Memphis_Bill's Firey Aura overview (2.0, I18)
By
Culex,
Posted on: 2010-09-11 07:17 in Player Guides
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Also Base Enhancements. I live on those for my early levels =)
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
[SIZE=3]No inherent Knockback protection. The Fire tanker has no inherent knockback (KB) protection. Unlike every other set (except Dark armor,) which usually gain KB protection with their status effect protection, Fire requires outside help, through teammates, inspirations, power pools or Invention Origin (IO) enhancements for this.
[COLOR=Orange][I] |
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Wait, what? They removed Fear from Burn? How did I miss this? Is that effect carried over to Brutes?
I play a DM/FA Brute and I quite honestly, love the pairing. Granted, native Resists (even with Tough) are quite low and makes for a squishy Brute. But the -tohit from DM makes it seem as though I have actual Defense at times. Survivability also gets a nice boost from working Siphon Life into the regular attack chain. I'm guessing it would be a nice match for a Tank as well. AoE isn't all that great though.
I've also got a Fire/Ice Tank that used Ice Patch + Burn. Fun combo to take into DA for some work.
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Yep. This issue. And yes, it's true for Brutes (and Scrappers) as well - I believe the Blaster version still has it though (seem to recall them running from the patch on my fire/fire.) |
Originally Posted by Dark One
Wait, what? They removed Fear from Burn? How did I miss this? Is that effect carried over to Brutes?
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Friend of mine was giggling maniacally with her /FA brute when she found out. I was going to do a respec it in to my namesake (and old) Fire/SS, but I'm waiting for I19 to do so.
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bill, that's 4 words!|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
However, I have three words to say.
Burn Is Back, baby! |
>:e
J/K, good guide.
I'm looking forward to checking out the changes on my fire/axe one of these days, once I get done switching alignments on a few characters.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
I can't wait for I19.
I'll be picking up RotP, Temp. Protection and Recall Friend. Mwahah!
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:P|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
bill, that's 4 words!
>:e |
I was counting before the comma. Those were the three important words. (ok, the "baby" was a recent addition. Felt better with it. And forgot to update the count. Picky, picky.)
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J/K, good guide. I'm looking forward to checking out the changes on my fire/axe one of these days, once I get done switching alignments on a few characters. |
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Originally Posted by Jetpack
I'll be picking up RotP, Temp. Protection and Recall Friend. Mwahah! |
Indeed.
You know, my EM does OK for AOE now.
Combination of Whirling Hands, Burn, Fireball and Blazing Aura isn't too bad. Pound the boss with ET and TF, while letting the above four do their trick.
And I do love Tough.
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*twitch*|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Yep. This issue. And yes, it's true for Brutes (and Scrappers) as well - I believe the Blaster version still has it though (seem to recall them running from the patch on my fire/fire.)
Friend of mine was giggling maniacally with her /FA brute when she found out. I was going to do a respec it in to my namesake (and old) Fire/SS, but I'm waiting for I19 to do so. |
o.O
O.o
O.O
Huzzah!
Thank you VERY much for this information. I think I need to go lie down now as I do declare, I have the vapours...
Your description of FE is still using the old design rather than the new design. It is of nearly equal benefit for all attack sets now. Actually is might have worked out to be a small downgrade for firemelee because new FE works off the base damage and doesn't boost the dot, whereas old FE did, and of course the duration is the same for that pairing.
However, even if it is a small downgrade for firemelee during normal damage ranges, it is still a buff if other damage buffers are around because old FE wouldn't do anything if you were already at the damage enhancement cap and new one will.
Bill,
Awesome write-up on FA. Thank you for taking the time to put this together and share with us.
My namesake is FA/Ice/Pyre and has finally lived long enough to be restored to some of his former strengths with the recent changes. Having a very tight build, Inherent Fitness and some slot shifting will see the return of FE, Burn, and RotP. YAY!!!
(I still hope that they increase the aggro limits a bit someday soon so I can actually entertain atleast 2 full "x8" groups at my BBQ Pit and Smoothie Bar.)
Comic and Hero/Villain Culture
Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
Those Who Lived It Will Remember Long after your Ban Hammer Crumbles and the servers flicker dead.
We Will Remember This One Moment In Time! ~ Shadow Ravenwolf
Yeah, like Nicetry mentioned, Fiery Embrace isn't a Build-uplike power any more. It essentially adds a tick of fire damage to an attack based on the damage it does, and the best part is that it scales with boosted damage. The more damage the power does, the more damage the FE 'tick' will do. So hitting Build Up, Fiery Embrace, and Burn means that a spawn will pretty much melt instantly.
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Originally Posted by reiella
Until I see something that states to the contrary, going to assume VK is right
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Looks like I have to dig up the patch note on that then. Was still going by the in-game description of:
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(Which you have to go to the PVP tab to see, PVE it's blank.)|
Significantly boosts the damage of all your Fire attacks for quite a while. Also increases the damage of all your other non-fire based attacks for a short while. Recharge: Very Long +100.00% strength to fire damage for 20.00s on self Ignores buffs and enhancements unresistable +80.00% strength to smashing damage for 10.00s on self Ignores buffs and enhancements unresistable +80.00% strength to lethal damage for 10.00s on self Ignores buffs and enhancements unresistable (and so on) |
Wiki hasn't been updated either it looks like. Will make the adjustment. Thanks.
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I believe one of the changes to Consume has been to add end drain protection. This protection is only to drain and does not extend to -recovery debuffs. Sadly. the Combat Attributes does not display end drain protection, but only recovery debuff resistance. However, the power description lists the 50% resistance to end drain (and it appears that this value increases when you enhance Consume with end mods. It also appears you must hit something with Consume in order to get this protection. The protection lasts a nice long two minutes, so it is easily made perma.|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
No protection from Endurance Drain. There's no direct protection or resistance to Endurance Drain, or indirect by way of Defense. Consume now provides several seconds of Recovery boost (and of course, Stamina will be inherent as of issue 19) but getting hit by a Sapper or stuck in the middle of a pile of carnies when their death drain fires off can still hurt. (That said, I love fighting Carnies. You just have to pay attention.)
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In order to get the immob protection from Burn, it appears you must hit an enemy as well.
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
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That I know isn't the case. Take a fire tank with Burn, pop up combat attributes, stand inside city hall or someplace there are no mobs and fire off Burn. You'll see your Immob protection kick in immediately, even if there's nothing around to hit.
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Originally Posted by StratoNexus
In order to get the immob protection from Burn, it appears you must hit an enemy as well.
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Heh, I guess I am going to have to start remembering that Burn got really screwed up this issue across the different ATs. |
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
That I know isn't the case. Take a fire tank with Burn, pop up combat attributes, stand inside city hall or someplace there are no mobs and fire off Burn. You'll see your Immob protection kick in immediately, even if there's nothing around to hit.
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You are correct, tanker Burn grants the protection without hitting anything. However, the version I was playing with before I made my post was the scrapper version. The scrapper version acts as I stated, if you use Burn with no enemy around, you get no protection (you don't even get the fire FX). Another bug report filed.
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
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Oy.|
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
Heh, I guess I am going to have to start remembering that Burn got really screwed up this issue across the different ATs.
You are correct, tanker Burn grants the protection without hitting anything. However, the version I was playing with before I made my post was the scrapper version. The scrapper version acts as I stated, if you use Burn with no enemy around, you get no protection (you don't even get the fire FX). Another bug report filed. |
Interesting. Dug out my Fire/DB scrapper (who was going to get a respec for next issue anyway, and didn't have burn yet (28) because of fitness - yeah, the burn patch, on my system, doesn't even show up without it having an enemy to hit.
I'm going to charitably call that "interesting." >.< As well as check a few things brute-side.
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That's because Scrappers and Brutes get Fire Shield first, not Blazing Aura. They are not locked into early-level suck and extra power requirements.|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Blazing Aura
Open at: Lvl 1 PBAOE, Damage over time Your fire damage aura. You'll have this early, most likely, though I prefer to take it after Fire shield on a Tank. You can't hurt things from the hospital, after all. (You don't have any choice as a Scrapper or Brute.) |
Also I guess it was intent but you missed a ton of the attack sets that can be paired, like Martial Arts, Claws, Spines, Katana...some of which have interesting combo capacity.
Enemy Resistances - Damage, Mez and Defense
Enemy XP Mods
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Yeah, I put in a note in an edit (as in at the same time as your reply, you didn't miss it) that I had written this from a Tanker point of view. I'd actually noted to double check that when doing the revision, and promptly ignored the note when going over it again. >.<
(I don't mind doing edits - y'all catch stuff, it ends up making the guide better. I appreciate it. And yes, I just *typed,* not just said, y'all.)
I assume your guide is more or less an intro guide to Fiery Aura since you barely talk about IOs or tactics and don't go into any real numbers. As such, it's a good introduction to the set, but just a few comments that are mostly differences of opinion (so take them for what they're worth):
I know Consume's improved and all, and w/I19 freeing up 3 power choices, I'll certainly respec into it, mostly for the end drain resistance addition, but it's hardly a "must take" power, what w/the to hit check and the (still) long recharge. My (admittedly, fully IOed out) Fire/EM has really zero end concerns these days, even when fighting Carnies or Sappers, though I'm careful about keeping a blue insp in my tray at all times for those encounters. Playing w/SOs, Consume still doesn't recharge quite quickly enough to be a reliable end recovery system, which is to say, if you're not already slotted well for end redux, Consume isn't going to fix that by itself.
Hover/Fly is a horrible substitute for -KB from Acro or IOs. I would never recommend that. Fly's gotten faster tho and is a perfectly good travel power, tho you can just get Jet/Raptor packs.
Cold resistance is also a bit of a weakness of Fire that deserves a mention. Also, zero mitigation against Psi.
I think Tough is pretty much required for a "tough enough" Fire tank, and I'd take it over Consume any day of the week. The difference bet. 47% & 70% S/L resist is huge. Weave is quite good to if you build for defense (though obviously not w/just SOs). Try taking your Fire tank to S/L def cap and you'll marvel at the difference.
Hasten, esp at the SO level, is pretty crucial to getting HF up more often. Faster recharging Burn is nice too. Fitness, Fighting, Speed & Leaping were pretty much the "required" 4 pools for Fire tanks back in the day. W/-KB IOs and inherent Fitness in I19, you can have far more varied builds (like Flight or Leadership), but I'd still heavily recommend the Fighting & Speed pools for all Fire tanks.
Speaking of recharge, Temp Prot is still kinda lame, but again w/3 added power slots in I19, I think it's a good investment. Fiery Aura is largely dependent on recharge of HF for survival (not as bad as, say, Regen, but it's kinda crucial), and -recharge debuffs kills us almost as fast as Psi. Temp Prot + the Winter's Gift slow resist adds up to a respectable 40% resistance, which I'll certainly be pursuing come I19. Plus, you'll get some more Cold resists, which will still kinda suck, but better than what you get w/just Fire Shield (<20%).
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
Any thoughts on how to IO a Firey Aura brute out?
Good guide! Your description of temperature protection gave me a better perspective on the skill. I think I currently have it multi-slotted out of habit so now I'm going to be changing that next time I respec.
Oh, also, under your description of RotP when you go over other tier 9 skills:
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the bold part should be attack, not defense. |
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Granite (high Resists and Defense, but with penalties to speed, recharge and defense,)
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... gah. Yeah, slight difference there. >.<
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Originally Posted by Zaloopa
Good guide! Your description of temperature protection gave me a better perspective on the skill. I think I currently have it multi-slotted out of habit so now I'm going to be changing that next time I respec.
Oh, also, under your description of RotP when you go over other tier 9 skills: the bold part should be attack, not defense. |
Overview
This guide was originally written - well, many issues ago. We've seen several changes to the game (with a big one, inherent stamina, due in Issue 19.) The original guide was getting multiple markups from me for edits - so it's time for a revision to do some cleanup and add some fresh information. There will not be a build here - this is looking specifically at the Fiery Aura set, which is only half a character. I'll go over the sets you can pair with it near the end of the guide, as well as give the occasional slotting or IO suggestion, but if you want specifics I recommend going to your archetype forum and asking around.
Also, note this is primarily written from a Tanker viewpoint, so I may miss some Scrapper or Brute specific items. I'll try to point out differences in the various ATs when possible (and when, oh, people point them out.)
History
Fiery Aura is one of the classic (early) Tanker armor sets (the others being Ice, Stone, and Invulnerability.) As such, it's seen quite a few changes over the years COH has been out, and had a lot of discussion about its place in the Tanker lineup - especially with some of the newer sets, such as Shields. It was a day of release set for Brutes when City of Villains came out, and later was ported to Scrappers.
Fire has historically been called the most offensive of the tanker sets. This is true (and part of why it's popular for Brutes, and was long overdue coming for Scrappers.) With this offense, it was given a few weaknesses by the original design team - tradeoffs hotly debated even years after Enhancement Diversification and the Global Defense Nerf, herding changes and AOE changes, and debated even more after Shields (Shield Charge) were introduced.
The set has a warm (heh) place in my COH heart, too, as my forum-namesake was also the first character I created, back in February of 2005. He's a Fire/Superstrength/Pyre tanker on Pinnacle (and Fire/Energy on Victory,) and still running around the city causing trouble well after hitting 50. I like the set, finding it a great deal of fun and having been with it through the various ups, downs and other changes in the game. Fire's also quite likely my most-created tank, and I also use it on Brutes and Scrappers (though I don't make many of those.)
Strengths
As mentioned, Fiery Aura is a very offensive set. Four powers in it do damage of some sort without leaning into IOs - Blazing aura, Burn, Consume, and Rise of the Phoenix. It also has a fast-recharging heal and an endurance recovery power in Consume.
Also, unlike some of the other "purer" Tanks, Fiery Aura is a resistance set, not a defensive set. You will get hit, make no doubt about it - but you'll be hit for less damage typically. This, combined with the fast heal and mitigation through damage (dea... er, 'arrested" foes don't fight back) make for a very capable tank. But it's a very different playstyle if you're used to building for defense.
Finally, after years of debate, we were given one of our heavy hitters back when Burn had its Fear effect removed and damage frontloaded.
Weaknesses
Fiery Aura has a couple of weaknesses that the player must be aware of.
No inherent Knockback protection. The Fire tanker has no inherent knockback (KB) protection. Unlike every other set (except Dark armor,) which usually gain KB protection with their status effect protection, Fire requires outside help, through teammates, inspirations, power pools or Invention Origin (IO) enhancements for this.
Immobilize protection in Burn. While Burn's usefulness as an offensive power was restored, it still comes very late for being our Immobilize protection. This is still going to drive many Fiery Aura users to Combat Jumping. (Note that at time of writing, Scrappers - and possibly Brutes - need the Burn patch to hit something before they get the immobilize protection.)
No protection from Endurance Drain. There's no direct, permanent protection or resistance to Endurance Drain, or indirect by way of Defense. Consume now provides several seconds of Recovery boost and two minutes of End drain resist (and of course, Stamina will be inherent as of issue 19) but getting hit by a Sapper or stuck in the middle of a pile of carnies when their death drain fires off can still hurt. (That said, I love fighting Carnies. You just have to pay attention.) But it is not available in your shields, nor is there any debuff protection.
Powers overview
So, what do you get, when do you get it, and what does it do? We'll get into detail in a bit. I'm not going to give a build here - everyone's going to have different goals, and your secondary can make a big difference on how useful (or not) some of the primary powers are. Levels given are tank levels. Scrappers get them later.
Quick 'n Dirty List from Paragon Wiki
Power / Opens at (Tanker) / Description
Blazing Aura / 1 / Toggle: Point Blank Area of Effect, Minor Damage over Time(Fire)
Fire Shield / 1 / Toggle: Self +Resistance(Fire, Lethal, Smash, Cold, Disorient)
Healing Flames / 2 / Self Heal, +Resistance(Toxic)
Temperature Protection / 6 / Auto: Self +Resistance(Fire, Cold, Slow)
Consume / 8 / Point Blank Area of Effect Fire Damage, Self +Endurance
Plasma Shield / 12 / Toggle: Self +Resistance(Energy, Negative, Fire, Hold, Sleep)
Burn / 18 / Location (Point Blank Area of Effect), Moderate Damage over Time(Fire), Self Resistance(Immobilize)
Fiery Embrace / 26 / Self +Damage
Rise of the Phoenix / 32 / Self Rez, Special
Blazing Aura
Open at: Lvl 1 (2 for Scrappers/Brutes)
PBAOE, Damage over time
Your fire damage aura. You'll have this early, most likely, though I prefer to take it after Fire shield on a Tank. You can't hurt things from the hospital, after all. (You don't have any choice as a Scrapper or Brute. As much as you may want it at level 1, you must take Fire shield first. I know, you're disappointed.)
Fire Shield
Open at: Lvl 1
Toggle, Res (Fire, Lethal, Smash, Cold, Disorient)
Your first, basic shield, covering both thematic (fire, cold) and common (smash/lethal) damage, as well as resisting Disorients. Early on, slot for End reduction (especially pre-Stamina, pre-Consume.) As you get into DOs, SOs, and IOs, slot resists. Never forget the END reduction though. This will be on constantly.
Healing Flames
Opens at: Lvl 2
Self heal, +Res (Toxic)
Another "Grab ASAP" power. Not only is it your heal, but early in your tanky career you'll be facing Vahzilok at some point - so the Toxic resist helps a little. It's a big part of your mitigation - at some point, you may even find you have it on autofire, though I personally found it wasn't needed that way after a while.
Temperature protection
Opens at: Level 6
Resist Fire, Cold, Slows (Auto)
Ahh. The first - let's call it "controversial" power in the powerset. FA already can build up to very respectable fire and cold resists - not that these are huge issues in game. And it comes at level 6, the same time your first power pool choice becomes available.
Most fire tanks used to skip or respec out of Temperature Protection.
So why should you take it? Two reasons. First, it's a resist power that doesn't need slotting - but CAN take a Steadfast Protection knockback protection IO. And second, it provides you with something you'll find very helpful - slow (and recharge) resistance, on the order of 20%. It's more a matter of the Recharge, really. You want Consume and Healing Flames up as often as possible. You DON'T want that Cryo Tank slowing you down! (Add a Winter's Gift IO to your build for more slow protection. Stock up over the holidays.)
Don't waste slots here, though. If you have extra and want to use it for a set mule, you can. Otherwise, this is a one slot wonder.
Consume
Opens at: Level 8
There's no argument here. Take it. Don't argue. While it does some damage (remember the "Offensive Tank" idea,) it's usually best to slot this for Endmod and Recharge, with a touch of Accuracy. You'll still want Stamina (And after issue 19 will have it inherently) - an active tank burns End like mad - but this will help keep you going. Plus, it gives a small Recovery boost for a time after use, and two minutes of END drain protection - assuming it hits. It's no longer just a one shot and go power.
Plasma Shield
Opens at: Level 12
Toggle: Res(Energy, Negative, Fire, Hold, Sleep)
Yet another "take it now" power. This is your status resistance, after all. Again, early on, slot for END over resistance, as every bit helps.
Burn
Opens at: Level 18
Click: AOE damage, +Res (Immobilization)
Ahh, burn... Back in olden days, this helped make Fire tanks overpowered killing machines. Mobs would stack, it had no fear effect, and huge, stacking herds could be melted away with little to no effort. This is one of the reasons Fire tanks are considered "Offensive."
And then came the nerf. For many years and many issues, Burn had a Fear component that, for some, added to mitigation - and for others, like me, added to frustration as mobs scattered to the winds. For me, it was a skippable power - I was a tank. I wanted mobs here. Now. Not running away. However, I have four words to say.
Burn Is Back, baby!
Face it, tanks have been given damage since Fire Aura's Burn nerf. Fire is not the only "Offensive Tank." Shield Charge is the biggest culprit here - a nice, big hit of AOE damage, knockdown and no fear or other questionable effect. We've also dealt with Enhancement Diversification, had IOs added - the game has changed a lot. Finally, the developers relented on Burn's Fear, removing it and giving the Resistance based Offensive Tank one of its biggest hits back. And with Stamina's change in I19, you don't even have to worry about when to put it in - only how to fit the slots there.
This is also a source of Immobilize protection for you. (As of writing, Tanks get it immediately upon dropping the Burn patch. Scrappers don't unless it hits something.)
Fiery Embrace
Opens at: 26
+Damage
Grabbing the description straight from the patch notes:
Fiery Embrace power now adds bonus fire damage for all Melee Power Set attacks instead of being a normal damage Buff. All Melee Power Set attacks made for 20 seconds after activating Fiery Embrace will do bonus damage based on that attack's damage. This bonus damage IS affected by enhancements and outside buff/debuff effects. At low levels, this means Fiery Embrace will have lower impact than the old implementation, while at high levels or on teams with lots of +Damage effects, you will see increased damage output.
This does not affect Criticals.
In PVP, the old version (longer damage buff to Fire attacks, 10s build up like effect to other sets) is still in effect.
Worth taking overall.
Rise of the Phoenix
Opens at: 32
Self Rez, +Special (temp invulnerable, Disorient)
"I do not like being dead. It's most... inconvenient."
If you want to start a fight in the Tanker boards, bring up Rise of the Phoenix. "I want a power that makes me godlike, not something I have to be dead to use!"
At first, this looks like a valid argument - it IS a self rez, and to many Tanks, this means they've failed. However, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Looking at other Tier 9 powers, you've got Hibernate (which speeds up your healing and recovery, but otherwise leaves you in a state like phase shift - unable to affect or be affected by anything,) Granite (high Resists and Defense, but with penalties to speed, recharge and offense,) Unstoppable and Strength of Will (high Resists to everything but Psi, with a nasty crash at the end.)
Fire already has mitigation which is quite good, solid resists, and a powerful, fast recharging heal, on top of damage, damage, and more damage. If you get brought down, this brings you right back up, invulnerable for a time, with a good chunk of health and with whatever brought you down now staggering about disoriented, just asking to be defeated, instead of attacking you or your team.
Yes, even though I don't find myself defeated often enough to use it *much,* I still consider it a very useful tool.
Companion sets (Secondaries for tanks, Primaries for Scrappers/Brutes)
The companion sets all have their plusses and minuses (and some of these have changed as the game has evolved.) A quick look at each of them - I'm not handing out builds. I'm not a numbers guy, and everyone has their own preferences, but these may help you decide what looks fun.
Battle Axe
Pros - Lots of knockdown. (Visually fun, keeps stuff in melee range, and lots of places to put more Kinetic Crash.)
Cons - Lethal damage. (Resisted heavily later. But you're also doing Fire damage at the same time.)
Broadsword (Scrapper only)
Pros - Heavy hitting.
Cons - Nothing for Parry to stack with (Defense,) a bit END heavy.
Dark Melee
Pros - Does -tohit. You may not have defense, but this can help your survivability. Siphon Life. Soul Drain. Dark Consumption.
Cons - Negative Energy is a pain against some foes.
Dual Blades
Pros - Combos. Visually interesting.
Cons - Combos. Looks like ballet instead of fighting.
Electrical melee
Pros - Lightning Rod (Teleporting AOE damage. This +Burn. Mmmm.) Several nice AOEs.
Cons - The -End isn't really noticeable, at least to me. By the time it is, the target's dead anyway.
Energy Melee
Pros - Some hard hitters, not as resisted
Cons - Only one AOE, longish animation. (I ran this to 50, I'm not particularly impressed with it on a Fire tank.)
Fire Melee
Pros - AOEs. Theme.
Cons - Ummm... more Fire damage? Fire with some lethal. While not a huge resistance issue, if you hit something that is, it resists everything.
Ice Melee
Pros - Slow/-Recharge on the enemy.
Cons - Honestly, I can't think of any. Even Frozen Aura, a PBAOE Sleep, does damage, so it's still relevant to a Fire tank.
Kinetic melee (requires Going Rogue)
Pros - Several AOEs, mixed damage types.
Cons - If you don't like Knockback, this isn't for you. Requires Going Rogue (not a "base" set at this time.) "Feels" slow in animation (to me.)
Stone Melee
Pros - Plenty of damage and knockdown.
Cons - All smashing. Feels a bit END heavy to me. (I did mention I'm not a numbers guy, right?)
Superstrength
Pros - omigodilovethisset. Rage is beautiful (as is foot stomp.) Feels powerful. I *love* this set.
Cons - Rage. Not for the -def (you're a resist tank) or END loss as it crashes, but for the -9999% damage at the crash. All Smashing. (Common resistance.)
War mace
Pros - It's a mace. You hit things. Lots of disorients.
Cons - All Smashing.
Non Tanker (at this time) power sets :
Claws
Pros - Fast, END light, AOEs
Cons - ... there's a Con to claws? OK, Lethal damage gets more heavily resisted later in the game. Good thing you burn stuff, too.
Katana
Pros - Faster than Broadsword. Acc bonus.
Cons - Lethal damage resisted more heavily later - but see Claws comment.
Spines
Pros - AOEs on top of more AOEs to go with Fire's AOEs. Toxic (less resisted) damage. DOTs. Impale (-fly, immob)
Cons - In my experience, it *feels* a little END heavy. Some may not like the graphics.
Pools
Two pools leap to mind (appropriately, in one case) when it comes to Fire/ tanks.
Leaping
The first thing that most Fire tanks think of with this is Acrobatics, to cover knockback. Even post-I 12, where it was reduced to "only" 9 points of KB protection (from an overkill of 100,) it's more than enough to deal with the majority of the game.
Knockback's not the only reason to consider this pool, though. Combat jumping, at level 6, not only provides some vertical movement and defense, but gives Immobilization resistance 12 levels (or more, if you're a Scrapper or Brute) before you can select Burn - and it lasts as long as the power is toggled. Plus Superjump is just fun.
Quick power overview:
(6) Combat Jumping - +Def, +Immobilize protection. Slot for End reduction. Also takes a Karma KB Resist IO or Luck of the Gambler +Recharge IO.
(6) Jump Kick - Attack. Cheesy. Skip.
(14) Superjump. Very fun travel power.
(20) Acrobatics. KB protection (9pt,) slight status protection. Slot for End Reduction.
Fitness
After Issue 19, this will be an inherent power pool. You won't have to pick it or sacrifice other powers for it. But don't forget to slot Stamina.
Other power pools:
Flight
If you don't care about Burn, Flight is a very viable choice. Hover provides a sort of KB protection (you flip, and post-I12 you can't do anything while flipping, but it's still pretty quick,) plus it resists -fly. And Air Superiority is a decent single target attack with knockback. Fly's a fun, but slow, travel power. Then there's group fly... yeah, no.
Speed
If anything, you'll take this for Hasten, and possibly Superspeed as a travel power. Flurry's - ok, I suppose, and Whirlwind... just no.
Concealment
You're a tank. Quit hiding, wimp. If you want phase shift, get it for doing a patrol in Warburg, or craft Ethereal Shift. Though if you have a spare pick, this can be useful for either a KB IO or a Luck of the Gambler (LOTG) +Recharge IO. (Up to three, actually.)
Presence
Everything you do taunts, and the fears... eh. not worth it to me.
Fighting
Popular with many fire tanks to add Resists or Defense (Tough or Weave.) Grab a quick attack (Boxing or Kick,) and Tough - then slot the heck out of it for END reduction. I don't see it as *necessary,* honestly, but every bit helps if you can fit bit in. It's worth considering. Plus, you can take Kick and add four Kinetic Crash IO set pieces for another three points of Knockback protection. I wouldn't have this solely as my KB protection, but if you can put the slots in for it, it can't hurt.
Medicine
You have healing flames, and you're not a Defender. If you need Aid Self as well, you're doing something wrong, IMHO. Besides, Aid Self is interruptible, which as a non-Defense based tank is not a good thing for you. Healing Flames isn't.
Leadership
Do you REALLY want more toggles? Besides, Defenders get more benefit from this. (However, again, Maneuvers is a defense toggle - KB IO or LOTG.)
Teleport
While I kind of like Teleport as a travel power (and Stone tanks swear by it,) it's purely up to you. Recall Friend and TP Foe can be useful - as well, surprisingly, as Group Teleport in some situations. Bring a friendly KIN to fulcrum shift as soon as you arrive in the middle of a spawn.
Conclusion
I love Fiery Aura. I just really like the way it plays, even with what some point out as "flaws" (especially knockback protection and a Tier 9 rez.) it's probably my most made Tank, and I have not a few Brutes with it. I find it fun - give it a try.