Thermal secondary

So I want to make a Bots/Thermal for concept reasons, and I was hoping to find some advice on how to do it... trouble is, there don't seem to be any guides on the Thermal secondary, so I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Even in the Controller forum, the only guide to the thermal secondary isn't exactly helpful, since its only stance on whether any of the powers are worth taking is "this power is good." Seriously, that's what it says about ALL of them. So, does anyone have any experience with the Thermal secondary, and can maybe toss me a few pointers about which parts of it are worth taking?

Can't speak from personal experience but my RL buddy recently deleted his level 28 DS/Therm because.

He "didn't like being a boring ol buff bot."

He re-rolled as DS/Dark so he'd actually have something to do.

His words, not mine.

I play a Kin defender - buffing all the time isn't a problem for me, and it's pretty important concept-wise that I've got fire to sling around.

The rez is probably the most skippable power, if you're going to skip a power from the thermal secondary; it uses a lot of end and multiple players have reported pulling major aggro onto their MM when using it. Thaw is another power to consider dropping if your build is extremely tight. But, the anti-mez and the protection against -recharge can be extremely helpful, on occasion.

Forge is a very good power choice, and particularly helpful when you keep it permanently on your assault bot. The level 35 and 38 thermal debuffs are very good when soloing EBs and ugly bosses, and when taking on AVs / Heroes in teams; they're probably best not skipped. The shields and heals are the first four powers, and they're probably all best taken, as they work together to keep your bots upright better.

You can safely skip "Repair" from your primary, as a bots/thermal.

There isn't much to Thermal, really.

You've got 2 shields that give damage resistance to targets. You have an AOE heal for topping off your allies and minions, plus you have a single target heal for times when a specific minion needs healing. For the resist shields, you'll want to max damage resistance and sneak some endurance reduction in so that your end bar isn't eaten alive when buffing. For the heals, you'll want to max the heal, then sneak in whatever end reduction and recharge you can.

That's about all you'll really have to worry about with Thermal until level 28.

Thaw is nice if you need to give mez protection to an ally or a pet, but it is strictly optional. I almost always skip it until MUCH later, if I take it at all. For the most part, your pets won't need it. Power of the Phoenix is a rez that only affects real players. As such, I always skip it. That is why you won't really need to worry about much with Thermal until level 28. You'll have your 2 shield buffs and your 2 heals to take, but you'll have all of that by level 10.

At level 28, you get Forge. Take it ASAP. I usually don't slot it until level 31 though, because at level 29 I'm still pumping my top tier pet. You'll want 3 recharge in this guy so that it is up as often as possible. Hit buff and endurance reduction is secondary. In a worst case scenario, 3 recharge is all you absolutely have to get here. Anyway, it boosts the power of whatever you cast it on (pet or ally), at least until it wears off.

Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor are your 2 foe-weakening powers. You'll want to take them both, as soon as they become available (35, 38).

Heat Exhaustion is a single target foe debuff. It reduces the foe's damage potential and his regeneration ability (as well as his recovery and endurance). Basically, this is your power for softening up hard single targets. It needs accuracy to hit, and you'll want high recharge so its up more often. End reduction is nice if you have slots, but since this power doesn't take sets, you'll specifically have to devote an end slot to it if you do. Therefore, a lot of people won't bother with endurance reduction in this power.

Melt Armor is a targeted AOE that needs accuracy and recharge, just like Heat Exhaustion does. The good news is that it takes sets, so its easier to get end reduction and defense debuff in the power. Anyway, foes in an area near your target foe, if hit, have their damage resistance lowered, as well as their defense. This power will really let you put the hurt on the bad guys, since they'll be easier to hit, and they'll take more damage.

That's a fast overview of Thermal (independent of your primary). I'm sure that figuring out how to use it with mastermind minions (and allies) will be easy enough. It can be a very busy/clicky build, but not as busy and clicky as, say, a Mind/Thermal controller.

Here is a build I made for Robots/Thermal through level 40 using the latest Mids (1.704, released yesterday May 04 2010). Its just the data chunks. I went ahead and slotted the Thermal stuff only, just to give you an example of a basic straightforward style of slotting. I'll post a version using sets, and one using generics (with the same slot layout in each).

Lewis



WITH SETS:

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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With thermal I found I got the most out of the set doing two builds, one for SOLO and one for TEAMING.

Thanks, UnicyclePeon, that was a really helpful and informative post - way more so than I expected to get! I'll go have a look at those builds.

EDIT: Fly AND Super Speed? o_o