1. It's fine, as long as you'll be farming with fillers. If you're farming solo with no fillers you'll not be at the cap.
2.You're not ever going to so much as farm with a single team mate? Ever? I tend to keep SB up on my Imps when I'm farming the Cim wall just so they can keep up with me. That's less relevant in a Boss farm where they'll probably die.
3.As noted above, Imps tend to not live very long in a Boss farm. But if you are in a situation where you need them, you'll want them slotted with as much accuracy as you can get in there, because they spawn a level below you.
4.I personally have never even taken smoke. It's just one extra thing to do, thus slowing you down.
5.Procs are not affected by damage buffs.
6. There is no simple answer for this. With /Kins, especially those built around recharge, stuff is up a LOT, so some don't mind missing a bit. I personally hate missing, so I slot a lot of accuracy. Seismic Smash is at 160% accuracy on my Fire/Kin and it still misses more than I would like.
I opened your build in Mids and the only power that is really under where I would want accuracy to be is Siphon Speed. Personally, I would trade that second Recharge for an Accuracy. The second Recharge is only gaining you 1.4 seconds with Hasten and one Siphon Speed running. Even less with stacked siphon speeds, which should almost always be the case.
I would also say Fulcrum Shift is over slotted. The second recharge is gaining you almost nothing, and you're at 130%+ with just the one accuracy, which is probably enough. I could see the argument for keeping the second accuracy, but the second recharge is really wasted.
7.You will still get the SP Defense bonus. However, you're still going to get hit even with capped defense. Not running Tough is going to lower your surviviability. Think about taking a slot from FS and maybe another power and slotting Resistance/Endurance IO's in Tough and running it.
As a long time farmer in a top ranked farming sg, here is my advice:
1) Drop stone mastery, I recently tried it to as a change of pace and it didnt work. Stick with fire. Stone gives you Defense instead of the Res from fire, and you want that res to cap smash/lethal. Also stone costs more end, and you ST attack is melee, at leaset with fire blast/ char you can more easily grab the runner. Plus Fireball seemed to do more damage for me than fissure in game, but i havent checked the numbers to know for sure
2) Smoke is a waste of a power. You don't need it for the Defense. Kill them and you will be fine. Some peole do enjoy it, but it is not necessary. Cages/flashfire/FS/Fireball and usually the guys are done by the time you refill healtha and end.
3) (This should have been #1) You are too hung up on Defense. You should be more concerned with Res to reduce damage taken when you are hit, and HP so you can take moer damage. You should be capping your Res to smash/leth meaning you are taking 1/3-1/4 of the actual damage and healing like a mad man so you are fine without the defense.
4) +ACC IS A MUST FOR A KIN!!!! The last thing you want is for Transfusion or Transference to miss leading to a faceplant or a toggle drop! Also that ACC in siphon speed is more import than the recharge because we want it to hit. I have one ACC one Rech with only modest Recharge in my build (since I have no Purps) and I can triple stack it for 60% extra recharge!
5) SB (the most controversial power for a f/k)
I have always hated it. I am a fire/kin, I can kill 8 person spawned 52 bosses solo......quickly. Why should I slow down for someone yelling SB Pleae, when I can drop two groups in that time. But........its worth it. You should have an extra power slot, so pick it up. SB your imps if solo to make them even bigger crack heads if you want. But on teams its great. Hell Im running with other firekins, we all SB eachother, and prestige rains from the skies. Or go to RWZ SB your friend Stone Brute and watch bosses kneel before you. It is worth it, much more than that crappy power smoke you got for a little extra def.
Anyway I hope this helped.
It's obviously personal preference, but I disagree with the advice to go with the Fire ancillary. I've tried both, and both worked fine. And Fire Ball does do more damage than Fissure. But Fissure has a secondary stun effect that stacks with Flashfire to stun bosses. And yes you do have a heal that's up all the time, but having to spam your heal takes away from your DPS because you're not spamming another attack.
If you're going to JUST farm, ever, then Fire is somewhat defensible. Depending on your play style you might farm a bit faster with it. But capping S/L defense with some resistance thrown in is safer. You will spam your heals less and your attacks more.
And if you ever do anything besides farming, such as high level TF's, stone is much, much better, imo. The biggest difference being that capped S/L defense means you get mezzed much less often, which is huge for a Fire/Kin.
Again, I've tried Stone and Fire, and I much prefer Stone, although that's coming from the perspective of someone who mainly runs high level content and sometimes farms, as opposed to someone who just farms.
I would have to agree with you for most PvE, but he had specifically mentioned fire/kin Farming advice. As you said though it comes down to opinion and different builds work for different people
Drop Smoke and IR, you don't need them on a farm build. If you 4 slot brawl (something I've started doing on some toons) you can slot another Kinetic Combat and get anothoer 3.75 lethal and smashing defense. I'd also drop Combat Jumping, and switch it for stealth, it has more defense than CJ. Other than that, it looks pretty solid.
Being in a Top SG means nothing. I mean look at OMEGA FORCEs roster.....
But yes drop Stone Mastery, and Smoke.
The only times you'd need Smoke or Cinders are if you run into a double mob, once you get a hang of your build you won't need them even then.
Fire Epic would be your safest bet. Or Psi. Stone's just fotm atm due to it's better survivability on 52+ Boss farms.
I need some help making the final decisions on my Fire/Kin farming build. My goal is to have capped smashing and lethal defense (this build does) and get as much +recharge as I can. I plan to farm 51-52 bosses. I have posted my build below:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Blaze It (Farm): Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Kinetics
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5)
Level 1: Transfusion -- Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(7), Nictus-Heal(7), Nictus-%Dam(33)
Level 2: Fire Cages -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(5), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(9), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(11), Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(11), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(15)
Level 4: Siphon Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(9)
Level 10: Siphon Speed -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 12: Flashfire -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), RechRdx-I(13), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(19), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(21), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(21), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(23)
Level 14: Smoke -- ToHitDeb-I(A), Acc-I(15)
Level 16: Hot Feet -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(A), TmpRdns-Dmg/Slow(17), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(17), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(25), TmpRdns-Acc/Dmg/Slow(27), EndRdx-I(27)
Level 18: Cinders -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Hold(19), Lock-Acc/Rchg(23), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(31), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(31), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 22: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(33), RgnTis-Regen+(34), Numna-Heal(45)
Level 24: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(25), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(34)
Level 26: Kick -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 28: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(29)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(39), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(39)
Level 35: Transference -- Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(40), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(40), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(42)
Level 38: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(40), Acc-I(43)
Level 41: Fissure -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), FrcFbk-Rechg%(42), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(42), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(43), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(43), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(46)
Level 44: Seismic Smash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), EoCur-Acc/Rchg(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(48), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(48), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 47: Rock Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Inertial Reduction -- Jump-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
These are my questions:
1. You will probably notice there is no dmg enhancements. I plan not to slot for damage because I assume I will be at the damage cap nearly all the time between Fulcrum Shift and Siphon Power. Is this a good plan?
2. I did not take Speed Boost because I read that the recharge buff part does not work on imps. Is this true? Do I need Speed Boost if I plan to solo farm only?
3. I only put 4 slots in Fire Imps. I noticed most people 6 slot it. Am I losing that much 4 slotting it?
4. I elected to get smoke for even more defense, but with capped Smashing/Lethal is this neccesary?
5. In transfusion I got the Touch of Nictus damage proc. I did this because I am under the impression that damage procs are affected by buffs such as fulcrum shift. Is this correct?
6. How much accuracy do I need to hit 50/51/52s ? I cannot find this info anywhere so I have no idea exactly how much accuracy I need.
7. Due to my Defense cap I plan to play with Tough toggeled off. Will I still get the steadfast protection bonuses?
Thanks for any and all help you can provide.