Supermax
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Posts
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Joined
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First a brief history...
This blaster is my most played toon overall. I considered him my main for almost the whole time since 2004. But recently I took a break from the game, and when I came back, I decided that my fire/SS tank is just much more powerful overall, so I've been pretty much playing him exclusively lately, doing the Alpha stuff. The point is, I would like to get back into the blaster thing and do the Alpha stuff on this guy too.
So far, he has only SO's. He had a (cheap) PvP build for years, but all those IO's have been stripped from him, so I'm essentially starting from scratch. I've come up with a build that tries to focus on capping S/L defense, but I'm short about 5%. That leads me to my questions...
1. How are fire/EM blasters in PvE these days anyway? I keep hearing about fire/fire blasters, but not much about fire/EM. Fire/EM for many years was considered the most versatile combo. Is this no longer true? Specifically I'm looking at their performance in high end stuff like the WTF's. Would this blaster be wanted on teams for the Incarnate contect?
2. Regarding power boost, how much should I be relying on it? Obviously if I rely on it completely, I will need to build for a lot less than 45% defense. However, there will be times when it's down that I will be very vulnerable. Plus absolutely having to click a power every 15-20 secs as part of your playstyle is extremely annoying. That leads me to believe that PB should only be used as a situational alpha strike tool, not as a permanent buff. Which means that I should probably build for 45% without PB. But at that point, what would be the purpose of PB in the first place?
Here's the build I came up with. I'm looking for some general critique, as well as specific ways to get to get the extra 5% defense. You'll notice no purple or PvP sets. I can't afford them and never will, so there's no point in planning for them. Thanks in advance for the advice.
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I haven't ever done either TF, but this thread has made me want to do both
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Yeah no question about it, my fire tank can also tank just about anything. I recently got to the point where 1 purple caps me to S/L and melee, but I barely ever need to use that purple....or even healing flames, for that matter. I farm Nemesis (or rather the Automatons from Unai Kemen that have all the same powers) for shards on +4/+8, and I use HF maybe once every 10 spawns. The mass knockback in foot stomp (plus haymaker and KoB for bosses) really does wonders, especially on top of all the other defenses I have.
It may be true that fire scrappers and brutes are somewhat squishy, but fire tanks can be built to be very survivable. With enough money, as survivable as almost any tank out there. -
In PvE, the only thing I can think of is actually using attacks.
In PvP, pretty much any action you take does it. -
It's always been useful for changing costumes
That's about its only use though. -
Yeah it's very nice to be standing next to a stone tank...taking no more damage than he is, while putting out about 10 times more damage
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Quote:Agreed. Actually it doesn't even have to be purpled toons. Just IO's in general are a lot more powerful than the whole incarnate thing, at least so far.Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
Hogwash. Some fully purpled out toons are already doing things that an Incarnate can.
The alpha does help a lot. But the things you can do to a build with IO's simply blow any alpha away. A fully IO'd non-alpha toon will put an SO'd alpha toon to complete shame every single time.
So yes, the way things are now, we have nothing to worry about. -
Eh...I'm happy with my build. Fact is, I don't usually bother with having a purple active. So the 38% does help me more than 32.5%. I use purples only in emergencies.
Anyway, I haven't had trouble tanking anything so far other than hamidon, and I think it's pretty much broken anyway, so everybody has trouble with it. -
Well I respecced over the weekend, and I'm definitely happier with the build. I came up with 38% melee and 33% S/L defense. I really didn't want to sacrifice anything to get the defense, and in the end I didn't. The build is better across the board in almost everything. The only noticeable negative thing is that HF heals for about 30 points less. Other than that, same damage, same recharge, same res....but along with being 1 purple away from 45%.
Anyway, thanks again for all the advice! -
Yes that makes a lot of sense, thanks. I will have to look at the prices of the S/L sets. Guess it all depends on that, since I'm kind of on a budget.
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Ok thanks a lot guys. Looks like I have some more thinking to do.
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Quote:Thank you for posting your build. I do have a question about this. Do you really feel that the S/L defense is more valuable than the positionals? And how much do you get hit by AoE's and ranged attacks?Originally Posted by Medyc
- 41% S/L defense, 35.8% melee Defense.
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Without reading other posts, I will say that invuln would be my choice. I wouldn't recommend regen to anybody at this point. It's just not that good compared to other choices. WP is good and is really easy to play. But overall, Inv has the most damage mitigation and the fewest weaknesses.
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If we never run into each other, we'll never have any effect on each other, of course.
But say we happen to team up while you're on your pimped out toon and I'm on a weak SO'd toon. While I'm desperatly trying to kill one npc, you'll be killing entire spawns. I will become jealous of your power and attempt to improve my build so that I can become more competitive. So that maybe next time instead of being basically just a waste of space, I will actually be able to add some value to the team.
Just like in PvP, you don't lose anything physical by having someone outperform you. But you do lose or gain personal pride, depending on how well you perform compared to other players. I'm sure that nobody likes feeling completely useless while teaming.
I'm think that's what Katten meant when he mentioned "being competitive". -
Umm...when you die in PvP, you don't lose anything at all either, so what's your point?
When people are trying to beat one another at anything, it is considered competition, at least to me. Obviously PvP is a different type of competition from PvE, but it's like comparing a head to head race vs. a race against time. Both are competitive. -
Understanding how PvP works doesn't make it any less broken. Just saying
As far as competition, it exists in PvE too. When one person can kill a spawn in 2 secs, while the other does it in 2 mins, the second person is clearly not competitive with the first.
I agree that the alpha stuff is good in that it allows someone to become a lot more powerful simply by playing the game, rather than just spending a ridiculous amount of inf. -
My first thought was also stone/ice. I don't think anything can beat that in terms of pure survivability. But I hope you make your teammates aware of your playstyle ahead of time if you do team. I assume that if you get in trouble, you run to survive, and that's not something people expect from a tank. I bet doing TF's with such a playstyle must be pretty intense
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Ok thanks!
I decided it's not worth it to get my defense really high at the expense of a lot of other things. Gimping the actual usefulness of certain powers just to get more global stats is not my thing, so I am probably going to settle for about 22-26% to all positions. -
I got a small follow-up question. If I can end up with slightly more defense (3-4%) for one position, compared to the other two...which should it be? I can make a theoretical case for all 3, but is there one that's generally considered the most important positional for a tanker?
Melee would seem like an obvious choice, but at the same time, in melee my foot stomp adds quite a lot of survivability. It's the ranged mobs that I have no protection from. So I don't know... -
Ah, thanks! But with it off, I am still seeing a 6.9 recharge on FS. Where are you getting 9?
When I play, I admit I never actually timed it, but my gereral feeling is that it's closer to 5 than it is to 10. Anyway, I'm in the process of coming up with another build
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Quote:My foot stomp (with 3 procs) recharges in 5 seconds, and burn and KoB in 6. Is that really just average?Originally Posted by Syntax42
You don't have much recharge bonus, so you won't be doing above-average damage.
I got your point about regen. I'll try ignoring it for the most part.
Btw the IO levels didn't mean anything. I didn't even realize they were there hehe. In reality I have lvl 50's anywhere it's possible. -
Ok here's my build right now.
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And this is what I was planning on changing it to.
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Thoughts? -
Thanks guys. I will post my build later on to get more specific advice.
Regarding my goals...I did just get into TF's, so I guess that is what I'm planning to do. But doing TF's doesn't necessarily mean having to solo them. I definitely don't expect to be able to go AFK in an AV fight, like some tanks probably can. It's also important to note that I'm on a budget, so at best, I can maybe afford ONE purple set....if that. It would probably be hecatomb for KoB.
But anyway, from the replies I've gathered that the 15-18% defense WOULD be more valuable than the regen and recharge, correct? So I will plan to rebuild in the near future. -
I'm really happy with my build, but I was wondering about a couple general ideas. Can't post the build right now, but it's not really needed for these questions anyway.
1. Right now I have a build with tough but no weave. No noticeable defense of any kind, other than about 3% from combat jumping. My global recharge is around 30%. I do also have the 3rd tier Spiritual alpha slotted. The question is, would it be worth it to add weave (and then also the steadfast unique) to the build, at the expense of a little global recharge and regen? I'd have maybe 5% less recharge, about 10% less regen, but my defense would go to 15-18%, from 3%. Is that a level of defense that would make a noticeable difference for me, or should I not bother? Essentially, is Weave worth it for a tank if that is the only defense he'll have?
2. How do most tanks slot their level 1 attack that does Bruising? Right now I just have it unslotted and use it just as a debuff on hard targets. But I was thinking of actually putting slots in it (as many procs as I can fit), and making it part of the attack chain as an actual attack. Would this be worth it? It's something I'd need to do to fit Weave in the build (by dropping laser beam eyes). -
Last night I just got the 3rd tier spiritual on my fire/SS. He's become my main toon lately, so I spent a decent amount on IO's for him (zero purple or PvP sets, but still a lot more than I've spent on any other toon).
He was already good on endurance (running out is basically impossible unless hit with end drain), so I went with the Spiritual. I do have to admit, the first couple levels didn't make much difference, but it was slightly noticeable. The 3rd tier definitely makes it more noticeable. Keep in mind, it also increases your healing, so healing flames becomes stronger, as well as your regen.
But to be honest, the level shift is arguably the most valuable aspect of the Alpha anyway. At least from my very short experience last night.