i just got champions online and really like martial arts and specced my guy towards that but i found in pvp i was just useless.i spent most of the time chasing people around trying to get a dragon kick off which also had a cool down.I trying shuriken throw with the pull back and found that i would not pull people into range anyway to get any damage done.and the lunge ability didnt really break any flight forms at all.I respec to force with flight and went from 1-6 to 10-0 in arena.i think they should rethink the role that melee specced heros play in pvp.

DISCLAIMER: JUST MY OPINION FROM MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

To be useful as a melee character you pretty much need the following:

-Thunderbolt Lunge w/ Advantage
-Mighty Leap w/ Crippling Challenge
-Ego Hold Rank 3


These three will help you keep people in range. Crippling Challenge will take away their ability to block, further helping you maximize your time in attack range. Most martial arts attacks are bad in PvP. Swallowtail Cut is arguably a broken power that is well on its way to adjustment. That's pretty much... The only martial arts power that sounds out for me.

Ego and arguably Might are effective melee powersets, but only specific powers. Uppercut and Haymaker are both nice. If you hit someone with a charged up Uppercut you can quickly start charging a Haymaker to hit them as they land. Those two attacks plus the fall damage will be the main brunt of your offense. I don't know much about Ego, but some power(s) in it can debuff someone like crazy for some mean damage numbers.

You also want to have a reliable ranged attack just in case. And at least a solid investment in Recovery. I personally went Super Recovery and Super Intelligence so I spent as little time as possible building energy, but everyone has their own playstyle. At level 40, you'll need close to 100 STR to get the added 20% melee damage bonus, but that won't apply to Ego.

This doesn't even touch defense, but the main consensus appears to be Invulnerability and 2 active defenses. Teleport is all over the place in PvP and with good reason. It's basically instant intangibility which makes dying hard to do, save for DoTs and constant KB's and holds.

So, you can take 3 mandatory powers, and choose the rest from a small window of powers that more than likely will not fit whatever concept you were going for, all the while micromanaging powers to keep players in range to be able to hit them at all. Spend hours perfecting an attack pattern that will make the most use of the small glimpses of opportunity you work hard to afford yourself. Or.

Go ranged.

You only need Mighty Leap, Roomsweeper, Acrobatics, and a heal. :)

Charged Mighty Leap

Roomsweeper
Run up
SLAP! Roomsweeper
Run up
SLAP! Roomsweeper
Run up
SLAP! Roomsweeper

Who cares what powers the other guy has? He's not getting up any time soon.

Tunneling, and a humorous concept.

The last thing someone expects to see in a PvP match, while they're working on shooting a guy to death with a gatling gun, is for a friggin' leprechaun to pop out of the ground behind him, punch him with a bright green glowing fist, then disappear and go underground again.

Popping out of the ground, dancing, and then going underground again also makes for a good time, but your teammates might hate you for it (and you might die, as you become a sitting- er, dancing target while doing this.)

That is the most aweomse thing I've read today. I thank you for the humor! :)

I enjoy seeing things like ^^ in pvp. It reminds everyone that IT'S A FREAKIN' GAME, so have fun.

To the OP, melee is simply at a disadvantage in pvp. Ranged players are usually just as sturdy as melee'rs, damage from ranged attacks are equivalent or better than any melee attack's, and they can hit from 50 to 100 ft away while melee attacks max out a 7 feet. That said, you can still make some pretty effective melee characters (at least for tier 1 and tier 2... maybe tier 3 as well).

For a melee character you will need,

1) A way to keep your targets still
2) A way to deal high spike damage
3) A way to mitigate a constant stream of damage
4) A way to escape a bad situation (i.e. getting ganked)
5) A power with crippling challenge

This is pretty much the same as what a ranged character will need with the exceptions that keeping your target still is MUCH more important for a melee'r and escaping a bad situation is MUCH easier for a ranged player. Also, I didn't state any specific powers because you do have a few options for how to accomplished this.

If you are intent on sticking with Martial Arts, then here are some tips

- pick up Mighty Leap and use it to root targets, it's endurance cheap, fast charging, and if you put Crippling Challenge on it you can knock out 2 birds with one stone.
- either take a power that debuffs resistance (e.g. Laser Sword) or take a bleed like Scything Blade + Swallowtail Cut, debuffs and/or strong DOTs/bleeds will help you keep pressure on your target
- Thunderbolt Lunge is optional if you have mighty leap, you can disable travel powers with thrown objects
- Learn how to use Crashing Wave Kick's stun. The stun becomes stronger with the less endurance your target has. If you hit someone that has a full blue bar, then the kick will not stun them. If they are nearly out of endurance, then they will be stunned instantly and AFAIK the stun cannot be broken with by conventional means (i.e. hitting the 'z' key). This should give you enough time to hit with a full charged MA attack.
- Try mixing big attacks from multiple MA sets. I've heard of people having success by mixing the Dragon attacks (Dragon's Wrath, Dragon's Bite, and Dragon Kick). Since all but one of the big, single target attacks have cooldown timers, you'll need multiple big attack to keep your damage up. I personally don't like Dragon Kick because it's very endurance heavy.
- The chill affect from the Ice set is the best snare in the game. Try using Frost Breath with it's special advantage to keep people snared.
- Take acrobatics, super speed, or super jump. You need to be faster than your target, and these all have great in-combat speed. Teleport is a great stealth/escape power but it's the worst travel power for a melee'r in pvp.
- You can move while using MA charged attacks*, so practice charging while moving towards and around your target. *(except Tiger's Claws... don't know why this one was left out)

Good luck.

IMO Melee characters shouldn't need to spend a bunch of power points and advantage points just to get what a ranged character gets by just holding down a button.

However in its present state, yes.

I just hope the melee balance pass addresses this.

Melee needs:

To build end at a range (ticks of +threat, end and no damage at range) so they can use their attacks like a ranged character can whe they're in range. Lets face it: taking a melee end builder is not worth the hassle and you'll always be lagging behind the guy who has one.

To have their self roots taken off their charge up attacks.

To have all those cooldowns on their attacks toning way down or taking away. If I can spam knockback on a ranged attack, I see no reason why my melee knockdown attack has a cooldown on it.

To get that lunge built into their end builder (or maybe tier 1 attack if thats not feasible) as mentioned way back in beta.

A thematic hold for a character with no super flashy power. Some kind of head strike (melee hold) and a goo grenade (munitions) would be great for character concepts without super powers for those of us who find it very important.

With these fixes I could use melee more often and stop taking ranged end builders on even my melee toons.

tbh might needs a bodyslam ability, like for an ability that requires 8 points in might or something.

i.e. you pick up your opponent and slam them back and forth on the ground a couple times.

that would be awesome.

it would also be cooler than anything else might has going right now

If you want to be all martial artsy

Str/Con superstat

Charge mighty leap->Imbue->Charged Burning Chi fist->STC

Then maybe a TBL if needed at the end

And now, tunneling and green glowing fist thing is considered overpowered. Well done!

:D