After last weeks column, you might get the impression I dislike CoV. Actually, I adore the game, and think the AT’s are just as interesting as CoH. Now, because I have had one or two issues when playing the game, I don’t have quite the levels I do in CoH, but I still have one of everything, if not more. On that note, lets take a little look at what makes each of the Villains interesting, or a pain. Again, in no particular order of preference, here are the Villains.
SMASH! Which tends to be the watchword of the Brute, our first AT. For sheer soloing power, this is the AT to play. And it’s fun, too! I have no idea how many people I’ve watched, or heard, running rampant beating things up. A friend goes so far as to even start dropping his toggled powers in an effort to keep enough stamina to keep hitting things. Amusing, but you probably don’t have to go that far. What makes the Brute so powerful is their inherent power, the Rage Bar. The rage bar fills up as long as your Brute is hitting, and being hit. This is an important fact, because the higher that bar goes, the more damage you’re handing out to those around you. You almost have to feel sorry for those going up against a Brute – almost, except I’ve had that same feeling of adrenaline rush playing my Brute, and know that you just want to SMASH! So go ahead, smash something, it’ll be fun! I would highly recommend this as a starting AT for it’s sheer ease and entertainment value.
Our next AT is the one you won’t see coming, the Stalker. See? I was serious! The Stalker is a melee as well. Squishier than the Brute, the Stalkers advantage is that they can hide. Who needs to worry about dying on the way to that mission when you can just saunter right past without anyone noticing? Add onto that the Assassin Strike, the big damage dealing attack for the Stalker and you got a good deal. Until you add the inherent, when it becomes a very sweet deal indeed, that being the extreme critical hit from hiding. Well, you are an assassin after all, right? So if you sneak up behind someone and stab’m in the back, of course it’s going to hurt! Not only that, but at a later date you get placate, so you can put them back to sleep and do it all over again. This is offset by the fact that you are squishy, so make sure you build up some of those secondary defense powers. Not a bad starting AT, but not as good as the Brute, it can still be a blast to play.
‘Attack my minions!’ is pretty classic villain talk from comics and movies, right? So classic it’s taken a bit of a slide into cheese-ville. Still, it’s the line the Mastermind is going to use. With a name like Mastermind, you should have a pretty good idea what these guys do. Masterminds, often referred to as MM’s, summon minions to do their dirty work for them. Whether you’re a robot building maniac, a zombie summoning demon, ninja master or mercenary leader, the Mastermind is virtually a team in and of themselves. Not that you start with loads of minions right off the top. At first, you get one lowly little minion, eventually earning your way to three of the little guys. It doesn’t stop there! There are two more levels of minion, which work out to the actual spawn make up of minion, lieutenants and boss. And guess what that makes you? An Arch Villain! Go you! Of course, that’s quite far up into the levels. The third level of minion is the mighty level 28 power, so it can take a while to get there, in the mean time, you can buff up your secondary power, which is, of course, buffs, or maybe boost your minion aiding power pools. Either way, a Mastermind can solo even better than a Brute at times, because they are their own team. I would not recommend the Mastermind as a beginning AT for anyone. You really need to know how to keep your pets under control, how to manage them around others and to be polite with them. Key binds are the Masterminds friend, and a lot of beginners can’t do them. I’ll note here that I had a friend guide me through the Mastermind key bind process for my first Mastermind, and then I was able to adjust it from there, so I’m not genius at binds myself.
Dominated! Hey, that word rocks the Dominator’s socks. Well, actually, it’s a lot more like it rocks the socks of all in their way. The Dominator has control powers with secondary assault type powers. Like the Brute, the Dominator has a bar that fills up over time. The more people you put into holds, the more your bar builds, until it reaches it’s limit. At that point, a special power button becomes available. You click the button, explode animation wise, and now all your holds do about double damage. It’s a rather cool animation too, while it lasts, as you’re all glowy and glittery, which can be entertaining. Solo wise, at the lower levels, you actually do not to badly, but I understand that the higher up you go, the more difficult it can be to solo. As far as beginners go, it’s not bad for the new player, but it’s not the best. Still, give it a try, it can be fun.
Last, but not least, is the Corrupter. The long range monster in the bunch, making them rather desirable for teams. Add in a secondary buffing set, and you have a must for teams. The Corruptors inherent makes them deadly as well, and useful when going up against powerful enemies. When the hit points on your enemy gets below a certain level, the Corrupter starts doing serious damage, usually doubling their normal attack power. As far as soloing goes, they’re not to bad, as long as you are careful. Like all the AT’s except the Brute, they are squishy. For the beginner, the Corrupter can be difficult to play, but still worth trying.
Over all, each AT has it’s strong and weak points, but they are all sheer entertainment to play. With I7 coming out the Villains can only be more fun, and I, at least, am expecting another burst of new toons to appear with the new powersets coming out. But you won’t see the bigger toons vanishing either, since the new level 40 to 50 content will be appearing along with the rest. Over all, the Villains are just as much fun as the Heroes to play, giving you a whole new perspective in the CoX universe, so why not give being a bad guy a chance?
As always, remember to have fun and play nice with others, and hopefully we’ll see you on the dark side sometime. @Mialiah.
