PyroBeetle

I have 3 TA blasters into the Incarnate levels and I have found them to work best when they lean into their ranged strength. Defense in depth is a tactical term that I use solo. Every fight begins the same, Flash Arrow, Glue Arrow, Oil Slick Arrow, M30 Grenade, Full Auto, Flamethrower, M30 Grenade, polish off the remaining bosses. Glue Arrow is slotted with procs, Flash Arrow is slotted with 4x Dark Watchers, and Oil Slick with Obliteration IIRC. I have not found ESD Arrow to be of particular use, but you might to run in and fire off your Short Circuit. Ice Arrow I take and proc out, it is a regular in my attack chain. Electrified Net Arrow I have, and it is slotted, but I only rotate in for trackstar mobs. It is one of 5 ST attacks that I have. I could drop it to include Buckshot in my AoE instead, but I found that my AoE attacks are recycling just fine and Buckshot wasn't needed, so I went back to ENA for situational usage. Hope this helps!

Lethal being the most resisted damage type in the game is a highly overrated way of looking at things. Nobody complains about Battle Axe or Claws being lethal. The average resist is about 20 percent IIRC, so although things do resist, it hardly makes a difference if you are pumping out enough damage. My AR/TA Blaster doesn't really worry about the the lethal components of his damage because Full Auto (and everything else to be honest) just pumps out the damage. Now if you want to talk about killer resist, Psy is highly resisted by some common mobs, 60 percent resist for Praetorian and Malta robots IIRC. Now that can ruin your day.

When Homecoming first came to public light, I used to maintain bins and unslot alts that I stopped playing, all in the quest for more powerful heroes or new toon experiences. Now, more than 5 years later, I find myself creating characters that I like because of a look or a back story, and then play them exclusively, often for a month or more. Doing this allows me to just start off a new alt with 999,999,999 inf, the most that a single email can contain, and a couple of transcendent merits. This is enough to buy the enhancements I want when I want them without waiting for the market, and to T3 my Incarnate abilities as they open. The need for unslotting when I play this way is nil.

You can make fire viable for normal content, but it is not going to be signifantly more offensive than Stone. However, it will be significantly squishier. My biggest suggestion would be to jack up your +recharge as much as humanly possible as your heal is click based, and not over time, and you are going to want it up regularly. This is different than a set like Electric, which increases your +regen significantly. I would suggest Stone if you are looking for the double damage auras that you get from Rad Melee, as it is an all around stronger set for general content and also significantly boosts your offense because of Brimstone Armor, which also scales with Fury.

Personally I would recommend a Rad/Stone Brute. The reasons are quite simple. 2x damage auras, which both scale with rage, Brimstone which also scales with rage, and solid defenses and resists. The damage auras kill minions very quickly allowing you to focus on the boss and it's, your big AoE hitter is up often. It is a build that plays to the strengths of the brute, that being the DoT ramp, and presents no real weaknesses.

Stone Armor is the answer. The loss of a damage aura on a brute is a big sacrifice to run Super Reflexes. If you are going to go with Super Reflexes though, I suggest the following bind. /bind w "+forward$$powexecname Practiced Brawler" I do the same thing with Stone Armor for the +HP power /bind w "+forward$$powexecname Earth's Embrace" This makes it automatic everytime you press the w key. I do play with the power not ready sound disabled though or the bind would be annoying. These binds can also be modified for any inspiration combining macros you use to really simplify game play. I am also an older gamer, in my early 70s, and automating some of these functions helps me keep up.

I can highly recommend Fire/Ice/Elec. You already have experience with the pairing, but maybe a but different build would help. As much as I try I just cannot get around the fact that Inferno is just that damn good. I combine the 2 minute boost from the electric pool with the one minute crashless boost from the Sorcery pool and am running around at 75 percent resistances whenever I want. I have macros to combine my inspirations into Lucks and Good Lucks whenever I move, and will pop a couple before I dive in. Combined with my ranged defense and Ice Patch amd 75 percent resists I am safe enough for an AoE alpha, then the 2 holds allow me to safely clear the remainder.

A couple of comments from the picture build you have posted. I have been playing around with something similar, Tide Pool does not need recharge...I have slotted with a single slow enhancement, moved the extra slot to Shoal Rush for the Ice Mistral proc. Focused Accuracy I slot only with an Endurance Reduction, freeing up a slot. Tactics is redundant, can change to a travel power, slotting a KB protection. Anyhow, just some changes that you can consider in your build.

I still get about 75 percent on my Critical Strikes proc, because most of the recharge is in the proc itself. I run the Psi epic pool for Harmonic Mind, and am good on end doing that, unless I fight all trainers, then I might have to use a recovery serum, if my Victory Rush is down, however I am not sure about running a fast attack chain with the end suck that is Hasten. The animation time on CAK is the same as CS and both crit in the window of the critical strikes proc. Compared to the build you posted with only one recharge in Focus Chi, with Hasten, I run 2 recharges in it and it is up just as often doing that. Anyway, love seeing other MA/SR scrappers out there that are leveraging the crit strikes proc in EC. Keep kicking the competition.

I run enough recharge without hasten to run EC>SK>Snipe>SK>EC>CAK>CS without Hasten, though functionally EC>CAK>CS is just fine and simpler to remember. And yes EC into DT beautifully crits just about everything, though I do have to through a CAK in before going into EC again. My build is different than both of yours, and I have stopped posting builds, but I do love leveraging the Critical Strikes proc in Eagles Claw. And running SR 4 slotting the Shield Wall set in each if the positional toggles helps ensure that I hit 75% resist to S/L/E/N/F/C if I get hit, andall of my positional defenses are between 54 and 55 percent, which allows for incarnate cap with Barrier T4.

Fire as an armor set is underwhelming without an inherent taunt. This combination works very well on a tanker, and Sovera has written quite eloquently on the subject. Subjectively, I enjoy MA on a scrapper and leverage the critical strikes proc in Eagles Claw to generate an almost automatic critical in my next two attacks, that being Dragons Tail for AoE with Crippling Axe Kick, or Eagles Claw, Crippling Axe Kick, Cobra Strike for single target. Simplecrotations but there is a lot of recharge required, but I also run without Hasten. I pair MA with SR though, as I do not enjoy Fire Armor on a Scrapper.

I have a nice MA/SR scrapper who leans into the bonus crit mechanic from Eagle's Claw hard, which allows for a seamless, hastenless single target attack chain which includes a snipe, and a fast AoE chain. SR might feel flimsy to start, but once you get it slotted, it is a real beast. The new psi Epic pool with Harmonic Mind keeps your Blue bar tolerable even with the endless attack chain loops, and the Psi Snipe is useful on certain encounters.

Sorry about that, HMU in game and I will share the build I use...just email @Chessmaster Goodluck and may the alt be with you, always.

If you like Mind Control, I might suggest Cheeseman's Mind/Fire Dominator, you can find it's build on the Dominator Forums easily enough. I played something very similar to this on Live and found d it to be quite effective. Illusion is the pinnacle of controllers, but it is its own unique animal...Illusion/Cold will allow you to kill just about anything in the game, with the right patience and strategy. Welcome to the world, I hope you enjoy.

This is a great place to start for an ice themed beast of a character. Mine is modified somewhat, being Ice/Savage/Ice, but it is very effective solo and in groups. Open up with your ice patch and rain powers from max distance, then savage leap in and go to work. Bounce in and out of melee range for savage leap and hawk when solo to maximize DPS.

I have found the most fun using Tactical Arrow as a secondary...this allows me to play at range and be very effective, even solo. Solo or on teams lacking support I open up with Flash Arrow, then a proceed out glue arrow, then oil slick arrow, then M30 grenade with a KD to KB enhancement in there (I use Overwhelming Force for this one), which regularly lights my oil slick, then Full Auto with the Ragnarok KD proc, then Flamethrower, which will light my oil slick if none of the above did, then M30 Grenade is ready again to finish off any or the stragglers. I regularly solo +4/x8 with no problems, I do have to eat a purple before engaging the tougher groups, or if I have to face two spawns at once, but I have a macro to combine some inspirations into purples, not red ones though, those I have macro to chew when I use my build up clone. Long story short, embrace whatever AT you are playing. I eat dirt if I pull prolonged agro, but this can be the life of a Blaster. I have enough defense that I am not afraid to fire the first shot in a team environment, trusting that the melee brothers will be in contact shortly, but my job is to mow them down and let God sort them out.

Personally I greatly enjoyed my AR/TA build...I have Arsenal as an Epic, but don't lean into it very often...the combination of Oil Slick and Full Auto just mows down most mobs.

I will second Stone for this list, not even factoring in Granite which I did not take, because of its downside. I recently have been playing a Stone/Fire tank, and this is what he does, he jumps in first wipes out the trash, and the keeps attention while the bosses are whistled down by the team. He can carry a poor team, if necessary.

I ran into this problem on the Army of Me fight villain side...I am sorry for your team wipe, but it is pretty funny when you think about it, getting a taste of your own medicine.

I run around with it on all the time, no stealth proc...only things that see me are those that would see my stalkers.

I have never gotten the slick to ignite with its own proc, always with a follow up proc. I ran a series of Tactical Arrow Blasters for the experience with their version of oil slick, and never once got this to occur.

I cannot recommend the Sorcery Pool more strongly...Arcane Bolt is a great power that benefits from containment, and has an internal mechanic that can both provide an instant recharge and extra damage.

I did not include EMP in my build, but yes Flashbang certainly ignites it as will any if the fire or energy procs. Because of the way I target my oil slick and enflame, that normally does the lighting for me. I too have a quiver, bow and a rifle all hanging off my back, though the rifle (I use the M4 with the 203 hanging off the bottom) kinda hides behind the quiver, for which I use the new off to the side one.

I have found this to be quite a strong and powerful concept, even with the limit built in defenses. The amount of -to hit that Flash Arrow and Smoke Grenade allow from stacking is universally effective. Oil Slick Arrow and Enflame provide a solid base for AoE. Mace was taken to continue stacking debuffs in both the AoE and Single Target chains. This build also features Fold Space for ease of play. Self Target Sleep Grenade, Disruption Arrow and Smoke Grenade. Flash Arrow mob from a distance, then fold space into your control cloud. Follow up with Flash Bang and Disruptor Blast, lock down remaining bosses with Ice Arrow and Cryo Freeze ray to start ST chain, including Poison Ray and Arcane Bolt. Data Chunk Below Hope this inspires other ideas. Good Luck.

Adding the Sorcery pool is also a way to increase damage, with Enflame for a small AoE patch and Arcane Bolt for a ST filler