City of Heroes: Choose the Best Travel Power

AntMag.NET

This section discusses the best travel power to choose in City of Heroes, weighing the pros and cons of each option to help players make the most efficient decision.

The Travel Power Debate

Wondering which travel power to take? Well, you've come to the right place! I'll list some pros and cons.

Fly

Pros: Melee attacks can't touch you, and most of the time, ranged attacks are far weaker compared to melee attacks for most mobs. You can snipe enemies on the ground with minimum trouble, providing you have range.
Cons: You are very slow. You have an accuracy debuff, though switching to hover via binds eliminates this.

Super Jump

Pros: Very cool to look at, and has nice vertical movement. Fast.
Cons: Not as fast as Super Speed; an equal level Super Speeder will always beat you in a race, as long as they know the right paths to take. You can land in a group of enemies, which will all get one shot off. It has no -AGGRO (aggro reduction) that Super Speed does, leading to the problem above.

Teleport

Pros: Teleport, if slotted, has the potential to be the best travel power.
Cons: Has to be slotted to be effective. The general consensus is 4 End Reducers and 2 Range Increasers if you are looking to 6-slot it. Some say you need Hover in order to use effectively. Costs way more endurance than any other travel power.

Super Speed

Pros: The fastest. It can't beat Teleport in a straight race if Teleport is 6-slotted, but 6-slotting Teleport is horribly inefficient. As long as you watch where you are going, and you are not in Dark Astoria, running into enemies isn't a big problem. And if you have Stealth/Cloaking Device/any other -AGGRO power, you have complete invisibility with Super Speed on.
Cons: No vertical movement. If you get Hurdle it's not that big of a deal, however.

Recommendation

Looking at this, Teleport can be eliminated due to its inefficiency and slotting requirements. Fly is too slow to be considered efficient for travel. The choice comes down to Super Jump and Super Speed.

In my opinion, Super Speed is the better choice. Almost every character, for maximum efficiency, needs Hasten. Thus, to at maximum power slot efficiency, you need to take Super Speed as well. The lack of vertical movement is not a significant issue in most areas like Faultline, Skyway City, Independence Port, or Terra Volta, as long as you learn the routes or stick to roads and avoid certain problematic areas like the Trench. Super Speed is the way to go for efficiency.

Super Jump offers vertical movement and is fast, but Super Speed is ultimately faster and more efficient when combined with Hasten. I'd suggest copying your character over to the Test Center to try out Fly and Super Jump at least once, as they are quite fun, just not as efficient.

There are very few rare builds that do not require Hasten, such as an Invuln Tanker who only uses toggles, or an FF defender whose bubble cooldowns are low enough. In these situations, another power could be considered.

Why Not To Take Reconstruction, and Instead Take Dull Pain

Most players take Reconstruction for its heal, which can save their life many times. However, I don't suggest it.

The reason is that once you get Instant Healing, Reconstruction becomes largely irrelevant. If you need to use Reconstruction in a battle, you are likely already dead. Dull Pain, on the other hand, is much more helpful. When enemies are killing you in 3 hits, Reconstruction won't help. With Instant Healing, you might survive, but with Dull Pain, you can survive 5-6 hits before going down. If you can take 2 or 3 hits, Instant Healing can patch you up before you die. Dull Pain has excellent late-game usage, where Reconstruction has none.

Some argue that Level 28 is far away, but the late game is much longer than the early game. You will spend more time with Instant Healing than without. The late game is also much harder. In areas like King's Row, fighting Skulls and the Lost is generally not difficult unless unprepared. Even in Talos, with Integration on and perhaps using some Respites, you should be fine. Many players, even at high levels, find they have ample healing through powers and inspirations like Respites, and health regeneration is often sufficient without relying on Reconstruction.