Fire/Cold/something...

I really want to make a fire/cold, but am having a really tough time figuring out a good build. There are so many powers to take between both the primary and secondary, that this is turning out to be a VERY tight build, especially since I want to obtain a soft-cap to defense, especially melee, since I plan to be there often. Unfortunately, while its easy to get a good number on ranged defense, its quite a different story with melee.

Right now, I have only Fire Cage, Char, Fire Cages, Hot Feet, and Imps, from the primary in my build but have no clue where to begin cutting powers from my secondary cause everything seems so delicious. I would like to know what powers in Cold Domination can be skipped if need be.

As for the epic.. stone is pretty much a no brainer for the def the shield provides.

While I intend to solo, I still want to be a major asset to teams as well, so please keep that in mind when making suggestions.


Thanks in advance.

EDIT: hmmm... well I was able to squeeze out 26.5% to melee def (21.5% range), 39.5% to smash/lethal as well as 22.4% resistance. I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with how the powers are slotted though, cause I was focusing on getting those defense numbers. Guess I have to try again.

Ring of Fire (You called it Fire Cage) is optional. Flashfire isn't. It is the most important control power for a Fire Controller, since Flashfire+Fire Cages is a quasi-hold that keeps the foes in place while you barbeque them with Hot Feet.

Ring of Fire is optional. It is mainly single target damage in low levels, or a way to immobilize bosses and AVs in upper levels. It is useful if you expect to mostly solo . . . in which case you could drop many of the Cold powers.

Except for Flashfire, you listed the key powers in Fire Control -- Char, Fire Cages, Hot Feet, Flashfire, Fire Imps. I would place a high priority on adding Cinders, but Ring of Fire, Smoke and Bonfire are situational and skippable. Personally, I like having Bonfire over either Smoke or Ring of Fire, but I admit that it is situational.

If you're talking about Melee defense, Smoke is a to-hit debuff that'll basically work out of the box and probably trump whatever else you could do with one power selection to increase your melee def.

Frostwork is skippable for /cold. I'm not getting into the argument, but it basically comes down to more HP on a few team members rarely being worth the power selection.

If you're planning on solo farming you could also skip the shields and benumb, but if you're planning on solo farming I'd roll fire/kin instead because Transfusion, Transference, and Fulcrum Shift will do a lot more for you than Sleet and Heat Loss.

Incidentally, why are you focusing on defense for a controller? Flashfire, Cinders, and enough recharge can make defense unnecessary because nothing ever gets to swing at you. In particular, melee defense on a troller is counterintuitive because you'll still die in 2 hits if you go into melee without holding/stunning the opponents first.

Thanks! These are all really good points. I've come up with a good team build using your advice. Here it is:

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

Click this DataLink to open the build!

FireCold: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Cold Domination
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(5), Lock-Acc/Hold:50(7), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(13), BasGaze-Slow%:30(46)
Level 1: Infrigidate -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 2: Ice Shield -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:40(3), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(11), GftotA-Def:40(13)
Level 4: Fire Cages -- RtngG-Acc/EndRdx:30(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx:50(5), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx:50(7), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg:50(11)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 8: Snow Storm -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(9), Slow-I:50(9)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(17), RechRdx-I:50(31)
Level 12: Flashfire -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg:50(A), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:50(15), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(15), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun:50(17), Stpfy-Stun/Rng:50(37), Posi-Dam%:50(37)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(37)
Level 18: Cinders -- Lock-Acc/Hold:50(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg:50(19), EoCur-Acc/Rchg:50(19), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(23), Hold-I:50(27), Lock-%Hold:50(31)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(21), P'Shift-End%:50(21)
Level 22: Glacial Shield -- GftotA-Def:40(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(29), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 24: Arctic Fog -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(25), ImpArm-ResDam:40(25)
Level 26: Hot Feet -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(27), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(29), Oblit-Dmg:50(34), Oblit-%Dam:50(34)
Level 28: Benumb -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(34), Acc-I:50(43)
Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg:50(A), BldM'dt-Dmg:50(33), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg:50(33), EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg:40(33), EdctM'r-PetDef:40(40)
Level 35: Sleet -- UndDef-Rchg:50(A), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg:50(36), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(36), P'ngTtl-Dmg/Slow:50(36)
Level 38: Heat Loss -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:50(40), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg:50(40)
Level 41: Tactics -- GSFC-Build%:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit:50(42), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx:50(42), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx:50(42)
Level 44: Fissure -- Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun:50(45), Stpfy-Stun/Rng:50(45), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:50(45), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg:50(46), Posi-Dam%:50(46)
Level 47: Rock Armor -- Krma-ResKB:30(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(48), GftotA-Def:40(48), RedFtn-Def:50(48)
Level 49: Seismic Smash -- T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:40(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(50), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(50), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1418;725;1450;HEX;|
|78DAA594CB4F13511487EFF4411F14DA522950A8502852A00FBAF3B1301134C1404|
|28261A3424A3BC02475867446232B51E333F8DC684C74E14A37AE5534F84AFC0B8C|
|BA77A3D1E846236A1CCFE316302E9DA4BF6FEE39E79E7BEEB9773A7A742820C4E24|
|EA18406CB05D39C1A3474AB6294CB6AC53D5A98D58ADE3D5A451D34CA258F10A27D|
|DD5B0DCCA2BF3AD8E8DF757866268B13A7868C439A5EB034430F0FEB736A45D5AD6|
|CF5253066500E4B574DD34F83F179552D05E975442D94D48A39A7CD87693CAC1FD1|
|4C6D5A2B6BD642C3EE79AD981DB70C5D9D1A2D98965A596886127BE1774A11F2B1D|
|DE2954388B870BC21B85E136ABE02F222B04AC8BC25E3C3F55942C4047A96C1C456|
|DBA9F815343942801EE17711025EC26950A78C739E5168A5AB145E739DE0BFC1236|
|8A25BE125DC295AE2110C3D6C72781264F24AE4089D30C727037CFD640A313633CE|
|81B356EEB6F618AD537F9C7192105A24244F30EED3AC2E485B27775BE7A33E78C01|
|4E49594E05EDA587282E69C070DCB25C2DCBB866F8C690A88729763DD5CD80FF279|
|215F44561EE920CF26896B14F0189C8DB26D8DDCC928F7B52D4469FBB8132B30689|
|2899AFAC8D39CA4B8E614E12C680B07B85A7E53EE984D68FB4548FC64E029E5C513|
|086D95EBB6FED5CB04A38F8FBF013610970D897329B2A225B0B6730657FB0732757|
|C667C61BC135858CF7BC25308EF940B76BEA452BA9E335E30EED1AE9E8176D38DB3|
|DDDD97C9B3E502E3226389D073857189108132535CA63375974CBDB718B71977081|
|F61F3FDF214FBF96AA4F96AA4F96AA4F9DA64F81265F8A27C825959993DFB5DE031|
|E7F890727C64B97A0A5F85FF9101B9C781FDB4EDFC24A34489F2B38436D786CFCC8|
|6478CFC631973AD7D7742214B7C3DE6BF9E07816A1E5FC10FBA0F650C6502E500CA|
|419449140A994629A2D8CB6BB3835BB1A06D28DB5176A02C619007BFC55A94004A1|
|D4A3D4A102584124189A2C4506EA2D87F0086A50DC1|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

You made a few choices I would have made differently: I will take Hot Feet earlier, and max slot it for EndRdx, damage and a little bit of accuracy and slow. With enough EndRdx, you can run it most of the time.

I'll skip the Leadership pool -- I just don't think it adds enough on a controller to be worth skipping other powers. For example, in your build, dropping Leadership would let you take Bonfire or Smoke, plus Earth's Embrace. Since */Cold does not have a self-heal, Earth's Embrace could be a huge addition. And I really like Bonfire for a lot of uses, including as a "panic button" power.

In Fissure, consider changing to the Posi Blast set instead of Stupify. The stun is erratic, and I feel Fissure's best use is as a damage power. I generally slot 5 Posi Blast and a common Recharge.