Fire/ Forcefield

I wanted to make a new controller and noticed I have not seen the fire/ forcefield combo very often and there are no guides on it. I think I would like to give it a try. I was considering fighting and/ or leadership as power pools to augment the defenses.

Would anyone with some experience with this combo be willing to give me some suggestions on how to make this a fun build. I solo and team in about equal measure and have access to all the veteran attacks. My only other controller is a 50 Earth /Storm and I still love to play it. Would like to experience that leveling fun again.

I have a fire/forcefield which can be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it wasn't always that way. Fire is a bit of a late bloomer, at least until you can get its endurance issues under wraps, and forcefields can be a bit boring. There are some good things about the combination though.

Dispersion Bubble lets you keep Hot Feet running without worrying about a lot of mezzes. It also provides a nice bit of personal defense, which layered with Weave and one of the defense armors from Stone or Ice, make it not too difficult to soft-cap to lethal/smashing. The ally shields can make the Imps a bit sturdier too when you're running alone.

I tried the Leadership pool at one point; it's definitely good for the team, but it comes with a caveat. Tactics will drive the Imps wild. It offers +perception in addition to +tohit. That means the Imps may lock on to mobs normally outside of their perception range and they will run to them, revealing more enemies to whom they will run. I found them over-aggro'ing much more often with Tactics than without.

As for epic pools, I went with Stone. It offers a defense based armor, a self-heal, a nice close ranged AoE, and a mag 4 hold for quickly taking out trouble mobs (exotic damage types and anything with a sleep). Ice also has a defense based armor as well as a health/end recovery tool in Hibernate. It also offers two AoE's to toss on top of the damage you'll get from Hot Feet. For a very team-oriented build, I would consider Primal for Powerboosted shields though Conserve Power also would help with Fire/FF's endurance issues.

Thanks Ketch . That is just what I was looking for. I thought the combo looked too good to be as rare as it is and I think you explained it. I can get around that little draw back period. Thanks for the app help. Earth sounds good. I am a bit of a stickler on how powers look with the concept though so I will have to wait and see. I will fire up the character creator as soon as Pratoria is available. I would like to start there.

Can Controllers get the Scorpion Shield in a Patron Power Pool?
That would stack Defence without looking like you're covered in rock or ice.

For emergencies before level 41, grab a Kinetic Dampener temp power.

I played this combo a while back, and it was really quite cool. A damage-heavy primary and a defensive secondary made for a good balance. I think I just picked the big 4 from Force Fields (PFF, ally shields x2 and Dispersion) and added Smoke for a bit of extra -To hit to stack with the defence.

Aid Self is very nice to have with PFF as a panic button, and you can draw quite a bit of aggro with this combo. I tried experimenting with building up passive +Regen, don't bother with that. Getting some Ranged defence via Thunderstrike and Red Fortune sets is a good start to any IO plans.

looking into scorpion shield myself. Currently, my Fire/FF, I used primal forces, Power Buildup and FF bubbles, you'll have imps over the softcap under your dispersion bubble.

Here is my current Fire/Force Field build, using the new Mids' planner. I haven't yet looked into the Villain APPs, but this build as-is soft-caps Ranged and AOE defense. It also supplies 25.6% smashing/lethal defense, which I bet with the villain epic you could soft-cap that as well.

Lewis

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/


Technique: Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(3), Lock-Rchg/Hold(3), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(7), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(7), Lock-%Hold(17)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- Krma-ResKB(A)
Level 2: Fire Cages -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(A), TotHntr-EndRdx/Immob(5), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx(5), TotHntr-Immob/Acc(40), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46), TotHntr-Dam%(50)
Level 4: Deflection Shield -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(11), DefBuff-I(11)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 8: Hot Feet -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(9), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Dam%(29), EndRdx-I(34)
Level 10: Insulation Shield -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(19), DefBuff-I(19)
Level 12: Flashfire -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(13), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(13), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(15), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(15), Rope-Acc/Stun/Rchg(17)
Level 14: Super Speed -- QckFt-EndRdx/RunSpd(A)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(50)
Level 20: Dispersion Bubble -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(21), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def(39), RedFtn-EndRdx(39)
Level 22: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(25), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(27)
Level 26: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 28: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(37), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Aegis-ResDam(40), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(40)
Level 30: Cinders -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(31), Lock-Rchg/Hold(31), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(34), Lock-%Hold(34)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc(43), BldM'dt-Dmg(46)
Level 35: Weave -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Force Bubble -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Fire Shield -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(48), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(48), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Aegis-ResDam(50)
Level 49: Bonfire -- RechRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 0: Ninja Run

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Here is the data chunk for a soft-capped Fire/FF/Mace Controller. The defense values are a percentage or two less, but still fully soft-capped vs Ranged, AOE, S/L and Energy.

Lewis

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