City of Villains Guide: Choosing a Patron - Part 1

City of Villains - much like its counterpart, City of Heroes - provides access to new power pools as your villain gets to the higher levels. This is one way that interesting content becomes available for villains who have waded through the lower levels and achieved level 40. But this choice is not something to be taken lightly. City of Villains makes the impact of your choice much more significant. Its therefore important that you take your time, think carefully and choose the right Patron for your villain.

So who are the Arachnos Patrons? There are four villains in the Arachnos armada that evidently are considered powerful enough to command your respect. They are:

• Black Scorpion - Also known as Ernesto Rodriguez, this technologically-minded Archvillian has a rather large battle suit and works in the Arachnos Science division. What he lacks in intelligence he makes up for with voracity and violence.

• Captain Mako - This shark-looking mutant - aka Gideon Ray - has been known to be used by Lord Recluse as an assassin many times. He is bloodthirsty but maintains a keen intellect, and since he's one of the top, its wise to acknowledge his power.

• Ghost Widow - This ethereal huntress - formerly Belladonna Vetrano - appears to be an actual spirit resurrected and anchored to Arachnos itself. As long as this organization exists, so shall she. She delves in magic, and she appears to have a very keen mind.

• Scirocco - Imad Malak, now known as Scirocco was once a heroic figure. Unfortunately the cursed scimitar he carries binds him to evil acts, so he aims to minimize the level of evil he must do. In his mind, the end justifies the means, but excessive madness is not necessary.

Patron Power Pools are significantly different than the Epic Power Pools in City of Heroes. In City of Heroes, you automatically get access to Epic Power Pools at level 41. With City of Villains however, the access to these power pools must be earned. They are called Patron Power Pools because you choose one of the four Arachnos Patrons to learn from, but just like City of Heroes, you are restricted to only one Patron Power Pool. This makes sense of course, since you can't follow two masters. Each Patron has their own storyline as well, which makes obtaining the powers more interesting as well.

Another important thing to note is that your villain powerset determines what powers are available in a given Patron Power. For example, Stalkers get one set of powers from their Patron, but Masterminds get another set. This is a change from City of Heroes, where everyone gets the same thing. The choice of a Patron is a very important decision, because you can NEVER change your Patron - not even with a Power Respecification. As you can see, its very important that you choose the right Patron for your villain.

Patron Power Pools are an important and valuable choice to be made as you climb to level 40 in City of Villains. Its not a choice to be made lightly, but the rewards for choosing are well worth the effort. Now that you understand the basics regarding the differences between City of Villains and City of Heroes, we'll proceed in part 2 to examine each of the Patrons in more detail.