DA/Fire Leveling Troubles

I haven't ever found a Hero that I enjoy playing but this one is fun so far and I don't want to hit a wall with him. Really liking the DA/Fire combo.

The issue is obviously endurance, with DA having so many toggles and the self heal being so endurance heavy. Survivability isn't an issue so far...a bit dicey at times but nothing I can't usually handle (running at -1/3 right now) at level 17.

The issue is if I run out of blues before I can down the minions, I end up having to turn off Death Shroud which means the minions are alive for that much longer, which means more incoming damage. Either that or risk my toggles dropping and faceplanting shortly thereafter.

Any tips on managing the END issues? I try to keep blues on hand but that's not always enough. I'm slotting at least one END reduction in each toggle (another is a pretty minimal change with DOs). I just added a second slot to Stamina, so hopefully that will help, and SOs are only what...5 levels away?

Also, are there any easy to get +Defense set bonuses on the cheap that I could just replace later when I'm trying to optimize? I'm only at about 7% Defense with my toggles going (DA seems more resistance based but I haven't looked too far ahead yet) and would like to squeeze out just a bit more if possible. It's wishful thinking on my part since I just came back to the game and only have about 40 mil, so these would have to be pretty cheap enhancements. If not, I'll just invest in some KB protection and go forward with IOs when I get time.

EDIT - Definitely going to get the KB protection. I forgot how annoying that crap is.

Endurance issues: Get the Theft of Essence: Chance for +Endurance proc and slot it in Dark Regeneration. This gives DR a chance to restore endurance when used for each enemy hit. With three endurance reduction SOs or equivalent, this proc, and ten targets, Dark Regeneration will, on average, produce a net profit of about 1.5 end, and will occasionally return much more, possibly filling both green and blue bars. Even without the heavy EndRedux slotting, the Theft of Essence proc will ease up a lot of your endurance issues.

The other IO to look at is a Performance Shifter: Chance for +Endurance to go in Stamina. It's a great recovery boost, and much more affordable than the Miracle and Numina's Convalescence procs, both of which buff recovery, though substantially more expensive than the Theft of Essence, as characters of any archetype want one, rather than just Dark Armor users.

It's not cheap, but the Market forum has plenty of guides to making influence fairly quickly and easily. And the ToE proc is far from a big-ticket item, especially since all levels work exactly the same, so you can pick and choose the cheapest one.

As far as defense goes... it's not going to be cheap. I'd focus on enhancing your powers for their effects right now, maybe picking up some low-hanging +recovery/+HP/+regen/+end bonuses. The one set with substatial +def that routinely goes cheap that I know of is Smashing Haymaker, but without a full build and heavy slotting you're not going to get a whole lot of defense. So make that an end-game dream - I know I've poured hundreds of millions into getting my Fire/Fire Tanker to 32.5 to all positions, and I still don't have everything I need - and work on improving your core survivability through resistance in your toggles; accuracy, damage and endurance reduction in your attacks (Attacking is usually around 2 EPS. Your toggles shouldn't be over 1.5 unless you're running Cloak of Fear unenhanced or Super Jump); and try to hold out for level 22 and SOs. Or just start frankenslotting now - level 20 IOs aren't much worse than SOs for total enhancement, and can let you get, say, accuracy, damage, endurance reduction and recharge in three slots.

Thanks! I will start playing the market a bit and try to grab those when I can. Aside from that I think I'll just frankenslot and focus on leveling.

One last question about Dark Armor...should I be fighting with Cloak of Darkness on? The 5% defense seems nice so long as I can handle the END. I'm just not a fan of it aesthetically...being invisible is meh.

If you go to the tailor there should be an option to make Cloak of Darkness less obtrusive.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. Thank you!

You can change that at the tailor - it has a "no pulse or fade" option that makes you stay visible without affecting the actual stealth component. And the defense and +perception is nice, but it's nicer once you're stacking it with Weave, Combat Jumping, Maneuvers and a lot of set bonuses. Steadfast Protection 3% global defense IO and a set of Gaussian's Synchronised Fire Control (2.5% to all positions) gets you around 27% to all positions, which is definitely noticeable. 5%-7% is nice, but defense gets more powerful the more of it you have.

Elf suggests going for positional defenses, which is probably the best way to go if you can manage to cap it, but I went with typed defense. The DA tank in my video has 45% defense to S/L/E/N.

DA/fire is a great combo, if light on mitigation.

The most important thing is getting endurance reduction slotted in your attacks. Most people don't realize that attacks cost way more endurance per second than toggles ever will. Next most important is the theft of endurance proc, as mentioned.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.

I'll work on adding a slot to each attack for END Reduction as soon as I can fit them in (attacks are only 3 slotted so far).

As for the suggestion regarding tip merits...I don't have Going Rogue yet and won't any time soon due to financial uncertainties at the moment.

Again, thanks for the advice!

Anyone have an affordable (prefer without purples) IO build for a DA/Fire tanker? I think it may help the OP as well as anyone else paying attention to the darken warriors god of fire!

Dechs has a build or two in his "Dark Armor Sucks" thread, I believe, since DA/Fire is what he plays.