Funky_Pink

Unfortunately, I haven't found as much time recently to keep any of my guides up to date. Currently I don't have plans to update this one or either of the other two.

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To the OP: Wow - awesome guide. Just started a Fire Rad yesterday & am really excited at the potential for both team & solo play. Am playing a fire Kin atm which is fun but Rad just looks...interesting. Big thumbs up on the guide though.

Just 3 questions -
1. How would you slot choking cloud? Sounds like a cool power that I want to use.
2. Any ideas where I can get some stats outside of a hero planner?
3. Any ideas on strategy or specific tactics that can be used for pulling, herding, street sweeping etc?

To Antiangst - Great tips for the soloist. Was not thinking about a potential respec build but maybe I should! I always seem to want to avoid Ring Of Fire.....

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Clearly I stopped checking this thread a long time ago, but I was on my seldom used web page today and decided to click the links. Thanks for the props!

1) 3 end, 2 hold and a recharge (90 second recharge timer if it gets detoggled). I actually have CC now in my build. It works great in a melee build, allowing me to focus on bosses more and casting debuffs/buffs.
2) Not other than planners, tho herostats can record your own over time
3) I believe I have some mentioned in my other controller guide here

Some good recommendations if you want to solo. I'd add to pick up Air Superiority as good damage mitigation as well as damage. The stealth effect can be acheived with Smoke as well.

Supergroup Name: Unleashed (SG)/ Shackled (VG)
Website: www.pinnacleunleashed.com
Leaders/Recruiting Officers: @Funky Pink, @Alarys, @Mr.Control, @Loridai, @Flammable, @Gilia, @eqewe4u (a.k.a. King Smasher), @Doom-
-Get in touch with any of us in game, or you can apply on our forums here in our application section. Also feel free to hop on our Ventrilo server (IP: celtic3.nrgservers.net; port: 3561) to chat with us and see if you like us. Our application process isn't formal, so if we team up or talk on vent and everyone gets along and has fun, we'll likely be able to invite you very soon.
SG Description:
-Unleashed was founded 10/6/06 by a group of active players and most importantly, friends. We've added many of our other friends and even picked up some new faces, and we're not afraid to do it again! We've got several people who are big into PvP, but we do lots of PvE too. Members are encouraged to voice their opinions, requests, and concerns, as everyone should feel (and be) an important part of their Supergroup. Our members are our lifeblood, and it's critical that we interact.
-We're a fairly approachable bunch of people, and we'd like to keep it that way. We strive for as good a relationship between other SGs, and the Pinnacle server and CoH communities in general, as possible. Our main goals are to have fun and to provide an environment where all our members can feel welcome and appreciated, but we also strive to excel at whatever we do.

Supergroup Name: Unleashed (SG)/ Shackled (VG)
Website: www.pinnacleunleashed.com
Leaders/Recruiting Officers: @Funky Pink, @Alarys, @Mr.Control, @Loridai, @Flammable, @Gilia, @eqewe4u (a.k.a. King Smasher), @Doom-
-Get in touch with any of us in game, or you can apply on our forums here in our application section. Also feel free to hop on our Ventrilo server (IP: celtic3.nrgservers.net; port: 3561) to chat with us and see if you like us. Our application process isn't formal, so if we team up or talk on vent and everyone gets along and has fun, we'll likely be able to invite you very soon.
SG Description:
-Unleashed was founded 10/6/06 by a group of active players and most importantly, friends. We've added many of our other friends and even picked up some new faces, and we're not afraid to do it again! We've got several people who are big into PvP, but we do lots of PvE too. Members are encouraged to voice their opinions, requests, and concerns, as everyone should feel (and be) an important part of their Supergroup. Our members are our lifeblood, and it's critical that we interact.
-We're a fairly approachable bunch of people, and we'd like to keep it that way. We strive for as good a relationship between other SGs, and the Pinnacle server and CoH communities in general, as possible. Our main goals are to have fun and to provide an environment where all our members can feel welcome and appreciated, but we also strive to excel at whatever we do.

Marvelous!

...continued from post 1

<ul type="square">there helpless for a time. AoE disorient powers typically recharge faster than AoE holds, which is a great positive to such powers.[/list]<ul type="square"> Appendix B. Magnitude [/b]
I wanted to explain as best as I could and as best as I understand it how Magnitude works and therefore explain why some mobs are not always mezzed right away by certain, or any, mez powers. Mez powers include hold, sleep, disorient, fear, and confuse, but not immobilize. Most mobs have only a Mag 2 resistance to immobilize and can be rooted in one shot. When the power discriptions in charchater creation and in the manuals say that some more resistant foes will be resistant to a mez power, this is what it is referring to. Magnitude is the level of power (hold, stun, or otherwise) a foe needs to have applied to it in order to be affected. Minions have a Mag 1 resistance and Lieutenants have a resistance of Mag 2, and since most player control powers have a Magnitude of 3, then these enemies are affected with only one application of a control. Bosses, on the other hand, have a Mag 3 resistance, and since the Magnitude resistance must be overcome (it must be higher than their resistance, same amount doesn't cut it), they will remain unmezzed. A successful second application will mez the boss and they will remain held until the first mez wears off, at which point they will return to Mag 3 and become unmezzed. By constantly or regularly applying (spamming) a mez power on the boss, you can keep him at Mag 6 or above and keep him mezzed. Controllers also have the ability to land a 'critical' mez on a boss, meaning that each mez has a chance to be a Mag 4. Mesmerize from Mind Control, is always a Mag 4 sleep and will always sleep a boss than it hits. Some other powers only have a Mag 2 level of power. Such powers include Thunderclap from Storm Summoning, and Intimidate and Invoke Panic from the Presence power pool.

AVs have a very high level of resistance to all types of mez except sleep. They have only a Mag 3 resistance to sleep. Every once in a while, an AV will be reduced to boss level Mag resistance (Mag 3), and can be held with 2 or more mez powers. There are small purple triangles that float around an AV's head that indicate when they have high levels of mez resistance. When these triangles disappear, the AV can be easily held, however, their high resistance will come back after a little while. Certain mobs have high levels of resistance to certain types of mez, such as Nemesis, who are highly resistant to confuse powers. These should be noted as you encounter them.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix C. Targeted Toggle Debuffs [/b]
Targeted toggle debuffs, like Radiation Infection and Enervation Field, can become a regular annoyance when teammates kill your debuff target (a.k.a. anchor) quickly. With some observation, you can kind of figure out who your teammates are likely to take out last, therefore allowing the debuff to last longer. You can also communicate to them that they should save the debuff target for last. If you do this, pick a target that isn't a great threat like bosses or Quantum foes, since those guys should be taken down first. Also, if you are informing your team of who is being debuffed, try to find an anchor with a unique name (i.e. do not pick a Death Head Buckshot if there are three of them). A big challenge with toggle debuffs is getting them to affect the maximum number of foes, but with some practice, you'll be able to formulate your own science to achieve this using knockbacks, immobilizes and other mezzes, as well as other means.

It is important to shut these powers off if a foe should run out of your sight or towards another group. If he runs into a group that you are not currently fighting, then you will find yourself soon fighting more enemies than you meant to since debuffs will attract aggro.

Also, keeping foes close together will help these debuffs affect as many as possible. Powers like AoE holds and immobilizes can help you do this.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix D. Working With Pets, or, How To Not Hate Your Imps [/b]
Imps can be very tricky creatures to wrangle indeed. In part because there are three of them, in part because they are rather quick on their feet, and also in part because they only have melee attacks and therefore will run after a fleeing foe to attack him. But there is a way to minimize this inherent clumsiness. Using a pet's aggro range, you can position yourself so that your pet(s) will attack only the foe(s) you want them to. When you get close enough to a foe (about 20 feet-the aggro range), the Imps will aggro to that enemy and attack it. Once they have aggroed, their aggro range transfers about the same distance to any other foes in the vicinity, increasing their effective aggro range. In other words, they will freely jump to other targets about 20-30 feet from any target you are close to, until they get too far away (about 50-60 feet) . As you might see, this can be a danger.

In a situation where there are two groups relatively close together and you wish to remove one group before engaging the second group, position the group you wish to attack, as best as you can, between yourself and the second group. When you get close enough to the first group, the Imps will aggro and begin the fight. If you are going to use a melee range control like Cinders, now is the time to use it. After this, back up around 30-40 feet and control/debuff from this distance. The Imps will continue to fight. If you back up much further, the Imps will stop attacking, even if the mobs are still standing, and attempt to return to you. This distance is about 50-60 feet from a pet and is what I refer to as the 'pet leash'. By standing close to that distance, your pet(s) will not be tempted to move on to the next group, because they will be too far away from you. This is how I like to to 'leash' a pet.

You can also usually get the Imps to begin the fight without you taking the initial attack (alpha strike) from the group. It takes some practice to learn the border of their aggro range, but by inching up slowly to a group, you can usually get the Imps to charge in before the mobs see you, barring a few special mobs like snipers. It's also a big help if the mobs aren't facing you. In this case, you can often get even closer, and maybe even use Cinders before they see you. I've gotten to where I can approach a group and begin casting Radiation Infection, then as RI is casting, the Imps will aggro, RI will finish casting basically as they attack, and I can then backup while using Flashfire to stun the mobs and avoid taking any damage at all in a lot of cases.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix E. Containment [/b]
Containment, introduced in Issue 5, is the controller AT's inherent power. Inherent powers are not enhanceable, but for some ATs, there is a tangible way to benefit from them. Controllers are one such AT. Containment provides double damage on your powers to any foe that is already immobilized, held, slept, or stunned, regardless of whether you, another controller, or any other player held them. Because of this, controllers have come to regard 'setting up Containment' as an important tactic, in order to get more damage out of their attacks. Ideal powers for this include AoE immobilize powers due to a fast recharge. These powers can be used every fight to enable Containment, and then holds, APP attacks, and other controls and pool attacks, can be used to squeeze more damage from your hero. Other AoE controls too can be used to open Containment on a large number of foes too, and so can individual powers like single-target holds and immobilizes. Using an AoE though allows quick set up of Containment so damage can immediately be delivered in large quantities . A very popular APP is Fire Mastery due to Containment (probably would be without it too). Players can cast an AoE stun or hold and/or immobilize them and then shoot a Fireball and significantly reduce the health of a large number of baddies all in one swift motion, making them easy pickings for teammates and/or pets. Currently, placed damage powers such as Ice Storm and also pets, do not benefit from Containment.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix F. Enhancement Diversification [/b]
Enhancement Diversification, or ED for short, was introduced in Issue 6 in order to reduce the effectiveness of enhancements when several of them were slotted in one power. When slotting for an aspect in a power, such as for damage or for mez duration, enhancement lose a great deal of effectiveness after the third enhancement of one type. For example, if you slot damage into a power, the first even level Single Origin enhancement (SO) will add 33% to you base damage level. A second even level SO will also provide 33% while a third will only provide around 30%, still remaining very effective and bringing your power's damage up to 196% or so of base damage. But if you add a third, the power is greatly reduced to around 8% and isn't recommended. This is why I do not recommend more than 3 slots of anything in any of the powers. They simply won't be very effective. And powers that only take one type of enhancement will not ever require any more than three slots.

Since ED, I've removed or changed the slotting of any enhancement where I had more than 3, so that none of my slots go to waste. ED, while reducing the overall damage and control power of many players' toons, provides a surplus of slots to devote to other powers now. It's now hard to find a build that requires more slots than you are given by level 50 and most builds have extra. To make up for the loss of power, XP has been increased to even back out our rate of leveling.[/list]
Good luck with your toon and I hope to see you out there! If you have as much fun as I did leveling, and as I do now at 50, you'll have a blast

I've finally finished my Fire/Rad guide:

Ardent Emissary Torches the World: A Fire/Rad Guide (vI6.1)

Enjoy

Revised Table of Contents and Section on ED:

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments
III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments
IV. Power Pool Comments
V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments
VI. My Build
VII. An AoE Build
VIII. Enhancement Diversification (ED)


VIII. Enhancement Diversification (ED)
Enhancement Diversification, or ED for short, was introduced in Issue 6 in order to reduce the effectiveness of enhancements when several of them were slotted in one power. When slotting for an aspect in a power, such as for damage or for mez duration, enhancement lose a great deal of effectiveness after the third enhancement of one type. For example, if you slot damage into a power, the first even level Single Origin enhancement (SO) will add 33% to you base damage level. A second even level SO will also provide 33% while a third will only provide around 30%, still remaining very effective and bringing your power's damage up to 196% or so of base damage. But if you add a third, the power is greatly reduced to around 8% and isn't recommended. This is why I do not recommend more than 3 slots of anything in any of the powers. They simply won't be very effective. And powers that only take one type of enhancement will not ever require any more than three slots.

Since ED, I've removed or changed the slotting of any enhancement where I had more than 3, so that none of my slots go to waste. ED, while reducing the overall damage and control power of many players' toons, provides a surplus of slots to devote to other powers now. It's now hard to find a build that requires more slots than you are given by level 50 and most builds have extra. To make up for the loss of power, XP has been increased to even back out our rate of leveling.

Updated Table of Contents and Appendix section. All other sections of the guide remain unchanged as of now:

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments
III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments
IV. Power Pool Comments
V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments
VI. My Build (Team-Oriented, Stand-Back Control Style)
VII. An Alternate Build (Solo-Oriented, Melee Control Style)
VIII. Appendices
---A. Using the Various Types of Control Contained in Ice
---B. Magnitude
---C. Working With Jack Frost
---D. Containment
---E. Enhancement Diversification


VIII. Appendices

<ul type="square"> Appendix A. Using the Various Types of Control Contained in Ice [/b]
Immobilize powers 'root' a foe in one spot. While they are still able to shoot at you and your team/pets if they can see you, they will not be able to get close to you and use melee attacks such as punches, which are typically much more powerful than ranged attacks like blasts and guns. Most immobilizes will also prevent knockback and knockdown for a short time (roughly 5 seconds) after applied, with Gravity's immobilizes being the exception (but only for knockback, which they do not prevent). Gravity will still help a foe stand on a knockdown patch power. Because of this, in most situations, it is better not to use immobs on enemies standing on knockdown debuff patches such as Ice Slick, Earthquake, and Freezing Rain, which control through knockdown. Single target immobilizes are most useful against high level threats such as bosses and Archvillains (AVs), and also to add a bit or damage to your arsenal. In some sets, single target immobs can also pull down a flying foe (Gravity, Earth, Ice). For Area of Effect (AoE) immobilize powers, the area affected by the power is a circle, centered around whatever enemy you have targeted. To hit the most foes with targeted AoE powers such as this, target someone in the middle of a pack, not only horizontally, but depth-wise as well. Adjusting your camera angle can help here or else simply scrolling through your enemies with the TAB key. AoE immobilize powers are often combined with debuffs and/or AoE disorient powers, which cause mobs to wander around in a dazed state. Immobilizing them will prevent this and keep them close together forother AoE powers such as debuffs and attack powers. Without a good accuracy debuff or a control used on these mobs, it often will result in them turning their attention to you, since you are affecting their ability to attack. This can be dangerous and tactics such as ducking behind objects and walls and corners can be used to prevent taking too much damage as a result. Practice with any control long enough and you'll likely find many other, more complicated uses for them, in addition to their most basic function.

Hold powers are very useful and an important part of any control set. Affecting a foe with a hold renders them completely helpless. They cannot take action and are held in place for a short time. These powers are best used first on threats such as bosses and mezzing mobs, which are mobs that try to incapacitate you and your allies with holds, sleeps, and stuns, and even certain debuffs. AoE holds, which are activated differently among the various control sets, are very powerful tools also. Although they have a shorter base duration than single-target holds and also have a long recharge timer, AoE holds can really save your team's bacon in a sticky situation. When it appears that one or more teammates might die, and cause a collapse, using an AoE hold will usually give everyone ample time to heal up and gather themselves to finish the fight. AoE holds can also be used pro-actively of course by holding the mobs right when the fight starts, allowing your team to thin their numbers before they can emerge from the hold. Some AoE holds, such as for Gravity and Mind Control, are ranged and target-based, affecting any foes it hits in a circle around your target. Other sets, such as Fire and Ice Control, use player-based AoE (pbAoE) holds, which affect any mobs in a circle around you that the holds hit. Pulse-type control powers, like Choking Cloud and Volcanic Gases, take some getting use to, since they work on ticks, but hold duration enhancements allow those ticks to last longer, increasing the chances of foes being held continuously. Used in conjuncture with your single target hold, these powers are a good way to stack magnitude in order to get bosses held.

Slow powers reduce the run speed of enemies they affect. Many slow powers also slow the recharge time of an enemy's powers, but not all of them do, and these are two very important effects. A power such as Hot Feet or Quicksand only slows run speed, whereas powers like Lingering Radiation and Shiver (as well as most other Ice powers) debuff both run speed and recharge rate. By reducing run speed, you can force a foe to stay in a location for a longer amount of time. This is useful to keep foes who have been disoriented from wandering around or for keeping them in a tanker or blaster's Burn patch, or other similar uses. Slows are also useful to keep foes away from melee range of you and teammates. Slowing an enemy makes it easy to avoid allowing them to enter melee range and will allow you to attack them relatively safely for a longer amount of time even though they may be relatively close. Slow powers that also affect recharge rate are a great method of reducing the damage a team takes. When a foe's recharge rate is severely debuffed, they might stand around for a few moments before being able to attack again in some cases. Mitigating damage this way can be very effective.

Sleep powers, such as Flash Freeze and Mass Hypnosis, are much like holds, with one critical difference. You can wake a slept mob up by attacking him, adn they will resume attacking you and your team. Sleeps leave a target helpless, and unable to attack for as long as he is slept. AoE sleep powers typically recharge faster than AoE holds, which is a positive aspect of such powers. All sleep powers are Mag 3 except for Mesmerize, Mind Control's single-target sleep power.[/list]<ul type="square"> Appendix B. Magnitude [/b]
I wanted to explain as best as I could and as best as I understand it how Magnitude works and therefore explain why some mobs are not always mezzed right away by certain, or any, mez powers. Mez powers include hold, sleep, disorient, fear, and confuse, but not immobilize. Most mobs have only a Mag 2 resistance to immobilize and can be rooted in one shot. When the power discriptions in charchater creation and in the manuals say that some more resistant foes will be resistant to a mez power, this is what it is referring to. Magnitude is the level of power (hold, stun, or otherwise) a foe needs to have applied to it in order to be affected. Minions have a Mag 1 resistance and Lieutenants have a resistance of Mag 2, and since most player control powers have a Magnitude of 3, then these enemies are affected with only one application of a control. Bosses, on the other hand, have a Mag 3 resistance, and since the Magnitude resistance must be overcome (it must be higher than their resistance, same amount doesn't cut it), they will remain unmezzed. A successful second application will mez the boss and they will remain held until the first mez wears off, at which point they will return to Mag 3 and become unmezzed. By constantly or regularly applying (spamming) a mez power on the boss, you can keep him at Mag 6 or above and keep him mezzed. Controllers also have the ability to land a 'critical' mez on a boss, meaning that each mez has a chance to be a Mag 4. Mesmerize from Mind Control, is always a Mag 4 sleep and will always sleep a boss than it hits. Some other powers only have a Mag 2 level of power. Such powers include Thunderclap from Storm Summoning, and Intimidate and Invoke Panic from the Presence power pool.

AVs have a very high level of resistance to all types of mez except sleep. They have only a Mag 3 resistance to sleep. Every once in a while, an AV will be reduced to boss level Mag resistance (Mag 3), and can be held with 2 or more mez powers. There are small purple triangles that float around an AV's head that indicate when they have high levels of mez resistance. When these triangles disappear, the AV can be easily held, however, their high resistance will come back after a little while. Certain mobs have high levels of resistance to certain types of mez, such as Nemesis, who are highly resistant to confuse powers. These should be noted as you encounter them.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix C. Working With Jack Frost [/b]
Working with any pet can be tricky, since they do not know who you want them to attack and will sometimes attack mobs you do not wish to engage. But there is a way to minimize this inherent clumsiness. Using a pet's aggro range, you can position yourself so that your pet(s) will attack only the foe(s) you want them to. When you get close enough to a foe (about 20 feet-the aggro range), Jack will aggro to that enemy and attack it. Once he has aggroed, his aggro range transfers about the same distance to any other foes in the vicinity, increasing his effective aggro range. In other words, he will freely switch to other targets about 20-30 feet from any target you are close to, until he gets too far away (about 50-60 feet) . As you might see, this can be a danger. Since he has ranged powers, Jack Frost can often times be found standing back, away from mobs instead of up close, slowing with his aura, swinging his mighty sword, or holding enemies. Typically, he will move into melee if he feels particularly threatened or if he sees you or a teammate being hurt. Recall Friend can be a useful way to place Jack in melee and tempt him to pull out his sword. At the least, the mobs he is near will be slowed.

In a situation where there are two groups relatively close together and you wish to remove one group before engaging the second group, position the group you wish to attack, as best as you can, between yourself and the second group. When you get close enough to the first group, Jack will aggro and begin the fight. If you are going to use Glacier, now is the time to use it. After this, back up around 30-40 feet and control/debuff from this distance. Jack will continue to fight, but if you back up much further, he will stop attacking, even if the mobs are still standing, and attempt to return to you. This distance is about 50-60 feet from a pet and is what I refer to as the 'pet leash'. By standing close to that distance, your pet(s) will not be tempted to move on to the next group, because they will be too far away from you. This is how I like to to 'leash' a pet.

You can also usually get Jack to begin the fight without you or your team taking the initial attack (alpha strike) from the mobs. This can be done a few ways. One is with Recall Friend, by placing him in view of the mobs. Another is by flying or jumping over the mobs and dragging Jack through them as he attempts to follows. The other is by using his aggro range. It takes some practice to learn the border of their aggro range, but by inching up slowly to a group, you can usually get Jack to attack before the mobs see you, barring a few special mobs like snipers. He will take the initial attack this way.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix D. Containment [/b]
Containment, introduced in Issue 5, is the controller AT's inherent power. Inherent powers are not enhanceable, but for some ATs, there is a tangible way to benefit from them. Controllers are one such AT. Containment provides double damage on your powers to any foe that is already immobilized, held, slept, or stunned, regardless of whether you, another controller, or any other player held them. Because of this, controllers have come to regard 'setting up Containment' as an important tactic, in order to get more damage out of their attacks. Ideal powers for this include AoE immobilize powers due to a fast recharge. These powers can be used every fight to enable Containment, and then holds, APP attacks, and other controls and pool attacks, can be used to squeeze more damage from your hero. Other AoE controls too can be used to open Containment on a large number of foes too, and so can individual powers like single-target holds and immobilizes. Using an AoE though allows quick set up of Containment so damage can immediately be delivered in large quantities . A very popular APP is Fire Mastery due to Containment (probably would be without it too). Players can cast an AoE stun or hold and/or immobilize them and then shoot a Fireball and significantly reduce the health of a large number of baddies all in one swift motion, making them easy pickings for teammates and/or pets. Currently, placed damage powers such as Ice Storm and also pets, do not benefit from Containment.[/list] <ul type="square"> Appendix E. Enhancement Diversification [/b]
Enhancement Diversification, or ED for short, was introduced in Issue 6 in order to reduce the effectiveness of enhancements when several of them were slotted in one power. When slotting for an aspect in a power, such as for damage or for mez duration, enhancement lose a great deal of effectiveness after the third enhancement of one type. For example, if you slot damage into a power, the first even level Single Origin enhancement (SO) will add 33% to you base damage level. A second even level SO will also provide 33% while a third will only provide around 30%, still remaining very effective and bringing your power's damage up to 196% or so of base damage. But if you add a third, the power is greatly reduced to around 8% and isn't recommended. This is why I do not recommend more than 3 slots of anything in any of the powers. They simply won't be very effective. And powers that only take one type of enhancement will not ever require any more than three slots.

Since ED, I've removed or changed the slotting of any enhancement where I had more than 3, so that none of my slots go to waste. ED, while reducing the overall damage and control power of many players' toons, provides a surplus of slots to devote to other powers now. It's now hard to find a build that requires more slots than you are given by level 50 and most builds have extra. To make up for the loss of power, XP has been increased to even back out our rate of leveling.[/list]

Ardent Emissary Torches the World: A Fire/Rad Guide (vI6.1) by Funky Pink

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Discriptions &amp; Comments
III. Secondary Power Discriptions &amp; Comments
IV. Power Pool Options
V. Ancillary Power Pool Options
VI. My Build &amp; Comments
VII. A Variation Build &amp; Comments
VIII. Appendices
---A. Using the Various Types of Control Contained in Fire
---B. Magnitude
---C. Targeted Toggle Debuff Powers
---D. Working With Pets, or, How To Not Hate Your Imps
---E. Containment
---F. Enhancement Diversification

I. Introduction

Fire Control/Radiation Emission controllers are an undeniable force to be reckoned with, both in PvE and PvP. Fire Control is widely regarded as one of the more damaging control sets, while Radiation Emission has a wide array of very useful and powerful debuffs. It's light, yet quite helpful, in the buff department as well. Besides being a build with such potential, damage and control-wise, fire is a popular weapon from a concept standpoint. Any of you with a fire blaster or tanker or another fire controller know the fun in burning up your enemies . Fire Imps are pretty popular in their own right. A secondary such as Radiation Emission can unlock more of the potential damage of any primary set it is paired with, but also provides a well rounded or even very team-centered build, depending on how you build, due to the high level of control in the Rad set. The decent level of control in Fire means you won't need any from your secondary, but more can certainly help. All these factors make Fire Control a popular choice, whatever the secondary, but particularly with debuffing or controlling sets.

I'd also like to mention that, while I will provide builds in the end, many choices are going to just plain depend on how you like to play your character. Those builds should only serve as a crude outline and while you might end up very similar, you might also prefer to be very different and would actually feel that my builds are weak in some areas. Personal preference can make a huge difference in how effective a build is to a player. On the other hand, some players can adjust well to suit a number of different playstyles, and would be able to level both a ranged and melee style controller, a solo or a team build. Just find what you like and build towards that goal with powers you think will best help you

Let's start looking at the powers then:


II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments

Ring of Fire (level 1): This is your basic single-target immobilize power that many control sets have (all but Mind and Illusion have one). When you cast Ring of Fire (RoF), you swing your arm out in front of you, summoning a circle of fire on the ground (or in the air for airborne foes) to burn around them and keep them in place. This power does minor damage over time (DoT). RoF has a bonus to accuracy and therefore will not benefit from too many extra accuracy slots. it also recharges very fast, reducing the need for duration slots. If you find you use this power a lot, like as a damage power, you might benefit from an endurance reduction enhancement. For more info on Immobilizes, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-2accuracy, 0-3damage, 0-1endurance reduction, 0-2immobilize duration

Char (level 1): Char is Fire Control's single-target hold. Casting Char flings a wad of soot at your foe, leaving them choking on it. The animation for this power is very fun, as the soot will hit the enemy and spray flaming chunks all around him in different directions. Single-target holds also benefit from an accuracy bonus and in general, one accuracy is enough to cover most needs. Some mobs with high defense will be tough to hit, but I reserve inspirations for these occasions, since slotting for recharge and hold duration provide such a great benefit. Some people like to slot holds for damage, which I do not, being a control freak and all , but it certainly fits into some playstyles. For more info on Holds, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 1-3hold duration, 0-2recharge, 0-3dmg, 0-1endred

Fire Cages (level 2): This power is similar to Ring of Fire, except that it affects multiple enemies. Fire Cages (FC) is of particular use to a fire controller in conjuncture with Flashfire, our AoE disorient power that opens up at level 12. Disorient powers cause foes to wander off and FC will hold them in place, making them better targets for AoE attacks and debuffs. This, like most AoE powers, suffers from an accuracy penalty and really benefits from added accuracy. The power does very little damage, and I would not recommend slotting for it. If you are looking for damage, in my opinion pool powers like Air Superiority and Boxing, RoF, and even Char are better options, even though this power is an AoE. For more info on Immobilizes, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-3acc, 0-1endred, 0-2immobdur

Smoke (level 6): Smoke has some stealth-type applications that can be quite useful. Casting this power brings up a great cloud of smoke around the foe you have targeted, hitting and severely hurting the perception of him and any surrounding enemies. In Player vs. Player (PvP) this power requires accuracy to hit reliably and can be a great way to hide players with Stealth or similar powers. Fighting computer foes though, no accuracy check is needed. Smoke can be used on foes to add stealth if you are trying to get by them. It can also be used to prevent aggroing another group close to the group you want to fight. Fire Imps like to chase enemies that run, and Smoke can help prevent them from being seen when they decide to misbehave like this . When you spread Smoke around, in general, you're making the area you are in safer for you and your teammates, and it's something that a lot of players like to have. It can be worked around and some choose to do that as well. I used to have Smoke in my build, but currently do not. I decided that, though useful, I wished to have added control rather than a quality of life (QoL) power like this. Smoke also debuffs your enemies' accuracy a small amount. However, the debuff is very small and is not worth slotting for in my opinion.
Slotting: 1recharge or 1range

Hot Feet (level 8): Activating Hot Feet, you raise your arms and 'throw' this power at the ground, heating it up and the ground begins to glow firey orange and bubble up with flames. Any enemies that pass through Hot Feet will suffer damage, which is doubled when Containment is active, as well as have their run speed slowed. This power is a good tool for the melee style controller. Hot Feet does some decent damage and is a boon at lower levels, but if you team a lot, especially with blasters/scrappers, it won't be so necessary. Then later in your career, when you get Fire Imps and your APP, especially ones with a lot of damage, Hot Feet damage will start to pale a bit in comparison to those and you might consider removing it from your build then. It is still good to have at higher levels, but becomes more optional, imo. Slotting for accuracy will allow the power to damage foes more often, but isn't really necessary imo, and I would only recommend it if you can get by with only one or two end reductions. It will always slow any foe in its effect, there is no need to slot accuracy for that. For more info on Slows, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 0-1accuracy, 1-3endred (depending on usage), 2-3dmg, 0-1slow

Flashfire (level 12): This power summons a large patch of heat under the foes surrounding your target. The ground flashes firey orange and the heat caused by this leaves the victims disoriented. Because disoriented (stunned) foes tend to wander off in different directions, Fire Cages is a good power to use with Flashfire. FC will prevent them from moving and allow you to place debuffs and attacks on more people as long as they are in a compact enough group. Flashfire has a fairly nice recharge, but one or two recharges will help you use it more often and possbily every fight in some scenarios. Like other AoE controls, it suffers from an accuracy penalty and therefore benefits from added accuracy. Appendix A contains additional info on Disorients.
Slotting: 1-3acc, 1-3disorient duration, 0-2recharge

Cinders (level 18): Activating Cinders throws large amounts of burning ash towards the ground to spread out around you and choke your enemies, in thy mercy. Like Char, victims are left completely helpless for a short time and this allows you and/or your team an opportunity to thin out their numbers with superb safety. Like other AoE controls, it suffers from an accuracy penalty and therefore greatly benefits from added accuracy. The recharge timer on Cinders is fairly lengthy and recharge enhancements are a nice boost to be able to use the power more often. See Appendix A for more info on Holds.
Slotting: 2-3acc, 1-3holddur, 0-3recharge

Bonfire (level 26): Activate Bonfire and you are able to select a location to throw a stationary patch of fire. The hot ground violently repels most foes and that makes it very difficult for them to enter it. This is quite useful for blocking doorways or tight halls and corners. Bonfire also makes a fairly safe place for squishies to stand. Place one under your blaster, controller, or defender teammates and watch whoever is giving them trouble hurl backwards. Instruct teammates to keep the Bonfire between them and a foe and they will rarely be attacked at melee range. It isn't a power that you can use to open a fight like Ice Slick, but it does have good uses. This makes it more situational, but in those situations, it excels. While Ice Slick and Earthquake are great powers that cause knockdown, a knockback power like Bonfire puts more diversity into the control sets, which is good. If all sets were similar, they would not be so unique or fun, imo. Bonfire doesn't really need any slots added to it. It can be up all the time as it is.
Slotting: 1recharge or 1range

Fire Imps (level 32): Casting this power summons three little creatures that look like small monkies made of fire. They are summoned from thin air and 'jump' up out of the air and spin around to land where you place them. Imps have only melee attacks but make up for it with added damage and numbers. As a fire controller, you have few options to bring enemies out of the air, but Bonfire can be used if there is a surface near the flyer. Also, a power like Air Superiority will knock them from the sky. Having a damage option in your build is a good way to speed up situations where you cannot otherwise ground a flyer. Imps are best with max damage and one or two accuracy help them hit more often. If you have extra slots, a recharge or two might benefit you if your Imps get defeated often, but with a heal, you should be able to keep them alive. I won't reflect this in the recommended slotting. See Appendix C for additional info on pets.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 3dmg


III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments

Radiant Aura (level 1): This power heals you and all those close to you for a moderate amount (about 1/4) of Hit Points. The effect is a large, rising, shiny green pool centered around you that dissipates as you are healed. The power has fast activation, but is nice to have up more often in later levels, so I slot for recharge. It could use an endurance reduction for many builds.
Slotting: 2-3health, 1-3rech, 0-1endred

Radiation Infection (level 2): This power, when activated, places a green, bubbly cloud of radiation around a foe to remain as long as the foe is conscious or until you deactivate it. This radiation greatly weakens the foe and any enemies near him. Radiation Infection (RI), which reduces the enemies' accuracy, is a great help, especially when you affect multiple foes with it. The power also cuts through a good amount of defense, allowing enemies to be hit more often, but don't think this power allows you to save on accuracy in other powers due to the defense debuff. Usually, you won't be able to maximize that affect because enemies will be out of its range. Because of the immediate benefit of slotting ToHit debuffs, meaning that foes will hit you less often, I prefer to slot those first and only slot anything else if I have nowhere else I want to put a slot. To note, some people are put off by RI's longish activation time and do not like the power because of that. I'm of the opinion that the benefit outweighs that downside. More information about targeted toggle debuffs, such as RI, is contained in Appendix C below.
Slotting: 2-3tohitdebuff, 0-3defensedebuff, 0-1endred

Accelerate Metabolism (level 4): AM boosts you and any nearby allies' damage, recharge speed, endurance recovery, run speed, and resistance to status effects. Looks similar to Radiant Aura, but leaves anyone affected with a greenish glow as long as it lasts. The only enhanceable benefits of the power are the run speed and endurance recovery. You cannot increase the amount of recharge reduction it provides, but slotting recharge will bring the power back faster. You also cannot slot for the damage increase or status resist. I'm of the opinion that the status protection is the most important aspect of AM and therefore recommend slotting for recharge first, so that you have that protection more of the time. After this, endurance recovery can be slotted whenever you find extra slots. This aspect, while beneficial, is more a luxury imo, but most builds can find room for endurance mods.
Slotting: 3rech, 1-3endurance modification

Enervation Field (level 10): This power severely reduces a foe's resistance and also the resistance of any foes close to him. Like, RI, EF can be maximized by moving or keeping mobs close together so that it will affect as many as possible. The cloud resembles that of RI and lasts until the target is defeated or until you shut it off. The power has a heavy end cost and should be slotted for end reduction. Although resistance debuffs cannot be slotted for, this means that EF doesn't need a great many slots to be very effective. While end reduction is very useful, if you feel you don't have slots to spare, EF will still be working 100% of its magic, though you will likely have to use it more situationally. For additional information about targeted toggle debuffs, such as EF, see Appendix B near the bottom of the guide.
Slotting: 1-3endred (depending on usage)

Mutation (level 16): This is a rez power that also buffs your ally for damage, accuracy, attack speed (recharge), and endurance recovery when he is revived. The fallen teammate is revived and left bubbling green with these improved, mutated effects. Although you can slot to improve endurance recovery, this power only really needs one slot. I like recharge to bring it back faster.
Slotting: 1rech

Lingering Radiation (level 20): Activating this power 'throws' a pool of radiation through the ground and into your target and any foes around him that it hits. The ground will light up and affected foes will begin to bubble a yellow-ish green, greatly slowing their movement speed and recharge speed for a short time. Since the -recharge is so great an advantage and since LR also debuffs regeneration rate, my main focus here is to slot first for accuracy. This will make LR more reliable to hit any foes, especially single targets like AVs, on which -regen powers are extremely useful. Even with just two accuracy slots, LR is a great tool. Recharges let you use it more often though and when it comes back more often, it's nice to give the high end cost a break (costs 22.5 end). Even though LR slows run speed a good bit, some people might prefer to add a slow or two into this power. For more info on Slows, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-2accuracy, 1-3recharge, 0-1endred, 0-2slow

Choking Cloud (level 28): Choking Cloud (CC) is a good added control power. A large, bubbly, green cloud centered the player, it can help you stack holds on bosses when used with other hold powers. Since CC is a player-centered power, it gets most benefit from people willing to be in melee range. CC uses quite a bit of endurance and benefits greatly from endurance reduction enhancements. It also has a long recharge timer (90 seconds) for a toggle power, and so you might wish to slot one if you can spare the slot. For more info on Holds, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-3endred, 2-3holddur, 0-1recharge

Fallout (level 35): Fallout causes a large, green atomic explosion like a miniature mushroom cloud around a fallen teammate when you select the teammate and activate the power. Not a popular power by any means, but some people like to have differences in their builds and this can certainly be a unique power to have. The radius of the blast is rather small, but used right before Mutation, can clear the immediate area around your comrade. Since the radius of Fallout is small, it is important to activate it quickly before any enemies leave the vicinity of the unconcious teammate. As a conparison, the base damage of Fallout is higher than that of most Blaster top tier powers like Inferno or Nova.
Slotting: 0-3recharge, 2-3dmg

EM Pulse (level 38): This power is a massive AoE hold power. It has the longest duration and biggest radius of any hold in the game. In fact, the radius is so large that it can easily attract the attention of a nearby group if you are not careful. With some practice, and by figuring out EMP's radius, you will not have many problems with this. While EMP will do some damage to robots and even cyborgs, it is not an enhanceable aspect, and is merely a side benefit along with the endurance drain it provides. The great hold length and regeneration debuff are much better aspects of the power. Endurance drain may be slotted for using Endurance Modification enhancements, but isn't important enough to warrant slotting. This AoE power doesn't suffer from an accuracy penalty and therefore you may easily leave out an extra accuracy. Recharge will bring it back faster, and due to its long base hold duration, it doesn't require as many of those enhancements as other hold powers. For more info on Holds, see Appendix A below.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 1-2holddur, 2-3recharge


IV. Power Pool Comments

The Concealment Power Pool could be used for a couple of reasons. Team/individual protection could be the goal of having Stealth. Combined with Super Speed means effective invisibilty in PvE. Grant Invisibility helps your teammates avoid aggro and also gives them some defense. Invisibility lets you move around freely. Phase Shift can serve as an aggro tool or a tool for self-survival, especially in PvP.

The Fighting Power Pool doesn't provide much benefit for squishies. This is ironic since we are the ones who could use it the most, but there it is. Kick and Boxing are moderate damage attacks, while Tough provides a small amount of resistance to smashing/lethal damage and Weave provides a small amount of defense to all forms of attack.

The Fitness Power Pool's main goal is Stamina. 3-slotted Stamina, with SOs, is a great boon to aggressive and/or busy playstyles. I'd guess that a great majority of heros have or will have Stamina by the time they are level 50. Health provides a small, very small, amount of sleep resistance while also boosting your health regeneration rate a small amount. Swift adds to ground running speed which stacks well with Super Speed and Hurdle adds to your jumping ability and is nice to stack with Combat Jumping and Super Jump.

The Flight Power Pool has a good knockdown attack in Air Superiority. This is a popular pool attack for this reason and pool attacks in general are more popular now for controllers due to Containment. Hover can keep you out of range, and Fly is a very useful form of travel. There's no better open-map scouting power than Fly.

The Leadership Power Pool has some nice benefits, and controllers get good values from this pool. Assault affects you and all teammates near you and resists Taunt power, which is mostly useful in PvP. It also increases base damage by 15%. Maneuvers slightly increases the defense of you and those close to you, but not enough for many people to bother taking. The defense is minimal. Tactics increases accuracy as well as providing +perception to you and all teammates near you. This is a good power to slot with 3 ToHit buffs. Vengeance can be used on a fallen teammate. The rage it produces increases the damage, accuracy and defense of all teammates near the fallen hero.

The Leaping Power Pool has a decent attack in Jump Kick (which is really a flip kick), some mild defense (but most importantly, immobilization protection) in Combat Jumping, a nice, fast travel power in Super Jump, and a mild hold resist, but great knockback resist power in Acrobatics.

The Medicine Power Pool can provide you with a few healing tools. Aid Other heals a single teammate. Stimulant provides protection from mez powers and will release any teammate affected by a mez. Aid Self heals yourself. Resuscitate will revive a fallen ally with full Hit Points but no endurance. All of these powers are interruptable and if used in combat, will greatly benefit from interrupt time reduction enhancements.

The Presense Power Pool provides minimal benefit for a controller in general. Challenge taunts a single foe while Provoke attracts many. Both of these powers have an accuracy check and so can be slotted for such. Having to spend a power slot on a taunt power makes getting to the fear powers (Intimidate and Invoke Panic) in the set even less attractive, especially considering the fact that their recharge to mezz power ratio is weak. Neither fear power can fear a lieutenent in a single application, let alone a boss (Int and IP are Mag 2 powers). I'd only invest in this as a PvP option to get Intimidate. Fear is not often resisted by players.

The Speed Power Pool is useful for anyone wishing to speed up their attacks with Hasten or for anyone wanting to travel via Super Speed (SS). Super Speeders sometimes pick up a power like Hover or Combat Jumping to aid them in traveling vertically. Hasten is an incredible buff to recharge and with 3 recharge slots can be up 2/3 of the time without other +recharge buffs. Powers like Speed Boost or Accelerate Metabolism speed up its recharge. Whirlwind provides a choatic form of control which some find rather effective, and is also a decent PvP power to keep opters away. Flurry is an attack with a rather lengthy animation, but it does moderate smashing damage and can help defeat enemies.

The Teleportation Power Pool can pull allies to you with Recall Friend. The power is good for pulling defeated allies away from enemies. Not the happiest use, but one a lot of people have if they also have a res power like Mutation. Teleport is the fastest form of travel and therefore prefered by many. Teleport Foe can pull foes away from their group to be attacked separately. This sometimes brings the whole group in tow, but when used on a particularly nasty trouble-maker, can still be a good way to start a fight. I have not seen too much, if any, of Team Teleport, and am not sure of any practical applications of this power.


V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments

Other, more detailed APP guides exist, I'm sure, but here is a rough overview of the powers in each set:

The Stone Mastery APP includes a nice single target damage power in Hurl Boulder, though some people find the activation too slow for their tastes. Fissure is an AoE stun (Mag 2) that deals moderate damage. Its AoE is relatively small (about 5' radius). It is a decent way to add some damage and also has a bit of control which is nice. Rock Armor provides a good amount of defense to smashing and lethal, and Earth's Embrace increases your Hit Points, while also healing you. This set is best used for the +HP/heal power, defense and also single-target damage. If you prefer damage, you'd like the Fire set better, imo.

The Fire Mastery APP contains two damage powers, Fire Blast and Fire Ball. Both of these powers benefit from Containment rather largely. Fire Blast is a single target attack, while Fire Ball is a target-centered AoE attack. Consume is a nice endurance-filling power, but with a longish recharge. Fire Shield provides a good amount of resistance to smashing, lethal and fire. Cold resistance is minor. This set is the best for damage. The resistance is significant also. I have both Fire Blast and Fire Ball, and love the damage they provide.

The Ice Mastery APP has a variety of useful tools. Ice Blast is the best selection from this set, imo, and adds some heavy single target damage, especially when Containment is enabled. Ice Armor is a nice defense buff, but like any armor, can be unnecessary in predictable fights. Hibernate encases you in indestructible ice, allowing you to recover all endurance and health before emerging. This is good for situations where you need to recover endurance and/or hit points, and get back in the fight quickly. Ice Storm is a nice controllery-type power and is worth getting if you like Hibernate or Ice Armor. It also adds a bit of damage, but doesn't currently benefit from Containment. The recharge timer on this power is too long for my tastes. YMMV.

The Primal Mastery APP set has two very nice utility powers in Conserve Power and Power Boost. Activating Conserve Power (CP) greatly reduces the cost of all powers for the next few moments. Even while constantly attacking, it is not uncommon to gain endurance whenever this power is active. Recharge will get you the most out of this power, since it's recharge timer is long. Power Boost (PB), doubles the base duration of your holds and other mez powers while it is active. It also increases your active debuffs and buff, including heals and defense debuff toggles, and even some other skills like Flight Speed. Placed buffs/debuffs such as Quicksand or Freezing Rain are not yet affected by PB. This is suppose to change sometime after Issue 6. Power Blast is a good attack and deserves slots, and Temporary Invulnerability is a good defensive power that deserves slotting too.

The Psionic Mastery APP contains one of the best utility powers (very arguable THE best) of any controller APP, Indomitable Will. This power protects you from status effects for a good amount of time (90 seconds). The long recharge means you can't have it on all the time, but that kind of benefit alone is worth picking this APP for several playstyles. Mind over Body also provide good resistance against smashing, lethal and Psionic damages. Mental Blast and Psionic Tornado are nice attacks, especially when you take advantage of Containment.


VI. My Build

Though I'm more partial to a stand-back approach to controlling, I wanted to utilize the damage of Hot Feet plus Containment. Besides, Cinders and EM Pulse both require getting close to the action, so I'd have to be in melee at least some of the time. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to adjust. I also have Combat Jumping and Acrobatics to keep me from getting rooted or knocked around in these situations so that I can easily escape melee if I need.

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fire Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Emission

01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(3) hel(9) recred(19) recred(29)
01 : Char acc(01) hlddur(5) hlddur(7) hlddur(17) recred(19) recred(25)
02 : Radiation Infection thtdbf(02) thtdbf(3) thtdbf(17)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(04) recred(5) recred(11) endrec(23) endrec(31) endrec(43)
06 : Fire Cages acc(06) acc(7) endred(11) recred(45)
08 : Hot Feet endred(08) endred(9) endred(31) dam(31) dam(46) dam(48)
10 : Combat Jumping defbuf(10)
12 : Flashfire acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) recred(15) recred(27)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Ring of Fire acc(22) dam(23) dam(34) dam(36)
24 : Enervating Field endred(24) endred(25) endred(46)
26 : Lingering Radiation acc(26) acc(27) recred(33) recred(34) recred(36) endred(37)
28 : Cinders acc(28) acc(29) hlddur(36) hlddur(37) recred(37) recred(40)
30 : Acrobatics endred(30)
32 : Fire Imps acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Mutation recred(35)
38 : EMP Pulse acc(38) acc(39) hlddur(39) hlddur(39) recred(40) recred(40)
41 : Fire Ball acc(41) acc(42) dam(42) dam(42) dam(43) recred(43)
44 : Fire Shield endred(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46)
47 : Fire Blast acc(47) acc(48) dam(48) dam(50) dam(50) recred(50)
49 : Bonfire recred(49)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

A few different types of Melee build are possible and options like Stealth and Smoke will help here. Most builds can do without Cinders or EM Pulse, as two AoE controls is generally good. I'd keep Flashfire since it comes in early and has a better recharge versus the others. Also, Choking Cloud can easily replace either Cinders or EMP. Since it can remain on for a long time, many people find CC a better option. Add in Air Superiority and possibly a different travel power and you have quite a different Melee fire/rad. Something like this might be a better melee build (minus slotting) for some players with soloing in mind more than teaming:

01 : Radiant Aura Empty(01)
01 : Char Empty(01)
02 : Radiation Infection Empty(02)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism Empty(04)
06 : Fire Cages Empty(06)
08 : Hasten Empty(08)
10 : Air Superiority Empty(10)
12 : Flashfire Empty(12)
14 : Fly Empty(14)
16 : Hurdle Empty(16)
18 : Health Empty(18)
20 : Stamina Empty(20)
22 : Ring of Fire Empty(22)
24 : Hot Feet Empty(24)
26 : Enervating Field Empty(26)
28 : Choking Cloud Empty(28)
30 : Lingering Radiation Empty(30)
32 : Fire Imps Empty(32)
35 : Teleport Foe Empty(35)
38 : Smoke Empty(38)
41 : Fire Ball Empty(41)
44 : Fire Shield Empty(44)
47 : Fire Blast Empty(47)
49 : Consume Empty(49)

Damage added to control powers like Char and RoF as well as the more damage-centered powers like AS and Hot Feet, will provide a good bit of arresting power for the soloing controller. TP Foe provides a good pulling option in dangerous situations. Smoke can help hide you in others. Fire Ball and Fire Blast max out your upper level damage, turning this build into a potential killer.


VI. A Stand-Back Build

Not only is this build more melee-avoidant than the above two, but it also is more of a team build and utilizes the Leadership pool and Recall Friend. It has Smoke and Super Speed so that it can enter melee safely to use Cinders, and also has less damage, but more control boosting, in the Primal APP. EM Pulse is avoided due to the loss of endurance recovery. Our team build wants to be safe on endurance so he can always control and defend. Obviously, tweaks can be made, but that's the philosophy I was going for here

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fire Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Emission

01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(5) hel(15) endred(19) recred(29) recred(43)
01 : Char acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) acc(9) hlddur(17) recred(31)
02 : Fire Cages acc(02) acc(3) endred(17) immdur(43)
04 : Radiation Infection thtdbf(04) thtdbf(7) thtdbf(9) endred(27) defdbf(37) defdbf(40)
06 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(06) recred(7) recred(11) endrec(21) endrec(27) endrec(34)
08 : Smoke recred(08) thtdbf(46) thtdbf(46)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(11) recred(19)
12 : Flashfire acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) disdur(21) recred(25)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14) endred(37)
16 : Mutation recred(16)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23)
24 : Enervating Field endred(24) endred(25) endred(37)
26 : Recall Friend inttim(26)
28 : Cinders acc(28) acc(29) hlddur(31) hlddur(31) hlddur(34) recred(34)
30 : Assault endred(30) endred(46)
32 : Fire Imps acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) acc(42)
35 : Tactics endred(35) thtbuf(36) thtbuf(36) thtbuf(36) endred(43)
38 : Lingering Radiation acc(38) acc(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) endred(40)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Temp Invulnerability endred(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45)
47 : Power Boost recred(47) recred(48) recred(48) endred(48)
49 : Ring of Fire acc(49) dam(50) dam(50) dam(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

Slots late were actually difficult to place with so many powers that do not need a lot of slots. Adding RoF as a control/damage option at the end helped. As you can see, this build is heavily geared towards teaming, but some people prefer to build that way. I'd consider this and my alternate melee build to be extremes, but I like giving those as options, considering it's relatively easy to find a middle ground for yourself

VIII. Appendices

<ul type="square"> Appendix A. Using the Various Types of Control Contained in Fire [/b]
Immobilize powers 'root' a foe in one spot. While they are still able to shoot at you and your team/pets if they can see you, they will not be able to get close to you and use melee attacks such as punches, which are typically much more powerful than ranged attacks like blasts and guns. Most immobilizes will also prevent knockback and knockdown for a short time (roughly 5 seconds) after applied, with Gravity's immobilizes being the exception (but only for knockback, which they do not prevent). Gravity will still help a foe stand on a knockdown patch power. Because of this, in most situations, it is better not to use immobs on enemies standing on knockdown debuff patches such as Ice Slick, Earthquake, and Freezing Rain, which control through knockdown. Single target immobilizes are most useful against high level threats such as bosses and Archvillains (AVs), and also to add a bit or damage to your arsenal. In some sets, single target immobs can also pull down a flying foe (Gravity, Earth, Ice). For Area of Effect (AoE) immobilize powers, the area affected by the power is a circle, centered around whatever enemy you have targeted. To hit the most foes with targeted AoE powers such as this, target someone in the middle of a pack, not only horizontally, but depth-wise as well. Adjusting your camera angle can help here or else simply scrolling through your enemies with the TAB key. AoE immobilize powers are often combined with debuffs and/or AoE disorient powers, which cause mobs to wander around in a dazed state. Immobilizing them will prevent this and keep them close together forother AoE powers such as debuffs and attack powers. Without a good accuracy debuff or a control used on these mobs, it often will result in them turning their attention to you, since you are affecting their ability to attack. This can be dangerous and tactics such as ducking behind objects and walls and corners can be used to prevent taking too much damage as a result. Practice with any control long enough and you'll likely find many other, more complicated uses for them, in addition to their most basic function.

Hold powers are very useful and an important part of any control set. Affecting a foe with a hold renders them completely helpless. They cannot take action and are held in place for a short time. These powers are best used first on threats such as bosses and mezzing mobs, which are mobs that try to incapacitate you and your allies with holds, sleeps, and stuns, and even certain debuffs. AoE holds, which are activated differently among the various control sets, are very powerful tools also. Although they have a shorter base duration than single-target holds and also have a long recharge timer, AoE holds can really save your team's bacon in a sticky situation. When it appears that one or more teammates might die, and cause a collapse, using an AoE hold will usually give everyone ample time to heal up and gather themselves to finish the fight. AoE holds can also be used pro-actively of course by holding the mobs right when the fight starts, allowing your team to thin their numbers before they can emerge from the hold. Some AoE holds, such as for Gravity and Mind Control, are ranged and target-based, affecting any foes it hits in a circle around your target. Other sets, such as Fire and Ice Control, use player-based AoE (pbAoE) holds, which affect any mobs in a circle around you that the holds hit. Pulse-type control powers, like Choking Cloud and Volcanic Gases, take some getting use to, since they work on ticks, but hold duration enhancements allow those ticks to last longer, increasing the chances of foes being held continuously. Used in conjuncture with your single target hold, these powers are a good way to stack magnitude in order to get bosses held.

Slow powers reduce the run speed of enemies they affect. Many slow powers also slow the recharge time of an enemy's powers, but not all of them do, and these are two very important effects. A power such as Hot Feet or Quicksand only slows run speed, whereas powers like Lingering Radiation and Shiver (as well as most other Ice powers) debuff both run speed and recharge rate. By reducing run speed, you can force a foe to stay in a location for a longer amount of time. This is useful to keep foes who have been disoriented from wandering around or for keeping them in a tanker or blaster's Burn patch, or other similar uses. Slows are also useful to keep foes away from melee range of you and teammates. Slowing an enemy makes it easy to avoid allowing them to enter melee range and will allow you to attack them relatively safely for a longer amount of time even though they may be relatively close. Slow powers that also affect recharge rate are a great method of reducing the damage a team takes. When a foe's recharge rate is severely debuffed, they might stand around for a few moments before being able to attack again in some cases. Mitigating damage this way can be very effective.

Disorient, or stun, powers are much like holds. They leave a target helpless, but the target, instead of being held in one spot, will wander around, dazed. Combined with an AoE immobilize, AoE disorients will have the same basic effect of an AoE hold power. Multiple foes can be stunned, then rooted in one spot and stand

I just wanted to say thanks for the buff. A lot of people got on Statesman for this and fired off before they knew anything. The resists add an incredible amount of survivability and I don't see how anyone who tests this out could claim otherwise, barring my use of the word 'incredible'. While it's not necessarily what I'd like to see in my SR defense based set, it sure is a boost, and I7 will only help more. Thanks again.

[ QUOTE ]
just wondering if you could confirm that pbAOE means "player-based" or "point-blank".... i've always thought it's the former. mmm...

heh - just nitpicking i know. but seriously though -

[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, that's an interesting look at it. Player-based kinda makes more sense, but I've always heard of it as point blank. Point blank though, any other time I've heard it used, refers to like a gun shot at very close range, so basically any power could be point blank if you're close enough.

Since you said you're kidding I'll assume you do know how they work

From a solo POV:

Shiver - This will work as a good damage mitigator for you and in addition to your other ice powers and Arctic Air if you get that, will help you really slow down the recharge of foes. It's probably not such a useful solo power, but it can really help against any Elite Bosses you fight and anytime you run across more foes than you can deal with right away (say Ice Slick and Glacier are recharging for instance). At any rate, it's likely something you can put off for a while, if you end up getting it at all. I think it's mostly useful in teams, when you can severely slow up a ton of guys. That kind of peaks it's performance. Arctic Air, due to its Confuse element, will help you more as a soloer, as long as you stay close to the baddies. Shiver and AA don't really matter for enemies that are held, since they can't do anything anyway, but immobilizes will help keep everything together in AA or close enough together to hit most with Shiver.

Frostbite - This can be useful to lock things in place to keep them in Arctic Air or else simply to open containment so you do more damage. Since you solo, you won't have as many mobs in each spawn, so accuracy is going to be important to slot here so that you hit everything. Three accuracies wouldn't be out of the question. It also could use an endurance reducer, depending on how often you use it. Unless you have AA, I'm not sure how much use you'd get out of this power other than a containment enabler. It's not particularly good as a straight damage power though. To note, immobilizes in general will stop the knockback of Ice Slick for a short time, so hitting a foe on a Slick with Chilblain or Fb will allow them to stand up and shoot you, which of course is bad

Flash Freeze - This power you might actually like since you're solo. I know I love it solo. Sleep powers of course are breakable if you attack, but if you use FF, then take out/hold one foe at a time, it's quite useful. When you get Jack Frost, to avoid him breaking a sleep, hold the foe closest to you and then close in slowly. Jack has an aggro range and will shoot at that closest foe first, then stay there while you hold the others and then you can move Jack in safely. You'll get it down with some practice and waking mobs up won't even be an issue solo.

Ice Slick - This is a great solo power too. One nice aspect is being able to cast Slick around corners. When you do this, wait for them to all fall on their tukus and you can pop around the corner and hold one, then hide til your hold recharges and repeat till all held. That's a very safe approach of course and you can usually take fire from two or more mobs at a time, but if safety's very important, in those dangerous situations, you can use that method.

Glacier - Being solo, you might not need this power so much and might be able to either go without it at all or else avoid slotting it up all the way. It's nice to stack on bosses, but you have to figure you won't have it up in time for every boss, even with 2 or 3 recharges. Since you'll have to fight bosses without it sometimes, why not all the time? When you come across a boss, Ice Slick or Chilblain them and then use Block of Ice to hold them. If you can duck out of sight while it recharges, that will be safer. If you do take Glacier though, you can Glacier then Block of Ice them and hold them like that. It's also a good power to have if things go sour in a fight or if you or Jack aggro more than you mean to, you can hold everything and regain the fight or else make a strategic retreat

Slotting those powers is really going to depend on how you use them personally. I can't really say what will be best for you, I can only give some recommended start points or common slotting. Three recharges in Ice Slick is pretty standard and you'll likely find yourself using it as often as you can if you're keeping busy fighting. Shiver will take an accuracy or two (I'd go two) to hit reliably, but slows are pretty optional, and if you use it a lot, you might want an end reducer and some recharges. It all depends on how you like to use it. Frostbite needs accuracy and other than that, endurance if you use it a lot and maybe recharge or duration. If you simply have nowhere else to put slots, add some damage. Glacier, if you only use to stack, won't really need duration, but if you want it for everyday control, then duration would be advised, and then as many recharges as you desire based on how often you use it. It also needs accuracy to hit reliably. Flash Freeze needs accuracy and since it has a nice recharge, can go without or add one or two of those. Adding duration to it will allow you time to set up holds and defeat foes. FF isn't worth slotting for damage. Fb should get any before FF, but neither do worthy damage.

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Not entirely sure if it was an intentional omission, but you're missing recommended slotting information for Flash Freeze and Regeneration Aura.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not intentional at all, thank you! And I missed Ice Slick too, what a goofball I am . I was so excited about being done, I didn't realize I wasn't done

Ice Slick should be:
Slotting: 1-3rech

Flash Freeze should be:
Slotting: 1-2acc, 1-3sleep, 0-2rech, 0-1range

Regeneration Aura should be:
Slotting: 2-3rech, 0-2heal

I've finally put together an Ice/Empathy guide based on my experiences with Purple Heart, one of my favorite heros. For a while, I wanted to write a guide on these sets but didn't, considering the guides others have produced as adequate. However, after recently reviving my scrapper's guide and realizing that my own version of Ice/Empathy reflected my own style of control more than others' style, I decided: what the hell! My build is different and therefore I should publish it to show a different approach, however slight .

Anyway, here it is (can get there thru my sig also )

Purple Heart's Ice/Empathy Guide, vI6.1 by Funky Pink

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments
III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments
IV. Power Pool Comments
V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments
VI. My Build (Team-Oriented, Stand-Back Control Style)
VII. An Alternate Build (Solo-Oriented, Melee Control Style)


I. Introduction

Purple Heart was the first controller I ever made and since playing her, I've never thought of any AT as highly. I love the subtlety of control powers and being able to free my teammates to unleash everything they have in their attacks. When damage-dealers aren't as concerned or concerned at all about defense, then they can get closer to maximizing their own specialty's potential: loads of damage!! I picked the Empathy set because for me at the time, it provided the most obvious benefits of healing. Everyone loves Recovery Aura (RA) and Fortitude (Fort), and Adreneline Boost and Clear Mind are nice too. A controller + any other AT is highly likely to work as a duo, and that shows amazing balance with the AT in regards to its support role. Anyway, this was and still is a very fun concept, as well as in general, character to play.


II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments

Chilblain is a single target immobilize power. Immobilizing a foe will root them to one spot for the power's duration. Duration can be increased with specific enhancements. Chilblain brings shards of ice up through the ground to surround the foe and prevent movement. The foe is still free to attack anyone within his field of vision. This power will slightly reduce a foe's recharge rate as well. Slotting depends on how you want to use it. Some people use the power for damage and some just to root a single threat, or anywhere in between.
Slotting: 1-2accuracy, 0-3 damage, 0-1endreduction, 0-2immobduration

Block of Ice is a single target hold power. When a foe is affected by this power, he can't do anything and any toggles shut off. The power traps its victim in a custom-sized iceberg . After thawing, the foe will still have reduced recharge for a brief period. Some leiutenants and bosses will not be held with only one application, but they will be slowed. Single target hold powers are a very effective form of damage prevention. By slotting this power up with hold duration and recharge, you will guarantee that you hold more foes faster and for a decent amount of time. Some people choose to slot for damage, which I do not, but it fit into certain playstyles. The power has an accuracy bonus and one accuracy slot is plenty, unless you often see +3 foes or higher.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 1-2holdduration, 1-2recharge, 0-2dmg

Frost Bite is a targeted AoE immobilize. The immobilize effect is centered on a target and affects anyone it hits in a circle around your target. The graphics are like Chilblain, but FB does a lot less damage. A power like this can attract a lot of attention from a spawn, which can be really bad. That makes this power much more situational than others. After use on a large group, it is best to be at least partially out of sight, otherwise you might receive a lot of damage. It is safer to use when teammates already have aggro. The recharge vs. end cost makes this a high end power over time and it also has a penalty to accuracy, so more accuracy can be a good thing.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 0-1endred, 0-1rech

Arctic Air conjurs up a swirling cloud of icey cold air around you. The air resembles a fog, only less cloudy or billowy, if that makes sense. AA greatly cuts recharge as well as slowing the movement speed of affected foes. The hitch with this power is that you are required to be in melee range for it to be of any use. AA also contains a confuse component which you will likely find very useful in close quarters. I'm personally not the melee control type, but I've played it and I do know it is effective if that's what you like. Two slows will cap movement speed, but they do not affect recharge rate which is more a damage-cutting debuff. Slows have a practical use though in keeping enemies at bay. Decide your focus and slot to taste!
Slotting: 2-3endred, 0-3confuseduration, 0-2slow

Shiver is a large and fairly deep cone power. With hands raised hig above your head, Shiver calls forth a large gust of freezing wind to chill thine enemies to the core! As a stand-back controller type, you can hit large numbers of foes. If you prefer melee, you won't hit many foes unless you run outside of the pack to use it. The recharge is a bit lengthy and it's not out of the question to slot 3 recharges in this power. The debuff it provides is substantial and lasts a good while. Extra accuracy will help guarantee that you hit more foes in a spawn as well as important single targets such as bosses and AVs.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 0-3recharge, 0-2slow

Ice Slick is one ice control power that almost everyone is familiar with. I see it on the boards a lot and honestly, it's a big reason I chose Ice control as my first controller primary. I still remember seeing (or noticing ) it for the first time doing some street-hunting in Steel Canyon. It was so long ago now, lol. I know, I'm pathetic . It's gone through some changes from recharge increase to ED limiting how often it can be up, but even at maximum effective slotting, it only takes 3 slots total, which is nice. You can't have it down all the time anymore, but it has undeniable power when it is up. Casting this power creates a large patch of ice, like a frozen pond. Most foes will slip continuously on the slippery surface and fall down. Some foes are resistant (namely Nemesis Jaegers). Ice Slick can be cast around corners and objects so that you take no return fire. If foes want to get you, they will have to come find you, and Ice Slick makes that difficult. This is a great tactic as it serves as a big distraction and lets your teammates begin attacking much more safely than a typical spawn charge.
Slotting:

Flash Freeze is a targeted AoE sleep power. The sleep is centered around your target, much like with Frost Bite. This power brings shards of ice through the ground to completely incapacitate your foes. Their head is left uncovered and they struggle to get out, but are helpless. The ice is fragile, however, and if attacked, the ice will break and they will be freed. One pitfall to this power is that, before being slept, foes can sometimes return fire. FF also gains aggro since it does damage. An accuracy penalty in this power makes extra accuracy slots beneficial. Damage isn't worth slotting, IMO. The moderate recharge bring it up fairly often and the more sleep enhancements you have in it, the longer they will be helpless. I also prefer a range enhancement to reduce the return fire. This does a great job of eliminating return fire if you activate FF from its maximum range when enhanced. If you can't afford the range enhancement, you can time activating FF during a backwards jump away fromt he spawn or around a corner/object, so that you are out of range or out of sight when it hits them.
Slotting:

Glacier is a point-blank AoE (pbAoE). This means that the effect is centered around you, the caster. It's title is exactly what it is, a huge mount of ice that completely engulfs the area around you. The initial glacier of ice eventually fades, leaving foes individually trapped in a Block of Ice. The safest uses of this power include times when teammates already have aggro, such as a tanker or scrapper, and when you can make yourself invisible either with the power of teh same name or by stacking Super Speed and Stealth. I occasionally risk it and jump in headfirst to unload a Glacier and it backfires sometimes, but is usually effective as long as there aren't too many foes and they aren't too high in level, and also if you can Glacier before they attack more than once. This power has an accuracy penalty like most other AoE controls and so extra accuracy is recommended. The recharge/overall benefit is a turnoff for soloists often times, as well as people who would prefer to have it for every fight. It isn't up that often and so might not fit your style. Hamidon enhancements (acc/'mezz', which includes all forms of status effects) can really boost this power.
Slotting: 1-3acc, 2-3hold, 0-3rech

Jack Frost is one cool dude. That's not just a bad pun either. Jack throws out holds for you. He slows anything he is near in a big way. He compliments your look if you pick up Ice Armor in later levels . Most people are going to want Jack Frost. The added damage and aggro-absorption are very nice. A benefit of Empathy as a secondary is that Jack can be boosted incredibly for a good while without further management. Just buff up Jack with both RAs, Fort, and AB and he'll be virtually unkillable for a solid minute (Fort wears off) and even for a while after that (everything else is 90 seconds I believe). Hold duration enhancements should only be added when you have extras, IMO.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 3dmg, 0-2hold

III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments

Healing Aura This power heals you and all those close to you for a moderate amount (about 1/4 your own HP). The effect is a large, rising, shiny green pool centered around you. You croutch over and release this power. Fast activation, but is nice to have up more often in later levels. It could use an endurance reduction for many builds.
Slotting: 2-3heal, 1-3recharge, 0-1endred

Heal Other will replace a large amount of lost Hit Points (HPs) to one target. It has a fair recharge, but also a cost a fair amount of endurance also. When you activate this power, you direct a large healing power at your ally using both of your hands to guide it. They are covered in a green healing effect. I would limit single target healing to this power or Absorb Pain, although AP is not useful for most controller styles of play. Explaination forthcoming...
Slotting: 1-3heal, 0-1endred, 0-2rech

Absorb Pain dramatically increases a teammate's Hit Points, but at a personal cost. The power looks like Heal Other, but it's great power is drawn from your own health. You will lose very few of your own HPs. Much worse than that, you will not be able to heal yourself for a brief time after using AP. This can be very bad for a controller who often times draws large amounts of aggro with their controls. Absorb Pain also has a longer recharge timer. I'll leave this to personal judgement. Folks with tanker or scrapper friends that they regularly team with and therefore can time the power effectively, as well as other, unthought of by myself, situations could make AP a very useful power. I don't know all the contingencies, but for general purposes, this power is much better for primary-focused defenders than the typical controller.
Slotting: 0-2heal, 1-3rech, 0-1endred

Resurrect brings an ally back from the brink of death. Long recharge time, heavy end cost, but since it's not a power you want to use very often at all, it's not too slot-worthy, IMO. I've even considered dropping the power from my arsenal, as crazy as that sounds to some people . I never add slots to rez powers, personally, but some like to. Conversely, I always get a rez power if a set I have has one . Using this power, lifts the victim from the gorunds and places him on his feet, fully restored with health and endurance. I'm leaving this one totally flexible as far as slotting. Range is relatively useless though.
Slotting: recharge and/or endred

Clear Mind protects someone from many status effects such as hold, sleep, and disorient and will release them from these effects as well. The power is directed with both hands towards the teammate buffed. The protected ally will glow a mildly bright purple as the power is applied. There is a lowish, gongy hum-type sound when the power is applied as well as when the power wears off. With a fast recharge and very low end cost, slotting for those is marginal, although recharge would be better. It's not worth slotting more that one of those though, IMO. I prefer range for when teams split up or get spread out. Recharge saves time too, so it's a coin toss really
Slotting: 1recharge or 1range

Fortitude provides a significant boost to an ally's damage, accuracy and defense. The power is targeted and applied by pointing both hands at the ally you are buffing. ToHit enhancements can be added to boost accuarcy further. I do not recommend this for most purposes, however. Most teammates are going to supply a good amount of accuracy in their builds, so often times, the boost Fort gives them will be unnoticed. Exceptions are buffing significantly outmatched allies (i.e. Fortitude on a level 24 who is fighting 28s) or when you are supplying all of your pet's accuracy with it. If either of those sound good, then by all means, add ToHit buffs. And if you can think of more uses, please submit ideas . Slotting for defense provides a moderate return, but my own personal opinion is that recharge is the main facilitator of this power's potential, at least to the point where everyone you teamed with is buffed with it. After that, it's useless. If you are built to solo only, then all you want is Defense and/or ToHit. The power is good 'out of the box' though and anything more than the initial slot is just red pepper sour cream on an already hot pile of buttery garlic potatoes.
Slotting: 0-3recharge, 0-2ToHitbuf, 0-3defense

Recovery Aura is a power that almost everyone is familiar with I think. When activated, the caster fans his arms out to either side, and a blue wave of energy falls around him. Allies close to the caster, and even the caster, receive an incredible rate of endurance recovery for a short time. IMO, it is best to use this power in the middle of a long fight, when everyone is getting low on endurance. Problems arise when the team spreads out too much, but by using it in this way, you really maximize its potential by extending the fight. If fights aren't lasting long, then using it before a fight will basically eliminate downtime for endurance after the fight. The area heal can take care of the rest. Basically any way you play, or any situation you're in, this power is useful, and that's nice. Recharge is the most important attribute to slot, IMO, since the power has a long timer. An endurance modification enhancement or two is complete icing on the cake, but quite welcome, should you find that you have extra slots.
Slotting: 2-3rech, 0-2endmod

Regeneration Aura looks similar to Recovery Aura but with a green wave of health. This power significantly increases a hero's health regeneration rate. I also recommend using this power (like Recovery Aura) in the middle of long battles, or when battles take a short amount of time, before the battle. For melee-type control style, Regen Aura provides a nice benefit by lowering the need for Healing Aura. When cast on a group before a fight, you will find yourself needing to heal multiple allies less. You will still have the occasional need to Heal Other/AP due to particularly heavy enemy attacks though. Extra slots here for Regeneration Rate (healing enhs) simply amplify the power's already generous buff. They are quite useful still. Again, IMO, recharge is generally better to slot, but should you find a surplus of slots, they will serve a purpose here.
Slotting:

Adreneline Boost increases the recharge rate, the endurance recovery rate and the regeneration rate (HPs) of an ally for a brief time. These aspects are all affected to an astonishing degree. Base endurance recovery is enough to always guarantee a rising blue bar, making slotting for this useless. Slotting Heal enhancements isn't necessary, but will increase the survivability of any non-defense ally by an astounding rate. Recharge here is the best thing to slot, IMO. After that, a heal or two won't hurt, but certainly aren't needed.
Slotting: 1-3recharge, 0-3heal


IV. Power Pool Comments

The Concealment Power Pool could be used for a couple of reasons. Team/individual protection could be the goal of having Stealth. Combined with Super Speed means effective invisibilty in PvE. Grant Invisibility helps your teammates avoid aggro. Invisibility lets you move around freely. Phase Shift can serve as an aggro tool or a tool for self-survival.

The Fighting Power Pool doesn't provide much benefit for squishies. This is ironic since we are the ones who could use it the most, but there it is.

The Fitness Power Pool's main goal is Stamina. 3-slotted Stamina, with SOs, is a great boon to aggressive and/or busy playstyles. I'd venture to guess that 99.9% of heros that have the fitness pool have or will have Stamina by the time they are level 50. Health provides a small amount of sleep resistance, which, IMO should be greater.

The Flight Power Pool has a good knockdown attack in Air Superiority. This is a popular pool attack for this reason and pool attacks in general are more popular now for controllers due to Containment. Hover can keep you out of range (except when against earth/ice/grav control or any mezzers), and Fly is a very useful form of travel. There's no better open-map scout than a flier. Purple Heart flies

The Leadership Power Pool has some nice benefits. Assault affects you and all teammates near you and resists Taunt power, which is mostly useful in PvP. It also increases base damage. Maneuvers slightly increases the defense of you and those close to you. Tactics increases accuracy as well as providing +perception to you and all teammates near you. Vengeance can be used on a fallen teammate. The rage it produces increases the damage, accuracy and defense of all teammates near the fallen hero.

The Leaping Power Pool has a decent attack in Jump Kick (which is really a flip kick), some mild defense (but most importantly, immobilization protection) in Combat Jumping, a nice, fast travel power in Super Jump, and a mild hold resist/great knockback resist power in Acrobatics.

The Medicine Power Pool is not worth mentioning when you are Empathy. For each power in the Medicine pool, there is one in the Empathy set that does the same job better. Only pick from this pool if you feel that what Empathy gives you is not enough.

The Presense Power Pool provides minimal benefit for a controller in general. Having to spend a power slot on a taunt power makes getting to the fear powers (Intimidate and Invoke Panic) in the set even less attractive, even considering the fact that their recharge vs. mezz power is weak. Neither fear power can fear a leiutenent in a single application let alone a boss.

The Speed Power Pool is useful for anyone wishing to speed up their attacks with Hasten or for anyone wanting to gain PvE invisibility via Super Speed (SS) + Stealth. Hasten is an incredible buff to recharge and with 3 recharge slots can be up 2/3 of the time without other +recharge buffs. Powers like Speed Boost or Accelerate Metabolism speed up its recharge. Whirlwind provides a choatic form of control which some find rather effective.

The Teleportation Power Pool can place Jack Frost into melee, where he does more damage with his sword, with Recall Friend. The power is also good in general for teammates and pulling defeated allies away from enemies. Teleport is the fastest form of travel and therefore prefered by many.


V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments

The Stone Mastery APP includes a nice damage power in Hurl Boulder, though the activation is slow. Fissure is a weak AoE stun/moderate dmg, but small AoE damage power. Rock Armor provides a good amount of defense to smashing and lethal, and Earth's Embrace increases your Hit Points, while also healing you. This set is best used for the +HP power, defense and also single-target damage. If you prefer damage, you'd better like the Fire set, IMO.

The Fire Mastery APP contains two damage powers, Fire Blast and Fire Ball. Both of these powers benefit from Containment rather largely. Consume is a nice endurance-filling power, but with a longish recharge. Fire Shield provides a good amount of resistance to smashing, lethal and fire. Cold resistance is minor. This set is the best for damage. The resistance is significant also.

The Ice Mastery APP is great for ice/empathy for most concept reasons. Ice Blast is the best selection from this set, IMO. Ice Armor is a nice defense buff, but unnecessary in predictable fights. Ice Storm would be my second power selection here if possible. Hibernate encases you in indestructible ice, allowing you to recover all endurance and health before emerging. Because my power selection is tight (I don't want either Hibernate or Ice Armor just to open Ice Storm), I only have Ice Blast. Ice Storm is a nice controllery-type power and is worth getting if you like Hibernate or Ice Armor.

The Primal Mastery APP set has two very nice utility powers in Conserve Power and Power Boost. Activatin Conserve Power (CP) greatly reduces the cost of all powers for the next few moments. Even while constantly attacking, it is not uncommon to gain endurance whenever this power is active. Recharge will get you the most out of this powr, since it's recharge timer is long. Power Boost (PB), doubles the duration of your holds while it is active. It also increases your active debuffs and buff, including heals and defense debuff toggles. Placed buffs/debuffs such as Quicksand or Freezing Rain are not yet affected by PB. this is suppose to change sometime after Issue 6. Power Blast is a good attack and deserves slots, and Temporary Invulnerability is a good defenseive power that deserves a good number of slots too.

The Psionic Mastery APP contains one of the best utility powers of any controller APP, Indomitable Will. This power protects you from status effects for a good amount of time. The long recharge means you can't have it on all the time, but that kind of benefit alone is worth picking this APP for several playstyles. Mind over Body also provide good resistance against smashing, lethal and Psionic damages. Mental Blast and Psionic Tornado are nice attacks, especially when yuo take advantage of Containment.


VI. My Build (Team-Oriented, Stand-Back Control Style)

Here's how I build my version of a stand-back ice/empathy controller:

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Ice Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Empathy

01 : Healing Aura hel(01) hel(5) hel(7) recred(7) recred(19)
01 : Block of Ice acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) recred(11) recred(17)
02 : Chilblain acc(02) acc(9) endred(36) recred(42)
04 : Heal Other hel(04) hel(15) recred(9) recred(29) endred(37)
06 : Assault endred(06)
08 : Hover fltspd(08) fltspd(40) fltspd(45)
10 : Shiver acc(10) acc(19) recred(11) recred(13) recred(36)
12 : Ice Slick recred(12) recred(13) recred(17) endred(43)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(15) fltspd(37)
16 : Clear Mind rng(16)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Flash Freeze acc(20) acc(21) slpdur(21) slpdur(23) rng(23) recred(29)
22 : Health hel(22) hel(43) hel(46)
24 : Stamina endrec(24) endrec(25) endrec(25)
26 : Glacier acc(26) acc(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(34) recred(34) recred(34)
28 : Fortitude recred(28) recred(31) defbuf(37) defbuf(40)
30 : Recovery Aura recred(30) recred(31) recred(31) endrec(40) endrec(43)
32 : Jack Frost acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) acc(33) dam(36)
35 : Resurrect recred(35)
38 : Adrenaline Boost recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) hel(39)
41 : Indomitable Will recred(41) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Regeneration Aura recred(44) recred(45) recred(45) hel(46) hel(46)
47 : Mind over Body endred(47) damres(48) damres(48) damres(48)
49 : Tactics endred(49) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

I'm obviously a fan of accuracy, hence my selection of Tactics, even though this isn't a PvP build. This build is close to maxed out as far as the buff side of the build goes, and still has a considerable amount of control to add to any team.


VI. An Alternate Build (Solo-Oriented, Melee Control Style)

This build includes options to help the solo or PvP player. Tactics provides some perception, while Arctic Air provides some protection from Stalkers as well as melee-type control. Chilblain, Air Auperiority, and Power Blast provide some damage, while self and pet buffing remains at a high level. The lean in control is to single-target as well as powers that are best utilized as opening moves and powers that stack to take out bosses (Glacier+Block of Ice).

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Ice Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Empathy

01 : Healing Aura hel(01) hel(3) recred(11) hel(15) recred(23)
01 : Block of Ice acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) recred(7) hlddur(11) recred(34)
02 : Chilblain acc(02) acc(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(46)
04 : Frost Bite acc(04) acc(5) endred(13) recred(17)
06 : Air Superiority acc(06) dam(7) dam(9) dam(37) acc(37)
08 : Arctic Air endred(08) endred(9) cnfdur(19) cnfdur(37) cnfdur(43)
10 : Assault endred(10)
12 : Ice Slick recred(12) recred(13) recred(17) endred(42)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(15) fltspd(19) endred(46)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Fortitude recred(22) thtbuf(23) thtbuf(34) thtbuf(36) recred(50)
24 : Tactics thtbuf(24) endred(25) thtbuf(25) thtbuf(31)
26 : Glacier acc(26) acc(27) hlddur(27) recred(29) recred(31) recred(34)
28 : Recovery Aura recred(28) recred(29) recred(31) endrec(33)
30 : Clear Mind rng(30) recred(50)
32 : Jack Frost dam(32) dam(33) dam(33)
35 : Regeneration Aura recred(35) recred(36) recred(36) hel(40) hel(46)
38 : Adrenaline Boost recred(38) recred(39) recred(40)
41 : Power Blast acc(41) acc(42) dam(42) dam(43) dam(43) recred(48)
44 : Temp Invulnerability damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) endred(45)
47 : Power Boost recred(47) recred(48) recred(48)
49 : Recall Friend rng(49) inttim(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

This build, although not maxed for damage as it would be with an APP like Fire, is a very damaging build and a very safe soloing build. Don't ever limit yourself into thinking that you only have one way to build a hero. So much depends on what you have fun playing, not on what you feel is the most effective/beneficial. Melee ice/empathy can work just as well as a team build and you should build according to how you like to play, not necessarily leaning to one side or another. Good luck with your career.

I've updated my old Spines/SR Guide for I5 and I6, finally. This procedure was quite an exercise in patience, as well as mental and emotional stability .

A Spines &amp; Super Reflexes Scrapper Guide by Funky Pink

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments
III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments
IV. Power Pool Comments
V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments
VI. My Build
VII. An AoE Build

I. Introduction

When I first wrote this guide, I wanted to create a guide for a Spines/Super Reflexes scrapper based on what I've learned playing Funky Pink, my own Spines/Super Reflexes scrapper, but also to encourage people to look at Spines as not only an Area of Effect (AoE) powerset, which is how many Spines scrappers are built. Spines includes some great single-target attacks in addition to it’s numerous AoE attacks, and I've found my experience playing my scrapper is the real deal in one-on-one combat even without two of those very popular AoE powers.
Spines has multiple AoE attacks for a reason and players should take advantage of powersets' strengths if it fits them. This isn't a criticism of that, but a compliment to what many people already know Spines can do. I'll even look at options incorporating multiple AoE Spines powers and give a build for how I'd be built if I went AoE. For what I personally want to do when I fight though, this build has allowed me to do that. The AoE I have doesn't require me to be in melee, which I like. I also feel that I can direct a cone power to hit more than a point blank AoE (pbAoE) would. Of course, Quills moves around with the player and is a good addition, but being an SR means we can't spare too many toggle powers. My preference to playstyle (and, I admit, some aesthetical reasons also) means that Quills and Spine Burst (SB) are not a part of my build, but I am still very functional. All of this is to say that a Spines scrapper does not need to build around Quills and Spine Burst, or even have them, to be a good scrapper. Aside from sharing my experience with my character, I'm also partially attempting to dilute somewhat of a stereotype I have perceived and show that either route (single-target focus or AoE) can easily be taken with Spines. It's all about finding what's fun for you .

When I selected Spines, so long ago now , I did not understand the mechanics of CoH to any smidgeon of a degree, and therefore did not know I could even go the route of AoE Spines herder. I just liked the way the set discription sounded, that bones were sticking out of my hero's body, and that I was sticking those bones into the bad guys and hurting them very badly. I knew I would want to be a mutant, which appealed to me, and the only other choice was which secondary powers I would take. Super Reflexes just sounded too cool to pass up. I just liked the idea of not getting hit.

II. Primary Power Discription &amp; Comments

Here's a list of the powers in the Spines set, with a brief discription of what the power looks like and does, any personal uses, and some slotting options. Not everyone's going to slot recharges or endurance reductions in their attacks, I'm just trying to include the most common/useful options and variation. Obviously, you'll have to max out at 6 slots. Tweak to taste, basically

Barb Swipe is a series of quick slashes with your spines and does minor damage, but it is recharged soon after the animation is done (2 second recharge), which is nice for it's overall damage per second (DPS) and also means it can be a filler attack at basically any time. This is a good power for earlier levels for anyone and for when Hasten, should you get it, is down, to help fill an attack chain. The fast recharge and low end cost are nice enough to make slotting for those aspects marginal.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 3dmg

Lunge is a quick, powerful stroke with a spine from your arm and has a fast recharge. The body movement is similar a punch, driving the spine in the foe...fun . Fully slotted, this does a good deal of damage. It is a staple in my attack chain.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 2-3dmg, 0-2recharge, 0-1endred

Spine Burst does damage in a circle around you by shooting spines out of your body. You crouch down in concentration and rise up as the spines explode from you. The activation is a bit slowish, but makes up for it when you hit multiple foes. IMO, end reduction is needed in at least AoE attacks.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 2-3dmg, 0-2recharge, 1endred

Build Up adds a nice amount of damage (it doubles your base, not enhanced, damage) and a bit of accuracy also. Slot this power to taste, usually with just recharges. It is also good to fire off for additional accuracy for those hard to hit foes, especially if you add a ToHit buff or two to it.
Slotting: 3 recharge, 0-2 tohit buffs

Impale is a fairly slow attack but it does a very good amount of damage and has range. Basically, in this attack, you're throwing a huge spine at a foe. The windup resembles a baseball pitcher. Impale also can immobilize most targets for a brief time. In starting a fight, I usually lead with Impale after hitting Build Up, and I can generally get in another one before the Build Up cycle is over, when Hasten is running. My usual attack chain is: Impale, Throw Spines (TS), Ripper, Lunge, Impale. Everything after TS is flexible, depending on how much health a foe has left. If their low, i might use Lunge first or even Barb Swipe, etc. I prefer TS as my second attack in a larger mob in order to get max AoE damage while the mobs are still usually close together. The reason I like Impale to lead is the range it has, so I can fire it off, then close the gap, fire off TS, then I’m nose to nose with baddies. Getting off two good attacks before even reaching a mob is nice! Occasionally, Impale will hit with a critical on that first attack, leaving no target to base the angle of TS on if a minion was your target. The best way to get ready for this is to either use Impale on a Lt. or Boss (so they don't die with a critical Impale) or else go ahead and switch to a different minion as soon as Impale starts to activate.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 2-3dmg, 0-2recharge, 0-1endred

Confront I picked up for my squishy blaster and controller friends. It helps me redirect a foe who might be giving them too much trouble. You can also use Confront to pull a foe from it’s group, to avoid fighting all of them at once. I found this particularly useful against the Minions of Rularuu, fighting those blasted biting eyeballs with incredible accuracy.
Slotting: 1-2range (2 range is 98 feet!)

Quills works by continuously pulsing small spines out of your body in all directions. It's similar to SB in that regard, but there is no concentrated build up, so no activation to wait for. You simply turn on the toggle and spines shoot out while you move freely about. This power is very nice in a crowd. It costs a fair amount of endurance and could very well use two reductions. IMO, it's best to take advantage of the range here, for pulling purposes. The taunt component of the power always 'hits' and you'll get their attention with or without an enhancement for taunt.
Slotting: 1-2endred, 1-2acc, 2-3dmg

Ripper is a great attack with enormous knockdown (not knockback) ability. This is a frontflip attack that crashes down on your foe with your Spines. You almost always stick a good landing on the flip . It will knockdown bosses a good precentage of the time and can even get an AV once during those long fights. The damage is enormous. Including the full amount of its potential poison, which foes can be immune to in varying degrees, it's a very high damage power. To reminisce a moment, back when I could slot all damage in Ripper, I could defeat an orange minion in one shot with this power. So, it's about half that now, but still nice .
Slotting: 1-2acc, 2-3dmg, 0-2recharge, 0-1endred

Throw Spines is a great power once you get used to it. Two words: 'massive AoE'. Ok, that's really four, but you get the point . This attack takes a handful of spines and tosses them out from left to right in a huge line. Techinically it's a cone with a very wide arc, and all damage hits at the same time, not just from left to right. I was just trying to describe the animation . In compact enough groups, this is my second attack after Impale. I mentioned leading with Impale before in order to use the initial target as an anchor for Throw Spines. It allows a good control for directing the cone. I will run to whatever angle looks best (looks like it will hit the most enemies), then hit follow on the Impaled and hit Throw Spines when I'm close. You can also target someone near the back, get them in the middle, ready the attack and close in. This will guarantee the cone depth is maximum, and you'll hit as many as possible.
Slotting: 1-2acc, 2-3dmg, 0-2recharge, 1endred

III. Secondary Power Discription &amp; Comments

And now the Super Reflexes powers:
Focused Fighting (FF) is toggle defense against melee range attacks. It costs .38 endurance per second and one endurance reduction enhancement lowers that to .28 end/second. It's base is a 12.5% defense. Each defense enhancement adds 20% of the base defense percentage for 2.5% additional defense per enhancement. So if you have 3 slots Single Origin (SO) defense enhancements in FF, your total defense against melee from FF is around 20% (some of the effectiveness of a 3rd similar enhancement under ED is reduced slightly). This is your most important toggle for a long time and it's good to slot it fairly early. As you might know or will soon find out, melee attacks are the hardest hits to take from baddies in CoH for many levels, and are still later on, though ranged and AoE attacks become more balanced among some enemies. Maximum defense is important in this power, and if you have extra slots or burn too much endurance for how you play, a second endurance reduction will help. It's the same with the other toggles.
Slotting: 1-2endred, 3defense

Focused Senses (FS) is toggle defense against ranged attacks. The numbers for this are the same as FF. This will not be as important until the your 20s when you start going up against Sky Raiders. Other groups will have ranged attacks too, of course, but the Sky Raiders are one of the first with a heavy mix of ranged attacks. Heavy ranged use does not end with them, however, and this will be needed often.
Slotting: 1-2endred, 3defense

Agile is your auto (passive) defense against ranged attacks and is worth 5%. Each slot adds 1%. Not heavy numbers. You can see why slotting toggles is more efficient. It is nice that they are always on though, and cost no endurance. Now they even provide damage resistance (to all but Psionic) once your health bar hits 60% and then as your health decreases, the resistances increase. Adding slots here doesn't add much defense. Only do it if/when you need them elsewhere. The other passives are the same.
Slotting: 1-3defense

Practiced Brawler (PB) is the best status resistance power in the game, in my opinion. Unlike toggle status protection, which shuts off when held, leaving you unprotected, Practiced Brawler protects you if you happen to get held, therefore reducing the duration and keeping you protected once freed...no need to reactive it until it recycles. I kept PB on auto-attack (control-right click a power to set this feature - it will be given a green ring around its icon in your power tray) until I got Hasten, so that I was always protected from status effects. With Hasten, PB needs no SO recharge enhancements to be available all the time. Some people choose to slot an endurance reduction enhancement here. I went with recharge so I can have overlap time to activate PB, selecting the safest time to do it. Without Hasten, you will need 2 recharges to keep PB up all the time. It's worth it.
Slotting: 1-2recharge, depending on the presence of Hasten

Dodge is auto melee defense and is worth 5% against melee attacks, same as Agile. It too provides resistance once below 60% health. With each passive you get, since they stack, the total resistance you will have increases.
Slotting: 1-2endred, 3defense

Quickness reduces recharge times by 20% and also slightly increases run speed. It also resists being slowed by enemy powers. I picked this up on my respec into Perma-Elude (before i4) to help Elude cycle faster as well as my attacks. However, I also found during that time, that I really liked the boost to recharge also, therefore I kept it after i4 when I cut Elude out of my build. Now, with ED, it helps me recaharge Hasten faster, so it's up as often as possible.
Slotting: 1runspeed

Lucky is passive defense against AoE attacks like cone and point blank AoE attacks (pbAoE), which is an attack on all those close to the attacker (like Spine Burst or Quills). SR gets defense to AoE attacks pretty late, and this will be a welcomed asset. It also provides resistance below 60% and will increase your total resistance when added to Dodge and/or Agile. You can only slot Run Speed here and additional slotting isn't necessary.
Slotting: 1-3defense

Evasion is toggle defense against AoE attacks. It costs .38 endurance per second and one endurance reduction enhancement lowers that to .28 end/second. It's base is now 22.5% defense. Even though you won't have this for long before Going to Elude, which I'm mentioning because I have heard of people passing on Evasion and relying on Elude for AoE defense, it's still a very nice power to have along with Elude. AoE attacks are found by the truckload in mid to upper levels, though they start at day 1. Since Elude isn't up all the time, IMO, you're going to need this power to cover AoE defense the rest of the time. Working around Evasion is possible, I'm sure, but for me would require too much of a playstyle &amp; fighting approach change. I actually have 3 endurance reductions in this power, but that is overkill.
Slotting: 1-2endred, 3defense

Elude is three solid minutes of unbelieveable levels of defense. Before Issue 4, you could have it up all the time, but now it's recharge is so great that it cannot be on all the time, although it does last for 180 seconds instead of 120 seconds as it did before i4. If you take Elude, I recommend only putting in as many slots as you can afford (once it has at least two defense enhancements) without sacrificing any from your other defenses. But, since ED, you will likely have plenty of slots to put here.
Slotting: 2-3defense, 0-3recharge

I had dropped Elude altogether after i4 when it became immpossible to make permanent without outside buffs and was fine without it. Issue 5 reduced the defense in all SR powers and I remained unchanged. When ED came along, and powers like FF, FS, and Evasion became maxed out with only 3 defense enhancements, I found myself with a surplus of slots and so I picked up Elude again and have it slotted with 3 recharge and 3 defense. I’m glad to say I don’t need it to survive as I found during i4 and i5, and since I often will go a while without using it at all, but it's also very nice to have for the right occasion, and I do run into plenty of them . Elude provides 45% defense to melee, ranged, and AoE attacks, as well as boosting endurance recovery and run speed. Each defense enhancement adds a staggering 9% defense to all. It's quite easy to run all your toggles and attack like a madman when Elude is running due to it's self-endurance recovery buff. With all 3-slotted toggles, passives, and including Elude, that's ~100% defense to melee and ranged and ~116% to AoE.

With fully-slotted passives, due to the minimal return you get on slotting for defense (only ~1% defense added), it's obvious that I have a lot of slots to spare in this build. Quickness or Hasten could easily be dropped for an attack such as Quills or Spine Burst and slots could be pulled from (in order of where I'd pull from, first to last) Agile, Lucky or Dodge to cover this or any other change you want to make to my build that would need slots. I would recommend keeping the passive defenses due to their damage resistance, not for the actual defense they provide.

IV. Power Pool Comments

Power Pool time!:
The Speed Power Pool is still a big part of many players’ heroes, even after ED. Hasten has a nearly 60% recharge increase for your powers, allowing you to fight more foes faster. I have Hasten as my auto-attack power. Even though it isn't permanent anymore, it's up often enough to help in virtually every fight. It also keeps Elude coming back as fast as possible, and in fact, this is it's main purpose for me now that it is not permanent, as seen in my build. I do not select it until level 41, right after I get Elude. Exemplaring might change my mind about this, but it can easily be worked into a build earier than I have it in mine. The drawback with fighting as fast as Hasten allows is that you get tired much faster. If you learn to restrain yourself to use that speed only as it is needed, then you won't run into many endurance problems. Slotting endurance reduction in your attacks and toggles helps a lot too. This opens up Super Speed too of course. Some people get use out of Flurry and Whirlwind.

I went with the Leaping Power Pool for my travel power. I really dig Super Jump. It's fun and it's fast. Combat Jumping provides a bit of extra defense at lower levels. Not a lot, but every bit counts. Acrobatics provides some mild hold protection and also great knockback protection. With Practiced Brawler, we don't really need this. Jump Kick is not seen much, but some people find it kind of fun. It's really a flip kick &lt;cough&gt;devs!&lt;cough&gt;.

Hover/Air Superiority and Flight could easily be put in place here. Fly is a good free movement travel, but a lot of people think it's too slow. It greatly benefits from slotting, and I give it 3 flight speed enhancements on my flying toons. AS is a nice quick attack with a good chance to knockdown a foe. It requires redrawing your Spines, which some people don't like. Hover of course can keep you out of melee. It's also a decent vertical-travel option for Super Speedsters .

Some people also go the Super Speed/Stealth route in order to gain invisibility in missions. That would be easy to do by just replacing Leaping with Concealment. A lot of people like the later powers in the Concealment line also, Invisibility and Phase Shift. I considered going SS/Stealth during my respec at level 44 (when I went perma-Elude) and one reason I stuck with Leaping was that Super Jump is a great tracking power to chase down fleeing/teleporting enemies, that allows you to get vertical when necessary. It fits my concept better also.

The Fitness line is pretty much taken solely for Stamina. It is important to be able to recover endurance as fast as possible when you're fighting at a fast pace. Health is another power that benefited from ED. I have it 3-slotted, which I hadn't done since the perma-Elude days when I could do without having Focused Senses and Evasion, and so had extra slots from that.

The Fighting line was really nice prior to I5, but still provides some benefit and since many people still use it, I wanted to mention it in my guide. Fully slotted, Tough lets you resist about 18% of smashing and lethal damage, something that scrappers run into a lot of. This is still moderately useful. It prevents some heavy damage against some AVs and bosses and from crowds. It stacks nicely with the resistance provided by the passives also, once you're below 60% health. Fully slotted Weave only adds about 5% defense to melee and ranged attacks since i5 and ED. Weave isn't really worth picking up anymore, IMO, because of how low the defense is. Boxing and Kick are mediocre attack powers, but at least they open up Tough.

A lot of scrappers pick from the Leadership pool now. Assault provides a damage buff and Taunt resistance to you and teammates close to you. Maneuvers provides a small amount of defense. Tactics provides some perception, useful in PvP, as well as an accuracy buff. Vengeance can be used when a teammate falls in battle. It will increase the damage, defense, and accuracy of all teammates close to his body.

The Medicine pool provides some buffage. Aid Self heals allies. Stimulant protects them from status effects such as holds. Aid Self heals you. Rescusitate will bring back a defeated ally with full health, but no endurance to start. He will have to recover it naturally.

A travel method many people prefer is Teleportation. Recall Friend or Teleport Foe will open up Teleport, which is a very fast form of travel. It also costs a bit of endurance, which won't be a problem if you slot it for endurance or get Stamina. Range is a nice addition too. Some might have issues with using it in missions or moving vertically.

There is a nice option in the Presence pool that people use in PvP, Intimidate. If you can sacrifice the power slots, this power is a good option since fear isn't often resisted by players. It's also good for PvP to use on an annoying minion (it isn't powerful enough to affect lts. in one application) like sappers, or any mezzing mob. Provoke is a large-area fear. These powers require significant slots to be useful in PvE and, since Issue 5, aren't a good option, IMO.

V. Ancillary Power Pool Comments

Concerning ranged attacks in general in the APPs, being Spines, we don't really need any of the ranged attacks they offer. There aren't really any that fit Spines anyway, IMO. Basically, even if you only get it for FA, Body Mastery is a great set.

I chose the Body Mastery Pool for my APP solely to get Focused Accuracy (FA). I liked the sound of it from the get-go. It adds an incredible amount of accuracy to attacks, and allows you to remove accuracy enhancers from attacks if you so choose. I did this for a while, but, being prone to exemplar, I leave an accuracy in my attacks now. FA does a great job, but it does cost a lot of endurance. Be sure you get the most out of it by slotting ToHit buffs and cut the end cost down with endurance reduction enhancements.
I don't have any of the ranged attacks in the Body set, Laser Beam Eyes and Energy Torrent (slot either one like Impale), but I also picked up CP. Conserve Power is nice to use right before Elude ends and removes all of your endurance. With CP on, you can take some endurance inspirations and turn your toggles back on and/or fight and last much longer even though Elude removes your endurance recovery for a time after it 'crashes'. You will begin recovering endurance again after a few seconds.

The Dark Mastery APP will provide some range with a good deal of control and some mild debuffing. That would be a great addition to a Spines/Dark or a Dark/SR. It has a cone damage (Torrent), a ranged single damage (Dark Blast), a cone immobilize (Tenebrous Tenticles) and a hold power (Petrifying Gaze). TT and Pet Gaze are the most useful for us and would be very good additions. I'd slot TT with at least 2acc and after that a range and maybe an endurance reduction and/or recharge. Pet Gaze I'd slot with 2acc/2hold/2rech.

The Weapon Mastery set, to me, is more limited to naturals or techs and katana, claws, and MA. Obviously anyone can get them, but I like to stick with theme. There are some nice powers in there and Caltrops would be quite useful (I'd use a recharge or two, a slow or two, and maybe a range...the damage is too small to slot, IMO), as well as Web Granade (1-2acc and is good to slot for recharge since it has an immobilize, a -jump, a slow, and a -recharge component that can stack - PvP tip of the day), for any scrapper. The ranged attacks, again, aren't so needed for us Spines scrappers

VI. My Build

Here's one way to put together a Spines/SR, which happens to be exactly how mine is built :

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Super Reflexes

01 : Focused Fighting endred(01) defbuf(3) defbuf(5) defbuf(11) endred(43)
01 : Lunge acc(01) dam(3) dam(5) dam(7) endred(17) recred(19)
02 : Barb Swipe acc(02) dam(11) dam(13) dam(15) recred(21) endred(43)
04 : Agile defbuf(04) defbuf(46) defbuf(48)
06 : Build Up recred(06) recred(7) recred(17) thtbuf(21)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(13) endred(15) recred(19)
10 : Practiced Brawler recred(10) endred(46)
12 : Combat Jumping defbuf(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14) endred(50)
16 : Dodge defbuf(16) defbuf(40) defbuf(42)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Health hel(20) hel(31) hel(37)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23)
24 : Focused Senses endred(24) defbuf(25) defbuf(25) defbuf(29) endred(43)
26 : Ripper acc(26) dam(27) dam(29) dam(31) endred(27) recred(31)
28 : Lucky defbuf(28) defbuf(34) defbuf(37)
30 : Quickness runspd(30)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) endred(33) recred(34)
35 : Evasion endred(35) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) endred(37) endred(50)
38 : Elude defbuf(38) defbuf(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) defbuf(40)
41 : Hasten recred(41) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(45) thtbuf(45) thtbuf(45) thtbuf(46)
47 : Conserve Power recred(47) recred(48) recred(48)
49 : Confront rng(49) rng(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)


VI. An AoE Build

Spines in general is widely known as a great AoE set, so here's what I'd look at doing if I were AoE (I also changed up some pool and APPs selections to maximize the new style ):

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Super Reflexes

01 : Focused Fighting defbuf(01) defbuf(5) defbuf(13) endred(19) endred(43)
01 : Lunge acc(01) dam(3) dam(5) acc(11) endred(15) dam(39)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) endred(3) dam(7) dam(7) dam(17) recred(37)
04 : Agile defbuf(04)
06 : Build Up recred(06) recred(15) recred(19) thtbuf(39)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(9) dam(9) acc(13) endred(17) recred(29)
10 : Practiced Brawler recred(10) recred(11)
12 : Teleport Foe acc(12) acc(39) inttim(40)
14 : Teleport rng(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Health hel(18) hel(40) hel(46)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Quills endred(22) acc(23) dam(23) dam(27) endred(29) dam(36)
24 : Focused Senses defbuf(24) defbuf(25) defbuf(25) endred(27) endred(46)
26 : Dodge defbuf(26)
28 : Lucky defbuf(28)
30 : Ripper acc(30) dam(31) dam(31) acc(31) endred(34) recred(34)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) endred(34) recred(36)
35 : Evasion defbuf(35) defbuf(36) defbuf(37) endred(37) endred(40)
38 : Quickness runspd(38)
41 : Petrifying Gaze acc(41) acc(42) hlddur(42) hlddur(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Dark Blast acc(44) dam(45) dam(45) dam(45) endred(46)
47 : Tenebrous Tentacles acc(47) acc(48) endred(48) recred(48) thtdbf(50)
49 : Hover fltspd(49) fltspd(50) fltspd(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)


I think Spines and SR makes a great combo if you like single-target or AoE scrapping. They have certainly met with a great deal of success for me. There are also tons of options that directly will influence or reflect how you play your character. It's nice that Spines is such a flexible set. Whatever you’re doing though, have tons of fun and good luck!

Cool guide. I was mostly interested in Sonics info, and it was good to see player thoughts on the powers. Just hit level 8 and got Shout , very nice.

If I can suggest an alternate view of Amplify: while accuracy slotting in your powers is a basic need, if not essential, picking up an Aim-type power will not only help you hit against higher levels and mobs with increased defense, but will also eat through any -acc debuffs that are on you, such as rad and dark powers can put on you. It will also allow you to slot Dreadful Wail with 3 damage and 3 recharge. Amplify will always be up in time for DW and its 100% accuracy bonus (assuming Aim numbers, which seems very likely) is actually better than 3 even level SOs.

FP

There ya go. Just give something you don't like to someone else, that's fair. Defiance just needs to be re-worked. Something new or else bring the scale out further and tone down the buffs.

Sounds good. I'd rather have +res all the time and not ever be under 60% HP, but it happens and happens a lot...and I keep fighting until either all the baddies are dead or until I'm dead. So, it's a good thing.

It would also be nice to know what types of damage this applies to. I'm assuming all and that it's broken into Melee, Ranged and AoE just like the passives, but I'm sure we'll get more info when the numbers are decided.

Thanks States.

FP

Hey all,

I've updated my Spines/SR guide, which is here. It used to say 'by dannyp', but then GC came out and I decided to go with my main's name as GC and boards handles, so it is the same person. Not that confusion is not already abundant

Cheers!

FP

[ QUOTE ]
Too bad. A lot of creative and well-done work swept away with but a brush of the mighty hand of Mod.

I hope at the very least you guys make a note of some of the better work and try to purchase rights to use it. There's some fantastic stuff out there that Cryptic would be silly to ignore.

[/ QUOTE ]

yep.

what about selling the map in pieces. when you go to Atlas, there's someone to sell you the Atlas map...

costume/weapons mods maybe sold in stores. a weapons shop sure would be groovy .

sigh, it'd sure be cool to make a game ^^

----------------------------

once you stop trying to please the unplease-able, you stop "working".

Name: Split Wood
Powers: inv/axe (Natural)
Origin: Split grew up in an abusive home where he was beaten by his father and siblings. he also attended catholic school which was pretty much the same type of environment. he currently makes a living being hired to seek out and destroy various foes and factions, tho he sometimes does it for fun when he's not getting drunk and shooting empty beer cans. he's a very angry person and loves to see people who cause pain suffer.

Ice/empathy, Pre 32 (at level 25 right now)

Powers:
Block of Ice
Ice Slick
Chilblain

Healing Aura
Heal Other
Clear Mind
Fortitude

Hasten
Grant Invisiblity

Strategy:
I prefer a smaller group, so most of this startegy is geared towards 2-3 in a team, tho I'm sure some or all of it can apply to larger teams too.

Basically, I start off as assuming the role of healer/buffer and then control as needed and allowed. Fortitude usually allows the alpha strike recipient (hopefully a scrapper or tank) adequate defense to hold out for an ice slick under him, immediately followed by a heal if he is being damaged (depends on who/how many you are fighting), after the heal(s) or if none are needed, next I like to put holds on any bosses (then lts.) which at the most take 2 applications, depending on who you're fighting. If it's a boss, I will try to keep him chain-held until dead, and then move to another or next toughtest guy. I reapply ice slick as needed...no harm in stacking it either if you have time.

Example: I was fighting with a same level (24) scrapper in TV against level 25-27 Lost mobs. I'd hit her with clear mind, grant invis, clear mind, fortitude, and clear mind, then maybe another clear mind...can't have too much She'd run into the mob and start wailing on a Pariah, gain all the mob's aggro after a couple of seconds (takes a tad longer since invisible), I'd throw an ice slick under her then start holding whatever she was fighting, and healing if needed, which it was not a lot. Now I would get held every once in a while, but she was by far their biggest concern, and I was soon freed and healing/buffing/holding again. This was great xp for us, and we never really got into too much trouble, even though they were big mobs (generally 8-10 in each group - ice slick and fortitude help a lot), and even though they were tough enemies (multiple bosses and lts. in each group, plus it's the Lost - fortitude protects against psionics). She doesn't have stamina, but still had enough for each mob. I always finished with close to full end. With ToHit buff on my fortitude along with her buildup, she was hitting a lot and for good damage.

Chilblain I use to pull down flyers and stop runners. Don't use for much else, although it's good for keeping big hitters out of melee range.

Clear mind is very useful when fighting certain enemies. I like to put several of these on when I have only one or two teamies, or at least one on everyone in a big group. You will curse the time involved with CM, but it is a must to keep teammates' toggles on and un-held against those &lt;bleep&gt; enemies that hold/mezz/stun/blah.

Grant Invis is nice for finishing timed mishes fast or just cherry-picking non-kill-all-mobs mishes. Especially nice if a teammate has tp other to continue the goal search should it take more than 2 minutes. I also use this in fights for my defenders/blasters/fellow trollers for extra defense. Then I just hope they watch my behind

Hasten is perma and allows me to heal and buff and hold that much faster. It's awesome.

Since respecing to fitness and hasten, I have been much more effective in group play. The fast recharges on block of ice and ice slick reduce the times my buddies get hit and the number of times I have to heal. Fortitude basically turns a scrapper (this is probably the best AT to team with, especially if they have stamina or you have RA or AM. Then you can fight non-stop) into a tank with tons of damage. That kind of defense on a scrapper allows you to put holds on the big guys after all aggro has been drawn. And ice slick keeps them healthy and up and fighting. I just can't wait to get Glacier and slot it so I can wedge myself into the battle, hold multiple targets, heal (mostly for me you understand), single hold, and then fly away to start my regular battle maintenance.

Funky Pink - 38 spines/sr
Split Wood - 27 axe/invuln
Purple Heart - 25 ice/empathy
Captain Hideous - 25 rad/rad
Legal Eyes - 10 katana/invuln
Grit Thunder - 10 assault/devices