The Pyromaniac's way of life,
Introduction: The information provided here is based on learning a bit with my Fire/Fire blaster, Solar Burn (liberty). At the time I'm writing this, Solar Burn is currently level 32 and I'm having a blast (pun intended). Solar Burn is a character concept, and I have been choosing power pools, abilities, and so forth in line with the character concept. I didn't choose abilities with the purposes of maximizing his capabilities, but wanted to explore some of the capabilities of a fire/fire blaster.
The decisions that I made, and this document, are provided to provide information, alternative viewpoints on a few minor things, and perhaps some comic relief for those of you who foresee current and future issues with my design ). One consideration is that Solar Burn is only level 32 at the time I am writing this, so there are many powers that I haven't bothered to slot yet. They are just a lower priority then other powers (in my mind)
Level 1: Fire Blast: This will be the most used attack you have for a long time. It does great damage, low endurance cost, good range. Slot it well (1 accuracy, 5 damage).
Level 1: Ring of Fire: In the early levels, I relied on this quite a bit to keep foes out of arms reach. Later levels, I very rarely use this. I didn't bother throwing any extra slots on it, and many times any enhancements in it are red.
Level 2: Fireball: This will be another heavily used attack. I recommend max slotting it as early as possible, 1 accuracy and 5 damage seems to work well.
Level 4: Combustion: Ok, this one I'm not overly sure of. I rarely use it. I might have been better off with a single target fire sword, but the fire sword doesn't quite fit my character conception. I'm sure fully slotted it'd be fine (and I may do that in later levels), but for now it sits idle. Perhaps Flares would have been better.
Level 6: Stealth: I took this for primarily two reasons, it fit the character concept, and I have very young kids in RL, and liked the ability of being somewhat safer going on lengthy AFKs in dangerous areas. I have absolutely no regrets in taking stealth. It provides a minor defense, combined with Super Speed it is 100% invisibility, without the disadvantages of true invisibility (can't attack). There are very few foes that see through stealth + superspeed. Even better, the slowdown effect of stealth is negated by superspeed. This combination gives you the ability to get a heavy first strike. I haven't bothered slotting this at all.
Level 8: Fire Breath: I was hesitant in taking this at first, but it really has become a staple of my AE blasts. Lead off with Fire Breath, followed by a Fire Ball. It is marginally less useful then fireball, and I would focus more slots on fireball/hasten/stamina/fireblast/blaze/blazing bolt. At level 32, I have one accuracy, two damages, and a cone extension (very useful).
Level 10 Rain of Fire: I have seen a lot of people recommend to bypass this, and I can understand the rational. The rain has a large area effect, does minimal damage overall, slow movement effect, and causes fear (basically everyone in the area slowly runs away). While this seems anti-thetical to the goals of AEs (gather them close, then AE), I look on it a bit differently. The Rain is a crowd control power. It is useful when things are going REALLY WRONG during a fight, gives you and your group mates a chance to regroup (or retreat). It can be used to split up a really large group of foes so you can take them on piecemeal. I have no regrets taking the Rain, and many group members have commented that they were surprised that a blaster had a crowd control power. I don't use it often, but many times that I have used it, it's prevented a lot of debt. I haven't bothered to slot this at all.
Level 12: Hasten: Hasten provides a minimal defense, and lowers the recharge time of all powers by around 50%. The goal I have for Solar Burn is to (in general) not take defensive power pools, but be able to knock out foes before they can knock me out. Faster firing is very useful for this, especially in conjunction with the fast animation, high number of attacks, and the combination of build+aim at later levels. It is important to have hasten fully slotted (6 slotted) by level 20. After level 20, all of your slots will be going to stamina. At the time that you have stamina 6 slotted, a 6 slotted hasten is highly desirable.
Level 14: Superspeed: It's fast. Many areas of the city are very difficult to get around (faultline, terra volta, etc), but I still really like it. After I got stamina, I never turn off Stealth and Speed (basically perma invis very fast movement). Some other advantages of invisibility (stealth + superspeed) is lower agro when in a group. It appears that foes right next to you will not agro unless you fire at them. This means you can be very careful to only blast at the targets surrounding the tank, and any wandering foes, nearby groups, etc will go after other soft squishy VISIBLE targets, not you ). No slots as of level 32.
Level 16: Hurdle: Solar Burn is going the SuperSpeed route for travel powers. Hurdle definitely improves the jump height of normal travel, making things just a bit easier. The other option (swift) just didn't seem useful (if I want to go faster, I'll turn on superspeed). I haven't bothered slotting hurdle.
Level 18: Health: Required for stamina, no slots.
Level 20: Stamina: 6 slot this as soon as possible, work with your contacts to buy endurance recharge SOs as soon as possible. Endurance drain is a huge problem with blasters. I generally make sure that Stamina and Hasten have fully slotted SOs, followed closely with accuracy and damage SOs for the blasts.
Level 22: Blaze: A very short range, high damage attack. Fill the initial slot with an accuracy, and add to slots when you can.
Level 24: Build Up: Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. With perma hasten, recharge time is around 45 seconds. With full stamina, endurance recharge (from empty) is under 45 seconds. So double up the damage, blast away for 10 seconds, and watch everything drop. Haven't bothered slotting this yet.
Level 26: Blazing Bolt: Combined with Build up and Aim, this will be used as a first strike many times (when not AEing). Take out Orange Lts in a single shot. Fully slot this immediately. I only used damage, as I rarely use this without aim+buildup. No reason to put an accuracy on this one. If you are on a team and you are careful choosing targets, you can use this attack quite often throughout a combat.
Level 28: Aim: See buildup. no slots.
Level 30: Whirlwind: Ok, this one was for character conception. It basically throws anyone that you are RIGHT ON TOP of up in the air for the few seconds it takes to drain your endurance. Don't even think of taking this without good endurance regen. Slot it with at least two SOs (end lowering). So what effect has this power had? It's another minor crowd control. Have a red boss that's leveling your group? Take it out of action for the next 30 seconds. You can still fire at the boss, or anyone else targeted while spinning. Plus, you can set it up as a neat form of changing costumes (set up a macro, spin, change costume, end spin).
Level 32: Inferno: Build Up + Aim + inferno can wipe out a group of yellows in the nearby area. I haven't tested it much against larger groups, but the few occasions where I have used it, it has done pretty well.
Slotting: Fire/Fire blasters should really plan out when what they are going to slot quite a bit in advance. Most people will immediately slot stamina as soon as they can. If you get stamina at level 20, that means the slots gained at level 21, 23, and one from level 25 will be used up by stamina. At 26 you get the sniper attack. That means slots at level 27 and level 29 are spoken for. So if you haven't fully slotted hasten by level 20, there are going to be few opportunities to fill it in (or optionally other slots to stamina and/or sniping won't be available).
Pulling: Fire/Fire blasters are actually very good at pulling. The fire blast attack is unlike most other blaster attacks in that the effects aren't simultaneous with triggering the attack. It takes a small amount of time for the fire blast to reach the target, and you are able to move during this time. If you fire at an opponent and immediately move behind an object, that opponent might not be able to fire back, and will start moving to get you back in line of sight (LOS) in order to fire at you. You can control that movement to pull foes to your group. You can also use this to pull a large group of opponents. One fatal flaw that most blaster pullers forget is they need to stay out of LOS for a considerable amount of time. You need to give the tanks, scrappers, and less intelligent squishies time to gather all of that agro. When things are under control, then pop out and start AEing. Too many pullers target a group, move next to the tank, then are surprised when the 8 foes come around the corner, ignore the tank, flatten the pesky blaster, and go on looking for more targets. The blaster needs to remain out of LOS while the tank gets agro. Standing next to the tank won't do.
For Solar Burn, I made some choices that I'm sure other Fire/Fire blasters wouldn't make, such as...
A: Consume: I didn't take consume at level 28. Consume apparently does minor dot damage to nearby foes, and delivers endurance back to you. With Stamina, I really don't have endurance problems. I will eventually take it, but that will be quite a bit later.
B: Fighting Power pool (tough, weave), other defenses such as combat jumping and/or acrobatics: I currently have no plans on taking these either. At 35 I will take burn, which should protect against some status effects. I currently have some minor defense with stealth and hasten. Basically I'm planning on either dropping the foes before they can get in a heavy hit, or journeying with less squishy members of my super group. If nothing else, can always try to whirlwind nuke (or rain/fear) the more troublesome opponents.
C: Lesser used melee ranged attacks in secondary fire set: I will eventually get these. I suspect that the close range / melee abilities have higher damage possibilities to make up for their disadvantages (in that melee range is inherently dangerous, and that foes rarely seem to stay in range in group settings). I don't have any plan for a fourth power pool at this time, but that may change as I level.
D: Having a couple of minor controlling type powers (rain and whirlwind) gives me some other options in unusual situations. Have a red boss looking to flatten your defender? Use whirlwind as a distraction. Need a 5 second break to get everyone reorganized? Use the rain to send all your foes running for a short bit. Rain and whirlwind make up for the fact that none of the fire attacks have any knockback, disorient, or anything like that (except the immobilize in ring of fire). Sometimes pure damage won't take out a foe in time to save a teammate (and rooting the foe next to the defender isn't a very friendly gesture either). Having some control type capabilities really expand the role you can play on a team.
The Fire/Fire set has some nice abilities. At level 32, I can (solo) drop a group of 6-8 yellows in under 5 seconds, with Aim+buildup followed by the breath, then fire ball. If there is an orange or red boss in the middle of the group, I follow up with a whirlwind + single target attacks, dropping him on another 10 seconds or so.
In group situations, your AEs will be noticed by everyone. I have grouped with two types of AE blasters. Type one (more prevalent, unfortunately) follows the tank and starts AEing everything seconds after engaging. Type one blasters are noticed for the amount of time they spend running back from the hospital and complaining about debt. Type two AE blasters are those that are patient. They wait for the tank to have good, solid agro on a group of foes, then unleash the AEs. They are noticed when the tank realizes all of his opponents are dieing (errr, are being arrested, or whatever) very, very quickly.
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Solar Burn Fire/Fire Blaster, Liberty Server.
Star Zero Ice/Mace Tanker
Bovine Wonder MA/SR Scrapper
