What kind of Incarnate would a Fire/Fire/Pyre Blaster be?

Now, when it comes to Blasters, my first reaction is "Well, damage, obviously!" After all, on a Fire/Fire, Damage can free up something like 15 slots or thereabout, and the a Core Paragon could do that AND add another 30% damage on top of that.

The problem with Musculature Incarnates are that the secondary effects suck, especially for a Blaster. Nothing in Fire/Fire/Pyre (that I've taken) uses defence debuff, and only Rind of Fire - a power I don't use very often, can use immobilization.

By contrast, I could snag Accuracy and replace just as many slots with that (one per attack), but also get the Hold Duration enhancement there, to be used in Char, the cornerstone of my playstyle. Buuut... I don't actually need or want more accuracy, so a Paragon won't give me much, especially on a character whose only source of defence buff is Hover.

And, to boot, I can't use anything but the primary effect of either the endurance or recharge boosts, and neither will save me many slots indeed. Well, OK, from endurance I can use the resistance increase for Fire Shield, but...

I don't know. What would you guys suggest I use?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I think your final statement is the key. Fire/Fire/Pyre really has no secondary effects to boost in any significant way--not across a series of powers, anyway.

Recharge would work out just as well for Char, too, because it helps close the Hold Duration / Recharge gap, and it would probably benefit most of your powers.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=246681

That thread had a discussion of Spiritual vs Musculature for blasters in general.

Its hard to answer your question without knowing what your build looks like and how you play. In general you aren't going to see much from most of the alpha slots that you can get now especially if you don't have any problems with your build currently. The alpha just isn't that much for blasters. In your case Cardiac might be the way to go if you have the resist epic armor and you took tough. Fire/Fire can be end heavy, and the resistance enhancement if you have both tough and fire armor should just be noticeable.

The other choice that comes to mind without having any idea what you built would be spiritual have your aim and build up more often for more damage, have your aoes up more often for more damage, have your consume up more often to power all that damage.

With my Fire3, I'm not thinking about replacing any slots as I expect I'll be exemping below 50 fairly regularly so for me, it's a question of what can the Alpha slot add to my current build rather than what can I replace. And for me, it comes down to Endurance or Recharge.

Fire3 is Endurance heavy but I've already got an End friendly build and I have Consume that's up fairly regularly. So I expect that I will go Spiritual instead as that will enhance how much Fiery goodness I can pump out but also enhance the recharge of Consume so it's up more often.

As has been said, the Alpha slot is not that much for Blasters as we have limited secondary effects. I think the only one that's going to get much out of it is me Sonic/En/En.

Well, "the build" is easy enough, especially with the Titan Sentienl, but it really isn't a complicated build.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Sarah Grimwall: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Fire Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Presence
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fire Blast -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(3), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(36)
Level 1: Ring of Fire -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(42), Dmg-I(43), Dmg-I(43), Dmg-I(43), Immob-I(46)
Level 2: Flares -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(3), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(39)
Level 4: Fire Sword -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(5), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(37)
Level 6: Hover -- Flight-I(A)
Level 8: Fire Breath -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), Dmg-I(9), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(31)
Level 10: Fire Ball -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(11), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(15), Dmg-I(34)
Level 12: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 18: Blaze -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(19), Dmg-I(19), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(23)
Level 20: Fire Sword Circle -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(21), Dmg-I(34), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(50)
Level 22: Rain of Fire -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(36), Dmg-I(37), Dmg-I(40), Dmg-I(46)
Level 24: Combustion -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(25), Dmg-I(25), Dmg-I(34), Dmg-I(39)
Level 26: Blazing Bolt -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(27), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(29)
Level 28: Consume -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 30: Provoke -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Inferno -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33)
Level 35: Burn -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(37), Dmg-I(40), Dmg-I(40)
Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Char -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(42), Hold-I(42)
Level 44: Fire Shield -- EndRdx-I(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45)
Level 47: Rise of the Phoenix -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Heal-I(48), EndMod-I(50)
Level 49: Bonfire -- RechRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(21)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(7), EndMod-I(7)

I want to put the rest of my reply in a separate post just to tab that data chunk better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I keep hearing Fire/Fire can be endurance heavy, and it would be... Had I taken either of my damage auras, which I didn't. I've been over this debate before and have had my intelligence questioned over it. Simple fact is simple: I can't use powers that require me to stay in melee for long periods of time and then drop when I inevitably get stunned. That's just how it is.

As it stands now, I have no endurance problems to speak of. In fact, I removed two endurance reducers when I got Stamina, and I haven't run out yet. I COULD take the endurance Boost for the resistance, but I just don't think that one lonely shield does enough, especially against things that aren't smashing or lethal, which few of the new enemies are. More than anything else, I really don't need endurance over what I have slotted, but couldn't replace my endurance with just 33%.

In fact... Would I want to replace a 42.4% damage enhancement with a 33% damage Boost? Lemme' check my ED spreadsheet... Well, the computer says that the Boost will actually give me an extra ~7% damage, actually. There are a fair few things I could slot with extra stuff under those circumstances, that's the primary reason I'm considering this. More recharge in Hasten, actual endurance slotting in Consume, maybe swap Bonfire for Melt Armour, there are many possibilities. What's more, an Issue down the line and not dying of old age permitting, I could snag a fair bit of extra damage, still with the extra recharge of Hasten.

I COULD snag recharge, yes, but that quick trip to the Super-Incarnate memory showed me one thing - Fire Blast is pretty easy to form a chain for, between Flares, Fire Blast and Blaze, with the help of Ring of Fire. That, and Hasten already helps me with tough fights where I need faster recharge. While I will admit that getting Aim and Build Up to recharge faster looks interesting in theory, my ED spreadsheet tells me that the actual increase only amounts to around five and a half seconds. It's true that all of my OTHER attacks would indeed come back faster, but I can typically use Hasten for that. Would that AND hasten not be even better? I don't know.

I'm just going to have to pick between higher damage for bigger shock damage, or more recharge for greater sustained damage.

*edit*
You know what occurs to me? Blasters only really have about three or four skills to use in any given situation, and indeed they have tools for many. It seems to make sense to go with recharge so as to excel in them all. That, and I want Rain of Fire more frequently

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I chose Cardiac (End reduction/Range), but I do have all the end heavy toggles. I am considering also making the Musculature so I can switch out when I have teammates which make endurance management a non-issue (which is frequently enough that I question my choice of Cardiac in the first place).

Spiritual would be potent for your build, IMO. You would have more of your options available more often. Since you lack any set bonuses for recharge and all of your powers are below the ED recharge cap and most have no recharge slotting at all, the effect of a Spiritual should be pretty noticeable.

You know, the more I think about this, the less sure I am I want recharge. Yes, on the one hand, that will give me more damage, clearly. And indeed the difference in damage from three level 50 commons to two level 50 commons plus an Incarnate boost is not significant. The best I could snag was an extra 30-ish points of damage on Blaze, which is my strongest attack.

However, this will free up 15 slots. Lust stick with me for a while as I list off the powers that I can pinch a slot from: Fire Blast, Flares, Fire Breath, Fireball, Blaze, Rain of Fire, Blazing Bolt, Inferno, Ring of Fire, Fire Sword, Fire Sword Circle, Combustion, Burn and Rise of the Phoenix. That's literally 15 slots. What can I do with 15 slots? Well, off the top of my head:

One more Hold slot in Char, plus two more damage slots. (3)
One more recharge in Consume plus two more endurance modification slots (6)
Another heal slot to Health (7)
Two more recharges in Inferno (9)
Two more slots to Rise of the Phoenix, either more heal and recovery or more recharge, as I don't fear debt at 50 (11)

That leaves me with four slots I can goof off with, such as add defences to Hover and make it faster still. There's your four slots right there. Or I can put more endurance reduction in Burn. Or, hell, I can go ahead and stick recharge reducers in Blaze, Fire Blast and Flares.

That is a LOT of slots... But on the other hand, recharge is a lot of gain in other ways. I suppose the question becomes whether I want to save slots but reinforce what I have or I want to keep what I have and gain more...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

If we're talking a build with just SOs or common IOs, then either Recharge or Accuracy would be worthwhile.

You're right that you can gain Recharge in a lot of other ways, but the Recharge gained by the Alpha Slot is on top of set bonuses, Hasten, and other non-Enhancement sources of Recharge. Since your slotting above has minimal to no Recharge slotted, you'd get the full benefit, and it seems like it'd be universally beneficial, since Aim, Build-Up, and Hasten aren't fully slotted for Recharge.

That said, I went for Damage, even though most of my damage is capped anyway. With the right combination of HOs, frankenslotting Set IOs, and common IOs, most of my powers have Accuracy, Damage, and Recharged maxed already, and E^3 doesn't need Endurance Reduction.

[Meredith Grey voice] Also... ...Provoke on a Fire/Fire/Pyre Blaster? Seriously? [/Meredith Grey voice]

[QUOTE=Circuit_Boy;3376676]You're right that you can gain Recharge in a lot of other ways, but the Recharge gained by the Alpha Slot is on top of set bonuses, Hasten, and other non-Enhancement sources of Recharge. Since your slotting above has minimal to no Recharge slotted, you'd get the full benefit, and it seems like it'd be universally beneficial, since Aim, Build-Up, and Hasten aren't fully slotted for Recharge.

So be it, then

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuit_Boy [Meredith Grey voice] Also... ...Provoke on a Fire/Fire/Pyre Blaster? Seriously? [/Meredith Grey voice]

As opposed to what? I didn't WANT to take Provoke, but I was out of options I couldn't think of any one power I could take that was both conceptually even permissible AND required only its base slot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I went EndRdux/Range -- Then again I'm a fire/fire/mace -- I have lots of toggles (for a blaster) -- the end rdux helped loads, and the range increase is very nice

I have the recharge and acc through bonuses already. Damage? Its a blaster...c'mon -- I feel I can do plenty of dmg and I'd rather hit more than hit harder when the rech is there.

Assault would add +10.5% Damage to all your powers, and it requires no slotting at all. It's not much extra damage, but on Fire/Fire/Pyre, damage is your real mitigation.

I took End reduction/Range on my Fire/Ice blaster. I have Recharge and Damage fairly well slotted up into ED on most powers, whereas End Reduction and Range both give a nice benefit in most powers. Maybe when we get into a greater amount of the boost passing ED, I'll rethink.

cardiac end/range is where it's at. Range is huge.