Chalyss

Regarding temp travel powers, I've noticed that, thanks to them, you can push real travel powers back quite a ways, and I do mean QUITE. I've broken down and taken them at level 26 or 28, just because I still have the "must take by 14!!!" mantra stuck in my head, but if you have both temp powers and don't forget to turn them off when not using them, they will last an extremely long time. I think I'll make a toon that doesn't take a travel power until absolutely necessary and see how long that ends up being. I'm thinking level 38, or, depending on how fast you level, maybe even 50. And even then, you can go buy a temp raptor pack at the Zulu base.

If you out-level a temp travel power (level too fast and miss the mission opportunity), yes, you can exemp down and still get it, too. This is all awesome for a die-hard Natural toon, only using manmade devices for travel, though I am not that pedantic about it.

Personally, I get the raptor pack at level 8 (available 6-10, I believe) and the G-pack at 11/12. This works out very nicely.

Welcome back!! Hope you find it fun again!

Don't think I ever mentioned on the boards how helpful this guide has been for me and my little dom. Great Guide! Thanks so much for it! Still holding at 36, but been a great ride!

My experience is mostly with */rad controllers, but basic principles apply. Are you planning on soloing or teaming more often? If soloing, I would say take the two blasts as level 1 and 2, then RI. The first few levels pass so quickly, you won't notice you don't have RI. Then take RI and then Acc Met.

I only had trouble with hasten once on my girl, and that's when I soloed an Elite Boss with her (he was blue, to be fair). At the very last, hasten would take it's toll and I'd have to run. Eventually, I smartened up, turned hasten off auto (this was pre-ED) and had no problem finishing the boss off. That was level 18. So it can cause a problem, but if you don't auto-fire it, you should be fine. Again, it didn't cause me any problem at the lower levels, even on auto.

If you plan on teaming, the build you posted it fine. Have fun! */rad is an amazing secondary!

Huh!! I did not know this. Thanks for enlightening me!

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my 2 influence:

Smoke and Bonfire: Unless you want to lean heavily on some pool powers, I would take both for PvE. Neither is bread or butter, but both are effective.

Smoke is really nice coupled with SS + Stealth to provide a limited Group Invisibility. If you do have it you start with this every time. It is also good in the 40+ range in those really cramped Malta missions where you are afraid to pull multiple spawns. Depending on your build etc. maybe a range, or a recharge, I think it is no longer autohit.. so maybe an acc.

Bonfire shines in cramped, heavily populated maps. Like the Orenbega maps. It is also sweet for the respec mission in Terra Volta. With 3 Recharge SO's you can get 3 out at once (with hasten and AM) it is fun bouncing Freakshow tanks like pinball. Bonfire was all powerful back in the day, when you could PL thoese CoT portal missions. They provide sustaining control kinda like a toggle but without costing end. You could build a character around Bonfire. 3 recharge, 2 end red, 1 range.

Flashfire is the best control power fire has. Once this is slotted and once you have imps you can respec out of RoF and Fire Cages (if you want of course) 6 slot love here. Only using Char on bosses or stragglers. However Flashfire is the sux in PvP.


All in all you have 2 basic plans you can scraptroll or you can be ranged. Fire/rad have so many options that I suggest doing both! Use your respecs to keep your character fresh.

The only power I would totally avoid is Fallout. That said I haven't used it with containment but unless it has been tweaked in the last year or so, its area of effect is just too small. Get a power like Vengeance instead if you want a dead body power.

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I respeced out of smoke some time ago and while I am still somewhat iffy on the decision, I haven't noticed it affecting my playstyle at all (though it was very good for lower levels and traveling in the Hollows). I have never tried bonfire and have since copied Beti to test to try it out. There are so many mixed feelings about that power that I decided to make up my own mind first hand. Most people say skip it, which I have done for a very long time now. I don't want to take a dead body power like vengeance as I don't have two other powers to spare to get to it. Believe me, I know Fallout is touted as a ridiculous waste of space, which is why I wanted to Test it. Just for fun. (Though one day I want to make a toon that is all about just trying those powers I could never fit into my other builds.)

Flashfire IS, I agree, teh awesome here. And while I might be committing fire controller blasphemy, I am seriously thinking about dropping Cinders altogether since I never use it except when I accidently think it's flashfire. If bonfire pans out, that may be the one I take and maybe grab Cinders again much later in the game.

I respectfully disagree about respecing out of fire cages once flashfire is obtained... I find fire cages invaluable for keeping dazed MOBs from staggering off after opening with FF. SS+FF+FC+RI(optional)+HF with a char spamming ends MOBs FAST. Beti can easily take down oranges and reds in record time, a good spawn of them. Radiation Infection is good for more than three in a spawn, but they'll all be 'arrested' too quickly in a spawn of three or less, so RI isn't worth putting up most the time (unless there is a boss or you feel you're taking too much damage). Since I'm not attacking, I can run in with SS and let off FlashFire before supression and before the MOBs can react to her presence, hit fire cages so they don't wander off, activate hot feet and throw char around with an added dash of fire cages and this really does the trick.

The suggestion to use respecs to try out both ranged and melee fire/rad trollers is a very good one and will be tested. I know your post wasn't necessarily directed at me, but thanks for sharing your two inf.! You gave me some good things to consider.

(and I love that we get the veterans rewards now... what a super idea! I so adore Sands of Mu as a great extra attack and filler power. Reliable? Well, with RI it tends to be pretty okay and lots of fun to use.)

REALLY nice guide! Very comprehensive, thanks for sharing!

I find */rad lends very well to some safe scrapping with my Beti Hott and hot feet demands melee range, so unless I am teaming, my toon is usually in the 'heat' of battle, up close and personal. As I solo more than team with her due to time conflicts, this works very well. Even so, she is invaluable on the team and I try to keep a gimick or two set aside that is uber team-friendly, like recall friend and mutate.

I have never considered even trying Fallout, but after what you wrote above, I think I might try it on test, just to see how it works with mutate. I'm sure I'd be laughed at if anyone bothered to look at Beti's powers, but there are times when no matter what, things go sour and someone ends up face-planting. Recall friend may not even be needed if Fallout works well enough. (Though I understand recall friend has other applications.)

My fire/rad troller has been, hands down, my most fun toon ever. She's really amazing, all things considered. After Containment hit, her damage output has been impressive, without imps, even! Hard to believe I was so upset upon first hearing about containment until I tried it on test... now, I never want the devs to change it!

!!!I LOVE CONTAINMENT!!!

Just so the devs know.

Again, super guide!

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one of those rare */mace tanks and to be honest, I have yet to see another

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Raises hand, long live knockback & bucking the fotm :]
-a

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*LOL* Yay! I actually saw another fire/mace, also lvl 50, a couple days ago. I was so impressed to see one, I chatted with him in tells for a little while. Mace simply is not popular except for character concept reasons I think, probably because it is so lackluster. It /just/ gets the job done, but I had heaps of fun playing her and don't regret the choice, I just wish the set had a little more oomph somewhere.

The higher, the fewer!

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rolled an ice/max tank the other night up to lvl 8, pretty fun thus far.

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Still enjoying it? I never got far with an ice tank, but I like the look of them.

Well, I found a use for burn-- status protection, as you well know, I am sure. Especially against immobilizes, such as with the CoT. It's not a huge concern, but just annoying enough that I am seriously considering respeccing back into burn for that reason. Other than that, I haven't noticed much, but I am working on newer characters a lot these days, too.

And it sure would have been nice to have the new order back in my younger days! Enjoy the reshuffle! And definitely, have fun! Glad to see others joining the ranks of the brute squad!

Thanks for the great replies, Project O and Centinull! You both answered me very well and I think I felt my brain crease with the new info! (Kinda gross, actually)
Ta muchly!

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Also Cowdragon, most people HATE dominator's snipe powers. It doesn't pack nearly as much punch as your wife's corruptor's does. Just be forewarned!

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I checked the numbers of the corr's base damage for a snipe blast: 8.9168. Then I checked the dom's base for the same snipe power (blazing bolt): 8.9168.

Why is the dom's snipe inferior to the corr's? There's a different damage scale, yes?

Wow, responses! Obviously, this was posted before ED. Centinull is right... you can now actually slot for damage! YAY! I have again respecced since this post and took out hasten, too, since I had such a large attack chain that I didn't need it anymore. Also, I dropped Burn, though I'm not too sure about that decision yet. While it has become increasingly situational, there ARE situations for it.

Concerning Burn, I warned against knockback effects originally... now, it doesn't matter so much. KB can be your friend when the Burn patch isn't your biggest worry. If you DO take Burn, it can be much later in the build.

When I respecced, I found there were so many slots now available that I wasn't sure where to put them all. Just as Centinull suggested, you may want to use those for end reduxes in attacks, since stamina's effectiveness has been reduced.

Good luck and have fun!!

Great guide, thanks for that! Question though (and I know this is a source of debate): in your opinion, is stealth better than smoke? I had smoke on my CoH troller, then respecced out at 24, haven't really missed it (have SS on that one, too), but I have an ice/fire dom who has stealth and that's helped her a lot. Now I am wanting to make a fire/plant dom and wondering if I should just skip both or if one is better than the other. Your thoughts?
My thanks in advance!

This is awesome, thank you! Exactly what I was looking for. I keep rerolling a brute named Beshemoth, trying new things with her, never satisfied. Last night I decided on ss/fire and ran through 5 levels without noticing, because I was playing the 'let's see how fast the fury bar fills' game. So far, I am loving this build!

I DID take jab, then punch and blazing aura though... I have a lvl50 fire tank on CoH, and I know how much I loved BA then, but brutes are not tanks, so not sure if I should reroll one last time and postpone BA till later, ditch punch and grab boxing instead or just tough it out. I know I can make it work. Hmmmm... food for thought.

Thanks again for the great guide!

**Update:
On Test Server Crowd Control, Shatter and anything else described as having knockback DOES still have knockback. However, if you can't use burn so much, it may not matter. My staple attacks are Bash, Pulverize, Jawbreaker and Whirling Mace.

Please add this to the Guides list:
Being the Brute Squad - a look at Fire/Mace Tankers

Thank you!

Catering more to the Mace secondary, here are the thoughts of a level 50 fire/mace tank:
Being the Brute Squad- a look at Fire/Mace Tankers

Power Curve- lvl 50 Fire/Mace Tanker

First, there are lots of great guides to fire tanks on the Forums. They will all probably provide you with better facts than this guide will, as I am primarily looking at the secondary set, but I'm going to go over my opinions on Fiery Aura anyway.
After many months of hard playing (over 375 hours logged), my baby girl, Power Curve, finally achieved True Hero Status. Twice, in fact, as she also hit 50 on the test server earlier that day. Neat!
Power Curve (or PC) is one of those rare */mace tanks and to be honest, I have yet to see another. No, wait, I think I saw one back when PC was level 12 or something, but I was never able to see any of the moves or animations and never saw a */mace in action. Pinnacle server doesn't seem to spawn many of them.
So after 50 levels, a few respecs and some test server playing, I am ready to present my findings and opinions, all without the benefit of hard numbers. If you REALLY REALLY want the numbers, I can dig them up from other peoples' guides if you ask me real nice, but other than that, I'd rather just play versus crunching numbers.

As a tanker, it is strongly suggested that you build to live. Even level 50 Invuln (pre-Ish 5) get overwhelmed and end up face planting sometimes. The fire tank is the softest (again, pre-ish 5) of the tank sets and should be slotted heavily for defense above and beyond damage dealing. I went through 38 levels with only two attacks from my secondary and did just fine.
So what's so great about the war mace, you might ask? Well, frankly, nothing. It's there, it's servicable, it does the job. It's rare and some people prize that and certainly I've been told by others that they respect I took the mace and not something flashier or more common, but to be honest when I chose my sets I had no idea what I was doing. That I picked a fire tanker was a fortunate happenstance.
The mace has mid-range damage, mid-range mitigation abilities, eats end like cake frosting, the animations tend to be long and there's one flashy attack in the entire set. Why choose it? Heck, why not. It worked for me. Good enough, right?
Let's look at those attacks real quick:
(oh look at this... I have numbers from CoH Planner. Neat)

Bash- lvl 1. Your first attack, you can't get around it. It does moderate damage with a small chance to disorient. Its a fast animation and does half-decent damage. This will be a staple for a long time.
END: 7.5
RCG: 4
RNG: 5
SM DMG: 2.7778
ACT: 1

Pulverize- lvl 2. Your second attack. Also not so bad and deals high smashing damage. This and Bash will be with you a very long time. In fact, they will be ALL you have for a very long time. That's okay, because it's a good, servicable combo. This attack, too, has a small chance of disorienting your opponent, but I've seen Bash do it more often.
END: 12.5
RCG: 8
RNG: 5
SM DMG: 4.5556
ACT: 2

Taunt- lvl 4. Not an attack, per se, but very necessary eventually and actually a lot of fun. This is the last time I dipped into the secondary until level 38. You may want more toys than that, but I strongly encourage you to focus on defense first. Besides which, you chose Fiery Aura, you have other ways to deal damage. (Not to mention getting a LOT of use out of Brawl and Boxing.)
END: 0
RCG: 3
RNG: 7
ACT: 2

Clobber- lvl 10. The Prima Guide will tell you to get this ASAP and use it to mitigate damage. I was not able to get it until about lvl 49 when I had test server respecs to play with. My take on this? Go right past it. Sure, you knock your opponent silly for about 5 seconds total, and for the first second, they even stay still. When you get a false sense of security and turn away to deal with the sober MOBs, this one spins/flies/runs off at an excessive rate of fastness, all the while sporting little cartoon dizzy marks around her head. I spent more time chasing this clobbered MOB than it was worth. Ignore this power completely. It is NOT a ghetto hold, it's just aggravating.
END: 14.5
RCG: 12.0
RNG:
SM DMG: 0.6944
ACT: 2

Build up- lvl 16. You want to concentrate on defense first, right?? Riiiiight. However, this is a good late level thing to take I suppose. Not really my cup of tea for a tanker, though. Does what it's supposed to do- adds extreme damage and some accuracy. I tried this once and respeced out almost immediately. Guess it depends on your vision of your character and her role.
END: 6.0
RCG: 90.0
ACT: 1
DUR: 10

Jawbreaker- lvl 20. Now you're getting some good attacks. However, it's still too early to take this. Not a bad attack, really. Offers high damage and the ACTivation time isn't so bad. Lots of knockup with this one, which is ALWAYS better than knockback, especially for a fire tanker. This deals extreme damage and you'll be very tempted to take it. Not yet, Grasshopper. Patience.
END: 12.5
RCG: 10.0
RNG: 5
SM DMG: 5.4444
ACT: 3

Whirling Mace- lvl 28. My personal favorite, it's a Point Blank Area of Effect attack and the niftiest looking animation you'll have. Your tank jumps up, twirls in the air, striking all foes within melee range and lands on one knee, looking all cool and bad-as. The ONLY drawback I have with this one is you are locked into the animation and it goes off when you tell it to. Being a PBAoE, it needs no target, so you can overshoot your MOB and just twirl in empty air. Still, this is the best multi-baddie attack you have, IMHO. It is the equivalent if a level 32 power I think.
END: 19
RCG: 14
RNG:
SM DMG: 3.1111
ACT: 3

*Shatter- lvl 35. More damage than Jawbreaker, but this one deals knockback. Stay away from knockback if you're a fire tanker, though this may be servicable to other tanker primaries. I believe this one is also slated to have superior damage rather than extreme now. I could be wrong but I think I remember seeing that during training. Also, supposedly this one has the chance of striking so hard that it can travel through several baddies, so a kind of cone affect. I never noticed this happen, though. I prefer Jawbreaker over Shatter.
END: 17
RCG: 12
RNG: 5
SM DMG: 7.4444 (margin for error)
ACT: 3

*Crowd Control- lvl 38. You waited 38 levels for a new power... this one should be /awesome/ right? So you take it... and are less than impressed. Sure, it has its uses, but the knockback goes for days and about every hit too. Having an nrg blaster knock your targets out of your burn patch is bad enough; doing it yourself is downright embarrassing. This one does, though, actually hit other targets in a true cone effect, on occasion, and in a pinch it might be handy to really throw a bad guy away from a squishy. Maybe a talented ice tanker could knock a MOB into an ice patch. Mostly it's a 'get away from me/him/her' power and should be approached as such. Do not use it as a combo with burn. (Pre-ish 5)
END: 17
RCG: 12
RNG:
SM DMG: 4.5556 (margin for error)
ACT: 2

*Pls note, that on test server I noticed these attacks doing only knockdown or knockup and not knockback. I will need to do more testing, but if this is true, then the devs fixed the knockback problem and these could become much better attacks. On test, I prefered Crowd Control over Shatter and Jawbreaker.

So, there's the secondary of mace. It's a little slow, but not THE slowest (isn't that axe? Maybe stone). It doesn't do the best damage (isn't that axe? Maybe stone), but it's not the wussiest, either (isn't that EM? Heh!). It DOES take mucho endurance and even with stamina 6-slotted and consume from the fire primary, I found myself running out of end completely especially in the late game when I had to run 6 toggles easy. I was never able to slot heavily for damage... the most slots I have in my mace attacks is 4. These buggers NEED Accuracy, too, so slot one accuracy, one damage to start. As the game progresses, you may wish to add an end redux to each attack and possibly a recharge redux to your heavier attacks. Bash and Pulverize remain fine at one Acc, one Dam. If you want more damage, play a scrapper! Just kidding, you might want to find room for Build Up in there, then.
When you reach the ability to choose epic pools, picking up conserve energy would be a smart way to go. You can get rid of those end reduxes then and add more damage. By the end, you can have almost every attack in the 2dary set if you really want to. I believe the best way to describe this set is "meh". It does the job and with one attack you look cool doing it, but it's nothing to write home to mom about. Still, I'm glad I took it and stuck with it. An 8 foot flaming amazon with a humungous war mace is pretty spiffy looking.


**So far, from I have seen on test, combat jump, hasten and hover no longer have defensive properties, but combat jump "makes you harder to hit". Burn has a fear factor and unless you have a controller using holds, the MOBs will run away, out of the patch, then turn outside melee range. Not so bad as you might think, but burn has become more of a panic button than anything. I will be trying it on tester with the pyre mastery set, too... char and ring of fire.. for some minor controlling values.
If these changes remain, I see Blazing Aura becoming the defining power of the set and burn an attack that means you play with a lot of trollers.

Here is a sample build, what I ended up with. This is also after respecs, so please keep that in mind. And in a build like this, where you need more slots in powers at the beginning, respeccing is a good way to reallocate those slots to other powers once they are no longer needed. Case in point: After you beef up your secondary, you will find you no longer have a use for brawl or box, and now mine do not even have enhs in them at all and have been removed from my power trays. But up until level 38, they make my attack chain in conjunction with bash and pulverize. Bash and Pulverize, however, never go out of style.
I would also like to point out that I have not played enough with Conserve Power to know if all the end reduxes can be removed from the build. If that is the case, then you can up defense by that much more. This build does assume that Conserve Power covers all the attacks from 2ndary and end reduxes have been removed. CP is not perma, but it's darn close, giving me maybe a 20 second down time. Conserve Power does not protect against sappers as far as I can tell, but I may be wrong. One slot on hurdle and Superjump really are all you need. Swift is chosen and slotted twice for sheer convenience as it takes no end and allows me to remove sprint altogether, another power I would forget was on and it just drained end.

Power Curve: A Level 50 Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: War Mace
Power Pool Set: Leaping
Power Pool Set: Fighting
Power Pool Set: Fitness
Power Pool Set: Speed
Ancillery Pool Set: Energy Mastery


Hero Profile
============
Level 1: Blazing Aura Acc(A),Dmg(3),Dmg(5),Dmg(7),Taunt(17),Taunt(29)
Level 1: Bash Acc(A),Dmg(40)
Level 1: Brawl Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint Run(A)
Level 2: Fire Shield ResDam(A),ResDam(3),ResDam(5),ResDam(7),ResDam(9), EndRdx(15)
Level 2: Rest RechRdx(A)
Level 4: Pulverize Acc(A),Dmg(40),Dmg(48)
Level 6: Combat Jumping DefBuff(A)
Level 8: Healing Flames Heal(A),Heal(9),RechRdx(34),RechRdx(40),RechRdx(45 )
Level 10: Consume Acc(A),RechRdx(11),RechRdx(11),RechRdx(45),RechRdx (46)
Level 12: Plasma Shield ResDam(A),ResDam(13),ResDam(13),ResDam(15),ResDam( 17),EndRdx(21)
Level 14: Super Jump Jump(A)
Level 16: Taunt RechRdx(A),Taunt(43)
Level 18: Hasten RechRdx(A),RechRdx(19),RechRdx(19),RechRdx(21),Rec hRdx(23),RechRdx(23)
Level 20: Swift Run(A),Run(45)
Level 22: Hurdle Jump(A)
Level 24: Stamina RecInc(A),RecInc(25),RecInc(25),RecInc(27),RecInc( 27),RecInc(29)
Level 26: Burn Dmg(A),Dmg(36),Dmg(36),Dmg(36),Dmg(37),RechRdx(37)
Level 28: Boxing Acc(A)
Level 30: Tough ResDam(A),ResDam(31),ResDam(31),ResDam(31),ResDam( 34),EndRdx(37)
Level 32: Weave DefBuff(A),DefBuff(33),DefBuff(33),DefBuff(33),Def Buff(34),EndRdx(39)
Level 35: Acrobatics EndRdx(A)
Level 38: Whirling Mace Acc(A),Dmg(39),Dmg(39),RechRdx(50)
Level 41: Conserve Power RechRdx(A),RechRdx(42),RechRdx(42),RechRdx(42),Rec hRdx(43),RechRdx(43)
Level 44: Crowd Control Acc(A),Dmg(46),Dmg(46)
Level 47: Jawbreaker Acc(A),Dmg(48),Dmg(48)
Level 49: Shatter Acc(A),Dmg(50),Dmg(50)

Rise of the Phoenix as a final power is very poetic and laser beam eyes could be fun (I'll test that). Or, of course, another epic pool altogether.
Acrobatics seems pretty solid out of the box, just needs an end redux. (Issue 5 may see this needing 2 end reduxes, as CJ, hasten, hover and everything else is being projected as to cost more end.)
YES, you need consume, though maybe not so much after Conserve Power. YES, get Healing Flames. YES, six slot stamina, weave, tough (this is matter of opinion now, but sounds like issue 5 will make it mandatory for a decent tank), and YES for pity's sake, get acrobatics! You'll rue not doing so.
Okay! I do believe I have blabbered enough. Go forth, have fun, frolic, speak softly and carry a big mace!