The Corruptor - Subarchetypes
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The Corruptor is probably one of the most varied Archetypes in either City of Villains or City of Heroes, having more Power Sets available than any other choice. Unlike the Defender, the Corruptor has good strong, offense, drawing attention from those who might otherwise think their concept doesn't fit. Like the Defender, however, the Corruptor can have wildly different capabilities from one Power Set combination to the next. These means a large number of subarchetypes, some of which may be more group and support oriented than others.
Dark Corruptor: Like the Dark Defender, the Dark Corruptor specializes in weakening his foes, and draining their life energy. His healing powers are very powerful, and scale up as he drains more enemies, but can only be used in combat. He is one of the few Corruptors that can resurrect. The Dark Corruptor's damage is also much better than the Dark Defender's, but doesn't come close to Rad or Kin. Dark Blast does not have an Aim, which further reduces the damage. The Dark Corruptor can deal very steady, moderate damage, though, and can defend himself and his team better than nearly every other Corruptor. So while he may take a bit longer, he will still defeat his enemies. Corruptors are fairly Endurance efficient, since they do more damage than Defenders, and have Scourge as well. Still, Dark is Endurance costly, and slotting attacks for Endurance is a good idea. The Dark Corruptor also gets lots of Fear and other control powers, as well as the Corruptors' only pet. This makes Dark extremely popular as a Corruptor choice, which is fitting. After all, Dark is common to four of the five villain Archetypes.
Thermal Corruptor: The Thermal Corruptor is similar in some ways to the Empathy Defender, with a number of good healing powers, and Power of the Phoenix, a powerful rez. Thermal has some really good team buff powers with its shields, and an extremely good offensive power in Forge, although it takes a teammate to use it. Thermal can be extremely powerful on a team, however, and thus is very popular. It isn't very soloable, unfortunately, which again makes it similar to Empathy. The Fire Blast secondary is very damaging, but really does not have a strong secondary effect. On a Blaster, the Support set can be used somewhat to hold down the enemy and keep it at range. Thermal doesn't really have such a capability, though, until you get to the high levels. Fire Blast actually works well in combination with other Secondaries like Dark Miasma or Radiation Emission. Energy Blast might seem a good combination because of the knockback, but this can irritate some teammates. Thus, Dark Blast might be better since it offers the Thermal some defense. (By debuffing his foes' accuracy)
Cold Corruptor: On the hero side, I grouped all of the Blaster's elemental sets together, and called them the Elementalist. Although there are differences, the Ice Corruptor is also very similar to the Thermal Corruptor. Cold Domination is not as good at healing, having only one healing power, which is more of an HP boost. It has a defensive power in Artic Fog, which effects the caster, as well as the ally shields like Thermal's. What Cold Domination primarily has is a number of strong powers to slow the enemy, including the first power in the set. This makes the Cold Corruptor considerably more soloable than Thermal, while bringing many of the same capabilities to a team. Cold cannot rez a teammate, but along with the slow effects from the Primary set this can slow down both movement and attack rate considerably, protecting both the Corruptor and his team. This is actually one of the few Primary/Secondary combinations that works well as a "theme", although the damage is a little low, and the defense not as good as Dark. This is a good choice for a Corruptor that intends to play in a team, but will probably find himself soloing from time to time.
Storm Corruptor: Like the Defender counterpart, the Storm Summoner, the Storm Corruptor has many powers to knock foes around, debuff them, and in general cause mass chaos. His O2 Boost is not a particularly strong healing power, and he lacks the "shields" of the Elemental Corruptors, but he more than makes up with it in his ability to solo, and even to protect a team, assuming he controls his knockback. Since villain teams tend to be more loosely structured than hero teams, in some cases knocking foes around and causing chaos can help the team. The Electrical Blast/Storm Summoming combination is a relatively recent addition to the villain side, but it benefits from the Corruptor's greater direct damage. As mentioned on the Defender page, many of the Storm effects can actually deal damage on their own, and do a significant amount of damage. This is an extremely powerful combination for the villain side, and very welcome. While it is not particularly strong defensively, it is very strong solo, and offers offensive boosts even if the Storm chooses to play cautiously with his knockback.
Radiation Corruptor: The Radiation Corruptor, as with the Dark Corruptor, is virtually identical to its Defender counterpart. The damage is somewhat better, as it is with all Corruptors, but Radiation is still a very fast recharge, low damage set. Fire Blast might actually be a better combination with Radiation Emission. As a Secondary, though, Radiation Emission is very strong. It is neither all offense, nor all defense, it strikes a balance between the two, and a very good balance at that. Like all villain weakening sets, it is very soloable, and the large number of different effects makes it very flexible. Other sets may be more damaging, or more defensive, but I think it can be argued that none are better.
Kinetic Corruptor: Kinetics is the Buff/Debuff set of Energy, and this energy could come in many forms. It could be a hex, like Scarlet Witch, or it could be a power suit or some devices. Or it could be psychic in nature, representing telekinetics. Of course, the Psychic Blast powers are reserved for the Dominator, but Energy Blast and Kinetics could be used as a Corruptor substitution for telekinetic blasts. Sonic is another good combination, as its secondary effect meshes well with Kinetics, and the kinetic effects could be seen as a form of sound manipulation. (See below for my comments on Sonic as a secondary) Just as on the hero side, Kinetics is the offensive Power Set of the group. Most of its primary powers increase damage for the team, or decrease it for the enemy, so when stacked, it can create a dramatic boost in damage. Since these powers effect the caster as well, it is very soloable, although many of the defensive and Endurance boost powers can only be used on allies. There is just enough ability to slow and repel foes, however, as well as the knockback from Energy Blast, to make this concept a strong combination of damage and control powers. In a team, the Kinetic Corruptor will have to be careful not to knock his foes away from his teammates, spoiling their ability to defend themselves, but solo, the knockback can be very useful.
Pain Corruptor: The Pain Corruptor is the villain counterpart of the Empathy Defender. While Empathy is exclusively about healing and buffing the team, however, the Pain Corruptor has a number of powers that either debuff foes, or actually feed of the pain of his allies to make the Corruptor himself stronger. This is one of the few Buff/Debuff sets that provides a damage boost exclusively for the caster, allowing him to buff his own damage to a greater extent than his allies. One of those damage buffs, in fact, is the set's rez, allowing the Pain Corruptor to gain a form of Vengeance as he raises an ally. Many of the Pain Corruptor's powers come with nasty side effects, too. For instance, Enforced Morale, the Pain Corruptor's status protection power, will actually damage his ally if he is not already injured. There are some very unique powers in this set, as well, such as Soothing Aura, a toggle which automatically "pulses" to heal allies within its radius. (This power is not shared by Masterminds, who get a regeneration aura instead) The Primary to match up with this Secondary is a bit hard to determine, Corruptors do not yet have Psychic Blast, although they should get it eventually. In the meantime, Sonic Attack makes a convincing replacement for mental powers, and Dark or Electric could be linked to the ability to cause pain.
Sonic Corruptor: The Sonic Corruptor is the closest the Corruptor comes to a Force Field. The "bubbles" are Resistance, not Defense, which can be an advantage, but most of the powers effect allies only, and not the caster. The set does have a damage boost, which is good, but is much more limited in the control powers, which is not good. (Most of Sonic's knockback and other control powers are usable only in a group) Also like Force Field, Sonic has no heal, which means that the Corruptor must go to the Power Pool for Medicine. (Dark Blast has a self heal, which is another point in its favor) If Sonic had a great offensive buff or some control powers to compensate for the lack of a heal that would be fine, but considering that Sonic's defense is not that much greater than other Corruptor Secondaries, it simply isn't worth it. The set is only barely soloable, if that, and its usefulness to a team is probably less than Thermal or Cold. Sonic is actually best as a Primary, Sonic Attack actually has more potential -resistance than Sonic Resonance, and offers more control powers (which can be used solo) besides. Sonic could be effectively combined with Kinetics or Radiation Emission and would be much more soloable and damaging. Energy Blast and Dark Blast provide more synergy with Sonic as a Secondary because they provide more knockback or a heal, respectively. Although in a group, either of the three Primaries listed could be usable.
Mercenary: The villan version of the Blaster's Commando, the Mercenary is a skill based villain who uses weapons and devices to commit his crimes, instead of super powers. He may be a gun for hire, or just a common bank robber. Since Traps does not have a Cloaking Device like Devices does, it may be a good idea to take Stealth or even Invisibility, just to make it easier to set the traps like Trip Mine and Poison Trap. However, if you stick with the skill based concept, you will not want a "super powered" movement power, like Flying or Super Leap. Although the damage from Assault Rifle is lower than that of a Blaster, Traps has more defensive capability, especially with Force Field Generator. Although Assault Rifle does not have an Aim, and Traps does not have Targetting Drone, it does have Acid Mortar, which has much the same effect. (It debuffs Defense and Resistance instead of buffing damage and accuracy, but the result is the same) Although Traps' offensive and defensive buffs may not compare to Radiation or Dark, the ability to do additional damage with Trip Mine and Place Bomb may compensate for that. Traps is certainly soloable, and can be helpful in a group, as well. With the addition of Archery and Trick Arrow to the Corruptor's arsenal, the line between the Mercenary and the Defender's Ranged Gadgeteer has been blurred as well, especially with Defenders now getting Traps and Assault Rifle. As mentioned for the Ranged Gadgeteer, Archery and Trick Arrow really work well together, as they do not require redrawing the bow, leaving Traps to be paired with Assault Rifle or Dual Pistols. Trick Arrow is similar to Traps in the early stages, although Trick Arrow tends to have more control powers, while Traps has buffs with its Force Field Generator and Triage Beacon, and Trick Arrow does not.
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