Behind the Mask: I request a do-over
Respecs in most games are a way to change the focus of your character or a a tool to remove bad character choices. They generally cost a lump sum for a full reset of all of a character's skill or talent points. In Champions Online, respecs are a little different. They cost a small amount of resources to remove individual powers, and that amount scales up as your hero gains levels and gets new powers. The most recent powers are still fairly inexpensive to remove, but powers selected very early in your character's career cost an arm and a leg to replace.
We can use respecs in much the same way as we can in other games; a full reset of your character's abilities costs an absurd amount of money, but you do earn enough money during a character's lifetime to get a couple at key points. At level 40, you also earn a full respec, and full retcon tokens (which reset all powers, talents, and advantages) can always be picked up in the C-Store.
However, CO's respec system leaves a lot of room for exciting abuses if you're willing to explore them a little bit. Like most of anything nested deep within the gameplay of Champions, it's a little confusing. Hopefully we can clear up some of that.
Respec basics... kind of complicated
In order to understand how we can use respecs to do things with our characters that are outright unfair, a good understanding of the respec system is needed. Every time our heroes gain a level, they gain a number of upgrade points. These points can come in the form of talent points, power points, and advantage points. Similarly, we also get a couple of special points along the way: an energy builder point, two travel power points, two characteristic focus points, and an innate talent point.
Every time we spend any of these points, it adds another step on the respec ladder. As you can see in the image on the left, the earliest choices cost a mint to remove at level 40. Not only are these choices outrageously expensive, but all the more recent powers and advantages must be removed first. In order to remove the Celestial innate talent from that list, all the powers and advantages above it must be removed, which would cost my character hundreds of global resources. If you need to remove those early powers in the late game, you're going to either spend a ton of money or use a full retcon token. Ouch.
On the plus side, though, the most recent powers are very inexpensive to remove. They still cost a fair bit at the very high levels, but a few "silver" in the mid levels and a small amount of "gold" in the high levels is a vast improvement from all the money you've ever earned on your character from 1-40.
Unlocking powers... also complicated
One of the key elements that keeps us from removing those early powers is the idea of tiered unlocking. Powers (and only powers, not other traits) must be selected in a particular sequence. Each tier of powers requires a certain number of powers selected before it:
A number of non-energy building powers (two for Tier 1, five for Tier 2, and eight for Tier 3)
A number of powers, including energy builders, chosen from the same framework as the desired power (one for Tier 1, three for Tier 2, and five for Tier 3)
Ten powers chosen from a particular archetype (Tier 4 powers only).
Tier 0 powers and energy builders can be selected without any prerequisites, but Tier 1 powers and beyond require a number of previous power picks. When we're looking to optimize our build, we can start pretty early by picking an energy builder in the same framework as a couple of T1 powers that we want. This way, we never have to select a useless T0 power unless we want it as a taunt (or for PvP).
We also need to be aware of key levels, such as the earliest possible T2 (level 8), earliest possible T3 (level 14), universal T2 unlock (level 17) and finally, universal T3 unlock (level 23).
We could really talk for another entire article on how to optimize powers within a build at varying levels, but this is a good primer for now.
I want my Tier 3, now
One of the more theoretical builds is to quickly pick powers inside a framework in order to get to Tier 3 very quickly. As mentioned above, if all of your powers (including your energy builder) are in the same framework, you can unlock Tier 3 as early as level 14. There are a few good powers worth doing this for, such as Sword Cyclone. Some powers, like Ego Storm and Gigabolt, require you to make mediocre power selections. Ego Storm in particular is one of the worst offenders; Telepathy is one of the least useful powersets in the game -- barring a few incredibly useful Tier 3 powers.
Grabbing up those essential mega-powers does help a lot in the early game, though. Ego Storm (and some key synergies) makes short work of early content and continues to be useful all the way through to the end of the game. The trouble lies at level 23, when you could just pick Ego Storm normally without having all those useless Telepathy powers. Naturally, you'll want to respec at this point to remove them and replace them with something else.
The first trick you can do to ease this process is to respec your character early and often, spending small amounts of resources at a time to reposition your talents, travel power, and superstats before your powers and advantages. This lets you avoid removing them at level 23 just to re-add them again. This ends up saving you a big chunk of money by spending smaller amounts earlier on.
It's also pretty important to respec right at level 23 so that the cost of fixing your "greedy" build is much lower.
Crutches help walking to higher levels easier
A "crutch" is a power that you intend to remove but is incredibly useful for lower-level play. An example might be picking Regeneration for your early levels but switching to a support or offensive passive once you've picked up enough healing and utility powers. Another might be picking a powerful Tier 1 attack to make leveling to unlock your inevitable Tier 3 god-attack much easier.
Leveling with a crutch is a whole lot easier. I do it on almost every character I make. A powerful Tier 1 makes the game a whole lot more fun for me; I absolutely can't stand grinding through the low levels with low-tier single-target attacks. A powerful AoE in the low levels can be difficult to fit into some concepts. Fortunately, Shotgun Blast is viable for almost any concept (in real life, a pump action shotgun is very inexpensive!) and works reasonably well. Characters with fewer restrictions should probably look into a breath attack or Shadow Embrace, which work incredibly well at low levels.
Removing a crutch cheaply is pretty easy if you understand how it works. Every time you gain a level, you'll want to remove your crutch power, add whatever you want from your level up, then re-add the crutch power. This makes getting rid of the crutch for good much easier, and it will save you a whole ton of resources.
Well, those are the basics of respecs -- they're a tricky mechanic that can cause a lot of headache. The cost in resources alone is enough reason to make you reconsider your build at multiple points. In the right hands, though, they're incredibly useful and very cost-effective, as long as you don't try to fix your mistakes in your late 30s.
When he's not touring the streets of Millennium City or rolling mooks in Vibora Bay, Patrick Mackey goes Behind the Mask to bring you the nitty-gritty of the superhero world every Thursday. Whether it's expert analysis of Champions Online's game mechanics or his chronicled hatred of roleplaying vampires, Patrick holds nothing back.
