Morganite

Something to keep in mind about recovery bonuses is that even the big ones are actually really tiny in absolute terms. They're not worthless, but a slot placed just for a recovery bonus will not help as much as a slot of EndRed in a frequently used power.

The third slots in Health and Stamina don't help a lot when you're up to level 50 single-aspect IOs. You'd be better off looking at things like the Numina or Miracle uniques for health, and the Performance Shifter proc for Stamina.

I'd suggest using the Efficacy Adaptor set in Transference rather than common IOs. It recharges just a bit slower, but you'll get more out of it in return. Plus some nice set bonuses.

As for defense, it again depends on what you want to do. A Fire/Kin with softcapped smashing/lethal can fight massive groups of some enemies without even needing to use a hard control, but will suffer greatly against enemies who do a lot of, say, ranged psi. There's the approach I used, which is to slot up Weave, Maneuvers, and Combat Jumping, grab positional defense bonuses from sets (particularly ranged), and make good use of Flashfire. I'm pretty good against just about anything, but I also won't be fighting x8 anything, let alone at such speed - trading power for versatility, essentially. There's also a build I saw around here somewhere which had softcapped ranged defense, which would have it's own advantages and disadvantages. All will, of course, benefit from a Steadfast Protection Res/Def.

It makes it a bit harder for people when your datalink is not actually a link and you have no data chunk posted.

Also, you haven't said anything about what your goals and usual things to do on this character are, which makes it hard to tell what would help you. Although I imagine everyone will say that you don't need that many slots in Siphon Speed...

-Morgan.

From what I've read, KB from above ends up working like knockdown, but I'm not sure the bots would cooperate, given how much the AI wants to get up close and personal nowadays. Still, the bot attacks don't seem to do knockback all that often. Certainly not as much as, say, an energy blaster.

The Tornado, on the other hand, is known to wreak havoc. That one will probably annoy people if used carelessly.

I actually started a Bots/Storm with the intent of using KB as a major form of damage mitigation. It worked pretty well, until the bots started charging in like they were scrappers...

I have no idea why either of you has Fissure slotted for stun. Doesn't that part not actually fire very often? It didn't seem to happen much when I experimented with it on an alt build.

-Morgan.

Some EndMod in Static Field maybe? My Elec/Rad is still pretty low level, but it looks like slotting that for Sleep isn't that useful, with how often it reapplies. Whereas the endurance it gives you seems to make a big difference. (Also, what I've read about procs in powers like this makes it sound like that proc would have a chance to heal the patch, not you. Which is useless.)

If you end up spamming Electric Fences, Jolting Chain, or Radiant Aura, you're probably better off getting more EndRed into them. If I'm doing the math right, 3-slotting Stamina with 2 common EndMod IOs and the Perf. Shifter proc and putting a common EndRed IO into any of those three powers will put you ahead over time. It might still be an improvement with 3 PS, but I'm not so sure about that.

If you haven't gotten the accolades that increase your maximum end, that'd also be a good idea. They have the advantage of not involving any trade-offs, too.

I have been lead to believe that to get PPPs on a hero, you need to go full-villain and then do a patron arc. I *think* at that point you keep access to them even when respeccing again as a hero, but I'm not certain.

Mm. I'm still not seeing it for my Ele/Rad. The key powers in Elec are pretty short recharge to begin with. I'm focusing on solo (with Elec, yeah, I know, I'm crazy), so Mutation and Fallout are worthless. That pretty much leaves AM and a couple panic button powers as the reasons to want the big recharge boosts, and it just doesn't feel worth it. (Though I'm thinking recharge would be a good second one for a teaming-focused build. But, since I'm cray, that ends up being second priority.)

I'm not suggesting Musculature for /Kin. I did after all note that my /Kin character will be going for the recharge. But that's not because there's anything in Kinetics I want up faster, it's for powers in Fire and Psi.

When contemplating Psi and Iw, there's an easy test to do.

Ask yourself, how often do I get mezzed, and of those times, how often does it matter?

That'll probably give you a good idea if it's worth having.

You're probably going to hear "You need more EndRed in Hot Feet" a lot. It might as well start here. Also, it's not necessarily that good a place for procs, since they only activate every ten seconds in toggles. (Not to mention that they don't benefit from Fulcrum Shift.) If you're really set on having Obliteration, I'd at least replace the Scirocco's proc with a common EndRed to reduce your suffering on that score a bit.

And speaking of which, you've got that third slot in Speed Boost, which doesn't seem to help you except in recovery boost... but your only enhancement in Stamina is the Performance Shifter proc? Eew. If Mids is right, over time the proc isn't worth as much as a single common EndMod IO, and that little recovery bonus isn't even close. I'd at least drop the one slot from SB and put here. The proc might be worth it if you've already got 2 common EndMods here.

It doesn't look like you plan to use Tactics; you certainly can't afford to run it as is. Switching it for something from Concealment for a LotG recharge mule might be more helpful.

If you're set on Razzle Dazzle in Flashfire, I'd take the A/S/R over the proc. Gives a bit more stun duration and accuracy, and what do you need such an unreliable immobilize for when you've got a reliable one in Fire Cages?

-Morgan, could probably think of more, but it's late and I need sleep. Also, what do you plan to use this character for?

It is supposed to, and I'm pretty sure people have said that it actually is.

No, because the buff from Soul Drain only affects the user. And no, because buffs don't work on PA.

Unless you're talking about some kind of PA that *isn't* Phantom Army. Then maybe.

Given how much you say you wasnt recharge, I'm surprised you haven't got a LotG recharge in Weave. Something you could do with that the slot from that seems-to-strike-everyone-as-superfluous Jumping IO in Combat Jumping.

Still... I don't know. It's hard for me to judge, since your datalink isn't one, but are you actually trying to build for a useful amount of defense? Your slotting looks weird for that, but it looks weird for someone just looking for LotG mules too.

If it's like some other proc I'd read about being used in pet/pseudopet powers, it'd have a chance to activate on using the power (and affecting the user), and a chance to activate when the pet used it's powers, affecting the pet. Which wouldn't be all that useful in this case. (I think it might have been the Soulbound Allegiance proc, with people getting the build up effect when they summoned every now and then.)

Overall it strikes me as being a bit questionable unless it's in an AoE power that will be used frequently.

This isn't a question I see as having one obvious answer. It depends a lot on what sort of enemies you're fighting, whether you're teaming or not, tactics, ...

For example. I have a mostly soloing Fire/Kin with about 225% total recharge for IW before Syphon Speed. I'd estimate about a 15-25 second downtime on IW, depending on how much I've been able to double or triple stack Siphon Speed.

When I'm fighting Council, I don't usually bother with it. I get stunned sometimes, but not often and it's not usually a big deal. I'm far more concerned with those stupid Warwolves who just won't hold still.

When I'm fighting Carnies... not so much. Because at some point, I'll be fighting an Illusionist, and they'll do their little "Unaffected!" dance at my controls, and then they'll use Flash, and at that point things go downhill rapidly. Unless I have IW up, in which case Illusionists become not particularly dangerous, merely annoyingly durable.

Break Frees can, of course, get you out of the odd mez here and there. But they aren't suited for preemptive use, and since Hot Feet is a significant component of my mitigation strategy, having to wait for it to recharge is it's own issue. Never played an Elec, so I don't know how important Conductive Aura is to your defenses. (Or if it in fact plays a part at all.)

Overall I'd say having *literally* perma IW is not absolutely necessary. It certainly doesn't seem like it'd make as big a difference as perma PA does to an Illusion controller. But it's possible to get it down to a pretty short downtime without getting into the most incredibly expensive IOs, and it was definitely worth it for me, since if something kills me, there's a pretty good chance me being mezzed for a while was part of the chain of events.

-Morgan. Also, I just don't like Fissure.

In that level range, Tough and Weave are probably not going to help you. If you feel the need for a single target attack, and want some damage mitigation, Air Superiority is probably better, since it consistently does knockdown. (Boxing would theoretically be even better, but it's disorient is highly unreliable.)

Still, if you are dying a lot, it's probably a change in tactics you need more than any particular powers.

Do you feel like the slow enhancement helps you a lot? I've got a pretty heavy slow slotting on Hot Feet too, and it just doesn't feel like it's doing much. Warwolves still charge in and out like it wasn't there, and everything else seemed like it was going slow enough without it. I'm contemplating the Damage/Endurance and Accuracy/Damage/Endurance enhancements from Scirrocco's Dervish and Multi-Strike. Yellow damage and end reduction, and two slots I can use for some desirable bonus elsewhere. (Or procs, I guess. I've heard somewhat mixed reports on the usefulness of procs in Hot Feet though.)

-Morgan.

Sounds a lot like my situation. Not because of a 5 year old, but there's enough interruptions that teaming tends to be a "special occasion" thing for me.

My process on set bonuses is to first start by figuring out what a power needs in basic enhancement values to do it's job well, then try to figure out what bonuses I can get out of it. Sometimes a set with less impressive enhancement values is okay if it gives a particularly desirable bonus, but not if it means the power can't do it's job when I need it. On the other side, I'm a bit wary of putting more slots in a power than it takes to do it's job just to get a bonus. Sometimes, it's worth it. But the more slots that are involved, the more likely that I can find some other power to put those slots in that will benefit more and give me just as much of a bonus.

<a href="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=122110">This guide</a> provides a pretty good overview of what the powers in Fire/Kin are good for. Although sometimes it just takes some practice.

It's pretty much always better to stack up many set bonuses that help one or two things than to have bonuses spread out all over the place. For controllers in general, recharge enhancement is very popular, since most rely on one or more powers with very long recharge times. Accuracy bonuses are also nice given the rather binary nature of controlling, but seem to be in general harder to find outside of purples. Beyond that, it depends a lot on specific goals.

I think Local_Man means Transfusion with the accurate healing sets? Although Transference needs it too. That power does more than any number of recovery set bonuses ever could, but it's got to hit. If I wasn't going to six-slot it, I'd focus most on accuracy and recharge. (And use higher level sets, too. Efficiacy Adaptor doesn't seem too bad these days, as high-level IOs go.)

Actually, it feels like you're going for a lot of set bonuses while either neglecting the primary usage of the power, or just in ways that seem weird...

Take the slots in Weave, for example. It'd probably be more useful to either get some of those in Rock Armor (where it probably helps you more) or Maneuvers (where it can help your team too). And resistance enhancements only make it stronger against toxic, which isn't all that common. You'd be better served by heal (to get more hp out of it) or recharge (to use it more often.)

Yeah, that ID slotting is mind-boggling. If you really want the defense, slot up your defense powers better.

Fire Imps have this habit of running off and getting themselves killed. I wouldn't slot it heavily for recharge, but it's nice to have some in there. If nothing else, they can be useful as cannon fodder.

I'm not a big fan of immobilize enhancements in fire cages. It's duration is three times it's recharge when neither aspect is slotted. Anything I can't keep immobilized with that (a list which mostly reads "Warwolf"), I'm better off finding some other way to deal with them.

I could probably go on further, but without an answer to one question maybe there's no point. You say you want to solo, but are you thinking in terms of farming-type soloing (x8 missions against carefully selected groups), or something more general? (The latter is more my style; I'll be a bit disappointed if I can't handle at least x4 *anything* when I'm done.)

Either way, you're short some things. As I understand it, your defenses aren't where they'd need to be to do serious farming. And your controls are too weak to be fighting, say, x4 Carnies. (For that matter, if you're ever wanting to do any task forces, you'll probably also want much better controls.)

Slotting fissure for disorient strikes me as fairly pointless. It doesn't do it that often. Isn't it usually classed as one of the big damage powers?

(I was pretty disappointed too. A PBAoE disorient power that's up that often would have some real applications for my not-designed-for-farming Fire/Kin... if it always did the disorient part. Or if it even did it *frequently*.)

-Morgan.