dave_p
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Yeah, WoC is really kinda lame, but it's a sweet mule for what's prolly the cheapest purp set (that or the sleep), plus the contagion proc from that set is the only thing that makes the power sorta viable, so I keep it around, but that's on a Fire/Rad where I'm constantly in PBAoE range (and even then, it mostly sucks). If the OP is just 2-slotting it, it's a complete & utter waste.Originally Posted by Local_Man
World of Confusion is terrible. The radius is too small, and an Ill/Rad generally wants to stay out of melee anyway. Take the shield, or Combat Jumping for a LotG Recharge, or something else. Personally I prefer the Fire APP as I explain in my guide, but if you want mez protection, Psi is your only choice. -
Nah, I hate seeing that red "e-mail" button; reminds me of when we'd get spammed every day. I've used it to mail goodies to my alts while keeping my base storage locked tight and to distribute my inf around when one of my toons gets too close to cap, but that's about it.
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Just some numbers to consider (excuse the formatting):
Code:Arcanatime is baked in. RoF has a far better DPA than Fire Breath, and will invariably hit more mobs. RoF actually has a higher ST DPA than Flares or Fire Blast. DPE aside, that means if you can keep a single mob inside of its range for the duration (say w/an immob you're likely stuck with anyway), you're actually better off leading w/RoF than either of your T1 or 2 blasts (naturally, you lead w/Blaze, and the DPE would be atrocious, but just to make a point...). Also, RoF has a 25' rad (10' more than Fire Ball, FYI), and an AoE cap of 16 vs 10 for Fire Breath (and how often do you consitantly hit 10 w/Breath, anyway?). So really, you only need the mobs to stay in the AoE for about 5sec for RoF to be equal to Fire Breath's effectivenes.Fire Blast Dam Act Rech End DPE DPA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire Ball 78.78 1 16 15.184 5.19 66.31 Rain of Fire 126.80 2.03 60 26 4.88 56.51 Fire Breath 109.80 2.67 16 15.184 7.23 37.81
I know, I lknow, ppl hate DoTs (it still adds up), mobs scatter (fear + slow = mitigation), they won't always stay in the AoE (they don't need to, see above), yada, yada, which is why I don't just throw around RoF willy nilly either, but RoF is way more effective than ppl give it credit for, I think. If I have a controller who spams his AoE immob (and who doesn't?), I'm absolutely leading off w/RoF (even before Fire Ball, because of the BU/Aim mechanics). In fact, if I'm running w/a seriously high DPS team, I don't even bother w/Fire Breath because of the even longer animation time, but I'll likely use RoF (along w/Fireball) to clean up the stragglers. -
Yay for City of Blasters! Gratz to all involved.
BTW, I'd imagine an all-blaster superteam built around stacked Leadership would be very powerful. Sure there'll be deaths, but imagine stacked Vengence + RotP nuking.
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Quote:In addition to my reply to Local above, I should point out Char & RoF slotted for damage, once containment is taken into account, has about the same DPA as a blaster's T1 or 2 blast. Of course, no defiance or BU + Aim, but then blasters don't get AM, EF or LR (yes, I'm counting -regen as part of overall "effective" DPS) by themselves either, nor pets. I've never seen a definitive fastest Pylon time by a blaster--I imagine w/insps they can beat the fastest Fire/Rad, but w/o, I don't see it happening because of the slowness of Aid Self (self-heal is pretty much mandatory even w/def cap), and the whole no -regen thing.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Okay, I can understand why you went for set bonuses. But, to be honest, the build is not going to do what you want it to. You've build an "I wanna be a blaster" build. Fire/Rad is not really going to perform well under those circumstances.
BTW, if your point is that a Fire/Kin (or Storm) would do even a better job as a blastroller, I'd agree, but Fire/Rad is safer to do it with. -
Quote:As rare as it is, I find I must very much disagree with you on this final point. I think Fire/Rad is one of, if not the most powerful & effective AV/GM soloing combos in the game, moreso than Ill/Rad (I've heard MM's are taking over this racket recently, but I don't play them much).Originally Posted by Local_Man
To the OP:
No offense intended, but from my view, you have skipped the core powers of a Fire/Rad (Hot Feet and Choking Cloud) and slotted your powers up for ranged defense at the expense of more effective slotting. The core strategy for a Fire/Rad is to handle large groups of lower level foes. Flashfire and Fire Cages from range, then run in with Hot Feet and Choking Cloud on, Fire Imps trailing, to hold everything and let HF and the imps kill everything. Fire Control is a weak set to use as a ranged controller. It has AoE damage, not single target damage. It is not really much of an AV killer. I'm not saying it is impossible, as with enough Insp and temp powers, you might be able to do it, but you aren't working towards the strength of the set.
My old Fire/Rad build was optimized for no-insp, no-temp AV/GM soloing and could mow through a Pylon far faster than most scrappers or Ill/* controllers (best Pylon time on test w/even more optimized ST DPS than my live build was 4:10; my live build w/mez protection was more like 5:30, which still beats out 90% of scrapper times). On that build, I had neither HF nor CC, but I could still contribute plenty on teams, though not as quickly as now that I've switched back into a more traditional (PB)AoE-oriented build. Still, even w/just Cages, Imps & Psi 'Nado, I could jump into a x8 crowd and whittle them down pretty fast in relative safety (due to the high def).
Ill/Rad is the safer soloer because of PA, but because Fire does more damage; if you can cap your defenses (mostly ranged, but I'd recommend ~30% AoE too), you just go faster w/Fire due to the higher damaging Char+RoF+Imps (optionally, throw in Bonfire too, which ends up having a good ST DPA). As such, I think AV-soloing is absolutely the strength of the Fire/Rad combo, *as well* as AoE-based teaming builds. Good thing we have dual builds nowadays.
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Taking a very quick gander...
Are you looking to solo only select AVs or any that you come across? Using insps & temps? Because currently, you'll get wasted by and AoE damage, plus you have no mez protection. If you solely focus on AVs w/o any of the above (and carry BFs), this should work out, but even then, why do you slot generic IOs in AM? No EMP/CC (another Lockdown mule)? And Fire Shield on top of Tough is nice to have over, say, RotP or Bonfire, esp if you're going to cherry pick AVs (which, it looks like you'll have to).
Drop Smoke. Seriously. Pick up Ring of Fire and slot Thunderstrike so you have a gapless ST chain w/Char & Fire Blast.
Also, I can't tell from your recovery #s if you have enough recovery to maintain an infinite attack chain (which is to say you recover end as fast as you can maintain a ST attack chain including the odd heal, AM & Hasten expiration, all the while keeping up your toggles including RI+EF), which again if you plan on using insps may not be a problem, but it's a good goal to shoot for. I *think* you're falling a bit short, but it's hard to tell w/o looking at each attack slotting.
Just so you know, you only need about 38% ranged def against even level AVs to cap your defenses once you hit them w/RI (which they'll resist at 75%), so you have some room to work with if you wanted to beef up your AoE def a bit. -
Quote:Is it really every time we zone? The base must not count then, cuz I can zone in & out of the base at least and the preferences will stick. In any case, that's just horrible.Originally Posted by UberGuy
Fixed.
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Quote:Oh, I'm mostly being sarcastic about the devs ignoring us. I'm sure they've at least glanced at the thread. I'm just bitter about their usual refusal to acknowledge this forum even exists, even after the massive thumbs down (surprisingly darn near universal too w/a few notable exceptions) we've expressed. But making sure we can choose to be buffed! Yes, them's some important concerns there.Originally Posted by Fulmens
I'm going to sound like a huge Dev apologist here. This thread has been in existence 32 days. I suspect the devs have READ it but not RESPONDED to it.
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After weeks of tinkering w/the new UI, I've mostly gotten used to the crappy, unintuitive, inefficient new system. That the devs simply ignore this thread convinces me we're stuck with the PoS, so may as well live with it. With that said, can they PLEASE freakin save our UI options? Because I really have nothing better to do than uncheck that "autocomplete" Every. Freakin. Time. I log in. Or the various unhelpful warnings every time I try to drop something into the market. Yeah, I know I can use that Boresight to craft a memorized recipe; I still wanna dump it.
I know I'm repeating myself, but sweet jebus, this is getting old resetting those options Every. F*cking. Time. I. Log. In.
Quote:Yeah, it took me a while for me to figure out where the generic recipes were too--in fact, I learned it on this thread. I'm rather surprised I'm moving my crafted generic IOs on redside (while getting my 27th FC), as annoying as they are to find.everyone would probably move many, many more crafted generics if they weren't buried like that. -
3 Rads should be able to shred any AV in the books. Even w/the 75% debuff resists AVs have, 3 RIs and even semi-decent defenses (hint, everyone should run Maneuvers) should make you all untouchable, not to mention 3 EFs. Don't even worry about holding it, though you can get close to 12 mags each off w/the 4 hold powers a */Rad has available, more w/crits and stacking powers like VG (CC's not really reliable to stack), and more as you spam your ST hold.
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I tend to take RoF late after my build has matured some so that I can 1) survive the aggro, and 2) do something about the scatter, either by ensuring I have enough other AoEs to kill everything, or some method of control (RoF + Shiver = win). Its use is a bit situational, but it's not nearly as situational as some might suggest. I mean, it's not like AoE immob spamming controllers (hi, Fire/Kin!) are exactly in short supply.
RoF is also pretty awesome for zone events like zombie/Rikti invasions and MS raids. -
Yes.
When they're up along w/BU+Aim and I have a grouping of at least 8 mobs.
Personal fav is Nova, because it just looks cool. Most effective is either Inferno (highest PBAoE dam), Blizzard (highest dam period) or RoA (no crash), depending on how you use them. Worst: I guess Thunderstrike for being low(er) damage, even though it's ranged, but still drains your end unlike RoA. Still good though.
BU+Aim. Blue pills. Combine your insps for blues. Something like Conserve Energy or Drain Psyche ahead of time is nice. Kin, Emp or Cold teammates can mean no or little crash, btw. Edit to add: it's often useful to lead w/a heavy attack or an extra AoE before a nuke if your nuke can't clear out all the lts and bosses (usually bosses will remain anyway). Before your Aim+BU runs out, lead w/Blaze on a boss, throw down Rain of Fire & Fireball, then Inferno. Usually, this is overkill though.
The end crash & retoggling is greatly exaggerated. You're a blaster, it's not like you need to retoggle as many, and as critical powers as a scrapper or tanker (or even most controllers/defenders). Swallow a pill, toggle on travel, shield, maybe an aura, done. Especially if you don't have all that great AoE powers in your primary to begin with. I can see ppl opting to skip Inferno (though I still use it), but no way on say Psychic or Dreadful Wail. -
Any controller can insta-hold bosses early on. It's called Ice Arrow. Make another */TA and you'll likely have all the controls you're looking for early on. If you want something just out of the primary, Plant gives you Seeds at 8, which is pretty much all you'll need for a long time. Plant/TA, by lvl 10, will have a relatively fast recharging cone confuse for all the minions & lts, and a stackable hold in Ice Arrow + Strangler for the boss. If you don't want another TA, Plant/Cold is a fantastic combo, though you won't get the insta-boss control. Plant/Rad will let you just put RI on it so it can't hit worth crap.
BTW, early lvl Mind can't complete w/Plant since Mass Confusion doesn't come til 32 and the "heavy hitter" of Terrify doesn't come til 26 either. Cone confuse >>> AoE sleep in most instances. For early control, I'd go Plant over Mind any day. Plus Roots, another early power, does excellent (for a controller) damage, though DoT.
Speaking of DoT, Plant if full of them, but they add up like crazy. I'm sure you enjoy Oil Slick Arrow, which is a high DoT, right? Plant has Rooted & Creepers both doing very nice DoT. Combine w/something like OSA, Sleet or FR and you'll see so many damn numbers ticking away, things *will* melt away. Fast. Esp combined w/confused damage due to Seeds, which I look at as one more DoT attack.
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Obviously, YMMV and all that, but do you stay at your current fight til every single mob is wiped out? Do you stop before entering a new spawn to make sure everyone is ready, all buffs are cast, etc? This is my threshold for a slow, but somewhat reasonable pace. I'll go considerably faster on my tanks, depending on what the team can handle, but if the tank wants to go at the above pace, I'll go along (for a while anyway, see below).
Now, if you corner pull like 3 mobs at the start of every fight or just refuse to freakin' engage first, well I don't even know why the hell you're bothering to play a tanker at all. I'm assuming you don't do this, and this is the chicken-ish tanker I was referring to above.
Of course every team is different, and the tank needs to adjust his pace to the capacity of the team. This maybe annoys me more than anything, a tank (or anyone really) who can't adapt to situations and does the same thing over and over again. If I'm playing my controllers and everything is locked down within a few seconds of a fight starting and the tank is still spamming his Taunts and waiting until every last (held) minion is dead before going off to the next group... yeah, that's a bit annoying and will get me to move ahead of the tank. Goes the other way too--tanks flying ahead and leaving +4 bosses all over the place in a group full of squishies is also failing. -
Quote:I've never found OG to be particularly useful on any of my toons I've taken it on. W/good defense, I don't think DA, esp w/IM secondary, needs OG. If you're not going for a def build, it might be really handy. However, you can easily fit it in your 2nd build by dropping GIS (for reasons why, see the IM guide in my sig). Really, really useless attack, that. Better yet, pick up an epic hold & blast for better control & damage in your attack chain. In fact, it's almost a crime for IM not to take an epic hold since that allows you to insta-hold bosses.Originally Posted by Basilisk
While I'd love to set both of them up for dual builds and have the best of both worlds, I don't even know if I'll have the commitment to set up one build, much less two. So all things being equal, what is the better way to go? Or is there an even better option?
Also, if you're going to take Taunt, you may as well 6-slot it for the Zinger or Beratement bonuses. 4xBeratement is nice, but man, I'd want that 7.5% +recharge. And Death Shroud needs more slotting for dam & end redux. Oh, and I'd switch CoD w/CoF in order, and in fact would drop CoF altogether. Drop GIS & CoF, pick up Block of Ice & Ice Blast (this is on your 2nd build, btw), unless you really wanna play w/all your aura controls, then just drop GIS for OG and call it a day. -
Quote:While I mostly agree with this, on the flip side, one of my biggest pet peeves in the game are slow, chicken-ish tanks, and if I'm running with one w/a non-tank, even if it's a fire blaster, I'll sometimes engage first due to sheer frustration. In this instance, I'm hoping to goad the tank into some useful action, and fully expect him to start doing his job. If not though, yeah, I'm prepared to survive on my own (and sometimes I can't, but really, I'd rather spend the extra minute to run back from the hospital than take an extra 30min to crawl through a mish).Originally Posted by McBoo
My only rule when I'm tanking is "Don't grab any aggro that you don't want." In other words, if a blaster fires off an AoE before I have aggro I will assume that they are prepared to absorb the return fire. >
On my tanks, I push the pace enough where you have to really try to engage ahead of me, or you're just split from the group. In those instances, I sorta think to myself, 'good luck w/that,' and will take my sweet time finishing up the current fight before dealing w/the new group of PO'ed (not at the tank) mobs. If it turns out they *can* handle it w/o me, I'll just jump ahead to the next spawn to setup that fight w/a mental note to push the pace even more.
The only thing I do say on my tanks is, if you knock away a mob from me, it's now your problem. It's the same basic principle you're describing, which is to say everyone should practice proper aggro management. If I'm playing my En/En blaster, anything I knock away from the tank, I know I'm responsible for killing it. Sometimes though, you hit Energy Torrent by accident, and the tank should give some allowance for sh** happens moments.
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As with Carnifax, IMO this isn't so much a guide as, "how I like to play Mind/Storm," which, I suppose you can call a guide, but I'd think some more comprehensive information might be useful. Maybe rename is at as "Mind/Storm tactical guide"?
Related thought, you're also assuming ppl know the basics of controlling, i.e. differences bet. immobs, holds, sleeps, etc, which frankly may be a valid assumption, but then you should warn this is an intermediate guide for ppl who have the general info down and just want some advice on playing a specific combo. You do state in your intro that you'll only talk about stuff that you find interesting or of which you can provide a fresh perspective, but if you're going to do that, I think you should go into quite a bit more detail than, "I find X useful." The only power you go into some good detail, IMO, is Thunderclap, and you skim over, or ignore altogether some key components of other powers. To give you an example:
Quote:Why do you use this on AVs? Why is this a team killer? How does it scatter mobs and ruin teams? It stacks stuns? What mag, and for how long? What's the possible synergy with Thunderstrike? And does it debuff? The only way I could tell is from your unusual slotting (most Stormies slot for damage, btw, w/a hint of stun).35- Tornado -
Another power to use on AVs, another power that can be a team killer. In this set, very easy to scatter a mob and ruin your team. I don't use it unless only one enemy is left and I've calculated the risks. I know that it stacks stun, but really, really unusable in this set.
Undermined Defenses: Def-Debuff/Rech/End, Def-Debuff/Rech, Def-Debuff/End, Def-Debuff
Sorry if you think I'm being overly critical, but I'm assuming you want some honest feedback before posting to the faqs section. As it is, I think your "guide" is to vague to be of use to newbies and not nearly enough detail for intermediate players. Experts will likely just argue up & down the list for choices and slotting (like Tornado above and your skipping of Mass Dom). -
Quote:Back in the day, Fire/Axe was *the* power combo, right after AR/Dev iirc (or at least after City of Blasters peaked). Or course, we had no clue about DPA back then either, just saw Axe's (then) big numbers... and it was mostly about (multiple patches of) Burn anyway.Originally Posted by Sailboat
I'm currently enjoying two Fire/ Tankers. Although neither is /Axe, it seems to me like I'd be stronger if I had a lot of knockdown in my attacks, and Fire/Axe would probably be a nice pairing. Speaking of which, I guess you can knock them down to keep them in your Burn patch longer nowadays, though I'd think Stone, Ice or even SS (mmm... Rage+FE+Burn+FS) could do a better job of that. Still, I can see Fire/Axe being a solid combo.
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Quote:Plus, it's nice to mix your damage types. Axe is all lethal and it's nice to get some exotic damage from your aura. Then again, SC (smashing) is pretty damn nice too, and AAO will buff your Axe attacks, so really, you can't go wrong w/Shields either. Invul or WP won't do anything for your offense--I play those sets w/powerhouse secondaries like Fire or SS to feel more balanced.Originally Posted by Berzerker_NA
I would say to take it with a primary that has a damage aura, like Dark, Fire, Ice.... or maybe Stone. The reason is that it has a lot of slow recharge powers, and you don't get any AOE attacks until level 28. Your axe attacks also use a lot of end, so it's nice to be able to just stand there and let your aura continue damaging your foes while you wait for your endurance to replenish.
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Quote:You *can* use it to your advantage by tailoring your market uses to take advantage of our wonderful new "features". Like selling multiple copies of the same thing. So basically, I'm letting the new market UI dictate how I'm conducting at least some of my business. Social engineering ftw.Originally Posted by PumBumbler
This is patently ridiculous. Not even specious.
If they wanted to *autofill* the value for me, they should allow me the choice of using the last transacted value for the item instead of the last filled in value.
Just because I want to buy a Miracle proc at 300M does not mean I want to buy a kinetic weapon at 300M.
If by fantastic you mean naive, then I wholeheartedly agree.
Oh, and I'm still loving unchecking all my helpful warnings and auto-complete "features" every. Single. Time. I log in. Thanks again devs. Oh wait, they don't read this forum, I forgot. -
11 seems a bit light, but not horribly. New Posi can be run in about 30 min, a bit less for part 1. Even a non-speed run is only about an hour. The worst I did on part 1, complete w/team wipe on those AP City Hall ambushes, was 1:10-ish. No kill alls, little travel, pretty fun, I really can't complain about the new Posi's all that much, to be honest. Bumping the merit count to about 15 should be about perfect.
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Quote:No, your toughness comes from being a resist-based set w/an uber heal. You should be able to tank Romans just fine w/o IP, since the rest of us who aren't Ice Melee manage it, even w/o defenses (which, against Romans, get put into the negative pretty fast regardless of IOs).Originally Posted by Heraclea
But a lot of your toughness, especially without defense bonuses, comes from your ice patch.
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Quote:If it's your point that the "game, as it is meant to be played"(tm) is just about SOs, you're failing to realize that selling a single decent drop in a normal leveling-to-50 (really, leveling-to-20) career in the "optional" market will make you set for life in the SO universe. Things were never this easy to equip your toon w/DOs at 12/17, and fresh, green SOs at 22/27/32/37/42/47 (combined always at ++ strength!).Originally Posted by Megajoule
What I meant to say is that it's good that the market is optional, or players who don't have hundreds of millions of inf to throw around would be completely screwed. It has become its own game, feeding back on itself, with increasingly little connection to what spawned it.
I think I shall stop trying to engage it, and you, and go back to playing the parts of the game that I can.
Even if you just place every single drop that's worth anything on the market for 1 inf, you'll get far, far more money than you ever made "back in the day" when indeed a few M was a decent amount of money, and 100M was out of reach for all but the most dedicated player. Nowadays, you really have to try not to make that much by lvl 30 or so, if you're seriously unlucky, 40-ish. So how are things any worse now than before for that "casual player"?
Posi sets, let alone purples didn't exist back then either, right? So who's worse off again, or "completely screwed" as you put it? Oh, right, ppl who don't wanna play the optional system, but still want all the shinies anyway. -
Does it? I really don't know. I've stayed the hell away from AE as much as possible except when it first appeared to check it out, and only recently again to get some badges. Subsequently, a few of my toons have several thousand tickets on them, and most of my toons have zero.