on 10/8/13
0
@StrateGG yea, I haven't updated this yet for patch 1.11, the date is in the title of the last update for all my builds
In the early days of World War II, a covert military experiment turned Steve Rogers into America's first super-soldier: Captain America.Marvel Source
During the war, Cap served as a symbol of freedom and America's most effective special operative. In the closing days of the war, Captain America disappeared in an explosion over the North Atlantic and was presumed dead.
Decades later, his body was discovered trapped in ice, preserved in a state of suspended animation! Upon his revival, Captain America joined the Avengers and once again took up the heroic battle against evil.
7/8 Update - Moved points from Shield Bash into Warrior's Heart/Shield Strike for the synergy to Opening Strike and also Switched to Encouraging Shout. The reason behind this is because I find myself really only using Opening Strike on bosses since I can spam Quick Block while holding the LMB down and I will continue to punch after I cast QB automatically. With Shield Bash, even though it is a bigger strike radius than Opening Strike, it often gets stopped and I have to keep clicking the RMB while spamming QB which gets really frustrating. Additionally, I burn spirit leaping around all the time and often run out despite having 300+ spirit. I went with Encouraging Shout instead of Spirited Shout because I like the movement speed and it gives me some gear freedom as well as my group. Once I get into the mid-50's I'll explore Aggressive Shout again. Finally I switched to the MODOK medallion because I want things to attack me and I like doing more damage. I'm still basically unkillable with this build without Juggernaut medallion. Considering switching the artifacts to damaging artifacts soon as well.
7/2 Update - Still a great build that I'm having a lot of fun playing. I updated the gear suggestions at the bottom of this build. As for skills, Combat Veteran wasn't buffed enough to put points in still over other skills. I'm testing out Encouraging Shout right now (again) since I've got a lot of spirit gear right now. I like the move speed to be honest. Aggressive Shout doesn't scale high enough to me but when I can put 20 full points into it I may try it out again. Finally I think it may be a good idea to move the points from Shield Bash into Shield Strike/Warrior's Heart for the synergy to Opening Strike.
This is a pretty standard Captain America build. It's a melee build and the best damage output for a Captain America while still providing decent defense to stay in melee range.
Spam Quick Block. Seriously, get used to this.
Quick Block is pretty much the only thing keeping your squishy do-good'er self alive. You may also want to put 1 point into Shield Block but I personally never bother with it.
The reason I opted out of the shield toss moves was because they're slower and do less damage than you melee skills. Their range is better of course but they don't generate shield points like Opening Strike does so your Quick Block costs you spirit and will empty you out leaving you vulnerable in tougher fights. Also Leaping Strike gives AoE damage anyways so no need for both.
I picked Encouraging Shout mostly because I like the movement speed and the attack speed bonus applies past the 20% cap from items so it isn't really wasted like I previously thought. Spirited and Aggressive shout would probably also be decent choices as well if one of those is more appealing to you. I used to use Spirited Shout but I never really ran out of spirit anyways so I felt it was overkill. As for Aggressive Shout it is too late on the tree to be useful early but after 40's it gets high enough to be more useful. Overall I prefer Encouraging Shout.
You could switch the 1 point in Athletic Leap to Dynamic Charge/Heroic Charge (take the second point from Encouraging Shout) if that suits your movement style better. Athletic Leap can get over stuff but if you play a lot of heroes with generic dash moves this may take some getting used to. Dynamic Charge spends shield points so don't use it, just Heroic Charge or Athletic Leap.
As for your gear, you want dodge, crit, and spirit. The tri-fecta of awesome in MH as I like to refer to it. Also you want your 20% attack speed from items. Of course +skills for Quick Block and Opening Strike (most important) especially are great as well. Pym's Shrinking Serum and Fearsome Fist are my go-to artifacts for most melee heroes right now but Captain America is unique in that he can afford to lose defense from items thanks to Quick Block. Really you could put whichever artifacts you want and still be viable. I used Starstone Tooth for awhile for the health and never really used a medkit even when swarmed by a limbo boss, their adds, and all the cosmic fires from them all. Experiment some and see which you like the best!