A Reasonable Secondary for Fire

I'm thinking of rolling a fire blaster and am trying to find a good secondary but i just can't (WARNING: this is my first blaster). I've had my share of experiences with EM in the past and would rather avoid it.

/Anything

Ahh, sounds good...

[Dr. Hibbert] I prescribe fire, and lots of it! [/Dr. Hibbert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I like Fire/Mental for the combination of added AoE, lower downtime via Drain Psyche, and its touch of mitigation via mezzes.

Fire/Ice will have more control in the form of slow, -recharge, and knockdown. I have a friend who uses his Archery/Ice to solo huge groups with relative ease.

Fire/Electric will have solid melee and controller-esque powers, along with Power Sink. A lot of these powers need to be used in melee.

Fire/Devices is good for people who like to think strategically and set traps for opponents who might be too hard to engage normally. It's interesting, but the set lacks build up. My Psychic/Devices Blaster is a lot of fun.

Fire/Fire has raw damage, as well as damage auras and a tiny bit of control. You'll be able to solo early on by just hitting things so hard that they don't have a chance to hit back.

Fire/Fire really shines on a solid team with enough support to let you go bonkers and burn everything in sight. Soloing is more challenging, as you have to temper your berzerking to stay alive.

Fire/Mental has ranged AoE options, and is solid in melee as well. One of the better all around synergies IMO.

Fire/Ice will give you more survivability through mitigation, but won't have quite the damage output of the first two.

Fire/Devices is arguably (along with Ice) one of the most survivable builds, but it solos fairly slow, and the secondary won't bring much to the table in a team situation (not many teams have the patience for setting up traps)

Fire/Energy and Fire/Electric run neck and neck for me. Both will hit like trucks both ranged and melee. I lean more towards Electric because it has slightly more control options, and has Power Sink to keep you going like the Energizer bunny.

That's just my take on the various secondaries. None of them are bad, but some may fit your playstyle better than others.

If you are disliking /EM, I am going to make a guess that its because of the lack of range in it. If that's the case /ment is probably your choice. You have a real nice ranged immob, good solid additional AOE cone, you will be able to cap your ranged defense and get good recharge very cheaply.

The combination works well early and never really slumps like so many blaster combos.

Fire/Ice if you're worried about survival. (Ice Patch is the obvious survival tool; Shiver is less obvious but very effective.)
Fire/Mental if you want huge ranged AOE death delivery with some nifty utilities.
Fire/Elec [or Fire/Energy] if you want big fast melee single target hits, plus a couple handy powers.

I know, I recommended 4 of the 6 secondaries out there. My personal feeling is that /Fire is has too much leisurely pointblank AOE (PBAOEDOT is how you spell "gets and keeps aggro") and /Dev gimps your damage too much while not providing any significant utility or mitigation. I love Fire blasters and I have Fire/Elec and Fire/En at 50, with Fire/Ice somewhere in the low 40s and another Fire/ice at 35. Probably going to do a Fire/Mental for Going Rogue. So I'm at least consistent.

Minor note, Power Thrust is the only /EM power that inflicts KB to its target. It sends them flying, which is the point of the power, but the other punches just stun their target (assuming they survive the hit). /MM's powers can generally be used at a normal range, but /EM gives Boost Range to turn your fire blasts into snipes. If you don't like the melee-heavy nature of /EM and want to avoid too much aggro, I would go /MM over /Fire.

Fire/Energy because it's just so damn good at everything.

Fire/Mental is a great combo. You'll have gobs of AoE damage and some nice miscellaneous tools as well. If you want even more AoE go fire/mental/elec.