Local_Man

There are a few thing you could do to reduce your endurance usage:

1. The Oblit set in Hot Feet has almost no EndRdx, and Hot Feet uses a TON of endurance. Sadly, you probably need to sacrifice the set bonuses in Hot Feet. The Multistrike set works, but I use a frankeslot combo of Dam/End and Acc/Dam/End from Sirocco, Dam/Slow and Slow/End/Rech from Tempered Readiness, an Acc/Dam (Nucleous) Hami-O and a common EndRdx. That caps Damage and EndRdx, with decent Accuracy and some Slow to keep foes in the area of Hot Feet longer.

2. Choking Cloud uses a ton of endurance, and will be far more effective with better slotting. You need to maximize Hold and get max or near max EndRdx. With some Frankenslotting, you can include the Lockdown +2 Mag proc. Because of the unique way that CC works, you really want to max slot for hold. Then that proc adds a lot. (My Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig, explains how the power works.) On one of my 2 level 50 Fire/Rads, I have CC frankeslotted with a bunch of EndRdx/Hold and the +2 Mag proc. On the other I have 4 Unbreakable Constraint (Hold, Hold/End, Acc/Hold/Rech and the Chance for Smashing proc), a common EndRdx and that +2 Mag proc.

3. RI uses a fair amount of end. You could reduce and get back some slots by slotting it with 3 Enzyme Hami-Os -- since the Enzyme enhances Defense Debuff/ToHit Debuff/EndRdx, that will max slot the power in all three attributes. Sadly, the Enzymes are really expensive. If you have a spare slot, the Achilles Heal Chance for Resistance Debuff is great.

4. Health could be 4-slotted with Numina's +Regen/Recovery Proc, Numina's Heal, Miracle +Recovery proc, Miracle Heal. That will add a substantial amount of additional Recovery and free up two additional slots.

There are a few little things I would change: In Fire Cages, I would trade out the Immob for the other one in the set, Acc/Rech. Cages has low accuracy and you want to be able to spam it as much as possible to take advantage of the Chance for Hold proc. I put a Posi Blast Chance for Energy Damage proc in there, too.

Do you really need a Jump IO in Combat Jumping? There is a slot you could use somewhere else. Keep a Raptor Pack handy in case you need to get over something tall.

Slot Super Speed with a Celerity Stealth IO if you would like full invisibility.

I used 4 Expediant Reinforcement and the Dam/Rech and Chance for Build Up from Soulbound in Fire Imps. The Proc has a chance to hit whenever any of the 3 imps do an attack. And you get more Regen, and the imps recharge faster for when they die. I have found the Resist and Defense procs to be of minimal value for Imps because they tend to run out of the area too much. If my secondary included resist or defense buffs, they might be somewhat effective, but without that, they are minimal value.

I went with the Psi APP mostly for Indomidible Will. Getting mezzed knocks off my key toggles of CC and Hot Feet and can often get me dead. Plus Psi Tornado is pretty awesome. It recharges faster than Fireball and is a different damage type. Over time due to its faster recharge, Psi Tornado acually does more damage than Fireball. I also took the Resistance Shield, Mind over Matter, which includes Smashing/Lethal Resistance, and some Psi Resistance, too. Indomidible Will provides Psi Defense and can take a Luck of the Gambler Recharge.

You have posted a really, really expensive build with a lot of purple sets, and included some powers for defense that I didn't bother with like Maneuvers and the Fighting Pool. I hope you are either really rich with Influence or already have most of those IOs. My Fire/Rads take some damage but focus more on control. The Psi APP shield, Mind over Matter, helps reduce some of that damage. They can usually handle the damage with their heal and maybe an occasional green Insp. I like having Bonfire and EM Pulse and on my Fire/Rads. I use Super Speed with a Stealth IO for full Invisibility. I added Mutation and Fallout in my I-19 respec -- Fallout was fun even with only an Acc in the default slot. (Fallout was immediately useful when I did an ITF after my respec . . . 3 times on the same guy.)

A nice thing about having EM Pulse: The hold will stack with Cinders to hold bosses, and it does damage to robots. But be prepared for the -Recovery with a blue or two.

One other thing: Tactics will increase the aggro range of your imps because it has +Perception. Usually, that's not a good thing.

Radiation Infection starts with a base of 25% Defense Debuff. With enhancements, you can nearly double that. However, most players have a decent amount of Accuracy slotted, so most folks are at the 95% cap except against really tough targets. A few other folks on these forums, especially Arcanaville, can go through the formulas and math of ToHit vs. Accuracy vs. Defense and Defense Debuff -- I'm too lazy. Bottom line is that the amount of Defense Debuff you have is more than enough, but there might be some really tough foes, like in the two new TFs for Incarnates, where a little more might possibly give more benefit.

Since I'm too lazy to do all the math, I would probably have to test it, but I suspect that you don't need to worry about more Defense Debuff.

I also want to add in a round of "Thank You" to the Titan guys for this great tool. It made Respecs much, much easier to be able to copy my existing build into Mids, then refer back to it while I did my respec build. And I have done a LOT of respecs over the last week. Almost every character I have over level 20 on two accounts.

I have spent most of my game time for the last few days respecing my many, many characters, so I haven't had time to try all the new goodies. I have taken 5 of my 50s through the Incarnate arc, 3 solo, and so far, two of them did a TF and then was able to slot the basic slot. I have yet to try the new TFs, but I hear that they are a challenge.

I have been slowly leveling up a Mind/FF for a while. It is on a server where my buddies don't go, so it has been mostly a solo character. It is an effective character, with one of the best "panic button" powers in the game available at the very start. (PFF makes getting Nukes in Warburg stupidly easy!) The hard part about playing it solo is that when other controllers pick up a big jump in damage from its pet, Mind seems to level off on its damage and it takes a while to kill stuff in the late 30's. He is 40 right now.

FF only has a few "must have" powers, so it makes it easy to focus on Mind Control. Any team is happy to have me along to bubble them up. The optional powers in FF can be fun, too, as long as you are careful on how you use knockback in teams. Force Bubble can be fun and effective, though.

If you look around on these boards, you should see a bunch of threads about Fire/Kin Controllers. There is also a fairly recent guide.

Your slotting needs some work. Just a few quick things:

Transference needs accuracy . . . that's why there are accurate healing sets. {Edit: Oops I mean Transfusion}
Hot Feet uses a ton of endurance . . . you should try to cap the EndRdx.
Flashfire is not a damage power and does very little damage . . . slot it for Stun.

Increase Density is a one-slot-and-you're done power. I put a Steadfast -Knockback in it.

Siphon Speed is a key power . . . it needs Accuracy and Recharge.

Speed Boost . . . one EndMod and it is done.

I'm not a big fan of Fighting Pool or Maneuvers on a Fire/Kin, but different folks have different opinions on that. I tend to lean more towards being a controller rather than a farmer . . . silly me, I try to play the game the way it is supposed to be.

Also, if you are playing a controller for the first time, I don't recommend a Fire/Kin . . . in low levels, you will die a lot. It doesn't get the really uber powers until 35 and 38 (and those are underslotted). If you are just starting a character, try playing the basics before trying to set up a level 50 build.

(Did you get that sig picture from the Mons Venus?)

A few reasons: Sonic is a Resistance-based set with no heals and a fairly high endurance cost. It has a couple of powers that are not very popular (an Intangible and an ally knockback field). Liquify is disappointing as a Tier 9. And it has a bad reputation for the graphics (which used to be a significant problem for some people before they were changed). While the set will increase your team's damage, the set itself is not very solo-friendly since it has several ally-only powers.

Thermal is also Resistance-based, but has heals and more useful powers overall. Force Fields has the same mez protection as Sonic, and Defense is generally viewed as being better than Resistance since many characters can get some kind of defense -- and FF has PFF, one of the best self-protection powers in the game. Some people don't like "buffing sets." And since it is one of the newer sets, none of the older player's favorite characters have it.

As for Ill/Sonic, Sonic has no Recharge buff (like Rad or Kin) or Defense Debuff (like Rad or TA or Storm or Therm or Cold), but it does have a nice Resistance Debuff that can actually be anchored on Phantom Army to boost their damage. Rad, TA, Storm, Cold and Therm also have Resistance Debuffs.

A few people seem to love Sonic. I tried a Fire/Sonic Controller once . . . and it just didn't seem like much fun to me. If I was going to try again, I'd probably go with Earth/Sonic, or maybe Elec/Sonic -- I've never heard of someone using that second combo. The pulsing graphics might drive some folks nuts, though.

Psi damage is heavily resisted in the late game and especially by most Robots -- that is one of the reasons my Illusion/Rad took the Fire APP to do better damage against Psi-resistant foes.

There are a few foes who resist Fire, like those Baphomet from the CoT, but it is one of the less-resisted types of damage. I think there are even fewer who resist Cold Damage. My Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster rarely has a drop in his damage due to a foe resisting Cold.

Looking at the Fire/Storm build, I want to say that while I have played a lot of Fire Control and a whole bunch of Storm, that my Fire/Storm is only in the 20's . . . but I feel I know both sets fairly well. I also don't have access to Mids at the moment.

The first problem I see is that you don't have nearly enough EndRdx in Hot Feet. Fire/Storm is one of the worst builds for endurance usage, so you need to use as much endrdx as you can. You also don't have nearly enough Damage slotted in the power. The Multistrike set would be better, but I use a frankenslot combo of Dam/End and Acc/Dam/End from Sirocco, Dam/Slow and Slow/End/Rech from Tempered Readiness, and then an Acc/Dam (Nucleous) Hami-O and a common EndRdx. That gives me capped Damage and EndRdx, good accuracy and a little bit of Slow to keep foes in Hot Feet longer.

Char: I would put an Acc/Dam in place of the EndRdx.

Gale: It has an Accuracy penalty, so Accuracy goes in the default slot.

Fire Cages: I know they are expensive, but the purple Grav Anchor Chance for Hold proc in Fire Cages is simply awesome. And if you get a second Grav Anchor (aim for Accuracy and EndRdx), it has a nice 4% Recovery bonus.

Snow Storm: If you use it much, it needs 2 EndRdx.

Steamy Mist: I prefer to slot it for Resistance, but that's a matter of choice. You could use the Impervium Armor for more Recovery. Also, SM will take either the Steadfast or Karma -knockback, which are a lot cheaper than the Zephyr.

Health: Add a Miracle Heal to boost both your Recovery and your Regen. I like to 4 slot it if I can, to add a Numina Heal also.

Stamina: If you are having endurance issues, it may be worth 4 slotting Perf Shifter or 3 common EndMod and the proc.

Fly: Did you realize that Fly is now at the speed cap with no Flight Speed slotting at all? And that even the temp fly powers like Raptor Pack now travel at the fly speed cap? I personally prefer Super Speed on my Stormies, as SS plus Steamy Mist = full invisibility. For the few times that I may need to fly, I use the Raptor Pack. If I have Fly, one EndRdx is all it needs. Same with Super Speed.

Freezing Rain: The Defense Debuff has a minimal effect, since most attacks are at the accuracy cap anyways. Recharge is the most important thing to slot in this power.

Cinders: I put an Acc/Hold/Recharge in the 5th slot instead of EndRdx. You don't use it all that often and usually as an opener, so endurance isn't that big a problem with it.

Grant Invis: I dislike mule powers with little to no utility. Why not take Hasten here, instead? At least push the mule powers back in the build as far as possible.

O2 boost: Since I mostly use it between fights (or to un-stun teammates), endurance isn't a big issue. I would go with a Heal.

Smoke: I'm not a huge fan of Smoke. On large fast teams, there is no time to use it. (I was on my Fire/Rad last night on an ITF -- I didn't get to use Smoke a single time because the team moved so fast.) Solo and small teams, I use Steamy + Super Speed for full invis, so I don't need the perception debuff and the ToHit debuff is fairly small. I have had it and dropped it several times on my various Fire Controllers. Some people love it, however. On the other hand, I like having Bonfire on my Fire Controllers.

Fire Imps: I slot them with 4 Expediant Reinforcement and the two Call To Arms Triples until level 50, when I replace the Call to Arms with a Dam/Rech and Chance for Build Up from the purple Soulbound set. 3 Imps with a chance to build up can add to their damage pretty well.

Tornado: I slot for Recharge, Damage and EndRdx. This can take another set of Expediant Reinforcement for more Recharge.


Your defense is so small, I wouldn't bother slotting for Defense. In small amounts, Defense is not effective. As you build up Defense, adding small amounts becomes more effective. If I want to slot for Defense, I start with either the Ice or Earth APP set, and then try to build for Smash/Lethal. In choosing an APP set, I try to fill in problems with my build. Do you have a problem getting mezzed? If so, taking the Psi APP with Indomidible Will is the way to go. Psi Tornado is great, too. If mezz isn't a problem, you may want to go with the Earth APP set for Fissure, the short-range AoE damage attack with a chance to stun to stack with your two other Stun powers. Seismic Smash is great for those tough single targets, and you get a defense-based (but ugly) armor.

I understand that you went with Fire for Consume . . . OK, that is an understandable choice, but I found that Consume's Recharge was too long to make is all that useful.

Happy Birthday! (I hope your move has finally settled down!)

I received one Respec Recipe drop about 2 days after they were first made available . . . and haven't gotten one since. I don't understand why these should be so ultra-ultra rare, but they are. I guess it is to make the Respec trial worth running.

There are some creative ways to squeeze more slots from some builds. For example, on a build where you are getting set bonuses for Defense, you can take Maneuvers, even with one slot, and maybe give up a set bonus or two to get more slots to spread around.

This is nothing but good . . . except I have spent most of my game time for the last week respecing my many character instead of playing the game. Almost done . . .

The majority of controllers benefit most from the Spiritual slotting to get extra Recharge -- to help get controls recharged faster. Some toggle-heavy builds can benefit from Cardiac's Endurance reduction. I can see some people wanting Damage if they have Recharge well slotted already.

My normal slotting is 5 Efficiency Adaptor and a common Recharge to replace the EndMod/Acc . . . unless I have enough Global Recharge to make it perma or nearly so, and then I put that last Efficacy Adapter in there for the 5% Recharge.