Power Fist Info for all the Power Fist lovers

Goal: All the bits and tips that can help you get the most out of the Power Fist.

Share anything you think might be helpful. I'll add it if it's good ^_^

Game Version 6.1 (in case I'm away for a while.)

PSA Related to Bulwark. Currently his 30% and 15% melee damage perks are bugged and don't boost your damage though the no knockback seems to still work.

Hopefully get's patched up in the 6.2 hotfix which said to coming between March 3rd-7th

Power Fist General Info and tips

- Fav Weapon perks are
"Faster Charge Prep 30% Faster" CRITICAL
"Ground Shake" and "4m to 8m Range"
"50% damage resist when below 30% health"

- At base the range of it's heavies are 10m. With the reach perk, it's 20m. Video example below. I suspect this will change in update 7.0 in the future.

- Bulwark/Assault with their melee damage perks can one shot majors on Absolute with the Balanced Relic and Artificer Block Fist.

- Charging has no knockback built in to it. Like all no knockdown/back skills, some things still will.
Blue/Red attack from Sword Warrior-Friendly Frag Grenades
Red Attack from Whip Warrior, etc.

- To skip the long pause at the end of the 4th light attack, start to charge and release early. Infinite light combo. Dodge lunge works as well.

- Charging for Power Fist gives 2 lvls of damage accounting for 50% each. Each is signified by a visual/audio cue. Go through the entire heavy combo chain just once to see it in action. (2.5 seconds to hit the 2nd one). Use your reach and release as able.

- The charge attacks damage multiplier increases after 2 lights and again after 4 lights (the uppercut). However, this extra value only happens at very short range. Nice to know but I wouldn't force it.

- The Ground Shake (Ground Slam is more accurate) perk is really good. It's damage multiplier is the same as a charge done after 2-3 lights and it's max hit limit is also 50% higher then all of the base charge attacks.

- Ground Slam is decent at hitting Zoans and especially Neurothropes. Videos below for examples. Risky if they're aggroed on you. Neuro has lots of safe opportunities though. (It's green pulse move is a great chance to get 3 back to back.)

- Due to the Range buff, Ground Slam isn't really needed for attacking Zoans/Neuros anymore. Safer to do from a distance.

-Power Fist Charge attacks, especially Ground Slam's longest reach is directly in front and above you (Zoans/Neuro).

Good Standard Combos (All examples here use quick heavies)

- Due to the buffed base reach, you can do almost nothing but heavies now, throwing out lots of half charges is a legit way to attack and keep staggering the enemy.

- Light-Light-Heavy (Quick, easy and hits the 1st powered up charge)

- Heavy-Heavy (requires Ground Slam Perk. 2 powered up heavies back to back thanks to Ground Slam skipping part of the combo chain) (Ground Slam followed by Hammer Hook)

- Light-Light-Light-Light-Heavy (more of a chaser tech, if a warrior jumps away from you, often continuing your light and letting the final heavy fly will make for a good finisher)

- (Heavy-Heavy-light-Heavy) Ground Slam skipping parts of the combo. will actually take you through the full combo chain.

What Version to use?

Ranking them from Best to worst. Still use what you like, I use them all though the block version is more a novelty case.
1.) Fencing Relic- It's speed makes getting through combos much easier and being able to parry last second means you can sneak your heavies in where balanced would have to abort Good choice if you just need easy and reliable. It's big weakness is the low cleave so you'll want to account for the lower max hit limit. (A normal heavy will only hit about 5 enemies.)



2.) Balanced Relic- I really like it's power and cleave since it makes for more powerful heavies and ground slams. Swarms are less of an issue. Bulwark/Assault with their melee damage perks can one shot majors on Absolute with this Fist. (Normal heavy will hit about 9)


3.) Block Relic-With the way Block weapons have been buffed and Power Fist reach being so much better, this is a fun way to use the Fist. It's high cleave means you can hit way more enemies then normally possible. The 30% and 15% damage shield bash perks can raise it even higher combined with the adrenaline charges. Same for Assault. (Normal heavy will hit about 14)

Class Notes: Bulwark

Bulwark is much more forgiving with Power Fist since his Block Cancel stops any attack animation. To perform simply hold block during an attack as needed. Good for dodging sudden Red Attacks. This works with any melee weapon.

Examples: Shortening the Heavy attacks, making shield bash into a quick safe strike that lets you get your shield back up and then of course the funny shield bash spam.

A Clean less noisy example. BTW, safe way to practice perfect dodges. If you mess up, you just take it on the shield.

How I 1 shot Majors on Absolute?
Use the 30% and 15% melee damage shield bash perks to turn RelicBalanced/ArtificerBlock Fist into 1 shot killers against Majors on Absolute. (Bugged as of Ver 6.1, double check for yourself after the 6.2 update if I haven't udpated this yet)

Class Notes: Assault

Just an option. Can be done if weaker and hopefully peppered with some shots. I was very lucky in this video as if that hadn't been a kill, I was about to eat a scream to the face. I'm using a hammer here but the idea was inspired by Power Fist and of course works with Power Fist. ^_^

How Do I 1 Shot Absolute Majors?
Using the +25% charge attack, +15% to Major/Exterminas and 20% Extremis/Terminus Team perks Assault will hit even harder then Bulwark. But you will have to be more conscious of your timing since you will be slower then Bulwark without the ability to animation cancel.

Requires the RelicBalanced/ArtificerBlock Fist

Zoan Specific Info

#1 tip, get the shield up on 1 right away. This reduces how often it attacks. Takes a bit of pressure off both you and your team. Some classes can burst fast enough to skip this.
#2 save ammo for these guys if you're on Nid missions, relic is ideal at higher difficulty.
#3 Heavy's shield blocks all their attacks including the beam. So go to town.
#4 Bulwark shield can block the orbs but you'll need a "No Knockback perk" to prevent stagger
#5 On Sub, Power Fist will 1 shot, on Ruthless/lethal you'll want to pepper the Zoans a bit so you can just out right kill them.
#6 If you're just interested in a firefight, keep your distance. The beam only triggers when you're close enough.

Killing Zoans can be dangerous work with the Power Fist but there are a couple things you can do to increase your chances of success. For example, the damage resist perks are great for helping you stay alive.

The ideal timing is to prepare your Heavy Attack while it's attacking someone else. But if not, you can tank the green orbs to secure your kill. Beware, if you see the animation for the beam, dodge around to his rear. Video below demonstrates all the basic aspects.

• Weapon Perk Top Row Power Fist 50% damage resist perk during Charge Up
  
• 1st column perk 25% damage resist on armor lost (It's not absolutely necessary as the killing power of aoe on parry perk is really good to have. Other 2 can suffice.
  
• 3rd column perk 30% damage resist when below 50% health
  
  
  
  
  
  This clip helps give a rough estimate of the distance. You basically want to aim with your forehead. As it moved, normally I would cancel and close the distance to restart. Only the class perks activated so this doesn't even have the power fist damage resist.
  
  Ruthless difficulty.
  
  
  Assaults can do this as well but without the tanking perks and self sustaining heals, this is a way riskier maneuver but not impossible. You really have to play safe, however a well timed ground pound just as the Zoan lowers to the ground during it's orb attacks is also an opportunity. At a potential 60% damage boost over Bulwark 45% Assault can put the hurt on them.

Neurothrope Killing Demonstration

Note: before the final hit, I tested to see if the power fist knockback resist would hold me in place. It didn't, so just shield block there. 0:38

Examples of Power Fist hit distance using terrain

1st set is the base range now ^_^ (Ground slam is same)
2nd set stacks the 8m perk on top of it

Can helpful for learning your range.

Use Lock On to better aim Power Shots

With the huge range, sometimes the melee aim assists will send your charged heavies against the wrong target.

Use the Lock On Mechanic in short intervals to insure you hit your target.

For Keyboard and Mouse, I remapped my lock on key to L-Alt for easier access.

PLACE HOLDER (Self note to build a PVP specific section)

Ramblings

OUT OF DATE
Kept all my practicals at the start. No real tricks. Just my thoughts on my favorite weapon.

As you may see in the video, the weapon has a lot of potential but several strange design decisions hold it back. So much is hidden and unexplained. I'm fairly certain I"m the first person to discover you could kill Zoans and murder Neurothropes with it. A god send for a frustrated Assault/Bulwark who's out of ammo.

-it has no partial charge, visual or audio cues for it's charge like the Hammer. So it's hard to learn, poorly explained and all or nothing. (It now has partial charge)
-It's range while deceptively long (some good examples in the vid) has no effective visual feedback for what that range actually is. The longest part especially with the 8m and Ground Shake Perk, is roughly a cone effect in front of you so it's pretty narrow. Been described at a 10 degree cone specifically. (It's range is now consistent at base and really long with the range perk)

-You can't aim that long reach reliably. This is one of those things that I wish someone would prove me wrong on. Not because you have to learn it by trial and error but the game has some form of auto aim built into it's melee. So many times I'll have a perfect placement for a shot and the game decide "I see you're pressing straight ahead but I think we should aim about 45 degrees to your left" NO!!! (Still true, least it'll hit whatever it punches at)
-Power Fist max hit limit for it's speed is low. The Hammer feels good not just because it's hard hitting but it's max hit limit is roughly double that of all of Power Fist moves. Same goes for Power Sword though not as dramatic. (Still has low hit limit but with the increased range and faster charging, it's a serious puncher)

Changes (not all of them) I'd like
1.) increasing the max hit limit of all the base heavies to match the ground shake.
2.) better cues for charging or at least partial charges. With this, even if you see an interruption (Blue attacks from majors/minoras being common) you still get some benefit from an incomplete charge. (Cues and reach was added ^_^)
3.) Making the 8m reach perk built in. If they did nothing else but this I could see it being enough since you actually have room. (It's basically built in now but you can double up if you want)
4.) I've seen some people suggest increasing it's stepping distance on light attack a small amount. (Not needed anymore)
5.) Build in the 33% charge speed perk. Without it the power fist charge is so slow as to be silly. (Is somewhat built in now, but still worth taking)

Leave a comment if you have your own tips to add that I may have missed or just want to chat about Power Fist ^_^

[DD The Pumpkin King]

I found the relic block version fun to spam with half charges just for thick swarm clearing but the pure power of artificer block has easily made it my favorite now ^_^

[Link-Hero-1]

Thanks for the great tip with the Artificer Block-Powerfist. Found the Relic version kinda disappointing, but the Artificer hits the spot.

[DD The Pumpkin King]

It's connected to your melee attack so afraid not.

[jeepjumping_jonah]

Is there a way to rebind the input needed to swap?

[jeepjumping_jonah]

The hold attack method always makes me power attack without swapping stance, same with dodge attack. The only semi-consistent way I've found is to hit attack and scroll at the same time

[DD The Pumpkin King]

There a couple of fancy ways to change sword mode between speed style and power style but really you only need to learn 2 methods.

1.) Hold attack while running or standing. Simplest but slowest
2.) dodge and attack but hold the attack, he'll swap to the other mode while performing it's attack version. Useful for mid combat and staying moving.

[jeepjumping_jonah]

speaking of power sword, how do I consistently swap stance with it? I swear every time I've done it before it's been an accident.

[DD The Pumpkin King]

Atm, Power Fist overall. Lot can happen in update 7.0 so we'll see.

Fencing Power Sword on the other hand does have an edge against swarms compared to Fencing Power, just be sure to leverage Power Rake for all it's worth.

[AnotherDoomSlayer]

Power fist vs power sword which one wins?

[DD The Pumpkin King]

Ya this is why I have a really hard time giving up the Ground Slam perk because it solves a major weakness of power fist and gives it a unique niche in killing flying enemies.

Also why I enjoy the Balanced, it's aoe is markedly better then the fencing version. Occassionally I get the perfect slam and out large swathe of the minoras as seen in some clips.

I still can't tell if the weapon have piercing at all but generally it seems better at hitting rows then deep lines. Yet this is also not always the case. I've had a SINGLE minoras take the entire hit for enemies behind it and later watched it wipes a straight line of 6-8 of them.

Hard to test but I think it's related to height. So going to be paying attention to that bit of detail.