Travel
powers in DC Universe Online are far more than just a zippy way to get
from here to there. They are actually more akin to other powersets
offered in the game, complete with progression trees and even special
moves that can be used during combat. Whether you've decided to float
through the air with the greatest of ease, or be faster than a speeding
bullet, there's far more to these abilities than initially meets the
eye.



Which is a very good thing because - let's be honest - the
pickings are slim. When faced with the meager offering of only three
travel abilities to choose from, most DCUO players give a resounding
"meh?"



In this guide, I will show attempt to bring to light some
of the many customization options that each of these powersets contain.
What begins with a mere three options is actually just a gateway into a
world of possibilities.


Super Speed

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style="width: 260px; height: 195px;" alt="The Flash"
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Faster Than A Speeding
Bullet

Modeled after The
Flash, this is the fastest of all of the available travel powers, but
also the most vertically challenged. Jumping under the effects of Super
Speed gives you great horizontal distance, but not the ability to leap
tall buildings in a single bound. To overcome this obstacle, this power
includes the ability to run along obstacles without the interference of
gravity. As long as you remain in motion, you'll be able to zip
straight up the sides of buildings and even along ceilings hanging
upside-down.



This can be very disorienting. Since your character
is pretty much glued to the surface, you'll frequently find yourself
running along too close to a nearby trash can or lamp post, and
suddenly running along its tiny surface in circles at a 90-degree angle
to the ground, unable to proceed along your intended course. To avoid
this as much as possible, give yourself plenty of space while using
this power. Don't hug corners, and don't try and zip over jagged debris
fields. Think of it this way: If you're traveling near the speed of
sound,
would you really want to trip?


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style="width: 320px; height: 279px;" alt="Wall running"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93775">

Keep moving and you can
defy gravity!

The
speedster's super-leap is a trick that takes some practice, but when
used properly can let you overcome obstacles like small buildings and
dangerous areas through the clever use of your surroundings. To
initiate this super-leap you must be attached to the surface
of an
object in such a way that you are "defying gravity" (and will fall if
you hold still). Pressing jump at this time will initiate a
controllable leap several times more powerful than you basic jump. The
easiest way to practice this is to take a run straight at a building,
and leap once you're attached to it. Continue pressing the direction
you were originally running, and you'll find yourself quickly scaling
the building in aerial mode. Using this trick with passing cars,
mailboxes and planters takes a bit more practice and finesse, but is
very rewarding to learn to do well.



The
very first speedster
power you'll be able to invest in, beginning at level 9, is a
supersonic speed boost that can be initiated while in superspeed mode
and drastically increases your rate of movement, finally allowing the
power to live up to its name. The next movement-enhancing ability you
can invest in gives you the ability to translate falling momentum into
horizontal motion, allowing for a type of short-term flight when
descending from elevated areas.



The
remaining powers available in
this tree seem to focus primarily on stunning, pushing and pulling your
opponents around the battlefield. Through the use of your incredibly
fast reflexes, you can created a vortex that sucks enemies toward you,
or propels them away. If you invest your points properly, you can also
learn techniques that draw upon the kinetic energy of your enemies to
restore yourself and your teammates during a difficult battle, while
draining the surrounding enemies of their energy and health.


style="width: 480px; height: 270px;" alt="Combat!"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93776">



Investing
into the top-most skill in this tree enables you the option of becoming
a whirling dervish of death, spinning around the battlefield at
blinding speeds and knocking any unfortunate enemies away from you
while restoring your own energy. And, as with both of the other travel
powersets, speedsters can also invest their points into buffs that
increase their stability and resistance to knockbacks and stuns. There
is also a "bounce back" power that draws upon your supercharge, that
will restore a large amount of health and power and render you
temporarily immune to control powers. But since supercharge takes so
long to build up, I wouldn't personally recommend relying upon this
ability on a regular basis.



Up
Next:  Acrobatics
...


Acrobatics

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style="width: 254px; height: 276px;" alt="Harley"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93773">

More Powerful Than
a Locomotive...

Picking
this powerset gives you much more than just Batman-like agility. It
also breakneck running speeds fast enough to propel you over the
surface of water, and the ability to crawl along walls like your
friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!



Wrong franchise, I know, but I'm afraid I can't think of a DC
equivalent. So sue me!



Of
course, this ability to wall crawl can lead to the same frustrations as
Super Speed - your character will occasionally latch onto surfaces you
had no intention of interacting with, and controls get even more wonky
when you're near a ceiling or hanging feature like an indoor lamp. The
best bet is probably to simply turn this power off while indoors
because it's best to live without the frustration of sticking to a wall
or object while in the middle of a battle.



The running speed of
this powerset is not quite as fast as Super Speed on the ground, but it
makes up for that with a great deal of vertical freedom. From wall
climbing and double-jumping, you'll find this powerset is a great
middle ground between lightning-fast ground action of Super Speed and
the total aerial freedom of Flight. In fact, find yourself a high
enough perch to leap from and hold down your jump button while in the
air and you'll find yourself gliding with ease over huge portions of
the city, free from the confines of that pesky ol' gravity.


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style="width: 280px; height: 215px;" alt="Gliding"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93770">

Why didn't I just pick
Flight?

While
Super Speed and Flight both have abilities that give you an extra speed
boost, Acrobatics instead offers you the opportunity to enter what
amounts to an "auto-fly" mode which changes your standard glide into a
rocket-assisted form of flight with the press of a button. What this
means is that, while this powerset begins it's life as the
middle-ground in terms of speed, it ends up at the bottom of the pack
even if you purchase this enhancement. Furthermore, the height of your
rocket-glide is not controlled by the player and instead automatically
adjusts itself on the fly using some sort of complicated pathfinding
system which makes it a bit unpredictable near bridges or the
open-sided parking garages in Gotham City, and utterly useless on
interior maps like the Watchtower and Fortress of Doom. Unless you
happen to enjoy having your camera crammed into the ceiling.


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style="width: 120px; height: 160px;" alt="Grapple"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93771">

Whip it good!

What
Acrobatics lacks in speed however, it attempts to make up for with
fancy gadgets and toys. Included in this powerset are a number of
grappling hook abilities that can allow skilled players to swing from
buildings with ease and scale buildings with blinding speed. You can
also use these same ziplines to grab your opponents and pull them in
close, or tie them up and immobilize them.


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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93772">

Just hangin' out.

And let's not forget
that this powerset is inspired by heroes like Batman, Robin and Harley
Quinn - the most nimble and dangerous hand-to-hand fighters in the DC
Universe. It stands to reason that it would include a few maneuvers
that assist in kicking some serious tail, and this powerset does not
disappoint on that front! With just a few points into the tree you can
be flipping across the battlefield and laying a surprise beatdown on
unsuspecting foes with ease, and just a bit more investment makes you
the slipperiest sucker around with abilities that stun your opponent
while sending you soaring backwards to relative freedom. While you've
got some distance, why not toss out a salvo of throwing knives?
 Don't mind if I do!



To compliment the standard knockback
and stun resistances, this powerset also offers a few different sudden
escape options that can be used to break out of the enemies' control
powers while at the same time retaliating against such attacks. You
can't tie down an acrobat!


style="width: 613px; height: 287px;" alt="awesome!"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93774">



Up
Next:  Flight ...


Flight

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style="width: 440px; height: 156px;" alt="Flying"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93767">

Able To Leap Tall
Buildings In A Single Bound!

This
is it folks - the quintessential superhero ability. What kid hasn't at
one time or another dreamed of soaring into the air like Superman or
Green Lantern? What a rush it would be to experience the exhilirating
freedom and the majesty of looking out
over your city from above like a benevolent deity watching over its
subjects, or a bird of prey scouting out for its next meal.



In
DCUO, this powerset has the slowest base forward movement speed of the
three
available sets but more than makes up for this with the combination of
total and utter z-axis freedom, as well as forgoing the 'sticky feet'
syndrome that tends to plague both Super Speed and Acrobatics. But it's
not all sunshine and roses, as you have a great deal of momentum while
in the air and fine-tuning your movements can be tricky. I highly
recommend running a few of the race courses laid out around Gotham and
Metropolis, to get a feel for the unique handling of Flight in this
game.


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style="width: 269px; height: 158px;" alt="Duck!"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93766">

He's comin' right at us!

The
Sonic Boom ability is definitely a must-have in this set, since it
brings this power's travel speed up a respectably "super" level. The
remainder of the powerset however, combines aerial acrobatics with a
certain amount of
control over the air itself, resulting in a strange combination of
hands-on and hands-off abilities. It's probably going to be up to your
individual playstyle to pick and choose which style works best for you.



In
the realm of the up-close-and-personal, we have abilities like a pair
of aerial dives that will quickly close the distance with your enemies
while knocking them helpless for a few seconds, much the way that
Superman crashed into Lex Luthor in the famous DCUO trailer we've all
come to adore. Fliers can also manipulate air pressure to cause a
vortex that will draw distant enemies into fisticuffs range, as well as
an opposite effect that will send all nearby enemies flying away from
you. And if you prefer a hands-off approach, there are also abilities
that will lift and throw enemies, or simply render them unable to act
for a short amount of time by knocking the wind out of them.



And
that really seems to be the overall focus of the combat moves for
Fliers - push, pull, and knockback. The point seems to be rendering the
enemy helpless while he reels from the forces of your wind-based
onslaught.

style="width: 579px; height: 420px;" alt="Fly By"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93768">

The escape abilities of this set, which rely on the
aforementioned supercharge mechanics, appear to be extremely
devastating. While one knocks all of your surrounding opponents to the
ground and deals air pressure damage, the other will knock them all
back while shooting you into the air to either escape or prepare for
another nosedive assault. Either way, it's sure to keep the enemy off
his feet. But if you can fly, that's just the natural state of things.





-----



But
what about tunneling or ice-surfing? Where's my invisible jet?! Got a
powerset you'd love to see in DCUO, or a question about an existing
travel power? Join the conversation below!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our DC Universe Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

A longtime fan of competitive gaming, Jeremy got his first chance to work in the field as a writer for eSportsMax. Now eSports Editor for TenTonHammer, he looks to keep readers aware of all of the biggest events and happenings in the eSports world, while also welcoming new fans who aren't yet sure where to go to get the most relevant information. Jeremy always looks to provide content for new fans and veterans alike, believing that helping as many people as possible enjoy all the scene has to offer is key to its growth.

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