Power Armor

Power Armor

Wrist Bolter





Energy Builder


Energy Generation, Maintained Ranged Particle Damage
Wrist Bolter uses wrist mounted particle cannons to rain destruction down on your enemies.
Maintain

• Single target particle damage
  
• Generates energy
  
• Hand Slot
  

Eye Beam





No requirements


Maintained Ranged Fire Damage
Eye Beam shoots beams of heat from each eye, causing fiery destruction to any target in your gaze.
Maintain

• Deals continuous fire damage to a single target
  
• Toggled power
  
• After 5 seconds becomes a column attack, dealing damage to the target any other target in line with the attack
  
• Shoulder Slot
  

Concussor Beam





Requires 1 power from Power Armor or 2 non energy building powers from any framework


Maintained Ranged Particle Damage
Concussor Beam shoots a particle beam from the palm of your hand at your target.
Maintain

• Deals continuous particle damage to a single target
  
• Chance to knockback target
  
• Hand Slot
  

Laser Sword





Requires 1 power from Power Armor or 2 non energy building powers from any framework


Melee Particle Damage
Laser Sword creates an energy sword in your hand for rapid attacks against the enemy.
Click

• Single target particle damage
  
• Applies Particle Acceleration to the target
  
• Particle Acceleration increases the damage of next attack on the target.
  
• Particle Acceleration reduces the energy cost of the next attack.
  

Power Gauntlet





Requires 1 power from Power Armor or 2 non energy building powers from any framework


Charged Ranged Particle Damage
Tap

• Single target particle damage
  
• Interrupts maintained and charging powers on hit
  
• Hand Slot
  

Charge

• Increases the damage and energy cost of the Tap action.
  

Energy Shield





Requires 1 power from Power Armor or 2 non energy building powers from any framework


Block Slot Enhancement
Energy Shield utilizes a sophisticated energy projector to generate a protective barrier in front of you.
Maintain

• Self damage reduction
  
• When released, continues to grant improved damage reduction for several seconds.
  

Invulnerability





Requires 1 power from Power Armor or any 2 non-energy building powers


Slotted Passive, Self Damage Resistance Buff
Your armor makes you nearly immune to the attacks of weaker foes.
Slotted Passive

• Reduces damage from incoming attacks by a set amount. This reduction scales with your Strength.
  
• After the initial damage reduction the damage if reduced further by
  a small percentage. This reduction scales with your Constitution.
  

Unbreakable





Requires 3 powers from Power Armor or 5 non energy building powers from any framework


Self Damage Resistance Buff
Through a focused effort you are able to shrug off attacks without harm.
Click

• Reduces damage from the next incoming attack by a large amount
  

Micro Munitions





Requires 3 powers from Power Armor or 5 non energy building powers from any framework


Maintained Ranged Area Effect Crushing Damage
Micro Munitions fires volleys of missiles at whatever is unfortunate enough to be your target.
Maintain

• Deals area effect crushing damage to targets near your primary target
  
• Toggle power
  
• Chest Slot
  

Mini Gun





Requires 3 powers from Power Armor or 5 non energy building powers from any framework


Maintained Ranged Cylinder Piercing Damage
Mini Gun fires a withering line of deadly lead at your target with
enough power to go through the target and strike enemies behind them.
Maintain

• Deals piercing damage to targets in line with your target
  
• Toggle power
  
• Shoulder Slot
  

Targeting Computer





Requires 3 powers from Power Armor or 5 non energy building powers from any framework


Slotted Passive, Energy Return
Your Targeting Computer allows you to track multiple targets in battle and their corresponding weak points.
Slotted Passive

• Can be slotted in an Offensive or Balanced passive power slot
  
• Each time you use a Power Armor ability on a target your Targeting Computer will begin tracking the enemy and will Lock On after 5 seconds.
  
• Any Power Armor abilities used on a target with Lock On will return a small amount of energy. This can only occur once every 3 seconds per target.
  

Chest Beam





Requires 5 powers from Power Armor or 8 non energy building powers from any framework


Charged Ranged Cylinder Particle Damage
Chest Beam fires an unstoppable particle blast of destruction at
your enemies, tearing through any in its path and moving on for more.
Tap

• Deals particle damage to targets in line with your primary target.
  
• Chance to knockback
  
• Chest Slot
  

Shoulder Launcher





Requires 5 power from Power Armor or 8 non energy building powers from any framework


Maintained Ranged Area Effect Crushing Damage
Shoulder Launcher uses a shoulder mounted rocket launcher to fire a volley of explosive rockets at your enemy.
Maintain

• Deals crushing damage to your target and other targets nearby
  
• Chance knockback
  
• Toggle power
  
• Shoulder Slot
  

A few notes on Power Armor:

Power Armor is a very unique power pool because of your multiple Weapon Systems.

All power armor abilities fall into one of three Weapon System Slots: Shoulder, Chest, and Hands.

Shoulder Attacks are powers like Eyebeam and Chaingun.

Chest attacks are like Micro Munitions and Chest Beam.

Hand attacks are like Concussor Beam and Power Gauntlet.

What the multiple weapons systems allow you to do, and no other power pool has this ability, is that you can activate one of each Weapon System Slot at the same time.

What this means is you can fire up to three different Power Armor attacks simultaneously; for example you could fire Eyebam, Micro Munitions, and your Power Gauntlet all at the same time for some very high DPS.

The trade off is that each power activated after the first increases the energy cost of each power in use. It drains your energy pretty fast but there is a very excellent way to off set this: Intelligence

With a high enough Intelligence you can, and i have, run three weapons systems to their full durations and still had endurance remaining.

In my honest opinion this is what makes Power Armor so much fun to play and so much more unique compared to all the other powers and if by far my favorite power pool and i recommend you try it at least to level 10.

Important Note: Bug Alert!

This is a bug that is far more helpful than hindering. There is a bug with Power Armor which allows you to activate multiple powers that take up the same Weapons Systems Slot at the same time.

The trick, is to activate the second power, very quickly after the first one, but not at the same time. I have had Wrist Bolter, Micro Munitions, Eyebeam, and Chaingun all activated at the same time. Theoretically you might be able to do more than just four powers, but i didn't have enough power options to try.

The most useful practice of this i have found is combing Chaingun and Eyebeam together. The combination is powerful enough that it will kill most Master Villans in two uses. It's very easy to do, but i have found it it much easier to do with the Xbox360 controller than it is with a Keyboard.

Good luck everyone, and have fun out there!

I keep hearing/reading about combining Power Armor powers--how do you actually do that? I'm a big Iron Man fan so had to give PA a try. I play as Crimson Centurion but I went with the recommended spec's of STR/INT. I'm now reading that STR isn't all that useful for most PA builds but apparently is okay/good with Laser Sword. I have Laser Sword and plan to add Energy Shield (I'm level 13) so I'll be like a modern Centurion (sword and shield). Any suggestions on how to make the STR/INT build work best would be appreciated

STR/INT works pretty well, but make sure you pump as much into CON as you can when you get the chance. Will do more later gotta go for now.

Okay, now with the free Retcon, I'm looking at re-evaluating my PA. I have seriously considering going INT/END instead of my current STR/INT so that I can take full advantage of PA's powers and using the hand, chest and shoulder slot powers at the same time. INT/CON is also interesting for survivability, especially since I solo mostly.

I'd appreciate any recommendations/analysis regarding the pro's and con's of going with either build. Also any recommendations on Power Gauntlet vs Concussor Beams would be appreciated. Thanks!

Power Gauntlet is a very high burst damage and is very energy efficient. But i have seen some WICKED damage with a combinations of Eyebeams and Concussor Beams. I partied with another PA player and they just used Eyebeams and Concussor Beams and they, hands down, out dps'd me on single targets compared to my combot of Chaingun, Micro Munitions and Wrist Bolter. I did better AOE damage and could pick off the small frys VERY easily. But when attacking just a single villian or stronger mob she was leaps and bounds beyond me. But she probably had both damage upgrades for them, i did not.

I've been trying to find this info everyone on the CO forums. You have it clearly laid out and I love you for it. Thank you!

I am looking to retcon my PA toon with the free retcon in the hopes to improve my ability to solo and survive encounters. This is what I'm thinking and would appreciate any recommendations/suggestions.
I'm 18th level so

Superstats
Level 5 Super CON
Level 13 Super INT

Powers
Level 1 Wrist Bolter--both advantages for free attack and improved energy
Level 1 Power Gauntlet
Level 5 Invulnerability
Level 5 Jet Boots
Level 8 Micro Munitions
Level 11 Mini Gun with Teflon
Level 14 Mini Mines (I need something for close combat damage and dropping mines seems like something that goes with PA)
Level 17 Force Shield (looking for improved energy and unless one goes Laser Sword . . ..)

Thanks!

Alternate title; What am I Missing?

By lvl 9, i feel like I'm flying around in paper mache power armor. I have invulnerability, but I still fold like wet cardboard.

What can, or should, I do about this?

I'm mostly in Int, do I just need to stack crazy amounts of CON or STR? Is invulnerability actually a poopy power? Should I get a non-PA defensive power?

Any advice would be great, thank you.

From reading and personal experience, you need to block and probably need a block power. A passive defense like Invuln isn't enough. It relies on STR and CON and I've read that CON has a bigger impact so if you don't have points invested in CON, you might want a different passive defense. Before I learned that, I chose Personal Force Field before it got nerfed. Since I'm looking at INT/CON, I am again looking at picking up Invuln although Regen is a possibility since it can heal you while you are blocking.

I've made it to level 18, but it has been a struggle and often I can't solo and have to team up. That's a problem. I'm hoping that by retcon'ing into INT/CON instead of my current STR/INT, getting Invuln or Regen and going with Force Shield to gain energy while blocking, that I'll be able to survive better. But currently I find that anything more than 3 mobs of near my level is a real challenge. I can even be taken down by a villain and 1 mob. Not feeling very heroic

CSchroder wrote:

From reading and personal experience, you need to block and probably need a block power. A passive defense like Invuln isn't enough. It relies on STR and CON and I've read that CON has a bigger impact so if you don't have points invested in CON, you might want a different passive defense. Before I learned that, I chose Personal Force Field before it got nerfed. Since I'm looking at INT/CON, I am again looking at picking up Invuln although Regen is a possibility since it can heal you while you are blocking.

I've made it to level 18, but it has been a struggle and often I can't solo and have to team up. That's a problem. I'm hoping that by retcon'ing into INT/CON instead of my current STR/INT, getting Invuln or Regen and going with Force Shield to gain energy while blocking, that I'll be able to survive better. But currently I find that anything more than 3 mobs of near my level is a real challenge. I can even be taken down by a villain and 1 mob. Not feeling very heroic

Firstly, thanks for the response. Now, on to my questions:

Can you use offensive powers while using active defenses? I realize this might sound like a stupid question, but it is sincere. Based on experience, you can't use an offensive power while blocking, but this thread on the CO forums, http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=62263&page=2, post #15, talks about a Force Sheath that seems to be activated by blocking and last beyond the time one holds down the shift key. I also wonder about Unbreakable: is that a worthwhile primary, or first (I'm only lvl 9 or 10) defense? Regen could fit in a toon concept, nanobots fixing my armor, so, if it is really the cat's meow then my question is whether or not it works well with INT/CON, and if not, what do I need to invest in with INT to make it worthwhile?

Beyond Defense: Frankly, compared to my other similar lvl toons, my offense also seems week. My other toons are Munitions (they seem like an early nerf candidate, so I don't expect PA to outdamage them), Sorcery (everyone on the forums seems to think they are poo and need buffing, but mine does MUCH better soloing than my PA, but I expect my PA to be equivalent to a Sorceror), and a Might (who gets by just fine, but I am waiting on new comp parts to actually be able to play a melee toon, but, they are in the mail ). While I"m on this topic, the wrist bolter energy builders don't seem to build energy as well as the energy building powers of those other three frameworks.

Basically, all this leads me to believe that I'm going about PA all wrong. I assume it is my bad and not that the Framework is this horked. My poor PA is mostly INT, with STR and CON second and third (not sure of the order, but those two are close): with the standard first two powers, the eye beams, invulnerability, and rocket boots. I took the power advantage that lets wrist bolts shoot constantly, but not return energy when other offensive powers are going. Do you see what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks a ton in advance. I'm being driven to play my other toons and spend time on forums to figure out what's wrong with my PA, but I would love to fix him and play him more. Any advice is appreciated.

I haven't played a Power Armor character since Open Beta, and i had no troubles with my STR/INT PA char using ONLY PA powers, and Medical Drones. I was able to Solo Stronghold Prison with only minor trouble in a few places, and i could take on an army of enemies three levels above me.

It is very possibly the nerfed PA since Open Beta, i had been waiting for my free Respec before playing a new PA char. I had a Might/Gageteering guy i was using that i realise i don't care much for and didn't want to delete him at level 18.

I'll give it a shot and tell you what i think needs to be done, or what has been done.

Cthululaw,

I had similar problems with feeling underpowered and wondering what I was doing wrong. From reading and now experience, the recommended stats of STR/INT are okay, but not the best if you want to do ranged damage. They can be fine if you want to do the Laser Sword, Laser Knight melee version. With my retcon, I did go INT/CON to get the power cost discount from INT needed to run multiple weapon slotted powers and then the CON simply to survive. I solo mostly and previously wasn't able to survive very well going solo. I went with the powers I listed above and have been very happy with my new and improved PA guy. I usually start out with my mini gun, then add my micro munitions and then finish off with my power gauntlet. When I need energy, I throw up my Force Shield and then when I have the energy, drop it and unless my weapons!

So unless you are going the Laser Knight route, I suggest you focus on INT/CON or possibly INT/END (more DPS, less hit points so less survivable). I stack my top 2 then END and REC.

At your level, you probably need to get your block power. Add Force Sheath as an advantage later, if you like for a longer block. It has been my experience that you can't block and attack but the beauty of Force Shield is getting energy while you are defending yourself. Before, I had to try and use my wrist bolter instead of attacking.

If you go with CON or STR, you can take Invulnerabilty for your passive defense although I've read it works better with CON. I've never used it but I read that Regen is good so you could go that route instead but in either case, you need a passive defense to help you survive. Later, pick up a heal. I'm thinking of Bionic Shielding when I hit 20.

Hope that helps!