Mephe
-
Posts
207 -
Joined
-
Since this seems to be the most recent and comprehensive Ill/Rad guide, I am going to add some I9 info to it.
Currently my 50 ill/rad is collecting dust, but with I11 adding even more incentive to play him again I am going to post my IO build with some information as to what changed and why because of IOs. I expect some things will change because I11 will be adding new IO sets and even level 50 only ultra rare sets, but we will deal with that once it happens. This post is about jump starting our old 50s that need to be respeced and IOed up so when I11 hits we will be ready to roll.
IOs and what they mean to you
Common IOs when crafted at level 50 are expensive, but they do provide about 1 DOs extra of enhancement to a level 50 SO. So just rebuilding your 50 with 2 slots in stamina instead of 3 will allow you to put that extra slot into something else for a better return on investment. That by itself is pretty cool for slot efficiency... but wait there's more! !
IO set bonus and how to shove that nerf bat up EDs ***
Remember the good ole days when AM, hasten, and phantom army was always up. Sure your pets did all the damage, but you could lock down the entire 8 man spawn of +3s with no problem. What if I told you you can get close to that again, and still keep the containment damage bonus? How much would you pay for that? Don't answer that just yet we have more to show you!
Ok Billy Mays, just how can you return us to our former glory and let us keep our damage bonus?
Its easy! first you need to understand IO set bonuses, so I will wait while you read all the other amazing guides to IOs that exist in this very same forum.
...
Ok all done? Head spinning yet? Yeah its alot to grasp. But with my new pattened applicator you too can get that awesome io build you have been dreaming about!
What?... Ok Please tell us how!
First whats the thing we lost that we would love to have back? Perm hasten, and along with it perm AM! And near perm PAs would be nice too. Think about it, all your attacks cycling faster, extra endurance from AM at all times, and PAs that are ready to tank every spawn! So in this case we want IO set bonuses that focus on giving us enhanced recharge time. If we work it right we could even get to the point in which flash is up almost every other spawn. That would be nice woudnt it?
So we have a goal. The right amount of recharge in order to get AM and haste perma again.
What is our means to accomplish that goal? Mids excellent hero planner: Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Fractal Image: Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Spectral Wounds <ul type="square">[*] (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40[*] (3) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 40[*] (5) Decimation - Damage/Recharge: Level 40[*] (5) Decimation - Chance of Build Up: Level 40[*] (7) Decimation - Damage/Endurance: Level 40[/list]Level 1: Radiant Aura <ul type="square">[*] (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal: Level 53[*] (11) Doctored Wounds - Recharge: Level 53[*] (11) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[*] (15) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge: Level 53[*] (15) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance: Level 53[/list]Level 2: Blind <ul type="square">[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 53[*] (3) Hold Duration IO: Level 50[*] (9) Hold Duration IO: Level 50[/list]Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (9) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (17) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (31) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[/list]Level 6: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Flight Speed IO: Level 50[/list]Level 8: Hover <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 53[*] (40) Red Fortune - Defense: Level 53[*] (40) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance: Level 53[*] (43) Red Fortune - Endurance: Level 53[*] (43) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[*] (46) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge: Level 53[/list]Level 10: Radiation Infection <ul type="square">[*] (A) HamiO:Lysosome Exposure[*] (17) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (23) HamiO:Lysosome Exposure[/list]Level 12: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (13) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (13) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 14: Fly <ul type="square">[*] (A) Freebird - +Stealth: Level 53[/list]Level 16: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 53[/list]Level 18: Phantom Army <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (19) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (19) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage: Level 53[*] (21) Blood Mandate - Damage: Level 53[*] (23) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[/list]Level 22: Enervating Field <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 24: Lingering Radiation <ul type="square">[*] (A) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Slow: Level 53[*] (25) Tempered Readiness - Endurance/Recharge/Slow: Level 53[*] (25) Tempered Readiness - Range/Slow: Level 53[*] (31) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Damage/Slow: Level 53[*] (31) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 53[/list]Level 26: Spectral Terror <ul type="square">[*] (A) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 53[*] (27) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Fear/Recharge: Level 53[*] (27) Glimpse of the Abyss - Endurance/Fear: Level 53[*] (29) Glimpse of the Abyss - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 53[*] (29) Glimpse of the Abyss - Fear/Range: Level 53[/list]Level 28: Group Invisibility <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 53[/list]Level 30: Maneuvers <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 53[*] (34) Red Fortune - Endurance: Level 53[*] (34) Red Fortune - Defense: Level 53[*] (34) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance: Level 53[*] (36) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[*] (36) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[/list]Level 32: Phantasm <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage: Level 53[*] (33) Blood Mandate - Damage: Level 53[*] (33) Damage Increase IO: Level 50[/list]Level 35: Deceive <ul type="square">[*] (A) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge: Level 53[*] (36) Malaise's Illusions - Endurance/Confused: Level 53[*] (37) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 53[*] (37) Malaise's Illusions - Confused/Range: Level 53[*] (37) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 53[/list]Level 38: Flash <ul type="square">[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 53[*] (39) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 53[*] (39) Hold Duration IO: Level 50[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (40) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Endurance/Hold: Level 53[/list]Level 41: Indomitable Will <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (42) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[*] (42) Red Fortune - Defense: Level 53[*] (42) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge: Level 53[*] (43) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance: Level 53[*] (46) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge: Level 53[/list]Level 44: Mind Over Body <ul type="square">[*] (A) Impervious Skin - Resistance/Endurance: Level 30[*] (45) Impervious Skin - Resistance/Recharge: Level 30[*] (45) Impervious Skin - Endurance/Recharge: Level 30[*] (45) Impervious Skin - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30[*] (46) Impervious Skin - Status Resistance: Level 30[/list]Level 47: Psionic Tornado <ul type="square">[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage: Level 53[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance: Level 53[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge: Level 53[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 53[*] (50) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range: Level 53[/list]Level 49: EM Pulse <ul type="square">[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 53[*] (50) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 53[*] (50) Hold Duration IO: Level 50[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Containment
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+8.5% DamageBuff[*]+3.15% Max Endurance[*]+18% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+2.5% Enhancement(Confused)[*]+4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+76.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+1.5% Enhancement(Slow)[*]+2.75% Enhancement(Terrorized)[*]+54.2 (4.5%) HitPoints[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 7.5%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 7.5%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 16.9%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 9.7%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 7.5%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 9.7%)[*]+9.5% Recovery[*]+6.62% Resistance(Fire)[*]+6.62% Resistance(Cold)[*]+5% RunSpeed[*]+2% Debt Protection[/list]
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy & Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MHDz;4550;1202;1604;|
>-KE5TEOXS84O@?(?_"EZ*%((RZ2:/0TF<1)@*08.(/.6;$XL3"R&$ARIBX$_?:^1XF+8WI)KT4<F7[
\WKZ0NI.UNL[:["]9-X6J_B"_\_.S69TMVJR<W*^R%]E]E8MEI4KULND^JZJM55G*^OSLOBS7R#(9B=
T\RXNL1<K-JFAPJ[NOEK*65=O-BK:23=/-RN)EV79/KU+FW8/,<E"[+%Z[+P@O%I/'K&EEO3D_(UTT_
O'N6BZ*E9;<?UHL+J]7+SWO24S@R7HV!<PNXG*^6`ZPV,"H#]N",`/9TG6U+LK\%PU(@@"4<5/E\_QO
#
&E(!%%\8!,KB@%JVJ93[YIM95WO1W,BL1S@;K8HI.O,.,YC&6&`R)@H)&( RXM`S_&8)',(ODAT1I
+/*QUD.A_VMTN5=-.OA6Y^OEK`P7P#"4D=3+N5)E;A8DSK>MQIZ<]2S6-8X9V:6+0A7J8UL2[?@X5B5
9!Q)G!L3`Y"9-%UX-GCTKKHH9*DB"91<Z&&!3ASWZH9,3%!A<[6-IQ#7Y8+WY,U/=)NY23VVSU#)VC\
_H;\-`T-<%(NSG$?:;J=EW)_EI^U]N1V8::>K?O\D*39`_,05*;.D[W2#(9HLGT`-:"K.7<<QH"J#/4
/VP:A=LVB5.,ZS^;%1)C/]H[2$J=/$(@@EI@*(6P&Z;3O717M0SR@[]GM93/19WW3VW9+@$:1]9_PCQ
3,._(\.=Z5509E#A,O;>LE,U"5E#H<_DB*PC/6[W!U#).K9384YO"(]E7P;`;IHONJE0JA^%8Y5DKO2
%(O59_CS((ZP^-PO*W0HZ-A'T6;(]ID$R]]J#X9?@'1<PI"I.9EQB*O#%$Z*M<O4H<1G,X)`H\.[3;3
Z7Z"7R<VL$%'`&L5]2.QQ8M#<J?5QXV.8PUIXS%"]N$T3Z\[4=.8P_M?(_'P7%;%JO71IJY\>EY,TH8
VX^GEA]X]J)G,JL=BRN#),PRA@RY-$-RC.$Z6^'IR(6=4U2$D8,EU6"(\-"N;E(]+J-3!Z;&&][AQ#U
YV-+C8Y*Q(P.9G3:0V>G3EL4!JQQ.>#A;,0R_!,RE$^8#8( _,!^A#3:0]G89ZD^&1AN?O8U9F12-A")
H[X%!P,!+M$1%'=@*R,,?H(3)A74S]2.S38*IYZL*1!,&#*=5@"3D"WFK..(H\N',^U1<0_O& amp;+#G#>-
`V>$EB;G]=U5@?PL7-?!&Y!2`S>>L0>@\;H
%H#O$N";9S.,X;G+=! V;![4D5R<KA9=O</W#G(28WU
X:L)9^`IUNX]CN:W0JV;R=./H@+'&YACGA(Q1`J&!/#L01M=@EKLKN1W/@IV`+MEA6/A!UB>VJQ=-QH
66Y@W&W@"'F/!?E%-`>]G%13'50FO5_X[E#L5`+X#W'Z_<6.>IV&L>9\2Y!#2')V>9' 94<C4(MC.%3S
U/!:18_)=W$.#\4&N"UMW6=*;HPT@_^S[J+S`*43_8Z.W3`_MXV67O]\DV/Q]^C)0+[_-_(HY'/XZSB
^$4)"R&899RW&+)L,2;?I*X);'+6#ALY*A31Z6.38Q +FX+1#H+`%%7%&I@*MYS:I8C<DK@E=4OFEDZ8
B-W2R16)6_)Q>7[V+SZ#&"\`
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
</pre><hr />
Ok so notice my + recharge time is 76.3% According to the builder when I have hasten and AM running with that much bonus recharge both AM recharges in 112 (8 seconds to spare!) and hasten recharges in 119.9 (.1 seconds to spare!). PA is only down for 3.9 seconds, not to shabby. Now lets look at something interesting... flash is up every 66 seconds and has a duration of 29.3 seconds. That should be ready to use every other spawn in a large team enviornment.
A few other things to note:
we have a nice 18% Acc bonus to all of our powers. A small but helpfull 9.5% bonus to endurance recovery, combine that with our +end accolades and +3 end from set bonuses and we should be good with end useage.
Ok its great... but how much does it cost?
Ah... well um... yeah. Its gonna cost you a pretty sizable amount of inf. But your 50 right, you should be swimming in INF, and you earn inf at insane rates so go out there and save the RWZ a few times with your 50. The luck of the gamblers will be one of your biggest problems. They can run from 10 mil to 40 mil. Plan on paying top dollar for them. But on the possitive side things like fear, confuse and slow sets are usually pretty cheap. Not sure how much the red fortunes will run ya, but unless you have 100 mil or more banked on your 50 you probably wont be getting this setup overnight. But you have a few months before I11 hits so no worries right? -
[ QUOTE ]
Devs: Give your PvP meaning, and the zones will not be empty anymore....
[/ QUOTE ]
This is what I am waiting for. I got a 50, but I would much rather level up other alts. Leveling up to me has meaning. PVP can be as fun as PVE but has no meaning so I dont do it. -
So do kin powers like siphon speed/siphon power work on the slick? Howling does seem to be most useful, but having a immobile put it anywhere enemy for any sort of foe required buff/utility power is pretty nice.
-
What about /rad trollers choking cloud?
It is not allowed to put TO/DO/SO ACC in it. Well I see that the IO sets have ACC and hold. Does that mean the ACC will actually work in the power?
Will the UI indicate the absolute %acc of a power (with enhancements)? -
[ QUOTE ]
41 DDD Group of 8, 2 defenders, 2 controllers, 3 blasters, 1 tank. 4 Sidekicks, 4 tactics, 3 assault, 1 maneuvers, and occaisional Vengance
[/ QUOTE ]
The key to the above group is you had 4 force multipliers (def and trollers). As seen with the RSF and all defender/troller/corrupter teams the more force multipliers the faster exp you get. But you also see from your solo defender that a force multiplier is pretty crummy solo relative to an army of one kinda character (tank, scrapper, stalker, dom, blaster, brute, kheld).
The key to a force multiplier is they have team buffing powers and/or AOE enemy debuffing power.
An 8 man troller team (level 32+) can walk through any mission at record speed. 6 /rad and 2/kin all with leadership being what I think is the ideal post 32. Almost as fast as i4 tank herding. -
[ QUOTE ]
Question, how do i get mobs to stay in my burn? i have followed the following template to where i am now ( lvl 33 ) and they still run out of it...
[/ QUOTE ]
Err... um... burn has been nerfed to the point that its not a power most fire tanks invest in anymore. It might work if you pick up an Epic power at 41 that can hold. Best use for burn is to have a troller on the team.
Ugh... looking at your build you also are not slotted for ED!
ED simply means you should never put more than 3 of the same SOs in the same power.
So much has changed since I did this guide, hopefully somebody else comes up with an i7 guide for ya. My recommendations for somebody thinking about rolling a fire tank:
1 play a fire/fire brute.
2 roll a spines/regen scrapper.
3 if you really want a tank pick any other set. Fire can't tank like they can nor is its damage boost worth the reduced defense. -
I also have a 50 Illusion/Rad. I got to 50 before i5 though so I dont have much experience with how i5+i6 helps the leveling. But what I can add is to say Q's advise is spot on. When I made my controller I wanted the best soloing controller at that time when I didn't want to team and still advance through the content. From level 1 on my ill/rad was fun and rewarding to play. Each level he only got better, and recently I used a free respec to make him EDD and containment compliant. I took him out for a quick spin and the damage lost from not having 2+ PAs out was offset by blasting held foes with a fireball. Its all good. Blind + SW + Air sup is a nice piece of pain to hand out.
Its amazing... our builds are almost excatly the same, but I took assault and tactics over decieve and fireblast. Tactics I feels helps in team base raids that I hope will be the thing that pulls him out of retirement.
Decieve is just so slow to animate that I found myself never using it. Fireblast does sound like an excellent attack and I am sorry I dont have it, but I just cant think of any other power to sacrifice for it.... maybe fire shield
-
[ QUOTE ]
Because disorient durations can be very valuable when fight +3s (whom suffer only 65% of the normal duration). A diso can be the difference between having a notable gap between pulses and being disoriented, or keeping ten Crey minions layed out.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good point. But... ever since ED and I5 I have not been on very many PUGs that are able to handle large spawns of +3s. It seems much more efficient to roll over +1s. But still it is better to have the option for being more effective versus higher levels. -
yeah I read some info from the scrapper board saying the same thing
Now I need to run a respec to get back those 3 very valuable slots from Inky. Grumble....
Why does the power allow us to slot disorients if it cant self stack, and why doesnt the power description tell us this kind of information? -
Now maybe I am crazy but... I put 4 slots in my inky. 1 Acc and 3 disorients.
My theory is every AOE toggle seems to pulse an effect every couple of seconds. So they MAY have coded it so that the disorient pulse happens just as the previous disorient effect is wearing off. So if I can double the disorient duration (with 3 SOs) I could get the effect to stack and disorient lieutanants. An application of gravitic emanation is require to get the bosses.
I need to test this out. If it works then its not a bad idea to split your slots between Gravity emanation and inky aspect. -
[ QUOTE ]
For everyone who has an interest in having power data available while in-game, there is a solution coming Soon(TM). I'm currently in talks with vidiotmaps.com to continue their award-winning tradition of giving the players what they want. I'm hoping for a rough beta version of this "solution" to be live sometime around this weekend, so keep an eye on this thread for updates.
[/ QUOTE ]
My god man! This is what is needed to move the mountain that blocks the players from well informed power choices in the game! I think vidotmaps and the store location layers they had was the only reason the devs broke down and put it in the game. Enough people with a "hacked" client that doesnt cheat shows the devs, hey this is a feature we want. Stop nerfing the powers and get on it already.
My only hope is that the in-game change cause a large enough support nightmare that forces the devs to take notice (Like the patcher breaks and thousands of people cant update the game because of this). But if that doesnt happen I will settle for good info from an external source
From a user standpoint this is what I need power data for:
I need to know what is the most effiecient slotting at my level with all my powers to kill mobs. For this I need info like:
An average equal level minion hp's.
The base damage of an attack done to an even level non resist mob.
The base accuracy of an attack done to an even level non +def mob.
The base endurance each attack uses.
The base duration and mag of every secondary effect.
The base duration and mag of every primary effect.
The base range of the attack.
The AOE size of an attack.
Why do I need these numbers..
1 I want to know how many of my attacks will be needed to kill a single mob.
2 I want to know how much endurance it will cost to do 1.
3 With 1 and 2 I can plan how many enchancments each attack needs to decrease number of attacks and endurance.
4 I want to know how long I can "mezz" a foe so I can know how many kills I can get from my attacks before the mezz wears off.
5 I want to know how much defense I have so I can figure out how long I have for 3 and 4.
In short I need to manage all my powers so I can manage my endurance and life. Slots, endurance and health are in short supply, and without the information to help predict how each is impacted during a battle I can't make an informed choice when I level up or slot powers with enhancements.
Maybe for my build 2 end in a power is a much better choice than 2 damage... With the right numbers I should be able to predict that. The game is way to chaotic to evaluate your perfomance in a team, and the game is to simple while solo.
Well I guess I cluttered your wonderful thread enough with my ramblings. So I guess it boils down to:
THANK YOU! I cant wait to see what you are working on in game. (I know what I want is a bit outside what is possible, but one can dream right?) -
Best guide ever.
-
I can't imagine Energy cloak is gonna be much over 3%. Kinda sucks that when maxed the set is equal to 1 50 inf def candy until 38. If that doesnt illustrate the need for tough and/or aid self I dont know what would, but I guess all the other brute sets are about in the same boat.
On the other hand, not having to worry about end after end drain is a huge thing for brutes. -
Thank you Arcanaville, I was hoping you would stop by and help us out!
-
So to wrap this all up back to the PM by castle. There are only 2 possibilities:
1 Castle looked at the S/L numbers from pre boost.
2 The other poster's test was flawed and S/L is really 12% base.
I tend to favor 1 because of the pre boost numbers said to be around 12%.
In terms of damage mitigation, EA is a pretty good brute set. You trade a HP boost for the end Drain, and you are more vulnerable to any mob that uses a drawn weapon or has a bonus to ACC.
The only thing that bugs me with EA is energy protection. I still dont understand why the devs keep pushin these auto stinker powers. Maybe its just so they dont have to rebalance all the ATs if one gets something useful. -
Like I said before in this thread, somebody already did that work for ya:
Kinetic shield test
They got 16% for S/L so it matches your results very well. -
So when they fix the def versus higher conned mobs in I7, Def still has to worry about an abundent supply of mobs with +ACC from weapons. Does this skew the old 1 def = 2 res formula still? From what I understand that only works when most mobs have a 50% chance to hit.
With the data so far it sounds like EA has about a MAX of 25% S/L/F/C/E/NE def. with both shields. Energy should be higher because both shields provide protection, but we have no data yet. That should be about the same as 50% resistance. But versus a mob with an accuracy boost that comes out to more like a 30-40% resistance depending on the boost. -
The strange thing is I remember a stalker post a week ago in which a test showed the base value for S/L for a stalker was 16%!
Energy Aura Kinetic shield test -
[ QUOTE ]
This creates some questions....
If the caster has Fort on him when he casts Burn, the damage of burn is increased, yes?
[/ QUOTE ]
WierdBeard says it allows the devs (within their power table file or whatever they use) to say IF a pet power gets copies of the buffs that are on the owner of the pet. Now does this also mean that debuffs on the caster gets copied to the pet?
So IF they say burn is buffable when the pet is created all the buffs (and debuffs?) are copied to the pet.
[ QUOTE ]
What if Burn is cast then Fortitude is applied to the caster after? Does this increase Burn damage of the already existing Burn patch?
[/ QUOTE ]
From the way WierdBeard said it, when the pet is created buffs are copied to the pet. I would highly doubt any buffs done after the pet are created are applied to the pet. This would require more code than a simple copy buffs from object A to object B. You would have to monitor object A for any changes and then apply all changes to object B. 1 operation version n, where high values of n could slow the server down when done over the population of users.
[ QUOTE ]
Fulcrum Shift... If the caster of Caltrops, Blizzard or other "temporary pets" powers has FS buffs on him when he casts the Caltrops (and others), do the Caltrops do more damage?
[/ QUOTE ]
Same question as the burn one. If a dev decides caltrops is a buffable power it will work like all other buffable powers. (Doing anything else would require more code).
[ QUOTE ]
What if the FS is done AFTER the caltrops are already out?
[/ QUOTE ]
Same as the burn/fort question. The way it was stated from Wierdbeard I would say no effect.
[ QUOTE ]
What if the caltrops are already out AND they are in the AoE of the FS when FS is cast?
[/ QUOTE ]
Currently the pet powers are not buffable from outside sources, and I doubt that changed. My guess would be the only thing that had to change was the creation of the pet powers has an extra call to copy buffs from the caster.
[ QUOTE ]
The basic question here is... does the buff have to be already on the caster of the "temporary pet" power for that "pet" to be buffed?
[/ QUOTE ]
All my answers are guesses based on how projects, and code are normally done in complex systems that are perfomance hungry. I would be very shocked if they did anything more than the copy buffs at construction from object A to B. -
Very good guide Infurno! They should have this as part of the tutorial when you start a fire tank in game.
-
[ QUOTE ]
1) Since with current AI changes, stacking burn makes for too much fleeing and current suggestions seem to be 'only one burn at a time', is HASTEN as necessary as it used to be?
[/ QUOTE ]
Hasten is never necessary. Its only beneficial if you have more than 2 powers that you would have put recharge redux in. So its still nice for your attacks, healing flames, consume, conserve power etc. Thats more than 2 powers. Hastens effect on burn was never all that good.
[ QUOTE ]
2) With the punchvoke and putting taunts in BA and using Combustion to grab a lot of attention, when is the latest you would recommend getting taunt? (If at all)
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you a team tank, a scrapper or a soloist? If you solo/scrap you dont ever need taunt. If you are a team tank taunt is never ever ever a bad choice.
[ QUOTE ]
3) With the Sleep/Hold/Disorient protection now in the toggles, is ACROBATICS still necessary?
[/ QUOTE ]
Acrobatics was NEVER EVER needed for hold protection. Its needed because it provides good knockdown/knockback protection. Knockdowns suck, the new knockbacks suck even more because you get launched out of your burn patch and everything runs out of it to chase your @ss around the map. Until the devs put knockback protection in the fire tank shields acrobatics will be required. -
Thank you icaros. This is why I love my fire tanking brothers. I post a collection of what seems to be valid facts with a few conclusions and then my brothers come and back it up with good solid testing. Its also why I dont have to post much because so many good fire tanks come back and share their experiences and help others out which makes more good new firetanks ad infinitem.
Hey if you are getting burned
out with a fire tank and want to try something thats an good AOE team build check out the dark/electric builds in the defender forum. You can protect your team, solo your missions, and do some street grinding in hazards zones. Maybe not the same effectiveness of a fire tank but you will be surprised by the results.
as a side note
I fear the I5 release, seems the Devs have a target painted on all the melee classes. I just hope all the important quality of life things they did for I3 arn't undone by I5. -
DROOL.
-
[ QUOTE ]
This is one of the very best guides there is, and some of the replies are very useful, but I still have some questions.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thank you, and thanks to everybody that has posted and given me kind works about this guide.
[ QUOTE ]
What about enhancing toxic resistance, isn't that worth doing in the end game?
[/ QUOTE ]
healing flames gives 20% toxic resistance for 60 seconds. The cool thing is it stacks! So with haste and 3 SO recharge you can get HF down to : 22 seconds, so after 45 seconds you have 60% toxic resistance. If you fill the other 3 with resistance you get 32% per cast so once you have 3 stacked you have maxed out toxic. The main question is why... currently toxic is very rare and usually not high in damage amount.
[ QUOTE ]
Except for Burn, none of the power descriptions adresses BIPS. I would like to see more about attack chains for optimum BIPS. I've noticed that minions fall fast enough to BA+Burn, whether I'm solo or teamed with other AOErs. Could we have some single-target BIPS comparisons between FM and EM attack chains?
[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry I dont do testing, I just collect the info and try to put it in one place thats easy to read for fellow fire tankers. I think you can use the activation time + cast time and BI for other powers to get a thoeretical BIPS for each power. Remember though BIPS is limited by end unless you have stamina + CP + consume (level 43 min).
[ QUOTE ]
Can you reduce the recharge+activation on Incinerate to less than the duration of the DoT? Do the DoTs stack?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yup you can, and the DOTs do stack. Perma haste gives you some overlap I think, but I dont recommend swapping out a damage for a time redux because your end use shoots up, while your overall damage stays about the same.
[ QUOTE ]
How do things change if the build is also (or predominantly) for PvP?
[/ QUOTE ]
No clue about PVP, but the reports I have seen dont look to good. Taunt does not prevent heroes from running so burn is useless unless you got a troller to lock em down. I dont think I will PvP much, and if I do it will be with my Ill/Rad so It will be up to others to get and collect PVP info.
[ QUOTE ]
How does the build change when you have as many Hami-Os as you can use?
[/ QUOTE ]
Other than to be all you can be, there is probably not much use in all HamiOs (you are a good tank without em). Its pretty trivial to calculate out all the powers with the best HOs in em.
FS 6 resist/end = 84% smash/letha/fire (still need tough for that 6%? maybe maybe not)
PS is the same as FS
WIth FE (100%) and 6 HO (300%) damage/acc you cap out your damage so buildup is worthless.
WIth all 6 recharge redux in FE + perma haste you still cant perma FE (down to 38 seconds instead of 45 with SOs).
The big problem with HOs is all the ones you need are very rare (resistance/end, heal/end, recharge redux, dam/acc, def/end). It would take many many mind numbing hami raids to fill you up and for not much gain. -
[ QUOTE ]
don't want to turn this into a "energy melee vs. fiery melee" thread - i'd just like some help to decide what fits me most.
[/ QUOTE ]
Energy melee actually "fits" better with a fire tank than fire does because of burn. Burn and Blazing aura are good enough to take down minions if you have the time. You get more time if you can herd all the minions into a big pile and cook em all at once. So that leaves us with lieuts and bosses to deal with. Lieuts are pretty much 1.5-2 burn patches or 1 burn + BA + 1 AOE... pretty good for the extra exp. Bosses on the other hand are between 3 and 4 patches + attacks depending on level and type. These are the guys that are AOE inefficient if you want to stick around (Of course they are also exp vs risk inefficient... another reason AOE is king in this game). So because we have an efficient method for taking down everything but the bosses we could use energy post 35 to shore up the single target damage area. Energy's high BI attacks are:
Energy transfer(ET) = 4.3333 smash + 8.3333 energy + hp cost based on damage done (bad with stacked mobs) end = 14.5 level 35 power
and
Total focus(TF) = 2.7778 smash + 7.1111 energy
with build up and 5 damage SOs on these powers you are doing really good (better than MA scrapper) single target damage, but the end cost is pretty steep at 27, level 38 power.
Add in perma haste, Energy punch or Bonesmasher, a full tray of cabs and you are crushin the bosses hard.
A BI of 12 and 10 + buildup will always out damage a 7(incinerate) and 8 (GFS) + fiery and/or buildup.
Not to step on any fire/em guide's toes but I would personally not take whirling hands because relative to burn or BA its pretty crummy for AOE.
Of course the big probem is for single target damage either way you have to wait 37 levels (fully slotted Inc or ET). Solo, Energy is the way to go, on a team I say its a bit less value because your tanking ability is of primary concern. A blaster will always out damage a tank versus a boss. Controller pets will almost always outdamage a tank versus a boss. Some defenders can outdamage a tank versus a boss. All scrappers should be able to outdamage a tank versus a boss (crits chances higher). It comes down to style, if burn is too slow for your team fires AOEs are very nice(+for fire), and if you want to solo bosses quickly(+for Energy).