Is it Hot in Here? - Pegs guide to the Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster
Introduction:
The Fire/Fire/Fire blaster. Wow, has this archetype gone through changes. It has been popular, flavor of the month, despised, avoided and now with I8 and I9 it has come back into its own. Hellcatt is my triple Fire, and made level 50 in March of 2007. I created her back during I6, leveled her to 28 then forgot about her as I went off to play villains. Finally I came back and decided to get a hero to 50 so I could play around with Khelidans. So looking at my list of heroes, I could either keep working on Hellcatt, despite how much "fire/fire sucks", or start a new character.
In the end, I decided to stick with Hellcatt, but to invest some time in figuring out how to play her. Let me give credit to Snakebit. His guide is required reading for a Fire/Fire. The concept that he outlines really helped me to understand how to play this build. It forms the basis for the "blapping" set of tactics, and the core mechanisms he outlines are critical to success. The I8 increase to the damage of the /fire secondary is also a factor in the increased viability of this build. While I have deviated into something that is more versatile, his guide forms the core of the fire/fire philosophy.
What is a Triple Fire Blaster anyway?:
If you choose this route, understand what you are getting into. You deal damage. This is your primary and purposeful goal and you do very little else. You are optimized to deal high levels of damage in any and all situations, whether solo or on a team. You have no damage mitigation, other than inspirations. Your mitigation is to kill them before they kill you. There are even times that you are going to let them kill you, just so you can hit them again ... harder.
Get used to defeat and debt. You are going to get a lot of it. If this bothers you, then go make a stone tank. But if the thrill of dancing through 20 enemies, spinning like a marionette through the tankers and scrappers, watching hundreds of orange numbers rise up in the air over the heads of the enemies, pressing attack after attack is something that appeals to you, then you have found a home. If I could rename Hellcatt, I would find some variation on Firedancer, since that is the best description of how she plays. When it is all working, it is poetry to watch. When it fails, it fails spectacularly.
Why is this build different from Snakebit's?:
As I said, I admire Snakebit's guide, but I found it to be too one dimensional for me. Blapping is fun fun fun, but there are many situations that require finesse. I wanted a build that gives me the most tactical options for any situation that arises. So in the end, I chose a combination that can fill the following roles:
1) Hover blast - Hover just out of reach of the enemies while shooting bolts and AoEs down on them from above
2) Blapping - Dance through large groups dishing out damage to everything you get near
3) Stealth AOE attack - Place yourself precisely to damage and kill the maximum number of enemies from safety
4) Snipe - Distance single target attack to remove a specific enemy quickly
5) Nuke - Maximum damage single attack that will eliminate all minions and Lieutenants in a wide circle
6) Hold and Blast - Use a single target hold to lock down a single enemy while you use multiple attacks
So let's look at the build:
Here are the powers and level progression to use. For the most part, I followed this although some powers (like Blazing Aura and Hot feet) I recently respeced into. The progression is purposeful, with the intent of giving the ability to execute one of the above roles at specific levels. The idea is that you will be effective at all levels while you grow, and each new "tier" will give you access to a new tactical option.
01) --> Fire Blast
01) --> Ring of Fire
02) --> Fire Ball
04) --> Fire Sword
06) --> Hover
08) --> Fire Breath
10) --> Swift
12) --> Aim
14) --> Fly
16) --> Build Up
18) --> Health
20) --> Stamina
22) --> Hasten
24) --> Blaze
26) --> Blazing Bolt
28) --> Fire Sword Circle
30) --> Consume
32) --> Inferno
35) --> Blazing Aura
38) --> Hot Feet
41) --> Char
44) --> Fire Shield
47) --> Rise of the Phoenix
49) --> Recall Friend
It used to be that once you reached a level, then how you put the build together during a respec was irrelevant. However, with the structure of the I9 recipe and salvage drops, the attraction of doing taskforces has increased. When you play on a taskforce you will be automatically exemplared down to the top level of the TF. For example, doing Positron will make you level 15 for the duration of the TF. This means that how you build up over the levels, even during a respec, is very important. This build is designed to give you specific capabilities at levels 15, 20, 25, 28, 32, 38, 45 and 50. Each of these levels represents a tier at which you will have access to a set of capabilities that will allow you to excel. Later, when you look at the IO set choices, you will see that they also have been selected to allow you to be successful on TFs.
Tier 1 - AOEs, supported by Fly, Blast and Fire Sword
01) --> Fire Blast
01) --> Ring of Fire
02) --> Fire Ball
04) --> Fire Sword
06) --> Hover
08) --> Fire Breath
10) --> Swift
12) --> Aim
14) --> Fly
This tier is designed to let you do the Positron TF. You have stealth (from your Fly power, see the IO sets later), as well as 2 AOEs and 2 single target attacks. You also have Aim (with its Acc and Damage boost) and a single target immobilize. This set gives you a lot of damage potential early in the build, which will help you as you level and when you Ex down to do Positron. Note that there is one anomaly in that you take swift at 10. This is done to allow you to take Build Up at the first opportunity, while still getting Stamina at 20.
Tier 2 - Add in Stamina and Build Up
16) --> Build Up
18) --> Health
20) --> Stamina
The next tier gives you additional power in all of your attacks, plus reducing the endurance burden across the board. Doing the Synapse TF will be easier, especially since without Stamina the endurance issues are even more pronounced against Clockwork.
Tier 3 - Add Haste and Blaze
22) --> Hasten
24) --> Blaze
This tier gives you another important underlying power in Haste. One of the critical goals of this build is to reduce the recharge time on your powers. You don't just want them to be powerful, but you want them to be usable over and over in quick succession to allow you to keep dishing out the damage. Haste is your key for doing that, with its 60% increase if the recycle rate on your powers. Later, when all the IOs are in place, you will be getting over a 100% increase in recycle time. Blaze is also important. While it is a short range power, the I8 increase in its range puts it outside the perception range of your stealth. You now have the ability to snipe. Simply fly or run into range, hit Aim and Build up, then hit Blaze. If your target survives you can follow with an AOE or Fire Blast. Blaze also has a short recycle time. You will find you use it more than Fire Blast, since it is almost always up, you are almost always in range, and it does a lot more damage.
Tier 4 - Complete your Snipe and Blapping abilities
26) --> Blazing Bolt
28) --> Fire Sword Circle
With the addition of Bolt and FSC, you complete two of your tactical options. Combining Bolt and Blaze will take out almost all single targets. Either run or hover within range of your target. Hit Aim and Build Up then fire your Bolt. Any minion will be killed by the Bolt. If it is a Lieutenant, then you follow with Blaze to finish it off. You will usually have enough time left on the Aim and Build up to use one additional power, such as Fireball, before they expire. FSC completes the blapping option for you. Prior to this, Firebreath and Fireball were both good at meeting this tactical need. FSC makes it a devastating attack. Hit Aim and Build up, run into the crowd. Use FSC to attack everything around you and target the closest enemy while it is animating. Then shoot a Fireball, which will give a second attack to everything around you. Anything left alive can either be taken down with Blaze/Blast/Fire Sword, or you can back up and use Firebreath (this tends to group things conveniently for your cone). An alternative is to target something in the back, hit Firebreath, run up until you stop to attack, then continue into the pack to use FSC and Fireball.
Tier 5 - Nukes
30) --> Consume
32) --> Inferno
Ah Inferno. Your signature attack, the one that teams will change tactics just to let you use it more effectively. I've had tankers start running around trying to herd multiple groups into tight formations just by saying "Inferno's up". You hit everything in a wide ring with multiple fire attacks totaling about 800 damage. Anything still alive will be set on fire and will usually die a few seconds later. Using Aim and Build up, you will take out all of the minions and Lieutenants. The downside is that it will leave you without any endurance and unable to naturally recover any for a few seconds. This is where Consume comes into play (and is an example of why this primary and secondary work so well together). You use an endurance inspiration to get a little bit of endurance back, make sure you have 3 living enemies near you, then hit Consume. You will now have a full endurance bar and can use your blapping attacks.
Tier 6 - Extra Blapping with a Slow
35) --> Blazing Aura
38) --> Hot Feet
Yes I know, everyone thinks these two powers suck. They are wrong. You want these because they improve the blapping, especially with large groups. So a couple numbers. At level 50 Hellcatt will do 11 and 14 points of damage to everything around her every 2 seconds. With Build up and Aim, this goes even higher. This damage adds up quickly.
The most effective way to use them is to turn them both on. Hit Aim and Build up, run into the mob and hit FSC. If anything is left alive (unlikely) a Fireball will finish the job. They also have the advantage of reducing the aggro that you get from hitting so many things at the same time. When the mobs try to close to melee range, Hot feet hits them with a fear and they try to run away. But they are slowed while doing it, giving you more time to attack them, and a few more ticks from these powers.
Tier 7 - Single target hold and finally some damage mitigation
41) --> Char
44) --> Fire Shield
You will love Char. Up until this point, there are some annoying enemies to deal with, like the Ritki Mentalists. These Lieutenants are always Mezzing you and making things generally difficult. With Char, you will fly in, put a hold on them, then either kill it at your leisure, or take care of the rest of the group using your other tactics. In a group, you will be able to hold some of the bosses when your hold stacks with others being used. Fire Shield gives you damage mitigation after 44 levels of grabbing all the aggro and trying to kill them before they kill you. But in all honesty, when you make it to level 44, your instincts will be so keen that you will often forget to turn it on. It is very helpful for some of the high damage bosses, like Fake Nemesis. With it on you will be able to trade attacks back and forth and win the battle.
Tier 8 - You get a Rez and a convenience
47) --> Rise of the Phoenix
49) --> Recall Friend
These last two powers are completely optional. Rise of the Phoenix is useful in that if you are out of endurance and getting pounded, you can choose to die and then use this power to attack everything with it. I find that I can usually finish the mob off after using ROP. Recall friend is a convenience to allow me to get people to the mission door faster. You can choose from among the skipped powers if you like, something like Rain of Fire or Combustion. Or you could choose a pool power like Superspeed.
Macros and Binds:
Before getting into the powers, lets look at a few macros and binds that make life easier.
F "powexec_name Sprint$$powexec_name Hover$$powexec_name Fly"
CTRL+F "powexec_name Fly$$powexec_name Hover$$powexec_name Sprint"
These two binds work to toggle your flight powers. Hitting the F key will turn off Sprint and put you in Fly. Continuing it hit F will toggle between Fly and Hover. Ctrl-F will drop you out of flight to the ground with Sprint active. Being able to get into flight quickly and toggle between fly and hover is important. With the I9 IOs, it is even more important. As you will see, you have an Accuracy boost tied to Hover and Stealth tied to Fly. Even if you are attacking from the ground, you will want to hit "F" twice and then "Ctrl-F" to make sure Freebird: Stealth and Kismet: Accuracy are active prior to attacking. Each of them last for 2 minutes after you shut off the slotted powers.
RBUTTON "+forward$$+mouse_look"
SHIFT+RBUTTON "+backward$$+mouse_look"
ALT+RBUTTON "-mouse_look"
This Bind is out of the Bind guide and I love it. Hold down the right mouse button and you run forward. Move your mouse while running and you turn. Hold down the shift key and you will run backwards. Hold down the alt key and right click on something to get the typical right click features (power info for example). I have literally quit other games because I don't have this feature, I like it that much.
Macro Auto "Powexec_auto Hasten"
Once you get Haste at 22 you will want it running as much as possible. With all the action it is easy to forget to turn it on when available. This macro will turn it on in Auto mode so it will automatically run when it is available. No more worrying, just turn it on and forget it.
Issue 9 and Enhancement Sets:
When you start to look through the build, you will notice several powers that are not slotted they way it was done previously. For example, 5 slots on Health? What's up with that? The reason is that this build is optimized to make maximum use of IO enhancement sets. These are slotable enhancements that give bonuses the more IOs from the set you use.
Note that IO levels work differently than Single Origin levels. A lower level IO will never expire, but it also doesnt give as big of a bonus. However, unlike SOs, when you exemplar down below the level of the IO, you lose the benefit of the IO, even if you can still use the power. For this reason, the selection of the IO levels for your powers is important. Some IOs that give unique bonuses, like Stealth, should be created at the lowest practical level and slotted into powers that can be used at lower levels. This insures that important capabilities are always available to you.
This build's primary focus is to increase recharge time. My contention is that the Triple Fire is most effective when dealing out damage, and the faster powers are available, the faster that can be done. You want as often as possible for every tactical option discussed above to be available to you. For example, if you just blapped, but one Lieutenant is still alive you want to be able to choose to stun it and take your time, or use Blast or Blaze. But if a Lieutenant and a boss are alive, you might want to be able to stun the Lieutenant and focus on the boss instead. The point is that with fast recharge time, all of these options are available. The secondary goal is to help with endurance recovery. Even with Stamina, you will use up endurance fast, especially with Blazing Aura and Hot Feet running. These sets will give you recovery bonuses that help tremendously.
Let's take a look at the significant bonuses that the sets will give, once fully slotted.
Properties Modifications
Health +9.77%
Endurance +4.50%
Recharge -42.50%
Acc (powers) +35.00%
Acc (ToHit) +6.00%
Regeneration +23.80%
Recovery +24.00%
Stealth
Take some time considering these. With Haste running, you get over 100% increase in recharge time, not including the bonuses to the powers that the sets give. You will get 24% bonus to recovery over what you get with Stamina, for a total of 3.31 endurance per second recovery (vs. the 2.67 with Stamina alone). All powers get a 35% accuracy bonus and you get a personal 6% tohit bonus, on top of the accuracy enhancements the sets give to the powers themselves. You get close to 10% more hit points and you get 5 more endurance points. Finally, you are regenerating health 24% faster on top of the bonus you are getting from the health power.
Enough talk! Show us the build!:
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Hellcatt
Level: 50
Archetype: Blaster
Primary: Fire Blast
Secondary: Fire Manipulation
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Notes:
- The IO Sets identified include the level of the IO [xx] in addition to the level at which the slot is added (xx)
- Bonuses are calculated for all IOs active, as well as the bonus received if exemplared below the maximum IO level. Obviously, if exemplared below the minimum level of the set, there is no bonus received.
- Set effects are based on the number of different set IOs slotted. Full use of the set bonuses can't be realized until slots are available and set IOs are placed.
01) --> Fire Blast
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Damage (1)
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (3)
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (36)
* Decimation: [40]Damage/Endurance (46)
* Decimation: [40]Damage/Recharge (48)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 84.2%, Acc 52.0%, End 40.1%, Rcg 56.1%
Ex(40-) Bonuses: Dam 36.0%, Acc 52.0%, End 16.0%, Rcg 32.0%
(2) Reduces the duration of immobilize effects on you by 2.75%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.13%
(4) Increases maximum Endurance by 2.25%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 6.25%
Notes: Fire Blast is the first attack you will take and you will use it your entire career. It is decently powerful and has your best range, equaling Fireball. Only Blazing Bolt has more range. Using Build up and Aim at level 50 it will hit for 130+ of damage, so it is quite useful. The Decimation package doesn't give important bonuses until you can get 3 of them slotted. You won't have the 3rd slot available until level 36, so filling in this set is optional until then. Using one Acc and filling the rest with Damage single origins or IOs prior to that point is recommended. Note that decimation is available if you Ex down to level 40, and most of the benefit other than damage if you Ex down to 25. The reason to allow limited damage at lower levels is that this power is mostly a finishing move against runners, you want it to hit, but you don't usually care for how much.
01) --> Ring of Fire
* Accuracy(1)
Notes: A single target immobilize that you have to take at level 1. Not powerful enough to justify adding slots to it (especially after I9) but useful throughout your career. I find I still use it at level 50 on things that would be troubling if they got into melee range, like Carnie Strongmen.
02) --> Fire Ball
* Positron's Blast: [20]Accuracy/Damage (2)
* Positron's Blast: [20]Damage/Endurance (3)
* Positron's Blast: [20]Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5)
* Positron's Blast: [50]Damage/Range (37)
* Positron's Blast: [50]Damage/Recharge (40)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 97.8%, Acc 28.8%, End 28.8%, Rcg 26.5%, Rng 26.5%
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Dam 44.8%, Acc 28.8%, End 28.8%
(2) Improves your Recovery by 2.5%
(3) Increases Fire and Cold resistance by 1.58%
(4) Improves the accuracy of all of your powers by 9%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 6.25%
Notes: The staple of your offense and a defining power for the set. It does good damage against a wide ring of enemies. Useful for range, hover blast and blapping. Positrons Blast is an excellent set for both of your AOE powers, giving excellent recovery, accuracy and recharge bonuses. Note that even using 3 level 20 IOs, you still get very close to the damage maximum, with nice bonuses in accuracy, endurance usage, range and recharge. You will take a hit to your damage bonuses when Exed, though.
04) --> Fire Sword
* Crushing Impact: [30]Accuracy/Damage (4)
* Crushing Impact: [30]Damage/Endurance (5)
* Crushing Impact: [30]Damage/Recharge (36)
* Crushing Impact: [30]Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (46)
* Crushing Impact: [50]Damage/Endurance/Recharge (48)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 104.0%, Acc 39.2%, End 43.0%, Rcg 56.6%
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Dam 82.8%, Acc 39.2%, End 21.8%, Rcg 39.2%
(2) Reduces the duration of immobilize effects on you by 2.2%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.13%
(4) Improves the accuracy of all of your powers by 7%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 5%
Notes: A very good single target melee attack. It has about the same damage as Fire Blast and I find myself using them interchangeably while blapping. Crushing Impact is a monster set for increasing damage. The accuracy and recharge bonuses are critical, of course, but look at that damage bonus using 4 level 30 IOs. When Exed above 30 but below 50 you should use this power as your single target attack instead of Fire Blast. Keep Blast for runners and use this to attack at melee range.
06) --> Hover
* Kismet: [15]Accuracy (6) (+6% ToHit)
* Kismet: [15]Defense/Endurance (6)
* Kismet: [15]Defense/Recharge (7)
* Fly (11)
* Fly (11)
Standrd Bonuses: Def 14.4%, End 12%, Rcg 12%
(2) Improves your Recovery by 1.5%
(3) Reduces the duration of Confuse effects on you by 1.65%
Notes: In my first plan for this build I planned to use 5 Kismet IOs for the extra 5% recharge. However, I was convinced that fly enhancements are a better idea, so have instead limited it to the 3 listed. Use of level 15 versions give lower defense, but make sure that the bonuses (especially the Accuracy bonus) are available even on the Positron TF. This power gives some defense, enough to notice it, and with the fly enhancements movement is tolerable. You will need to toggle between Hover and Fly to keep the Accuracy bonus and Stealth active.
08) --> Fire Breath
* Positron's Blast: [20]Accuracy/Damage (8)
* Positron's Blast: [20]Damage/Endurance (9)
* Positron's Blast: [20]Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (9)
* Positron's Blast: [50]Damage/Range (40)
* Positron's Blast: [50]Damage/Recharge (40)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 97.8%, Acc 28.8%, End 28.8%, Rcg 26.5%, Rng 26.5%
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Dam 44.8%, Acc 28.8%, End 28.8%
(2) Improves your Recovery by 2.5%
(3) Increases Fire and Cold resistance by 1.58%
(4) Improves the accuracy of all of your powers by 9%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 6.25%
Notes: Your second AoE which does excellent damage in three ticks within a decent size cone (width and depth). Range is decent as well, though less that Fireball. The notes of Positrons Blast apply here as well, though Firebreath probably benefits from the range increase more than Fireball. Note that the effects of the sets are cumulative. With both powers slotted, you get 18% accuracy bonus to all of your powers, not just these two.
10) --> Swift
* Fly(10)
Notes: You have to take this or hurdle to get to Stamina. Because Swift can be slotted with Fly as well as Run, I prefer Swift over Hurdle for the flight speed bonus. Note that in the first I9 update they removed the ability to use IO sets in either Swift of Hurdle.
12) --> Aim
* Recharge Reduction(12)
* Recharge Reduction(13)
* Recharge Reduction(13)
Notes: A must have power. You want to get this as soon as available. It gives a decent bonus to damage for a short period. It gives an outstanding bonus to accuracy for the same period. Using this power and Build up prior to starting an attack is standard operating procedure.
14) --> Fly
* Freebird: [15]Stealth (14)
* Freebird: [50]Fly (15)
* Freebird: [15]Endurance (15)
Standrd Bonuses: Fly 75.4% (includes Swift bonus), End 19.2%, Stealth
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Fly 33.0% (includes Swift bonus), End 19.2%, Stealth
(2) Improves your Regeneration by 1.8%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.5%
Notes: This is probably the biggest disagreement I have with the Snakebit guide. He doesnt see the need for flight, preferring to use Superspeed, especially since you need to take Haste. I think that Flight is the best travel power for its versatility and its tactical use for Hover-blasting. With the addition of the Freebird: Stealth IO, you also get Stealth without needing to take it from the Concealment Pool. Granted you can get the same bonus in SS and it does have the value of making you even stealthier. However, my opinion is that City of Heroes is a 3 dimensionally oriented game, and I see no reason to limit yourself to only 2 of them. Note that during I7, the accuracy debuff was removed on this power when using an attack while flying. However, flight speed is briefly suppressed after an attack. It is completely possible to fly in at full speed toward a target, trigger an attack during flight, and drift past the target, but still execute the attack, even Fire Sword. You can also use attacks like Fire Sword Circle while flying low to the ground, without having to drop out of flight mode.
16) --> Build Up
* Recharge Reduction(16)
* Recharge Reduction(17)
* Recharge Reduction(17)
Notes: Like Aim, this power is one of your most important. I strongly advocate taking this as soon as it is available, even with the need to take Swift earlier in your build. Combined with Aim, the damage you will do is phenomenal. For a short period of time, all of your damage powers will increase dramatically. At level 50, a single snipe using Build up and Aim will do 400 damage. You will use this power in preparation for all of your attacks, whether a snipe, ranged AOE, blapping or a nuke.
18) --> Health
* Miracle: [20]Recovery (18) (+15% recovery)
* Miracle: [20]Healing/Endurance (19)
* Miracle: [20]Healing/Recharge (19)
* Miracle: [20]Healing/Endurance/Recharge (25)
* Miracle: [20]Healing (25)
Standrd Bonuses: Heal 70.4%
(2) Improves your Recovery by 2.5%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.88%
(4) Improves all of your healing powers by 5%
(5) Increases area effect defense by 1.88%
Notes: This power will increase your rate of health recovery. I personally find it to be less useful that other do, because Im either at full health because everything died first, or Im struggling to survive because I messed up and everything is attacking me. The point is that regeneration is of limited use to a Fire/Fire Blaster. However, with the slotting of the Miracle IO set, this power becomes more interesting. The most important are the first 2 IOs. By getting the Miracle: Recovery IO, you will get a 15% bonus to your endurance recovery. The second IO gives a set bonus that pushes this to 17.5%. Arguably, you can stop at 2 IOs and use the slots elsewhere. However, the 5% health bonus at 4 IOs is also attractive since it improves the value of Health and also your health recovery from Rise of the Phoenix. I prefer the use of the lowest level IOs here (level 20) to make sure this set is available when doing the Synapse TF and above. One important note, at this time Miracle: Recovery is a very sought after recipe. It is trading for 20 million influence at Wentworths. You will need to be lucky or rich to get this IO, and it is conceivable that you will have all other powers slotted before you get your hands on it. However, supply and demand will eventually lower this price. You can only use it once per character and as more people get it, the demand will reduce.
20) --> Stamina
* Endurance Modification(20)
* Endurance Modification(21)
* Endurance Modification(21)
Notes: This has always been arguably the best power in the game. I have always advocated getting this as soon as possible. I have neglected to do so once, and regretted it. When slotted with 3 endurance modifications it will increase your endurance recovery by 1 endurance point per second. Given how endurance hungry this build is, this power is vital.
22) --> Hasten
* Recharge Reduction(22)
* Recharge Reduction(23)
* Recharge Reduction(23)
Notes: This power increases the recharge rate on all of your powers by 60%+ for 2 minutes. With 3 recharge reductions, the powers recharge drops to 225 seconds, which is further reduced by Haste itself to 187 seconds. With the additional recharge rate enhancements from the IO sets this drops to about 160 seconds, giving you 2 minutes with it active and 40 seconds without. For 75% of the time, you will be able to use your powers twice as often, as long as you have endurance.
24) --> Blaze
* Decimation: [25]Chance for Buildup (24)
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Damage (27)
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (31)
* Decimation: [25]Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (37)
* Decimation: [40]Damage/Endurance (42)
* Decimation: [40]Damage/Recharge (43)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 84.2%, Acc 52.0%, End 40.1%, Rcg 56.1%
Ex(40-) Bonuses: Dam 36.0%, Acc 52.0%, End 16.0%, Rcg 32.0%
(2) Reduces the duration of immobilize effects on you by 2.75%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.13%
(4) Increases maximum Endurance by 2.25%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 6.25%
(6) Increases Toxic and Psionic resistance by 1.58%
Notes: This is a high damage, short range single target attack. It does less damage than Blazing Bolt, but more than your other ranged attacks. It recharges quickly and will become a staple for your single target attacks. Anything left alive after your AoEs you will attack with Blaze first, and will reuse it as soon as it is available again. As mentioned, with the I8 increase to the range, it is now possible to use this attack while hidden by Stealth. The IO selection is the same for this power as for Fire Blast. The additional IO though is the Chance for Build up unique, which will occasionally execute a Build up on your attacks, in addition to the one you have available to you. Since you use Blaze earlier in the attack chain, it is better to put that IO in Blaze rather than Fire Blast, to allow the benefit to transfer to your other powers.
26) --> Blazing Bolt
* Sting of the Manticore: [35]Accuracy/Damage (26)
* Sting of the Manticore: [35]Damage/Endurance (27)
* Sting of the Manticore: [35]Accuracy/Interrupt/Range (34)
* Sting of the Manticore: [50]Damage/Interrupt/Recharge (37)
* Sting of the Manticore: [50]Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 88.2%, Acc 41.3%, End 44.1%, Rcg 42.4%, Rng 11.0%, Int 47.6%
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Dam 45.8%, Acc 41.3%, End 22.9%, Rcg 00.0%, Rng 11.0%, Int 22.1%
(2) Improves your Regeneration by 12%
(3) Increases Energy and Negative Energy defense by 0.95%
(4) Increases damage by 3%
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 7.5%
Notes: This is your single target snipe. It does a lot of damage, but takes time to execute and will be interrupted if you take damage. As a result it is often used as an opening attack, and then ignored for the rest of the fight. There will be times, such as attacking an Arch Villain in a group where you can use it over and over. If you are in a position, such as hover blasting, where you are not going to take damage but need to output maximum damage, then you will use Blazing Bolt as often as it is available. Usually this means alternating between Firebreath, Blazing Bolt and Blaze, with Aim and Build up used as often as they are available.
28) --> Fire Sword Circle
* Scirocco's Dervish: [20]Accuracy/Recharge (28)
* Scirocco's Dervish: [20]Damage/Endurance (29)
* Scirocco's Dervish: [20]Damage/Recharge (29)
* Scirocco's Dervish: [50]Accuracy/Damage (43)
* Scirocco's Dervish: [50]Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (48)
Standrd Bonuses: Dam 79.7%, Acc 58.4%, End 37.2%, Rcg 32.0%
Ex(50-) Bonuses: Dam 32.0%, Acc 16.0%, End 16.0%, Rcg 32.0%
(2) Improves your Regeneration by 10%
(3) Increases Negative Energy resistance by 3.13%
(4) Improves the accuracy of all of your powers by 9%
(5) Increases area effect defense by 3.13%
Notes: This power is a player based area of effect (PBAoE) power. You do significant damage to all enemies within 10 feet of you, including a chance to set them on fire for time based damage. Using Aim and Build this power makes for an effective opening attack, followed by Fireball to finish. Later on, using Blazing Aura and Hot Feet, FSC alone will usually kill all the minions. The Sciroccos Dervish set gives a large bonus to regeneration along with another accuracy bonus that stacks with Positrons Blast. My recommended power level selection focuses on accuracy over damage, since this is a power you dont want to see miss. It is also viable to replace the level 20 Damage/Recharge with a single origin damage enhancement, since the critical accuracy set bonus is available with 4 IOs, thereby increasing damage when Exed.
30) --> Consume
* Recharge Reduction(30)
* Endurance Modification(31)
* Endurance Modification(31)
Notes: This power will slightly damage all enemies within 20 feet you, transferring endurance to you. With the slotting specified, you can fully recover all endurance hitting just 3 enemies. This power is most useful after using Inferno, if things are still alive. Using an endurance recovery inspiration gives you enough endurance to activate this power, giving you a full bar and the ability to continue the fight. With the recharge reduction enhancement, and the enhancements in Inferno, these two powers recharge at the same rate allowing you to always use it after using Inferno.
32) --> Inferno
* Recharge Reduction(32)
* Recharge Reduction(33)
* Recharge Reduction(33)
* Damage(33)
* Damage(34)
* Damage(34)
Notes: This is your nuke. It is the best nuke in the game since it does the highest damage and it does not do knockback. This tends to make the tankers like you a little better, since anything you dont kill will still be within their agro range. It can miss, so there will be times that you are standing there without any endurance, all of your toggles dropped, with a couple really angry enemies coming for you. This is especially true with bosses, since Inferno is rarely able to take them out (unlike Lieutenants and minions). With the recharge, Haste and the recharge rate bonuses, this power can be available every 90 seconds. It is not uncommon to be able to use Inferno on every other mob during team missions.
35) --> Blazing Aura
* End Reduction(35)
* End Reduction(36)
Notes: The much maligned Blazing Aura. Despite its reputation, it is a decent power. When you combine it with Hot Feet, you will do an unenhanced 25 points of damage every 2 seconds in a 10 foot radius. Note that this is the same radius as Fire Sword Circle, creating a nice synergy. Turning on Aura and Hot Feet, hitting Aim and Build up, then running into a crowd of minions to use FSC will generally result in everything being killed. Anything still hanging onto life will expire on the next tick. The biggest drawback to this power is the endurance usage. If you take any slots from other powers, I recommend adding a 3rd slot to this power with an Endurance reduction SO.
38) --> Hot Feet
* End Reduction(38)
* End Reduction(39)
* End Reduction(39)
* Slow(39)
Notes: Hot Feet is another maligned power that is better than its reputation. As mentioned with Blazing Aura, Hot Feet works well in conjunction with that power. Hot Feet adds three additional components. First it has a larger radius at 20 feet. Second, it slows everything in the radius. Finally, it has a fear component that makes everything try to run out of the radius. The benefits of these two powers together should be obvious. You are a blaster standing in the middle of a large group and you have just hit the entire group at the same time. You now have all the aggro on you, unless a tank can quickly pull it back. If you are also running Hot Feet and BA though, those very annoyed enemies are going to start running to get away from you, instead of trying to kill you. And they will be slowed while doing it, giving you ample opportunity to use Blaze or Fireball on them. Like Blazing Aura, this power is endurance hungry. Without the endurance enhancements, BA and Hot Feet together will consume half of your endurance recovery.
41) --> Char
* Neuronic Shutdown: [30]Endurance/Hold (41)
* Neuronic Shutdown: [30]Accuracy/Endurance (42)
* Neuronic Shutdown: [30]Hold/Range (42)
* Neuronic Shutdown: [30]Accuracy/Hold/Recharge (50)
* Neuronic Shutdown: [30]Chance for Psionic DoT (50)
Standrd Bonuses: Hold 54.1%, Acc 39.2%, End 43.6%, Rcg 17.4%, Rng 13.1%
(2) Reduces the duration of immobilize effects on you by 2.2%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.5%
(4) Improves the accuracy of all of your powers by 5%
(5) Improves the duration of your Hold effects by 2%
Notes: Char is a single target hold with a nice duration. Finally, a power that lets you lock things down, instead of making you kill them faster than they can kill you. It is amazing the number of tactical situations that this power makes easier for you. You can lock down a Lieutenant, before dealing with the minions. Another tactic, if you have a group with a minion and a Lieutenant, is to snipe the minion for a single shot kill, then hit the Lieutenant with the hold to allow you to take it out in safety. Flying in fast and hitting with a hold is another useful tactic. Anytime you have a group that has one particularly troublesome member, Char is the easy answer. Note that the hold is not sufficient magnitude to hold a boss, however, with all of your recharge augmentations, it will come back up before the first Char has worn off. Using it a second time will often hold a boss, and you can keep him held if you keep reapplying it. The IO set recommended, Neuronic Shutdown is a hold set that gives an accuracy and hold bonus when fully slotted. Note that there is no need to worry about using lower level IOs in this set, since if you Ex below level 41, you loose access to the power anyway.
44) --> Fire Shield
* Impervious Skin: [30]Resistance/Endurance (44)
* Impervious Skin: [30]Resistance/Recharge (45)
* Impervious Skin: [30]Endurance/Recharge (45)
* Impervious Skin: [30]Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (45)
* Impervious Skin: [30]Status Resistance (46) (30% reduction to status effects)
Standrd Bonuses: Res 36.7%, End 61.0%, Rcg 61.0%
(2) Reduces the duration of Sleep effects on you by 2.2%
(3) Increases maximum health by 1.5%
(4) Grants 2% debt protection.
(5) Improves the Recharge Time of all of your powers by 5%
Notes: Finally, after 44 levels you get some damage mitigation. This is a good one, too. Fire Shield is the same power that Fire Tankers get at a low level, and it gives nice protection against lethal/smash, good against fire and ok against cold. Note that this is resistance, not defense. You will still get hit, but for less damage. Given that you are trying to out damage the enemies, this can be a life saver. The biggest problem you will have with it is forgetting to turn in on after using Inferno. The Impervious Skin IO set gives a decent boost to the resistances along with an important reduction in endurance usage. The big bonus from this set is the Status Resistance unique that reduces all status effects (Hold, Immobilize, Fear, etc) by 30%. Given that you really dont have any status protection, this is a great bonus. The use of 5 IOs in the set also gives a 5% bonus on recharge time, the primary goal of the build. Like char, there is no need for lower level IOs, since you lose this power when Exed below level 44.
47) --> Rise of the Phoenix
* Recharge Reduction(47)
* Healing(50)
Notes: A personal resurrection power that heals you, damages all enemies around you and leaves them disoriented. If you wait for Inferno to recharge, you will have plenty of time to rez, then hit the mob with it. There are times that I will allow myself to be killed, just so I get a second shot at the mob that killed me. This is another power that could use more slots in it, if you pull them from elsewhere. Note also that as a healing power, you can put something like Numina: Convalescence into it for a combination of regeneration and recovery. At this time, I am unsure if you can use the Numina and Miracle IOs at the same time.
49) --> Recall Friend
* Recharge Reduction(49)
Notes: Recalls a teammate to your location. I have taken it as a convenience, and there are other choices that may work for you. Note that by taking it at 49, Im not giving myself access to it on most of the Task Forces. There are times, especially on Positron, where it would come in handy.
Set Bonus Totals:
When you add up all the bonuses you get from these sets, the totals are impressive. Below is the complete bonus you will get from the sets once the build is complete. These do not take into account bonuses from the IO directly to the power, or other powers that provide additional enhancements (like Haste and Health).
Properties Modifications
Health +9.77%
Endurance +4.50%
Debt -2.00%
Recharge -42.50%
Hold Duration +2.00%
Acc (powers) +35.00%
Acc (ToHit) +6.00%
Damage +3.00%
Regeneration +23.80%
Recovery +24.00%
Status Durations (self)
Sleep -32.20%
Immobilize -39.90%
Confuse -31.65%
Hold -30.00%
Disorient -30.00%
Fear -30.00%
Resistances
Fire +3.16%
Cold +3.16%
Neg +4.08%
Energy +0.95%
Toxic +1.58%
Psionic +1.58%
Area effect +5.01%
What about the other powers?:
So some notes regarding the powers I didnt take. I have actually had all of these powers in my build at one point or another. But after having played with many different configurations on Test, Ive chosen to drop these 4.
Flares: Ive used this on a Hover-blaster build, and the range is decent. But the damage isnt enough to warrant taking it, especially since Blaze and Fire Blast have fast recharge times. One of those single target attacks will always be available.
Rain of Fire: I like the synergy of this power with Blazing Aura and Hot Feet. However, I found that the mechanism for using it, selecting a ground target, was too cumbersome and disrupted the flow of the fight. Once you are engaged, you are going to be pressing keys continuously. Stopping in the middle to switch to the mouse to target a spot is too intrusive. If this worked the way Burn does, then I might reconsider.
Combustion: I stopped using this power because I found it to be unnecessary. It is a second PBAoE, but the damage comes over time, rather than all at once. I was finding the battles were over before I got to this point in my attack chain. It does about the same damage as Fireball and half the damage of FSC. However, you can use Fireball 2 or 3 times in the time it takes Combustion to do its work. If you do take it, I recommend using it as an opening attack, followed by FSC and the rest of your attack chain.
Burn: This is a power that has a lot of potential, but doesnt quite work right. First of all, the burn patch is a pet so doesnt get any damage benefits from Aim and Build up. Second it is short duration. If it lasted a little longer I would consider it, but the 8 second duration doesnt make it worthwhile, in my opinion. If they switched the activation mechanisms between Rain of Fire and Burn I might reconsider them both.
Bonfire: A targeted AoE that does knockback for everything within a 10 foot circle. This is the one exception, in that Ive never used this power. I tend to avoid things that do knockback, since I know they annoy Tanks. If I get another respec I might try it out to see how it does.
Conclusion:
This is version 1.0 of this guide, so I dont expect that people will agree with all of my points. I know my opinions on Hover/Fly/Superspeed are generally not the sense of the community. However, I have played this build for a long time, and I can attest that it work, it works well, and you will enjoy playing it.
As of the writing, I have slotted 25 of the 57 IOs that I specify above. So Im only seeing about half of the potential of the IO build. But even halfway there I am seeing a noticeable increase in my effectiveness. If you like to do damage, you will love this build.
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