Iron Man Destruction dps iron man leveling pve pvp
Guide by Elbrean Last update at Oct 5th 2013, 15:35

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Note
I make this guide as I am lvl 34 at the moment. Builds change as I progress usually so don't be surprised if it gets updated often, so come back and check often.

You'll notice that none of my skills are maxed to rank 20. Keeping them at max 18, it frees up skill points to distribute to other skills, giving you a larger variety of ranked up skills. The 2 points you are not placing into these skills will not make a noticeable difference in your output dps, especially since you'll have gear ranking all of these skills well above 20 anyways.

Edit: October 2nd

This is updated for 1.31, but my tree doesn't reflect it. A big difference that affects the build the most is Wrist Rockets are now 10 spirit instead of 20, and they deal slightly less damage. Even with the reduced damage, this reduced cost made this build so much better.

So I'd like to say that I am now level 43, and this build is still the best I've tried. At one point I had 9 retcons so I tried out different builds. I heard lots of people to use
, so I reduced my ranks in Adaptive defense down to 1 and shield overload down to 10 so I can put pump up RB, and I didn't like it. sure, it may have dropped bosses faster, but I'd take more hits because i was just standing while shooting. And it would drain my spirit so much faster when I would combine it with micro-missiles.

Then I tried what most are saying now, which was
as your main attack, so I'd be using PB instead of Wrist Rockets. Yes PB has a larger area of effect, yes PB causes stun, yes PB now pierces and moves on, and yes PB moves slowly and pulses it's damage, some may get hurt by it 3 times in 1 cast. However, it has a slower cast animation, making you just a tad bit slower, and the pulses aren't even as fast as 2 or 3 wrist rockets, I'd say 3 rockets for 2 pulses, wrist rockets may not have a stun, but the explosion does stop forward momentum from enemies, deals more damage, and the dot applied almost deals as much damage as the initial impact twice a second, pretty much as fast as PB pulses. For my hit and run play style, it just wasn't working out for me. In the end, here are some new changes to my build.

I changed my 1 point from
to
. It's ranged, and it gives a strait damage bonus instead of just crit damage bonus. In the end, this didn't change anything though, since it is a very very rare thing when I use it, more often than not because of a misclick.

Also, I moved my 1 point in
to
because this is a kiting build, the maneuverability that HVC provides makes much more sense than DM. I'm still keeping DM on my hot key bar, but only for when I have a gear that grants DM, hopefully with good ranks in it. I'd only throw down DM for my meat shields like the thors and the hulks up close and personal to the bosses. I rely to much on movement to stay alive to really take advantage of DM.

Intro/build description

First off, notice there is no base attack except for 1 point in
. The only reason I put a point here is if there comes an opportunity to smack someone, it will make it so that target takes extra crit damage. I may eventually change my mind and put this point in
, but I figured this build is all range, so the melee gives him an option. The more I think of it, though, the more I'm leaning on changing that point over.

You'll be spamming
as your base attack. It's a ranged aoe attack, I snipe targets full screen across, even off screen sometimes. With Doc Ock's medallion, as long as you're hitting somewhat close to your intended target, you'll hit him, and it deals nice damage and an equally very nice dot gets applied. Most trash will fall to this attack, one shot, maybe one shot with one tick from the dot.

An other key component to this build is
. This attack has 3 uses.

    - #1: Quickly replenishes your spirit. This makes it easy to use your Wrist Rocket as your main attack. Even if there's no one around, if you're low on spirit, overload your shields
    - #2: Deals decent damage, and with Doc Oc's medallion, has a good radius. This is why it's equally important to rank up your shields, for the higher your max shield capacity, the more damage the overload will dish out. Good to use when you're surrounded by mobs and you can't escape. Overload your shields, the clear what's left standing with your Wrist Rocket
    - #3: Breaks CC


Aside from fueling more damage for Shield Overload,
is also Iron Man's main defensive skill. He needs this. The damage negation is very very noticeable. If my health is getting low, it's only because I forgot to refresh my shields.

For blues and yellows,
is your best friend. This skill as well has 3 major uses.

    - #1: At the moment, with rank ups from gear, my Micro-missiles fires a volley of 12 missiles. If you're targeting a particular mob, all the missiles will home in on that target. That's 12 missiles, all hitting for aprox. 800 damage average(before bonus damage), all have a possibility to crit. This attack will mow down elite mobs.
    - #2: The other use for this power is clearing large mobs where you don't really care what drops first. You'll still be clearing them with your Wrist Rockets, but the added help from your Micro-Missiles will ensure a quick clear.
    -#3: While fighting bosses, it really helps your survivability when you can just run around avoiding their attacks while you let loose your Micro-Missiles. You don't even have to turn around to aim, just run away, click, and watch his/her health plummet


Originally, I was going to not spend any points in the Energy Beams tree. I felt that Defense Systems and Tech Gadgets was good enough to make a strong Iron Man. That is, until I got an item that gave me ranks in
. Holy my this hits hard. This spell is on par with Thor's Godblast. Use this to clear a room full of blues and yellows, if there's too many trash and your taking a pounding/shields are low and taking serious hits to your health. This will clear the screen. It doesn't hit off screen, so it's not an end all nuke, but at least it will give you some much needed breathing room. Just a second or 2 and Iron Man's back in the fight. That's all it takes. Also, use it on bosses. It will take a massive very noticeable chunk from their health. I almost one shot'ed Mr. Sinister with this attack when I fought him on my normal run.

,
, and
are all passives that help this build. You have A.R.E. for the increase to spirit and damage for your The One-Of. The radar effect is nice too. A.D. for the shield regen, health regen and spirit regen. All important for you to constantly kill with almost no down time. M.C.S. for the increased crit hit for all your rockets and missiles you are launching, which is the bulk of your dps. The random extra missiles are nice for some added dps.

Finally, the 1 point wonders.
for flight,
for a very nice Phoenix esk resurrection in case things go south(I haven't died yet, but I'm only lvl 34, give me time), and
for heals for yourself and your teammates for extra survivability.

I wanted to fit in
in my build, it deals some nice damage. However, a big part in this build's survivability is the fact that you don't have to sit still, you aren't a standing turret. So since you're always on the move, mobs are always on the move as well, so they won't be staying in the blast radius for very long. This goes for bosses as well. Would have been nice to just lay this down at their feet as I run around bombarding them with my own rockets, but there were better options to spread my points into. Maybe later on I find less use of some skills, I may try to fit it in, but as of right now, I don't foresee it being the case. As is, I barely use my medic for the same reasons, I'm much safer on the move and I'd have to be stationary to properly use it. I use the medic more for the tanks up close to the boss, keep the meat shield alive.

Mapping

    - {left Click}

    - {A}

    - {S}

    - {D}

    - {F}

    - {G}

    - {H} S.H.I.E.L.D. medpack
    - {right click}(F1)

    - {right click}(F2)

    - {right click}(F3)

    - {right click}(F4)



Gear

As mentioned during my guide, I use Doc Oc's medallion. It gives increased crit % to area attacks, which all your attacks are area(not counting Voltanic Punch), and increases the area you are hitting. Let no one escape your onslaught of missiles and rockets.

For weapons, bonus energy and physical damage is a no brainer, but the big one to look for is +spirit on kill. Bonus crit hit and bonus crit damage are also high on the priority list. Ignore anything that says "when you hit with basic attack". This goes for armor bonuses as well.

For the rest of the gear, here's my list of bonuses I look for, in a general priority, always depending on the larger boost however.

    - crit hit % >= crit hit damage
    - +spirit(for A.R.E., not for spirit issues, which you should not have, especially if you have a weapon that gives spirit on kill)
    - grants

    - bonus to skills like
    or
    are high on the priority list
    - armor bonus
    - reduced Tech Gadgets skill cost
    - increased rare drop/special drop.
    - + hp. The higher armor you have, the more damage mitigation you have, and you should rarely see your hp drop below 3/4, so HP has been a low priority for me.

I've read from other guides that dodge may be needed closer to 60. I'll update if I start adding dodge to my bonuses to look for.