Fire/Storm vs Plant/Storm what's your suggestions?

I'm thinking of making my next incarnate running toon a controller and was wondering which would be better fire/storm or plant /storm? Those are the two I narrowed it down to although I have several other combos so if there's suggestions for different combo to consider feel free to suggest.

With the new incarnate abilities and having the proc dmg was thinking several of the powers should do some very nice DoT (could be wrong if so please fill me in). If either build would be good farming that would be a plus, but most of all just wanting to do some nice damage and controlling.

Thinking that both fire and plants group immobilize has -kb, haven't played either toon in a long time, so am I remembering correctly in thinking that? If so, wouldn't tornado do very well slotted for damage?

Also with the damage proc, what would benefeit in /storm? Not sure just wondering if tornado, freezing rain, and maybe lighting cloud?

On the same note, would the group immob. also have a chance for the proc to do more DoT? Also what about bonfire, would it work there as well? If so to both accounts, would fire cages followed by bonfire be a good combo to use?

Any type of help, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If i'm misunderstanding how the procs work (which is a VERY high possibility) if anyone is able to explain and help me understand the powers and how procs work in certain powers would be highly appreciated aswell.

Thanks in advance to all those who are able to help me on my journey of decesion making and proc understanding!

Personally I'd go Plant/Storm. You're more of a ranged controller that way and can benefit from Hurricane without worrying about it clashing with Hotfeet.

Roots does indeed have -kb and thus goes with Tornado pretty well. It's also the most damaging of the AOE immobs so worth spamming and filling with a PROC or two.

Powers which are proc-worthy in the combo are Roots (because you can spam it, it has a massive AOE and it's damage is actually alright once you start Containing things), Carrion Creepers (I've done a bit of analysis of procs in creepers here and here), Fly Trap (including the Chance for -Resist), Freezing Rain (again the chance for -resist) and Lightning Storm (again you can immob things in place to prevent it knocking things back, and LS can take a Ranged Damage Chance for Hold and a Knockback : Chance for Damage PROC).

My live Plant/Emp build is here and shows you what PROCs Plant can take (I consider the Impeded Swiftness in Creepers somewhat of a waste though, a simple +recharge IO would be better)

I wouldn't really bother PROCing Tornado it only has a chance to go off every 10 seconds against anything in range of Tornado and Tornado doesn't have much of a range (and is inclined to knock things away if you haven't immobed them in the last 10ish seconds), I'd just slot it for Damage, some acc and recharge and use it as a raw damage power on things you've Rooted in place (or which your Creepers Patch or Fly Trap have rooted into place for you).

Fire/Storm= buzzsaw

That's all I'm saying.

Hurricane+Hot Feet worries. I've never seen a fire/storm live to see how that would work but, pin them against a wall and burn them to death with hot feet??. And does fire cages offer -kb?, if not I dont see why somebody would roll it. Not dissing, I'm just not knowledgable about the specfic combo. I'm analyzing the sets seperately in my head so if a fire/storm would come educate me that would be nice . I think either would work but not knowing about hurricane+hotfeet wont allow me to recommend it.

With that said, I still wouldnt roll one over fire/storm lol. The safety, controlled chaos and repectable damage is too good to pass up. The combo is visually beautiful, you'd never get tired of seeing it.

Thx Mental Maiden....with that said, both are about even imo. It all depeds on what you want,more damage or better saftey....not that fire trollers are debit collectors, but the range+seeds on plant give it the edge.

Still haven't decided for sure which I'm going with yet, trying to put a build together for each, which leads me to another question. IS vines or ciders worth taking? I could see them coming in handy if I was to get in a bit of trouble and need the group hold for a moment, but with the recharge time makes me think I could skip it and be just aswell. Whats your thoughts on those powers? Also seems that I should have enough help from other powers if I need a moment to get away with the right placement and/or the right moment for using a certain power.

Also any suggestions for pool powers? And for my epic, it's between mace (for def to smash,lethal and energy) ice (for s/l def, hibernate, and ice storm) then there's stone (for s/l def, and EE), seems to me both combos can be very good with several different power pools and epics played right. Love all the new options the game has now in making builds but hate the decesion making heh.

thanks again

You have tons of mitigation and damage with either one you don't have to have a defense based shield.

For APPs personally I'd go with Stone for Fire/Storm as it's got another short range AOE stun (well a chance-of) and damage power, a really, really hard hitting melee attack (which holds) a poo-like defense armour and a +HP power. Endurance is going to be a concern though. Fire or Mu are two other good options since they have +End powers and decent AOE attacks.

For Plant/Storm I'd go Ice for Hibernate (Hib + loads of confused enemies & pseudo-pets = win), Frost Breath (hits hard with Containment and you'll already be used to Cones with Seeds), Ice Storm and the armour.

I always take my AOE hold, even on my illusionist (see my pic). 3 Acc/Hold/Recharge IOs and another hold or recharge and you're good to go. You can get them cheapish too along the way (I typically take it at 26 and slot it with 4 level 29/30 ones at 26 and 27 and 30, easily good enough up until 50).

For APP's the only logical one for fire/storm is ice....because if you go earth, your end will be doomed. Fire/storm already has end issues on its own and your giving it even more with going earth, plus your ST chain suffers because stone doesnt have a ST blast.

Plant/storm however, You could choose whatever but fire or ice is ideal. Psy isnt bad either for the mez protection.

In the Epic choices, I went with Psy for the extra aoe and mezz protection for my Fire/Storm. But that was before you could switch to red side, so MU or Mace could be just as good. As for a endurance regaining epic power, I might go for one till I could get to 50 and then switch. As I said, Incarnate alone will cure a Fire/Storm of his endurance problems.

And take Cinder, its a great power to reestablish control on a mob when things start going south on you or Flash Fire isn't recharged.

As for Hibernate, you don't need it or want it. It will just slow you down, since a fire/storm can live like a blaster... you kill them, before they kill you!

For a self heal, go medic pool... much earlier to get.

As to how fast a fire/storm can farm.... while I'm not a expert on farming, I now can kill a 8/+4 mob in 20 seconds.

Only talking about a fire/storm here, and my experience.


ST epic attack - Don't need it since I have 3 vet powers that do that. I want my fire/storm to be the King of AOE attacks!

Hibernate - Its cool and all that, but not on a fire/storm. Your endurance problems are terrible, the worst possible, bad enough that you will be eating blues by the bucket load. So you can't rely on Hibernate with its long recharge to handle that problem. As for the heal part, if death comes to your fire/storm.... its going to be quick and painful.

Cus on that, I do have a lot of experience with. I die pretty much on every BAF due to the amount of agg with my aoe chain.

Capped S/L Defense- it helps, but for the longest time I was doing fine with 32%. After all, you got some good stuns in your little bag of tricks.

This thread motivated me to finally pull out the ol' Fire/Storm and post i19 respec her into inherent fitness. I added Stimulant since she does have O2 boost and aid self as well as seismic smash. I was able to crowbar in more +end and +recovery through a few new sets I hadn't purchased yet.

Now a little perspective on the notion that somehow softcapping will help with Incarnate trials.

1. She only had Tier 1 Cardiac slotted so still conning 50 during both trials: no level shifts.
2. Ran a Lambda and BAF
3. Zero deaths and only one close call. (A bit too close to Nova Fist, but was able to fire off Earth's Embrace and a quick Aid Self to top off the HPs)
4. Being -4 to the enemy; I did not change playstyle or avoid melee in any way.
5. After those two runs I got one rare and one uncommon table and an uncommon drop. 31% Judgement and 18% Interface Unlocked. With my threads, iMerits and drops I was able to slot my Tier 3 Cardiac Total Core Whatever afterward.
6. I did have one end issue and toggle drop during the Escapees portion of BAF. Wasn't really paying attention and was button mashing like crazy. More careful attention could have avoided this, I will admit.

Now this is far from anything definitive I realize, but I hope it at least shows that somehow softcapping is not "required, needed, or adding anything vital" to one's sucess in trials. Would it have changed anything during the process if I were softcapped? I couldn't have really benefitted from a live or die perspective but, the end issues could (I do stress could) have been worse if I wasn't able to do so much +end and +recovery because I had focused on defense bonuses.