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July 30, 2010

Presence Pool

This class gets short shrift when it may actually be more useful than people think. I'm theorizing here because I haven't tried some of this so let me know what you think.

What I can say is that people might be surprised how effective a taunt is for Defenders and Controllers. Using debuff and control, they can tank well and there could be utility for taunts in those cases.

Challenge

Hey! Pantywaist!

A weak taunt on a single target. Useful in that you don't bring more than one character at you, but especially in that the effect of taunt forces the given character to close to melee range. For enemies that are more dangerous at range (Voids or possibly sappers), that can be very useful.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
At least two slots to offset some of its disadvantages.
60%
 
Accuracy (60% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
The first disadvantage is that it requires an accuracy check and isn't automatic like other taunts.
20%
 
Taunt (20% Minimum)
Default: 4 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 8 sec
You either have to enhance this or recharge, but because of the accuracy check, longer taunt range is probably better.
0%
 
Range (0% Minimum)
Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet
Unless you want to use this as a pulling move, 60 is probably enough.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 3 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 1.5 sec
It's pretty quick already so I'd probably go for other aspects first.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Provoke

You guys are babies!

A weak taunt on a single target and anyone hear him. Does anyone but a Tank use this?.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 3 Slots )
Three slots or more for best results.
60%
 
Accuracy (60% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
I believe if it misses your target, nothing else is taunted. I don't think it's an accuracy check per person, but either way, you need more.
50%
 
Taunt (50% Minimum)
Default: 4 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 8 sec
With a 10 second recharge, lengthen the time that they're taunted so you can maintain control.
0%
 
Range (0% Minimum)
Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet
Unless you want to use this as a pulling move, 60 is probably enough.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec
It's pretty quick already so I'd probably go for other aspects first.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Intimidate

Boo! Ha, what a Wuss

Scares an enemy and makes him assumed the fear position for a while. Until and unless you attack, they'll stay there helpless.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 3 Slots )
If you use this as a primary attack, slot this way higher. But as a control power, a few slots for accuracy are probably enough.
40%
 
Accuracy (40% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
As a strong control power, you really don't want this to miss.
40%
 
Recharge (40% Minimum)
Default: 30 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 15 sec
It's pretty slow and kind of a pity to only be able to use it once or twice per battle, lower the recharge to make it more useful.
10%
 
Endurance Reduction (10% Minimum)
Default: 13 end
With max 100% enhancement: 6.5 end
Kind of spendy so see if you can spare a little attention for lowering it
0%
 
Fear (0% Minimum)
Default: 0 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 0 sec
I don't have information about how long this lasts, but it's a pretty decent amount of time already.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Invoke Panic

There will be no survivors!

Scares all enemies in an aoe around you. Less useful in the past when they would run, but I think they've changed the power now. Everything around you assumes the fear position which is a pretty neat control power for anyone who can use enough of the previous three powers to get this one.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 3 Slots )
If you use this as a primary attack, slot this way higher. But as a control power, a few slots for accuracy are probably enough.
60%
 
Accuracy (60% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
It's AoE so there's going to be multiple accuracy checks. Buff it up!
40%
 
Recharge (40% Minimum)
Default: 60 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 30 sec
As-is, this seems to be set as a use once per battle power, but by modifying recharge, you might be able to pull it off more.
10%
 
Endurance Reduction (10% Minimum)
Default: 22 end
With max 100% enhancement: 11 end
Kind of spendy so see if you can spare a little attention for lowering it
0%
 
Fear (0% Minimum)
Default: 0 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 0 sec
I don't have information about how long this lasts, but it's a pretty decent amount of time already.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Concealment Pool

The Concealment powerpool is the typically way of achieving stealth. While most stealth powers will let you sneak around, some are better than others for sneaking missions or taking awesome screenshots in the midst of enemies.

Stealth

Slapping Terra the DE Arch-Villain.

Stealth (the power) only makes you harder to see. If you get close enough, an enemy will see you and start attacking. In door missions, this power isn't very useful since you will have to pass very close to enemies.

However, if you use Stealth with Hover or Fly, you can float across the cieling of warehouses, offices, ships, or any other mission that isn't extremely close quarters (caves) and you won't be seen.

The best combination with Stealth is Super Speed. Super Speed has a stealth element attached to it that when combined with Stealth gives FULL invisibility. You can stand in the middle of a crowd of enemies and take any photo you want, launch any power, click glowies or whatever you want with no restrictions.

There are some enemies that can see through any invisibility so watch out. They include Ritki Drones, Ruraluu Eyes, Snipers, and Monsters (of any type).


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
It's not too expensive to run and doesn't take a variety of enhancements so you won't need a lot of slots on this
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
You want to fight with this on for the defense bonus, but not at this cost. Lower it before anything.
0%
 
Defense Buff (0% Minimum)
Default: 21
With max 60% enhancement: 3.21
If you're trying to max defense, go ahead, but even with full bonus, you only get 1% more defense or so.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 20 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 10 sec
It's kind of long for recharge, but I'd still buff either other aspect first.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Grant Invisibility

Pretty simple. It gives invisibility to another player. For sneaking through a mission, this is a viable alternative to sneaking to the end and tping the team to you if you don't have or don't want tp. Also, sneak and tp is effective, but can be more boring for your team. If you give everyone Invisibility, they can search around for the end boss or Glowies too. This tactic is especially useful for those missions that require simultaneous action.

The effect of this power is temporary so warn your teammates. Also, they can attack and use any power, but if they do, the Invisibility will end.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancement( Default Slot Only )
It's not too expensive to run and doesn't take a variety of enhancements so you won't need a lot of slots on this
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 15 end
With max 100% enhancement: 7.5 end
If you use this on a few allies, it will get costly.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 3 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 1.5 sec
It comes back fast enough.
0%
 
Defense Buff (0% Minimum)
Default: 21
With max 60% enhancement: 3.21
I wouldn't waste your time on this since it's for other people, not for you. The standard bonus is enough..
0%
 
Range (0% Minimum)
Default: 40 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 64 Feet
How far away do you want to be before you make someone invisible? This seems pointless to me.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Invisibility

Invisibility

This gives you strong concealment, but has two important disadvantages. One, you can only use powers that affect yourself. Two, you can only use powers that affect yourself. The point here is that it works like Stealth and SS, except that you have to turn off Invisibility before attacking (which could be very, very bad).


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
It's not too expensive to run and doesn't take a variety of enhancements so you won't need a lot of slots on this
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 1 end
With max 100% enhancement: 0.5 end
VERY expensive. Lower this first before anything.
0%
 
Defense Buff (0% Minimum)
Default: 91
With max 60% enhancement: 14.41
This is worth buffing if you take it since you'll actually get some decent defense, but I'd put endurance first due to its large cost.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 20 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 10 sec
It's kind of long for recharge, but I'd still buff either other aspect first.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Phase Shift

Phase Shift

It makes you hard to see, but detectable like Stealth. The difference is that you can't be hurt by anything in the game so even though they can see you, they can't do anything about it. This opens up some interesting ways to play.

For example, if two enemy groups are too close together in a mission, a player with phase shift can go walk into the middle of one group and lead them away while the team deals with the others. You can also sneak to the end of missions and though you will be seen, you can make it to the end without getting hurt. It also makes for perfect herding since you have no danger of dying while gathering everything together.

Note: You can't use attack powers while it's on. So far it's still better than Invisibility which has the same disadvantage, but not the same advantages.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
It's not too expensive to run and doesn't take a variety of enhancements so you won't need a lot of slots on this
60%
 
Recharge (60% Minimum)
Default: 180 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 90 sec
You can only keep Phase Shift active for about 30 seconds so it's good to bring it back faster.
20%
 
Endurance Reduction (20% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
Drop this if you have the slots to do so.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Leaping Pool

NOTE! The strength of any power pool attack varies greatly depending on your AT. However, they are consistently twice or more as strong as any normal level 1 or 2 attack.

One advantage of this pool, is eventual access to Acrobatics which provides some protection from holds and knockback. It also provides strong aerial control and is often used for PvP.

Jump Kick

A flip on the ground and you kick them straight in the back. Ouch.

Jump Kick is a good attack that has a chance to do knockup (basically a Leaping Pool equivalent of Air Superiority from the Flight Pool). You can use this for good damage, but especially to keep an enemy off their feet (and therefore unable to attack you).


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
If you use this as a primary attack, slot this way higher. But as a control power, a few slots for accuracy are probably enough.
60%
 
Accuracy (60% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
As a strong control power, you really don't want this to miss. Doing so can mean the matter of life or death.
40%
 
Damage (40% Minimum)
Default: 0 points
With max 100% enhancement: 0 points
If you give it more slots, slot damage next. It's a pretty strong attack so it doesn't hurt to buff it some more.
0%
 
Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)
Default: 5 end
With max 100% enhancement: 2.5 end
Don't focus on this; it's pretty cheap as it is.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 4 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 2 sec
As a power that comes back even faster than Air Superiority, you really could chain attack with this an nothing else. It's almost like cheating 🙂

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Combat Jumping

Combat Jumping lets you jump fairly high in missions and gives a bonus to defense. In the levels between 6 and 14, you will be able to get over walls in cities that you wouldn't have been able to otherwise which greatly assists with your travel time.

Given the choice, I almost always take this over Jump Kick as my prerequisite power to Super Jump.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancement( Default Slot Only )
You can certainly buff serveral aspects of this power, but considering there are so many other ways to increase and modify your jumping height and speed, this isn't really necessary.
25%
 
Defense Buff (25% Minimum)
Default: 21
With max 60% enhancement: 3.21
Every bonus to defense is useful. If you have spare slots, another defense here wouldn't hurt.
0%
 
Jump (0% Minimum)
Default: 0%
With max 100% enhancement: 0%
It's pretty good already.
0%
 
Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
It's already really low

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Super Jump

You can get really high with SJ

Super Jump is a nice travel power in that it's fast and has almost no vertical problems. Before my level 24 respec, it took me about 15 minutes to get from the Terra Volta entrance to the Reactor where the final mission took place since I only had Super Speed at the time.

There is one specific danger associated with Super Jump. If you are playing a squishy character and while traveling, you land in a group of enemies, they will immediately fire on you even though by the time the effects launch you are long gone.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
2 or 3 depending on what you want to do and whether you go with set IOs or regular
80%
 
Jump (80% Minimum)
Default: 0%
With max 100% enhancement: 0%
Not only do you increase your jump height (mostly unnecessary), but also your jumping SPEED. That's why you want to bring this up.
0%
 
Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
It's spendy, but unless you try to fight with SJ on, you shouldn't have any problems with it.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Acrobatics

Like most defense-only powers, Acrobatics isn't a lot of fun, but can be very useful. For tanks who get tired of hitting the ground or getting held, the knockback and holds will save their life. Remember that knockback is just annoying but holds will drop your toggles.

Basically, if you can't afford the special IOs that remove knockback or if you find that you are susceptible to holds AND you took Super Jump as your travel power, then this power is worth it. Which is to say that I've never taken it on a single character 😛 (PvP'ers might have a different opinion).

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancement( Default Slot Only )
It's not too expensive to run and doesn't take a variety of enhancements so you won't need a lot of slots on this
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
This isn't too expensive, but you have the default slot anyway, so use it to drop the cost down a little.
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec
If you lose this toggle, you might want it back fast, but as long as you trigger others first, this will come back fast enough.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

July 29, 2010

Leadership Pool

Note to Masterminds (Villain class). Leadership is great because it affects you and your pets. As someone with a built-in team, this is a primary power pool for you.

Leadership powers are awesome in that they give you and your team buffs, but they can be a bit of an endurance drain AND they have varying levels of effectiveness depending on what AT you are.

Maneuvers

Turning on Maneuvers

Increases the defense of your and any pet or teammate nearby. For this to be useful, you need to be the kind of person who plays in teams and typically stands near other players. If you stand far off, this won't be as helpful.

Right now, the types that get the highest bonus are Defenders and Villain Epics (Arachnos Soldiers and Widows).


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
More is good, but this is enough for basic buffs.
25%
 
Defense Buff (25% Minimum)
Default: 21
With max 60% enhancement: 3.21
The buff actually ranges from 2.2% to 3.5% depending on your type. While this doesn't seem like a lot, it's a buff for you and your teammates. Taken all together, this can make a huge difference over time. Especially if you're a defender (who gets the largest buff)
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
If you're playing someone who doesn't need to use many powers during battle (some Mastermind builds) or someone who bleeds endurance (many Defenders). This is less of an issue and maybe you can slot at Def/End IO here instead, but otherwise, use Endurance. Maybe even get rid of the other Defense enhancement and just go two End.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.
It covers me and my pets with pretty good range.

TIP: Not everyone realizes this but any thing that affects you or your teammates (and pets in cov) has a small icon next to your name/power bar. If you look in this photo, you can see the purple-colored shield signifying the effect of the Maneuvers power on my power bar and the powereffects bar of each of my pets that's close enough. This picture will also give you a pretty good idea of the range of the power based on which pets are covered and which aren't.


Assault

Turning on Assault

Increase your attack and the attack of nearby pets/players. This is awesome for Masterminds since they have a built-in team and also Villain Epics because Assault stacks with their built-in power that works the same way!

The bonus varies from 10% damage to 18% with Defenders being at the top and veats, Corruptors and Controllers following close behind at 15%.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
Give it one if you must, but two is best
80%
 
Endurance Reduction (80% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
Unlike Maneuvers, you don't get the option of buffing anything but end reduction, so put everything you have into that.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Tactics

Increase your toHit and the toHit of nearby pets/players. If I have to drop anything from the Leadership pool, it's this one. While every little bit counts, I found the value of this to be far less once IO bonuses made it very easy to increase accuracy dramatically across your powers.

If you PvP there's still value in that you need every bit of toHit buff you can and this increases perception of stealthy foes, and helps protect against fear and confuse, but otherwise, I'm not really impressed.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancement( Default Slot Only )
About the only reason I give this more than one is to slot an IO set for a bonus or because I just had plenty of slots to spare.
40%
 
Endurance Reduction (40% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
Drop endurance first.
10%
 
To Hit Buff (10% Minimum)
Default: 7%
With max 60% enhancement: 11.2%
If you have more slots, go ahead and slot something from the toHit IO sets that gives a good bonus.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Vengeance

A teammate dies. Click this power to give yourself and any other teammates some strong buffs to damage, defense, toHit, regeneration rate, and resistance to all status effects! By the way, there's NO endurance cost for this power.

You may have seen this power used by Nemesis enemies.

One problem with the power is that a lot of people feel like it may give you incentive to let them die:

  • Oh sorry! Forgot to heal you.
  • Looks clear! You go first.
  • Oops, didn't see that war wolf there…

On the other hand, if you're in a fight that's hard enough that someone's going to die anyway, why not use this as a major turning power? It's invaluable against super-tough enemies like in the Imperious Task Force. Just remember you need to target a dead teammate in range and the effect hits people within 100 feet of you.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 3 Slots )
If you're good at using this power, there's no reason not to make it even stronger!.
60%
 
Heal (60% Minimum)
Default: 14%
With max 100% enhancement: 28%
Heal rate buffs can really change the tide. Especially if you've got more defense to dodge attacks at the same time!
60%
 
Defense Buff (60% Minimum)
Default: 221
With max 60% enhancement: 35.21
This is awesome already, but more never hurts.
0%
 
To Hit Buff (0% Minimum)
Default: 0%
With max 60% enhancement: 0%
The other aspects of this power are more important.
0%
 
Range (0% Minimum)
Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet
60 feet is plenty.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

To help you fire this power quicker, try this. Create two files on your computer like this:

c:\binds\pow\veng1.txt

v "target_custom_next friend defeated$$bind_load_file c:\binds\pow\veng2.txt"

c:\binds\pow\veng2.txt

v "powexec_name Vengeance$$bind_load_file c:\binds\pow\veng1.txt"

Then type: "/bindloadfile c:\binds\pow\veng1.txt" into your chat window and hit ENTER. Now you're primed to go. Whenever an friend dies, just tap the V key a few times. First it will target them (so long as they're on the visible screen) and then it will fire Vengeance. I would have missed my chance to use this power many times if not for this bind.

One last thing. People have this really bad habit of trying to Rez before you can use the power. You might have to tell them to STAY DEAD. Possibly 3 or 4 times before they figure it out.

July 28, 2010

Speed Pool

NOTE! The strength of any power pool attack varies greatly depending on your AT. However, they are consistently twice or more as strong as any normal level 1 or 2 attack.

Flurry

Whackity, whackity, whack!

You smack an opponent repeatedly with a punching combo. Does a decent amount of damage and has a chance to disorient, but has a fairly long activation time (about 3 seconds) during which you won't be able to launch other powers.

It's a pretty strong attack (especially for low damage players), but almost everyone takes Hasten for the faster recharge to ALL powers. Still, I've always wanted to make a Dark Melee scrapper who took Dark Maul, Flurry, and Sands of Mu (all powers with the exact same animation), but I'd actually have to play long enough to get the Sands of Mu veteran reward…. (Edit: Woohoo! I made it and it's an AWESOME concept… Tons of fun to play!)

In the end your main reason to take this power is for a concept (like I did), or because you're playing a weaker player that needs a strong melee attack.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 4 Slots )
No one takes this power without a specific reason in mind when you could have hasten instead. If you took it, it's because you want to use it so give it some decent slotting.
40%
 
Accuracy (40% Minimum)
Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%
Because of the long activation on this power, accuracy is the most important thing. Slot this with higher priority than anything else because if it misses, you're going to have a lot of time to regret it while this power misses (whiff whiff whiff).
30%
 
Damage (30% Minimum)
Default: 0 points
With max 100% enhancement: 0 points
This is a massive amount of damage for types like Defenders or Masterminds so buffing it is good.
0%
 
Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)
Default: 5 end
With max 100% enhancement: 2.5 end
Enhance endurance if you use this power regularly and need the extra endurance that would be saved.
0%
 
Stun (0% Minimum)
Default: 13 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 26 sec
Slotting this is a matter of why you took the power. It's a nice side benefit and can help you immensely as a squishie so increase stun duration if you think you need it (but it last so long already, you can just hit them again).
0%
 
Recharge (0% Minimum)
Default: 3 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 1.5 sec
Its animation matches its recharge. No need to enhance at all.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Hasten

Glowing hands. Must be hasten

Many ATs have powers that take a long time to recharge. Having Hasten and firing it off pretty much every time it comes up can keep your slow recharging powers coming back significantly faster than normal.


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 2 Slots )
As good as this power is, you can only enhance one aspect so you only need 2.
80%
 
Recharge (80% Minimum)
Default: 450 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 225 sec
Boost this as high as you can. The point of Hasten is either to make you a very tough opponent in battle (due to fast recharge of all your powers) or to help extremely slow powers (usually the most powerful) come back more quickly.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Super Speed

I'm a blur with my stealth power an SS together
In the air, with SS on, I'm a speeding comet still 😀

Super Speed and any other stealth power stack to give you full invisibility. With very few exceptions, you could in the middle of a group of enemies and make faces or slap them (/e slap in the chat window) and they won't do anything to you (as long as you don't activate any powers that affect enemies).

This gives you the extremely desirable ability to sneak through missions that only require you to find Glowies or defeat the mission boss and enemies around him. This is especially useful for cutting down the time it takes to complete TFs (though you'll need Recall Friend to really make that work). There are also a wealth of cool screen captures you can take that you could never otherwise.

Don't get me wrong though, mostly the reason I took this power on any of my characters was for speed (especially with new stealth powers that make using SS for stealth pretty unnecessary). Even though Teleport is technically faster, with Super Speed, you can really feel the speed.

Note that not matter what you do, you can't run faster than 92ish MPH.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancement( Default Slot Only )
2 is better, but I almost only give it just one since it works very well by itself (especially when used in tandem with any other run power like sprint or swift).
40%
 
Run (40% Minimum)
Default: 64 ft/sec
With max 100% enhancement: 128 ft/sec
I used to focus more on the endurance, but as I matured as a player, I found that I'm never lacking for endurance (and more importantly, I've learned to turn the power OFF whenever I'm not traveling).
0%
 
Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
I used to focus more on this when I used SS for stealth reasons, but since I've abandoned that, I find I don't need the endurance.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Because Super Speeders can easily get stuck in ravines, or behind large walls, it's often desirable to combine it with other powers. Hover or any jumping power like Hurdle, , or Ninja Run for example.

Whirlwind

Toss them around. Fun for certain builds 😀

You start spinning and toss enemies into the air. This deals no damage, but keeps people from closing to melee range. For builds that use jtag/> or melee range attacks, this is pretty much a waste of time except possibly as an escape mechanism.

As a support character, you could use it to protect yourself, or run into the crowd and save a dying friend by tossing every enemy near him into the air (though this is likely to draw fire to you). Since you can continue to attack while Whirlwind is on, a blaster would benefit by keeping enemies at a distance while firing at them.

The problem is the enormous endurance cost. It's designed to keep you from leaving it on and battling at the same time (but with creativity, you can undo that disadvantage 🙂 ).


Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

City of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancementCity of Heroes: empty enhancement( 3 Slots )
Minimum of 2 for endurance reduction possibly 3 if you want to put special IOs in.
80%
 
Endurance Reduction (80% Minimum)
Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second
20%
 
Recharge (20% Minimum)
Default: 20 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 10 sec
0%
 
Knockback (0% Minimum)
Default: 4 Feet
With max 180% enhancement: 11.2 Feet

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The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

I've only taken it on one character (Gale), and it ended up being pointless since she already has hurricane which does basically the same thing only better. However, a scrapper/tank told me they took it as a form of control power which most characters of that type don't normally have.

Voids, Quantums, and eating dirt

The most important thing to know about Kheldians is that there is a custom enemy type the devs added to the game just for them. The three major varieties are Quantums, Voids, and crystals.

They are pretty much guaranteed to be in any mission that has a kheldian in the party and are also found randomly dispersed throughout most zones.

If you've ever teamed with a Kheldian, you have seen them call out "Void" or "Quantum" (or V & Q for short) every time there's one of these types of enemies in a group. This is because in most cases, a kheldian can only take about two hits from one of these before dying so they want the team to know to focus on that one first. Killing them before they kill you is a challenge and something that you become very good at very fast… or else.

Quantums

A Quantum Council member

This can be any enemy type and look normal until you get close. Then they pull out that massive glowing gun that will make you scream like Michael Jackson and head for the hills (or hospital). They are challenging in that they look like any other enemy and you'll only know they're there by checking groups before striking or by attacking and watching them pull out the gun-of-kheldian-doom.

A neat trick for dealing with Quantums to close to melee range quickly. They'll often punch you instead which doesn't hurt any more than any other enemy of that type.

Voids

A Void. Shield off then on

Typically these guys are black all over with a red face mask. They're very easy to spot because they look nothing like the group of enemies they're with. They also occasionally make a "whoooozaa" kind of noise making it pretty clear they're nearby even if you don't see them.

Note that the "whoooozaa" noise I'm referring to is an anit-kheldian shield that makes it much harder to kill them. If you're soloing or fighting a high level void, wait until the glowing aura around them subsides to start your attack.

These guys are far more dangerous because their punches are as powerful as the ranged attack and you won't last long if you have their attention. The only thing to do with Voids is to avoid them (no pun intended), let other's draw their aggro, or hit them with everything you've got so fast that they can't retaliate.

The all-out attack method can work well, but at the lower levels when you don't have a lot of attacks, this will get you killed more often than not. Let's just say that it's nice that the devs added debt protection below level 10 and you have that nice travel power to get back to the mission that you were killed in over and over.

Shadow Cyst Crystals

I count 17 behemoths so far from this CoT portal

Out of the three, this is by far the most dangerous. There are certain missions in the game that have "portals" that continuously spawn enemies until you destroy the portal. This is normally not a problem because they can usually be avoided (which keeps them from activating), spawn a small number of enemies at a time, spawn only lower difficulty enemies, or spawn only minions (ex: ritki portals and cot portals assuming you're not on a giant team).

Here's where the crystal becomes a problem:

  • They spawn nictus which are basically the same as a Dark Nova. They fly and use long range powerful dark energy attacks and slow your recharge rate.
  • Many of the spawns are lieutenants or bosses.
  • A crystal with a BUNCH of nictus
  • They spawn like voids and quantums do; in the middle of a group of regular enemies and usually in a critical group like the one where the boss is or one that's protecting a hostage you have to rescue. Therefore, avoiding them is almost always impossible.
  • There appears to be no limit (or there's a really high limit) to the number of nictus they spawn. In one tf after 6 team wipes, there were about 30 nictus hovering around looking dangerous. Did I mention we failed that tf?
  • They explode with massive damage when you kill them.

Oh, and one more thing, you don't get any experience from the nictus it spawns, just the crystal. Peachy, huh?

So unlike the classic anti-kheldian stuff, crystals can quickly become a problem for the whole team. Fortunately, they're a lot more rare, but unfortunately, you never know where or when they'll pop up and, when they do, it's almost always by a critical group of enemies you have to take out (so avoiding them just won't happen).

I've found that crystals only pop out on teams of 7 or more. Keep that in mind when forming TFs and such when a Kheldian is on the team.

One crystal can ruin an entire TF

Like most portals (only more so), the best way to deal with them is to have everyone in the group hit the crystal at the same time and beat on it until it's gone. All this while getting pummeled both by the group that the crystal was in and the nictuses it spawned. Chances are that some or all of you will die, but if you don't get rid of the crystal immediately, you have no chance of finishing the mission.

A gift for you 😀 – Void bind

Lighting up the bad guys with the bind

Here's a bind that can save you a lot of grief. It will target anything with the words "Quantum", "Void" or "Crystal" in the name. When you push it, it will immediately target this type of enemy even if you can't see them very well due to caves, poor lighting, or tightly packed enemies.

/bind v "target_name quantum$$target_name void $$target_name crystal "

Use this every time you line up for an attack and you'll very rarely be caught unprepared (the most common reason kheldians die).

Use this one to alert your team once you have the offender targeted (explained in more detail in the macro section):

/bind f8 "local Ick! It's a $target"

July 27, 2010

Temp Jump/Jet Packs

Filed under: Gameplay,Guides — Jeremy

Here is a short listing of the more common jumping and flight packs you can get in the city:

Jumping

The Safeguard jump pack with the GvE Jump Jet together
  • The jump pack from level 10-15 Mayhem or Safeguard missions mentioned previously.
  • The special jump jet available in the GvE Item Pack. Note that this item has several special properties that make it unique such as it has a long cool-down, but it never expires and increases flight speed (even for hover or flight packs).
  • A special nod to Ninja Run from the Martial Arts Booster. It's one of the few powers that increases your jumping, but it's significant in that it's a strong power available automatically at level 2 or so and increases run speed as well.

Flight

Merry Christmas!
  • The flight pack available from level 5-10 Mayhem or Safeguard missions.
  • Mission reward flight packs. This is more of an issue on the red side where you pick up so many of these, it's like bubblegum on the sidewalk!
  • Holiday Jetpacks – These are sometimes given out or earned during holiday events.
  • Purchased Jetpacks. Some zones (Grandville and the Shadow Shard for example) have flight pack vendors where you can just purchase a flight temp power.
  • Day Job Jetpacks – You can earn a jetpack as your rechargable temp power by earning either the Shadow Shard or Grandville day job badges.

I think that covers most of them. Clearly the best are the ones that you get from the booster packs, but don't knock the others. One of the best ways to keep someone in endless supply of free flight packs is to use the mission teleport power (from the Mac Item Pack) along with clever use of missions. Get a mission in the Shadow Shard or Grandville and just before logging off, alway select that parked mission and use Mission TP to teleport to your "day job". Easy 🙂

July 24, 2010

Relinquisher and Team

Filed under: Art,Colored,Modified Screencapture,Requests — Jeremy
Relinquisher and the team

For this I decided to go all out since this is a prize from my contest. Besides drawing just the villain himself, I included one of each of his mercenary types. I took some liberty with their attitudes and such, but I'm confident Relinquisher will like it.

They're on a ferry waiting to enter part of the rogue isles and passing the time the way they know how.

Here's what I worked from:

Original pics of mastermind pets from http://cov.coldfront.net/Guides/Mastermind/Mastermind_Notes.html

And story by the creator:

As for Relinquisher's attitude he has been completely consumed by wrath because he was betrayed in Vietnam.He gained his powers by falling into a previously thought to be extinct plant that changed his DNA. Making him have super human strength, life, ect… . He now uses the vast amount of resources from his arms dealing corporation called Black Light Corp. (my super villain group) to hunt down his traitorous lieutenant.

His power sets are poison and mercenaries [ he has all of them ] mercenary because of his large and ever growing Black Light Corp. Poison because of the giant plant in Vietnam that altered his DNA (it should be noted the DNA change caused him to lose all his bodily hair and his veins pump green blood). He also favors the sniper rifle model since he was a sniper in Vietnam. His message to his troops is { Be sneaky. Be evil. Be Snevil ! [ lol ]

He will, on occasion, attempt to trick newbs into giving him money or be killed. :] Not to worry only made a few hundred insp so far. He is a villian after all

July 11, 2010

News – 2010.07.11

Filed under: News — Jeremy

Working hard on the next comic and the contest winners’ promised fan art. As proof, here’s a little teaser:

I think some people might recognize the neko on the left and the one on the right is a small piece of the finished drawing for Relinquisher, a poison / mercenaries mastermind!

For the other contest winner and my backlog of catgirl fanarts, no worries. They too are in the works 🙂

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