Troyusrex

The Power Build up in Power Mastery effects Dam, acc, healing, defense, endurance, confuse, terrorize, hold, immobilize, stun, sleep. Your point (albeit about Power Boost) is well taken that those are not necessarily a huge help.

@SeigmoraigDoesn't the power build up in Power Mastery buff much more than just dam/acc? If I recall it buffs almost all aspects of your buffs and debuffs from your powers (-def, +/-recharge, etc). I'm not sure if that buff works on tornado, thunderstorm and the rain powers (someone out there must have tested it...) but if it does then moving to aim is giving up a lot more than just a little damage.

Makes sense. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Wasn’t sure if there was a different reason.

@SeigmoraigNo hurricane? Im curious as to why you would take such a nice to-hit debuff?

Gale is one of the powers (like bonfire) that really stunk before KB->KD, but now is pretty potent and a lot of fun.

On run #6 did the entire run before the Lore pets recharged once. Almost certainly my best run ever! Pretty good proof these procs have made a positive difference.

So, I finished running 4 farm runs to PL my new rad/regen Brute (because, why not?). Overall, it was a positive experience. Not game changing, but positive. Time: My runs were a good 10% to 20% faster, and faster is exactly what I'm aiming for. Unfortunately, I don't time my runs, so I have little hard data on the exact benefit. I tend to time my runs in units I call "lore pets". Basically, it's how many times can I summon my lore pets in a run. This is a horrible metric for many reasons, but it's what I've got and it gives a rough estimate of speed. Normally, on my most usual run I can summon my Lore pets twice, with the second having about 2/3rds time used during the run (meaning it had about 1/3rd time left after the run), so I call it 1 2/3rds. In comparison, with my fire/spines brute is was about 2 1/3rd. With my Kheldian (my second favorite farmer) it's about 2 2/3rds. With this run it was about 1 1/2 (or even a bit less), so very noticeably better. Survivability: I was a bit worried about this at first as I faceplanted 5 times during the first 2 runs. Now, I don't see faceplanting as an issue other than that it slows the farm down. Even with those face plants, I was making excellent time. It's not unheard of for me to faceplant 5 times in two runs, (remember, this is life on the edge. If I wanted safety I'd farm with the Kheldian or Brute) but it's not typical either. I didn't faceplant a single time on the last two runs though, so I think I just needed to adapt to the build changes. Other items of note: I made a LOT more use of Fire Breath. Because it has the -res I made a point of using it. I seemed to use Barrier a lot more than usual. As I noted in my guide, generally I'd rarely use it, but I used it fair amount here. I put the Build up Proc in Blaze and then favored it, but never noticed it go off. Maybe it doesn't show in the "Damage Bonus" in "Combat Attributes"? Also, I could have just missed it, I was kind of busy killing bad guys. The -res in Inferno seemed to be helpful as bosses were easier to take down, especially after first being hit with the BOOM of inferno. Next up: I'll probably do a few more runs with this build, but then focus on respecing powers to maximize recharge and damage set bonuses. For instance, I need to see if I can squeeze in 3 more LotG. The key to this build is bringing up those big 5 powers (from my guide) as often as possible.

I beg to disagree...never in the history of CoH has there EVER been a successful purse snatching. Many, many attempts, but no successes.

I recently posted my Pyropocolypse guide, detailing my fire/fire/fire blaster playstyle that is insanely fun and effective. After posting my most recent build @Krazie Ivanhad some suggestions to even further ratchet up my "damage above all" approach. As I'm constantly tinkering with this build to make it better, I'm always looking for new ideas and avenues. I immediately went out and started altering one of my builds (you know each toon can have three separate builds, right?) to try out this new idea. So, I figured I'd document this journey. I see this as having at least two major phases. Phase one is where I stay close to the existing build and see what can be gained by exchanging some of the enhancements that both are offering set bonuses that don't improve damage or recharge AND that are affected by Enhancement Diversification (ED) and so are less effective. Phase two is where I choose new powers with an eye towards all of them enhancing, through themselves or their set bonuses, only damage or recharge. (note: I'm including anything that debuffs defense or resistance as +damage since it helps my damage output). I tend to be an extremely iterative guy, so instead of trying to make the perfect build straight off I tend to change a bit, try it out to see what really is different, change some more, rinse repeat. I find all too often what looks good on paper (or in Mid's) has drawbacks in real life (or CoH). Plus, this way I understand better how the new changes work. Here's the build I'm trying out today. I'll report back. I'm always tinkering and have almost infinite inf, so any thoughts on interesting changes would be welcome.

@Krazie IvanTell me more about this "22% ToHit". I'm embarrassed to say I don't know of any proc,set bonus or other enhancement that gives that..

@Krazie IvanThanks! I'm always tinkering and looking for new directions to explore and you've given me a new angle to try! I've already started respecing one of my toons builds to work on this. It should be an interesting exploration. I will probably start a new series of posts about what I learn from this. Your observations are very appreciated!

I'm very intrigued by this, While I've explored procs on a bunch of toons trying to create "proc monsters", I've never been overly impressed. However, I'd love to try it out here. Might you have some suggestions on how procs might really improve this character?

I tried it with a large number of all three types of packs and it worked great! By combining that with the AutoHotKey automatic clicking I save a LOT of time. Of course, super packs are still a tremendous amount of work to see a reasonable profit. And I'm very happy to be a market supplier. In fact, I have billions of reason to be happy to do it.

@Snowdaze: This works GREAT for spam opening packs. And I've verified that it will open them as fast as I can click without loss or issue. I've used them with both of the $10M types without issue (even when I have both in inventory). I've used this to open hundreds at a time. This is a HUGE help. Thank you!

I was asked to post a build, and I've done so below. This is a very high end build (as a Veteran Level 160+ farmer, I can afford it). But the truth is I change builds more often than most people change underwear. I do this to try out new styles, new powers and to add some more spice to my play. In fact, now that I took the time to enter it, I see some potential changes. For instance, I hadn't realised I have too many +10% recharge sets so I'm not realising as much +recharge as I could. That said, I've only found the factors listed in my guide to make a huge difference. Also, this build was very effective well before level 50, let alone getting the Incarnate powers and the accolades.

AutoHotKey has worked fairly well. Not nearly as good as a "claim all" would be, but has saved my poor finger a lot of clicks!

A billion seems cheap for that!

I've been doing a bunch of tinkering with Super Packs over the last six months and decided it's time to cash out whatever hasn't yet been cashed out. My email is just filled with items and I'm slogging through claiming them. I then I get to "enhancement Unslotter" and see that I have 1,925. Certainly not the most of something I've ever had, but enough to think how little I want to click almost 2,000 times. Anyone have a more automated or quicker way to handle these sorts of volumes?

This character began with a simple exercise, trying to see just how much AoE damage I could squeeze out of a single hero. Unlike most of my experiments, this one was WILDLY successful. It works extremely well on teams and is a real monster when farming. I mostly farm council, since I have a great mission for it, but I’ve farmed many things, including Malta and CoT with similar results. Like the MF Warshade, this toon isn’t so much about a specific build as about a specific attitude. That attitude is the fearless pursuit of maximizing damage to enemies. To be successful you have to be willing to dive into large hordes with abandon and let loose in pyromantic glory! I remember when I first saw those vast hordes at the end of Market Crash and thought of the carnage I’d wreak (and boy, did I ever!) You should be so aggressive you are getting kicked off timid teams for always diving right into large hordes (where you are slaying enemies left and right, but those who follow you often perish). You are always looking for more and tougher foes to test your might. You never hide behind the tanker (although a good tanker who knows that punchvoke isn’t enough is golden). The five powers of the pyropocalypse. Over time, I came to find 5 “powers” that greatly effected my chances of quickly and completely defeating a large group of enemies without dying. These powers, in order of effectiveness are: Inferno Pyronic Core Judgement (Incarnate power) Bonfire (with KB-KD IO) Inspirations Barrier Destiny (Incarnate power) Against +4/8 maps I find that if I enter combat with none of these I have about a 75% chance of beating the enemies without dying. If I use any one of these powers the number increases to 95%. Any two and it is close to 99%. I don’t recall ever losing when using three (except when using them so late the battle is already lost). By making sure you have hasten and as much recharge as you can fit in (although always prioritizing damage) at least two of these five should be available for each new group you approach. I’ll talk about each and their usage a bit below: Inferno and Judgement: In early damage maximizations tests (well before my current veteran level 162), I used Herostats extensively to track damage. While it was obviously buggy, it did make a few things really clear: ½ of all damage from this hero was caused by Inferno 2/3rds of all remaining damage done was from my T-4 Pyronic Judgement Everything else fell into the 1/6th left. While I suspect those numbers aren’t 100% accurate, I do think the general premise is correct: Inferno and Judgement dwarf everything else. As such, the attack style of this hero is built around them. To be effective you must learn how to jump in the middle of a large group while hitting build up and then letting off Inferno at just the right position to hit the most enemies. AND you have to do that before their alpha takes you down. This takes practice and fearlessness, but it is an essential skill to master. Judgement is easier, as it’s a ranged blast, but does enough less damage that you have to jump in the middle of the group quickly to unleash Fire Sword Circle and Combustion (and always a few fireballs!) Bonfire Once the Knock Back is changed to Knock Down this power does a fantastic job of keeping the bad guys flopping around and not shooting at you. Its very slow animation means it’s tough to use after the opening shot (although I certainly do use it sometimes), but it is highly effective. As with almost everything in this play style, placement to hit the most bad guys is critical. Inspirations I continue to believe that inspirations are one of the most underrated and underused mechanics in the game. I usually use my inspirations using the “mash” method. In case you aren’t familiar with this, I’ll explain. Clicking on inspirations to use them is a slow business. Using the function keys, however, you can use them quickly. The first column is used by hitting f1, the second by f2, on to the fifth column which is f5. If you hit any of these keys quickly and repeatedly, it will use every inspiration on that column quickly. If you put your fingers on all of the f1-f5 keys and “mash” them down as fast as you can, you can use a tray of 20 in about 3 seconds. Those 20 usually give you enough extra offense and defense to sally forth and ruin the day of an entire group of +4 bad guys. A few things to note here, first, any rez inspirations can’t be used while you are alive so having them in the column will not allow anything above them to be used. To prevent this, I asked the P2W vendor to restrict my receiving these inspirations (besides, I have Rise of the Phoenix, which is WAY better). Second, if you use these before combat, like I usually do, any health or endurance inspirations will not do anything (assuming those are already full). I have key binds on my movement keys to combine any set of three inspirations automatically to +damage, again focusing on maximizing my damage output. Third, the mash is a bit harder during combat. If powers are activating the mash won’t work until the other powers are activated. I tend to use the mash before combat, except in emergencies. I tend not to give much regard to what is in my inspirations, I just down them all and jump in! Killing fast means not wasting time on things like adjusting your inspirations! Barrier This is from the Destiny pool and gives you solid defense and resistance for a minute or two. I tend not to use it much, but it is highly effective. I’ve considered going ageless for the +recharge instead, but I do find that on occasion Barrier is fantastic. Honorable Mention powers While I rarely jump into combat without at least one of the 5 powers of the pyropocalypse at the ready, there are many powers that I find are very helpful and appreciated, but that I don’t wait on before diving in. Listed in the order of how much I value them. Build up (& Aim)- Extra damage & to-hit! What’s not to love Hasten – more recharge = more carnage Rise of the Phoenix – The pyropocalypse is life on the edge, and as you rampage through villains death will eventually catch up with you. But who cares? You bounce right back up and keep fighting! Assault Hybrid – I notice the difference when it is on. Pity it so often is not. I am currently using Assault Core Embodiment after using Assault Radial Embodiment for a long time. It seems a little more powerful, but tough to tell for sure. Hot Feet – I used to HATE Hot Feet as it makes the bad guys run and PBAoE works best when they stay close. However, fully slotted with SLOW they still try to get away but are so slow who cares! Better yet, it slows those few who would have run even without Hot Feet! I find I have fewer to chase down now that I have Hot Feet fully slotted with slow. Demons Core Superior Ally – They don’t seem to add a ton of damage, but I love when they run down strays. Was using Banished Pantheon for quite a while, but I hated how they got in the way of the camera. Demons don’t do that and are more fitting with the fire theme. Defense Amplifier (from P2W vendor or super packs) – I do a pretty good job of killing the villains before they can mez me, but the mez protection comes in mighty handy on occasion. Inner Inspiration (from P2W Vendor) – Free good inspirations! Yay! Of course, most of the regular attack powers are good too. I use the 3 blasts and the sniper attack all interchangeably, with a slight preference to blaze and the snipe. But, as I said above, these aren’t the bulk of your damage, they are just to finish off stragglers. Fireball, fully slotted and with knockdown is excellent. Fire sword circle is ok. Good damage, fast animation. Consume is slow animation, but decent damage. Fire breath is solid damage, but hard to get everyone in the cone. I do have tough, weave and fire shield. Even so, my ranged defense is 24.02% and smashing resistance 35.50%. While I’m sure I could up both of those and thus be far harder to kill, a true warrior of the pyropocalypse uses a more binary calculation of defense and resistance than most heroes do. The calculation is that an enemy with 0% of their hit points left does 0 damage, but one with 1 hit point left does full damage. Thus, every point of extra damage makes it more likely they will be too dead to hit you back. Personally, I’m not a fan of rain of fire. Slowish animation and it makes bad guys run. I used burn for quite a while, but the small AoE annoyed me and I haven’t missed it. Not a fan of consume either, as I don’t have end issues and the damage isn’t fantastic (note: if anyone has a different opinion of any of these powers, please share. I am open to trying them again if there’s a winning tactic with them). Finally I keep going back to this toon because I love how potent he is. In groups sometimes people get annoyed that I don’t leave much for them. When I’m farming and invite a stranger in they almost always can’t believe how fast they are racking up XP. But, it took a lot of practice to become this good and there are still times when I face plant two, or even three times, in quick succession. This isn’t like a hard capped brute where things are easy and you almost can’t be killed, this is on the edge fighting using all the tricks at hand. You can be two shotted by some +4 bosses, so correct placement to get them all is important (even then, bosses often need a few extra hits to die). Situations with additional bosses, such as if a Kheldan is on your team and quants appear, require even a bit more vigilance, but can be handled. In short, this character is a monster, a quick farmer and with an outsized impact on any team. Fortune favors the bold, especially when they can just resurrect themselves like a phoenix! I hope this guide is helpful to people. I've greatly enjoyed playing this character and I hope this inspires others to love it too!

My personal opinion is that HotFeet is only good when heavily slotted for slow. It causes enemies to run which then makes all AoE less effective with PBAoEs fire sword circle and inferno really affected. Heavily slotted with slow they still run, but so slowly it isn't as much of an issue. I'm not at all a burn fan. Great damage, but very slow activation, small AoE and causes MOBs to run. I'm also big on Fire Mastery for the epic. Bonfire slotted with KB->KD is super. RotP is also helpful. And Fire Shield is nice too. It's also a good thematic fit.

Ridiculous! When people join my farms they often can't believe how much more efficient my blaster is than what they are used to. And I farm +4/8s. I'm not even soft capped on my blaster, I've focused on damage, not defense. It does make it more of a challenge and takes skill to do things well, but that's a big plus in my book as farming can be extremely boring.

Hot feet frankenslotted for SLOW helps a lot. They still run, but not fast. Bonfire with KB-->KD is great, but only up every other group or so. Knock down proc in fireball helps too, but not as much as the other suggestions As you said, avoid rain.

Crashed my system once (although it could have been coincidence). Seemed to mess up notification another time where I didn't see everything in the chat, but it looks like I got them in the character items. Made me worried that it was missing items. Probably not, but an expensive lesson if it is and you do this for 100 super packs!

Yes, quite tedious. Almost as bad as turning reward merits to converters and auctioning them. Someone claimed to have a macro, but I can't find it in the forums... But that same post had another worthwhile item: You DON'T need to wait for all the cards to flip to open the next one. You still get all five items, even if only one card has flipped. You can just keep right clicking on the Super Pack and hitting"open" in rapid succession. I do find that every five or so pack I need to let it finish flipping all the cards or weird things happen. I suspect there's a queue that can be overloaded. It's still a pain to open if you have hundreds of super packs, but a lot less of one without having to wait for every card to flip.

At this point I mostly look for interesting new things to do with my INF in the market (other than manipulation). Went on a huge binge buying and opening super packs over the last few months. I thought it’d decrease my wealth, but I Actually made some money. I have my super base filled with well over a thousand ATOs, LoTGs and purples. So when a new alt comes along I can easily outfit from there. I stopped buying recipes, forging them, converting them and selling them as I was getting click fatigue. I will probably go back to it at some point to try different strategies.