In City of Heroes: Homecoming, players can choose from 15 Archetypes when designing their custom Hero/Villain. These archetypes offer different specializations and allow for different styles of play. Whether players want to tear through enemies up close, control the battlefield from afar, shrug off devastating blows, or protect their allies from harm and heal their wounds, there's an archetype for everyone.

City of Heroes: Homecoming has two broad categories of Archetypes: Standard Archetypes and Epic Archetypes. Epic Archetypes are special and tied to a specific character origin, like being the recipient of an Alien Symbiote or a highly trained member of the villainous group "Arachnos." These Epic Archetypes can fill multiple roles and are tricky to learn, along with having ties to specific parts of the game's lore, so they aren't recommended for first-time players. This guide will focus on covering the best Archetype choices for newcomers to the game or returning players who want to ease back into the game.

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Archetypes and Powersets

When reading this guide, players will often see references to "Powersets." All Archetypes choose a Primary and Secondary Powerset at character creation, determining the specific powers their character has and the ones they will be able to gain as they level up.

Different Archetypes have access to different Powersets, with the Primary and Secondary options available fitting into a general theme like "Ranged Damage," "Melee Damage," "Defensive," "Healing/Support," or "Pets." Many Powersets contain powers that would fit into more than one theme, but the Primary and Secondary Powersets available to an Archetype are characterized by mainly focusing on two themes.

For example, the Corruptor Archetype offers "Control" Primary Powersets and "Assault" Secondary Powersets, meaning that their primary Powersets all focus on controlling the enemy and the battlefield, while their Secondary Powersets are focused on dealing damage directly.

It is important to note that, while some Archetypes have the same Primary and Secondary Powerset categories, each Archetype has different base stats and inherent powers that have a huge impact on their playstyle.

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Most Recommended (Especially for Solo Play): Melee Damage Dealers (Melee DPS), Tankers & Brutes

The Melee DPS Archetypes, along with the Tanker and Brute Archetypes, are excellent options for solo play, especially for newcomers, due to dealing excellent damage while also having access to strong defensive Powersets as their secondary Powerset choice. These Archetypes are Scrapper, Stalker, Tanker, and Brute.

The Brute Archetype, being a Melee DPS/Tank hybrid, is probably the single-best choice here for new players, as it balances offensive power with survivability incredibly well. The Tanker Archetype is much better defensively but tends towards lower damage output, especially at lower levels, though it is still a fantastic choice for solo play. Scrappers lean much more towards damage over survivability, but are still a decent choice, and Stalkers have stealth abilities mixed in with their defensive powers that can be very helpful in solo play, though they tend to be squishier than the other options mentioned here.

Here's a quick breakdown of the types of Powers these Archetypes have access to:

As for their Inherent Powers:

• Fury allows Brutes to gain a scaling damage boost as they continue to attack and get attacked in return, making them stronger in longer fights. Many of their powers naturally Taunt enemies too, allowing them to keep the enemy focused on them instead of squishier allies.
• Gauntlet causes Tanks to enrage nearby enemies naturally with all their attacks, drawing their ire, while also expanding the range/radius of their Cone and AOE attacks by 50%.
• Critical Hit gives all the Scrapper's attacks a chance to inflict double damage. This is normally a 5% chance but rises to 10% when targeting foes with a rank higher than "Minion."
• The Stalker's Assassination power causes all attacks made while hidden to demoralize their target, reducing the target's chance to hit and can potentially terrorize them (causing them to tremble in fear and take no other action for a short time). Stalker's attacks also have a 10% Critical Hit chance by default and can earn stacks of the "Assassin's Focus" buff, raising the critical hit chance of their Assassin's Strike power (which appears in all Primary Powersets for the Stalker) by 33.3% per stack.

When it comes to picking a good Primary Powerset within these archetypes, here's some good options for new players:

• Staff Fighting is a great choice available to all of these classes, offering excellent AOE damage and a variety of self-buffing and enemy-debuffing effects. This makes it great for fighting groups, and can be especially effective for Brutes and Tankers in solo or team play. Tankers will benefit from Gauntlet's increased range/radius on their cone and AOE attacks, while Brutes will benefit greatly from debuffing incoming enemies.
• Street Justice is a fantastic Powerset for single-target damage, which can pair nicely with the Scrapper and Stalker Inherent Powers, and uses a combo system that rewards players for correctly using combo builders and finishers.
• Brutes and Stalkers will both make excellent use of Radiation Melee, which allows them to irradiate foes. This causes bursts of additional damage when striking them with more Radiation Melee attacks, which will also hit enemies in close proximity to the target.
• Players looking for a bit more range on their melee character should look into the Spines Powerset. It offers a decent number of longer-range attacks while also providing several ways to deal AOE damage, while also slowing and immobilizing foes with toxins.

There aren't really any bad options in Primary or Secondary Powersets for these Archetypes. Players unsure of what Secondary Powerset to pick might consider Bio Armor, Willpower, or Invulnerability. Bio Armor and Invulnerability are both versatile options that can handle many different situations, with Bio Armor offering some offense and debuff-focused options, while Invulnerability has unparalleled defensive capabilities and a smidge of self-healing. Willpower is a great middle-ground between the two and is tremendously flexible.

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Alternative Options (For Solo and Group Play): Blaster, Corruptor, and Sentinel

Players who don't mind sacrificing some defense could also comfortably play solo using the Blaster, Corruptor, and Sentinel Archetypes. These three share a focus on ranged attacks for their Primary Powersets, allowing them to strike at foes from further away and even eliminate some foes before they can get close.

The Blaster gains Secondary Powersets that give them access to a mix of melee, control, and support powers, allowing them to lock down troublesome foes for a short time while they concentrate on other problems. Meanwhile, Corruptors Secondary Powersets are buff/debuff-focused, letting them weaken foes while strengthening themselves and their allies, but they can't take much punishment once they start taking damage. The Sentinel fills a niche somewhere between offense and defense, gaining Secondary Powersets that specialize in defense while using its Inherent Power to expose enemy weaknesses and increase the damage they take.

Here's a breakdown of the Powersets and Inherent Powers these Archetypes have access to:

Here's how their Inherent Powers work:

• Defiance allows Blasters to use their initial powers (chosen at character creation) even when held, slept, or stunned, helping them to keep dealing damage even when most of their abilities are unavailable. It also gives them a stacking damage bonus buff whenever they use an attack power, whose strength and duration is determined by the power used. (Single-target Powers give the largest bonus, generally)
• Scourge allows Corruptors a chance to deal double damage when their target has 50% or less health remaining. The chance to deal double damage increases as the target's health decreases, reaching 100% when they are at 10% or less of their maximum health.
• Opportunity gives Sentinels resistance to effects that would lower their chance to hit and perception, while Vulnerability allows them to reduce a target's resistance and defense to all damage types and status effects, while also removing stealth effects.

Of these three, the Sentinel is the most balanced option for solo play, though all three can perform well solo. These three Archetypes are squishier than the melee Archetypes but have some excellent Secondary Powersets to help offset this. When working in a group with a Tank and able to focus on damage, these three Archetypes can pile on the pain.

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Here are some solid Primary Powerset suggestions for new players:

• Dual Pistols are a good choice for versatility, allowing players to swap ammo types to gain different damage types and deal with different enemies. It also offers a few defense-reducing effects and an assortment of variable self-buffs and debuffs based on the ammo type currently in use. This can be great for dealing with enemies that resist certain damage types. It has a decent selection of single-target and AOE powers, leaning towards AOE over single-target but still offering access to both.
• Seismic Blast is a fantastic Powerset for dealing with flying foes and dealing with enemy defenses. Most of its powers apply a defense debuff to their targets and/or reduce their mobility by disabling flight and jump-boosting effects. While it relies almost entirely on smash damage, it excels at reducing defenses and even provides some defensive utility thanks to its "Seismic Pressure" mechanic, which generates Seismic Shockwaves at the player's location that give them resistance to status effects that would move/relocate them and empower their Seismic Blast attacks with additional effects.
• Water Blast is similarly useful, dealing mainly cold and smash damage but offering defense and speed debuff effects. It also offers a few powers that can temporarily disorient enemies or provide self-healing to the player, while many of its powers generate stacks of Tidal Power that strengthen some attacks even further.
• Electrical Blast is a fantastic option that allows players to drain enemy Endurance, making them unable to use their strongest powers, and can even funnel some of that Endurance back to the player.

Secondary Powersets for these three Archetypes all offer different utility, with Blasters, Corruptors, and Sentinels all gaining access to different options. Players unsure what to pick for a Blaster should consider the Temporal Manipulation Powerset, which can cripple enemies while providing some useful self-buffing powers too. Ninja Training can also be good, providing much-needed Endurance recovery to fuel the Blaster's powers while also providing some defensive buffs and some limited debuff utility.

When picking Secondary Powersets for the Corruptor, indecisive players should consider Poison for a healthy mix of spreading debuffs and damage with a surprisingly competent array of healing powers. Kinetics is also an excellent choice, allowing the player to reduce enemy damage while raising their own team's, and also providing some powerful targeted buffs and debuffs. The Sentinel has access to all the same defensive powers as the previous set of Archetypes discussed higher up, and much of the advice given in the previous section applies to the Sentinel too.

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Alternative Options (for Group/Team Play): Defender, Controller, Dominator

The Defender, Controller, and Dominator are all great choices if players have a friend or two to take on the game with. All three can be quite tricky to play solo but excel when paired up with other players who can take enemy attention off them.

The Defender is an Archetype that specializes in aiding their allies and dealing some damage at a distance, with its Primary Powerset focusing on buffs and healing. Meanwhile, Controllers and Dominators both have Control Powersets as their Primary and are fantastic at locking down enemies and manipulating the battlefield to their advantage.

Defenders get ranged attack Powersets for their Secondary, while Dominators get the functionally similar assault Powersets as theirs. Controllers have buff Powersets as their Secondary, allowing them to support themselves and their allies in the heat of battle. This comes at the cost of all three Archetypes being rather squishy if they end up the focus of enemy attacks, which is why they're best played when playing in a team. That said, all three can solo some content to a certain extent, especially the Controller and Dominator if suitable precaution is taken.

Here's a breakdown of the Powersets available to these Archetypes, and their Inherent Powers:

Here's a quick overview of their Inherent Powers:

• Vigilance grants defenders a Damage Boost based on party size (with the highest boost granted when solo) but really shines in group play, where it provides a scaling Endurance discount to their powers when their allies are injured, helping them to keep up with the buffing and healing. In essence, this helps them to more effectively step up to the plate when things are looking bad.
• Containment causes Controllers to deal extra damage to enemies when those enemies are Held, Slept, Immobilized, or Disoriented. This helps them to pile on with extra damage when an enemy is already in their grasp. Controllers also sometimes gain a bonus magnitude boost (increasing the success rate) on their status effect inflicting Powers when activating them.
• Domination allows Dominators to fill a "Domination" bar by attacking. If the bar is at least 90% full, they can activate Domination to regain all their Endurance and break free from immobilizing Status Effects, while also doubling the duration of all their Control Powers by around 50% and doubling their magnitude.

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Recommended for an Unusual and Challenging Experience (Mastermind)

The Mastermind Archetype is rather unusual mechanically, with its Primary Powersets offering an assortment of pets and minions to handle their dirty work for them. Meanwhile, their Secondary Powersets are themed around buffs and healing to support those minions, along with their teammates. While one of the squishiest Archetypes on paper, with a bit of time and practice they can perform very well solo, using their minions to take the brunt of enemy attacks while providing support and some extra damage from the sidelines.

That said, the Mastermind Archetype involves a fair bit of micromanagement, especially later on in the game, so players should be aware of this when considering the Archetype. The Mastermind's Inherent Power, Supremacy, boosts the accuracy and damage of the Mastermind's pets, while also allowing pets to intercept some damage meant for the Mastermind if they are in "Bodyguard Mode." (This is achieved by setting a pet to Defensive Stance and giving them a "Follow", "GoTo", or "Passive", order.)

City of Heroes

Platform(s)

PC

Released

April 28, 2004

Developer(s)

Cryptic Studios

Publisher(s)

NCSoft

Genre(s)

MMORPG

Metascore

85

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