Rebirth Issue 1: Guardians Rising Overview

Rebirth Issue 1: Guardians Rising Overview

Rebirth Issue 1: Guardians Rising is the next major free game update for City of Heroes Rebirth. Rebirth Issue 1 premeirs the new Guardian Archetype, the Martial Prowess epic power set for melee archetypes, and several new costume packs including; Emblem Pack 1, Cape Packs 1 & 2, Glove Diversificataion Phase 1 and more. Will this new archetype be able to turn the tide of the coming storm?

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Guardian Archetype

Guardians have good ranged and melee while still maintaining decent support and protection.

As a Guardian, you are skilled at ranged and close combat, allowing you to move into and out of combat with ease. Your abilities offer decent protection, allow you to take blows with stride. Although you are not able to take hits as well as others, your very presence can strengthen your allies and weaken enemies.

Rebirth Issue 1

Inherent Power Resolve: Guardians are determined to protect their allies in combat. With their Resolve, Guardians strive to defeat foes before they can cause serious harm to them or their allies. When an enemy is defeated they will grant nearby Guardians and their allies one stack of Resolve. Each stack grants 5% absorption and status protection to Disorient, Hold, Sleep, Immobilize, Fear, and Confuse on the affected targets for 15 seconds. Resolve can stack up to 3 times outside of PvP. NOTE: When used in PVP Resolve will not stack from players. The amount of absorption granted for defeating a player is 20%.

Assault Primary Power Sets

A Guardian’s primary power sets are Assault. With their release, we're introducing several new Assault power sets. They are:

New Power Set: Gun Fu

You are a master of the Gun Fu fighting style. You seamlessly blend sophisticated martial arts perfectly with your skills as a shootist to strike down foes with either hand or bullet.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Hellfire Assault

Your powers are conjured from the depths of the netherworld and beyond. You wield demonic hellfires that serve as your tools of destruction. You are capable of manifesting infernal powers that act as long extensions of hellfire. These powers can tear down even the toughest foes.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Luminous Assault

Masters of light, energy, and matter. Luminous Assault wielders can manipulate light energy to devastate their opponents. Luminous Assault bombards the foe with great force and power often knocking them down and reducing their defenses.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Mace Assault

You can wield a Nullifier Mace, a high tech Arachnos mace that is as good at blasting enemies as it is at smashing them to pieces.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Radiation Assault

You are able to harness the power of the atom to defeat foes at both close and far ranges. Radiation Assault attacks have a chance to inflict the Contaminated state on a target for a moderate amount of time. Powers that deal greater damage, have a longer recharge time and animation time have a greater chance to inflict Contaminated. Single target attacks hitting Contaminated targets cause a portion of that power's damage to also hit nearby foes. Radiation Assault attacks primarily deal Smashing and Energy damage, with some capable of dealing Toxic damage.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Umbral Assault

Masters of the void, Umbral Assault wielders can manipulate dark energy, gravity and matter to blast and dominate their foes. The gravimetric nature of most Umbral Assault powers often slows the target's attack and movement speed.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Additional Assault Power Sets

Dark Assault: Blind and drain your foes with dark energies. Dark Assault allows you to pummel your foes with heavy-hitting melee attacks as well as several ranged attacks. Many of Dark Assaults' powers reduce their victims' chance to hit.

Earth Assault: 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.

Electricity Assault: Electrical Assault grants you several electrical ranged and melee powers. Electrical powers can drain foes' Endurance and can often temporarily halt their Endurance recovery. This can be quite effective against higher-level foes and Bosses. Some Electrical Assault powers can even sometimes transfer this Endurance back to you.

Energy Assault: Focus pure energy into deadly melee attacks and powerful projectiles. The impact of the melee powers can often Disorient opponents, while the velocity of the ranged projectiles can send your enemies flying.

Fiery Assault: Fiery Assault allows you to conjure up flaming melee attacks and hurl devastating fiery projectiles. Fiery Assault powers tend to set foes ablaze for added Damage Over Time.

Icy Assault: Ice Assault allows the player to use Cold-based attacks. Conjure up frozen melee weapons or hurl deadly shards of Ice. Icy powers are known for their ability to slow an opponent.

Martial Assault: Your mastery of Martial Assault allows you to deliver crippling blows to your enemies and rain blades upon foes who don't dare approach you. You deliver damage to your enemies via withering kicks and punches in melee range, while your skills with thrown blades cut down aggressors from afar. Your attacks have a tendency to knock opponents down or deal additional damage over time as a secondary effect.

Psionic Assault: Blast your enemies with an array of offensive psionic powers. Your psionic damaging attacks have a chance to grant you Insight into your enemies. While you have Insight, your psionic damage powers cause additional psionic damage over time. Few living beings can resist their effects. Creatures without minds, however, like machines and robots, are much more resistant.

Thorny Assault: Thorns protrude from your body and can deal damage in melee or at range. Thorns are hollow and inject toxin that deals additional Toxic damage and can weaken your enemy's Defense. Very few foes have resistance to Thorn toxins.

Composition Secondary Power Sets

Guardian secondary power sets are designed for Composition. Composition power sets offer protection for yourself and support for your teammates. They are:

New Power Set: Atmospheric Composition

Atmospheric Composition users can harness the wind, weather, and lightning to wreak havoc on their foes and protect themselves and their allies.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Dark Composition

Dark Composition wielders focus the dark energies of the Netherworld to protect themselves and weaken their foes.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Energy Composition

Energy Composition users can surround themselves with powerful defensive energy auras. Their mastery of energy allows them to manipulate and transfer energy from foes to protect themselves and their allies.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Fiery Composition

Focusing heat and flame lets those armed with Fiery Composition protect themselves and their allies from harm while also weakening their enemies.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Ice Composition

You are able to harness the power of the atom to defeat foes at both close and far ranges. Radiation Assault attacks have a chance to inflict the Contaminated state on a target for a moderate amount of time. Powers that deal greater damage, have a longer recharge time and animation time have a greater chance to inflict Contaminated. Single target attacks hitting Contaminated targets cause a portion of that power's damage to also hit nearby foes. Radiation Assault attacks primarily deal Smashing and Energy damage, with some capable of dealing Toxic damage.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Organic Composition

Organic Composition users can surround themselves in the forces of nature, enabling them to shield their bodies from harm. Their command over the environment allows them to call forth primal energies to hinder their foes and aid themselves and their allies. Some of their powers place a Bloom effect on themselves and their allies. Each stack of Bloom boosts healing effects on the affected targets by 4% for 30 seconds. Bloom can stack up to 5 times.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Pain Focusing

It takes more than a little pain to keep you down! Pain Focusing uses your willpower to master overwhelming pain. With it, you can channel your pain to protect your allies, yourself, and weaken adversaries.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Radiation Composition

Radiation Composition powers emanate from your body, empowering and shielding you from harm. This energy allows you to manipulate atomic particles and waves to protect your allies and weaken your enemies. Your abilities also allow you to heal from your wounds and even absorb damage.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Reconstructive Healing

Reconstructive Healing lets you regenerate more quickly from damage and effects. Your Hit Point Regeneration can become so incredibly fast, that your wounds heal almost instantly. Reconstructive Healing gives you the ability to heal and aid allies as well.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Stone Composition

Stone Composition users can transform themselves into various forms of rock and stone to avoid hard. You are also able to harness the crushing force of earth to weaken your foes and protect your allies. Many of these powers need to be performed while on the ground.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

New Power Set: Temporal Reaction

With Temporal Reaction you gaze into the flow of time allowing you to react deftly to avoid danger. Regardless of what comes at you, Temporal Reaction simply allows you to avoid the attack. Wielders of Temporal Reaction are able to manipulate time itself to inflict crippling debuffs while buffing and healing allies.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Ancillary Power Pools

  • Fire Mastery: You have Mastery over Fire to deal damage in mass and control your foes.

  • Ice Mastery: You have Mastery over Ice to deal damage in mass and control your foes.

  • Primal Forces Mastery: You have Mastery over Primal Forces and energy to devastate your foes and increase your power.

  • Psionic Mastery: You have Mastery over Psionics and the mind to devastate your foes.

Patron Power Pools

  • Leviathan Mastery: Captain Mako has granted you access to the power of the Leviathan. The Leviathan is an ancient gargantuan entity that slumbers under Sharkhead Isle. Worshiped by the Coralax, the Leviathan has given Captain Mako many abilities and now he has taught you how to harness its power.

  • Mace Mastery: Black Scorpion has granted you access to the advanced technology of the Executioner's Mace. The signature weapon of the Bane Spider Executioner, it is not a typical clumsy mace. The Executioner's Mace is capable of firing a variety of energy projectiles and grenades. It can even be modified to summon and command some of Black Scorpion's RV technologies.

  • Mu Mastery: Scirocco has taught you the ancient powers of the Mu. In their eternal struggle against the Oranbega, the Mu have unlocked many mystical powers, including their very signature crimson lightning. Now you possess these secrets.

  • Soul Mastery: Ghost Widow has granted you access to the power of darkness and souls. She has shown you how to use the souls of your victims to destroy your enemies. This has granted you access to powers and abilities you have never had before.

New Epic Power Pool for Melee Archetypes

Martial Prowess: Your experience in melee combat and your drive to improve has given you access to new techniques from a wide variety of disciplines. You utilize skills from archers and warriors of the medieval age to ninjitsu techniques of the shinobi.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Find out more about Martial Prowess by visiting the official City of Heroes Rebirth forum website.

New Costume Packs

We're excited to show you all of the many new costume pieces that have been added in bundles we call 'costume packs.'

Emblem Pack 1

New Emblems! Emblem Pack 1 is now live. There are 17 new emblems, starting with Star 17 - Star 23 inline with legacy star emblems and another batch found at the bottom of your chest symbol list.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Cape Packs 1 & 2

New cape patterns are now available wherever you find listings for basic cape patterns. 45 new patterns in total. All can be found at the bottom of the standard cape pattern list in your character creator.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Glove Diversification Phase 1

Glove Diversification debuts on Rebirth PTS! Many glove models that prior had only 1 possible wrist skin can now be customized to match many base textures and all standard glove patterns.

Rebirth Issue 1 Rebirth Issue 1

Find out more about Rebirth Issue 1: Guardians Rising by visiting the official City of Heroes Rebirth forum website.