Overview I will attempt to explain the basics of the Advanced Mechanics. Some detail may be excluded, simplified or generalized. Please feel free to add on more/correct information if see it is lacking or incorrect. (Originally posted in a thread asking for an explanation. I thought I would post it as a guide too so that I can expand on it in the future. Feel free to reply with additional information.) Explanation An Advanced Mechanic is essentially a set of traits that are intended to match or slightly exceed use of Weapon Mastery. There are 5 main types of Advanced Mechanics: Damage over Time (DoT) - Nature, Electricity Advanced Interactions - Gadgets (upcoming: Mental, Quantum) Mobile Focused Attack (MFA) - Fire (upcoming: Ice) Advanced Pets - Earth, Sorcery Combos - Light, Celestial, Rage Typically Damage over Time, Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack have mechanics that can help maintain Power usage by restorating Power. Damage over Time has the least Power return on their upkeep while Advanced Mechanics and Mobile Focused Attack can get Power returned every use of their Advanced Mechanic traits. Combos inherently don't need Power return mechanics as the combo portion consumes no additional Power. Advanced Pets don't return any Power. With me so far? I'm just beginning. In theory Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack are supposed to be able to be played entirely from your loadout with no weapons needed. They are generally supposed to be Power independent. The Power return is activated via use of a trait in their powersets. For Gadgets this would be Battle Display (activates Battle Awareness) and Fire this would be Absorb Heat (activates Thermal Absorption). Any traits used in the Advanced Interactions will return Power and any cast trait will also restore Power respectively. As a breakdown: Gadgets - Sticky Bomb, Taser Pull, Cryo-Field, Gauss Grenade, Stasis Field, Cryo-Foam, Fear Gas, Distract, EMP Pulse, Paralyzing Dart Fire - Mass Detonation, Fire Burst Advanced Interactions get added damage when they are followed by 3 unique Power Interactions or selective traits in the powerset. If these are followed by a trait they will do damage similar (not exact) to the damage from Weapon Mastery final combos (varied). For Gadgets the Power Interactions are 3 of either Sticky Bomb, Taser Pull, Cryo-Field, Gauss Grenade, Stasis Field, Cryo-Foam or Fear Gas. Distract and Stealth are special quick activators and EMP Pulse and Paralyzing Dart are the benefactors. Mobile Focused Attacks rely on "build up" of energy and use of cast traits. For Fire this is in the form of Volatility and is built up by using Mass Detonation or Fire Burst (there is a new one but I don't recall). Use of these again get increased damage. The animation of both types are usually indicated by explosions on NPCs and you respectively (new version of Fire's). Those are the most complicated... Advanced Pets entail use of a certain pet and than buffing or feeding it Power. Earth it is Brick & Crystal and Sorcery is Watcher, Fury & Guardian. Crystal and Fury are the most damaging of these pets. You feed Power to them through use of another trait. This may give them shields or a buff. The damage pets will use that Power on high damage pet attacks. Advanced Pets also have a weapon like a player or a Home Turf Sidekick or Backup/Henchmen. Next is Damage over Time. Damage over Time consists of 3 DoT's, a field and a refresh. For Nature this would be Vine Lash, Briar, Savage Growth, Swarm and Harvest respectively. Electricity this would be Electrogenesis, Electroburst, Voltaic Bolt, Electrocute and Voltaic Bolt (Voltaic Bolt applies both). You would lay your DoT's and then every 11 seconds refresh them using your refresher. Active your field when ready. Power return is activated on specific use of DoT's in order or field -> refresh. Both Advanced Pets and Damage over Time allow players to make use of Weapon Mastery combos between refreshes or feeds. Advanced Pets usually have manual DoT's they can apply as well. Medium complication Advanced Mechanics... Last is the least complicated: Combos. Combos are pretty simple: you activate your trait and press or hold either melee or range 1-3 times. Generally combos get increased damage from Power Interactions, cost no additional Power and do white damage (increased by Precision and weapon DPS). They are meant to be used without weapons similar to Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack. Restrictions With use of Advanced Mechanics the ending Weapon Mastery criticals on Might traits are disabled. For Damage over Time and Advanced Pets this is pretty straight forward: while the DoT's or pets are active respectively you don't benefit. For Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack this generally means the benefactor traits do not benefit from the criticals. There are exception and they are listed in their descriptions. Combos are inherently excluded because the white portion is considered the Advanced Mechanic and because it is a combo it misses the window. * Mental's Horrific Tendrils and Mass Terror are temporary excluded from benefiting. Hybrids There is a grey area between Weapon Mastery and Advanced Mechanics allowing you to use both at the same time. Combos are the easiest to benefit as you can go from Weapon Mastery -> Combo Activation -> Combo tail. The Might tick would get the critical and you get the benefit of the Combo damage. Damage over Time and Advanced Pets cannot be used in a hybrid rotation because as long as those are active you cannot get any criticals. You must wait for them to expire or desummon the pet respectively in order to get the critical benefit. Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack are similar to combos but all of their damage is Might based and only certain traits benefit. The setup traits leading up to the benefactor traits can benefit from the criticals. However the benefactor traits cannot. Traits outside of the Advanced Mechanic also get the bonus. The use of Hybrids is debatably "legitimate" as two of them (Damage over Time and Advanced Pets) cannot benefit. No outcome on this line of reason yet. Combat & PvP The most recent additions to Advanced Mechanics is there effect on combat and PvP. In general a trait involved in an Advanced Mechanic also has the ability to perform a block break. Any trait that returns Power will make you Vulnerable to Interrupt in PvP. For Damage over Time the setup traits will deal damage & control effects to multiple targets during setup of the DoT's but not after successful refreshes. (However there is an oddity/bug that makes it so the setup traits still affect multiple targets. Not sure if miscommunicated or unintended.) Conclusion I hope I did not confuse you too much but that is the Advanced Mechanics in a single write up. From powerset to powerset the Advanced Mechanics may differ slightly but the general idea is the same.
Power Regeneration Advanced Mechanics Power is regenerated from Advanced Mechanics in Damage role. Celestial Celestial Power Regeneration is activated by a Multi-input Celestial Combo: Regenerates Power if cast after a Multi-input Celestial Combo: Admonish, Benediction, Blessing, Blight, Consume Soul, Curse, Death Mark, Divine Light, Haunt, Malediction, Plague, Renew, Retribution, Smite, Wither, Wrath of the Presence Earth While Crystal is active, Fortify Golem increases power regeneration for the next two powers. Increases power regeneration if cast after Fortify Golem while Crystal is active: Debris Field, Earthen Grip, Reinforce, Rumblecrush, Shards, Soothing Sands, Striking Stones, Totem Electricity Electricity Power Regeneration is based on active Electro-Charges or Electrocute: Regenerates Power when activated after an Electro-Charge: Arc Lightning, Electrocute, Electrogenesis, Voltaic Bolt, Wired Regenerates Power when activated while Electrocute is active: Arc Lightning, Electrogenesis, Voltaic Bolt, Wired Electricity example: Electroburst -> Electrogenesis -> Arc Lightning -> Electrocute -> Voltaic Bolt Fire Fire Power Regeneration requires Thermal Absorption to be active: Activates Thermal Absorption: Absorb Heat, Burning Determination Regenerates Power if Thermal Absorption is active: Flame Cascade, Fireburst, Mass Detonation, Fiery Weapon, Enflame, Inferno Note that Flame Cascade, Fireburst & Mass Detonation refresh Thermal Absorption Fire example #1: Wildfire -> Absorb Heat -> Fireburst -> Mass Detonation -> Flame Cascade Fire example #2: Burning Determination -> Fireburst -> Mass Detonation Gadgets Gadgets Power Regeneration requires Battle Awareness to be active: Activates Battle Awareness: Battle Display Regenerates Power when used on opponents while Battle Awareness is active: Cryo-field, Cryo-Foam, Distract, EMP Pulse, Fear Gas, Gauss Grenade, Napalm Grenade, Paralyzing Dart, Stasis Field, Sticky Bomb, Taser Pull, Vortex Cannon Gadgets example #1: Battle Display -> Distract -> EMP Pulse Gadgets example #2: Battle Display -> Cryo-Foam -> Gauss Grenade -> Sticky Bomb -> Paralyzing Dart Ice Ice Power Regeneration is activated by Cold Snap: Regenerates Power if Cold Snap is active: Arctic Gust, Avalanche, Ice Bash, Cold Snap, Bitter Winds, Wintry Tempest Ice Example : Cold Snap -> Ice Bash -> Arctic Gust -> Avalanche Light Light Power Regeneration is based on Dazing Effects on an opponent: Applies Damage Over Time & Dazing Effects: Chompers, SpikeQuake Regenerates Power if cast on an opponent Dazed by Chompers or SpikeQuake: Boxing, Chainsaw, Fan, Grasping Hand, Hand Clap, Light Claws, Snap Trap, Whip Thrash Note that these powers cause additional damage to Dazed opponents Light Example #1: SpikeQuake -> Snap Trap -> Fan Light Example #2: Chompers -> Hand Clap -> Grasping Hand Mental Mental Power Regeneration requires Resonance to be active : Activates Resonance: Psychic Resonance Regenerates Power if Resonance is active: Mass Levitation, Mass Terror, Phantom Flames, Psychic Shock, Telekinetic Bolt, Telekinetic Push Mental Example: Psychic Resonance -> Phantom Flames -> Psychic Shock -> Telekinetic Push -> Mass Terror Munitions Munitions Power Regeneration requires Eye of the Tiger to be active. Activates Eye of the Tiger: Killer Instincts, Survival Regenerates Power if Eye of the Tiger is active: 50 Cal, Chain Gun, Five Barrel Minigun, Particle Gun, Railguns, Rocket Launcher, Shrapnel Grenade Launcher, Splosion Munitions example: Killer Instincts -> 50 Cal -> Five Barrel Minigun -> Chain Gun Nature Nature Power Regeneration is based on active Poison Spores or Swarm: Regenerates Power when activated after Poison Spores are released or spread: Briar, Carnage, Harvest, Hive Mind, Swarm, Thorn Burst, Vine Lash Regenerates Power when activated while Swarm is active: Briar, Carnage, Harvest, Hive Mind, Thorn Burst, Vine Lash Regenerates Power in Primal Wolf Form while Carnage is active: Roar, Serpent Call Regenerates Power in Insectoid Form while Hive Mind is active: Blossom, Swarm Shield Nature example #1: Savage Growth -> Vine Lash -> Briar -> Swarm -> Harvest Nature example #2: Insectoid Form -> Hive Mind -> Swarm Shield -> Blossom Quantum Quantum Power Regeneration is restored at the end of a Time Loop: Activates Time Loop for power regeneration: Time Bomb Power restored by Time Loop: Anomaly, Distortion Wave, Tachyon Blast, Tachyon Burst, Time Shift, Warp Barrage Quantum example: Time Bomb -> Distortion Wave -> Tachyon Blast -> Warp Barrage Rage Rage Power Regeneration requires a Savage state to be active: Rage Combos that can activate a Savage state: Dreadful Explosion, Eviscerate, Extra Measure, Frenzy, Revenge Spin Regenerates Power while in a Savage state: Dreadful Blast, Eviscerating Chain, Frenzy, Galling Eruption, Outrage, Plasma Retch, Revenge Sorcery While Fury is active, Offering increases power regeneration for the next two powers. Increases power regeneration if cast after Offering while Fury is active: Boon of Souls, Circle of Destruction, Ritualistic Word, Shard of Life, Soul Barrage, Soul Storm, Soul Well, Transmutation, Weapon of Destiny
Owl also suggests the following if you want to maximize your Power in from AM: "Vitalization affects the amount of power that is restored. You may want to spend a power point in the Iconic Wisdom of Solomon which grants +100 Power and +50 Vitalization. If you unlock the bottom three +25 Might & +25 Precision slots in a Weapon tree, you may also want to spend points to unlock the three +25 Power & +8 Vitalization slots. The extra Power and Vitalization can help. So if you unlock Weapon Mastery in your primary weapon and both related weapons, you could unlock 225 Power and 72 Vitalization."
Thank you! Just the information I needed to boost my DPS. Main Avatar: Superboyistic 111 CR 144 SP Power Ice DPS/Tank. USPC Meta Hero.League: Leader; Future JLU Alts Include: Guardian El, Guardian Kal, Future Blurr, Kid Superboyistic, Lantern Kal, Kal Starchild, Future Superboyistic, Sorcerer Starchild, and Clarky Kent.
