It's your current build. You're allowed to have 2 different builds. The active, is simply put, the one you are currently using
A second build allows you to pick different powers like a respec would, and then you need to buy all new enhancements for that build. After which, you can switch between the two.
So for example, you can have a "PvE" build and a "PvP" build. IF anyone did PvP that is. 
There are a lot of other uses, though... say, a kheld who wants a "human only" build and also a build with 2 or 3 forms... or someone with knockback powers might create a second build slotted for maximum knockback, just to have fun, or you might have a "level 50" build and another build slotted for low level task forces (with lower level IOs)... or a "stealth" build created specifically for stealth and teleport for use on long TFs... all sorts of things.
Most people only need one build, of course.
my lil RWZ Challenge vid
Theres also the ski build for xmas season
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Dual_Builds
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ohhh I seeee...
Thanks for the info. Looks kind of useless though, unless like you said - you were into PvP:
* # Each build always has the same amount of earned experience, but alternate builds will not train up alongside the active build. # When choosing an alternate build for the first time, the character will start at Security/Threat Level 1 and will have to be trained up, level by level.
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ohhh I seeee...
Thanks for the info. Looks kind of useless though, unless like you said - you were into PvP:
* # Each build always has the same amount of earned experience, but alternate builds will not train up alongside the active build. # When choosing an alternate build for the first time, the character will start at Security/Threat Level 1 and will have to be trained up, level by level.
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Not really. You could have a Solo build and a Team build (especially useful for 'trollers, Defenders, Corruptors), a normal build and a Raid build, an AV-bustin' build, a ski-build (mentioned above), a Knockback build vs. a DPS build. There are plenty of uses for this.
There's also the "I'm out of free-specs but just realized I can squeeze Stamina in earlier" build. 
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."
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ohhh I seeee...
Thanks for the info. Looks kind of useless though, unless like you said - you were into PvP:
* # Each build always has the same amount of earned experience, but alternate builds will not train up alongside the active build. # When choosing an alternate build for the first time, the character will start at Security/Threat Level 1 and will have to be trained up, level by level.
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I'm planning on using the two builds for solo-optimized and team-friendly builds. Since the two builds always have the same amount of experience, it'll be a lot than trying to level up a second character from scratch.
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ohhh I seeee...
Thanks for the info. Looks kind of useless though, unless like you said - you were into PvP:
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It's a lot more useful for some than for others. Scrappers, for example, don't tend to get a whole lot out of it (usually).
My empathy defender, however, can now solo, and I didn't have to respec her into in-team uselessness to do it. I just created a second build without all of the stuff that only affects others (but kept the stuff that affects the user) and focused more on her secondary.
It also allows people who want petless masterminds (say, those people who really, really love the dual pistols you get with Thugs and want to make a character focused on those) to have a second build, one with pets, that doesn't make them dead weight on a team like the petless one usually does.
Plus, it's nice for trying out a new build before you respec, though the fact that you have to re-enhance the second build means this is really only good as far as trying out the powers themselves. For slotting, you're still more or less on your own.
FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
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You could have a Solo build and a Team build
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oh yeah, I should have thought of that one at least.
Also- What is this skiing you speak of? I started playing this in 2004 but haven't been on for the last year. whuttahail are you guys talking about?
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You could have a Solo build and a Team build
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oh yeah, I should have thought of that one at least.
Also- What is this skiing you speak of? I started playing this in 2004 but haven't been on for the last year. whuttahail are you guys talking about?
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Apparently, a part of the winter event. I'm all ears about this "skiing build," though.
Explorer: 93%. Achiever: 40%. Socializer: 40%. Killer 33%.
Current Heroes and Villains (altitis holding at 50 currents)
To all the devs, past, present, (and may there be) future: /salute
To NCSoft: Understand that you reap what you plant, and you cannot gain what you throw away.
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You could have a Solo build and a Team build
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oh yeah, I should have thought of that one at least.
Also- What is this skiing you speak of? I started playing this in 2004 but haven't been on for the last year. whuttahail are you guys talking about?
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Apparently, a part of the winter event. I'm all ears about this "skiing build," though.
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There are two ski tracks in Pocket D during the annual Winter event. Some travel powers are much better than others (SJ + SS tend to trump everything, fly is too slow and tp doesn't really work because you need to pass through gates), so you can alt-spec your flying hero into one with SJ and get much better times on the ski tracks. There are Bronze, Gold, and Silver badges for each track based on run time.
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."
In order to excel at the ski runs at the Chalet during the Winter Event, it helps to be able to change direction laterally in the air. You can have a Kin give you Inertial Reduction, or, you can make a quick throw-away second build (with just TOs, DOs, and SOs) that takes all the Jump powers so that you can have that fast lateral mid-air movement that neither SuperSpeed by itself nor Fly can give you.
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Gotcha; thanks!
Explorer: 93%. Achiever: 40%. Socializer: 40%. Killer 33%.
Current Heroes and Villains (altitis holding at 50 currents)
To all the devs, past, present, (and may there be) future: /salute
To NCSoft: Understand that you reap what you plant, and you cannot gain what you throw away.
ROFL! That is too cool! Reminds me of a map I made when I ran Team Fortress Classic servers, it was a huge mansion with an indoor running track with a control booth to lockdown the track, the booth, the grandstands so people playing the Scout class could have footraces. We had a blast doing everything other than what thegame was designed for!
I have searched for an answer to this to no avail:
What is the "active build" thing about that trainers ask you about?