10 Excellent Tips for New Champions Online Players

Massively has posted a link to the BioBreak Blog which has 10 Tips for New Champions Online Players. Foxbat's body takes a bit of time to respawn when you are looking for him in the tutorial. He is near the fountain by the Ambulances that you go to when you get the quests to save people from rubble and get the pills back. He is behind a fence to the left of the ambulances as you run towards the ambulances. Make sure you wait for him to reappear.

1. Stats Matter

Probably one of the easiest mistakes to make right off the bat is to skim past the somewhat unwieldy stat selection screen (if you’re making a custom framework character) to get to the character editor.  Be careful!  Your choice of stats matters greatly in relation to your powers — this handy guide is a nice reference tool for that.

At levels 5 and 13, you get what’s known as a “super-stat” (so, two total).  These two stats, whichever you choose, will be the main stats that boost your damage (as well as doing whatever the stats originally did).  So you might be building an intellect hero and make intelligence a super-stat for damage, versus a Superman-type doing strength.

2. Mix-And-Match vs. Dedicated Frameworks

At the start, Champions lets you choose whether you want a character’s powers to all be in the same framework (framework=powerset in Champions parlance) as a cookie-cutter build, or if you want to mix-and-match with a custom framework.  Trust me, go custom — the real joy in this game is getting to make the hero you want with the selection of powers that appeals to you.

The only thing you need to keep in mind for custom frameworks is how the power selection is handled.  In each framework, powers exist in tiers — Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.  Everyone can always select any power that’s in any framework’s Tier 0 (provided you are at a level that you can choose new powers), but to progress up the tiers to the “better” powers means that you have to fulfill one of two requirements:

• Tier 1: That you already have 1 power from that framework, or 2 non-energy builder powers from any other framework
• Tier 2: 3 powers from that framework, or 5 non-energy builders from any other framework
• Tier 3: 5 powers from that framework, or 8 non-energy builders from any other framework

So basically, if you devote yourself to getting powers within one framework, you’re going to be able to access the top tiers of that framework more quickly than if you’re more mix-and-match — BUT after a certain point in the game, when you have 8 non-energy building powers of any kind, all tiers in all powersets will be open to you.  The only question is how quickly do you want to get to the tier 3 goodies.

3. Secrets Abound In The Tutorial

You might be tempted, especially after your first run-through, to speed through the initial tutorial zone as fast as possible (and I wouldn’t blame you!).  But you’d be missing out on the start of one of Champions’ fun features, the Perk system, which gives you perk points for various achievements, which can then be spent later on goodies.  The tutorial has a number of perks to nab, which are unobtainable once you leave — so be sure to get them on your way!  A few of the “secrets” include:

• Jump on top of one of the first crashed alien vessels (”Red Bug Down” perk)
• A cat crate hidden among the rubble that starts a quest (”Reggie’s Owner” quest)
• A mission (”Batter Up”) to save Foxbat, who’s trapped under rubble by a fountain – as an added bonus, you get to keep Foxbat’s gun when you finish the quest!
• A mission to help trapped civvies you get via radio when you’re near some cop cars
• Near Silverback (the holographic gorilla) is a cop car that gives you the “Save Kinetic” quest when you click on it
• You get a perk for doing all of the missions in the tutorial, including the semi-hidden ones

4. Customize Your Powers’ Visuals

Emanation points and hues are fun, easy ways to make your power visuals stand out from the pack.  Right-click on any power on your action bar to pull up the customization screen.  It’s as simple as using sliders and drop down menus to tweak your looks.

Make sure you read all of the tips because they really will help a new player better understand Champions Online.