FF/? pairing

I am toying around with a concept and want to pair a weapon secondary with FF. I like dual pistols and assult rifle (having played both off and on), though have no experience with either beam rifle or archery. I solo and team, and I typically play hard core (yes, I'm an Iron Eagle). I just don't know which weapon secondary would provide the best pairing with FF. I like the AoE and +DEF in Dual Pistols (ok, level 38+ for that), the variety of damage in AR, and the "untried" aspects of BR and Archery.

I can stack some -Regen and -Res in BR, but is the more single-target nature of it a liability? Archery has RoA, which everyone seems to love, but that doesn't come about until 38. Before that, does it offer something that surpasses the others?

Ok, I will keep rambling forever if I don't force myself to stop. Thanks for all your wisdom!

- Feint

If you're playing "hardcore" as in "defeat = delete", I don't have a lot of advice for you.

FF is a set that, with liberal use of relatively inexpensive IOs, can put the defender at Ranged and AoE soft-cap. Meaning they become wicked hover-tank-blasters in the late game.

My current FF/Archery defender took a while to mature, but is just an evil piece of work now. Basically soft-capped positionally as above, and within a small purple of soft cap for melee. And for those who can actually close, a plethora of what I like to call "get the **** away from me powers".

What Archery has "going for it" is the highest native accuracy of any of the sets.

Most of the other sets are 75-80% unslotted accuracy.
Archery starts with nearly 87%.

So, while it's doing a bit less damage, you're also MISSING less.
Combine that with the relatively low endurance consumption of the set and you're set up to spam attacks at lower levels when you're not shielding stuff.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I have level 50 FF/NRG, FF/ARCH and FF/Beam. Beam is the best because of its -regen (225%). It allows you to contribute a significant debuff on hard targets. With cutting beam and disintegrate spread, you have more AOE than you'd expect. Add the Defender AT set and now you have healing to go along with your defense.

Thanks, Hyperstrike! I don't really need any advice on hard core playing...I've died enough to learn some things! I read through a few additional posts that seemed to support the idea that FF/BR was a very nice pairing. I also appreciate your input on FF/Archery. I want FF to provide me with the defense I (and any teammates I have) need, so that leaves me with an unknown secondary.

I do like the secondary effects of DP, BR, and AR...which archery lacks. I also agree that the +ACC in archery is very nice, especially at the lower levels. Of course, the devs added the +ACC bonus for lower level toons now, too, so that compliments Archery nicely (and perhaps provides a little overkill). Also, since I am hardcore, I don't run +4/x8 or anything remotely as difficult. I actually play Prae a lot just to slowly enjoy my first 20 levels...and the nice storylines and different scenery. Anyway, thanks again!!!!!

I'm enjoying the hell out of Force Field / Fire. Repulsion Bomb, Fire Ball, Fire Breath, grin.

The Archery advantage, as far as I can tell, is mostly that Rain of Arrows is a pseudopet and, I believe, does "Blaster nuke" damage. Which I have seen and like really well on Blizzard.

If you want the safest FF/? as an Iron Eagle I'd recommend FF/Dark (Yes I know it's not a weapon 2ndary). The -to hit from /Dark makes up nicely pre-IOs for low personal defense numbers.

Late game Hover + Soft capped ranged and AoE defense + Tenebrous Tentacles means that nothing gets into melee range with you and since T_T lacks -knock Repulsion Bomb's KD effects still work.

Before RoA, Archery offers Blazing Arrow, which is very hard-hitting, and the snipe, Ranged Shot. I know people frown on snipes, but FF may allow you to use it more than some sets (as it gives you some personal defense and modest status protection), and the damage is on par with Blazing, so I often use them as a one-two punch on hard targets.

Considering it's hardcore, maybe Stunning Shot would be useful enough to slot.

Fistful of Arrows isn't anything special, damage-wise, but is a pretty quick-recharging cone, it's available to spam every 4 seconds or less when fully-slotted.

One way Archery might eventually synergize with Force Field will be if/when you get Force Bubble. Because Archery has no PBAoEs and only one cone, the rest of the powers all have an 80-foot range (60 in the case of Stunning)...and Force Bubble has a 50-foot radius. You could keep foes way back and still drop pointy death on them.

If you're of a mind to explore non-weapon alternatives, I really like Dark Blast with FF. The -to hit (which should stack from different blasts) should be especially useful if you're unwilling to buy lots of defense set bonuses for a character who might die at any time, and it has a modest self-heal to boot.

Sonic is another possibility -- poor AoE, but the sleep might be leveraged by smart hardcore players, and the resistance debuffing is pretty good.

Thanks for all the input, everyone! I was going with a weapon set because I wanted to make a D.U.S.T-type toon. I paired FF with BR and began playing around. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the costume to work out the way I envisioned...darn you custom NPC costume pieces! Anyway, with that requirement gone (at least for now), I will probably pair FF with Dark Blast. I had tried that combination many years ago, but it never seemed to work right. Of course, now I have IOs and other nifty tricks.

Ok...now for my name...

For me, Sonic or go insane from low damage + no appreciable debuffs.

Fair bias warning: my FF/Ice Defender at 50 is one least favorite toons of all time. His main super power is slooowly plinking stuff to death, and then running out of endurance before it actually dies. With villain PPPs around now he can at least immobilize things in his rain powers so they don't just immediately run out.

Yeah, I'd go FF/Beam with weapons or FF/Sonic otherwise.

You already have PFF...There's no reason to go absolutely overboard with defense and take dark. And /Sonic has both siren's song and screech, so it is not like it doesn't also have defensive options in it.

I ran into some issues with a dark/ff corr: the dark cones are aoe, debuffing, DOT. They're the trifecta of aggro collectors and they focus that aggro onto the only person on the team who doesn't have the little bubbles.

If I were forced to play an FF/* I would probably make it /Sonic. It fixes FF's most glaring weakess - no ability to boost the damage output of the team through -res or +dmg. Sonic is also good from level 1 onwards.

Since you specifically said 'weapon sets'..... I'd like adding -dam to the great def that FF offers. So, for that, go with DP and use chem rounds. When you're feeling less threatened, you can swap ammo types.


That said, BR would be a great choice as well. It seems a bit end heavy to me, but it's a strong set. Love the built in debuffs it brings.

Gah. It was dark/traps. Bad brain, no neurotransmitters!