Swarms from Gadgeteering to halve those cooldowns.


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Leveling Builds :

The following leveling builds have been posted for purely academic reasons, and should NOT be merely copy and pasted into your Champion’s power tray. It is merely a basic framework for the point I am trying to make here.


Defiance Leveling Build

Looking at this build, you’ll notice that there are various flaws with it, and the reason as to why I have set it up this way, is to illustrate the various milestones, which you will encounter throughout your career.

First, experience has taught me that when it comes to Defensive Passives, they should be picked up at around level 8, which is roughly when the game starts throwing harder enemies your way. Again, that is not an imperative, but Defiance will serve as your wooden leg all the way through the early zones; and as such, should be picked up as soon as possible.

That being said, you should have picked up a dedicated Area of Effect by level 11, since that’s when enemy mobs will start to get bigger and the areas more crowded. As for your block enhancer, it is highly suggested that you pick it up somewhere prior to Snake Gulch.

From that point on, the powers you take should be tailored to your tastes.

Taking an Active Defense or a Heal should be high up your list of priorities; but chances are, that you've already noticed that some of the important powers of this build, namely Enrage, Resurgence and Shockwave are pretty far up the build. And the reason why, is that you won’t be capable to pick up some of them, as either they are too far up or tree, or simply, because you had more pressing matters to deal with.

What I am trying to teach you here, is that you should retcon at least once as you progress up the Might tree, while the price for those are still cheap. For instance, taking Defiance at level 1 and Retaliation at level 5 is a recipe for disaster. If however, you are level 20, it’s not that big a deal, as you will be able to use them as fodder to unlock the likes of Shockwave and Resurgence, essentially cleaning up the likes of Roomsweeper.

Using that technique, you can move some of your early powers further up your build, in order to take the buffs and heal powers much earlier in your career. From that point on, just concentrate on getting to 40, and from there, you’ll get a free complete retcon that you can use to settle into one of the more optimal builds cited below.

You really shouldn't have much problem running on high difficulties after level 26, though I'm pretty sure you could get away with it much sooner if you know what you're doing.

One piece of advice however, I am not saying that this leveling build is the right one for you. For instance, I am shooting for Unleashed Rage all the way up to level 38, while I could just as easily have left it out and pick up some more utilities. You want to breath fire instead of banging the ground or flinging villains around? That’s perfectly alright, you should tailor this build to fit your own needs and concept; again, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.


Unstoppable Leveling Build

Running with Unstoppable is something I'd liken to an high-risk high-reward playstyle.

On one hand, you'll be dealing loads of damage in melee but at the cost of Defiance's innate mitigation and energy-generation. You really can't afford to second-guess what you're doing, as it won't take much for you to get overwhelmed.

Still, your time up to level 14 should be pretty straightforward; all you have to do is take advantage of Roomsweeper's highly destructive power and use your lunge as much as possible in order to avoid letting yourself become exposed. At level 11, Bionic Shielding will help ease off the pressure off you, though do keep in mind that it has a habit of targeting friendly NPCs nearby, so make sure you take steps to ensure that this doesn't happen.

By the time you reach Havoc Stomp, you should be all set all the way up to level 40, with Haymaker and Thunderclap easing up the transition.

Though keep in mind that you're still a melee DPS, and as a result, you'll have to work harder for your kills. Still, the trade-offs are significant, as you'll wreck just about anything that gets in melee range. I would highly suggest staying clear of higher difficulties like Elite or Very Hard until you have a full complement and perhaps Thunderclap.

Do note however, that this build is fully customizable. If you don't like running around with Laser Knight, you can get away with just taking Retaliation. As a matter of fact, while I was coming up with this build, my own one was nowhere as optimized as this one; and I did just just fine as I slowly stumbled upon this winning combination.

Furthermore, it would be quite possible to replace Thunderclap with Enrage in order to take better advantage of Unleashed Rage; however, this might make using Havoc Stomp rather unpleasant at higher difficulty.

High-End Might Builds :

No, this guide is NOT a bible; I do not have the pretension to claim that these builds are the best ones around, let alone that they will turn you into the perfect Might tank.

All I can vouch for these, is that I have worked hard to perfection them, and that they have worked for me under many circumstances, from Therakiel Temple to taking on Ripper and my three Might nemesis on my own, during Deathray Demolition.

It should be noted however, that those builds shouldn't be used before achieving level 40 and aren't my own builds, but rather what they should be if they weren’t conflicting with my concept.


Defiance Might Build

This is your standard Might Tank, no more, no less.

There really isn't that much to say here, except that perhaps it is possible to cut corners and save two advantage points by taking out the Nailed to the Ground advantage off Mighty Leap; I merely left it there to ensure that nobody would make the mistake of not taking Flight as your second Travel Power.

Furthermore, this build fully endorse the concept of Perma-Enrage by taking both Enrage and Howl, allowing you to maintain eight stacks consistently.


Defiance Open Build

This is an example of a Might Tank that dips much more heavily within the other power sets, sacrificing Unleashed Rage in order to pick up some more utilities.

Aside from using CON/PRE as its Super Stats, you may have noticed that this build makes extensive use of Flight in order to even out the loss of the Leg Rumbler advantage of Shockwave and the Nailed to the Ground one from Mighty Leap.

As is customary for most Defiance builds, this particular one also achieves Perma-Enrage through the use of CON and Rank 3 Enrage; while also making use of various powers in order to make you much tougher in the long run, such as Inertial Dampening Field and Circle of Primal Domination.

In addition to that, Sword Cyclone can deal some very real damage as opposed to Shockwave, though at the cost of a much more limited range.


Defiance Open Build Variant

This build is a variant of the first Defiance Open Build, which sacrifices Uppercut and Electric Sheath in order to pick up Eruption and Molecular Self-Assembly.

Overall, this build feels much heavier than the previous one, but features slightly better survivability (Rank 3 Defiance, Endorphin Rush), easier Enraged (Eruption) and energy management (Molecular Self-Assembly) as well as a simplified framework for applying debuffs (Eruption and Demolish).

The trade-off however, is that it doesn't have access to a dedicated Hold Breaker and its damage isn't nearly as reliable as the previous one.


Unstoppable Might Build

Now this build is simply a variation of the Unstoppable Leveling Build, the main difference, is that since we're already 40, we can skip Uppercut entirely and go straight to Haymaker; saving up a power point to pick up Enrage in order to improve its Enraged-generation and save up four advantage points to make Unleashed Rage even deadlier.

Using Roomsweeper, Havoc Stomp and Enrage to maintain your Enraged stacks can really turn Unleashed Rage into a simply awesome power; allowing you to pump out some sudden burst as well as wreck whatever it is that's attacking you when you are getting overwhelmed.


Unstoppable Open Build

This is an example of a Might DPS build that dips much more heavily within other frameworks; sacrificing the sheer burst of Unleashed Rage for more utilities and improved survivability.

The main difference between this build and the previous one, is the inclusion of Inertial Dampening Field for the massive boost against regular mobs; as well as the addition of several utilities such as Electric Sheath, which grant you access to a proper Hold Breaker (You want Masterful Dodge to stay available for when you need it) as well as a nice shield whenever you're in a pinch.

Palliate, in particular, is pretty useful while teaming; as it can help you wipe off your threat in order to keep yourself alive or simply to help teammates.

One big sacrifice however, is that you don't have access to either Enrage or Thunderclap, though that shouldn't be much of an issue given how much more durable you are going to be.

Might Archetypes :


The Behemoth

This, folks, is The Behemoth; the free Might archetype offered by default to all Silver Players.

As a Tank and an Archetype, The Behemoth isn't quite equipped to handle everything the way a Freeform character would be able to, and as a result, I'm gonna ask you to lower your expectations.

In the beginning, it's going to take some times before this Archetype can truly pop, which means that you're going to be stuck with Defensive Combo as your main attack for quite a while. The period up to level 8 is gonna the most nightmarish you'll ever experience with this Archetype, as it will take some time before you can pick up Defiance, which will serve you well all the way up to level 40.

As far as the first travel power is concerned, you should be aware that you're going to need something to deal with fliers very early on; given that Shockwave is so far up inside the build. Flight is a good way to deal with that, though thrown objects can do that just as well when in a pinch. Otherwise, you might wanna look into investing two advantage points into Mighty Leap in order to get Nailed to the Ground; though just remember that you'll be given a second travel power at level 35, so you might wanna get rid of the advantage and grab up Flight as your second travel power.

Level 11 is the first true milestone you're gonna hit as The Behemoth, and also the first time you'll be given a choice between which power to take. It's not much of a choice really, as I can't imagine how someone in their right mind would take Thunderclap over Roomsweeper. Taking Roomsweeper will completely change your game from this point on, as it will serve as your primary Area of Effect all the way up to Shockwave, and will also provide you with a very reliable way to build up Enraged stacks in order to improve your damage. Furthermore, now that Roomsweeper has access to Challenging Strikes, you can use it to help you build up some threat until you get Shockwave.

After that, you'll pretty much cruise through everything all the way up to Monster Island, by which point you'll have picked up both Demolish and Aggressor; the former which will serve as your primary single target attack and allow you to debuff your target's damage resistance.

At level 32, you're given another choice, which will allow you to take your pick between Uppercut and Haymaker. Quite frankly, there is no right answer on this one, though I would argue that Uppercut might be a tiny bit more convenient; as it is much cheaper energy-wise than Haymaker.

Truthfully, you shouldn't really encounter any problem until you reach Lemuria; from which point you'll begin to realize just how powerful Freeform characters are. The three dimensional environment of Lemuria makes it kinda tough for melee in general to operate and The Behemoth is certainly no exception to this rule. With Roomsweeper as your primary Area of Effect, you'll quickly experience a spike in difficulty; which will require you to grab a buddy in order to complete the Crisis. (You can also skip it, but that ain't much of a plan given the level you're gonna be)

Ideally, you should stay away from Lemuria as much as possible and get to Vibora Bay as soon as you have the chance. From there, the last part of Canada and Monster Island will open up, carrying you all the way to level 40 and Shockwave.

Of course, feel free to experiment by yourself; but just for the sake of argument, here's a little summary of what you should shoot for by the time you reach level 40.

As you can see, this final build is pretty straightforward and should do well enough when paired with other Archetypes. With Rank 2 Defiance, Rank 3 Retaliation and Unbreakable as well as an easy access to Crippling Challenge and Challenging Strikes; this Behemoth should be more than capable of tanking anything short of Elite Lairs and should do well enough when supported by a healer like The Mind or The Grimoire.

Just make sure to grab as much attention away from your teammates as possible and you'll be fine. This Archetype is much tougher than it looks, so you just gotta learn to make the most out of your block and Active Defense.

One detail though, in regard to threat generation as The Behemoth; given that its Super Stats are STR/CON, this Archetype will rely exclusively on Defensive Combo with Crippling Challenge for single-target and Shockwave with Challenging Strikes for multiple ones. (Roomsweeper can be used to fill the gap until you get Shockwave) Once you get a hang of it, you should be more than capable of holding aggro while in group.

However, do be careful with players spamming Crippling Challenge; if you realize that your target is constantly switching target to this person every couple of seconds or so, before going back to you, that means that someone is taunting your target, knowingly or unknowingly.

So... it's not your fault.

For more details about the individual powers, have a look at the Powers Overview section of this guide. All of them are there except Unbreakable, which is also available on CO-Wiki.


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FAQs :

(Frequently Asked Questions)


What about PVP?

- Yeah, what about it?


You’re not using X power!!! N00b, WTH! Batman!

- This isn’t going to end well…


Should I stay Pure Might or should I dip into other Power Sets?

- Aren’t you such a doll… To answer that question, I would tell you that Champions was based on the idea that you could take whichever powers you wanted to make the hero of your dreams.

There’s nothing wrong with staying in the Might Power Set, especially if you want to add Unleashed Rage to your build. However, there are some holes that were placed on purpose inside this set, which means it is highly recommended that you dip into other Power Sets to round out your Champion.


Should I really go for Unleashed Rage, is it really that good?

- Unleashed Rage is a great power, so if you really like Might, you should really pick it up if you get the chance.

HOWEVER, there’s no shame in taking whichever power you like when building your Champion. In fact, this actually makes you far more versatile in comparison to someone who spent 10 powers within the Brick Framework alone.

I say, do whatever you want, there’s no wrong answer here.


What happened to the old thread?

- A new thread was made because I needed more space and I didn’t want people to get confused by old material I had posted prior to Free-For-All; particularly in regard to Super Stats and some specific powers.

I had left it there due to not wanting to remove some material that I felt would still be useful; but now, given the updates I've been making since then, I felt it served no purpose than to confuse everyone...


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Credits

Thanks to all of those who have contributed to this guide at one point on another.

- @AngelOfCaine
- @Calsetes
- @Mercykiller
- @mirth81
- @Mr.Funsocks
- @Obitus
- @WillBlack

You guys are all Mighty!

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