How To Plan a Build/Respec By Example
By
Aurea_Sandria,
Posted on: 2005-05-02 16:30 in Player Guides
Build #1: Plasma Welder -- a fire/dev/fire blaster
Plasma is my main, a level 50 on Pinnacle, but far from the first character I made in City of Heroes. I originally followed one of the fire/dev guides from a ways back, but even when I did so I made a few modifications that I think made it significantly better. Since those days a few powers in the devices secondary have changed and my understanding of the game has improved substantially, so I decided to respec him even though he's already level 50.
Level 1 -- Select primary power
Fireblast (ACC) / Web Grenade (ACC)
Fireblast is a better single target attack than Flares, and with a lot of builds I am constrained by slots at least, and power choices often. This means while an attack might be okay (like Flares is); it isn't worth it in the long run. With attacks I generally slot for one accuracy and the rest damage, but as you'll see later with the devices secondary this changes.
Level 2 -- Select power
Fireball (ACC)
This one is important. The strength of the fire blaster is AoE (area of effect) attacks, meaning attacks that affect many bad guys instead of just one. With my builds I like to take advantage of the powerset's strengths and shore up its biggest weaknesses, going for characters that are very strong in their area but don't have the biggest drawbacks.
Level 3 -- Allocate slots
Fireball (ACC) (DAM) (DAM)
At very low levels for a character I like to pour slots into their strengths, so in this case I want to add slots to the AoE attack. I only have one right now, so it is easy. It is often said that if a power is worth taking, it is worth 6 slotting. This is a slight exaggeration, but non-Kheldians will get just under 3.8 slots per power (excluding sprint/brawl/rest, including the default slot that comes with the power. Just under 2.8 extra slots per power) over the 50 levels of the character. Some of the powers I will take I will not slot at all (like Web Grenade in the build so far), which means that power's slots can now go to more productive uses.
In other words, for each power I don't add extra slots to at all I can six slot another power plus a little left over.
Level 4 -- Select power
Caltrops (SLOW)
This I think is one of the more interesting choices. I can go with Flares (single target attack), Caltrops (AoE damage and slow), or Taser (single target attack and disorient). Here are the tradeoffs I weighed to make this decision:
1. Single target vs. AoE: Fire blasters are AoE blasters, that is their strength. This build will have a set of single target attacks, but the emphasis is always on AoE. Flares and Taser are single target, Caltrops is AoE.
2. Slots: I've got two powers already that I want to six slot (Fireblast and Fireball). I like to interleave powers that I don't intend to slot with ones I do. Flares and Taser both would really need more slots (maybe even 6) to be really useful for what they do, while Caltrops is useful with a single slot.
3. Strength vs. Weakness: Although I tend to pick powers to enhance strength early, one weakness for a fire blaster is a total lack of controlling abilities. Caltrops and Taser both would help in this area, while Flares would not.
In the end AoE mini-controlling plus small damage over time wins.
Level 5 -- Allocate slots
Fireball (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Back to the notion of pouring slots into strengths, I want to six slot my big AoE attack as quickly as possible. Web grenade and Caltrops are both powers I will not add slots to (they work well enough without and don't benefit enough from the slots to make it worthwhile), so my choice is between my AoE attack and my single target attack. AoE first.
Level 6 -- Select power
Hasten (RECHARGE)
At level six you get access to power pools, and it is extremely important. My new fire blaster choice, Rain of Fire, is AoE, so you might think I would leap at that chance. I do not, and this is why.
Rain of Fire has a side effect that is very undesirable for an AoE blaster: it scatters the bad guys. They run in all directions to get out of the rain. For AoE attacks I want them packed together. Caltrops helps keep them together (by slowing them), Rain of Fire works against me. Besides, its damage isn't all that great anyway.
Hasten is a must for most builds, and it is usually not a question of if but rather when to take it. Two factors should help you decide: When can you use it, and when can you slot it. Having Hasten every now and then (firing it off right before a fight) is quite useful and can make the difference in a dangerous battle. Especially since the fire blaster's level six power is not something I want, this is a great time to get it.
Level 7 -- Allocate slots
Fireball (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Fireblast (ACC) (DAM)
The first slot finishes the six slotting of Fireball and is a slam dunk, and there are two options for the second slot: Fireblast or Hasten.
I went with Fireblast at this time due to marginal utility. It will more often help me to help finish off injured bad guys with my single target attack than it will help to have hasten back slightly faster. Putting the slot into Hasten is also fine.
Level 8 -- Select power
Fire Breath (ACC)
This is another slam dunk, the second major AoE attack from the fire line: Fire Breath. The combo of Fireball, Fire Breath, and Caltrops is the bread and butter of this build and the main powers that will be used throughout the hero's career. This is important enough that I wanted to get it as early as possible (level 8 is the earliest this power is available) so I can put slots into it immediately.
Level 9 -- Allocate slots
Fire Breath (ACC) (DAM) (DAM)
After a one slot break in level 7, I'm back to slotting out AoE attacks.
Level 10 -- Select power
Targeting Drone (END REDUCTION)
A key reason to go with devices as a blaster secondary is the drone. It allows me to slot my attacks purely for damage, since it will act as a partial to full accuracy enhancement in each when it is on. One key to a successful build is to balance slots with powers, if I can get a power that replaces the need for slots in multiple powers I can end up with a much stronger build.
Hasten is an excellent example of this. It acts as *two* recharge enhancements in all powers, freeing up two slots in each power for more productive use. For some powers this isn't particularly useful, but for the majority having it available again faster is the key to efficiency.
I slot many toggle powers with at least one end reduction, but you should know the base endurance cost of the power before deciding. For Targeting Drone I think the estimated base cost of 0.35/s is high enough to warrant putting an endurance reduction enhancement into its default slot.
Note that at this point (or more likely level 12 when I can buy DOs) I would switch all the ACCs to DAMs in my attack powers.
Level 11 -- Allocate slots
Fire Breath (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Continue the bread and butter AoE slotting.
Level 12 -- Select power
Hurdle (JUMP)
There are several reasons to take this power at level 12:
1. Need to start power selection towards Stamina, blasters are generally endurance limited once they have Hasten (and many times before).
2. Need to catch up on slotting, I have powers that I want to allocate slots to but haven't yet, if I keep picking powers that need slots I'll never catch up.
3. Of the powers available to me in my primary and secondary sets, I've taken the ones I want and will never get the others.
4. I like to take the complimentary first fitness power to my travel power. Since Plasma's primary travel power will be Super Speed, I take Hurdle. If it had been Super Jump, I would have taken Swift.
Level 13 -- Allocate slots
Fire Breath (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Finish off the slotting of Fire Breath, and start the slotting of Hasten. I prefer slotting Hasten here to Fireblast, but either would work. It is a good argument to say that I should six slot one fully then the other, and pick it when I make the second slot choice at level 7. I believe that I get good usage out of the slot in Fireblast at 7, but here I want to start fully slotting Hasten now that I have DOs available and those slots will really make a difference for my AoE attacks.
Level 14 -- Select power
Super Speed (RUN)
Travel power time, and Super Speed is the best choice. So far the build is already tight, every power is needed and useful (or at least the best of a limited set of choices). Hasten is one of the best powers in the game, and a precursor to Super Speed, so almost by default this becomes Plasma's travel power. In addition it works great with the Cloaking Device power I take later on, so it isn't just taken by default, it will be an important part of the build.
Level 15 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
This is why I advocate slotting Hasten at 13. We're nearly done slotting it now, and with DOs it will be up a lot. Personally I tend to 5 slot Hasten now, not six, because I rarely have a build where each slot isn't extremely valuable.
Level 16 -- Select power
Health (HEALTH)
On the previous build, this level would have been Smoke Grenade. That was when the power was buggy and had way too much of an accuracy debuff. The problem is that now there is absolutely no good reason to take it. It mainly functions as a target-based stealth (makes it harder for the bad guys to see). This is useful when I want to effectively make all my team harder to see by the enemy, but for personal stealth there's already Cloaking Device for the devices secondary. Since I'd have to Smoke Grenade every group of bad guys to move my team around with stealth, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Instead I get the second in the fitness line. There's good arguments for getting Swift instead of Health, but I figure every little bit helps and possibly the utility from Health is a hair better than from Swift.
Also note that this frees up more slots at a good time, since I won't ever add slots to this power.
Level 17 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Fireblast (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Finish off Hasten (which is now perma with high enough level SOs, slight downtime with staler ones), and add another slot to the current single target attack.
Level 18 -- Select power
Blaze (DAM)
The big, short range single target attack: this is the fire blaster's boss killer, the drawback is the short range but it makes up for it in pure damage. Other options would be to start the fighting pool here, which definitely has merit, or possibly the leaping pool. I think both are less useful than having a strong (even unslotted) single target attack, but the fighting pool option has much merit since I would not be slotting boxing but will slot this one (although later on).
Level 19 -- Allocate slots
Fireblast (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Work on finishing off the main single target attack. The reason I choose to finish off Fireblast instead of starting Blaze is range. As powerful as Blaze is, I have to be in near melee range to use it, which can be very dangerous for a blaster (especially before Tough/Weave), so I'd rather have Fireblast strong and useful and be able to stay at a distance. Another thing to keep in mind is that Fireblast will recharge a whole lot faster than Blaze.
Level 20 -- Select power
Stamina (END RECOVERY)
This power is a near requirement for all blasters (and most other builds), especially those that have Hasten. Blasters burn so much end so fast that I need something to help, and this is the only one available to fire/devices. Level 12 and 16 powers were taken specifically to make it possible to get this one at level 20, the earliest possible.
Level 21 -- Allocate slots
Fireblast (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Here's another interesting point to consider: I can't get SOs for Stamina until at least level 27, maybe 30. DOs do help my end recovery, but my bang for the buck on the slots won't be as high until that point. A good argument can be made for slotting just in time for either 27 or 29 (depending on whether I'm going to play enough of the Striga arc to get second tier SOs by 27).
In this particular build I slot it faster because Plasma is so endurance hungry that even the DOs make a big difference. Other slots can wait, the bread and butter of Fireball/Fire Breath needs to be fed.
Oh yes and put the last slot into Fireblast for single target damage.
Level 22 -- Select power
Cloaking Device (END REDUCTION)
Here's another example of taking a power to shore up weaknesses instead of adding to strengths. Blasters are squishy (that's a technical term that means "really easy to make faceplant"), and the stealth of the Cloaking Device plus the stealth of Super Speed combine to make me nearly invisible. This makes navigating dangerous areas much safer, and means that the build does not need to start an entire power pool (concealment) in order to get this benefit. As you'll see by the end, I use up my allotment of four power pools in this build already, so I would have had to sacrifice something to make that happen.
Cloaking Device takes up a fair amount of endurance, so I slot it with end reduction. The other option is defense, but the defense it gives isn't great, and when I enhance something remember that I'm enhancing its base value, so if it starts out small I'm not getting a lot of defense per enhancement.
Level 23 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Slotting up Stamina as quickly as possible to help with endurance woes, this will continue at level 25 as well. Notice that by taking Cloaking Device which I intend not to slot I don't have to worry about falling too far behind on my slots. That's another good argument for taking Boxing at 18 instead of Blaze, since I can't afford to put slots into Blaze yet. But I think Blaze without extra slots is still powerful enough for when I want to use it.
Level 24 -- Select power
Aim (RECHARGE)
As I mentioned, the slots for level 25 are already spoken for, best to get another power that I won't need to add any to. Aim is perfect, it gives great utility (extra accuracy and damage for a short time) with the slot it has.
Whether or not to slot with recharge reduction or tohit buff is something you should decide based on how you play. If you use it as often as it comes up (or close to), recharge is the way to go. That one recharge reduction will make it come up significantly faster if it is an SO (which it can be at this level). The bonus it gives your accuracy is already pretty good, but if you only use it for alpha strikes like in combination with inferno, maybe you'd rather have more accuracy since you wouldn't use it if it were up more often anyway. Remember that you can't get tohit buff SOs for a few levels (and you can always change your mind later on).
Level 25 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Level 26 -- Select power
Boxing (DAM)
Im just starting the fighting pool, it doesn't matter which one I pick, and I won't have it in my tray anyway. It is just a throw away power. I made this build with the fighting pool to shore up the blaster squishiness weakness problem, and between Tough and Weave and much later on the armor from the epic power pool, Plasma can stand up to more punishment than you might expect.
Level 27 -- Allocate slots
Blaze (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Finally I can put some slots in Blaze. You can see how flipping boxing for blaze would not have made a difference in slotting, but I would use Blaze whereas I won't ever use boxing. Another option would be to take Boxing at 18, Tough at 24, and Weave at 26. This would be a solid build. The reason I didn't go this direction was that I don't think Tough/Weave are as necessary in the 20s, while having Blaze is very helpful.
Level 28 -- Select power
Trip Mine (ACC)
Trip Mine is maybe *the* reason to get the devices secondary, and also works extremely well with the AoE theme for the fire blaster. The reason that I slotted it with accuracy instead of damage is that it works like a pet, so Targeting Drone doesn't affect it. The unslotted damage isn't great, but it will be. I didn't use it much until level 31 personally.
Level 29 -- Allocate slots
Trip Mine (ACC) (DAM) (DAM)
Get slots into this puppy as fast as possible. Again this is playing to strengths, get the AoE damage powers working fast.
Level 30 -- Select power
Tough (RESIST)
I mentioned above why I wanted the fighting pool, this is the first payoff for it: extra damage resistance. I went with damage resistance here instead of end reduction mostly because resisting damage increases chances of survival, but either option is good.
Level 31 -- Allocate slots
Trip Mine (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Before this level slots are pretty short on supply, starting now they're all over the place. This means it is easier to more quickly slot powers, but there's also a ton of powers to slot.
Now Trip Mine is fully slotted and is heavily used.
Level 32 -- Select power
Inferno (DAM)
For some of the power sets, the level 32 power doesn't fit into its overall strength very well. Not so for the fire blaster, Inferno is great at exactly what the set is great at to begin with: AoE damage.
Level 33 -- Allocate slots
Inferno (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
This is a pretty easy call to make, just got a great power and now need to make it better by enhancing it. The point of the power is to do damage, so slot it for damage. In addition to Targeting Drone I'll always hit Aim before using Inferno, so there's no reason at all to slot for accuracy.
Level 34 -- Allocate slots
Inferno (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Blaze (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
The damage I can get from four damage enhancements is pretty extreme, usually if I hit something it dies. This is even truer if I get buffed. Instead, I want to be able to do it more often, and since the base recharge rate is quite long, I put a couple recharge reductions in to be able to explode more often.
The pattern I use a lot (and I think is quite common) at level 33 and later is to six slot a power and then put that last slot (5 to make the new power 6 slotted, plus one left over) in a power I haven't had a chance to slot out fully before. In this case I'm going to backfill Blaze until it is full.
Level 35 -- Select power
Blazing Bolt (DAM)
Having a sniper attack for a fire blaster is a nice to have, but not necessary. That's why I've waited so long in this build to take it. You could also easily switch this power with the level 38 choice and be happy.
Level 36 -- Allocate slots
Blazing Bolt (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
But if you're going to take it, slot it. You could also finish off slotting Blaze here and slot Blazing Bolt below where I slotted Blaze. Depends on what you're going to use when, and how useful Blaze is it you with its current slots.
Level 37 -- Allocate slots
Blazing Bolt (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Blaze (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
I'm filling out slots on the single target attacks, but of course that's because I've already fully slotted all my AoEs.
Level 38 -- Select power
Weave (DEFENSE)
Get some more defense into the build. As I said, you can switch this for Blazing Bolt.
Level 39 -- Allocate slots
Tough (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Start slotting up the resistances.
Level 40 -- Allocate slots
Tough (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Blaze (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Finish off Tough, finish off Blaze. Always nice to finish six slotting powers, I say.
Level 41 -- Select power
Char (ACC)
At level 41 the Epic Power Pools become available. I chose the fire EPP for a few reasons:
1. I like having a strong hold as a blaster.
2. Fire Shield is a particularly good armor that has resistances to lethal, smashing, cold, and fire.
3. I'm a Plasma Welder, for crying out loud.
I have accuracy in there, and you might wonder why. With holds it is more important to hit, so even though I have Targeting Drone helping accuracy the extra boost is very useful. For a fire controller I would slot it with 3 accuracy, 2 hold durations, and one recharge rate, so you can see how much I value accuracy for hold powers. I'll go into this more in my controller build.
Level 42 -- Allocate slots
Char (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD) (HOLD)
Add some hold durations to make it useful. This is good enough for a blaster, so I'm going to start catching up on slots with previous powers in level 43.
Level 43 -- Allocate slots
Weave (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Targeting Drone (END REDUCTION) (TOHIT) (TOHIT)
Drone will be six slotted, Weave will be six slotted. Changing the order of allocations is fine.
Level 44 -- Select power
Fire Shield (RESIST)
An excellent armor, and like Tough I think the additional resistance is worth the endurance cost.
Level 45 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Going to six slot this fast then go back to other powers.
Level 46 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Weave (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Level 47 -- Select power
Combat Jumping (DEFENSE)
I'm running out of useful powers, so I'm going with the leaping pool. I like Super Jump as a travel power, and the combination of Super Speed with Super Jump is great and makes it really fast to get around everywhere except the Shadow Shard. Combat Jumping is also a nice low endurance cost way of getting a little extra defense. Alone it isn't worth it, but in combination with Cloaking Device and Weave, you get a nice base defense.
Also, no extra slots are needed for this power nor the next one, which means I can continue to backfill previous powers.
Level 48 -- Allocate slots
Weave (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Finish off the slotting of Weave.
Level 49 -- Select power
Super Jump (JUMP)
Wheeeeeeee.
Level 50 -- Allocate slots
Targeting Drone
Targeting Drone (END REDUCTION) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT)
Finish of slotting of the drone.
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Blaster
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fire Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Devices
01 : Web Grenade immdur(01)
01 : Fireblast dam(01) dam(7) dam(17) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21)
02 : Fireball dam(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
04 : Caltrops slw(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(13) recred(15) recred(15) recred(17)
08 : Fire Breath dam(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13)
10 : Targeting Drone endred(10) thtbuf(43) thtbuf(43) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Blaze dam(18) dam(27) dam(27) dam(34) dam(37) dam(40)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25)
22 : Cloaking Device endred(22)
24 : Aim recred(24)
26 : Boxing dam(26)
28 : Trip Mine acc(28) dam(29) dam(29) dam(31) dam(31) dam(31)
30 : Tough damres(30) damres(39) damres(39) damres(39) damres(40) damres(40)
32 : Inferno dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Blazing Bolt dam(35) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37)
38 : Weave defbuf(38) defbuf(43) defbuf(46) defbuf(48) defbuf(48) defbuf(48)
41 : Char acc(41) hlddur(42) hlddur(42) hlddur(42)
44 : Fire Shield damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Combat Jumping defbuf(47)
49 : Super Jump jmp(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Build #2: Old Fire -- a fire/kinetics/fire controller
Old Fire is the second character I got to level 50, also on Pinnacle. I studied guides on fire controllers (most of them were on fire/rad) and kinetics and put something I thought was interesting together. It worked out quite well, there's a lot of synergy between the two sets. Fire controller is a melee-range heavy controller set with scrapper pets (the fire imps), and kinetics is a very melee-range, scrapper-friendly buff/debuff set.
Level 1 -- Select primary power
Char (ACC) / Transfusion (ACC)
There are two options for the level one power, and once you understand controllers I don't think there's a choice at all. On the one hand you have a single target control (Char), and on the other you have a single target immobilize (Ring of Fire). Immobilizes really need to be combined with other things to be effective, otherwise all they do is keep the bad guy from moving but not attacking. There are times this is useful (their melee attacks are much worse than their ranged, or they're running away), but usually not. You also get a chance in very few levels to get an AoE immobilize, and controllers need a single target hold.
One nice thing about the kinetics as a controller secondary is that the power you're forced to take for it is one you'd want anyway. Transfusion is an enemy target centered AoE heal that you have to hit to succeed with. This means it is great for being teamed with scrappers and tanks, since you can heal where they're going to be. Because you have to successfully hit the bad guy with the power to heal, it is quite powerful. The big annoyance with it is if you hit just as the target dies the heal fails even though the animation succeeds (nice slap in the face).
Level 2 -- Select power
Siphon Power (ACC)
This power is a double whammy of buff and debuff. If you hit you reduce the target's ability to do damage and increase your own and any ally nearby. As I mentioned above, immobilize (which is what Fire Cages does) can be useful in conjunction with other things, but the buff/debuff of siphon power is more immediately useful. Plus as a controller I wouldn't put slots into this power, it does well enough as is for my purposes. This frees up level 3 and beyond slots for other powers, especially holds.
Level 3 -- Allocate slots
Char (ACC) (ACC) (ACC)
As I mentioned with Plasma Welder's build, I like to dedicate early slotting to a build's strengths, and for a controller that's holding. I heavily slot accuracy on holds, any bad guy whom I miss is not held at all. The one major job I have on a team is to hold the major threats, so I need to hit to do so. I think Transfusion is a powerful enough heal without slotting, especially at low levels, that putting slots into it isn't an immediate priority (although I will do so soon).
Level 4 -- Select power
Fire Cages (ACC)
This is kind of by default, since the other choices are much worse. Between an AoE immobilize and a single target I'll go with AoE every time, so that makes this better than Ring of Fire. The other option is Repel, which is an AoE knockback away from the character. Two major problems I have with this, one is that I expect to be in melee distance a fair amount due to the nature of fire controller and kinetics sets, and in many cases I don't *want* the bad guys farther away from me as that can cause problems (imagine I try to heal myself by getting close to a bad guy and knock him away right before the Transfusion activates, moving him out of range so it doesn't heal me). The second is that it costs endurance per mob knocked back, and that could easily eat up my endurance in a hurry in the situations it would actually be useful.
Even though I take Fire Cages by default, it will not go to waste. I will combine it with another power later for a very effective overall effect.
Level 5 -- Allocate slots
Char (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD)
I'm six slotting my single target hold straight off the bat. As I mentioned Transfusion doesn't need any right away, and Siphon Power won't get any more. Fire Cages will eventually get slots, but only after it is clear that the combination of it and the other power will make it worthwhile.
Level 6 -- Select power
Hasten (RECHARGE)
At level six you get access to power pools, and it is extremely important. The level six choice for the fire controller set, Smoke, is essentially the same as Smoke Grenade in the devices blaster secondary except there's no chance of missing. My same arguments apply, go read Plasma Welder's build guide if you're interested.
Hasten is a must for most builds, and it is usually not a question of if but rather when to take it. Two factors should help you decide: When can you use it, and when can you slot it. With a controller, having Hasten every now and then (firing it off right before a battle) is quite useful, and can make the difference in a dangerous battle if you're able to hold either more bad guys or a big and nasty bad guy more effectively. Especially since the fire controller's level six power is not something I want, this is a great time to get it.
Level 7 -- Allocate slots
Char (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD) (RECHARGE)
Transfusion (ACC) (HEAL)
Now that my hold is fully slotted I want to put some slots into my heal. This is a good investment, the heal will help now, and it will help me, my teammates, and eventually my imps. As with Plasma Welder's build, I could now put these slots into Hasten, but since I don't have access to DOs yet I believe they're better used in Transfusion.
Level 8 -- Select power
Hurdle (JUMP)
The new fire controller power option I have at level 8 is Hot Feet, which is a character based slow and slight damage power. I like slow in general, but as you'll see as this build progresses I will have plenty of control. It also doesn't really work with the rest of the fire controller nor kinetics sets in my opinion, so I'm going to pass on that power completely for this build.
Instead I'm going to get an early start to the other power pools I plan on taking: fitness, leadership, and concealment. The two that pay off earlier are fitness (because I'd like to have stamina at level 20, fire controlling and kinetics are both heavy endurance usage sets) and concealment. I won't have a ton of use for the latter, and I'm on a schedule to get the former, so I go with the fitness pool first.
As with Plasma Welder, Old Fire will be a Super Speed primary travel guy. This makes even more sense with Inertial Reduction in the kinetics set, which means I will be able to give myself and nearby heroes "Super Jump" at level 28 or later, so I will be able to do so without spending the power pool on it. Once again I plan on using all four power pools, so if I wanted to do that otherwise I would have to sacrifice something in the build. As before, I take the complimentary first fitness power to the primary travel power, which means Hurdle for Super Speed.
Level 9 -- Allocate slots
Transfusion (ACC) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL)
A couple more slots into my heal. Transfusion is powerful enough that I don't feel I need to put any more in, although certainly there's nothing wrong with doing so. I'm very tight on slots in this build, though, so saving these two will make a difference overall.
Level 10 -- Select power
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION)
The new kinetics power available is Siphon Speed, which slows down the bad guy you hit (if you hit) with it, and gives you more speed. I don't like this, because:
1. I have to hit (which can be nearly impossible if I'm traveling in an area substantially higher level than I am).
2. It won't have a stealth component like Super Speed does.
3. Since I already need to get Hasten, it is only a one power cost either way.
I'll wait four levels for Super Speed.
We're back to power pools, then. I don't have access to the third power in them yet (not until level 14), so essentially the choices are between starting the leadership pool or the concealment pool. Either one is good. I went with the leadership pool since I don't expect to have a huge need for more stealth than Super Speed gives me until later on, and it may help some team play in the meantime. I choose Maneuvers over Assault because I can already boost damage with Siphon Power. Also, eventually it will help the defense of my imps.
Level 11 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
DOs are available next level and I have other powers slotted as much as I want them to be right now, so I will slot out Hasten next. As with Plasma Welder, I plan on putting 5 slots into Hasten overall, and you will see that saving that slot does help (long term it is essentially a question of three or four slots into Transfusion).
Level 12 -- Select power
Flashfire (ACC)
A new fire controller power, and a good one! This is an AoE disorient, which unlike immobilize *does* stop bad guys from attacking. More importantly, however, is that the combination of an AoE immobilize and an AoE disorient essentially equals an AoE hold (they're not moving and they can't attack). I will put slots into Flashfire long before I put them into Fire Cages since (1) disorient prevents attack and (2) Fire Cages will still be useful in the combination, even with the one slot... I just won't hit as many of them with it. If a few straggling disoriented bad guys are wandering around it isn't too bad.
Level 13 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Done!
Level 14 -- Select power
Super Speed (RUN)
The same basic reasons as with Plasma Welder's build. Instead of Cloaking Device I'll eventually get Stealth from the concealment pool which will do the same basic thing.
Level 15 -- Allocate slots
Flashfire (ACC) (ACC) (ACC)
Flashfire is operating as a wandering mob hold, meaning they're unable to attack but they don't sit still. As I mentioned with Char, it is critically important to hit when you use these kinds of powers, anyone you miss will be aggroed against you. The more you hit, the less damage you and the rest of your team take.
Level 16 -- Select power
Health (HEALTH)
At 18 I must take Cinders, the fire controller's AoE hold. I want Stamina as early as I can get it (level 20). That leaves this level to get the second in the fitness line, so here it is. See Plasma Welder's build for info on Health vs. Swift etc.
A new kinetics power has become available as well, Increase Density. This is a good power, and I will get it eventually, but it falls way behind stamina in priority.
Level 17 -- Allocate slots
Flashfire (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (DISORIENT) (DISORIENT)
Make the mobs disoriented for longer, increasing Old Fire's control of the battlefield.
Level 18 -- Select power
Cinders (ACC)
The main purpose of a controller is to hold bad guys. AoE holds are thus defining powers for controllers. I'm getting this as early as I can and you will see that I six slot it as fast as possible.
Level 19 -- Allocate slots
Cinders (ACC) (ACC) (ACC)
As I said. Not only do my previous arguments about hitting with holds still apply to this, but AoE holds usually start with an accuracy penalty relative to the single target counterparts, so it is even more critical to slot for accuracy.
Level 20 -- Select power
Stamina (END RECOVERY)
See my Plasma Welder build on this power and where you see the word 'blaster' substitute 'controller' in your head.
Level 21 -- Allocate slots
Cinders (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD)
Now that accuracy is taken care of, make the holds last longer.
Level 22 -- Select power
Speed Boost (END RECOVERY)
This kinetics power will make you a team favorite. It is essentially like a mini Hasten, Stamina, and Super Speed for anyone you use it on. One of the best buffs in the game. It works well enough that for a controller I wouldn't slot it. This is a much better buff than Increase Density, so I get this one first.
Level 23 -- Allocate slots
Cinders (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD) (RECHARGE)
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Finish off slotting Cinders and start slotting Stamina, which is the next priority. See Plasma Welder's build for the discussion on the timing of slotting Stamina, but note that we'll be done later with this build than with his.
Level 24 -- Select power
Increase Density (DAMAGE RESIST)
This is a good buff, just not as good as speed boost. It increases the target's damage resistance, as well as giving them resistance to disorients, holds, and immobilizes. It also slows them down, so generally it is used with speed boost. Another great team power.
As with the Plasma Welder build, I'm specifically taking some powers I know I won't slot in order to catch up slotting the powers I do want to slot.
Level 25 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
As I said.
Level 26 -- Select power
Tactics (END REDUCTION)
The new fire controller power at this level is Bonfire, which is an area knockback basically like ice slick from the ice power sets. That's great, but as with the slow in Hot Feet I don't think it is helpful for a fire controller. My foes are generally going to be held or disoriented, so adding knockdown and slow to that isn't very useful.
That means my main two choices are from the leadership pool or the concealment pool. Either one is a fine choice, I take Tactics here because once again I don't feel like I quite need more stealth yet while Tactics unslotted at this level might give a little more value. When I take any of those three powers in this build is pretty much interchangeable, though.
Note that tactics will help the accuracy of my imps, eventually.
Level 27 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Done, and just in time for endurance recovery SOs if I can get them.
Level 28 -- Select power
Inertial Reduction (JUMP)
This is a player based AoE Super Jump buff. It gives Old Fire a second travel power (although not as convenient as Super Jump itself, since it is a click vs. a toggle) as well as the ability to give the buff to anyone nearby. It can be a lot of fun to go to Atlas Park and give Super Jump to a lot of people new to the game.
Level 29 -- Allocate slots
Flashfire (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (DISORIENT) (DISORIENT) (RECHARGE)
Fire Cages (ACC) (ACC)
Finish slotting Flashfire, and now that it is ready to go start slotting Fire Cages to make the one two punch of those two powers stronger, and more of a full hold.
Level 30 -- Select power
Stealth (END REDUCTION)
Now I feel like I'm going to be going places where extra stealth might be very helpful. Brickstown, Founders Falls (with the snipers), Crey's Folly (with the snipers), and so on.
Level 31 -- Allocate slots
Fire Cages (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (IMMOB) (IMMOB)
Work on finish off the slotting for Fire Cages and get that combo really rocking.
Level 32 -- Select power
Fire Imps (ACC)
The fire controller set's pets, flaming scrappers. These guys are game changing, so I will slot them up as fast as possible. Notice how the synergy in the build works: I can go into a combat with stealth and super speed, turn off super speed quickly (to get rid of the accuracy penalty), and hit Cinders to hold the group, following up with Char for any misses. Imps then attack.
If Cinders isn't up yet, I can use Flashfire to disorient and then Fire Cages to immobilize, effectively holding. Use Char first on the ones that aren't disoriented and second on ones that are immobilized. Imps then attack. Alternate between the two.
Level 33 -- Allocate slots
Fire Imps (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Slotting Imps fast. Eventually I will change this slotting to reflect the major change that happens once I have Fulcrum Shift, but until then I need to slot for damage.
Level 34 -- Allocate slots
Fire Imps (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Fire Cages (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (IMMOB) (IMMOB) (RECHARGE)
Finish both Imps and Cages at the same time, great level. At this point Old Fire is cruising but unable to go absolutely full bore due to endurance limitations, even with six slotted stamina.
Level 35 -- Select power
Transference (ACC)
Kinetics to the rescue! This is essentially a Transfusion-like power except it heals endurance instead of health. Absolutely wonderful, must be six slotted as soon as possible to completely alleviate all endurance problems.
Level 36 -- Allocate slots
Transference (ACC) (ACC) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Need to hit, and need it to come up as often as possible. Playing around with number of accuracies vs. recharges is reasonable. It tends to heal enough endurance that I don't slot it for endurance recovery myself. I'd rather have it available more often than to overheal on a particular use.
Level 37 -- Allocate slots
Transference (ACC) (ACC) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE)
Now that Transference is six slotted, I'm going to go back and backfill the two leadership powers I took. Eventually I want them six slotted each, but there will be other priorities.
Level 38 -- Select power
Fulcrum Shift (ACC)
The ultimate kinetics power, it does an AoE debuff/buff of damage potentially like siphon power. It makes it fairly easy to damage cap against a large group of bad guys, both for the user as well as nearby heroes. This will of course be six slotted, but having it changes the slotting on imps. Now that I can get their damage high without slotting them for damage, which means... more Fire Imps!
That changes Fire Imps slotting to:
Fire Imps (ACC) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE (RECHARGE)
Level 39 -- Allocate slots
Fulcrum Shift (ACC) (ACC) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Make sure it hits, and get it back more often.
Level 40 -- Allocate slots
Fulcrum Shift (ACC) (ACC) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Heck, let's get FS back even MORE often, multiple times per combat if possible.
Put the leftover slot into Maneuvers.
Level 41 -- Select power
Fire Ball (ACC)
At level 41 the Epic Power Pools become available. I chose the fire EPP for a few reasons:
1. I like having an AoE attack as a controller, particularly since I can buff my own damage.
2. Fire Shield is a particularly good armor that has resistances to lethal, smashing, cold, and fire.
3. I'm the Old Fire, for crying out loud.
Level 42 -- Allocate slots
Fire Ball (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE)
If I were a blaster I would do one slot of accuracy and five slots of damage. However, once again I can buff my own damage and often cap my damage output, so while I should have a couple damage enhancements in case I'm fighting a single enemy, in generally I'd rather spend the enhancement slots getting the power back more often.
Level 43 -- Allocate slots
Fire Ball (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Finish off Fire Ball and add the leftover slot to Maneuvers.
Level 44 -- Select power
Fire Shield (RESIST)
An excellent armor, and like tough I think the additional resistance is worth the endurance cost.
Level 45 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Going to six slot this fast then go back to other powers.
Level 46 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Finish slotting Fire Shield and add the leftover slot to Maneuvers.
Level 47 -- Select power
Consume (ACC)
Yet another way of helping endurance, this time AoE from the bad guys nearby. With this build Old Fire nearly always has at least one power that could be used to speed the combat along, so using endurance is never an issue. Between Stamina, Transference, and Consume there's enough opportunity to reclaim endurance to keep things rolling quickly.
Level 48 -- Allocate slots
Maneuvers (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Tactics (END REDUCTION) (TOHIT) (TOHIT)
At long last Maneuvers is fully slotted and slots can go into Tactics. Depending on your priorities you could of course put all those earlier slots into Tactics first and now start slotting out Maneuvers.
Level 49 -- Select power
Assault (END REDUCTION)
Why take this power when I already have ways of increasing damage? Well... okay I'll be honest, I just didn't have anything better to choose. It can be helpful with single targets, and in Issue 4 they're going to make it better. The big win is that more slots can't help it, and I have level 50's slot already spoken for. I could also get Vengeance here, but I though Assault would be more generally useful.
Level 50 -- Allocate slots
Tactics (END REDUCTION) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT) (TOHIT)
Fini!
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fire Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Kinetics
01 : Transfusion acc(01) hel(7) hel(9) hel(9)
01 : Char acc(01) acc(3) acc(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(5) recred(7)
02 : Siphon Power acc(02)
04 : Fire Cages acc(04) acc(29) acc(31) immdur(31) immdur(31) recred(34)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(11) recred(11) recred(13) recred(13)
08 : Hurdle jmp(08)
10 : Maneuvers endred(10) defbuf(37) defbuf(40) defbuf(43) defbuf(46) defbuf(48)
12 : Flashfire acc(12) acc(15) acc(15) disdur(17) disdur(17) recred(29)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Cinders acc(18) acc(19) acc(19) hlddur(21) hlddur(21) recred(23)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27) endrec(27)
22 : Speed Boost endrec(22)
24 : Increase Density damres(24)
26 : Tactics endred(26) thtbuf(48) thtbuf(48) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50) thtbuf(50)
28 : Inertial Reduction jmp(28)
30 : Stealth endred(30)
32 : Fire Imps acc(32) dam(33) recred(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Transference acc(35) acc(36) recred(36) recred(36) recred(37) recred(37)
38 : Fulcrum Shift acc(38) acc(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) recred(40)
41 : Fire Ball acc(41) dam(42) dam(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Fire Shield damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Consume acc(47)
49 : Assault endred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Build #3: Rob Anybody -- an invuln/super strength/energy tank
Rob was one of the first characters I made in City of Heroes, and I did a really terrible job with him. I took Flurry instead of Hasten, had all the resists early and slotted them out evenly, and made other mistakes. When Issue 3 came out with its changes to Invuln tanks, I took another look. Hey, now I could respec and fix the problems!
I followed a few guides from brave people who had been working on the test server heavily to figure out what a non-perma-Unstoppable, non-rooted-Unyielding invulnerability tank might look like. I investigated, copied Rob over to the test server with his free respec, and tried out a few ideas before finding one I really liked.
He's now level 42 on Pinnacle, and great fun to play... despite the drawbacks of super strength as a secondary which I'll go into more as I describe the build.
Level 1 -- Select primary power
Temp Invulnerability (END REDUCTION) / Jab (ACC)
A common decision to be made for tanks is whether to go with a toggle resist/defense power, like TI, or an auto, like Resist Physical Damage. The toggle always gives you better resist or defense, but if you run out of endurance or get mezzed, that toggle will turn off and you will be extra vulnerable.
My philosophy to date is to take and slot the toggle powers, and supplement that with taking but not slotting the auto powers (for the most part). In other words, if I have two identical powers but one is auto and the other is toggle, I will tend to get both but only slot the toggle. I will also tend to get the toggle first, and bring in the auto power when I either want to catch up on slots or I don't have a better power choice.
For TI vs. RPD, I'm in exactly that situation. They are both lethal/smash resistance powers, the only difference is toggle vs. auto. I will get both, but I will get TI first and only put slots into it, never RPD.
Level 2 -- Select power
Dull Pain (RECHARGE)
As I mentioned on the last two builds, I tend to build first for strengths and then later fill out other aspects of the character. For tanks, the strengths are in the primary defense sets. The Punch power in the super strength set is not a great attack, there are two others coming later on I'd much rather have (Haymaker and Knockout Blow), so the choice comes down to Dull Pain or Resist Physical Damage. I will take both for this build, so which one I will slot. I already explained why I don't intend to put slots into RPD, so clearly I should take Dull Pain first.
Level 3 -- Allocate slots
Temporary Invulnerability (END REDUCTION) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM)
Get some slots into TI to make it more useful, amazingly these two extra slots will be enough for quite a while... but only in combination with several other powers.
Level 4 -- Select power
Taunt (RECHARGE)
The #1 job of the tank is to manage aggro for the team. There are two primary methods for doing this, one is the Taunt power, and the other is player based AoE taunt powers. For the invulnerability power set, the latter is Invincibility which is available at level 18. I think both are absolutely necessary, the "punch-voke" style attacking to get aggro is a good additional tool, but Taunt and Invincibility are the bread-and-butter. I don't slot it until much later, but it is quite useful as-is.
Level 5 -- Allocate slots
Dull Pain (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
As with most builds, slots are the scarce resource. I could put more into TI, but I know that once I get Unyielding slotted my resists with TI will be good enough for most circumstances, so instead I want to start preparing for perma-DP, and eventually overlapping/stacking DP.
I will put more slots into TI, but much much later on.
Level 6 -- Select power
Resist Physical Damage (RESIST DAM)
At level six you get access to power pools, and it is extremely important. The level six choice for the invulnerability tank set, Resist Elements, is an okay power but one that I will use much later in the build when I want to catch up on slots. It is also an auto power, which means I won't be slotting it unless I have a lot left over (hint: I won't).
Hasten is a must for most builds, and it is usually not a question of if but rather when to take it. Two factors should help you decide: When can you use it, and when can you slot it. With a tank, I don't think Hasten is an early must have like I do with many other builds. The main use for it early in the tank's career is to speed up taunting, since tanks don't (and shouldn't) contribute much to damage until later.
I will take Hasten fairly soon in this build because I want super speed as the travel power, and having hastened Taunt is not a trivial matter. However, getting a decent improvement in lethal/smash damage is more important at this level, and allows me to catch up on slotting.
Level 7 -- Allocate slots
Dull Pain (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
The way I think about Dull Pain is that the job of the tank is to manage aggro, and it does so in two ways. One is through taunting, making sure the bad guys are paying attention to the tank and no one else. The second is by being able to take the attacks those bad guys dish out. With Dull Pain I increase my HP, so I can take more attacks, and give healers more margin for error.
If I didn't already have a strategy for getting more lethal/smash resistance I would probably put these two slots into TI.
Level 8 -- Select power
Unyielding (END REDUCTION)
Here is that strategy. This is a great power, not only does it provide resistances to sleep, hold, disorient, and knockback (every tank set has something that does this kind of thing, and they are always must takes), but it also has some damage resistance against all damage types except psionics. That's just amazing. This is the first level I can take it, and I do right away. Since this is such a great power I will also six slot it as fast as possible.
Level 9 -- Allocate slots
Unyielding (END REDUCTION) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM)
The next few odd levels won't be a surprise, there is nothing more important to me than getting slots into Unyielding.
Level 10 -- Select power
Haymaker (ACC)
The first decent attack from the super strength line is available at level 10, and Rob has been coping with only having Jab until this point. This is a true team tank build, clearly, so I would expect to use Taunt more often than Jab/Haymaker, but it is always good to be able to do at least a little damage. Super strength attacks tend to use a ton of endurance, one of the main drawbacks of the powerset, so even then damage output is low.
Level 11 -- Allocate slots
Unyielding (END REDUCTION) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM)
Almost done.
Level 12 -- Select power
Hasten (RECHARGE)
I usually don't wait this long in builds to get Hasten, but tanks can be a different beast (as you will see eventually with my fire/fire tank build). I mostly want it for Taunt and as a prerequisite for Super Speed, but eventually Rob will be able to dish out some damage and Hasten allows that to happen faster. It is also important for Dull Pain (allows it to recharge faster and become perma and/or overlapping) and believe it or not for the toggle powers. If they get turned off, some of them take a while to recharge, and getting them back up and running can be a life or death matter for an invulnerability tank.
My feeling about getting Resist Energies is the same as what I had for Resist Elements at level 6: I will take it later when I want to catch up on slots and don't have a better power available.
Level 13 -- Allocate slots
Unyielding (END REDUCTION) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM)
Haymaker (ACC) (DAM)
Done with slotting Unyielding, and now that DOs are around this is a very good thing. Now the question really comes down to putting slots into Hasten or Haymaker. Although I want Hasten for Taunt, the recharge on Taunt isn't so long I'm going to have problems. I'm going to slot out one of my attacks so that I have something to do in combats that helps speed things along, and then I'll put some into Hasten. Either way is fine, though, and won't make a huge difference since all my slots until 19 are available. Once I take Invincibility at 18 that will demand six slotting immediately.
Level 14 -- Select power
Super Speed (RUN)
The same basic reasons as with Plasma Welder's build. Instead of Cloaking Device I'll eventually get Stealth from the concealment pool which will do the same basic thing, but not until the end when I have a power slot available that I have just nothing better to do with.
This is one of my few concept characters, and believe it or not Hasten and Super Speed are in character (as is being an invuln/SS tank).
Level 15 -- Allocate slots
Haymaker (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Six slot my attack so I can do some damage with something.
Level 16 -- Select power
Hurdle (JUMP)
See Plasma Welder's and Old Fire's builds for discussions on why I take Hurdle instead of Swift here. Note that in this build I'm starting the fitness line late, and won't get Stamina by 20. This sucks, but invulnerability has too many really good powers early, and since I only have one real attack and taunt as my job endurance is not *yet* a huge issue, although it will be, so it is okay to delay Stamina by two levels.
Hand Clap from the super strength line is not a bad power, adding a little bit of controllerishness to the tank. My main problem with it until much later is that Invulnerability tanks want the bad guys within melee range as much as possible (as you'll see in two powers), and using a power that makes them wander out is bad.
Level 17 -- Allocate slots
Haymaker (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
And at level 17 I finally have one fully slotted attack! You can hear the blasters crying in the distance.
Level 18 -- Select power
Invincibility (END REDUCTION)
One of the two powerset defining powers in my opinion. Unyielding gives you great damage resistances, Invincibility gives you great defense. For each foe in melee range you get melee range defense, which is why having a bunch of bad guys surrounding the invulnerability tank is a *good* thing. This is why they get so upset when someone knocks them out of melee range, not only are the bad guys now doing ranged attacks for which they don't have the added defense, but any still in melee range are attacking a now easier to hit tank.
Additionally Invincibility provides a melee range auto-taunt, making the bad guys stickier to the tank. Since the tank's role is aggro management, this is a necessary tool to do the job. For invulnerability I think Unyielding and Invincibility are the two no-brainer must take powers, and must take at the level they are first available (8 and 18 respectively). Other ideas can be entertained about toggle vs. auto resists and so on, but I can't imagine a good build without these two powers.
Level 19 -- Allocate slots
Invincibility (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Although the defense buff for Invincibility scales based on the number of bad guys in melee range, you want some working for you at all times. I like three defense in it, two can be argued as well.
Level 20 -- Select power
Health (HEAL)
Second in the fitness line, again see Plasma Welder's or Old Fire's builds for discussions on why Health.
Level 21 -- Allocate slots
Invincibility (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (TAUNT)
I slot Invincibility for taunt, and I think it makes a big difference especially when fighting mobs at significantly higher levels than the tank (like +3 - +5). I've tried experiments with and without and in that range it really works.
Level 22 -- Select power
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Finally, especially now that there are 3 toggles running while in combat (TI, Unyielding, and Invincibility). I could have started the fitness line a power sooner if I had not taken RPD so early, and then taken it at level 22. I think the additional lethal/smash resistance up until this point is worth it, and that waiting two levels for Stamina is a small price to pay.
Level 23 -- Allocate slots
Invincibility (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (TAUNT) (TAUNT)
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Wondering if I was going to get back to Hasten? If I had decided to slot Hasten before Haymaker, I would only now be slotting up my first attack. This is quite late, which is why I was more willing to wait on Hasten than my first (real) attack. On the one hand I'd be able to attack much faster, on the other the attacks I did would be pitiful. At least now I have one good attack that can get sped up.
Level 24 -- Select power
Knockout Blow (ACC)
The second big attack in the super strength line, it does pretty decent damage unslotted. That's good, since it will remain unslotted for a while. Now that I have one good attack I want it back more often, and having a decent second attack, even unslotted, means I can dish out a little damage.
Level 25 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Since I tend to only 5 slot Hasten in my builds these days (see Plasma Welder's and Old Fire's build for why), I'm almost done already.
Level 26 -- Select power
Tough Hide (DEFENSE)
Here's an interesting choice. I'm taking an auto power and I will be slotting it. I won't slot it for a while, so short term it is acting as a slot catch up power choice. Invulnerability is stronger on the resists than it is on the defense, and Invincibility only provides defense for melee range, so this helps partially fill a hole.
If I were really worried I might even get the fighting power pool for Tough and Weave, and six slot Weave. Not a bad choice. I don't do it in this build because I think the resists and defenses are good enough, I will have an 'Oh Crap' button in the form of Unstoppable at level 32 if I get into a situation where I need it, and endurance is already such a problem for super strength that I don't want to add to it with more toggles.
Level 27 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Catching up on slots, finish Hasten and start on Stamina.
Level 28 -- Select power
Rage (RECHARGE)
Oh boy, this power... it is basically like a longer lasting Build Up, but when it went down it would disorient the tank. Except that the tank would always have Unyielding (or a similar power in other tank lines), so there was disorient protection, which meant the tank would not be disoriented. One recharge was enough with Hasten to bring it back as soon as it was gone and make it 'perma'.
To prevent that, it was changed so that it took some endurance when it ended (which can drop toggles and make the tank faceplant quickly if they're not paying attention) and also prevent the tank from using any non-self targeted powers for something like 10 seconds. Not a huge deal, right? Except... that includes taunting and the taunt aspect of Invincibility, along with attacks. Rage drops, next attack someone does against the bad guys gets their full attention since the tank is no longer managing aggro.
This means it is a very situation power, it can be great to do a lot of extra damage when needed, but the tank and/or the team need to be very aware to avoid having everything go horribly wrong when it goes down.
I have it in this build for three reasons:
1. It is great for soloing, when the penalty doesn't really mean as much.
2. It can be extremely useful situationally, or when in a team with a second tank.
3. It won't get any more slots than the one it comes with, so I can catch up more on slotting.
Level 29 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Until it is done.
Level 30 -- Select power
Resist Elements (RESIST DAM)
The situation I mentioned above has come. I don't have any better powers to take right now, and I need to catch up on slots a lot. Doesn't matter which of the Resist Elements/Resist Energies I take here, I'll take the other at 35.
Level 31 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Dull Pain (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
The great feeling of finishing slotting of two powers in one level. With six slots in Dull Pain and Hasten I have overlapping DPs. Every little bit helps, especially fighting significantly higher level bad guys or doing mass herding.
Level 32 -- Select power
Unstoppable (RECHARGE)
For this build, Unstoppable is my 'Oh Crap' button. I have tanked +7 Devouring Earth with Rob, and when the debuffs/buffs they used got too much I hit Unstoppable and was able to run out of the mission after the rest of the team safely got out. Unstoppable let me survive so I could let the rest of the team survive.
Another great use of this is when a mez gets through Unyielding, which has happened for instance from high level Rikti or Carnies. I'm held, all my toggles go down, the best thing for me to do is chat 'zzz' or 'held' and then start pressing the Unstoppable key over and over. If I get out of the mez or someone Clear Minds me (for instance), I will be back up and fighting and able to get aggro back under control quickly.
If I hit Unyielding in the same situation, I'm very likely to (and have) toggle it on then off then on then off repeatedly. A click power in that situation is much better.
Level 33 -- Allocate slots
Knockout Blow (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Now, finally, in the 30s I am a fully functional tank and can start worrying about doing some damage.
Level 34 -- Allocate slots
Knockout Blow (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Tough Hide (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
I've now got two nice single target attacks six slotted. I'll get a good AoE at level 38. There are a few ways I could spend the upcoming slots, but I prefer to be tankerly and shore up my defenses. Another decent option would be TI, but generally I think Rob's resists are solid at this point, and I only really worry about debuffers which aren't too common in the 30s but start showing up more in the 40s. So I'll wait until then to finish slotting TI.
Level 35 -- Select power
Resist Energies (RESIST DAM)
Eh, nothing better. Hurl isn't interesting, I don't need yet another single target attack, especially one that might take up a lot of endurance which is my major problem.
Level 36 -- Allocate slots
Tough Hide (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
This is nearly done.
Level 37 -- Allocate slots
Tough Hide (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Taunt (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (TAUNT)
Once again, I'm leaning towards being a top notch team tank rather than soloing or anything else. Super strength just does not lend itself well to soloing, a better choice for that would be invulnerability/fire or invulnerability/energy. Possibly those would be better choices no matter what, but like I said this is a concept character. Not only do I want to be able to Taunt more often, but I want it to last longer. This is not a big deal for even level bad guys, but it becomes much harder to manage aggro against +4s or higher.
Level 38 -- Select power
Foot Stomp (ACC)
A MERE THIRTY EIGHT LEVELS and I now have a decent AoE attack. Huzzah! It also does nice knockdown, and knockback for much lower level guys but they aren't a threat anyway, so who cares if you knock them out of melee range.
This instantly became my favorite way to get their attention: run into a mob, Foot Stomp, and then start taunting and so on.
This is the big attack for super strength, so I want to slot it immediately.
Level 39 -- Allocate slots
Foot Stomp (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
STOMP STOMP STOMP
Level 40 -- Allocate slots
Foot Stomp (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Taunt (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (TAUNT) (TAUNT)
STOMP STOMP with the leftover into Taunt.
Level 41 -- Select power
Conserve Power (RECHARGE)
At level 41 the Epic Power Pools become available. I chose the energy EPP for one reason and one reason only: I needed help with endurance. Super strength is just way too endurance heavy, so getting Conserve Power is a necessity. The others tend to have holds and such, but as I explain in my Intermediate Player Guide, aggro management is a form of control. By now any tank should be a master of aggro management. Why would I want to hold them? That kind of baffles me.
Level 42 -- Allocate slots
Conserve Power (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
The recharge length on this is huge, so I put slots into it to help alleviate that fact.
NOTE: This is Rob's level as I write this guide. The rest is my plan, but I haven't played it yet. Everything up to this point I have played for many, many hours and am very happy with.
Level 43 -- Allocate slots
Temporary Invulnerability (END REDUCTION) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM) (RESIST DAM)
As I mentioned this is mostly useful against debuffers, but now that Rob is in the 40s they exist much more often. If/when the level cap is raised and there is post level 50 content, I fully expect there will be even more debuffing going on.
Level 44 -- Select power
Focused Accuracy (END REDUCTION)
More accuracy means more hitting which means more damage, and would allow me to change out all the accuracy enhancements in the attacks and make them damage, just like Targeting Drone did for Plasma Welder. Heavy endurance cost to this power, though, so it might not be usable until slots are applied.
Level 45 -- Allocate slots
Focused Accuracy (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION)
According to CoH Planner this will bring the endurance cost down to around 0.5/s, which is still high but possibly usable.
Level 46 -- Allocate slots
Focused Accuracy (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (TOHIT) (TOHIT)
Depending on how usable it is, I'll either slot for extra accuracy or more endurance reduction here, probably try both and see.
Level 47 -- Select power
Hand Clap (ACC)
Adding controllerish abilities at this stage is not a bad thing, and there are sets of bad guys in the 40s for which disorienting them immediately is a very good thing. Sappers come to mind. If there is just one I can Knockout Blow him and pretty much take him out immediately, but if there are a few it might be safer to either Foot Stomp (which often knocks them down) and then Hand Clap, or vice versa. I'll play with the tactics.
Level 48 -- Allocate slots
Hand Clap (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (DISORIENT)
I talk about this extensively in Old Fire's build, but this is essentially a controller power, and I'll slot it with my controller slotting philosophy: if I want to use it, I don't want to miss.
Level 49 -- Select power
Stealth (END REDUCTION)
Why take this power? I dunno, why not. Could come in handy running through the Shadow Shard or the Hive on my way to Hamidon. There's nothing really better out there, my level 50 slots are already spoken for. I could maybe go with recall friend at this spot, instead. But there's enough good reason to have stealth + super speed I like this choice.
Level 50 -- Allocate slots
Hand Clap (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (DISORIENT) (DISORIENT) (RECHARGE)
Fini!
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Invulnerability
Secondary Powers - Support : Super Strength
01 : Jab acc(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(43) damres(43) damres(43)
02 : Dull Pain recred(02) recred(5) recred(5) recred(7) recred(7) recred(31)
04 : Taunt recred(04) recred(37) tntdur(37) tntdur(40) tntdur(46) tntdur(50)
06 : Resist Physical Damage damres(06)
08 : Unyielding endred(08) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(11) damres(13)
10 : Haymaker acc(10) dam(13) dam(15) dam(15) dam(17) dam(17)
12 : Hasten recred(12) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25) recred(27)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Invincibility endred(18) defbuf(19) defbuf(19) defbuf(21) tntdur(21) tntdur(23)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(27) endrec(29) endrec(29) endrec(31) endrec(31)
24 : Knockout Blow acc(24) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
26 : Tough Hide defbuf(26) defbuf(34) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(37)
28 : Rage recred(28)
30 : Resist Elements damres(30)
32 : Unstoppable recred(32)
35 : Resist Energies damres(35)
38 : Foot Stomp acc(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(40)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(45) endred(45) endred(45) thtbuf(46) thtbuf(46)
47 : Hand Clap acc(47) acc(48) acc(48) disdur(48) disdur(50) recred(50)
49 : Stealth endred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Build #4: Micro Manager -- an illusion/force field/primal forces controller
Micro Manager was originally made as a force field/electric defender. I got him up to level 23 or so before deciding that a defender wasn't the right fit for the style of character I had in mind. This was early in my career, and Micro at the time was my main. But I deleted him and remade him as a controller anyway. He's now level 40 on Pinnacle.
The concept was a team-oriented defense specialist. He didn't do anything, but he made the team better. I wanted to heavily take force field and leadership powers, and basically by being around the rest of the team make them better.
Defenders still had too much offense for that concept (which I find pretty funny), but an illusion controller was a nice fit. I could 'manage' the field of combat. The force field set has three really good powers, a couple okay ones, and a few that hardly anyone takes. This makes it a great primary for defenders who want to get a lot of powers from their secondary, but is not great when you want to revolve your character around the bubbles.
He ended up with a lot more offense than I expected, mostly staying in concept. This build ended up having a few wacky twists and turns I'll go into which I think contrasts nicely with the much more straightforward build of Old Fire.
Level 1 -- Select primary power
Blind (ACC) / Personal Force Field (END REDUCTION)
Much like with Old Fire, I want to get a hold early with Micro. Unlike Old Fire, this hold will not be slotted for an incredibly long time, which is one of the wacky aspects of this build. I'm going to be dedicating a lot of slots and early power selections to becoming a solid bubble defender as a controller, instead.
Level 2 -- Select power
Deflection Shield (DEFENSE)
I like two of Micro's primary and two of his secondary powers of the first three of each, and that's what I need. If I can find four good ones of the six, I've got enough to last until power pools are available. Deflection Shield is one of the Big Three Bubbles, and I will be slotting it immediately.
Level 3 -- Allocate slots
Deflection Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Here you can see I'm taking the build distinctly in the force field direction. Other options would be to go more controllering (slot up Blind first) or with illusion control, you can even go for damage (by taking and slotting Spectral Wounds). These are all find choices, but they take you in significantly different directions.
Level 4 -- Select power
Spectral Wounds (ACC)
Hugely better damage than Force Bolt, so there's no reason to get that. Deceive is a very situational power, especially when you get to high levels I find that if you need it, it probably won't help you enough anyway. I have it much later just in case I find the perfect situation for it, but mostly because there aren't any better choices, and maybe it will be just the right thing for some situation.
Level 5 -- Allocate slots
Deflection Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Micro's job at this stage is the one bubble, single target holds, and some amount of damage with Spectral Wounds. It is enough to stay busy and drain lots of endurance, and usually adds a good amount of value to teams.
Level 6 -- Select power
Flash (ACC)
Illusion controllers get their AoE hold very very early, and that helps warp this already interesting build. As I explain in Old Fire's build, the AoE control is the defining power for a controller set, so I get it as early as possible and slot it immediately.
Level 7 -- Allocate slots
Deflection Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Flash (ACC) (ACC)
Didn't I just say slot it immediately? Well, first I finished slotted the bubble then I started slotting it. Normally I wouldn't wait at all, but this is a bubble-centric build.
Level 8 -- Select power
Hasten (RECHARGE)
This build is similar to Rob Anybody's in that the early power picks are good enough that I put off taking Hasten. The difference is that illusion's level 8 pick, Superior Invisibility, is a toggle whose function overlaps with a power that will soon also be available, Group Invisibility. GI is quite good, especially with Super Speed (see Plasma Welder's, Old Fire's, or Rob Anybody's build for discussion on stealth and Super Speed), and is team oriented, so I go that direction instead. That gives a good opening for Hasten.
Level 9 -- Allocate slots
FLASH (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD)
Slots into the AoE hold, see Old Fire's build for discussion on why I slot it that way.
Level 10 -- Select power
Insulation Shield (DEFENSE)
This is the second of the Big Three Bubbles, and worth taking in this build as soon as possible. The defenses provided by these two bubbles are very good.
Level 11 -- Allocate slots
Insulation Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
I'm even dropping the slotting of Flash for now to slot up the new bubble. I wouldn't do this in a build that wasn't so bubble-oriented.
Level 12 -- Select power
Hurdle (JUMP)
There are several reasons to take this power at level 12:
1. Need to start power selection towards Stamina, controllers are generally endurance limited once they have Hasten (and many times before).
2. Need to catch up on slotting, I have powers that I want to allocate slots to but haven't yet, if I keep picking powers that need slots I'll never catch up.
3. I like to take the complimentary first fitness power to my travel power. Since Micro Manager's primary travel power will be Super Speed, I take Hurdle. If it had been Super Jump, I would have taken Swift.
There is a mistake in the build! Group Invisibility is available at level 12, and I only ever want to put one slot into it. There's no good reason not to move GI to 12 and Hurdle to 16. More importantly, with this build I get Stamina at 22 and Dispersion Bubble (the third of the Big Three Bubbles) at 24. If I put off GI, I can move Stamina up to 20 and Dispersion to 22, then get GI at 24. Dispersion is *available* at 20, but it uses a lot of endurance and I can't imagine getting it before Stamina.
My recommendation would be: Hurdle at 12, Health at 16, Stamina at 20, Dispersion Bubble at 22, and Group Invisibility at 24. Amusingly, this would only make a difference in how one slot was allocated (for level 23).
I could be this sloppy because I planned this respec when Micro was in the late 20s or early 30s, and there's a tendency to be sloppier about when powers are picked and slotted when you know you're going to have them all at the level you're at anyway. Players who are very RSK conscious tend to pay more attention to power ordering, but are still often sloppy with slotting.
I try to take a critical look at my builds and think about not just RSK, but also if I were to start another character from level 1 and what would it be like to play. Sometimes I mess up, and this is one case where I did. To be fair, this is actually how I built the first time because I thought having Group Invisibility at level 16 was worth putting off Dispersion Bubble, but I don't think that is correct any longer.
Level 13 -- Allocate slots
Insulation Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
I'm working to finish this as soon as possible.
Level 14 -- Select power
Super Speed (RUN)
Travel power time, and Super Speed is the best choice. So far the build is already tight, every power is needed and useful. Hasten is one of the best powers in the game, and a precursor to Super Speed, so almost by default this becomes Micro Manager's travel power. In addition it works great with the Group Invisibility power I take later on, so it isn't just taken by default, it will be an important part of the build.
Level 15 -- Allocate slots
Insulation Shield (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Flash (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD)
Now that the bubble is fully slotted, I go back to Flash.
Level 16 -- Select power
Group Invisibility (RECHARGE)
I think I've covered this enough by now. With one recharge, Hasten, and SOs it comes back as soon as it expires depending on how up to date the enhancements are.
Also available at this level is Detention Field. This might be useful for a defender, but is has way too much overlap with a controller set to be worth the power slot. I have holds already kthnxbye.
Level 17 -- Allocate slots
Flash (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD) (RECHARGE)
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Lots of powers taken right away that I want to slot. What happened to my advice to take filler powers so I can keep better up to date with slotting? I don't have a good answer, the combination of the illusion set having really great powers right up front that demand slotting and my desire to make this a bubble-centric build conspired this way. I could have filled out with more power pool choices (moved Hurdle and Combat Jumping up much earlier), but they wouldn't have been as useful as the powers I currently have are, even though some of them remain unslotted.
Level 18 -- Select power
Phantom Army (ACC)
Just when you think the illusion set might give you some breathing room, it sucker punches you with PAs. It is too useful not to get, and too useful not to six slot immediately. For much of Micro's career pre-Phantasms I actually slotted it purely with recharge, but that will depend on your play style.
Level 19 -- Allocate slots
Phantom Army (ACC) (DAM) (DAM)
I'm going to show you my default pet slotting in this build, but PAs in particular are very adjustable depending on play style.
Level 20 -- Select power
Health (HEAL)
See my other builds for more info on this one, I don't want to repeat myself too much.
Level 21 -- Allocate slots
Phantom Army (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE)
Level 22 -- Select power
Stamina (END RECOVERY)
Between the endurance drain to keep a team bubbled, use Flash from time to time, drop PA when available, and if time and endurance permits do Blinds and Spectral Wounds, I think having Stamina in this build is definitely a prereq for running Dispersion Bubble.
Level 23 -- Allocate slots
Phantom Army (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
However, one major constraint is that Hasten is not perma yet. Get PA fully slotted and make another dent in that problem.
Level 24 -- Select power
Dispersion Bubble (END REDUCTION)
The final bubble of the Big Three Bubbles, this one is a toggle and a big end drainer. It is also a great power, so... slot it up immediately, especially on a bubble-centric build.
Level 25 -- Allocate slots
Dispersion Bubble (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Level 26 -- Select power
Combat Jumping (DEFENSE)
Why the leaping pool? There really is a good reason beyond addiction to Super Speed + Super Jump: Acrobatics. When I plan a build I take a look at the two power sets I'm working with and look for holes. I have a hole in Knockback protection. Dispersion Bubble is great against Holds, Immobilize, and Disorient, but there's no protection against Knockback. Additionally Acrobatics provides some Hold protection, and you can never have too much of that.
Plus, Super Speed + Super Jump is too much fun for mere words.
Level 27 -- Allocate slots
Dispersion Bubble (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
More bubbles more bubbles more bubbles.
Level 28 -- Select power
Super Jump (JUMP)
WHEE.
Also: Repulsion Field does not excite me. It is another one (like Detention Field) that might be useful for a force field defender but isn't worth it for a controller.
Level 29 -- Allocate slots
Dispersion Bubble (END REDUCTION) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Finally finish the last Big Three Bubble, which means that slots in future levels will be available for other things. That mostly means catching up on slotting at this stage, since I am way behind.
Level 30 -- Select power
Acrobatics (END REDUCTION)
The real point of taking the leaping pool, now Micro has protection against knockback and better resistance against holds (in combination with Dispersion Bubble). I would do the same thing with a force field defender if I were going more the meleefender route, probably even make Super Jump the primary movement power to get Acrobatics earlier.
A nice side effect of taking the leaping pool at this stage is it allows me three powers worth of time to catch up on slots. Not enough, but a big help for this build.
Level 31 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
As usual slots are very tight in this build, especially with a few choices I'm going to make near the end. Once again I 5 slot Hastens. This is also a very late time to work on slotting Stamina, and the situation doesn't get any better.
Level 32 -- Select power
Phantasm (ACC)
Illusion is a pet-heavy powerset, with Phantom Army, Phantasm, and Spectral Terror. I could easily imagine a build around that, you would have tanks in the form of PAs, blasters with Phantasms, and controllers with Spectral Terror. In that case I wouldn't go with force fields as the secondary, since the only buffable pet is Phantasm. I'd really almost have to go with radiation and concentrate on debuffing the enemy in order to make PAs and Spectral Terrors more effective.
Anyhow, I digress. Phantasms are basically flying energy blasters would can also summon single decoys for their current target. Great stuff. Originally I slotted for recharge with the idea that it would be more 'defensive' to have a lot of Phantasms out at any give time who can then summon their own decoys. Like a two-for-one deal. Except they weren't doing much damage as a whole, keeping them bubbled was a bit of a pain, and their knockback was scattering mobs everywhere. It worked but I prefer my default pet slotting style anyway.
This is yet another great power in the illusion controller set and demands immediate slotting.
Level 33 -- Allocate slots
Phantasm (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
My normal slotting style for pets which is not affected by having the force field secondary, which is pretty much a pure defense and knockback buff set.
Level 34 -- Allocate slots
Phantasm (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
I may be warped a bit by having too many high level characters, the idea of having Stamina only four slotted by level 34 doesn't phase me too much. It is far from ideal, but not unlivable. In order to fix this and some other issues (like not having slotted Blind or Spectral Wounds yet) I would have to have a lot fewer slots in the bubbles, which were the actual point of the build. Remember, this is a better-bubbler-than-a-bubble-defender type build, not the ultimate illusion/force field controller build.
Level 35 -- Select power
Deceive (ACC)
Here's the first power in this build I consider totally optional. I could put anything here, there just isn't anything that really appeals to me. My hope is that every now and then I'll really really need Deceive, or it will be wonderful in PvP, or something will redeem it. In the previous build I had Spectral Terror, a very cool power which I think needs and deserves slotting if it is part of a build.
Now I've got a build idea running through my head that involves 6 slotting all three illusion pets, Accelerate Metabolism, three slotting Hasten, and heavily slotting the radiation debuffs. Hmmmmm. Might be able to keep enough pets out to single handedly lag the server. Imagine two or more ill/rads with that kind of build teamed together. Muahahaha. I'll have to play with CoH Planner on that idea soon.
Level 36 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Spectral Wounds (ACC) (DAM)
Finish Stamina, and a mere 32 levels after I took the power I put another slot into Spectral Wounds.
Level 37 -- Allocate slots
Spectral Wounds (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
At these levels when you set your mind to slotting up a power, it happens quickly.
Level 38 -- Select power
Force Bubble (END REDUCTION)
This power was in my concept at one stage: Micro Manager would act as a mobile blaster platform, defending with the Big Three Bubbles and keeping the bad guys out of melee distances with Force Bubble. When I found out just how much endurance it drained (the drain is enormous), I started looking for alternates. I ended up taking it anyway because there are just no other good options anyway (heck, look at level 35), and after playing around with it single slotted in the Eden Trial I like the idea again.
I'm going to have to slot it up to get the endurance drain down to a level where I can run it when I want to, hopefully it will be worth it.
Level 39 -- Allocate slots
Spectral Wounds (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Blind (ACC) (ACC) (ACC)
Hey look! I'm a damage dealer and a controller!
Level 40 -- Allocate slots
Blind (ACC) (ACC) (ACC) (HOLD) (HOLD) (RECHARGE)
If you're not amused that it took me until level 40 to have my most basic illusion controller powers fully slotted, you should be.
NOTE: This is Micro Manager's level as I write this guide. I have played extensively with this build and slight variants that I had before it. Micro is the character I tried to do every TF and Trial with, and I think the only ones I missed with him were the Caverns trial and the Calvin Scott TF.
Although the build and thus style of play is heavily bubble-oriented, as the levels went on the illusion controller side became more and more part of the play style. For much of the build that was endurance constrained (as mentioned), but having Phantom Army to compliment bubbles for team defense works very well, as an example.
Level 41 -- Select power
Conserve Power (RECHARGE)
I'm going with the Primal Forces EPP for purely tactical reasons.
1. I want Conserve Power to help with the endurance issues, if I fire it off right before running Force Bubble I might be able to run it more often. Creating pets and using AoE holds tend to be expensive endurance draining powers, as is re-bubbling a full team.
2. Temp Invulnerability is a nice armor.
3. Power Boost: *More* effective holds? Sign me up.
Level 42 -- Allocate slots
Conserve Power (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
I'm going to six slot Force Bubble in order to bring its endurance drain down to the level where I could actually run it full time if I wanted. More likely I will be able to run it when it makes sense without having to turn off everything else.
Throw the extra slots into Conserve Power to get it back more often. Slotting heavily for endurance management at this stage since there's nothing attack/defense-wise left that I haven't already slotted out.
A word about endurance management: Don't slot blindly, know where the big drains are. By far my biggest endurance draining power is Force Bubble, so if I'm serious about keeping it up that's clearly where my slots should go. Additionally, Conserve Power is the type of power like Hasten, Stamina, and suchlike that work across all powers. When CP is activated, all powers take less endurance, so any slot you put in there is extra-leveraged. As much as I want to put slots into Force Bubble to get its endurance drain under control, by putting the same slots into Conserve Power I make everything cheaper for a while, and that should be enough to run Force Bubble at least during the duration of CP, if not longer.
Level 43 -- Allocate slots
Conserve Power (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Force Bubble (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION)
Each endurance reduction enhancement in Force Bubble makes a huge difference, since it is starting from such a high number.
Level 44 -- Select power
Temp Invulnerability (RESIST)
With this and Personal Force Field up at the same time, I can pretty much just laugh at danger inside my nice, safe cocoon. Although PFF has saved my hide more than once I have been somewhat disappointed in it as my 'Oh Crap' button because I still get hit a lot more often than I think I should, and it is in no way as good as the Fake Nemesis version (which is more like Phase Shift). With TI on normally, hitting PFF should be much more effective. TI and Dispersion Bubble should be a nice combo.
Level 45 -- Allocate slots
Temp Invulnerability (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Like my other builds that take an armor as part of an EPP, I slot it up immediately but not for endurance reduction, preferring to live.
Level 46 -- Allocate slots
Temp Invulnerability (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Force Bubble (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION)
Keep adding the extras in Force Bubble since there's more bang for the buck in those slots than anywhere else in the build.
Level 47 -- Select power
Power Blast (ACC)
I don't need to take this power, but I think it will be fun to energy blast along side my Phantasms. If I'm going to take this attack, though, I really need to slot it up. Between this and Spectral Wounds I should be able to do pretty respectable single target damage.
Level 48 -- Allocate slots
Power Blast (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Level 49 -- Select power
Power Boost (RECHARGE)
I did this one second because I don't intend to slot it, and I did want to slot Power Blast if I took it.
Level 50 -- Allocate slots
Power Blast (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Force Bubble (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION) (END REDUCTION)
At this point Force Bubble should be cheap enough to run whenever I want, especially with Conserve Power recharging pretty often. I've got two fully slotted single target attacks, a single target hold, an AoE hold, two different pets, three forms of self protection and two ally buffs that will also work on one of the types of pets. Micro can act as a fully functional mobile blaster defensive position.
The sad thing is that despite how well all of this fits together, during a Hamidon Micro's job would/will be to sit at 500 ft. and drop PA over and over. Occasionally move side to side. Yay?
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Illusion Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Force Field
01 : Personal Force Field endred(01)
01 : Blind acc(01) acc(39) acc(39) hlddur(40) hlddur(40) recred(40)
02 : Deflection Shield defbuf(02) defbuf(3) defbuf(3) defbuf(5) defbuf(5) defbuf(7)
04 : Spectral Wounds acc(04) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37) dam(37) dam(39)
06 : Flash acc(06) acc(7) acc(9) hlddur(9) hlddur(15) recred(17)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(17) recred(23) recred(29) recred(31)
10 : Insulation Shield defbuf(10) defbuf(11) defbuf(11) defbuf(13) defbuf(13) defbuf(15)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Group Invisibility recred(16)
18 : Phantom Army acc(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(34) endrec(36) endrec(36)
24 : Dispersion Bubble endred(24) defbuf(25) defbuf(25) defbuf(27) defbuf(27) defbuf(29)
26 : Combat Jumping defbuf(26)
28 : Super Jump jmp(28)
30 : Acrobatics endred(30)
32 : Phantasm acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Deceive acc(35)
38 : Force Bubble endred(38) endred(43) endred(46) endred(50)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Temp Invulnerability damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Power Blast acc(47) dam(48) dam(48) dam(48) dam(50) dam(50)
49 : Power Boost recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
One note for this build based on the I4 changes:
Siphon Speed has been improved so that it debuffs the target's recharge rate and buffs the character's recharge rate in return. This makes it much more interesting, but I'm not sure how much yet (I will get the power in a kinetics defender and see how I like it, then modify Old Fire's build if it looks really good).
In that case I believe it makes sense as a buff/debuff power but not as a movement power substitute for the same reason I stated in level 10 of this build. I would use it 95% for the self recharge rate buff (if it was enough to make a difference, otherwise I won't keep the power), 4.5% for the enemy recharge rate debuff, and 0.5% for the movement speed increase which under those circumstances could be more of a problem than a help.
Now, if Siphon Speed's recharge rate buff is better than Hasten, I may rethink things. Recharge rate is such an important thing in the game, however, that I can't imagine not taking Hasten and wanting to stack the two. So I will still be taking the speed power pool. Might as well take a +stealth toggle travel power, which is why I don't see these changes being anywhere near significant enough to forego Super Speed.
I would be rather shocked if the recharge rate debuff on the power was good enough to make it worth using for that aspect, but like I said I'll try it out in 8 levels on my defender (with the current build I have planned on him) and see how it works.
Anyone have further data?
Build #5: Brick Firehouse -- a fire/fire tank
I create Brick, who is now a level 40 fire/fire tank on Virtue, as a good solo character that I could play when my main server (Pinnacle) was down. That was happening a lot for a period of time, and she got some play time. I planned her original build without a strong idea of how fire tanks work, and made a number of mistakes that I've seen others make with theirs. I took Hasten early on, went for Super Speed as the travel power, and so on.
Fire tanks are finicky. Yes, they are extremely powerful and great at soloing when all the pieces fit together, but they can be miserable tanks when built wrong. A lot of the fire tanks that are so upset about the endurance changes to burn fit into that category, I ran Brick around a while after change and found that while endurance usage is a bit higher, she's still a soloing machine.
This build will be different than those previously listed because the changes that I've made from the "defensive oriented" fire tank in Mephe's excellent fire/fire tank guide are minimal. I changed a little bit of the slotting around in the 40s, but that's it. Instead of explaining how I came up with the build (since I didn't), I'll go into more detail on why the build works the way it does and how missteps along the way can cause problems.
Level 1 -- Select primary power
Blazing Aura (ACC) / Scorch (ACC)
Until a fire tank gets Burn, Blazing Aura is the primary source of damage dealing. Once Burn is available (level 18), Blazing Aura's job becomes aggro management first, damage dealing second. I slot for damage until 18, then put a few taunts in there afterwards to help keep the bad guys in the Burn patch.
You may be tempted by Fire Sword, but don't get caught in that trap. Fire tanks are about AoE damage, so the build only takes two single target attacks ever (three if you count Boxing), and one of them (Scorch) there's no choice about. Don't spend the power or the slots on Fire Sword.
Level 2 -- Select power
Healing Flames (RECHARGE)
There are two excellent reasons to take this power so quickly. The first is that fire tanks give up defenses for damage, so there will be a big need for self healing. The second is that Healing Flames gives the only Toxic damage type resistance in the set, without it the tank has a big vulnerability.
Fire Shield is also fine at this point, but at these low levels you're going to get more utility from self heal than from a small amount of damage resistance. We're talking about a two level difference though, long term it doesn't matter (especially since early slots go into Blazing Aura).
Level 3 -- Allocate slots
Blazing Aura (ACC) (DAM) (DAM)
I'm going to show low level slotting first, as I mentioned I change the slotting quite a bit after Burn comes online.
Low level fire tank: run into a group of bad guys (not very many or not very high level to start with) with Blazing Aura on, sit there. Bad guys eventually die. Repeat. You can use Scorch a little, but don't let it use up your endurance. Use Healing Flames if they hit you too much.
Level 4 -- Select power
Fire Shield (RESIST)
Great armor. This one is not just important because of the damage resists, it also gives you resistance to disorient. As I mentioned in Rob Anybody's build, tanks require status effect resistances. For some tank primaries (and many scrapper secondaries), those resistances are packaged neatly into one power. For invulnerability tanks it is Unyielding, for regeneration scrappers it is Integration.
Fire tanks, on the other hand, have them spread out over several powers and one big hole: knockback. This hole must be addressed to have a good fire tank.
Level 5 -- Allocate slots
Blazing Aura (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
"When I stand there, PEOPLE DIE."
Normally I slot strengths early, but fire tanks are a weird special case. They're half scrapper, half tank. I start with the major damage dealing power then I move to slotting defenses.
Level 6 -- Select power
Combat Jumping (DEFENSE)
Here's one way to address that big hole in the set: Acrobatics. That gives knockback resistance. Normally I would take Hasten early and then naturally have Super Speed as the travel power, but this hole in the resistances plus the fact that fire tanks don't do their damage (especially at early levels) by repeated attacking but rather pretty much standing there and not getting killed while doing damage over time means that Hasten isn't as important. Acrobatics is, however, so Super Jump is the travel power of choice.
As a nice side effect, Combat Jumping itself is a decent power that has some minor defense and immobilize resistance. It takes hardly any endurance, might as well slot for defense instead of end reduction.
Level 7 -- Allocate slots
Blazing Aura (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST)
The only significant damage dealing for the first 18 levels is now slotted, so move on to defenses.
Level 8 -- Select power
Consume (ACC)
The other big issue that fire tanks have is endurance management. By the time Brick is level 30 she'll be running 7 toggles during combat, plus all of the real attacks are endurance hogs. Consume is great for this, it sucks endurance for nearby enemies.
Level 9 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Defenses until they're done.
Level 10 -- Select power
Boxing (ACC)
Fire Shield is nice, but it doesn't bring Brick's lethal/smash damage resistances to the cap (maximum level). Defense is also a problem for fire tanks, they just don't get any from the fire tank primary set, so getting Tough and Weave to help with those problems is a must.
Sadly, Boxing turns out to be just as good of a single target attack as Scorch, so in those cases where I need one I have two now. I won't slot either.
Level 11 -- Allocate slots
Fire Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
And now they are.
Level 12 -- Select power
Swift (RUN)
There are several reasons to take this power at level 12:
1. Need to start power selection towards Stamina, I explained that fire tanks have major endurance problems and Stamina is essential for helping with that.
2. Need to catch up on slotting, I have powers that I want to allocate slots to but haven't yet, if I keep picking powers that need slots I'll never catch up.
3. I like to take the complimentary first fitness power to my travel power. Since Brick Firehouses primary travel power will be Super Jump, I take Swift. If it had been Super Speed, I would have taken Hurdle.
Level 13 -- Allocate slots
Healing Flames (RECHARGE) (HEAL) (HEAL)
The second stage of defense for a fire tank is the self heal. Much damage will be taken, especially before Tough and Weave are taken, so not only being able to self heal but having that self heal be very effective is important.
Level 14 -- Select power
Super Jump (JUMP)
Travel power time, and Super Jump is the best choice. It turns out this is a great travel power for fire tanks anyway, it allows the tank to jump into the middle of a pack of bad guys, kill them, jump into the next, kill them, and so on. In some key zones like Terra Volta and Creys Folly there are really nice areas to find groups of bad guys that would be a huge pain to get to with Super Speed, but are just a hop away.
Level 15 -- Allocate slots
Healing Flames (RECHARGE) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL)
This becomes a great heal once fully slotted. Play with slotting recharges vs. heals and decide what works best with your style over time.
Level 16 -- Select power
Taunt (RECHARGE)
I talk about aggro management responsibilities for tanks in Rob Anybody's build, and fire tanks are no different. If you will ever be a tank on a real team with your fire tank you need Taunt. It is useful for herding and working to keep bad guys in the Burn patch even if not.
Level 17 -- Allocate slots
Healing Flames (RECHARGE) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL) (HEAL)
Consume (ACC) (RECHARGE)
Finish off the self heal and get Consume back more often. Eventually I want Consume back as often as possible (pretty much solves the endurance problems), but there won't any free slots for a long time after this one.
Level 18 -- Select power
Burn (DAM)
Burn isn't just about damage, it also has the immobilize protection for the fire tank primary set. I slot for damage (and later recharge) because it pours out such quick damage over time missing a few isn't important.
Having this power (even with only the default slot) changes things dramatically. Now instead of Blazing Aura being the major damage output, it is a distance second to Burn. I change the slotting for Blazing Aura to:
Blazing Aura (ACC) (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (TAUNT) (TAUNT)
Although it is nice for it to do a little bit of damage, its major purpose in life is to keep the bad guys from running away from the Burn patch, which they will do without some amount of taunting. The two taunt and two accuracy enhancements do a great job that will work up to around +4 or +5 enemies.
Level 19 -- Allocate slots
BURN (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
This is the most important power hands down for the entire fire tank primary set, get it ASAP and slot it ASAP.
Level 20 -- Select power
Plasma Shield (RESIST)
The second major defense for the set, and required. It provides sleep and hold resistance, tanks can't reasonable go without that. Depending on the foes this shield may or may not need to be up, but it needs to be taken and slotted fairly early.
Level 21 -- Allocate slots
BURN (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE)
Four damage SOs are more than enough to deal out major smackdown, so for the last two slots I put in recharges to get it back more often and stack the Burn patches. Pre-SOs you might want to go with pure damage.
Level 22 -- Select power
Acrobatics (END REDUCTION)
This fills in the major status resistance (knockdown) well enough, and just in time to avoid being knocked down constantly by Sky Raiders, Tsoo, Banished Pantheon, and Freakshow throughout the 20s.
It is an expensive toggle, so slot for endurance reduction but generally leave it on.
Level 23 -- Allocate slots
BURN (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Plasma Shield (RESIST) (RESIST)
Once again, now that offense is taken care of start slotting out the new defense heavily.
Level 24 -- Select power
Health (HEAL)
The build can delay Health/Stamina to this point because endurance problems are not yet a major factor (as long as Scorch and Boxing aren't overused). Tough and Weave are coming up, though, as is Fire Sword Circle and other attacks that will cause major endurance drain, so now is the time given that the build has plenty of offense and defense already.
Level 25 -- Allocate slots
Plasma Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Level 26 -- Select power
Stamina (END RECOVERY)
Level 27 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
You can reasonably go two ways here: Finish slotting Plasma Shield, then start Stamina, or work on Stamina first and then finish Plasma Shield. Which way you go should depend on how often you need damage resistance against Energy and Negative types.
Level 28 -- Select power
Tough (RESIST)
Unslotted Tough is enough to bring lethal/smash above the cap, so that's all I want out of it besides access to Weave. If you're worried about debuffs it would be reasonable to slot it out, but good luck finding any free slots in this build. You'll have to give up offense, which isn't something fire tanks do lightly.
Level 29 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
For this build clearly getting endurance management under control is higher priority than energy/negative resistance.
Level 30 -- Select power
Weave (DEFENSE)
This adds much needed defense to the build. There isn't any other defense available in the fire tank set, so it is definitely worth six slotting this power.
Level 31 -- Allocate slots
Stamina (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY) (END RECOVERY)
Plasma Shield (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST) (RESIST)
Finish Stamina and Plasma Shield at the same time, love these kinds of levels.
Level 32 -- Select power
Hasten (RECHARGE)
It is really amusing to take Hasten as the big uber level 32 power, but in this build it makes a lot of sense. The only way I could take it earlier would be to delay very important powers, like Acrobatics or Tough/Weave. If I delay the fitness pool I'll have Hasten without Stamina in a build that already has endurance issues, making the problem worse. Delaying Acrobatics can work, however at level 22 the knockback is not rare and it could cost you a few hospital trips. Tough and Weave make an immediate, noticeable difference in how well the build works.
It is funny that Hasten is the level 32 power, because starting with this power selection everything in the build is about speeding up the process of turning bad guys into XP. Having that begin with Hasten is very poetic. Other than six slotting Weave, everything is now about doing more damage faster with less recovery time.
Level 33 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Now that we have it, five slot it fast.
Level 34 -- Allocate slots
Hasten (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Weave (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
Finish Hasten and start slotting out Weave, which will be done with the next slotting level.
Level 35 -- Select power
Fire Sword Circle (ACC)
The third AoE attack for the build, and once it is slotted it will be a nice way to speed up. Set down a Burn patch, FSC, Burn patch, Burn patch, FSC. This is all endurance heavy, so there will be Consumes and eating blue inspirations in there, but things get faster.
Level 36 -- Allocate slots
Weave (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE) (DEFENSE)
We are officially done with the defense portion of the program, you may now concentrate on dishing out more and more damage.
Level 37 -- Allocate slots
Fire Sword Circle (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
This is now a very respectable attack.
Level 38 -- Select power
Incinerate (ACC)
The third single target attack of the build (after Scorch and Boxing) and the only one that should be in a tray after it is taken.
Level 39 -- Allocate slots
Fire Sword Circle (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Incinerate (ACC) (DAM)
The slotting is very straightforward at this point, I'll make sure to note where I differ from Mephe's build.
Level 40 -- Allocate slots
Incinerate (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
NOTE: This is Brick Firehouse's level as of the time I write this guide.
Level 41 -- Select power
Fiery Embrace (RECHARGE)
Basically a super Build Up kind of power specific for fire attacks (but not Burn). It'll make Blazing Aura, Fire Sword Circle, and Incinerate much stronger for its duration.
None of the EPPs for tanks really makes sense with this build. As I mentioned in Rob Anybody's build, tanks aren't really in need of control because aggro management is a form of control they excel in. As a fire/fire tank I'm not looking for slower recharging attacks... I still have at least one or two good ones I haven't taken if I want more of that.
The one I could see an argument for is Energy Mastery's Conserve Power. I wouldn't want anything else from it, and I have another power already that will help with endurance problems (Consume), so I'd rather put any slots into that anyway.
Level 42 -- Allocate slots
Incinerate (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Fiery Embrace (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
This is basically where I differ from Mephe's build, and it is a minor difference at that. Instead of putting one of the extra slots at 42 into Consume I put them both in Fiery Embrace, and then finish slotting that before fully slotting Consume. That's all. My reasoning is that more damage is always useful, CABs are usually plentiful, and Consume is up a fair amount already. I often like to concentrate my slotting to make powers significantly more effective quickly.
Level 43 -- Allocate slots
Fiery Embrace (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Level 44 -- Select power
Build Up (RECHARGE)
Combine this with Fiery Embrace and you're doing even more massive damage. Or alternate between the two to make sure the massive damage stays at a high level more consistently.
Level 45 -- Allocate slots
Consume (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
And just like that it is back a ton more often.
Level 46 -- Allocate slots
Consume (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Build Up (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Level 47 -- Select power
Combustion (ACC)
I like Mephe's idea of putting another AoE, especially one enhanced by Fiery Embrace, into the build at this point. A single target attack could also work, probably Greater Fire Sword, it just depends on who you're fighting and your style.
Level 48 -- Allocate slots
Combustion (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Level 49 -- Select power
Rise of the Phoenix (HEAL)
For this level I need a power that I won't want to slot (level 50 slots go into Combustion or whatever is taken at 47). Any of the EPP powers would have marginal use without slotting, all four power pools have been taken by this time. RotP makes a lot of sense, hopefully I won't die often but as the tank of a team if I do die it can be bad news. Having a reasonable way to get back up and into action is a great thing to have, and now that they've fixed the problem with the tank getting beaten down immediately after raising it might be useful in the middle of the pack of bad guys that made me need to use it.
Level 50 -- Allocate slots
Combustion (ACC) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM) (DAM)
Build Up (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE) (RECHARGE)
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fiery Aura
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Melee
01 : Scorch acc(01)
01 : Blazing Aura acc(01) acc(3) dam(3) dam(5) tntdur(5) tntdur(7)
02 : Healing Flames recred(02) hel(13) hel(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
04 : Fire Shield damres(04) damres(7) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(11)
06 : Combat Jumping defbuf(06)
08 : Consume acc(08) recred(17) recred(45) recred(45) recred(45) recred(46)
10 : Boxing acc(10)
12 : Swift runspd(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Taunt recred(16)
18 : Burn dam(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Plasma Shield damres(20) damres(23) damres(25) damres(25) damres(31) damres(31)
22 : Acrobatics endred(22)
24 : Health hel(24)
26 : Stamina endrec(26) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(29) endrec(29) endrec(31)
28 : Tough damres(28)
30 : Weave defbuf(30) defbuf(34) defbuf(34) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36)
32 : Hasten recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) recred(33) recred(34)
35 : Fire Sword Circle acc(35) dam(37) dam(37) dam(37) dam(39) dam(39)
38 : Incinerate acc(38) dam(39) dam(40) dam(40) dam(40) dam(42)
41 : Fiery Embrace recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Build Up recred(44) recred(46) recred(46) recred(50)
47 : Combustion acc(47) dam(48) dam(48) dam(48) dam(50) dam(50)
49 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Good job, very well thought out. Very insightful.
Build #6: Warcupine -- a spines/regen/body scrapper
I'm going to change formats for this build quite a bit. Instead of just going through thought process on a level-per-level basis, I want to talk about how to approach planning a build and a bigger picture way of fleshing it out. Doing a real build often involves a lot of time moving powers around, trying to allocate slots earlier for certain powers while not totally starving others, determining what the important powers are and how to fill in gaps in a powerset.
First, the character: Warcupine came about after reading ThornKiller's great spines/regen 2.0 guide. I liked the idea of an AoE scrapper, but wasn't very motivated to make one (at the time I was still working Plasma Welder and Old Fire to 50). I think I was dozing off to sleep one night when the name "Warcupine" hit me, and I couldn't help but run downstairs, fire up CoH, and make the character.
Yeah, a name driven character. I get compliments on the name on a regular basis, so I think it was worth it, and I love his costume and how it works with the spines powers.
The first step for planning a build/respec is getting to know the primary and secondary powersets. I break the powers into the following very loose categories:
1. Powerset defining: These must be taken as soon as they're available and usually 6 slotted immediately.
2. Great powers: They should be taken and slotted, but there's more flexibility in when.
3. Good powers: They probably should be in the build, but may not be required or may not fit into specific ones.
4. Eh: Not horrible, not great or good. These powers make good filler, usually you won't slot them so they can help with catching up on slotting.
5. Bad: Don't take.
6. Required: You have no choice, for instance the first power of secondaries. They may be good, bad, eh, but it doesn't matter since you have to take it. Another example here is power pool powers you take purely to open up the later ones.
Given these buckets, let's take a look at Spines and Regeneration. I like to evaluate them completely separately, the way I categorize powers for Spines should not change based on whether the character is /regen or /invuln or whatever. For a particular build I may move powers around because of the secondary, but valuation of the powers is independent.
Spines
Powerset Defining
1. Spine Burst: This is bread and butter for the Spines scrapper. It is the first and most important AoE for an AoE scrapper, and the chief delivery vehicle of damage throughout the career. Available at level 2.
2. Impale: This in the bread and butter ranged and single target attack, great damage and range. Available at level 8.
Great Powers
1. Quills: This is not about damage, it is about aggro management and slow effect. I think people really underestimate -recharge effects in this game.
2. Ripper: Melee cone, strong damage.
3. Throw Spines: Ranged cone, good damage.
Good Powers
1. Build Up: Definitely a good power, but hardly defining or great. I take it early in builds if I have the room, but it can wait if there are more important things.
Eh
1. Lunge: Eh. Better than Barb Swipe, anyway.
2. Confront: Depending on what you're going to do with a spines scrapper, you might want this.
Bad
1. Barb Swipe: Yyyyyeah.
Required
Well, you have to take either Barb Swipe or Lunge.
What makes Spines difficult is that I have two powers I need to plan the build around, three that are great stuff and I want to get and slot as quickly as I reasonably can, one that I would love to get in early... and one that I have to take immediately even though I'd prefer not to.
Let's take a look at what that gives in terms of a build skeleton:
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02)
08 : Impale acc(08)
So far so good. Now on to Regen:
Regeneration
Powerset Defining
1. Quick Recovery: Regeneration is about two things: Regen rate of endurance, and regen rate of health. This is the major power in the set for endurance, and is better than Stamina.
2. Integration: This power is both status protection (knockback, disorient, sleep, hold, immobilize) *and* health regeneration. If you could only take one power from the entire set, this would be it.
3. Instant Healing: The ultimate in health regeneration and endurance drain (your own, that is).
Great Powers
1. Dull Pain: Health regen works as a percentage gain of total health, and DP increases total health... so all health regen powers are now working that much better.
Good Powers
1. Reconstruction: Not bad, not great. Tends to be more use at lower levels, the toxic resist is very low to the point where there is none, but it can be helpful when you just took a large amount of damage fast to give a little bit extra ding to the health regen.
Eh
1. Resilience: Very low levels of resistance since it is an auto, plus some disorient resistance. The only nice thing is that one of the damage types it does resist is toxic.
2. Revive: Self-rez does have a place late in the game, but you could certainly enjoy a build without it.
3. Moment of Glory: My problem with MoG is that the nature of regen is this: You're either dead, or you're at full health. The situation in which you would get steadily beat on over time and be able to think "hey, this is bad, I'd better hit MoG" is a stretch. Like other big defense powers, it is situational and once it runs out you better have either taken care of the situation or have a very good Plan B.
Bad
None, amazingly!
Required
1. Fast Healing: I love having useful powers as my required secondary, and this is not bad at all. Helps my health regen rate a little (it is an auto, after all).
First, the build skeleton for any /regen:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
16 : Integration hel(16)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28)
Now, the very basic skeleton for a Spines/Regen:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
08 : Impale acc(08)
16 : Integration hel(16)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28)
A good start! Except for the first two, all should be six slotted quickly. Having this skeleton helps really give structure to any Spines/Regen build, just having these powers at these levels will help make a build playable.
Power Pools
Next it is time to think about Power Pools. The old standards are Speed and Fitness, and this build will be no exception. Hasten will allow for faster damage (always important for a scrapper) and gives easier perma-Dull Pain or overlapping Dull Pains, which as mentioned essentially gives all health regen powers a 40% increase. Spines is a heavy endurance using set, and so are the toggles for Regen, so getting Stamina is very important.
Regeneration gets its "defense" not by avoiding or reducing damage, but by taking the damage full on and then healing it up quickly. Taking the fighting pool for Tough and Weave can help provide very valuable resistance and defense that makes the healing more effective by reducing the amount of incoming damage, particularly important for mitigating large alpha attacks.
Other power pools are possible, but none are really key. Taking a look at the power pools:
Speed
1. Flurry: Total waste.
2. Hasten: The reason to get the pool, worth about two recharge rate SOs in every power. 5-6 slotted with recharge rate.
3. Super Speed: Fast travel power.
4. Whirlwind: An interesting power that doesn't really fit with this build. It could work with Quills and Spine Burst, maybe... something worth checking out on the test server.
Fitness
1. Swift: For the first two, see my other builds on when I take which.
2. Hurdle
3. Health: I like this one particularly for this build because it helps build on the strength of the regen set.
4. Stamina: Hugely important since endurance is generally the constraining factor for most builds unless you know you're going to always (or almost always) run the character with another who can buff endurance regen rate, like kinetics (Speed Boost), radiation (Accelerate Metabolism), or empathy (Recovery Aura and Adrenaline Boost). Even in those cases you often want to get this power unless you're running with more than one.
Fighting
1. Boxing: Need to get one of the first two, I don't even keep them in my trays except at very low levels.
2. Kick
3. Tough: Toggle that gives lethal/smash resistance with some but not horrendous endurance drain.
4. Weave: Toggle that gives defense (melee and ranged but not AoE) with some but not horrendous endurance drain.
My next step is prioritizing the introductory power pool powers. The first one you choose has to be one of the first two in the pool, the second one can be the third of the pool at level 14 or later, and you can only choose the fourth at level 20 or later if you've got two others in that pool. Since I want powers from all three of these pools, I need to get at least one of the first two in each. When I do it needs to be prioritized:
1. Hasten: This one makes an immediate difference in the ability of a scrapper to do damage. Fire it off right before a big fight and take down the bad guys a ton faster.
2. Hurdle: Since I'm a scrapper I have good attacks already, so getting an attack from the fighting pool isn't going to help too much. For an AT that doesn't have many or good attacks early, I might prioritize Boxing instead. Since I don't need an attack and Hurdle helps me move around a bit faster pre-travel-power, I want it first.
3. Boxing: Doesn't matter which one or so much when, only taking this to get access to the later powers.
Second, prioritize the second power:
1. Super Speed: Most builds take a travel power at level 14 because it is just so painful to play the game without one.
2. Health: I prioritize this not because it is a very good power but because I want to make sure I get Stamina as early as possible. In fact Tough is a much more useful power, but would slow down Stamina and since it drains endurance itself I don't really want it until I have Stamina (although that's less of an issue with Regen's QR).
3. Tough: Even unslotted this makes a good difference, I want to try to get it as quickly as I reasonably can.
Third, prioritize the third power:
1. Stamina: Need endurance need endurance need endurance gimme endurance.
2. Weave: Even unslotted this makes a good difference, I want to try to get it as quickly as I reasonably can.
Now I can get to work on the build itself. First order of business is to start plugging more powers into the Spines/Regen skeleton above. I have three powers labeled as "Great" that are possible to take before level 28: Quills, Dull Pain, and Ripper. In order to get all the power pool powers in I need 8 power slots. I'd like Stamina at level 20 if possible, so that takes up 3 power slots up to level 20, I'd like my travel power at level 14, so there's another 2 up to level 14. Given the skeleton, that leaves one power slot available up to level 20:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06)
08 : Impale acc(08)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20)
Power Selection
With these constraints and the right skeleton sometimes the builds create themselves. Now it is a question of priority: Do I want to start the fighting pool, take Dull Pain, or am I willing to delay Stamina to 22 in order to take Quills during this time (it becomes available at 18)?
As I mentioned, I believe Quills' value to be in gaining aggro and slowing opponents, but here's the rub: Before Instant Healing, I don't necessarily *want* to generate huge amounts of aggro. My defenses really need to be in place first, which means I'd like it after the fighting pool if possible and either after or near when I'm going to have IH. So I feel I can put it off some.
Dull Pain is a much harder decision. Where it goes depends a lot on utility and when slots can be added, and for this build I put it much later. There are great arguments to be made for putting it sooner, however, so it will be a matter of taste. I wanted to prioritize the fighting pool in this build because I felt the combination of defense and resistance would significantly help survival.
Ripper kind of falls off the end because it is an attack, and attacks need to be slotted. I'm already really heavy on powers needing slots in this build (although there was a nice lull in the teens that allowed many to be caught up on, the 20s are full of powers I will need to catch up on over time). If I can't slot an attack, I can delay taking it until I can slot it, unless the power I would replace it with has no basic usefulness.
With those decisions, here are the power picks to level 30:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06)
08 : Impale acc(08)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Boxing Empty(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20)
22 : Tough damres(22)
24 : Weave defbuf(24)
26 : Quills endred(26)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28)
30 : Dull Pain recred(30)
The next two powers pick themselves, since I have two "Great" powers in the Spines set I haven't taken yet:
32 : Ripper acc(32)
35 : Throw Spines acc(35)
After this point things get very hazy, but there's one constraint: Pretty much all the slots are already spoken for. I'll get into that as I talk more about slotting, but in figuring out level 38 and later powers, only 2-3 extra slots are possible to allocate and those would most likely be the ones gained at level 50.
Here's all the power picks I went with for this build:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06)
08 : Impale acc(08)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Boxing Empty(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20)
22 : Tough damres(22)
24 : Weave defbuf(24)
26 : Quills endred(26)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28)
30 : Dull Pain recred(30)
32 : Ripper acc(32)
35 : Throw Spines acc(35)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44)
47 : Build Up recred(47)
49 : Moment of Glory recred(49)
Slotting
Time to talk about slotting. In reality I tend to do these at the same time, and if my slotting doesn't work out I may change my priorities for power pools, Great or Eh powers, and so on. It is a very iterative process, this build in particular has taken me a long time to get to this point and I believe this is the 6th major iteration.
Time to prioritize powers for slotting:
Offense:
1. Spine Burst
2. Impale
3. Ripper
4. Throw Spines
Then defense:
5. Integration
6. Instant Healing
7. Dull Pain
Then efficiency:
8. Quick Recovery
9. Hasten
10. Stamina
Power pool defense:
11. Tough
12. Weave
EPP:
13. Focused Accuracy
Some of the ordering is obviously colored by knowledge of when certain powers are available vs. others, but this is meant to help guide decisions not as a set of hard rules that must be followed no matter what.
Levels 3, 5, and the first slot for 7 go to Spine Burst.
Second level 7 to Quick Recovery.
Levels 9, 11, and the first slot for 13 go to Impale.
Second level 13, level 15, and the first slot of 17 go to Quick Recovery.
Second level 17, level 19, and level 21 go to Integration.
Level 23 and 25 go to Hasten.
Level 27 goes to Stamina.
Level 29 and 31 go to Instant Healing.
Level 33 and the first two of 34 go to Ripper, the last goes to Stamina.
Level 36 and the first two of 37 go to Throw Spines, the last goes to Stamina.
The first of level 39 goes to Stamina, the last two and level 40 goes to Dull Pain.
Level 42 and the first two of 43 go to Quills.
The last of level 43, level 45, and the first of level 46 go to Tough.
The last two of 46 and all of level 48 go to Weave.
Level 50 goes to Focused Accuracy.
The slots I feel the most strongly about:
Integration: Pre-IH this is the only thing that makes the character "regen", at least as far as health is concerned. It should be six slotted ASAP.
Instant Healing: The other defining power of the set, must be six slotted immediately after it is taken.
Attacks: Except for those two powers, slotting for massive damage output is critical. Some non-attack powers play into this heavily, including Quick Recovery, Hasten, and Stamina. Other powers can wait for their slots.
What are in each slot is a matter of preference, play style, and experimentation. The ones I consider interesting:
Integration, Instant Healing: I went with all six heals Integration. Its endurance cost isn't extremely high, I used to run two endurance reductions and four heal in IH and one endurance reduction and five heals in Integration. Since IH costs more (by a LOT) the bang for the buck in endurance reduction is much better spent in IH, even though the healing improvements are better in it as well. So three endurance reduction, three heal in IH.
Quills: This power has a significant endurance cost, and I'm running a lot of toggles on this character. I used to do one endurance reduction, one accuracy, and four damage. Once I realized that damage was just a nice side effect of this power and not its primary purpose, I have switch the slotting to two endurance reduction, two accuracy, and two damage.
Focused Accuracy: Another very expensive toggle, if I'm actually going to run it I need its cost under control, so four endurance reductions gets it down to a reasonable rate.
The full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(7) endrec(13) endrec(15) endrec(15) endrec(17)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(23) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Boxing Empty(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(17) hel(19) hel(19) hel(21) hel(21)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(34) endrec(37) endrec(39)
22 : Tough damres(22) damres(43) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46)
24 : Weave defbuf(24) defbuf(46) defbuf(46) defbuf(48) defbuf(48) defbuf(48)
26 : Quills endred(26) endred(42) acc(42) acc(42) dam(43) dam(43)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28) endred(29) endred(29) hel(31) hel(31) hel(31)
30 : Dull Pain recred(30) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) recred(40) recred(40)
32 : Ripper acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Throw Spines acc(35) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(50) endred(50) endred(50)
47 : Build Up recred(47)
49 : Moment of Glory recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Phenomenal guides!
Any chance of a Spines/Dark analysis in the future? 
2 50's and a bunch of random dorks...
Warcupine alternative build
The feedback I got from my SG on Warcupine's build consisted essentially of: How are you not 6 slotting Dull Pain immediately and making that a cornerstone of your defenses?
In other words, they felt Dull Pain was in the 'Powerset defining' category for Regeneration rather than the 'Great powers' category.
There are very good arguments to be made here, and I alluded to this a bit in Warcupine's build where I mentioned the Dull Pain route. They also felt that Reconstruction belonged in the 'Eh' category, fwiw.
Anyhow, I thought showing and discussing the differences for that alternative build might be interesting. Here's a build that prioritizes Dull Pain:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(15) endrec(15) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(40) dam(40)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10) recred(11) recred(13) recred(13) recred(37) recred(39)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(17) hel(17) hel(19) hel(19) hel(21)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(34)
22 : Quills endred(22) endred(46) acc(46) acc(48) dam(48) dam(48)
24 : Boxing Empty(24)
26 : Tough damres(26) damres(42) damres(42) damres(42) damres(43) damres(43)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28) endred(29) endred(29) hel(31) hel(31) hel(31)
30 : Weave defbuf(30) defbuf(43) defbuf(45) defbuf(45) defbuf(45) defbuf(46)
32 : Ripper acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Throw Spines acc(35) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(50) recred(50) recred(50)
44 : Moment of Glory recred(44)
47 : Build Up recred(47)
49 : Revive recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
The basic tradeoffs are: Dull Pain 4 slotted faster in exchange for Impale not being slotted until very late and Tough/Weave slightly delayed. You could move Quills back to 30 and move Tough/Weave up, but I would be hard pressed to delay Quills that long in a build where I decided to take the power.
The other change that I made in this build is that I did not take Focused Accuracy and instead put those three extra slots into Conserve Power. I'm considering this for Warcupine's main build as well.
Spines/Dark? You must have a grudge against sanity...
A very interesting combo, I'll give a couple builds I came up with as food for thought and discussion. Before I do that:
I am not an expert on Dark Armor
These builds could be completely unworkable because my highest level /DA is is... 5. And that's not quite high enough to get into the subtleties of a defense set.
I'm going to discuss these builds in the reverse order of when I produced them, and I'll explain why when I talk about the second one. For the first, I think this is a solid, normal build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Armor
01 : Dark Embrace endred(01) damres(11) damres(13) damres(13) damres(15) damres(15)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
04 : Murky Cloud endred(04) damres(31) damres(31) damres(34) damres(36) damres(36)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(17) dam(17) dam(19) dam(19) dam(25)
10 : Obsidian Shield endred(10) damres(42) damres(42) damres(43) damres(43) damres(43)
12 : Combat Jumping defbuf(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Acrobatics endred(22)
24 : Dark Regeneration endred(24) endred(50) acc(50)
26 : Ripper acc(26) dam(27) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29) dam(31)
28 : Quills endred(28) endred(36) acc(48) acc(48) dam(48) dam(50)
30 : Boxing Empty(30)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Tough endred(35) damres(37) damres(37) damres(37) damres(39) damres(39)
38 : Weave defbuf(38) defbuf(39) defbuf(40) defbuf(40) defbuf(40) defbuf(42)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(45) recred(45) recred(45)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(46) endred(46) endred(46)
47 : Soul Transfer recred(47)
49 : Build Up recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
With Dark Armor I don't see any knockback protection, which is much like fire tanks (see Brick Firehouse's build for much discussion). That basically means SJ is the travel power and Acrobatics is a must.
Obsidian Shield is both mez protection and Psi resist. I take it early for the mez protection and slot it much later on for the Psi resist, my thought is that Psi isn't all that common until the 40s, and the base resist is really quite good, so those slots can wait until they're really needed.
Endurance will be a big problem with this build, it might be better not to take Focused Accuracy and/or Quills at all to try to mitigate that problem. There will be a lot of turning armors on and off during the course of a battle/mission to optimize against the opponents.
Anyhow, like I said this is the second build I came up with, because when I started playing with the build the PBAoE aspects of the build powersets pulled me in...
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Armor
01 : Dark Embrace endred(01) damres(11) damres(13) damres(13) damres(15) damres(15)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Spine Burst acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
04 : Murky Cloud endred(04) damres(17) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19) damres(21)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Combat Jumping defbuf(08)
10 : Obsidian Shield endred(10) damres(43) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46)
12 : Swift runspd(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Boxing acc(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25)
22 : Acrobatics endred(22)
24 : Dark Regeneration endred(24) endred(27) acc(29) acc(31) recred(31) recred(31)
26 : Death Shroud endred(26) endred(27) endred(29) acc(33) dam(33) dam(33)
28 : Quills endred(28) endred(34) endred(34) acc(34) dam(36) dam(36)
30 : Cloak of Fear endred(30) endred(36) endred(37) acc(37) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(39)
32 : Tough endred(32) damres(39) damres(39) damres(40) damres(40) damres(40)
35 : Weave endred(35) defbuf(42) defbuf(42) defbuf(42) defbuf(43) defbuf(43)
38 : Build Up recred(38) recred(50) recred(50) recred(50)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(46) recred(46) recred(48) recred(48) recred(48)
44 : Cloak of Darkness endred(44)
47 : Confront recred(47)
49 : Soul Transfer recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
With this build (if it even worked), you would kill mostly by being near the enemy with the occasional Spine Burst. Death Shroud and Quills do most of the damage and debuffing, self heals with Dark Regeneration, and Fear with Cloak of Fear.
I would definitely not try this build first, I'd probably go with the first build, get my level 24 respec, maybe wait until 26 or 28 and copy to test to see how it worked.
Anyone tried a build like this?
I'd like to request a tri-form warshade analasys, if not too much trouble. I'm in the middle of one now and wondering if my idea's mesh with someone's who has the experience and knowledge you do.
Aurea Sandria- 50 Dark/Invulnerable/Body Mastery Scrapper
Dechido- 41 Warshade
Ethereal Nexus- 34 Katana/Regeneration Scrapper
Blindwire- 39 Robots/Traps Mastermind
Vilkatas- 41 Super Strength/Invulnerable/Soul Mastery Brute
All on Virtue
Proud Veteran of the (beta) Rikti War
Scary that you should ask, that is my next planned build to post. I like the build, just need to write it up now.
Build #7: Psycho Ex-GF, a three form Warshade
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
I think Kheldians were specifically put into the game to drive me insane, and it might be working. I tweak, revamp, or rethink from scratch my Kheldian builds on a regular basis. I play my Kheldians for a while, getting totally immersed in the challenge... then I get totally frustrated by the whole thing and go back to the nice, straightforward ATs for a while.
Then the cycle repeats itself.
Psycho Ex-GF is a three form Warshade on Pinnacle, level 30 as I write this. I have already spent both free respecs and the one from the first trial on her. That's not the sad thing, the sad thing is that the build I'm going to present here is not the one she's currently running, but the next one I plan to respec into.
I'm telling you, these aliens are driving me nuts.
I believe that three form Kheldians are the most versatile and most difficult to build and play. With Warshades, you can switch from being a powerful AoE blaster to a mini controller with pets, a debuffing defender with a blaster-type big boom AoE nuke, to a scrapper/tank. In other words, for a three form you can do a little bit of every AT. But you can't do any extremely well, partially because the versions of the powers that you have are less than the AT's version, but secondly because there is a serious lack of slots available. Prioritizing and making the right tradeoffs are what it is all about.
How this build progresses:
At the low levels, she was essentially an AoE blaster. All the slots from level 7 through the first of level 21 all go into making the Nova form a strong AoE blaster. And believe me it works.
In the 20s, the Dwarf form comes about and she can do some decent tanking. Early 20s slots go to the form itself, making sure there's enough damage resistance. Then I slotted Hasten to make both the Nova and Dwarf forms stronger.
The 30s are all about the human form, getting Stamina, the pets, the Nova equivalent, and the ultimate Umbral Aura power up and running.
For the 40s, the Dwarf form is turned from tank-only to a tank/scrapper by slotting out those attacks.
With a Kheldian, I need to identify what it is about each form that I'm going to emphasize/slot.
Forms in general: I think you need to slot the form itself to make them useful. For Nova, slotting for endurance recovery and tohit are important for making it truly a strong blasting form. For the Dwarf form, slotting the form power for damage resistance is crucial for making it useful for tanking and scrapping, and endurance recovery to a much smaller extent.
Nova: AoE blasting, I'll slot both AoE attacks and nothing more.
Dwarf: Besides just being able to take a hit and taunt, I see three important sides to this form:
1. If I'm taking a lot of damage I'm going to switch to Dwarf for safety in many cases, so it is important to be able to self heal.
2. Since I can take an alpha strike in this build, I want to be able to self-buff with Mire in this form. Not only that, it is the only AoE attack in the form, so slotting it appears important.
3. Damage: Besides the AoE damage, it would be really nice to be able to do some significant single target damage. Slotting the big attack buffed up by Mire(s) should do it for cases where mez protection and/or ability to take a punch are important. Slotting Black Dwarf Smite is the one part of this build I'm still not sure about, but as you'll see it happens right near the end.
Human: There are really three Umbral Blast/Umbral Aura powers worth building around, and unfortunately they all come right at the end: Dark Extraction (pets), Quasar (big boom nuke), Eclipse (serious self buff). Other stuff is either situational or a grab-bag mix of nice powers that make taking a lot of power pools unnecessary. There are also a few powers that would be interesting to use in a two form or human only build, but I'm not including them in this build because I think their usefulness without any slots is limited.
I'm going to break this build down by the phases I outlined above:
1. Pre-Nova
2. Nova
3. Dwarf Tank
4. Human
5. Dwarf Scrapper
Pre-Nova
01 : Absorption damres(01)
01 : Shadow Bolt acc(01)
02 : Gravity Shield endred(02) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5) damres(5)
04 : Orbiting Death acc(04)
Alrighty, here we go. I've had Gravimetric Snare and Ebon Eye in previous builds and thought they were complete wastes. Shadow Bolt is a decent, fast attack that doesn't get used very much. Mostly I think it is the best choice of lousy options. Gravity Shield is good lethal/smash resistance that allows the human form to be a little less squishy than it would otherwise be. Orbiting Death is another best choice of lousy options situation, but given some self buffing with Sunless Mire and Black Dwarf Mire it can do some good DoT. This may be very handy once Eclipse is available. In that case I think all the real damage will come from the buffs, so I'm slotting Gravity Shield for utility instead.
Nova
06 : Dark Nova endrec(06) endrec(17) endrec(17) endrec(19) endrec(19) thtbuf(21)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(27) recred(27) recred(29) recred(29)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Sunless Mire recred(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Penumbral Shield endred(18)
-------------------------------------------
10 : Shadow Recall recred(10)
06 : Dark Nova Bolt endred(06)
06 : Dark Nova Blast endred(06)
06 : Dark Nova Emanation endred(06) dam(7) dam(7) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11)
06 : Dark Nova Detonation endred(06) dam(11) dam(13) dam(13) dam(15) dam(15)
Pure AoE blasting, with the emphasis on the higher damage cone, then the slightly lower damage target based AoE. Once those are slotted, slot the form itself primary for endurance recovery with one tohit buff to help accuracy. The balance here it flexible: I slot the attacks before the form because you can get DOs/SOs for the attacks sooner than you can for endurance recovery/tohit buff.
Using the self buff of Sunless Mire, especially with a tank, is great fun. Tank gains aggro control, Warshade turns on Grav Shield for protection and teleports into the middle. Sunless Mire, switch forms to Nova, back off a little bit and lay the smack down. Lots of fun. This can also be done solo but since neither human nor Nova forms have mez protection it can also be risky.
Because all the slots are going to the Nova form during these levels, the power selection should be stuff that won't be slotted and maybe looks ahead to the future of the build. Hasten will help make all three forms better, so that's a no brainer (as it is with most builds), Super Speed is just too nice of a travel power to pass up if I want non-slotted powers anyway, and works great with teleport and fly. Eventually I will be playing in human for a fair amount, so progress towards Stamina is a good thing but not necessarily as high of a priority as with most. I also get some of the Umbral Aura shields that will be situationally helpful.
Dwarf Tank
20 : Black Dwarf endrec(20) endrec(21) damres(23) damres(23) damres(25) damres(25)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(34) endrec(37)
24 : Stygian Circle endred(24)
26 : Nebulous Form endred(26) endred(48) endred(50)
28 : Twilight Shield endred(28)
30 : Shadow Cloak endred(30)
I'm not showing any of the Black Dwarf form powers yet because none of them will be slotted until much later. Only the form power itself is, which is why I call this the 'Dwarf Tank' stage of the build. Psycho can now act as a tank under many situations (and has). This range also offers up the wonderful combo of double-Mire. Now the scenario I talked about before becomes:
Tank gets a huge group of bad guys herded together and gains aggro control over them. Psycho teleports in in Dwarf form and uses Black Dwarf Mire. Wait a beat for any bad guys who were distracted to retaliate while in a high damage and mez resistance form. Change to human, use Sunless Mire. If the group of bad guys is big enough the buffed Mire will kill minions that both Mires hit. Now change to Nova, back off, and lay waste to the survivors. After the combination of the two big AoE attacks usually only bosses are left alive, and they are pretty quickly destroyed. Assuming the tank can keep the aggro.
The power picks during this phase are also utilitarian. Nebulous Form is a great combo of Combat Jump level jump plus Phase Shift, Shadow Cloak is essentially a Stealth replacement, and another Shield for use against particular opponents while in human form. Although I have Stamina relatively early it goes unslotted until the human form becomes more important, Nova works well for endurance recovery.
Human
32 : Dark Extraction acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Quasar dam(35) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) recred(37) recred(37)
38 : Eclipse recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) acc(40)
41 : Combat Jumping defbuf(41)
44 : Super Jump jmp(44)
47 : Acrobatics endred(47)
49 : Stygian Return recred(49)
All the remaining power picks are, naturally, aimed at making the human form strong. Which order you get the pets vs. the nuke in is personal preference and play style. I'm not even sure if I'm going to stick with this order or not when Psycho gets to 32, in the end I probably won't know for sure until I actually train.
I went with the leaping pool in the 40s not so much for the travel power aspect (although that'll be handy. Why is it that Quantum Flight is max flight speed + Phase Shift while Nebulous Form is... max Combat Jumping height plus Phase Shift? And not max Super Jump?) but for Acrobatics, since Eclipse and Quasar will involve being in the midst of the enemies, it'd be nice to have some knockback/down protection.
Additionally, the slotting in the 40s is pretty much spoken for with my plans for the Dwarf Scrapper phase, so I need stuff that won't need slots.
Dwarf Scrapper
20 : Black Dwarf Strike endred(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Smite endred(20) acc(46) dam(46) dam(46) dam(48) dam(48)
20 : Black Dwarf Mire endred(20) acc(40) dam(42) dam(42) recred(42) recred(43)
20 : Black Dwarf Drain endred(20) acc(43) acc(43) hel(45) hel(45) hel(45)
20 : Black Dwarf Step endred(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Antagonize acc(20)
Specifically, a Dark scrapper it seems. Slotting Black Dwarf Mire for self buff and AoE damage, Black Dwarf Drain for some single target damage (especially after the Mire buff) and significant self healing, and then Black Dwarf Smite for single target damage. In that order, which I believe is a good prioritization, although switching the self heal for the AoE damage is also totally reasonable.
I threw the last few slots into Nebulous Form (to reduce its endurance drain) and the human form teleport. They could also reasonably go into Black Dwarf Antagonize, and in fact you could slot that out with 3-4 added slots before even slotting Black Dwarf Mire if tanking is a priority.
Summary
Let me emphasize again that there are other good powers in the human set I did not take that very reasonably could have, the tough part is to make them a productive part of a three form build. In a two form that includes human (as opposed to a form specialist build), these powers would become much more important and interesting.
To successfully plan a Kheldian build I came up with the role for the forms that I'm going to take and came up with themes for the phases of the build. With a two form or form specialist I would do the same thing (with fewer phases and more slots available per power), while for a human only Kheldian I would approach more like a normal character build.
For playing this build or ones like it I find the most important thing is adaptability. I don't just try to pick a role based on my team, I pick a role and thus a form on an ongoing basis. I may be in all three forms during a single battle, and as the human form comes into its own for Psycho over the next few levels, that will happen more and more.
At least, this is my build idea for today. For this hour. All subject to change, and very likely to given my history with it.
Here's the full build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Warshade
Primary Powers - Ranged : Umbral Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Umbral Aura
01 : Absorption damres(01)
01 : Shadow Bolt acc(01)
02 : Gravity Shield endred(02) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5) damres(5)
04 : Orbiting Death acc(04)
06 : Dark Nova endrec(06) endrec(17) endrec(17) endrec(19) endrec(19) thtbuf(21)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(27) recred(27) recred(29) recred(29)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Sunless Mire recred(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Penumbral Shield endred(18)
20 : Black Dwarf endrec(20) endrec(21) damres(23) damres(23) damres(25) damres(25)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(34) endrec(37)
24 : Stygian Circle endred(24)
26 : Nebulous Form endred(26) endred(48) endred(50)
28 : Twilight Shield endred(28)
30 : Shadow Cloak endred(30)
32 : Dark Extraction acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Quasar dam(35) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) recred(37) recred(37)
38 : Eclipse recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) acc(40)
41 : Combat Jumping defbuf(41)
44 : Super Jump jmp(44)
47 : Acrobatics endred(47)
49 : Stygian Return recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
01 : Shadow Step endred(01) endred(50) rng(50)
10 : Shadow Recall recred(10)
06 : Dark Nova Bolt endred(06)
06 : Dark Nova Blast endred(06)
06 : Dark Nova Emmanation endred(06) dam(7) dam(7) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11)
06 : Dark Nova Detonation endred(06) dam(11) dam(13) dam(13) dam(15) dam(15)
20 : Black Dwarf Strike endred(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Smite endred(20) acc(46) dam(46) dam(46) dam(48) dam(48)
20 : Black Dwarf Mire endred(20) acc(40) dam(42) dam(42) recred(42) recred(43)
20 : Black Dwarf Drain endred(20) acc(43) acc(43) hel(45) hel(45) hel(45)
20 : Black Dwarf Step endred(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Antagonize acc(20)
WOW! These are some amazing builds/guides, especialy the Warshade one. Good job man!
All I can say is thank you.....
Now I can plan a build efficiently without spending hours looking at guides on the forums. This has to be the more informative thread I have ever read in the forums......
and for that....I give you stars 
I just wanted to say that your guides are very well written and laid out Welder, they are easy to read and to follow.
I also wanted to respond to the spn/reg build with some info of my own. I have a lvl 50 spn/reg scrapper named Crunch n Munch on the Freedom server that I think fits well into most scenarios I'd come across. I'll just say that spn/reg isn't the strongest choice for pve or pvp but it shines how well it can do both.
From a pve stand point, I always tried to build my scrapper to perform like an inv would in herding situations. Nothing is more impressive than herding 300 mobs and living to tell about it. Unfortunately I was never successful in reproducing what inv could do even at lower levels than my scrapper. I spent many hours using the test server and respecs to test various combinations of defense and resist powers to build the defense needed to overcome the damage intake of herded mobs. At one point, Crunch had stealth, tough, weave, resilience and combat jumping mostly slotted with defense or resist and hasten had one slot of def as well =P. This was at the cost of no fitness pool and heavy endurance issues...but I was on a mission to prove a point.
The result was being able to handle a few groups of reds...nothing like the inv that can handle mobs of purples. Keep in mind this is before integration regen was improved or fast healing was upgraded, epic pools didnt exist and no one had killed Hami on our server yet. So maybe with full Hami enhancements and overall regen being better than at that time, anything is possible.
For pvp, at this point I think it's a little too early to judge any AT in pvp prowess, but spn/reg seems to be hot and cold. Against anything but controllers and defenders, spn/reg is a killer. With the right power selections and slotting, spn/reg is basically a tank mage. Coupled with the body mastery pool, you'll never run out of end and acc isn't an issue. But the two ranged attacks in that pool combined with impale and throw spines...you're better than a blaster.
Like I said though, against trollers and fenders you're not so strong. Regen has no defense againt terror and a well slotted troller can hold you at will even without terror which is usually a certain death. Using just focused accuracy isn't enough against radiation or miasma fenders, you'll rarely hit them once you're toggled. Surprisingly, a dark/psi fender was able to kill me one on one recently without removing a single toggle of mine...that's some serious damage output. The only answer I can think of for fighting these two ATs is slotting your attacks with at least one acc maybe two, and running tactics. I say tactics because the other half of the answer is taking the dark epic pool and slotting petrifying gaze. I haven't tested this yet, but with enough acc in this power I think being able to hold someone in one on one...as a scrapper is unbeatable.
My critique on Warcupine's build only questions a few things, since it looks like a pve build. One thing I'd leave out is quills, simply because even with 6 dmg slots...the dmg to endurance ratio isn't worth having. When I had it, I also had to double slot it with endred, and with your two acc slots...that only leaves two dmg slots...which is hardly worth using, even with the slowing effect.
Some people may think this is crazy, but I opted to skip spine burst on Crunch after a few respecs. Reason being, the same reason as quills, the dmg/end ratio is bad. Spine burst is an end hog to use, and is very similar to throw spines in total dmg. The thing I like least about the attack is that it's pbaoe, which doesn't fit my playing style. Mob positioning is the key to efficiency, and usually that means having mobs tightly bunched in front of you. With buildup, throw spines, ripper and impale...I have all the dmg I need to quickly eliminate mobs. Since I skipped spine burst, I've noticed a nice difference in the end I use for pve.
The other question I have, at least for a pve build, is why have focused accuracy and slot each attack with acc? Once I took that power, I 6 slotted it with 3 endred and 3 tohit. This allowed me to 6 slot dmg in all my attacks...which is a noticeable difference.
Also, 6 recred in dull pain seems excessive since dull pain will only overlap for about 20-30 secs now. Those slots are better used in either buildup or more importantly...the reason you take body mastery....conserve power. Two or three slots in that is definitely a must.
Lastly, since spn/reg is an aoe guru...and having body mastery taken...I'd take energy torrent. It's a beautiful combo to have with throw spines since their cones are very similar. 6 slot it with dmg, it's quite potent and the knockdown is priceless for a regen scrapper.
That's all I have to comment on. Again, great build guides...that must have taken quite a bit of time! =)
Great feedback, Crunch, thanks for taking the time to write it up.
The idea of not taking Spine Burst is alien to me but very interesting, based on your thoughts for that and Quills I came up with this build:
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge dam(01)
02 : Reconstruction recred(02) hel(3) hel(3)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(5) endrec(5) endrec(19) endrec(19) endrec(21)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(7) recred(13) recred(15)
08 : Impale dam(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10) recred(15) recred(17) recred(17)
12 : Build Up recred(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(21) hel(23) hel(23) hel(25) hel(25)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(34) endrec(37) endrec(39)
24 : Boxing Empty(24)
26 : Ripper dam(26) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28) endred(29) hel(29) hel(31) hel(31) hel(31)
30 : Tough damres(30) damres(42) damres(42) damres(42) damres(43) damres(43)
32 : Throw Spines dam(32) dam(36) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37)
35 : Weave defbuf(35) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(40) defbuf(40) defbuf(40)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(43) recred(45) recred(45)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(45) endred(46) thtbuf(46) thtbuf(46) thtbuf(50)
47 : Energy Torrent dam(47) dam(48) dam(48) dam(48) dam(50) dam(50)
49 : Moment of Glory recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
The major difference is obviously single target vs. AoE damage for the early levels (and RSKing). Endurance usage would be significantly lower as you say, plus it would have both fully slotted Impale and perma-Dull Pain relatively early.
It is a really interesting direction, I'll have to think about it some more and ponder the idea for Warcupine. He's now level 35 and we did a successful second respec trial recently so he's got one in the bank... hm...
Again, thank you for your feedback. Is this build similar to the one you're using?
By the way, the reason I left the accuracies in that one build even though I took Focused Accuracy is that I never know whether to show after all the modifications or the original slotting before later powers changed things. For instance, in a Kinetics build a lot of what enhancements go where changes dramatically after Fulcrum Shift. Show the slots as they were before then, or after? Or both, I haven't figured out a good way to do that yet.
I thought I would update this with the build I ended up using. I haven't played Warcupine all that much but did get him to level 40 last night. I haven't figured out how I5 is going to affect my play style and/or build yet, but pre-I5 I found this build to be very effective and fun.
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge dam(01)
02 : Spine Burst dam(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(5) endrec(5) endrec(19) endrec(19) endrec(21)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(7) recred(13) recred(15)
08 : Impale dam(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10) recred(15) recred(17) recred(17)
12 : Build Up recred(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(21) hel(23) hel(23) hel(25) hel(25)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(33) endrec(33) endrec(33)
24 : Boxing Empty(24)
26 : Ripper dam(26) dam(34) dam(34) dam(34) dam(36) dam(36)
28 : Instant Healing endred(28) endred(29) hel(29) hel(31) hel(31) hel(31)
30 : Tough damres(30) damres(43) damres(43) damres(43) damres(45) damres(45)
32 : Throw Spines dam(32) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37) dam(37) dam(39)
35 : Weave defbuf(35) defbuf(40) defbuf(40) defbuf(42) defbuf(42) defbuf(42)
38 : Resilience damres(38)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(45) recred(48) recred(50) recred(50) recred(50)
44 : Focused Accuracy endred(44) endred(46) endred(46) thtbuf(46) thtbuf(48) thtbuf(48)
47 : Moment of Glory recred(47)
49 : Revive recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Wow! This is one of the best written and informative guides I have come across. Thanks very much, I really like how it is presented. Just wondering if I5 has forced any changes to your build. Haven't played my low level Spine/Regen in about a year but I am thinking about picking it back up. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
I5 caused me to make adjustments to several of these builds (especially the spines/regen) and it could cause adjustments to others but I still find them playable.
Once I get some free time (hopefully soon) I'll update with the new builds but (more importantly, given the point of the guide) I'll explain how the I5 changes led to the build changes I made and why.
On the topic of rebuilds, I am in the middle of the challenge of finding a PvP oriented Broadsword/Dark Armor build.
I am coming up to my 2nd respec (currently 35). I have a couple ideas of what to do, but I was wondering if you had come up with anything or even toyed around with the powersets at all.
Warcupine's I5 Respec
I'll keep the format I used for his first build. /regen has changed significantly in I5, and I found that while the old build was workable I really wanted to make some changes to fully adjust. Right after I5 went live Warcupine was level 40, so I took him from 40 to 50 with this build and I'm very happy with it.
The new buckets for Spines and Regeneration are based on both the changes as well as my better understanding of the sets from the experience of playing one to 50:
Spines
Powerset defining
- Impale: Range, lots of single target damage.
- Ripper: Very nice melee cone.
- Throw Spines: Ranged cone.
- Build Up: +DAM, +ACC
- Spine Burst: PBAoE
- Quills
- Lunge
- Confront
- Barb Swipe
Compared to my previous build it is actually much easier to get all the powers I need in at the time I'd like to. Slots are still thin, but not as bad as they were previously. I will get the Powerset Defining powers and Great Powers as soon as they are available but the slots won't necessarily come quite that quickly.
Regeneration
Powerset defining
- Integration: This is the best health regen rate power in the set besides IH (and the only one you can have up at all times) plus it is status protection. Best. Power. Ever.
- Quick Recovery: To quote my previous build: Regeneration is about two things: Regen rate of endurance, and regen rate of health. This is the major power in the set for endurance, and is better than Stamina.
- Dull Pain: Health regen works as a percentage gain of total health, and DP increases total health... so all health regen powers are now working that much better. Specifically, this one power increases the effectiveness of all your health regen powers by 40%, the bang for the buck on running this power is significantly larger than SOs in any of the individual powers.
- Reconstruction: Because of I5 this power has increased in importance, you will need spot healing to make up short term regen rate. With slots this is up quite often and can be a good sized heal.
- Instant Healing: Obviously the I5 changes made this a much less effective power, but it is still very power.
- Resilience: Pretty much worth having but I don't think it is worth slots.
- Fast Healing: In I5 this has more effect and is more important.
- Moment of Glory
- Revive
None
So first my new build skeleton for any /regen:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10)
16 : Integration hel(16)
And the basic skeleton for a spines/regen:
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Reconstruction recred(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
08 : Impale acc(08)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10)
16 : Integration hel(16)
26 : Ripper acc(26)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32)
One fascinating change with my new build is that for that skeleton I will six slot everything, including the first two powers.
Power Pools
Speed
- Hasten
- Super Speed
- Hurdle
- Health: This is much better now in I5 and gives enough of a boost to the regen rate to be worth it on its own merits.
- Stamina: This is much less needed now that Instant Healing is now longer a toggle, but it is still worth taking for the base rate and may be worth lower priority or leftover slotting.
I've dropped the fighting pool from the previous builds, I really need the slots to help with making up the health regen rate that was lost by not having IH on all the time, and the changes to the fighting pool in general made it much less valuable. Stamina will still be important in this build, but not nearly as much as it was previously.
01 : Fast Healing hel(01)
01 : Lunge acc(01)
02 : Reconstruction recred(02)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06)
08 : Impale acc(08)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20)
The changes are Reconstruction instead of Spine Burst at level 2, and Dull Pain is now prioritized at level 10.
This gives me a solid base to build on. We've got two single target attacks (the one weakness up to this point is damage output, but I mostly slot scrappers for defenses first anyway), but we have five self-healing powers (Fast Healing, Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Integration, and Health) and two endurance recovery powers (Quick Recovery and Stamina). With Dull Pain active the effectiveness of the three health regen rate powers are more than an SO better.
Besides slotting I think the defenses are solid now, so I want to mostly turn to attacks.
22 : Build Up recred(22)
24 : Resilience damres(24)
26 : Ripper acc(26)
28 : Instant Healing recred(28)
30 : Spine Burst acc(30)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32)
Two exceptions to this, one is Resilience which gives minor resistance to smash, lethal, toxic, and disorient. Not worth slotting, but as I've mentioned in other builds it is very important to add powers that are good enough without slotting.
The real challenge now is to figure out what else to get. Of the powers I've listed I could easily justify six slotting all but two, but for the entire build to level 50 I'd only be able to six slot 13 of them. I've already got all the good attacks, the two important power pools, and all the defense powers available to this point. After this point is a matter of taste, the foundation of this build is already done.
35 : Revive recred(35)
38 : Moment of Glory recred(38)
Getting the last two regen powers, both of which are situational. Self rez saves inspiration slots more than anything else, and the new debt protection after using the power is very welcome and I think makes it much more worthwhile. MoG is very situational, I rarely use it myself and have found it in a few cases to be nothing more than an elaborate method of suicide. I take them but don't slot them.
41 : Hover fltspd(41)
44 : Fly fltspd(44)
47 : Group Fly fltspd(47)
49 : Confront recred(49)
What's all this? I gained the overwhelming majority of levels 40-50 in Warcupine in the Shadow Shard running invincible Rularuu missions. The XP is awesome and it was a nice change from doing the typical 40-50 content yet again. There isn't much in the way of variety in the Shard either, unfortunately, so I got very tired of running the same three or four missions over and over, but the XP can't be beat, I think I averaged about half a bub per mission. Regen scrappers are perfect for tough Rularuu missions, even post I5.
Slotting
The priorities on slotting have changed significantly since the last build.
- Integration
- Reconstruction
- Impale
- Dull Pain: With DP the priority is to get it four slotted for perma, extra slots are gravy.
- Hasten: Five slotting gets it close enough, six is gravy.
- Quick Recovery: Two reasons this is as low as it is in the priority list; First, base regen of this plus Stamina is nothing to sneeze at, secondly you can get SOs for either power until 27ish anyway (although that appears to be changing). You want these slotted up properly once the latter attacks come online.
- Ripper
- Throw Spines
- Fast Healing
- Instant Healing
- Spine Burst
After that whatever takes your fancy. I'll but some in Lunge, Fly, and Group Fly, and finally put a bunch in Stamina.
Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Ranged : Spines
Secondary Powers - Support : Regeneration
01 : Fast Healing hel(01) hel(36) hel(36) hel(36) hel(37) hel(37)
01 : Lunge acc(01) dam(43) dam(46) dam(46) dam(46) dam(48)
02 : Reconstruction recred(02) recred(3) recred(3) hel(5) hel(5) hel(7)
04 : Quick Recovery endrec(04) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(29)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(21) recred(23) recred(23) recred(45)
08 : Impale acc(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13)
10 : Dull Pain recred(10) recred(13) recred(15) recred(15) recred(40) recred(40)
12 : Hurdle jmp(12)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Integration hel(16) hel(17) hel(17) hel(19) hel(19) hel(21)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(50) endrec(50) endrec(50)
22 : Build Up recred(22)
24 : Resilience damres(24)
26 : Ripper acc(26) dam(29) dam(31) dam(31) dam(31) dam(33)
28 : Instant Healing recred(28) recred(37) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40)
30 : Spine Burst acc(30) dam(42) dam(42) dam(42) dam(43) dam(43)
32 : Throw Spines acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Revive recred(35)
38 : Moment of Glory recred(38)
41 : Hover fltspd(41)
44 : Fly fltspd(44) fltspd(45) fltspd(45)
47 : Group Fly fltspd(47) fltspd(48) fltspd(48)
49 : Confront recred(49)
-------------------------------------------
01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)
Thanks for the I5 update, it is much appreciated. Although now it appears this build might be affected by the ED changes, but I guess we have to wait and see exactly how that plays out.
How to Plan a Build
After going through a bunch of my characters and planning new builds to take advantage of the short notice free respec award we got on 4/29, I thought of an idea for a set of guides. These guides would show not just an example builds people might like, but also the thought processes that went into coming up with that build.
I'm not as worried about the builds themselves, although naturally I think they're quite good. For anyone who isn't familiar with how to create a new build from scratch that fits together and plays well, I'm hoping that seeing some examples and explanations of why powers are taken when, why slots are allocated at particular levels, and so on will help.
I will first walk through each level step by step and then present the full build. I will respond to this thread each time I post a new build. I have three done to start, and will add more as responses to this thread as I finish writing them.
If you are an advanced build planner and have builds you're willing to describe in the same detail, please reply to this message with them. It will help to see different thought processes and tradeoffs being made.
If you have a question on a particular build or aspect of a build, respond to that message and we can discuss them.