cool, got to 30 till now, in just one play session (17-30). this build is really very strong i must say, meaning defensive. just did the respec trial (grp lvl 30-33) and took hardly any damage at all (with tough and weave) even tho i was taunting, the invuln tanker and the other ice tanker were brinking death all the time (prolly badly skilled) !
really enjoyed the solo time in tv, killing sky was absolutely delicious. picked 3 routes altogether one from 23-25, one from 26-27 and the third 28-30 - levelled in no time at all. never got to 30 so fast.
teaming is a bit weird though, cause at least i always think that i could do much more xp solo :P
So, it's okay to go for Stamina at 22 and Acro at 24?
Reguarding burn + bosses. It is worth sticking around if you have enough bosses in your burn patch. Now I'm not saying that 5 freak tanks and a few misc crey bosses are a good plan in reguards to your health, but if you get enough of them together, it's worth burning them down.
Yay Crey's Folley. I was seeing a level every 2.5, soloing pretty casually and carefully (not stomping on other players mobs, etc).
I've noticed a lot more traffic in Crey's on Justice than I usually associate with that zone. It's been very very odd.
sdragon:
yes, it is good to take stamina at 22 and acrobatics at 24. i am 33 now with this build and was (and am) very happy to have taken stamina a little earlier than in the original build, meaning at 22. especially as i also moved plasma shield down to 16, so we already have 3 toggles running and endurance is an issue this early.
i found it important to have plasma shield in boomtown, without it you get stunned waaay to often.
getting acrobatics at 24 didn't hurt me at all, even though i wouldn't want to get it later.
boxing at 26, leading to tough at 28 and weave at 30 was a good decision too.
nuther little change i made was the slotting at 33 and 34, i am prioritizing weave a wee bit more than hasten.
and as to where to hunt, i'd like to add eden to the list
33-?? Eden. nearly as good as TV (after TV we all really are spoiled..) Nice spawns, nice geometry (dumpsters and such). Haven't met many other players there either.
and an addition to the creys entry:
herding freaks not too far away from the Rikti Crash Site entrance is great, dumpsters available (mob lvl37-39).
sidenote: a peacebringer friend of mine lvl37 with perma quantum flight (maxed flight speed + phaseshift) sk'd me and we are herding those lvl 37-39 freaks in creys atm. so i am sk'd up to 36, go collecting massive amounts of mobs with the pb following me, swallowing tons of inspirations. the pb just sticks and constantly gives me all his inspirations, especially purples. funny thing and great xp. it gives me a kick to have 50-80 yellow-purple freaks swarming all over me, following me, shooting me, hitting me and then sending them all to walhalla.
gotta gree with rhysem tho, creys is getting some traffic now (victory)
enjoy!
So I tried wandering into eden at 33 with my fire/fire tank and I lived but it didn't turn out so well. I'm going to have to pull smaller groups than I can in creys due to all the toxic and cold that's being spit around.
I think in the 35+ range I'll just be over in creys, lighting everything I can on fire by the crash site.
Tho, I must say, doing a friend's praetorian AVs was fun too. We'd never before had a tank on them (small group of 5 friends doing 'em) and it was amazing! Psi ones of course are still impossible, but dang the rest are so pathetic. Infernal? Doesn't overcome my natural healing rate + a rare healing flames. One night we kicked thru half the arc, maybe tonight or tomorrow we can finish it and my lil level 33 tank can get his hands on the accolade (mmm more health!)
I'm currently playing my level 31 fire/fire tanker. The Nemines like to spawn on catwalks and such in Crey's Folly, its like killing the Skyraiders in TV but with more minions and less Lts and a boss mixed in half the time. They burn nicely too. Don't level as fast on them, but its very safe unless you lose your toggles.
Boiling that guy in the warhulk is fun too. I may try herding two close groups of them for fun. 
I went exploring more in eden. Yum the nemesis. Got 34->35 in about 1.5 to 2 hours, easy. Herd in up into a container and burn burn burn.
Ya gotta have 1 column of insps empty and just pop em as they come in when you start the burn to survive the hits-so-hard-with-vengance problem, but it hasn't (yet) failed me.
Dunno what I'll hit now. If those guys level up with me probably there, if not I may have to figure out what else to do -- further in didn't look that great for herding and the time to level shot up when I leveled.
Might try crey's again. The 37s the red zones should be tasty.
i actually went back to creys folly from 37-39, always herding like 30-70 freaks - mostly at the entrance to rikti crash site. there is a great little dumpster waiting for us right south of the gate. with mephe's defensive build we can do it very well popping 1 or 2 purples while herding em and an occasional green.
single grps of nemesis up on the catwalks takes way to long i found, especially waiting for the warhuls to go down. i'd rather kill another 20 yellow minions in that time. ive got to admit that i quite often just leave leftovers behind cause its not worth the time/effort to kill em. either i take em along for the next herd/pull or leave em behind.
eden is naturally not quite as good as tv or creys, but i think its nothing to complain about. got myself 3 levelups there and never really got unhappy with the map. the high number of bosses doesnt make it too bad if u just dont insist on killing them right away but let em follow u to the next group meaning they get whittled down slowly and will die at some point. i guess by now we should have the skills to position mobs well by breaking los and such.
btw, i find rikti crash site absolutely useless.. all those rikti meaning troublesome herding, 41s standing right next to 46s - not satisfying at all. i'd take it out of the level guide completely.
herding in the shadowshards isn't really fun either - or i still have to find the right tactics. problem is, its hard to find corners, walls or anything similar to a dumpster. and rularuu are trickier than the standard smashing/lethal mob.. apart from the fact that travelling isnt shadow shards greatest asset :/
oh right, i did want to state that i took conserve power at 41 instead of fiery embrace - and i LOVE it. finally i can spam my (few - lol) attacks without worrying about getting enough blue inspirations dropped. i find without conserve power i cannot use all my attacks whenever i need em, with conserve power i finally can use em to my desire. so for me it was 41 - conserve power and will be fiery embrace at 44. fraid i dropped rise of the phoenix, which was planned for 49 - pity, cause its usefull and fun, just the occasions are waaay to rare.
incredible how well we can powerlvl i must say. got a friends new lvl 1 firetanker to 23 in 6 hours if i remember correctly (bricks). founders falls worked well too, tho often enough the grps are a little bit too small there. pi works nicely 40-42, ruining all nemesis at the docks, so u are also working on the lowie's fn badge for the freedom phalanx accolade (+10% hp).
i am really enjoying the firetanker and having a great time levelling. he is so fast, that i think i'll be 50 before i really get much experience of playing in groups! i think the last time i checked i had 120 hours played at 40. and i really took my time i have to add, often powelvling someone (either with a bridge if i wasnt in hazard zones or just by taking a -9 defender or controller along who didnt really have to do much at all) or just doing something stupid but fun ingame :P
Any comments about epic pools out there other than conserve power? I was thinking of maybe taking laser beam eyes and slotting it out with 2 accys, 4 def debuffs, but didn't know if that was worth it (if anyone had played with it even).
I suppose if nothing else, there's fake bouts in the arena on test. :-)
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Any comments about epic pools out there other than conserve power? I was thinking of maybe taking laser beam eyes and slotting it out with 2 accys, 4 def debuffs, but didn't know if that was worth it (if anyone had played with it even).
I suppose if nothing else, there's fake bouts in the arena on test. :-)
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I've also wondered this. I'm loosely following Kal Chodan's build in the original Mephe f/f guide, and he recommended the fire mastery epic pool, primarily for Char (single target hold). Seems interesting, but wanted input on other options.
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but does slotting Plasma Shield with Dam Resistance also enhance resists to sleeps and holds?
I am wondering this to see if I need to slot it right away, or if it does the job fine without the slots.
Thanks!
I love this guide Mephe. I used it as the baseline for my Fire/Fire girl: Combustrana. I did take Breath of Fire (I like the animation), and am trying a non-fighting pool build for now. But those are my only real "deviations". I do plan for Pyre Mastery at 41+ for my epic for flavor purposes, and because I already have Energy Mastery on Iron Vixen. A very handy guide with a good sense of humor in spots.
I thought I should add that Combustion (and taunt if you're a big team player) is really important before respec. Before level 27 (or 22 for those who can buy SOs early thanks to wealthy alts) the damage from Blazing Aura isn't enough to consistently keep the baddies nearby.
Spiffy AOE damage aside, I can't imagine living without Combustion and its huge provoke radius for pulling mobs in close for BA and Burn. With 4-5 damage DOs in BA, if I don't fire off Combustion or Taunt regularly I see bosses/lts and even some minions running out of my aura so they can turn around and shoot at me in relative safety. Gets a little better every level, which makes sense as the taunt duration for tanker attacks is determined by damage.
Just an alternate hunting spot, I am really cranking along with my level 24 fire/fire in Striga. Near the center of the map are lots of large groups of level 24-28 Banished Panth, Sky Raiders and Wolves. I find that pulling fast moving wolves into groups of slow moving BA is great - can get a huge number in the Burn.
Just FYI as a different spot to change things up.
Lippy
When you see yourself in a crowded room / do your fingers itch,are you pistol-whipped
Will you step in line or release the glitch / can you fall asleep with a panic switch
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I thought I should add that Combustion (and taunt if you're a big team player) is really important before respec. Before level 27 (or 22 for those who can buy SOs early thanks to wealthy alts) the damage from Blazing Aura isn't enough to consistently keep the baddies nearby.
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Slot taunt duration not damage and they'll hang around as long as you're hitting them. I do 1x end 2x accy 2x taunt in my 5 slots in it.
Excellent Mephe, your best work and very good (and needed) detail on the powers. Thanks a ton for your effort.
I have a few comments coming from 45+ levels;
1. I've only seen one thing that can help Burn, and that's RI+EF from the Radiation set. (1) RI makes Burn increase density of floaties to an unbelievable degree. When fighting +2 Bosses, this makes an incredible difference and in particular with bosses that use "end-of-life" powers (Paragon Protectors and Fake Nemesis). RI will prevent them from having time to activate these powers, many times, before they finish the animation they are dead <arrested>. (2) EF lowers the Fire resistance of the mobs (and bosses/AVs/Monsters) that you start seeing with more frequency in the post-35 world. When you see RI and EF on a large group of +2/+4 mobs, it will be just like when you first got Burn and everything melted away in seconds. So, look to team with */Rad controllers or Rad/* defenders.
2. Force Field Defenders/Controllers make the Fire/* tank a full-fledged tank. The bubbles mix extremely well with the standard Fire/* build (your build), to max out everything.
3. I've come to the conclusion that in the post-35 world, it becomes essential to run with two single-target attacks and 3 AoE attacks. Burn and BA are automatic, so what to use as the 3rd AoE and the single-target attacks?
- 3a. I've respec'ed, I've played on the test server, I've helped others build their Fire/* tanks, and after all of that I've finally come to the conclusion (which Iron_Vixen already arrived at), Breath of Fire is the AoE of choice. Most of this has to do with Damage per use, Endurance usage/cost, recycle time, and accuracy. Apparently, BoF has a 20% accuracy bonus meaning that more damage can be dealt. It does significantly more damage than Combustion and is right in the ballpark with FSC, but at a much lower cost and recycle time. I've found that when herding solo or on a team in missions, the majority of my herds will pile up on one side of me. If done properly, they will fill a very small space and this creates the perfect situation for the BoF. Since I tend to face +2s or better a lot of the time, I use 1 Acc, 1 End Reduct and 4 Dmg. BTW, I spent many levels with FSC and Combustion, and if you've ever played a Fire/* blaster, than using the BoF is a joy because of the >> damage the Combustion, << Endur than FSC and the ability to actually stand toe-to-toe with the group you're breathing on...
- 3b. I agonized over this for some time when doing the 44 respec. Finally, I mapped out (see below) my single target attacks and found that the best synergy/damage/endurance management came with Incinerate and Scorch. That's right, Scorch. In the course of a minute, Scorch will outshine all of your other ST attacks. It chains with Incinerate/Burn extremely well, and will recycle fast enough to give you constant AoE (Burn and BA) and ST damage with no real change in your endurance usage.
Attacks: BA, Burn, Breath of Fire (all the Bs); Scorch and Incinerate.
4. A word about why Incinerate is the best power in your secondary; when it hits, the damage gets done regardless of what the mob does. My favorite situation is to get a Fake Nemesis down to right before he snaps up his Invulnerability bubble and nail him with Incinerate...then, I sit back and laugh out loud as his slowly dies with that idiotic look on his metallic face. I kind of imagine that he's locked himself up in a bubble with bees on fire......muhahahahah! But, I digress; flyers, runners, bosses with end powers (MoG of PP) don't mean a thing, by the time they get on the second tick of Incinerate, I turn my back and walk onto the next group, because its "game over" for that mob. -= I LOVE INCINERATE =-
5. Want a place to hunt 35-41? Eden....Its like that place was designed with Fire tanks in mind. I found so many nice spots to hunt there, its crazy. I even found a little niche in the rocks near The Hive waypoint (the outcropping of rocks where you pick up the Eden Trial) where there ~12 Lesser Devoured in a very small trail that respawned as fast as I could run them and then the path ends in a perfect herd spot....I was sad to finally out level that place 
6. I think its important that you mention that the post-35 game is all about endurance management and knowing your limits. It is possible to build a Fire tank with Leadership (Manuevers/Tactics) instead of Speed (Hasten), which will give you at least 11.5% more defense and ~20-30% more accuracy, but the endurance output for all of those toggles will make it so that you will be unable to fight any group of bosses/Lts. Its a better idea to take the hits and recover from them while dishing out the damage. The way this is accomplished is with Healing Flames and Health. I am constantly just popping green inspires when I'm at 100% hp just to get them off my bar, because I just never get to a point where something gets me down below my comfort level.
8. Sappers & Carnies will sap your endurance, bring down your toggles and you will be at the hospital. Psychic damage and the radiation (?) damage from the Praetorians will take you down very fast. Knives of Artemis are the most hated enemy in the game (caltrops). Know your weaknesses and strengths, and plan accordingly.
9. Teach your teammates about how Knockback and your Burn can work together. Try to setup your attack point against an obstacle where teammates with knockback powers will effectively lock down the mobs by knocking them on their butts while you burn them to the ground. Don't fear/hate Knockback, work together to make it the Uber-power for your combined skills. I have Energy/Energy blasters set up at a 90ยบ angle to me, and I make sure I set my patch down in a spot where the mobs will hit a wall/fence/railing/car/whatever. With Illusion controllers, its harder, but they can control where they initially set down their PA/Phants and that should be *behind* you so that you can control where go. If you can learn to work within those parameters, you will make an excellent team. Just remember, strategy while teaming always differs from solo'ing, and YOU need to adjust too.
Here is my current build / plan;
Exported from version 1.4D of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fiery Aura
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Melee
01 : Scorch acc(01) acc(5) dam(31) dam(39) dam(39) dam(48)
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(3) damres(5) damres(7) damres(9) damres(15)
02 : Blazing Aura acc(02) endred(3) endred(7) dam(9) dam(31) dam(48)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Combat Jumping defbuf(06)
08 : Hurdle jmp(08)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(11) recred(11) recred(15) recred(17) recred(43)
12 : Plasma Shield damres(12) damres(13) damres(13) damres(17) damres(31) damres(43)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Breath of Fire acc(16) endred(33) dam(33) dam(36) dam(37) dam(40)
18 : Burn dam(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) dam(21) dam(23)
20 : Health hel(20) hel(46) hel(46) hel(50)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27) endrec(27)
24 : Boxing acc(24)
26 : Tough endred(26) damres(34)
28 : Weave defbuf(28) defbuf(29) defbuf(29) defbuf(33) defbuf(34) defbuf(34)
30 : Healing Flames recred(30) recred(40) endred(42) hel(43) hel(48) hel(50)
32 : Acrobatics endred(32)
35 : Incinerate acc(35) acc(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37) dam(40)
38 : Consume acc(38) acc(39) recred(50)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(45)
44 : Fiery Embrace recred(44) recred(45) recred(45) recred(46)
47 : Super Speed endred(47)
49 : Build Up recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Great guid as always Mephe! Love it when people add humor to their guids. Sorry I had forgotten to post this when I first read you guid. 
BTW you were the one who inspired me to have my first and mian character be a Fier/Fier tank (love bein' mighty.)
Thx, FTM
Edit: Gemini_II, my build is almost like yours (some powers at different times and) I took FSC instead of BoF and planning to take GFS instead of SS. Did you take SS for the def or convinience? Any advice? Sould I respec? 
SS is a treat, not a need. I could have gone with Laser Eyes, but then I'd be tempted to slot it, and with SS and Build, I won't do that.
I'll repeat that I against the swords. They are not endurance friendly and FSC has to be one of the worst D:E ratios in the game. Get Combustion before FSC....best thing to get, IMHO, is BoF.
AoEs: BA, BoF, Burn
ST: Scorch, Incinerate.
If you want to get a sword, the only one I think is worth a lick is GFS.
Kudos on the guide Mephe, excellent work!
well, my lil ol firetanker got 50 now, thanks mephe for your guide - you made me start the character and helped me enjoy him all the way to 50. took me 230 hours by the way - wasn't in a hurry and often took some people along to get a piece of my xp cake.
the changes i made and which i would make again i already posted further up, basically being:
- plasma shield pre burn
- moved stamina down by one by taking boxing after acrobatics
gfs at 35 is an ok attack i use very often
incinerate at 38 is and stays a nice attack
- conserve power at 41 - OMG how can any firetanker do without?! finally get relaxed about endurance!
- fiery embrace at 44 - nice to have
- gfs at 47 - like it a lot. click it and the mob takes damage, no long wait. finally some decent upfront damage.
rotp at 49 - fun to have 
especially with 50 where dying doesnt matter anymore - it stil help you to feal "undefeated" :P
turning 40 was quite a change and i must admit at 42 i was very tempted to let my firetanker sit there forever. my problem was the abrupt lack of nice killing areas. rikti crash site is just no fun at all, even tho i did 2 lvls there mostly killing the DE (i did enjoy jumping right on them before they get up and burning right in their middle). shadow shard is no herding or fast killing area either. the good part about it is the mission supply. boyd or whatever his name is keeps giving u a stream of easy and fast cavemissions worth their xp which arent to hard to reach. flynn gives u a neverending stream of nemesis mishes, but the location is not easy to reach - so leave em cause they take too long.
i hardy did any of my 40+ mishes cause 40-45 is stuffed with av's, some of which i we just cant solo. maltas and carneis just were no fun for me, being used to fast killing and just jumping into the mobs without asking questions :P
the 45-50 mishes i wanted to keep for 50 and herding and am very happy i did.
oh and the ultimate fire tanker joke: i still have to chuckle when people call firetankers squishie and then see us in action with mephe's build. i got neverending streams of "wow"'s "awesome"'s and that kinda stuff. and its so much fun to be the last man standing when things go wrong and still save the whole situation. i had several friends that chose me as firetanker for their herding missions over inv tankers. i am not saying that to degrade inv tankers, which i appreciate a lot and will roll an inv/em next - just to boost the firetankers ego :P
here's a link to a GREAT xp gaining guide on this forum and here is another one on tanking techniques (worth it!), which also helped me early on.
have a great time with your firetanker! love him and feed him well :P
I read your guide and it is very informative. Ok, you have to unerstand i am a horrible build builder (lol). So i was looking off what you put in wiht the guide because i cant even straiten out when to take powers much less slots. Im taking your word for these builds that they are good builds.
My question, is the scrapper/damage dealer build lacking so much defense it is hard to survive? Also will i be able to put out damage with the defense build? Im trying to deside which i want to follow. I like the defense build of stayign alive, but i dotn like the idea of being weak offensivly till so late. I am a casual player (only level 17 and been playing 3 months on my scraper. that casual) and dont know if the defense build will pick up speed fast enough for me. I am startign to play mroe and i have a ton of alts so thats why i am only level 17 inm 3 months, btu i cant wait till level 45 to be awsome.
I really like the idea of raw damage from the offense build but you said alot of things against it and nto as many things against the defence build. Maybe some Pros & cons for each really quick to help me deside.
THanks alot in advance. I know i asked alot so dont worry if you cant answer things, or dont want to.
PS: this is my first tank.
Excelent guide followed your first one with great results and this is the cherry on the top of a very tasty fire/fire cake
Just wanted to add another post to say THANK YOU for this guide. I've played an Energy/Energy Blaster to 50 and had a ball...but after starting my Fire/Fire Tanker, I'm enjoying it so much more! It's really given the game new life for me.
I also appreciate you giving us ideas of where to hunt for max xp. So far they're spot-on (I'm lvl 16 now) and I plan to keep following them.
I changed your suggestions only slightly to match with how I plan to play, but still it's mostly the same. I couldn't have created this great build without your guide! You can see it by clicking on the appropriate link in my sig for anyone who cares...
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Also, one mistake I continually see or hear: more than 2 resists in Tough/Weave with 6-slotted FS is a complete waste. With 2, and +2 green SOs, you are in the 106% s/l resist bracket. You're at 98% with white (even) SOs. Just don't do it; only 1 or 2 foes reduce damage resistances and they are all post-40. Don't worry about it, it doesn't happen that often.
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One thing that I'd like to ask (and that I asked an another thread is).. The resistance cap; is there a "hard" cap that applies to greys all the way up to purple con? I just can't see this applying all the way up to say +3-5. It wouldn't be logical since every other power uses the mobs level as a variable in the equation of getting hit or hitting the mob. If this was the case then a Scrapper/blaster would hit a purple con for the same amount that they'd hit a white con.
That 106% would be against same level, but what fire tanks fights whites 30+? I have my tough 4 slotted and was hunting with a fire tank that had it 2 slotted. I DID notice I got hit for less, by the same mobs some times 10-15% less. Granted we were fighting +3-5's. Now if someone can prove to me that the resistance cap acts sepreatly from every other power(except Rad) then I'll drop those 2 extra slots. At 31 I really dont seem to miss the 2 slots, perhaps FCS could use them dunno I've got this:
Scorch 2 damage
f.Breath 2 damage 1 acc
FSC 1 damage
Burn 6 damage
healing flames 2 recharge 2 health
hasten 5 recharge
taunt 1 taunt 1 redux
fshield 6 damRes
P.Shield 2 damres
CJ 1 def
SJ 1 jump
Acro 1 end redux
Fitness, swift 1, health 1, stamina 6 slotted
I THINK that is what I've got on my Fire tank, he just hit 32 but I'm torn on what to pick up Weave seems like the obvious choice
more good info - thx
as long as you remember to hold a small pause between hitting the key. i have already ben using em since a few lvls and its a nice help, u dont even have to look which toggles u already turned on :P
stamina it will be tonight. i already now realize how badly i need it.. (lvl21 now)
the bind for turning on the toggles does work