Earth Assault

Overview

Earth Assault is a power set that is a primary for Guardians and a secondary set for Dominators.

"With Earth Assault, you can damage foes with the very ground they walk upon. You can conjure stone weapons, hurl boulders, and even cause magma to erupt from the ground."

Power Table

Dominator

The Earth Assault power set is available as a secondary set for Dominators. The following table shows the level at which each power is available:

	Power	Level	Effect
	Stone Spears	1	Ranged, Moderate DMG(Lethal), Foe Knock Up
	Stone Mallet	2	Melee, High DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Tremor	4	PBAoE, Moderate DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Hurl Boulder	10	Ranged, High DMG(Smash), Foe Knockback, -Fly
	Power Boost	16	Self +Special
	Heavy Mallet	20	Melee, Superior DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Seismic Smash	28	Melee, Extreme DMG(Smash), Foe Hold
	Mud Pots	35	Toggle: PBAoE, Minor DoT(Fire), Foe Immobilize, -SPD
	Fissure	38	Close (Targeted AoE), Moderate DMG(Smash/Lethal), Foe Disorient, Knockback

Guardian

The Earth Assault power set is available as a primary set for Guardians. The following table shows the level at which each power is available:

	Power	Level	Effect
	Stone Spears	1	Ranged, Moderate DMG(Lethal), Foe Knock Up
	Stone Fist	1	Melee, Moderate DMG(Smash), Foe Disorient
	Fissure	2	Close (Targeted AoE), Moderate DMG(Smash/Lethal), Foe Disorient, Knockback
	Stone Mallet	6	Melee, High DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Build Up	8	Self +DMG, +To-Hit
	Tremor	12	PBAoE, Moderate DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Heavy Mallet	18	Melee, Superior DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown
	Hurl Boulder	26	Ranged, High DMG(Smash), Foe Knockback, -Fly
	Seismic Smash	32	Melee, Extreme DMG(Smash), Foe Hold

Powers

Build Up

Greatly boosts your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases chance to hit.

Recharge	Long
Minimum Level	8 (Guardian)
Effects	Self +Damage, +To-Hit
Enhancements	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Increase Attack Rate
	Enhance ToHit Buff
Set Categories	To Hit Buff

Fissure

This powerful stomp can crack the earth itself, damaging a nearby targeted foe and any foes around it. This Fissure can only affect foes on the ground, dealing moderate smashing damage and possibly throwing them into the air or disorienting them.

Damage	Moderate (Smashing)
Recharge	Slow
Minimum Level	38 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	2 (Guardian)
Effects	Close (Targeted Area of Effect)
	Foe Knockback, Disorient
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Enhance Range
	Increase Attack Rate
	Enhance Disorient Duration
Set Categories	Targeted AoE Damage
	Stuns
	Knockback

Heavy Mallet

A more impressive form of Stone Mallet, the Heavy Mallet deals more damage, but is slower to swing. It has a greater chance of knocking down opponents.

Damage	Superior (Smashing)
Recharge	Slow
Minimum Level	20 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	18 (Guardian)
Effects	Melee
	Foe Knockdown
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	Melee Damage
	Knockback

Hurl Boulder

You are able to tear up a chunk of ground beneath your feet and Hurl it at an enemy. This attack deals moderate damage, and can knock foes back and even drop them out of the air if they are flying.

Damage	High (Smashing)
Recharge	Moderate
Minimum Level	10 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	26 (Guardian)
Effects	Ranged
	Foe Knockback, -Fly
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Enhance Range
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	Ranged Damage
	Knockback

Mud Pots

While this power is active, you draw upon the geothermal power of the Earth to create a bubbling pool of hot mud around yourself. All foes in melee range will become snared and entrapped in the mud, Immobilizing some and slowing others. The boiling heat from Mud Pots may also deal some damage over time to the snared foes.

Recharge	Fast
Damage	Minor Damage Over Time (Fire)
Minimum Level	35 (Dominator)
Effects	Toggle: Point Blank Area of Effect
	Foe Immobilize, -Speed
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Increase Attack Rate
	Enhance Slow
Set Categories	PBAoE Damage
	Slow Movement

Power Boost

Greatly boosts the secondary effects of your powers. Your powers' effects like Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, and more, are all improved. The effects of Power Boost last a short while, and only the next couple of attacks will be boosted.

Editor's Note: This power improves the strength of your Heals, Endurance drains and gifts, Runspeed powers, Flight powers, Defense buffs and debuffs, and ToHit buffs and debuffs, as well as the duration of your Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Immobilize, Fear, and Confuse status effects. It does not increase the strength of your Knockback effects.

Recharge	Long
Minimum Level	16 (Dominator)
Effects	Self +Special
Enhancements	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	None

Seismic Smash

This massive attack hits with all the force of the Earth itself. It deals tremendous amounts of damage, and may Hold the target if they are not defeated outright.

Damage	Extreme (Smashing)
Recharge	Slow
Minimum Level	28 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	32 (Guardian)
Effects	Melee
	Foe Hold
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Hold Duration
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	Melee Damage
	Holds

Stone Fist

Your stone covered fists attack swiftly for moderate damage, and may Disorient your opponent.

Damage	Moderate (Smashing)
Recharge	Fast
Minimum Level	1 (Guardian)
Effects	Melee
	Foe Disorient
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Increase Attack Rate
	Enhance Disorient Duration
	Enhance Taunt Effectiveness
Set Categories	Melee Damage
	Stuns
	Taunt

Stone Mallet

Your control over the earth allows you to form a mallet of solid stone. This Stone Mallet deals heavy damage, and can knock down weak foes.

Damage	High (Smashing)
Recharge	Moderate
Minimum Level	2 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	6 (Guardian)
Effects	Melee
	Foe Knockdown
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	Melee Damage
	Knockback

Stone Spears

Stone spears erupt from the ground at the feet of your target. This attack can only be used against targets on the ground, and does moderate lethal damage.

Damage	Moderate (Lethal)
Recharge	Fast
Minimum Level	1 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	1 (Guardian)
Effects	Ranged
	Foe Knockup
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Enhance Range
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	Ranged Damage
	Knockback

Tremor

You can cause a localized earthquake immediately around you. This will deal moderate damage to every foe in melee range, while knocking them back.

Damage	Moderate (Smashing)
Recharge	Slow
Minimum Level	4 (Dominator)
Minimum Level	12 (Guardian)
Effects	Point Blank Area of Effect
	Foe Knockdown
Enhancements	Enhance Accuracy
	Enhance Damage
	Reduce Endurance Cost
	Enhance Knockback Distance
	Increase Attack Rate
Set Categories	PBAoE Damage
	Knockback

Historical

Developer Quotes

This section contains information about a past event in City of Heroes Freedom. It is provided for historical purposes.

According to Castle, Earth Assault was a personal project to help Sunstorm learn the ropes when he first started. Once the project was complete, they went ahead and proposed it for the (then) next round of Power Set Proliferation [1]

Sunstorm then made the following statement [2]

Never played a more "tankish" feeling dominator, despite it having no armors. ... Earth Assault will be a very melee heavy set. Also opted for the regular Hurl boulder Animation, since the Propel Boulder animation uses the full 3.5 second long propel animation. Now I may be a huge fan of propel for my grav doms/Trollers, but the thought of having 2 versions of it didn't seem too fun.

In a Dev Diary released on August 13, 2009, Castle confirmed the power lineup of the set, and again commented on the creation of Earth Assault:

Earth Assault began life as a training exercise for Jonathan "Sunstorm" Courney. Shortly after he began working here, he decided to build a new assault set for Dominators in order to help familiarize himself with the powers system. He spent some time picking the powers, dreaming up new ones and testing them, and in general just doing some really innovative and crazy things with them. After a while, he decided to take his test bed and turn it into something that could be released to the fans. This led to a lot of rebalancing, rebuilding, and when he was finally satisfied with it, he pitched it to me. Although it's taken awhile for it to be implemented, we're happy that we're finally able to include it with Issue 16.

Earth Assault, like other Assault sets, combines a good mix of Ranged and Melee powers. It has a healthy dose of soft control, good damage, and with Mud Pots - one of the best Damage Auras available.

Issue 16

This section contains information about a major update to City of Heroes Freedom. It is provided for historical purposes.

• This set was added to the game for Dominators in Issue 16.
• This set was added for Guardians when they were introduced in Rebirth Issue 1

External Links

• Earth Assault for Dominators at Titan Network's RedTomax