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The version of MIDS that I have can't open these builds. I can't find a link to download the latest version. I downloaded a build from github, but I can't find anything in the zip to execute or installation instructions.

Back in 2004 my first toon was a fire/fire blaster. He was my main, and life for blasters was tougher. Most of the secondaries we're meh, and I really didn't understand the effectiveness of using melee attacks to round out my damage. Now things have changed. Blasters have sustains, ancillary powersets, incarnate unlocks and decent secondaries. I just got a Rad/Atomic build to 50, and it was fairly painless. Since my return to CoH my main focus has been the sentinel class. I love my Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel, but some part of me wants to re-build my first main but with all the new bells and whistles. The problem is given all of the available choices I feel somewhat paralyzed. Do I maximize defense? And if so against what damage types? Do I take clarion, rune of protection, or both? How does recharge fit into the picture? Building the sentinel was easy. I have damage mitigation and a self heal baked right in. Status effects are a non-issue so I could focus on re-charge and boosting the respectable but sub-blaster damage. A blaster build has to be more focused. My Rad/Atomic blaster has a ton of control to rely on but I'm going to have to make some major changes to deal with the late game. The Fire blaster will have MUCH less control, so I'm going to have to make up for that in defense. But honestly I don't know how to build a defensive blaster. Not really. Every time I try I come up with a blaster with impressive resistances (like my Rad/Atomic), which is fine when you can control the pace of battle by locking down threats. A fire/fire blaster only has the ultimate sanction (kills) for hard control. I was hoping someone might give me a few build ideas. Here's a few starting parameters. Primary: Fire Secondary: Fire (I know fire amounts to... just more damage and not a ton of utility but...... reasons*) Epic: I'm open to suggestion. In the past I stuck with fire for thematic reasons, now utility is the focus. I'd like some help with status effects. Protection over resistance of course. I'm okay with using steadfast KB protection instead of investing heavily in the leaping power pool. I'm okay with investing in purples. I love having a lot of recharge, but in this case I'm willing to trade recharge for survivability (defense). I really appreciate any help that the community can provide.

Ah. I get it. I have too many sets with a 5% +recharge bonus. Well.... that does kind of open things up a bit. I guess I got lucky with my Sent... but then his build uses purples and LOTG globals. Thanks this solves my problem. Opens up some build options too.

Hmmmm. I think that's the problem. I didn't know there was a 5 set bonus limit. Could you explain the mechanics?

I'm trying to reach perma-hasten with my elec/elec tank. 70 from Hasten and 20 from Lightning reflexes should give me 90 right off the bat as long as hasten is up. with set bonuses I should be looking at around 160 Recharge. I'm only seeing 130 recharge bonus. I've noticed that even though I'm supposed to get 5% recharge from Smashing impact set bonus, but I'm not seeing any recharge from it when I monitor attributes. When I take a closer look at attribute monitor I'm only seeing recharge bonuses from 9 sources. I should be seeing well over 14. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I have a Sentinel with over 160 recharge bonus so I know 130 isn't the cap.

It is flashy and does a sickening amount of damage. Plus it lets me enter combat with a bang.

I leveled 2 blasters to 50 back in the day. Before IO's. One 3 X Fire, the other 3 X elec. The difference in playstyle between the two was massive. The fire build was largely one dimensional until I got bonfire. If revolved around blitz attacks or sneaking in with inferno. And of course back then nukes crashed you. They were high risk. Despite this raw power I felt inadequate to other ATs. Especially when villains were released and corruptors were nipping at our heels for damage, while also bringing mitigation that blasters could only dream of to the table. The electrical blaster was slower. More methodical, but safer. I relied on tesla cage, shocking grasp, and even added shocking bolt when I could. I could lock down bosses, didn't need my nuke as much and I could control the pace of battle. The electrical blaster never felt inadequate. So the answer is... it depends. In the modern age blasters have access to more tools. They have better secondaries and sustain mechanics. I think they'd probably hold up pretty nicely.

Fire is also quite good. Solid AoE potential and one of the best single target attacks in the game, Blaze. It is heavy on endurance use though, but it sounds like invul has an endurance sustain. Which is neat. I took an MA/Invul scrapper to 50 and the endurance management was a bitch. Of course those were the old days. Heck I remember taking unstoppable... not for the protection, but for those times when I was gassed and out of endurance.

Beam takes a bit of time to take off. It can deliver massive damage once you have the main attacks slotted and you know how to capitalize on disintegration. As to your original question.... did I miss the damage? The answer is no. Yes my fire blaster did sickening amounts of damage "in bursts". But anything that survived my alpha strike was a threat and I spent a lot of time running away so I could stay upright. My sentinel just steam rolls. He does less damage but his damage is sustained. Unimpeded by status effects or the need for advanced tactics to mitigate mob revenge. In the upper levels the differences in damage are narrowed by Incarnate abilities and the speed that my level 32 nuke recharges at. Trust me... going from glass cannon to brass cannon is worth the journey.

My Homecoming Fire/Fire/Flame Sent is vet level 50. He's a hoot to play.

Can it crit?

I thought spring attack sucked. At least it did when I tried it on a sentinel. Barely did any damage at all. Is it just bugged on Sents?

Didn't even consider that. Thanks.

Any build advice you guys can share would be appreciated. I like the idea that I can debuff enemy resists a bit while boosting my pets resistances. Anybody try this combo?

I'd stick with red fortune. 2.5% ranged defense is a nice bonus.

Well the power itself is kind of meh... but I take it because it gives me an attack to use while mezzed. That can be crucial. And the IO is entropic chaos chance to heal. It's a PROC that can heal you for a small amount. Not a huge advantage but the extra heal is kind of nice. As for dropping stealth, this build is flexible enough for that. Personally I'd either add maneuvers, or pick up bone smasher and slot it for defense.

Try this one. Exported from MIDS Reborn: http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1496&c=676&a=1352&f=HEX&dc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

I tried downloading that, but all I got was a zip file full of CS files. nothing I could use. If you could post a link to a working copy I can try to export from it.

What version of PINES do you have?

Couple questions. Do you play this character at range? Or do you close to lay the smackdown with the occasional bone smasher or total focus? If you play at range mostly then slotting for max ranged defense is a path that a lot of people take. Having access to boost range and the ridiculous single target attacks in beam rifle sounds sick. I have a Beam/Dev blaster who just melts stuff. With that kind of front loaded damage you could definitely skip the melee attacks. I don't miss not having any. Something get's too close I just back off and leave some caltrops then mow them down. I'm slowly slotting for a mix of decent ranged defense and some resists for good measure. It's still a work in progress, and I probably put too much into regen, but I like being able to recover between fights quickly. That being said You've asked for an /ENG build. And this one is a ranger build that eschews most melee attacks. Not saying you should. Personally most of my blasters take advantage of them. Still... With that much ranged defense you're going to be fairly hard to hit. Of course anything that can floor your defense is going to leave you in the hurt locker. You'll notice I took clarion. +Range and +Status protection, but You could probably get away with barrier instead. I'm not going to pretend to be a master builder. I often let concept overrule effectiveness. Also you could modify this build to add melee attacks and still reach similar outcomes. I also opted for effective invisibility with the +stealth IO and stealth. I think they stack. If they don't just drop the +stealth IO. http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1489&c=672&a=1344&f=HEX&dc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

Why not have both? I mean, I get it if you don't have time, but why strip the build you've invested so much time in? Heck even consider a different primary. You might find something else you love. Say BattleAxe/Bio. As to your question. The two sets function really differently. When it comes to survivability Bio takes the cake. But fire of course gives you additional damage. Enough to offset the survivability of bio? Not in my opinion. It really will come down to personal preference. I've always considered /Fire to be a tad squish myself. But then again with scrapper damage you don't necessarily have to be that durable.

Even the worst sets can shine with Set Enhancements. Yeah I know they can be costly, but if you learn to play the market and manipulate merit rewards you can make an insane amount of INF fairly quickly. An Elec/Elec scrapper properly slotted can be an AOE focused nightmare. Body mastery is always a good choice, but I'd also consider MU. You'd get ball lighting which is even more AOE. Not sure if it can crit, but things would get ugly fast if it could.

Looks interesting. Think about incorporating into my MA/NJ scrap. Trying to chose between it or unleash potential from the force of will set. I've used unleash potential on my DP/Martial blaster. It's solid. but I figure the scrap already has decent defense and might benefit from the regen effect more. Any advice would be appreciated.

I always played blasters. So when the chance came to play a fire themed blaster with status protection shields and heals came along? I jumped on it. Vet Level 45 Fire/Fire/Flame Sent with incarnate toys to boot. He's my main. Currently leveling all kinds of alts too... but no brute. Tinkering with a DM/INV brute a little. I think It has potential.

On the other hand.... Having status protection makes all mobs with a mez suckers. Every time some Rikti tries to mez my Tanker when he could have at least did a little damage with his sword.... I giggle.