Regeneration Powerset FAQ V 2.0 by Fedifensor

Revision History

Version 1.00 (04/20/04) – Initial Release.

Version 1.10 (04/29/04) – Revised Copyright Information. Updated Contributors. Several updates to Choosing Regeneration, Fast Healing, Reconstruction, and Quick Recovery.

Version 1.25 (06/16/04) – Significant rewrite of the FAQ, with special attention on Reconstruction, Quick Recovery, and Instant Healing.

Version 2.0 (10/06/04) – Changed Fedifensor’s name to Heroic (to reflect change in ID on the CoH boards), major revisions to the Powers section of the FAQ, added Author’s Recommendations.

Copyright Information

All information taken directly from the City of Heroes MMORPG (power descriptions, etc) is the intellectual property of Cryptic and NCSoft. City of Heroes® is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and Ncsoft Corporation. NCsoft® is a trademark of Ncsoft Corporation.
The collected data and advice compiled in this document is considered open-source, and available for reposting in any medium as long as the original contributors are credited.

Overview

Regeneration is unique among defensive powers in City of Heroes. This defensive powerset is not designed to avoid damage, or reduce the damage taken. Instead, Regeneration allows you to heal damage taken from foes – slowly at first, but eventually damage can be healed almost as fast as it is received. Regeneration also has an important secondary benefit in the ability to recover Endurance quickly.

The purpose of this FAQ is to give new players the information they need to make an informed choice about the powerset. Regeneration is not for everyone – in beta, several people gave up on it to choose easier-to-use powersets like Invulnerability. However, if you stick with Regeneration, it is perhaps the most effective powerset (though not the most versatile) for the later levels.

Contributors

Heroic joined the beta test in mid-February (under the name Fedifensor). His primary character for beta was Moonshine, a Dark Melee/Regeneration scrapper who reached level 24 before receiving a “bump” to level 35. He is responsible for the overall collection of data into the FAQ, as well as the format and maintenance of the document. Currently, Heroic plays Resolve (a Martial Arts/Regeneration scrapper) on the Virtue server.

Iannis joined the beta test in the beginning of March. His primary character for beta was Sedna, also a Dark Melee/Regeneration scrapper. Sedna reached level 23 before the end of beta. Iannis is responsible for the tests showing specific regeneration numbers for Fast Healing and Health.

Cadmus also joined beta in the beginning of March. He is responsible for the information on how long a character takes to recover health with and without Fast Healing (overlapping with Iannis’ information). His primary character in beta was Sica Cacea, a level 19 Claws/Reflex scrapper. For testing Regeneration, he used True Blue, a Spines/Regeneration scrapper.

Locke was one of the first people into the beta test, joining in mid-January. His character for beta (also named Locke) was a Martial Arts/Regeneration scrapper. Locke was the first person to experience high-level play with the Regeneration powerset, and perhaps the only Regeneration character to not take Quick Recovery.

Dakirn joined the beta test in the beginning of March. His primary character for beta was The Immortal, another Dark Melee/Regeneration scrapper. Dakirn compiled much of the information posted by the developers.

Other contributors (in no particular order) are Ehyuko, Garrison, and Hell. There are probably several others that have not been credited in this FAQ, but who nevertheless receive our thanks for their help. Special thanks also go to the developer Geko, for the game information he’s given on the boards (including a detailed explaination of how Integration and similar powers work).

Section 1 – Choosing Regeneration

What primary powerset works best with Regeneration?

Each of the primary powersets works with Regeneration in a different way. While no one powerset works “best” with Regeneration, the two most common powersets chosen in beta were Dark Melee and Martial Arts. Listed below is a summary of how each powerset works with Regeneration:

” Broad Sword – This is a very Endurance-intensive powerset, something that is much easier to manage with Quick Recovery. The high damage of Broad Sword allows you to defeat foes quickly, especially when using the area of effect attacks in the powerset.
” Claws – Claws may not seem like a good match for Regeneration, as its attacks are low-Endurance and medium damage. However, the late-tier power of Instant Healing in Regeneration has a very high Endurance usage, which is more manageable with Claws than other powersets. The last two attacks in the powerset also have a high Endurance usage.
” Dark Melee – Most Dark Melee attacks have an Accuracy debuff, giving a slight increase in survivability. In addition, Dark Melee is the only Scrapper primary powerset to have powers that recover both Hit Points and Endurance, making it an attractive choice for many characters. Its main weakness is a lack of disabling effects such as knockdown and Disorient. In addition, the only attack comparable to Shadow Maul (available at level 2) is Midnight Grasp (not available until level 32).
” Katana – Katana is similar to Broad Sword, with a lower Endurance cost, faster attacks, and lower damage.
” Martial Arts – Though it lacks the Hit Point and Endurance drains of Dark Melee, Martial Arts is one of the best choices for a Regeneration character. It offers many attacks that can disorient or knock down a target, which makes the powerset useful for defense as well as offense. Martial Arts does respectable damage, and the animation times were recently improved.
” Spines – This powerset was upgraded near the end of beta, and is perhaps the most underestimated choice for a Regeneration character. The poison from Spines can Slow or even Immobilize an opponent. In addition, Spines has both ranged and area-of-effect attacks, which are very useful for a scrapper. Those interested in a Spines/Regeneration build should search the City of Heroes message boards for Thornkiller’s excellent guide.

What makes Regeneration competitive with the other Scrapper defenses?

Regeneration is a late-blooming powerset. Until you reach level 20, it has no damage reduction, and its only defense in combat is Reconstruction. While other powersets have damage reduction that reduces damage by a percentage, Regeneration recovers a set amount of Hit Points with its “defenses” (Reconstruction and Instant Healing). This makes it scale poorly versus higher-level attackers. Furthermore, attacks that inflict large amounts of damage in a short time can kill a Regeneration scrapper before he has time to activate Reconstruction or let Instant Healing take care of the damage.
Despite these drawbacks, Regeneration has many advantages. While other powersets have weaknesses versus certain attack types, Regeneration treats most attacks equally because the powerset repairs damage instead of avoiding it. At level 28, Regeneration gets access to the second-best Scrapper defense in the game – Instant Healing (Invincibility from the Invulnerability powerset is the only better defense option for a scrapper). Though Instant Healing has a high Endurance cost, the regeneration rate is amazing. It is possible for a character with Instant Healing to stand near several equal-level foes and recover damage as fast as it is inflicted.
Regeneration scrappers are best in longer fights, where their increased healing and recovery rates come into play. Hit and run tactics are commonly used, allowing the scrapper to do damage, withdraw, and heal up quickly before returning to the fight.

Do I have to take Fast Healing?

Yes. All secondary powersets require you to take the first power in the list at character creation.

Can I choose another defensive powerset and use the Fitness power pool to get the primary benefits of Regeneration?

You can get a good portion of Regeneration’s passive effects with the Fitness power pool, if you are willing to use three power slots and wait until at least 20th level for Stamina. Health provides a healing rate close to Fast Healing, while Stamina gives a slightly lower recovery rate than Quick Recovery. If you are mainly interested in Regeneration to gain increased recovery rates for HP and Endurance, you may be better off taking the Fitness power pool and a different scrapper defense.
However, Regeneration provides several advantages not available to any other powerset. Instant Healing is the most versatile defensive power available to a scrapper, as the type of damage inflicted is irrelevant to its effectiveness. Resilience provides a passive resistance to Disorient not available in any of the other scrapper defenses. Finally, Integration is a toggle power that protects against all disabling attacks, which makes it superior to the equivalents in the other powersets (such as Unyielding Stance and Practiced Brawler).

What power pool defenses work well with Regeneration?

There are two schools of thought on this issue. Some players believe damage avoidance is the best compliment to Regeneration, and try to take powers such as Combat Jumping, Stealth, and Weave. Others believe damage reduction is the better choice, and take Tough (because it stacks with Resilience). Few characters can spare enough power slots to get all the powerpool defenses, though the Fighting pool is a popular choice.
Remember, once a character gets Instant Healing, Endurance management is always an issue. The more toggle powers you have, the more care is required in using them.

[u]Section 2 – Powers[/u]

Fast Healing

How quickly does Fast Healing recover Hit Points?

A character without Fast Healing recovers 25% of his Hit Points every minute, which means he can recover fully in four minutes. With Fast Healing (unenhanced), a character recovers roughly 35% of his Hit Points every minute, allowing him to fully recover in just under 3 minutes (171 seconds, according to testing in beta). With six single-origin Heal enhancements in Fast Healing, the character recovers 55% of his Hit Points per minute, or full recovery in less than 2 minutes (109 seconds).

Does Fast Healing stack with Health (from the Fitness power pool)?

Yes. Unenhanced, Fast Healing increases the recovery rate by 40%, while Health increases the recovery rate by 30%.
Fast Healing and Health together (both unenhanced) allow a character to recover 42% of their Hit Points every minute, giving a full recovery in under two and a half minutes (141 seconds). With six single-origin Heal enhancements in Fast Healing, the rate rises to 62% per minute, or full recovery in just over a minute and a half (96 seconds). Placing those enhancements in Health instead provides a lower effect (57%, full recovery in 104 seconds).
If a character takes both Fast Healing and Health, and places the maximum of six single-origin enhancements in both powers, their recovery rate increases to a maximum of 77% per minute, or recovery from 1 Hit Point to full in 77 seconds.

Why should I enhance Fast Healing, when Instant Healing heals so much quicker?

There are three main arguments for enhancing Fast Healing. The first is that Fast Healing is a great anti-downtime power up to level 28, which costs no Endurance to use. Second, Fast Healing does have a small but noticeable effect in combat, especially in longer fights. Finally, Fast Healing stacks with Instant Healing. Though Fast Healing’s effectiveness is small in comparison, a defensive scrapper can stack both for the best possible scrapper defense.
The argument against enhancing Fast Healing is simple – Instant Healing heals much faster. An unenhanced Instant Healing will take a character from 1 HP to full in roughly 20 seconds. That’s nearly 9 times faster than an unenhanced Fast Healing, and roughly 4 times faster than a character who has 6-slotted both Fast Healing and Health. Because Regeneration has the best status protection in the game, having Instant Healing drop due to a status effect is a rare event.
Overall, most Regeneration scrappers leave Fast Healing unslotted until level 40+, where they have slots to spare on it.

Reconstruction

Why is Reconstruction so important?

The reason Reconstruction is so important is that it is the character’s only significant defense until Instant Healing at level 28. This makes Reconstruction a must-have power for the Regeneration scrapper. Even after a character has Instant Healing, Reconstruction is the power that will give the scrapper time to retreat from a tough battle. It is recommended that a character put extra enhancement slots in Reconstruction as soon as possible.
The decision on how much you enhance Reconstruction should be based on your personal preference. However, using less than three slots will make it difficult to get to level 28 in a timely fashion. By the same token, using six enhancement slots may take away effectiveness from your other powers, for a minimal benefit once you have Instant Healing.

Why does Reconstruction heal so little and take so long to recharge?

More than any other power in the powerset, Reconstruction relies on enhancements to increase its effect. Unenhanced, Reconstruction heals roughly 25% of the character’s maximum Hit Points, and the recharge rate is slow enough to only allow its use once per battle. However, enhancements can increase the healing to as high as 85%, or lower the recharge time to under 30 seconds (less with Hasten – see the next question for details).

Can I use anything besides enhancements to increase Reconstruction’s effectiveness?

Some Regeneration characters end up taking Hasten, from the Super Speed power pool. Hasten lowers the recharge time of all the character’s powers, for a duration of two minutes. At the end of the two minutes, the character loses 20 Endurance. The Endurance loss is minimal for characters with Quick Recovery, and Hasten can be enhanced (with six single-origin enhancements) to the point where a character can keep it running constantly. With a full selection of enhancements and Hasten running, Reconstruction can heal over 50% of a character’s Hit Points every 20 to 25 seconds, making it a very powerful defense.

Quick Recovery

How quickly does Quick Recovery recover Endurance?

Unenhanced, Quick Recovery gives a 33% increase over the standard Endurance recovery rate. See below for a table showing the relative benefits of Quick Recovery, Stamina, and Quick Recovery (with 6 Single-Origin Endurance Recovery Enhancements) + Stamina.

Does Quick Recovery stack with Stamina (from the Fitness power pool)?

Yes. Quick Recovery increases the Endurance recovery rate by 33%, while Stamina increases the recovery rate by 25%. Fully enhanced with 6 single-origin Endurance Recovery enhancements in each power, Quick Recovery and Stamina will bring a character from 0 Endurance to full in 21.8 seconds.

Dull Pain

Does Dull Pain just increase my maximum Hit Points, or does it heal me as well?

Dull Pain is primarily designed to increase your maximum Hit Points, but it also has a healing component. Unenhanced, it will increase your maximum Hit Points by about 40%, and provide healing equal to the amount of the increase. Thus, a character with 1000 Hit Points would have their maximum increased to 1400 HP, and he would heal 400 HP. This allows a character to make use of the increased maximum that Dull Pain provides.
However, adding Heal enhancements to the power will increase the amount healed. For example, if Heal enhancements increase the amount healed in the example above to 700 HP, there’s no point using the power when you’re at full health (as 300 HP of healing would be wasted).

Does Dull Pain increase the effectiveness of Instant Healing?

Yes. Instant Healing heals a percentage of your total hit points. Since Dull Pain increases your total hit points, Instant Healing’s effectiveness is increased by an equivalent percentage (40%).

Integration

Even with Quick Recovery fully enhanced, I have Endurance problems when using both Integration and Instant Healing. Is this intentional?

Yes, it is. The one weakness of Instant Healing is that it can be turned off if you get stunned, held, or put asleep. Integration protects against these effects, making the two powers a very effective combination. The Endurance cost of both powers is a balancing factor, requiring characters to carefully manage Endurance when both are active. Fortunately, the regeneration rate of Instant Healing is so high that you can actually stand still for several seconds against most foes without fear, giving you time to recover Endurance if you are low.
It is highly suggested that a character have at least two single-origin Endurance reduction enhancements in Integration before getting Instant Healing.

How much protection does Integration give versus status effects?

Every character in the game starts with a base value versus status effects of -1. Every status effect has a magnitude (Mag) that increases this number – when the number is positive (1 or higher), you are affected by the status effect. Effects of different types do not stack, so a Mag 1 hold and a Mag 1 sleep will not combine to affect you. However, even if you are not affected by a status effect, it remains for its normal duration, and other effects can be stacked with it. Therefore, you could be hit with a Mag 1 disorient that lasts for 10 seconds, then hit 5 seconds later with another Mag 1 disorient, and be stunned.
Integration (and similar powers) give you -15 protection to these effects, so the combined Magnitude of a single effect type must be 16 or higher to affect you. In addition, Integration reduces the duration of status effects, so it is harder for them to stack with each other. Integration gets better as you become higher level, providing more protection. Effectiveness also depends on the foe’s level – if they are higher level then you, their effects have a higher magnitude.

Resilience

The damage resistance of Resilience doesn’t seem to do much. Is this intentional?

Yes, it is intentional. It provides slightly less of a benefit versus Smashing and Lethal attacks than Resist Physical Damage (from the Invulnerability powerset). However, that resistance can be increased with enhancements. Resilience also provides the important benefit of resistance against Disorientation attacks. Furthermore, it is one of the few powers in Regeneration that is always on and costs no Endurance.
Specifically, the damage resistance of Resilience is 7.5%, and gains an extra 1.5% for each single-origin enhancement applied to the power (16.5% when fully enhanced). In combination with Tough from the Fighting powerpool, with both powers fully enhanced, a character can have a 50% resistance to Smashing and Lethal damage.

Instant Healing

How quickly does Instant Healing recover Hit Points?

Unenhanced, Instant Healing recovers 5% of a character’s hit points per second, or full healing within 20 seconds. This stacks with a character’s normal healing rate, so characters with Fast Healing slotted may notice a slight difference in the amount of time needed to heal. Each Heal enhancer added to the power increases the Healing rate by 33%. Three Heal enhancers will make Instant Healing recover 10% of a character’s HP per second, and six Heal enhancers (the maximum), will recover 15% of the character’s HP per second, or full healing in just under seven seconds.

Why does Instant Healing cost so much Endurance to run?

The high Endurance cost of Instant Healing is a major balancing factor for the power. When Instant Healing is on, the scrapper heals so quickly that he becomes a mini-Tanker. The Endurance cost forces the character to make tough decisions. The Endurance cost can be reduced with enhancements, but those enhancements are ones that could have been used to increase the healing rate.

Revive

Do I still take XP Debt from dying if I have Revive?

Yes. No power in the game reduces XP Debt.

Why should I take this power when I can just use an Inspiration to get back on my feet?

Unenhanced, Revive will return 50% of your Hit Points, but you will have no Endurance. While most Awaken Inspirations will Disorient you for a time, the Revive power allows you to immediately get back into the fight. If you’ve fully enhanced Quick Recovery by this time, you should regain Endurance quickly enough to either jump back into battle, or retreat. Dark Melee characters can also use Dark Consumption to recover Endurance after using Revive.
On the other hand, Resilience will reduce the amount of time you are disoriented when you use a Awaken inspiration. By level 30, Awaken inspirations will no longer disorient you, making them an effective alternative to spending a power slot on Revive.

Moment of Glory

What does Moment of Glory do?

Moment of Glory dramatically increases your Defense and Damage Resistance versus all attacks except psionics (and untyped damage) for a limited period of time, increases Endurance recovery, and grants strong resistance to all status effects. However, it also drops your hit points to 10% of their maximum and prevents hit point recovery by any means.

Should I use Moment of Glory at the beginning of a tough battle?

Absolutely not. Moment of Glory has a limited duration, and reduces you to a small amount of hit points. The best time to use Moment of Glory is when you are about to be defeated. It can turn a possible defeat into a victory, or at a minimum will give you the opportunity to escape combat.

Can I heal normally while Moment of Glory is active?

No. Standard healing (including Instant Healing) is disabled while Moment of Glory is active.

When should I avoid using Moment of Glory?

Any attack that does ‘untyped’ damage is very dangerous while using Moment of Glory. Poison currently deals untyped damage that bypasses Moment of Glory’s defenses. When facing such attacks, retreating is often a better choice. In addition, since Moment of Glory disables hit point recovery, the power renders useless the main advantage of the Regeneration powerset. It is often a better choice to simply retreat for a short time, allowing Instant Healing to bring your hit points back to full.
A future update to City of Heroes will add a poison damage category. The developers have stated that Regeneration will have good resistances versus poison. Once this occurs, Moment of Glory will be a viable option against poison attacks.

Appendix

Author’s Recommendations

Introduction

The Regeneration FAQ attempts to put forth an unbiased viewpoint of the various Regeneration powers, and avoids giving specific recommendations. Someone considers every power in the powerset useful, even those considered useless by the majority of Regeneration scrappers.
However, this author does have recommendations on the usefulness of the various Regeneration powers. Below, you will find each of the Regeneration powers rated from 1 to 10, along with specific comments on their usefulness.

Fast Healing (Rating: 3, Slots Recommended: 1)

Fast Healing is the only power you are forced to take in the Regeneration powerset. Unfortunately, Reconstruction quickly eclipses its usefulness, as it is a much quicker way to restore hit points. Once a character gets Instant Healing, Fast Healing is all but forgotten.

Reconstruction (Rating: 6, Slots Recommended: 3)

Reconstruction is a great power for the early game, significantly reducing downtime and giving an in-combat heal that can make the difference between victory and defeat. In the later levels, Reconstruction becomes a rarely used power to either supplement Instant Healing’s recovery rate or for the rare times when the Regeneration scrapper is hit with a status effect that gets through both Integration and Resilience.

[/u]Quick Recovery (Rating: 9, Slots Recommended: 6)[/u]

Quick Recovery is very useful in the earlier levels, and absolutely vital by level 28. Without a six-slotted Quick Recovery, a Regeneration scrapper will find it very difficult to run Instant Healing. Ironically, the benefit of Quick Recovery is negated by the high Endurance cost of Instant Healing and Integration, forcing many Regeneration scrappers to take the Fitness power pool for the additional Endurance recovery provided by Stamina.

Dull Pain (Rating: 7, Slots Recommended: 3 or 4)

Dull Pain provides two essential benefits that will dramatically increase the Regeneration scrapper’s survival in the later levels. First, the increase to the character’s hit points offsets a significant vulnerability of the powerset – vulnerability to ‘alpha-strikes’ (when the character is hit with several high-damage attacks in a short span of time). Second, the increase in total hit points provides a 40% increase to Instant Healing’s recovery rate, which is invaluable when facing tough foes.

Integration (Rating: 8, Slots Recommended: 2)

The ability to avoid status effects is very useful before level 28, and vital once the character gets Instant Healing. Without Integration, a Regeneration scrapper has a very limited set of foes he can fight in the higher levels.

Resilience (Rating: 7, Slots Recommended: 1, or 6 at levels 40+)

The damage resistance provided by Resilience isn’t much, but significantly better than no damage resistance at all. Most Regeneration scrappers that take Resilience end up taking Tough from the Fighting power pool, giving them the potential of 50% resistance versus smashing and lethal attacks.
However, the most underrated part of Resilience is the resistance and duration reduction versus Disorient attacks. It can also be an effective substitute for the Revive power, as Resilience can completely negate the Disorient effect caused by an Awaken inspiration.

Instant Healing (Rating: 10, Slots Recommended: 6)

If a character could only choose one power in the Regeneration powerset, this would be it. Even with the high Endurance cost, the healing rate of Instant Healing is so phenomenal that every other power in the powerset pales in comparison. With the ability to slot Endurance Reduction enhancements in Instant Healing, the power is somewhat usable even without Quick Recovery (though this is not recommended). It is highly recommended that this power be six-slotted as soon as possible.

Revive (Rating: 1, Slots Recommended: 1)

As many have stated, Revive is only marginally better than an Awaken inspiration. Activating it when near a foe is nearly guaranteed to give you a ticket to the hospital, as Instant Healing will be unavailable for a full minute after using this power (toggles don’t recovery while you’re defeated). The only way this power could become useful is if activating it immediately reset your toggles, so they could be reactivated immediately. If you find yourself dying often enough that this power becomes useful, you may want to reexamine your character for weaknesses.

Moment of Glory (Rating: 2, Slots Recommended: 1)

On the surface, Moment of Glory appears quite useful. However, the lack of protection against psionics and untyped damage cripple the power, especially since both types of damage are more common by the time this power becomes available. Furthermore, Moment of Glory renders three powers in the powerset completely useless for its duration (Fast Healing, Reconstruction, and Instant Healing). By the time Moment of Glory becomes viable, the character is so low on hit points that they probably won’t be able to activate the power before being defeated.