Still learning - - Fire/Mental build to level up?

I've been reading up a bit - I came up with a concept and realized after reading here that its considered one of the better set combos. which powers are best picked whilst levelling? I can look up the slotting and such but I'm not sure if I should start with some stuff and respec out as its better to have a lowbie dmg but its not useful later on... that sort of stuff I'm just not sure about.

Any advice?

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Your key AOE items:

Build Up
Aim
Fire Ball
Fire Breath
Psychic Scream

Your key singletarget attacks:
Blaze
Fire Blast.

Your "defensive" abilities:
I only use Drain Psyche. I am told by my wife that World of Confusion does not work well enough to use. I would think that Scare might be useful as a ghetto hold if you're running for your life, but I haven't tried it.

Basically you walk into a room and blow the place up. Firebreath should be your first or second of the three AOE's. Avoid "tab to first target, hit firebreath, walk forward" because that's an easy trap for ex-melee people to fall into. If you do that you have created a slow-activating, expensive, single-target attack.

Have fun! Kaboom!

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Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

Thanks that helps. Though for example at lvl 4 I have a choice of Flares, Mind Probe and TK Thrust... not sure what is worth taking... perhaps flares since I can fire it off whilst mezzed?

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i use everything in the fire blast powersets. Mental Manip i love but i only use subdual,telekinetic thrust,psychic scream concentration,scare and psychic shockwave

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Flares is fine. It's not on my "must have" list. Mind Probe I think is the emergency get-it-off-my-leg melee attack, which is also fine. And also not on my "must have" list. TK thrust is one of those knockback-only powers, I think. The ones that make me think "I could have taken that activation time and done something that hurt someone. "

Do whatcha like.

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Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

Oh one thing - I dont see build up in either set... is Concentration the same thing essentially?

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Concentration is the same as build up, yes, and just like build up, you should take it. On another note, I disagree with flares not being a 'must have'. It does the same damage as most other sets tier one attacks, for less endurance, and with a bit more than half the recharge. It's amazing for keeping up a decent flow of attacks at low levels, even aside from its ability to be fired through mez. I personally don't consider any of the blaster tier one or two blasts to be skippable after defiance 2.0, but flares is even less skippable in my book than most.

Given your primary, I might skip mind probe. It's nice single target damage, but with all three single target fire blasts, you ought to be able to maintain a decent flow of single target attacks without it, and they'll be better attacks, too, considering blasters have a higher ranged modifier than melee. In most cases, I wouldn't recommend skipping blaps, but mental only really has one, and paired with fire, you probably don't need it.

On the other hand, I would probably take TK thrust. Given you have no ability to stack mezzes, the only thing you have which will even delay a boss with one shot is TK thrust - and it's a great 'get outta my face' tool even for lesser foes. Fire doesn't bring any mitigation at all beyond 'kill every freakin #&*&#*&^ in the room', so taking mitigation tools in the secondary is a very good idea if they're any good.

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@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.

This is what it means to be a tank!

I rolled up a build that I think would work fairly well. Feel free to tell me if you don't like part of it and which part bothers you. I'll do my best to correct it and allocate slots properly. In this build, with such a variety of IO sets that can be put in, the right amount of slots is, uh, well it's certainly a factor. :P

I left out Flares, Fire Breath, Telekinetic Thrust, and and Scare because they are the powers that are the least useful. Flares is too weak, Telekinetic Thrust does no damage, Scare isn't a very good hold (especially for an AoE Blaster), and Fire breath has too long an animation with poor recharge and endurance. I tried for a good balance of AoE and ST damage, but I recommend teaming if you want to blast mobs indiscriminately. I didn't put in enough resistance/defense to make you super durable, just high offense with some regen and a touch of mez.

Hope this helps!

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Fire Mental levelin' build: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fire Blast -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(7), Empty(9), Empty(33)
Level 1: Subdual -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Fire Ball -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(7), Empty(15), Empty(46)
Level 4: Mind Probe -- Empty(A), Empty(5), Empty(9), Empty(15), Empty(33), Empty(43)
Level 6: Swift or Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Empty(A), Empty(11), Empty(11), Empty(13), Empty(33), Empty(50)
Level 12: Aim -- Empty(A), Empty(13)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(17), Empty(17)
Level 18: Blaze -- Empty(A), Empty(19), Empty(19), Empty(31), Empty(31), Empty(50)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(21), Empty(21), Empty(31)
Level 22: Drain Psyche -- Empty(A), Empty(23), Empty(23), Empty(25), Empty(46), Empty(46)
Level 24: Concentration -- Empty(A), Empty(25)
Level 26: Hasten -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27)
Level 28: Rain of Fire -- Empty(A), Empty(29), Empty(29), Empty(34), Empty(43), Empty(50)
Level 30: World of Confusion -- Empty(A), Empty(37), Empty(37), Empty(37), Empty(40)
Level 32: Inferno -- Empty(A), Empty(34), Empty(34), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(43)
Level 35: Assault -- Empty(A), Empty(36)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 41: Personal Force Field -- Empty(A), Empty(42), Empty(42), Empty(42)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- Empty(A), Empty(45), Empty(45), Empty(45)
Level 47: Tactics -- Empty(A), Empty(48), Empty(48), Empty(48)
Level 49: Super Speed -- Empty(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance

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Too many alts to list.