Yet another introduction to a character. Much like Ant-man and Taskmaster this is mostly focused on the ramblings here instead the gear above. This is just to help people get started in understanding the hero and some of their peculiarities that may not be obvious. If you would care about stat references here is a document with those stats now while I still add, fact check info, and make it look prettier. Link to Stat Document. For those who don't like clicking hyperlinks which I completely understand heres a link to copy.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qyeqkIKe1grxlzYzaP8ODnNZVN6bDAYcE-kfre_qAd4/edit?usp=sharing

Very important first note here the only costume that doesn't change bikes is the Fantastic Four one. The other three have different bikes than the default.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Traits

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attributes-Strength and energy. Both are defense/utility attributes. I prefer energy over strength. Energy reduces all ranged damage which is a little more useful than an extra 1% on our multiplier. Spirit reduction doesn't affect HP costs sadly.

We get 15% crit damage from our traits which is nice. 

Pale Rider is fairly straight fowards when using our travel power we leave a trail of fire for damage. This is unique to Ghost rider now. Pre-BUE Goblin also had damage on his travel power and he still drops the bombs they just do nothing now. 

Protect the Innocent- 210 health regen a second is nice. 

The defensive focus for Ghost rider is Deflect. On consoles it gained a thorns ability that while negligible did makes it a little more comparable to dodge. However that never made it into PC so we just have 50% less damage when it procs.

We also get 20% multipliers with this so if you only have the defense off the trait their actually 720. I was going to discuss defenses a bit later in here since they are kind of important when you constantly cut your HP in half, however I've decided to post this without that discussion being there initially. This will be updated for that lecture eventually after I do more testing. As such here are some quick references for defense stats.

Defense Rating

1500 rating = 4.4% damage reduction

3000 = 8%

4500 = 10.9%

6000 = 13.3%

7500 = 15.4%

9000 = 17.1%

 

Deflect

500 rating = 2.9% deflect chance; 0.6% damage reduction (20% of deflect chance)

1000 = 5.6%; 1.1%

2000 = 10.6%; 2.1%

3000 = 15%; 3%

4000 = 18.9%; 3.8%

5000 = 22.5%; 4.5%

A successful deflect reduces damage received by 50%

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Powers

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Probably the least used power and also the most important at the same time. This is an important power since if you have read our other abilities before reaching this point most either rely on hellfire application or apply it. When it is mentioned it is referring to the dot here. Also why The Book of Demonicus is used in a lot of builds since the dot is still considered a basic for the purpose of stacks.

 The normally suggested chain fillers. Lash(Wet Noodle) is our long reaching melee damage option while Thrash is short ranged and heals. While not important I do want to mention Pre-BUE chain lash was actually labeled as both melee and ranged.

 The best option for using as a spender/filler. Even if you skip the talent in row one weaving might put this above other options. The atk speed boost is only calculated for the base non talented damage and as such with the talent you see the same damage gain as without. This results in technically only gaining half of what would be expected.

The atk speed bonus is not reflected in our actual tooltip so here are the tests I did.

18% atk speed Infinity points no gear (16.7% actual)

No talent-  3,862 listed actual 4,507 gain of 645 dmg - 16.7% gain

With talent- 7724 listed actual 8,369 dmg gain of 645 dmg - 8.35% gain

 

25% atk speed Infinity points no gear (21.1% actual)

No talent - 4,077 listed actual 4,937 - 860 dmg gain - 21.1% gain

With talent - 8154 listed actual 9014 - 860 dmg gain - 10.5% gain

 

19.8% through gear (actual 17.9%)

no talent 5,376 listed 6,338 actual - 962 dmg gain - 17.9%

With talent 10,751 listed 11,714 actual - 963 dmg gain - 8.9%

 

Gear and full infinity points 44.8% (29.6% actual)

no talent 5,590 listed 7,243 actual - 1,653 dmg gain - 29.6%

With talent - 11,180 listed 12,833 actual - 1,653 dmg gain - 14.8% 

 

Fun side note I found out if you switch team-ups to one with no gear the tooltip doesn't update for the loss of stats from team-up gear unless you change maps. Yes, I did have to redo all of these tests after figuring out that was the cause of my initial problem.

 I believe this is the prefered ability used in weaving damnation. Works well for me and I definitly see a dmg increase from weaving them.

 Our two main dots I tend to use both at all times since layers are good things. Dropping one for another ability isn't bad I just don't have any other CD abilities I like using over these.

 Good damage too long of an animation on both for either to actually beat out flay or judgment dps wise without their talents.

 Whirling chain is close if not occasionally slightly better than lash when I was testing. Which I find strange however I suppose double the hits at about half power have better odds of getting more crits and procs without actual damage loss. I really like Hell on Wheels though. I used it to farm dailies, legendary quests and terminal bounties during live and still feel like it is one of the best ways to do them.

 Prior to getting the talent that changes it vengenance is rather silly to use though the terrify can be useful occasionally. I will withold discussing the other 3 until during the talent section.

 Judgement is an auto crit ability and as such tends to find its way into any build.

 Buffs physical base damage 18% and deals decent damage. Must use in physical builds and occasionally in mental if you want a stun. If the icon seems odd for what it actually does in the animation thats because this was the icon for chains a blaze pre-BUE.

 Pulls enemies to you. Good if you are using Chain Thrash otherwise it can be ignored with no real effect on you. If this was a cooldown power like it used to be it might have a little more damage and might see some other use.

 Good quick ability and also the only mental chain ability. Not that being a chain ability matters since chains ablaze has to compete with Contract now.

 Our signature it has an execute and unlike Mr.Fantastic's Positron doesn't seem to be affected by power duration. Which means we really have no use for power duration. even if it was we would need about 54% to reach 2 seconds. My tests may have been flawed on duration here, however I don't feel like messing with it to check again currently. So feel free to stack duration and double check for yourself.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Talents

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Row 1 

Protect the innocent- Gives us a shield when we use vengeance and gives health on hit for chain powers.

Rings of fire- This is a great survivablity increase and since it places an inferno beneath you it isn't awkward to use at all.

Eternal Damnation- This is why Damnation is used as a spender. I believe it is set at 8% of max HP per second for cost.

Row 2

Chains of Vengeance- This talent essentially says you want to use your physical powers more than mental. Crit chance is added onto whatever your crit chance is so if you had 35% this makes physical crit chance 45%. Also buffs our wet noodle a little when hitting hellfire covered enemies.

Flames of Vengeance- same thing as chains only for mental. Tends to be a little more worth it since our signature is mental dmg the extra 10% crit chance is a bit more valuable here. Hellfire damage is important no matter what you do and may find this out performs for chain builds as well if you have enough crit.

Will of Vengeance- only takes effect when we are 50% of our current max HP using contract does not trigger this. Might have some usage with a build that manipulates our health. Probably not worth losing the flat 10% extra crit chance from the others.

Row 3 Bike Talents

Hell on Wheels- This turns whirling chains into whirling chains on a bike. Yes it sounds lame, but it is nice for any quests that require you to destroy the enviornment or for farming bounties in terminals.

Stunt Master- While I'm still iffy on Burn the Treads with this there is no denying that another DOT is never a bad thing especially at that damage level. Could be interesting in a movement build depending on if SAW takes the 25% off Hell From Above before or after this CD reduction.

One final show- Gives us a way to manipulate our health without taking damnation's talent. Gives enough of a damage boost that it is actually worth the animation time.

Row 4 Our Vengeance modifiers

Infernal Contract- is the best damage wise and also used to be much better pre-BUE when it just cost 50% health instead of reducing max health.

Chains a blaze- Used to be its own ability pre-BUE and is sadly not coming close to competing with Contract.

Stoke the Blaze- If this didn't have a 20 second cooldown or if hellfire stacked I might consider using it occasionally however with a sig level cooldown it just doesn't do enough damage.

Row 5

Vengeance Incarnate- The best option here since it free up a spot on the bar for something besides Contract...or whichever version of Vengeance you chose. 1% extra execute is also nice.

I don't think the other two really beat out the extra bar slot that you gain from this first one, but I'll still mention them.

Flay with Fire- If you are weaving with Beam and Damnation this is nice though once again not having to slot contract is just much better. Flay's damage boost is also lovely.

Chains of judgement- Judgment is now a auto brut which is nice. It also buff Flechette from 18% physical dmg to 36%. This has better potential than Flay with Fire however once again if you take this you must slot Contract in the bar and that means DMG loss from losing an ability.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Medallions

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 I like this for the 39% dmg rating and extra defence. Decent amount of atk spd.

 Nice regen on this. Might be worth it if you don't have enough regen on hit or per second for damnation builds.

 20% power radius is a feel good stat to have and other sources of radius are really low %s.

 Invuln and about 15% dmg rating. +8% if cosmic.

 Pure dmg options.

 Both give decent stats.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Artifacts

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cosmic artifact affixes can be important for their extra defensive stats still want the +attributes and Sig cooldown ones for damage though.

 All hellfire procs count as basic hits for this. meaning this essentially says +42.75% dmg after a little build up. Good for long fights and less useful when trying to quickly farm terminals.

 Do i really need to explain why this is good. It has been fairly universally understood since the asgard section released that this is one of the better artifacts in the game. 11.25% crit/brutal dmg combined with the decent 375 hit rating for both actual Brutal damage gain is 22.5% since crit dmg increases it as well.

 Good health, brut chance, and 20% dmg from energy attributes. Even though we don't have a use for the summon damage this is still rather nice.

 12.5% crit dmg, 25% brut dmg, 29.4% base dmg in the proc. My only complaint is that the proc doesn't have the best up time.

 Offers stats we want and is decent if you are just starting to gear it is easily gotten through Danger Room merits. 16% dmg, 8.75% crit dmg and 17.5% brutal dmg.

 An interesting choice that may have some use due to us only having 5 dmg powers not labeled area and a few movement powers that could be used if you want them.

 16% dmg and decent crit/brut chance. I don't consider this great however I may just be overlooking something since it is used a fair amount by people far more knowledgable than myself.

  24.75% dmg, nearly guranteed constant atk spd proc, health and some crit chance. There really isn't anything wrong with this other than needing armor drives to acquire.

 If you need crit chance or brutal chance this isn't bad once again we are almost entirely area damage and can easily proc both physical and mental and those are rather large amounts.

 31% dmg and a decent amount of brutal strike rating. Stealth can be decent for you if you are drawing a bit too much aggro.

 31% dmg against burning enemies which is pretty much all enemies we attack since hellfire is labeled as burning. 8% attack speed means Damnation gains a little extra damage. While I'm not sure it is really optimal I do feel the need to mention it due to the attack speed and damage.

Generic artifacts that are decent or good enough that you can consider using while farming for better.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Legendaries

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Great defensive item and when you drop your HP by 50% regularly this is really useful for surviving.

 30% ranged damage 1.2k ranged crit rate, 10% atk spd. Keep in mind that the actual procs on this are 12k explosion and 20k DOT. Generally listed as the best option dps wise for damnation I think a lot of those never updated after the nerf to Bow. I personally think Warlock's eye might be a bit better though I haven't tested it.

 50% mental damage and 1k crit rate for mental powers. I feel like this is probably better than Bow since we really don't gain much off the extra attack speed from bow which means it would be proc reliant for out damaging this.

  Decent middle ground on survival and damage.

 Physical legendary. Could be ok if you need more brutal strike chance. doesn't help our mental powers that may still be used in chain builds Inferno, Flay, Penance Stare, and most DOTS.

 +50% dmg to area power +25% dmg to chilled enemies. We have lots of area powers. Realistically this isn't terrible in concept if you just want pure dmg and then focus on crit chance in other gear through cosmics or artifact options. Only downside is our sig gets nothing from it. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Uniques

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our own uniques are rather nice most alternatives are either minor upgrades, side grades, or raid uniques.

 Falls a little behind Medallion damage wise since it is brutal damage instead of crit. Better utility however and will especially serve you a little better while gearing due to the utility.

 More damage than Scythes not much else to say.

 This will get mentioned simply because I feel it needs to be mentioned that it can't trigger against bosses based off my testing and a little digging through old forum and reddit posts. Even if it could I never once saw Hellfire dots proc it on mobs.

 Better defensively and a little better damage wise. Fragment is much like Gem of the Kursed you will see it on almost every Hero as a valid if not the best option for slot 1.

  Good defensive option and decent damage wise. Still probably out done by good rolls on a cosmic damage wise.

 This gets used mostly due to the only other options being Coat of the Skull and High Commander Armor neither of which really compete value wise, or a cosmic and slot 3 always rolls a utility affix so it is less than ideal often. Coat might slightly eek out more damage due to the brutal damage rating however the loss of health is a bit too much in my opinion.

 Not a bad unique and if you are running contract as you're flavor of vengeance it is going to do more than other options. As far as alternatives go you really only have cosmics. Slot 4 is a really odd slot for uniques on most heroes where you really only have hero uniques and maybe 2 alternatives in Skrull Military Uniform or "Last Chance" Serrated Boot Knife neither of which do too much for us here.

 This is nice if it had crit damage on it I would probably suggest just not even looking elsewhere. Gets the most benefits with chain builds however it isn't bad for damnation either.

 While I like the free taunting Jocasta it just doesn't have the damage to compete with our own unique.

This is the best option I'm fairly certain. That said it is an Axis raid unique which makes it a little less reasonable to get than Fragment.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 URU

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

As a hybrid hero and due to the constant HP manipulation I feel like  is the best option you can go for  With damnation builds though. The Power Doop Should this really be a suprise we have physical as one of our hybrid damages meaning not much is beating that massive brutal damage gain. The spirit gain is also nice for chain builds.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Relics

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 13.8% crit damage is hard to pass up. You could go for defensive options however.

  at 250 (50% value) we get 110 health on hit and it maxes out at 221 can help offset some survivability issues.

  Defense boost. 1581 defense at max and 790 at a stack of 250. If you haven't built defense elsewhere this will probably put you around double the damage reduction from defense rating at max stacks.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rings

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

You can go a mental physical Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters Class Ring but lets be honest here even though Slings are only one damage type it will still be better since it gives us invuln for 1/4th of contract's duration. I generally prefer mental sling rings over physical. Since almost all our DOTs are mental and our sig which hits rather hard is also mental.

Cosmic rings are as always probably better damage wise and health on hit can roll on offensive rings. That said I haven't tested them so they just remain a footnote.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Infinity Points

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gem infusions do a lot more than you think at that low damage proc. I feel like it might be more beneficial for us to put 1 point into them before really looking at our other options. While I generally think getting to 150 in all gems is important you can probably skip a few of them and prioritize the damage nodes instead of getting the defensive ones.

Starting off you have the normal Crit damage and Brutal damage in Mind and Power. If you are low on brutal chance I would suggest getting the additive % in power since the damage won't do much if you can't consistently hit them.

Reality- Energy attributes give more overall damage however the signature damage is rather nice as well I'm very tempted to say it might be a little better due to the execute on our sig.

Some of my more odd choices are in time and space.

Time - I've gone for dodge chance over atk speed. This is a flat additive percent gain and we get damage reduction off it. Dodge give 40% of the dodge chance as damage reduction so if you get 3% dodge from here you also get 1.2% damage reduction.

Space - I've gone deflect over health similar to dodge we get 20% of our deflect chance as damage reduction so this is slightly less useful and 73 HP per a point in Gravity Well is probably better.

Soul - Health on hit and health per a second are the big ones here and I feel it is really just a preference choice I usually like per a second a little more. +Healing recieved is far too pricey for how little it does. For example our traits give us 210 regen off the back 0.5% (0.005) of that is 1 HP. For just 1 point more you can get 12 more hp per a hit or for 2 points more you gain 13 more hp a second. By the time the healing recieved bonus starts to pay off more you are already at the point of not needing it.