Camel

With accolades and a build built around offense and max +recharge, you shouldn’t be encountering crippling end issues. Especially if you take Energy Mastery. You could take Barrier too and not have any issues. Of course you’d lose out on the recharge and the ability to fill your endurance when you do get sapped or run out. One thing I noticed, you dedicated several slots to the autos from Energy Mastery. You’ll get the most bang for your buck putting a +End proc from Performance Shifter in both. You’ll have so many +end procs going off with 1 more proc coming from Stamina if you opt to put one there. I would keep the Energy Mastery, only take the two autos, slot the +end proc and leave it at that, this along with a full build and accolades will solve all of your endurance issues. Then use the slots elsewhere to shore up more defense/resistance or recharge. Then choose between Barrier or Ageless. Personally, I think I would go Barrier, but it would be hard to not want Ageless either. So you really can’t go wrong there.

Second. If I combined all the seconds I’ve spent dealing with all the white salvage I don’t frequently use... it would be HOURS. I know I’ve spent hours listing stacks of 10 common salvage for 1 inf each. So. Many. Hours.

Wanted to throw in some thoughts since I’ve recently adopted a Fiery Aura/Energy Melee Tank as my main. The goal was to revisit my nostalgia for this specific pairing. I don’t remember when it started, but the beginning years of this game were magical. Everything was new and I was finding my place in the game. What I liked, didn’t like, etc. Powers like Energy Transfer, Total Focus and even Knockout Blow were the epitome of attacks for me and seeing them in PvP and PvE YouTube videos hyped me up (since I didn’t have a character over level 30 at the time, and gaining inf/xp was tedious for my lack of experience). Specifically, there was a video of a Fire/Energy Tank doing PvP in Recluses Victory to the song ‘Dancing for Rain’ by Rise Against. He was PWNING people. It was so satisfying to watch a low damage, high survivability archetype dish out incredible damage. Aside from that, I just loved the set. The sounds of Energy Melee, the crunch. I just loved it. Also a shout out to Hyper AI and his Fire/SS Tank whose videos I loved and spent countless hours PvPing with or against in various zones across the Freedom server. Flash forward to Homecoming, I’m more experienced than ever, we all are. Many changes in the QoL department, recent buffs to Tankers, etc. I can say right now, in its current form, I love my Fire/Energy Tank, with minimal to no support he can Tank the majority of the game and deal some pretty good damage even at +4. I accredit my positive experience with Energy Melee almost entirely to Fiery Aura and also believe Bio Armor and Shield would give me this same result. This is because all 3 of these sets either supply a +dmg buff or add proc damage calculated from the base damage of your attacks. Bio doing both iirc. This is the best synergy outside of stacking stuns that Energy Melee can achieve since Energy Transfer and Total Focus both have a large base damage. That being said, I would love for Energy Melee to be given a look at and have several suggestions, all varying in the amount of effort and time they would take. So let’s start with the easiest of my three and go from there. 1. Change the animation of Energy Transfer back to the original with no other balancing of the set. That’s it. 2. Change the animation of Energy Transfer to the original AND also keep the current animation. Balance both of these powers to be unique and let the player decide which version of Energy Transfer they want. An example would be making the quick animating Energy Transfer keep the current damage scaling in place, but make the slower animating Energy Transfer hit slightly harder at a reduced HP cost. This is a basic example. 3. Take a look at Energy Melee as a whole and change the set in a way that keeps to its core but also defines the set and gives it new life. This has sort of already happened with Dominators and the changes to Energy Assault and would be a good starting point. Someone mentioned increasing the radius and target cap for Whirling Hands, Tankers got this naturally for almost all of their AoE and it really helped changed the feel of Energy Melee and was also a start in the right direction. In summary, I’ll always find some time to play Energy Melee. It’s like my in game childhood and I can’t entirely abandon it. So I’m happy either way and so grateful for the teams efforts. But the numbers don’t lie, the community is in agreement and maybe it’s time to give a little homage to Energy Melee and the humble beginnings of this game.

As Hardboiled said, Willpower doesn’t have any “holes.” So while you might have some resistance/defense to all, it’s pretty average. Which means the Brute will be much harder to build. It’s probably not impossible, but to get to 90% res to Smash/Lethal would be very hard to do with the Brute and would require sacrificing other set bonuses. I’d go Tank. But seeing as how I’m currently in a Tank phase, I’m biased. If I had made a Brute instead of the Tank I made I might be telling you how fun Brutes are.

Since Tankers get higher defensive numbers but are only slightly behind in sustained DPS, consider an offensive set like Fiery Aura or Bio. You’re still survivable most content sans end game, but even then you can Tank those encounters if you focus, and with buffs you don’t even have to think about it. Considering you should hopefully be tanking for a team, buffs are frequent. I have a Fire/Energy Tank that can 2 shot bosses depending on level and buffs but also has 45%+ defense to Melee, 90% res to Smash/Lethal, Energy/Neg Fire and 50-60% res to everything else. Some content can be tough, but it’s rare that I have any issues. Fire/SS would also see similar numbers when hitting with Knockout Blow with double stacked Rage and Fiery Embrace and also be very tanky. Energy Transfer on my Tank averages I’d say at least 600-700 damage when I use both Build Up and Fiery Embrace.

Take every Shield Power as it is available. Certain exceptions being Grant Cover and One With the Shield, those you could take late. You’ll be able to make the most sacrifices with your primary. Speed, Fighting and Leaping are power pools that will help you out tremendously. True Grit is great, gives you 20% HP when fully enhanced and gives you good resists to elemental damage. edit: You don’t ‘need’ Taunt, but being able to grab aggro from range is a tool I’d recommend not giving up.

Grant cover gives you more defense debuff resist and slow resist. Both of which are vital, especially on a Scrapper, Brute and Stalker.

I’m pretty sure it’s abusing the -range from taunt along with Lord Recluses AI. Being by a tower/flag means he will constantly attempt to get within range of being able to hit you. I believe the tower makes this possible by allowing him to retarget when he jumps on it? I’m not sure. But I’ve only had that success by pulling him to something he can jump on, try to jump closer to me, fall all the way back down and repeat. When he’s on the ground he is out of range of my taunt, but when he jumps I can taunt him. If you get the distance just right he will never actually activate any power to even try to hit you.

It’s definitely worth having. Quite simply, you will do more damage. But most importantly, when you’re at the damage cap, FE will push you past that and increase your damage further from the flat fire damage bonus it gives, which is directly related to how much damage your attacks do upon activation. I would recommend looking for a Dual Blades thread, I’ve never mained one but iirc certain powers are skippable in the DB set and will yield better performance. I’d recommend taking a look! edit: Fiery Embrace does not accept To-Hit IOs, it doesn’t accept any sets actually. I can help you take a look at your build and give you some more tips, but one thing I noticed is you slotted Blinding Feint with no Acc, this attack needs to land on an enemy to get the benefit and is also a perfect place to slot the build up proc for maximum benefit. Slotting it with Acc/Dmg is priority.

Sounds like it is working as intended if I’m understanding you correctly. Fiery Embrace adds a flat fire damage bonus to non-fire attacks. So that portion is working as intended, as you described. I believe the fire damage doesn’t show up as a proc would if it’s being applied to an attack that is fire and instead adds the two fire damage numbers together. edit: I can’t see your damage numbers for Fire Blast with and without FE on the images you shared, the text is too small on my phone. Were they the exact same? What about Blazing Aura under those same conditions?

I used a temporary jet pack to taunt him over to a tower, and then repeatedly spammed taunt on my Fire/Energy Tank. Didn’t get hit once. Was very stressful. He did knock me back a lot once I engaged him on the ground.

Why can’t they just fix the code to actually make dynamic level up..... dynamic? So you can place your slots wherever the heck you want as long as you slot within the maximum number allowed? I’ve only take introductory courses in code, so my knowledge is theoretical and not practical, but it seems like it would be an easy fix. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I have not thought about proc damage while under a Rage crash.... food for thought. I’m normally not a proc kind of guy, it just doesn’t feel right to me even though I see success. More of a set guy, maybe a proc or two tops. But this is interesting. Might give it a go! I’ve been scheming up builds for offensive Tanks, still haven’t made a SS character out of all my 50’s and what you made looks great!

Looks good. It’s hard for me to get a great look at it in my phone. But there are still improvements that could be made with some slotting. When I get on the computer I’ll load up Mids and take a look.

Ahh yes, totally forgot about the P2W Rez and Consume being optional in high end builds with good end management. I still take it, I’ve been sapped a few times and it’s been the difference between detoggling and not.

I would argue that the only skippable power is Rise of the Phoenix. And even then, since Fiery Aura has no DDR and can face plant easier than most, even RotP could be used to great effect. I’ve had a theory that a suicide Fiery Aura Tanker would be a legitimate strategy, but never did it because I don’t want to die as a Tank lol. Some people skip Temperature Protection, again, an extremely vital power offering slow resist, Cold resist and a place to slot your KB protection IOs, your psi resists IOs and the 2 +def IOs. I just don’t see a scenario where a Fiery Aura Tank without Temperature Protection would have better slotting, resists, and defenses than a Tanker with TP.

A lot of changes have improved the set. It’s not top tier by any means, I’d say it’s best gimmick is the insane amount of burst damage you can do with Burn -> Energy Transfer -> Total Focus. The ATO sets, the ease of access for top tier IOs, the damage modifier increase and AoE/Aggro cap increase make this set feel wonderful. I have a “guide” in the works for Fire/Energy, it should be posted later today.

The difference between FE and BU though is FE is more like proc damage. The damage bonus you get is directly related to how much initial damage you do. That’s why a power like Knockout Blow, Total Focus, Energy Transfer, etc receive the most benefit. Since they’re base damage is huge, they get a large chuck of extra damage as fire damage. FE will even push you PAST the damage cap as well. I’ve seen my Energy Transfers extra fire damage hit for 400+ on the regular at +4 and at +0 a fully self buffed Energy Transfer can deal over 1k sometimes.

I had 8 for the longest time on my Fire Tank. Found myself getting KBd in the final fight on the ITF so I went to 12. No more KB from what I’ve noticed on the ITF (unless I got lucky) but I am still getting flopped around by Lord Recluse.

Fire/Energy is a blast and a +1 for nostalgia. It might not be obvious to pair it with Fire Armor but it has a synergy I think is often overlooked. That being Fiery Embrace and how it’s damage bonus is a % of the damage dealt by your attacks. Since Energy Transfer and Total Focus have such a huge base damage, they coincidentally get HUGE damage increases when buffed by Build Up & Guassains Proc + Fiery Embrace. Solo I could hit mobs for 1k+ with ET and TF both. On teams I’ve seen over 3k damage at +2 with a Kinetics on the team and several debuffers. Another thing to note is that if you have enough +recharge from your build and teammates, you can run an attack chain of Burn -> Energy Transfer -> Total Focus with only fractions of a second between another full cycle, just enough time to use Taunt and some other powers.

Definitely go on test. Dark Armor is your go to for primary as far as control. Dark/Stone, Dark/Ice, Dark/Psi (hello Confuse, Disorient AND Hold? Hmm...) Dark/Elec, Dark/Energy all being top contenders for control. Any Targeted AoE can get KD in Ragnarok, an Immobilize in the Winter ATO set and then various other procs depending on what you have. What this means is that you can slot a chance for Hold proc AND a chance to disorient proc in a power like Electrifying Fences from the Mu Mastery. This opens up a ton of options.

I didn’t do a lot of testing. But both sides are beneficial in their own right. You get more damage with the chance for + mag and Psi proc tree. But I swear I noticed more control with the other. I went with the tree that didn’t add damage if I remember. As I wanted as much confuse, disorient and immobilize going out as possible.

I made a Ice/Dark/Leviathan Scraptroller and it was very effective. Ice Patch, Frozen Aura, KD proc in Death Shroud, Cloak of Fear, Oppressive Gloom, Water Spout with Immobilize/Disorient Procs... more disorient and immobilize procs and then the Control Hybrid that adds more stun, immob, etc. It was very effective. Ran a lot of +4x8 content safely.

I’m also of the mindset where, outside of farming, why would anyone roll a Brute? Don’t get me wrong.. I love Brutes. But in general PvE gameplay, a Tank will be more survivable AND able to dish out similar damage while having a slight edge in AoE. And if you just wanted to focus on damage then a Scrapper is the superior option. Just an opinion though.

I just recently rolled a Fire/Energy Tank and it’s been nothing but smooth sailing so far. He was an absolute monster in the TF Commander TFs being the highest DPS more often than not and also being practically invulnerable. Being able to use Burn (and many other amazing powers across other defensive sets) before level 20 is a game changer and exclusive to Tanks. The higher target cap and wider radius means you can carelessly throw out AoEs and still hit mobs despite bad positioning. This is my first Tank since the big changes and they are well received, as you can still make an invincible Tank meant purely for defense, or you can go for offense with sets like Bio, Fire and Shield and deal great damage. Pair those sets with any high damage secondary and you have an AoE burst machine that can hit more targets than anyone.