Power Pool Spotlight – Fighting

Power Pool Spotlight
Fighting: Snap… Crackle… Weave

There are many kinds of heroes in the world. There are intellectual heroes, the kind that finds cures for cancer. There are moral heroes, the kind that does what’s right even when your boss tells you to do otherwise. Then there’s the superhero. The superhero has a harder road than most. Cancer doesn’t come to your house and blackmail you by holding your old Aunt May for ransom. Your boss will likely never attempt to discover your secret identity and leak it to the press. No, the superhero has a much more in your face challenge in front of them. That challenge, and its up front manner in opposing the superhero, often leads to…

FIGHTING

That’s right. Throwin’ down. Fisticuffs. The old one-two. Getting’ it on. Let’s get ready to rumble and all that jazz. The Fighting Power Pool consists of:
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Pretty straightforward, you have two offensive and two defensive powers. Boxing and Kick can fill the holes in the melee hero’s attack chain. Tough and Weave can give them some more staying power in a fight. Since I’m doomed to take an opinion in these columns, I have to say that this pool is really optimal for only Scrappers and Tankers.

A Defender, Blaster, or Controller who need to use the attack powers are too close to combat. A Defender, Blaster, or Controller who want the defensives would probably get better mileage out of the Concealment pool or from their own power sets without having to waste a slot on an attack they shouldn’t be using. A Defender, Blaster or Controller who is taking enough damage to believe they need the defensives should re-evaluate their tactics a little bit. As always, if it fits into your character concept, no matter what archetype (AT) you play, pick it.

So, with that out of the way, what self-respecting Scrapper or Tank could call themselves complete if they didn’t have some training in…

BOXING

A gentle rap to the foe’s noggin is what Boxing is. Boxing does smashing type damage and has a 20% chance to disorient foes. Don’t think that means you’re going to disorient one of every five people you hit. Any statistics guy will tell you that a 20% chance to stun and stunning 20% of your enemies are two very different things. On average, I would estimate this power stuns one of every seven or eight times it lands. Sometimes you get lucky and hit a streak and sometimes your average seems as dry as Deadman’s complexion. For those ubernumber-scholars out there, this is a mag 2 attack with moderate damage and moderate stun.

Boxing not what you’re looking for? Try this out for a…

KICK

Ok, that was uncalled for. But, hey, tell me you don’t read this for the segues. Kick does smashing damage and has a 20% chance of knockback in the same way Boxing has it’s disorient. Kick and Boxing seem to do the same damage as well. All in all, if you’re choosing between the two it comes down to whether you want to knock em down or get their heads spinning. You may want to do both, but that’s just…

TOUGH

Ah, the thing every Family member wants to be, a Tough Guy. Tough has different numbers depending on your Archetype. That is enough for an entire other column so I will discuss generalities here. Tough gives you resistance to smashing and lethal damage. It’s a toggle power so you’ll have to turn it on and off. The power description rates the resistance as High. I would say that’s fairly accurate when compared to other damage resistance powers. Slotting Tough is a complicated matter. Like I said, the numbers are different dependent upon your AT. On top of that, a Tank with Temporary Invulnerability and Unyielding is probably going to slot Tough differently than a Super Reflexes Scrapper. In a recent Winter Lord battle with the mentorish Malefactor, I realized that I probably didn’t need Tough while running Temporary Invulnerability and Unyielding (thanks, Malefactor).

Tough was long considered to be a must have power for melee ATs. The arguments for and against are still going on but Tough still looks like a solid choice. The bottom line is Tough provides some good protection and is just the thing when you’re facing that Archvillain and bob when you should…

WEAVE

Weave is different than Tough in that it grants you defense instead of resistance. Both are toggle powers which means constant endurance drain. Again, the current numbers seem different depending on your AT. Weave makes you harder to hit where Tough makes you harder to damage once you’ve been hit. There are some Invulnerability builds out there that are foregoing Invincibility in favor of Weave at this point in time because the Weave defense works against melee and ranged attacks where Invincibility is currently only a melee defense. This may change in the future according to Statesman.

FINAL ANALYSIS

I usually give you a ‘G’ rating scheme at this point but because of the highly variable numbers and different combinations the Fighting Pool fits into I’ll just rate the whole set ‘GGG.’ It’s a valuable set. If you don’t take it then you’re likely taking other powers and skills that help in the same way.

As I stated earlier, a lot of people are talking about moving to Concealment instead of using Weave. The up side is that Stealth will help you with those “find the glowie” missions; the down side is the movement penalty.

There are some things to keep in mind. Tough and Weave seem to have more of an impact before the mid-30s than Concealment. After that you will be pitted against enemies that are consistently higher level than your hero so the damage resistance and defensive bonus is mitigated. Also, Tough resists even Psionic damage, the Achilles Heel of the Invulnerability scene.

The Glow Girl rating of uberfantasticoolio is reserved at this time but I could change my mind in the future.

That’s the view from 5’2″.

-Glow Girl

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