DreadShinobi

If you dont like hot feet, I wouldn't roll the character as fire manipulation.

Case in point. Much of what is desired can be patched into the game without a second thought about a 'CoH2' and most mentions of a 'CoH2' break down into unreasonable and not what is actually desired. As a volunteer based development team, the above then comes down to time available, priorities, and the balance of feedback/suggestions vs what the current developers actually *feel* like doing.

Cauterizing Aura's primary function is regen and recovery, but the base damage is actually not bad. The damage can be worth enhancing depending on your playstyle. Like Death Shroud and World of Confusion, it has an 8 ft radius, unlike Hot Feet and Dynamo holding a 20 ft radius. Even playing a very melee oriented blapping blaster you will find the 8 ft radius limiting. However the damage is far from negligible and when it is safe to be within 8 ft, the damage can make it a bit more worthwhile. It is damage output that exists outside of your attack chain and animations. It will hurt foes when you're attacking something else, it will hurt them while you are casting self buffs like BU/Aim, it can proc almost twice during long animations like FSC/Short Circuit/Thunderous Blast, and it costs zero endurance to run. The damage you get from cauterizing aura stacks nicely with Hot Feet, boasting the rare double damage aura title that fire manipulation has access to, and is boosted by BU, Aim, Red Insps, and a very large damage cap. There are many ways to enhance all 3 (regen/recov/dmg) aspects to respectable levels, especially with help from your alpha incarnate choice such as musculature or intuition radial, and new sets like Synapse's Shock and Power Transfer. Fire Manipulation is quite playable without Consume. Cauterizing Aura no longer has an endurance cost and Nukes no longer crash. I usually skip Consume, which is not to say it is a bad power at all, just that when builds get tight and you're trying to squeeze the most in, Consume usually gets cut. Consume's best selling point is the 2 min duration 50% debuff protection to endurance drains, which is perma with just 50% global recharge and no hasten. It refills your endurance and also provides a 15 second recovery buff. It is great with procs, my favorite is Superior Avalanche: Chance for Knockdown, which turns Consume into a pseudo-Foot Stomp with a 20 ft radius. 4 slots proc bomb, add recharge to taste, it wont affect your proc chances. Level 28: Consume -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), Erd-%Dam(29), Obl-%Dam(29), ScrDrv-Dam%(31) 6 slots with eradication set bonus for energy/neg/ranged def. Level 28: Consume -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), Erd-%Dam(29), Obl-%Dam(29), ScrDrv-Dam%(31), Erd-Acc/Rchg(31), Erd-Dmg/Rchg(31)

When I first started playing city of heroes in issue 7, I kept both hands on the keyboard, positioning with arrow keys and using lefty for everything else. Then I played a different game for a bit and came back to CoH and couldn't figure out how I used to play like that without mousing lol. Godspeed with your recovery. Dont hesitate to ask for help whether in game or in life! 🙂

Protip: you can have more than 1 build. A softcap build for general use, and a max dps fully proc loaded build for buff heavy teams or when you want to pull out your stockpile of t3 red and purple insps. Aside from that, general insp use matters if you want to play a squishier, more offensive blaster build. Intelligently managing your insp usage weighted against risk v reward and your kill speed can make a proc loaded blaster just as "survivable" as a defensive blaster build so long as you avoid the face plant. Killing faster = more insp drops as well which can make the effect exponential. From there you can extend your effectiveness on your squishier blaster build by avoiding additional damage by improving your positioning, kiting, how you apply your alpha strike, how you receive the enemy alpha strike, what you do during extended combat, how and when to use your nuke and self buffs, etc. To reach any significant level of defense (32.5% or 45%) a blaster must typically pay a much higher slot tax than other archetypes that have better modifiers on pool powers like weave/maneuvers or supplementary toggles like arctic fog, or a whole armor set to work with. Because it takes so much slot investment to reach ideal defense numbers I have found myself to be more satisfied with my blaster builds that forgo defensive investment for more damage procs, offensive utility, recharge, or even just going for +hp or +regen over +def because +def is the most likely buff you can receive from an ally and the easiest stat to buff to game breaking levels with minimal inspiration investment. Know the content you are running. Know exactly how many break free insps you need to bring. Know how to approach a mob encounter with critters that will mez you without needing to use your break free insp. Reduce the number of times you get mezzed by playing better and you will reduce the number of break frees you need to take to the same content when you repeat it.

Kinetics and cold domination tend to find happier placement on corruptors over defenders. Fire, water, and ice stand out among primaries due to access to scourging rain powers but otherwise the biggest outlier between corr performance and defender performance is likely kinetics.

Overwhelming Force increases the damage of tornado in addition to the knockdown conversion, Sudden acceleration does not enhance Tornado's damage. Overwhelming Force should always be used first unless the power doesn't deal damage or you already slotted OF elsewhere.

I usually consider Synapse and Posi TFs when character building. At least for Synapse where you get powers up to level 24 on exempting, all my characters are pretty functional. For low level tfs kinetics is pretty OP, you get speed boost at level 12 on defenders, and at 20 on everything else. Fire armor getting burn at lvl 18 on tanks is pretty OP. I also like a low level stormie defender. O2 boost is a great spot heal that gives stun and sleep protection and end drain resist, great for those clockwork. Fire blasters are of course great as well at all levels.

Carrion Creepers - each vine - has individual damage caps that can be buffed with fulcrum shift. Siphon Speed is an easy +60% rchg which is very helpful with plant which relies so much on the availability of seeds of confusion to determine how fast you can clear and how safely you can do it. Roots is the highest damage aoe immobilize, and spamming it is both worthwhile and mana hungry - transference makes this moot. So yes plant/kin is very strong. I personally prefer plant with sets that have defense and resistance debuffs like /poison and storm which dramatically accelerate your effective dps via self inflicted confusion damage. And stone mastery is just very strong overall and especially with kinetics because you can shove 6 dmg procs into seismic smash and still damage cap it. Same with Fissure, 4 dmg procs+forcefeedback. Fissure forcefeedback+siphon speed+set bonuses should get seeds of confusion down close to a 12 second recharge.

Flashfire deals next to zero damage and should be slotted with 5 absolute amazement for the set bonuses. Firecages can be slotted with 5x Posi Blast (skipping the recharge) and a bombardment proc. Char can take 6 dmg procs or 5 dmg procs and 6th slot a +5 apoc: dmg IO. Why are you using Ring of Fire on a dominator? Bonfire is a one slot wonder.

If you like the idea of stj/fiery just go with it and roll it as a brute or tanker

Here's my em/ea/mu build. 145% global recharge (+20% entropy and 70% hasten gets you to 235%, or 255% with sg base buff, 270% with amplifier). Proc loaded ET, Double proc TF, Zapp, and Ball lightning. Good utility for a stalker with Experimental Injection ally buff (mez protection, 100% regen buff, 25% recovery buff) perma for one ally. Adrenal Booster with nearly 50% uptime buffs all your stun durations in addition to +34% dmg, +27.7% rchg, and massive accuracy buff. You can hit nearly 300% rchg with this build which hits the cap on things slotted for recharge like TF and Energize and allows even long cd attacks like 0 rchg ball lightning to come back in 9 seconds and 0 rchg ET. Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.1.25 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Mutation Stalker Primary Power Set: Energy Melee Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Experimentation Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Energy Punch -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(15), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(50) Level 1: Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(3) Level 2: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(3) Level 4: Power Shield -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(5), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Rct-Def/Rchg(7), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Rct-ResDam%(9) Level 6: Assassin's Strike -- SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(9), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(13) Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--Build%(A) Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 16: Kinetic Dampening -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(43) Level 18: Stun -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dam%(19), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Arm-Acc/Rchg(21) Level 20: Speed of Sound -- Run-I(A) Level 22: Experimental Injection -- Pnc-Heal(A), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux(23), Pnc-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(25), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(25) Level 24: Adrenal Booster -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(31), AdjTrg-Rchg(31), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(45), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(45) Level 26: Energy Transfer -- Mk'Bit-Dam%(A), TchofDth-Dam%(27), GldStr-%Dam(27), Hct-Dmg(29), Dmg-I(29) Level 28: Energy Drain -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(48) Level 32: Total Focus -- Hct-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Hct-Acc/Rchg(33), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Hct-Dam%(34), TchofDth-Dam%(34) Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(36), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(36), Prv-Heal/Rchg(36), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(37), Prv-Absorb%(37) Level 38: Zapp -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(39), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Apc-Acc/Rchg(40), GldJvl-Dam%(43) Level 41: Ball Lightning -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(42), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(42), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), PstBls-Dam%(43), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(46) Level 44: Summon Adept -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(46), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(46) Level 47: Electric Shackles -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(48), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(48), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50) Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Quick Form Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(17), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(17), Pnc-Heal(37), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux(40), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(40) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(31) Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany Level 0: Marshal Level 0: Born In Battle Level 0: High Pain Threshold Level 0: Invader Level 0: Frenzy Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1553;714;1428;HEX;| |78DA6594494F535114C7EF6B5F85578A94B1405B4A116879A5A55517C62146A14E5| |08361A171D33472C5865A9AB624E0B0F02B1823511387B872E346E3F02D14C1F801| |D43831080B97F570CF9FB6495FF2F23BEFCCEFDE7B6E6261CCF1F2F49DE3426B1CC| |DA40A85E45431959995F9FAC47C31554CCF65AD829E3A7ABB6149266446CA483C2B| |F3338BFCE1DE358DC9AB325B281B4FCCE753C231393797894CC8542E9D9DB1AB8FA| |99C94D36D4A8C2FE4643E7D5D66B95AD3AEF3B4CC17AEA573AE782E7D2552AE3C9F| 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@Hjarki you're suggesting the pvp diminishing returns patch to be applied to pve. No.

This is what I think of every single time people claim brutes have an incredibly high damage cap that is an advantage to the archetype. 9 out of 10 times brute damage cap is mentioned, their base damage isn't mentioned. It ends up becoming incredibly misleading. Their low base damage makes damage buffs (set bonuses, assault, red insps, targetted buffs like fortitude and forge, and even fulcrum shift) less impactful at every step of the way, not even just at the damage cap. .....but this is also super off topic in a thread about mud pots.

Is infiltration runspeed affected by power boost? Could be a fun special niche to add to energy manipulation blasters that can perma power boost.

Thorny Darts - 16% Skewer - 28.5% Fling Thorns - 16% Impale - 24% Thorn Burst - 30% Ripper - 42.85% Thorn Barrage - 24% It is hardly out of line. It is an oversight and should be fixed. edit: also I am pretty sure that the defense debuff can be enhanced anyways using Lysosome or Enzyme Hamidon enhancements, it just needs to have the proper IO sets available to it.

I believe the precedent set by the rest of the set, sans thorntrops, taking defense debuff and accurate defense debuff IO sets is reason enough to call this a bug/oversight because afaik it is a fix for something not working as intended, not a suggestion for a buff/nerf/change.

Dominator's Thorn Barrage is missing IO sets! The power debuffs defense by 24.11% for 12 seconds and does not accept Defense Debuff IOs or Accurate Defense Debuff IOs. This has been a long outstanding error and overdue for a fix. Thorn Barrage is an excellent tier 9 severely held back by not accepting the correct IO sets.

Typically I just take banished pantheon core on every AT. The -res is super strong and melts the hard targets, AVs and GMs, which is typically what lore pets do best anyways.

Most blaster builds get caught up in chasing a defense softcap that while helpful has significant tradeoffs in offensive output. If you're looking for a blaster that is going for maximum damage output, I would put an emphasis on the philosophies around slotting choices over the actual primary and secondary decision at character creation.

This is literally a thread about incarnate alpha slotting, which makes the purpose here endgame advice.

Typically transfusion should always have good accuracy because it has a high base modifier and misses that happen are usually just the unavoidable 5%. The difference with vigor alpha is that you can 6 slot it with preventative medicine for that nice global recharge or 6 slot with numina for the ranged defense. Both sets are way better than touch of the nictus, but have no accuracy enhancement, which vigor paves the way for. Getting your accuracy high enough for siphon speed, siphon power, fulcrum shift, and attacks without an accuracy modifier takes a bit more effort than transfusion. If your base 75% attacks are capped tohit then transfusion misses are just the unavoidable 5%.

+1 Vigor Core. It is the best alpha for kinetics because it allows for fully proc loaded attacks. When you can get your global accuracy high enough where you don't need to slot your attacks for accuracy, and you don't need to slot your attacks for damage because fulcrum shift, and you don't need to slot your powers for endredux because vigor+transference you have the foundation for a strong proc build with a very high performance ceiling. Not needing to slot transfusion, your siphons, and fulcrum shift for accuracy also pays dividends in reducing slot tax. Accuracy+endredux in the same alpha is just super strong when it facilitates a proper proc build, even more so when musculature and intuition radial are not viable competitors for the slot. The extra bit of healing is not the important piece of vigor.

Demon Kinetics has been my most enjoyable experience playing masterminds. Proc loaded whip attacks at the damage cap from fulcrum shift gives your character a very tall ceiling on offensive output. The -res from whips synergizes well with the +dmg from kinetics. Requires active positioning of MM pets to get hurt pets in melee range of a transfusion target, but speed boost keeps your pets moving fast. A little dangerous to play compared to tankier MM sets like /dark or /time, but I found the risk vs reward to be enjoyable, unique, and worth it.

This is why I like poison as the premier debuff set, VG is always on and envenom is a fast animation. This is why I don't touch sets like dark miasma anymore even though my first 50 on live was dark miasma. Animation times are a big deal and the original game was not balanced with them in mind. Animation times are typically looked at closely in attack chains where DPA is very important but any cast times you're investing into that don't actually deal direct damage should be looked at with even more scrutiny imo.