Hey, anyone got any expierence with PA?

does it work best as tank build (focusing on Invuln, Laser Sword, STR, CON, INT with a few range powers chucked in or as a ranged-alpha strike build (INT, REC, END, CON) ?

I play 99% solo or PuG PvE; pvp isn't really a concern. Oh, and I'd like to stay pure PA if possible. All input appreciated. :D

Ditto. A well put together Thread on PA would be much appreciated. I make characters, but they don't get too far and I think I have an idea of how PA was meant to be played, but I also think I may be off (And yeah, i get that you can do what ever you want, but i'm sure each Frame was design for a certain role) Thanks everyone.

ok for starters I base my PA characters on PFF and not INVULN for these reasons. 1). Strength has no use in the PA set.Thus stat points wasted on only one use. 2). Invuln is based on END/EGO both are useful in the power armor tree. Endurance is needed for the large amount of energy you burn on multi power functions. Chest beam does incredible damage but the cost and charge time is expensive as well. With PFF he becomes kind of a hit and run guy unless you get the one of the powers Unbreakable or Field Surge which give you a bit more staying power.

Powers - Eyebeam, Wrist Bolter and Micro Munitions can all be going at once, while any of these power by it self seems a bit weak once you add them all up they do some extreme damage. I have targeted a regenr with block on trying to escape and those powers all activated at once overcame his regen / block to kill him. The drawback is the energy cost, thus another reason to have a lot of endurance = a deep energy pool to draw from, and a stronger PFF.

Chest Beam - ranked up (Point Blank) does some mega damage, the energy cost is high and the charge up time sucks. Thus you should have a nice hold/stun/root in your arsenal someplace. Once you lock them down get up close and WHAM at level 21 mine hits norm for aound 1000 and crits as high as 2k plus.

You have Eyebeam/wrist bolter/micro munitions for your PVE or a more type of grinding damage although I have found it useful in many situations and Chest Beam for that big PVP one shot damage.

All told I enjoy my power armor characters although they are not the toughest guys around. In PVP you have to be a hit and run guy. Keep an eye on your PFF when it goes down pop your field surge or unbreakable then begin to withdraw or get out of combat till your PFF has recovered then back you go. It is a very effective build good for PVP and PVE its only weakness seems to be multiple mobs in PVE so a good AOE is a must Shoulder launcher is a bit slow for my taste and micro munitions the damage alone is a bit weak so I took force eruption.

Go tank or range but not both.

For range you want END and INT which will give you the best unload power - which you want. Then I go for REC.

Pick your passive, based on those stats I would go PFF or Recovery. And because PFF sucks I would go with recovery

Concussor beam kicks butt, you will want that. For pve i would take micro munitions or mini gun but not both. Play with each in the power house and see which one you like. You could use both, but I wouldn't. Personally I like Micro Munitions.

If you went with Mico I would go with cest beam, if Mini gun I would go with Shoulder Launcher.

Eye beam is a joke don't take it.
------------------------------------------------------

For a tank build you want invulnerability, str and con, laser sword and Energy shield. Then powers from other sets.

Search for "power armor guide." There are a lot out there--some tailored for newbies. Maybe you can compile them all into a nice neat thread.

Small point... taking Micro Munitions with Chest Beam and Mini Gun with Shoulder Launcher is counter productive as the powers share the same slots. Micro Munitions - Shoulder Launcher or Mini Gun - Chest Beam are better combos as they allow you to run both toggles at once. I'm personally fond of the Micro Munitions - Mini Gun combo. Concussor Beam is very good, however Power Gauntlet is nice because it gives you a high burst attack (and you can add Crippling Challenge to it) I actually have both and use them regularly.

To me, it's great at three "roles":

1) Ranged DPS - END/INT with Micro Munitions, Minigun and Concussor Beam work to make this a superior DPS set. Targeting Computer is a superb passive to take in this configuration.

2) Ranged Tough Guy - INT/CON with Minigun, Micro Munitions and Concussor Beam. Not as good at DPS, but mixes in an excellent passive that will keep you alive and fuel your attacks.

3) Tank: STR/CON with Laser Sword and Invulnerability. Does great single-target damage, but lives more often in the Protector role. Adds to team's damage with Particle Acceleration, and keeps enemy attention while rotating defensive abilities (CoPD, TK Eruption, BCR, Mindful Reinforcement, etc.). You should also fit in Challenging Strikes somewhere.

<3 quarry as an offensive passive...

Power Gauntlet --> Micro Munitions --> Mini Gun

Trying this sort of set up with Dex/Rec/End/Ego

For defense I'll eventually pick up Resurgence and other active defensives.

I play as both a ranged attacker and a tank...

its not that hard with 14 powers to do both

INT/CON superstat

pick up invuln, laser sword, and indestructable, and copd for tanking thats all you need.

I chose force (energy builder) because it feals more like a powered armor attack then wristbolters to me
plus I like the shield/energy form proc

Comcussor beam to move people out of copd in pvp and for good dps in pve.

Laser sword is mostlyfor tanking and for pvping its outstanding dps buffs allies damage (particle acceleration buff)

minigun- applies another debuff on targets and its good damge per energy cost for cone aoe

My massive ranged aoe attack is gigabolt with deadly arc the more attackers the more damage it does

Ranged boss damage is done with Chestbeam (more on this later)
and also orbital cannon these two attack can put out 10k+ worth of damage to a stationary tanked target in seconds.

Invulnerability- a good passive that gets better when celestial get released (again more later)

COPD basically doubles up your passive resist by nearly adding regen like healing on top of it.
I would put this toward the end of the build due to it eventually getting a nerf bat (IMO)

indestructable- basically makes you all but immune to dameag for 15 seconds and allows your COPD to heal you back to full.

force expulsion- this acts as a defensive power but is also a 15% damage buff (with advantage) so it works in both tanking and dps roles.

Force shield- this is a great energy recovery tool and its even has a small resist linger.


A hold I chose electricute to be a bit more thematic but due to ego being chargeable while moving its the overall better choice.

Last power is generally a heal

after the celestial set is released I would drop the heal and miniguns for inbue and accension

accension is basically a clickable offensive passive and hold breaker (it also gives you 15 secs of flight)
its on a pretty long cooldown but with upto 18 second duration and superstated for intel you basically have about 50 seconds of downtime.

Inbue is awesome it nearly makes it so you do not have to worry about dex/ego stats at all - on test server it gives a next attack 100% CRIT CHANCE and your crit damage scales off of con which just happens to be you tanking stat i was getting 75% crit damage modifier on test.

What is realy nice is that your polarity buff (force expulsion) and accension buff both increase invulnerability's damage resistance so they fill both roles you will be doing.

I was getting over 8k chest beam crits on the test server in bad gear in balanced role.

on live I make a 100% damage buff consumable and have much better gear for offensive (I get chest beam cost to around 55 energy full charge) and have about 8-10% more offensive damage. hitting 10-12k chestbeams will be rather commonplace and probably about 14k orbital cannon damage when taking into account the dot..


I am waiting until the level is raised to 50 to get my offensive passive, a group heal, and then see what else is available.

this build lets you smash people in pvp,tank cosmics, and put out great ranged or melee damage.

I have a Lvl 40 PA and Im Recovery and Intelligence super stats and Endurance as a 3rd stat to make sure the energy bar exceeds the equilibrium. Regen for Defensive passive and Targeting Computer as an offensive passive.