Fire/Dark Corruptor: Do you Debuff?

Blind and Burn: AG's Guide to Fire/Dark

So, here’s a little something for all you pensive and wandering Fire Blast/Dark Miasma Corruptors out there.

There is hope: You are not a healer. People who have ever played City of Heroes with a D3 (Dark/Dark/Dark) Defender realize the potential of the de buffs present in the Miasma set, but sometimes those you team with in the Rogue Isles will not, and simply expect you to heal them constantly. Take heed, my Corruptor family, there is hope for you as a brand new combination. People don't know what to expect, and you can simply blow them out of the water. Hence, this little manifesto.

The beauty of the first Tar Patch + Rain of Fire, dropping minions before the Brute can even say “Fury”, will (hopefully) open their eyes.

So, this is a guide more for a *fun* Corruptor, rather than a straight PvP/PvE or min/maxed such thing. This is what I play to have fun. Therefore, on we go. First, a discussion of the characteristics of the sets and how they interact.

The Beauty of Singularity (no, not the pet): We Stand Alone

The great thing about Fire/Dark, which many people who know about the sets separately will tell you, boils down to one thing: a well-placed Tar Patch with the Rain of Fire on top of it. Basically, the “run away from the rainy death” instinct of your enemies is hindered immensely by the Tar, not to mention the damage resistance debuff it provides helping the Rain cause even *more* damage.

However, as this character matures, so many more opportunities open up for Corruption. As a Fire/ Corruptor, AoE damage is your bread and butter. Therefore, often times so will the title of “Aggro Magnet”. What separates the Fire Corruptor from the Fire Blaster are the damage and Aggro mitigation tools you have at your disposal, and I, for one, believe Dark Miasma is an amazing fit. Your power sets seem to mesh so beautifully strangers in pickup groups will be awed at your power. Of course, you are no God, and you must be careful. The order in which you use your enemy-neutering powers is very important.

I could go into the nitty-gritty of every single power in each set, how they work, what they do, their BI’s, recharge, etc. But those can be found elsewhere, and frankly I’m lazy. In lieu of all that unnecessary typing, I’ll merely highlight the…well…highlights of the sets and what makes for my personal favorite villain.

Fire Blast: Your Method


Flares: Long animation, weak damage, your attack chain is fine without it. Go Fire Blast instead.

Fire Blast: Your bread and butter blast; fast, decent damage, basically better than Flares, and you have no other choice.

Fire Ball: An essential part of your AoE-of-death combo. Take it, but be careful. You’ll learn early on in your career that ridiculous AoE damage means ridiculous Aggro Magnet without proper mitigation or care.

Fire Breath: Same rules as for Fire Ball. Be careful, but as it’s a cone it’s less likely to have you winding up a slag pile. The first time you see it triple-Scourge tick…you’ll need new pants.

Rain of Fire: Duh. Three-slotted for damage, it’ll always be up when you need it so it’s never up when you don’t

Blaze: Your finisher; the damage is ridiculous, but as it’s single target and very short range it’s another power you’ll have to be careful about using without proper tactics. On bosses it can churn out retarded damage.

Aim: Not terribly necessary until/unless you get Inferno, and even then it really helps only when you’ve got some kind of accuracy debuff on you.

Inferno: Think of this power as Rain of Fire on Speed. Not to mention being buffable when I7 hits, there will be nothing left standing (again, if properly used).

As for Blazing Bolt, you’re really not going to need something interruptable, as chances are you’re going to be in melee range or moving back and forth. I play alternating, using Blaze and Twilight Grasp in melee range to help out the Brutes and such, then back to the other squishies to hit TG again and open up the AoE. No Corruptor should ever be stationary during a battle. That is a rule for any build.

Dark Miasma: Your Madness


Twilight Grasp: Get ready to make all those Thermal “h34lorz” wet their pants at the green numbers you can turn out. Slotted up, this power can out-heal every other healing ability in CoV. However, you should also not forget this handy little power has an accuracy, damage, *and* regen debuff to it. Therefore, even if you personally don’t need the heal, you can still stack the debuffs on the baddie.

Tar Patch: Not only will it slow your enemies, it will cause you to do more damage. Slotting on this is debated, but I prefer them to stay in it as long as it takes for them to die. Besides, no reason to waste any of your nifty status effects, now is there?

Darkest Night: Your signature toggle anchor debuff. Not terribly important until 15+, because your Endurance should be better spent on killing your enemies. Slot it up ASAP, and use it on any Bosses, EB’s, or AVs/Heroes you encounter. Don’t whine about people killing your anchor; the best damage mitigation is a dead mob. Duh. Be careful though, as sometimes higher-level bosses and such will run away if you keep the toggle on, Aggroing other mobs and basically turning your Vacation of Villainy into a Circus of Suck. I learned this the hard way. If they start to run, turn it off.

Howling Twilight: IMHO, the single coolest Rez power in the game. Multi-rez, not to mention AoE Disorient around the enemy you base it off of. When soloing, it’s a great tool to add to your arsenal of soft control on Bosses and the like. If, God forbid, you should need to use it in a team, remember those who are pushing daisies need to be close to you, not the mob you’re targeting off of.

Shadow Fall: IMHO, the single coolest stealth power in the game. +DEF, +RES to Neg/Nrg/Psionic!!! Damage, should be on constantly. Especially when stacked, it’s a nice little bonus to your squish ability.

Fearsome Stare: The best way to open up your AoE salvo, hands down. When the mobs are feared, they won’t attack, giving you time to set up your Tar Patch and Darkest Night, then wail away with your fire attacks. The cone range is massive, and you’ll soon learn intuitively to position yourself so more mobs fit inside the cones of FS and Fire Breath.

Petrifying Gaze: Straight Hold, take it, slot it, love it. Another in the long list of damage mitigation abilities you possess.

Dark Servant: Fluffy is a tiny you, only without the offensive firepower. He’ll be your best friend, healing and Debuffing all on his lonesome! He doesn’t even need complicated macros or key binds or any of that crap, he simply wants to sit and radiate that weird darkness and do his thing. He’ll follow you, but other than that he’s on his own, so keep an eye on him.

As for Black Hole, if you were to take it, would be for an Oh! [censored]! Button you hit on the run, but as you’ll hopefully not find yourself in those situations too often, it’s not particularly necessary. That, and it’ll really piss your teammates off ;p

Go Forth and Scourge!

So, basically, there’s your Fire/Dark. As for power pools, it’s really all up to you. I like having recall friend, and I’ve always been partial to Fly, so with those and Stamina (which is *still* necessary, especially with toggles), I have no plans on taking Leadership or anything like that, because my endurance is better spent, again, killing things.

Ultimately, this is not a "you should play this way" guide, it's merely something to take the mystery out of a combination brand new to the CoX playerbase. Just so you know, you don't have to listen to me. I'm not Cuppa. :-)

I posted my build a few entries below and you can PM me or reply or something and let me know, I figure I’ve already bored enough people with this bad boy. As always, any errors are my own bloody fault, and I’ll correct them, if given proper reason and evidence, of course. Go forth and Scourge, my Fire/Dark Bretheren!


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

The -regen attributed to Twilight Grasp isn't listed in the in-game power documentation (for CoV, at least). Most people seem to believe it exists; has any red-name mentioned this?

I know it's not mentioned, but it sure as hell has the little -regen green rings. If that's working as intended, I guess it's just a little borked, but hey, there are more important things going around.


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

Nice guide, A_G. Flowed well and told me what I needed to know.

Nice one Aurora_Girl.

I've just starting playing a fire / dark and loving the damage increase from my dark/kin.

I do have a question for you - endurance. Does it make sense to respec back into ROF?

I believe it's available at level 6. Take Rain of Fire as soon as it's available. It's a one-time endurance cost, not too big of a deal, and like I said with the toggles endurance is an issue for any toon before Stamina.

Rain of Fire and Tar Patch is something you have to start learning the tactics about ASAP :-)

Good luck, and I'm glad everyone's being positive. And yeah, I did post in the corruptor guide thread and all that ;-) I like to make my stuff public.


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

Nice guide -- thanks!

I'd be interested in seeing your build, if you care to post it. I know I've got to wait until lv. 24 (I'm 18 now) or get a freespec to dump flares, but I'm planning for what the new Midnight Fyre is gonna look like.

Thanks!

*sigh* Fine, here's the build: ;-p

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Corruptor
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fire Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Miasma

01 : Twilight Grasp acc(01) hel(3) hel(9) hel(15)
01 : Fireblast acc(01) dam(3) dam(7) dam(11) endred(19) recred(27)
02 : Tar Patch recred(02) recred(5) recred(9) slw(15) slw(34) slw(31)
04 : Fireball acc(04) dam(5) dam(11) dam(13) endred(19) recred(34)
06 : Rain of Fire dam(06) dam(7) dam(13)
08 : Swift runspd(08)
10 : Air Superiority acc(10)
12 : Recall Friend recred(12)
14 : Fly endred(14) fltspd(34) fltspd(36) fltspd(33)
16 : Fire Breath acc(16) dam(17) dam(17) dam(25)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Darkest Night endred(22) thtdbf(23) thtdbf(23) thtdbf(27)
24 : Shadow Fall endred(24) damres(25) damres(31) damres(37)
26 : Blaze acc(26) dam(29) dam(40) dam(31)
28 : Fearsome Stare acc(28) ferdur(29) ferdur(33) ferdur(37) thtdbf(36)
30 : Howling Twilight recred(30)
32 : Petrifying Gaze acc(32) hlddur(33) hlddur(36) hlddur(37)
35 : Aim recred(35)
38 : Dark Servant recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) hel(39) thtdbf(40) thtdbf(40)

-------------------------------------------



Slots aren't *all* that important, so no nitpicking, okay!

As I've said before, and will say again, Corruptors are all about balls and playstyle. Find what works for you, and roll with it.


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

Edited after comparing with Kinetics->Transfusion:

Yeah - the rings around the waist are there. It looks like the waist = -regen and the arms and legs = -speed and -recharge

That's a pretty important thing to leave out of the power text. Good eye.

Good call on looking at Transfusion...I actually first noticed it playing against Galaxies with a /kin corruptor.

*chuckle*

I said, "Look, the rings on us aren't the same as the rings on him! But...my rings look like your rings! *scratches head* Wait a second..."

So, it might not be as *major* as Transfusions, but I like Dark Miasma to have as many of the game's abilities as possible.

As I see it:

Damage
Defense
Resistance
Control (Fear, Hold)
Debuffs (Acc, Dam, Regen, Slow, Res)
Buff (Shadow Fall)
Heal

Only thing we're really missing is status protection, which is usually the only thing that gets me killed on my own.


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

Great guide... been considering starting a Fire/Dark corrupter alt and this just about clinches it! I like the way you just laid it out without the numbers and your build... just give me the overview and I'll figure out the rest!

That said, interesting you skipped (for now) Inferno... gonna have to wait and see (when I get there) how I feel about that!

[ QUOTE ]
The -regen attributed to Twilight Grasp isn't listed in the in-game power documentation (for CoV, at least). Most people seem to believe it exists; has any red-name mentioned this?

[/ QUOTE ]
There's definitely no question Twilight Grasp is -regen.

[ QUOTE ]
Great guide... been considering starting a Fire/Dark corrupter alt and this just about clinches it! I like the way you just laid it out without the numbers and your build... just give me the overview and I'll figure out the rest!

That said, interesting you skipped (for now) Inferno... gonna have to wait and see (when I get there) how I feel about that!

[/ QUOTE ]


I don't *need* a massive end-draining fire AoE...I *am* one.

I don't remember who it was that said it, but ultimately the damage of Tar/Rain/Blast/Breath/Ball was almost the same, if not more than simply Inferno on its own. Add in Fulcrum Shift to the Rain of Fire... *drool*

Honestly, from 40-50 I'm probably going to go Patron-happy, and won't miss Inferno. Now, if somebody's got Blizzard and it keeps people in my rain, that's totally different.



Glad I brought another into the fold!


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The -regen attributed to Twilight Grasp isn't listed in the in-game power documentation (for CoV, at least). Most people seem to believe it exists; has any red-name mentioned this?

[/ QUOTE ]
There's definitely no question Twilight Grasp is -regen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps I don't understand how -regen works...

But I just tried Twilight Grasp out on a minion. Struck him to half half hp, and kept spamming TG on him (I set it to autofire) wait about 2 minutes and he was back to full hp....

The place to use -regen is against archvillains/giant monsters, mobs that have a markedly high regen rate that has to be overcome by piling on damage. That's where you get the noticeable difference.

Very nice guide. I've been trying to find a corruptor build I like for non-SG play. This could be the one that catches my fancy. Now I'll have to start yet another all (YAA) and try it out. Thank heavens for 2 accounts.

RagManX

Great guide AG. This is just the sort of thing I was hoping not to find since it's now tempting me to make a Fire/Dark Corruptor. Cursed altoholism.

I teamed with a fire/dark with my ice/dark last night. Double tar patch-rain of fire AND ice storm going all at once was just spiffy.

[ QUOTE ]
Inferno: Think of this power as Rain of Fire on Speed. Not to mention being buffable when I7 hits, there will be nothing left standing (again, if properly used).

[/ QUOTE ]

Inferno is a PBAoE, and as such, is already quite buffable.

I'm guessing you thought it was like Ice's Blizzard?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The -regen attributed to Twilight Grasp isn't listed in the in-game power documentation (for CoV, at least). Most people seem to believe it exists; has any red-name mentioned this?

[/ QUOTE ]
There's definitely no question Twilight Grasp is -regen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps I don't understand how -regen works...

But I just tried Twilight Grasp out on a minion. Struck him to half half hp, and kept spamming TG on him (I set it to autofire) wait about 2 minutes and he was back to full hp....

[/ QUOTE ]

Quick FYI ^^ -Regen isn't quite like -Recovery; It slows regen; but it doesn't prevent it entirely. -Recovery flat out *stops* endurance recharge (usually) from what I've seen

And as was said; AVs/Monsters are usually your best bet when looking at -Regen effects; cause they are the ones who actually cause issues with their regen. Typical mobs not so much.

Yeah, I had a blonde moment and thought Inferno was like Blizzard...I suppose after I7 i'll do a version 2.0 and change it.

Thanks!


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

Very nice guide AG. After seeing Cerridwen's Scion in action several times, I think its safe to say that I'll be rolling a Fire/DM Corruptor soon. Hope to see you write more guides in the future.

-Amiyo

After reading your guide I decided giving AoE mayhem a try. My Fire/Dark is amazing. I rolled on a 7 member team through three levels just dropping entire mobs throwing down a tar patch, then comboing into RoF, Fireball, and later Firebreath. My teammates were amazed. I'd just tell them "watch this" and I would lay waste.

Given the nature of rolling on fast pace teams the combo wasn't always up, but when it was I'd just tell my team "stand back" and take out an entire mob.

I can't wait for higher levels when I can Fearsome Stare, Tar Patch, Darkest Night, Aim, Rain of Fire, Fireball, Firebreath, and wonder at what point everything will be dead.

Edited 'cause I thought of a better combo

Great guide!

I'm really enjoying my flaming beast of firey death - mayhem missions will be sooo much more meaningful to me. I've put off taking RoF, probably until 22 I'm thinking, my three attacks (yes, only 3: Fire Blast, Fire Ball and Fire Breath) do quite enough dammage but leave be wheezy and gasping for breath. As soon as I've worked out a bit and gotten Stamina then I'm sure that I'll be a RoF junkie too.

Oh, did I say "Great guide!"

Thank you guys/gals so much for your ringing endorsements, and rest assured I'll be updating the guide for I7 and changing a few things around.

I plan on taking Ghost Widow's PPP (Soul Drain + Aim + Rain + Ball + Breath *joygasm*), and will provide an appendix for those powers as well, along with the other Corruptor sets. Of course, those don't make much conceptual sense, but I like to be fair.

This appendix, also, will be using tidbits gained from other people on the usefulness and the tedium of the PPP powers, as by the time Scion hits 50 and actually *has* them all, the information would have already been public three months.


-AG

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.