Traveling in style around the Rogue Isle

As anyone who's played around with City of Heroes/Villains at level 14 you are able to choose your first real travel power (provided you took the prerequisite between level 6 and 14).

I've been mucking around with all four trying to decide which one I like best. Each seem to have a weakness and strength for different situations. Here's a quick breakdown.

Flight: Take to the skys as you say goodbye to gravity. The prereqs for this power are either hover, which is a very slow flight that gives a handy buff to your defense or Air superiority which is an overhand hammer attack that will knock down other fliers. The latter only helps if you can reach the enemy in question, but can be nice if the rest of your team is ground locked and melee. Hover is nice for those that like to stay alive and don't have to make quick movements in battle. Flight itself is also one of the safest travel methods through the sub 35 levels. It uses a fair amount of endurance, so it's not the most ideal in combat on missions, unless you've stacked some pretty heavy endurance reduction slots. There is also the occasional problem of the enemy mob who tags you with a stun that makes you drop like rock and die from the fall.

Pros: Moderate speed, very safe over dangerous zones, defense buffs
Cons: Slight Endurance hog if you need to do anything else

Teleportation: In the blink of an eye, you travel from point A to point B. This power is the heaviest endurance hog but is also the fastest and the most supportive for a team. The prereqs are either teleport friend or teleport foe. The former is handy to summon your teammates to the mission door (especially if there is alot of dangers for them in the way). Summon foe is nice for crowd control pulling. Many times your team can smack down the teleported foe before his friends can react. Teleport itself is a very hands on travel style, as you must teleport a certain distance (usually around 100+ yrds unslotted), then dictate where your next teleport is going to land. It is very fast to travel this way as you can cover 100+ yards in the blink of an eye, but the endurance can be taxed which might lead to you falling out of the sky if you don't watch yourself. Coupled with teleport friend, this has so far been my favorite powers for Ursine Master. Since he can resurrect allies, it's handy to summon them back away from enemy mobs first, then raise them. The other minor issue I had was mobility in combat. While others can run, jump, or fly around with ease... teleportation is not always easy to do on the fly for any real benefit... and if you can't see your destination you can't use this power (so underground levels can get annoying)

Pros: Fast Travel, Great team support
Cons: Very hands on control, Worst drain on endurance, hard to use in combat.

Super Speed: Wiz around faster the lightning with this power. Prereqs are either a superfast volley of punches, which is handy for melee fighters who want another attack ability that does moderate damage over time. Or ranged fighters who want some melee capability. The second power allows for faster ability cooldown recharging for 2 minutes. This is handy for anyone who has moderate cooldowns on abilities, such as healers who have to heal through alot of spike damage quickly, or damage dealers who find themselves on cooldown with all their main abilities often. Superspeed itself is, as one might expect, very speedy as a travel power. The world just transitions by almost so fast that in busy cities you'll find yourself hitting walls often. However this usually isn't a problem since you tend to leave enemies alone, and even if they do hit you once... so long as you survive one hit, you wont be hit again... since you are miles away. This gets thrown out the window if the enemy hits you with a web grenade or similar immobilizing or stun attack. Vertical movement tends to be a problem... so walls can easily become the bane of speedster, unless you posses equipment that allows you to overcome your vertical short comings. The endurance is minimal, so you could keep this toggled in combat, however unless your Internet connection is solid and your computer is up to date with the game, you might have problems overshooting your intended destination.

Pros: 2nd Fastest power, very endurance efficient, nice in close quarters
Cons: Not always safest, Walls are problems

Leaping: Like the incredible hulk, you take to the skies with creative falling techniques. The prereq powers are either a jump attack which has an awesome animation, and can cause enemies to be knocked down. The other ability is combat jumping, which is a toggle power that increases your defense and provides protection from being rooted or knocked down. Both of which are handy. Leaping itself is very endurance efficient and relatively safe. Not as fast as super speed, but you never tend to run into walls. Occasionally there is the sky scraper you can't hit the top of, but those are far and few between. In combat, it's nice for wide open spaces to leave toggled, since it has almost no endurance costs, and can be tactfully used for positioning or reaching flying enemies... and the fine control in falling is optimal enough to hit your targets. However not the easiest to use in close quarters and low ceiling situations.

Pros: Most endurance efficient, awesome combat movement power
Cons: 3rd fastest power, poor in close quarters.


What is the best overall? Depends highly on the needs of the class and character. I've generally kept flying for healers or support toons. Teleportation also is a support friendly powerset. Leaping is great for tankers and brutes, and even scrappers. Superspeed I find handy for ranged damage and stalkers (superspeed + stealth = Love with a long pointy knife). There is also an element of fun with the exploration of the maps... flying is a really nice way to explore the world cause it's slow enough you see the world, but safe enough that you can escape most dangers (look out of the spider glider ships and flying ghosts). The other powers you generally have to worry about where you're going and avoid obstacles and dangers.

A nice addition to the game a while back is the "bank mission" where heroes stop a criminal from robbing a bank, and Villains rob the bank and defeat some hero that is foolish enough to try and stop you. The reward for completing the bank mission is a temporary travel power (generally flight and super leaping). It's usually done before level 14 which will give you a taste for the travel powers before you need to decide.

So get out there and see the world!