A comprehensive guide to Weapon/Role and power synergy

This is probably the most important post on this thread.

WEAPON >><< POWER
SYNERGY

So guys i created this guide to help you chose your weapon. Keep in mind you should all experiment with which ever weapon seems FUN to you. At the same time, in order to have a strong successfull character, weapon<>role synergy is very important....so here we go....

Note: Keep in mind you can still play anyweapon you like and still spec into these fighting styles (if u have the points thru feats 100 feat points = 1 skill point)

Controller (Gadgets/Mental):
Select Brawling, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster or Staff for DOMINANCE.
Select Rifle, Dual Pistol, One-handed or Two-Handed for VITALIZATION.

Healer (Nature/Sorcery):
Select Dual Wield, Dual Pistol, or Martial Arts for RESTORATION.
Select One-Handed, Staff, or Hand Blaster for CRITICAL HEALING EFFECT.

Tank (Fire/Ice):
Select Brawling, Rifle, Hand Blaster, or Two-Handed for HEALTH.
Select Bow or Staff for DEFENSE. If you are a Fire tank, and therefore rely on self-heals, see "Healer" above.

DPS (Any Power):
Select Martial Arts or One-Handed for MIGHT.
Select Dual Pistol, Dual-Wield, Brawling, or Martial Arts for CRITICAL ATTACK DAMAGE.

PVP:
Select Bow or Staff for TOUGHNESS.
Select Bow or Martial Arts for STEALTH RATING

When deciding between two Styles which both offer bonuses, think about your play style. Do you want to be Melee-focused (Brawling, Dual-Wield, One-Handed, Staff, Two-Handed), Ranged-focused (Bow, Dual Pistol, Rifle) or have a mix of both (Hand Blaster, Martial Arts). Eventually you will get both, but your first choice is important because you will rely on it while leveling to 30. You cannot even begin to purchase additional fighting styles until level 10.

How stats effect you:

Might:
adds to the damage of your powers; that is, the 6 abilities you have in your loadout. It's most important for DPS characters. The damage counter will show up as yellow numbers.

Precision
adds to the damage of your Fighting Style attacks. No Fighting Style provides any bonus to Precision. The damage counter will show up as white numbers.

Dominance :
determines the duration of your crowd control powers, such as stuns and confuses, on targets. Various endgame Raids and Alerts have recommended Dominance levels. This is required for Controllers.

Restoration:
affects your Healing powers. The higher your Restoration, the more you heal. Obviously it is important for Healers, but it is also key to Fire Tanks who use self-heals.

Vitalization:
affects your ability to restore the blue bar (Power). In DCUO, the ability to "heal power" is a Controller function, so Vitalization is mostly important to Controllers.

Critical Attack Chance and Damage
is not listed on your stats and there is no way to really monitor it in battle. Presumably it increases the percentage chance of a critical hit, and increases your critical attack damage by a flat percentage as well. It is mostly important to DPS characters.

Critical Healing Chance and Effect
is also not listed on your stats and there is no way to track it. Presumably it affects powers which you activate, whether they target you or someone else. Critical Healing Chance and Effect is important to Healers and to Fire-Tanks.

Stealth Rating
affects your ability to go unseen when using Stealth/Hide, Disguise, or Canine Form (available in the Gadgets, Mental,or Shapeshifting trees, respectively). This stat is not tracked anywhere you can monitor, but is only important if you have a power which lets you enter Stealth.

BE BRUCE LEE, KNOW MANY FORMS AND FIGHTING STYLES

Bow: +30 Defense & Toughness; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +4 Vitalization; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +12% Critical Healing Effect; +3 Stealth Rating

Brawling: +18 Dominance; +3 Restoration; +70 Health; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +12% Critical Attack Damage; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Dual Pistol: +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance

Dual Wield: +18 Dominance; +60 Might; +48 Restoration; +4 Vitalization; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Attack Damage

Hand Blaster: +18 Dominance; +70 Health; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance; +12% Critical Healing Effect

Martial Arts: +25 Health; +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +2% Critical Healing Effect; +3 Stealth Rating

One-Handed: +45 Health; +70 Might; +3 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +2% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect

Rifle: +70 Health; +10 Might; +19 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Staff: +30 Defense & Toughness; +18 Dominance; +25 Health; +10 Might; +4 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect

Two-Handed: +70 Health; +15 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +4% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Which trees should you spec into? Depends, which stats do you want to focus on?

Health (up to 375): Brawling, Hand Blaster, Rifle, Two-Handed (70 each); One-Handed (45); Martial Arts, Staff (25 each)

Defense & Toughness (up to 60 each): Bow, Staff (30 each)

Dominance (up to 72): Brawling, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster and Staff (18 each)

Might (up to 410): Dual Pistol, Martial Arts, One-Handed (70 each); Bow, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster (60 each); Rifle, Staff (10 each)

Restoration (up to 150): Dual Wield (48; Dual Pistol, Martial Arts (45 each); Bow, Brawling, Hand Blaster, One-Handed (3 each)

Vitalization (up to 76): Rifle (19); Dual Pistol, One-Handed, Two-Handed (15 each); Bow, Dual Wield, Staff (4 each)

Critical Attack Chance (up to +14%): Rifle, Staff, Two-Handed (3% each); One-Handed (2%); Bow, Brawling, Dual Wield (1% each)

Critical Attack Damage (up to +60%): Dual Pistol, Dual Wield, Martial Arts (14% each); Brawling (12%); Bow, Hand Blaster, Two-Handed (2%)

Critical Heal Chance (up to +12%): Two-Handed (4%); Brawling, Rifle (+3% each); Dual Pistol, Hand Blaster (1% each)

Critical Healing Effect (up to +51%): One-Handed, Staff (14% each); Hand Blaster (12%); Bow (3%); Brawling, Martial Arts, Rifle, Two-Handed (2% each)
Stealth Rating (up to +6): Bow, Martial Arts (3 each)

In order to further synergize your powers with stats you can get some of the respective iconic passives which i wont mention here because its pretty self explanitory.


hope this helped, i know it helped me a lot.

--keep puffin