Onlyasandwich

I added taunt in my revised build. It is great for the set bonus and I missed its utility for sure. Second post in the thread if you feel the urge to provide input! Aggro tanking works, but mobs have a little mini flee pretty often, and accuracy can at times be an issue on certain mobs. Although I am anti granite, I am not anti taunt! I did look at your thread when making my build, hyperstrike. I'm glad there are others who appreciate the beauty of stone outside granite!

With the new issue, I've specced this build into combat teleport and it is truly a delight! I still think rooted needs a buff, but I don't mind it at all now that I can zip around instantly wherever I need on the combat field. This also makes frost oh so much simpler to set up again mid battle. There is great joy in porting to an ally in danger and being able to knock off an aoe to grab nearby attention before the dominos start falling. Using regular teleport in this way usually led to a late arrival and frustration. So yeah - give combat teleport a try if you haven't! I'll have a hard time passing it up on any of my melees.

I built without standard teleport, and love combat teleport. If it were a choice between the two, I'd definitely choose CT. I'm happy enough with fast travel powers and athletic run+sprint for normal travel. Combat Teleport actually lets me be a slow stupid brick and reposition in battle effectively for cones. Even if I were super fast as a stone/, I would be stuck in the middle of a mob without CT since I can't jump. There would be less reason to do this if all your damage is pbaoe or single target, but I think the quality of life for the quick engage would be worth it. I do not enjoy regular teleport for combat movement.

Perfection.

At least grounded saves you a slot for muling the gladiator defense io. Laughing indeed. What could we call Rooted instead to justify unsticking it from the ground?

Glad it was useful enough to include! I definitely agree. I think stone is a jumbled, unfocused mess, quite honestly. There is no particular synergy between the types of protection, and granite armor is a fairly boring reason for it all to exist. That said, anti-granite works well enough with this sort of io support. Rooted is my only barrier to enjoyment, but it's a pretty big one.

Getting up there with this build and enjoying it so far. The only thing I don't like is reliance on rooted. I didn't realize it even toggles off when you turn on sprint. They really didn't want you to be able to do a damn thing about the speed debuff! This thread is now for ranting about rooted. If you feel like providing feedback on my build I would certainly appreciate it, but please remember to say a few bad words about this annoying power. Thank goodness for pay to win Mez protection!

I know that it is not ideal. I am enjoying the theme and visuals, and working within the limitations of the set. I already have tanks of every other primary and enjoy them.

You'll see quite a few good fire/fire builds in this recent thread, including the one I went with myself For status protection, you'll see that several of these builds use rune of protection. You can always solve it with clarion destiny of course if you prefer. There are some more offensive optimized and defensive builds discussed.

I've switched over to Energy epic, and think I'm happier overall with what I see. Looking more closely at ice storm, the recharge is too long for the investment required to get it, and I have strong aoe in FA/Frost. I see people say good things about Frost, but do find the cone difficult to use - so very short! Going with it for now. I think the addition of some more health uniques and conserve power should allow me to run barrier instead of ageless, which will bridge the gap for incarnate cap on E/N as well. Added Taunt too!

Good evening! I have a character whom, for thematic reasons as well as practical preference, is just not going to suit Granite armor. I know Stone can still be pretty tough without, and I'd like to pair it with /Ice this go-round, as I've had my eye on Frozen Aura fun for a while. Although I've played plenty of tankers, I've never actually built Stone/ or /Ice before. I've put together this build looking at others I have seen around the forums, but would really appreciate input on any oversights or optimizations you may see! The goals I have aimed for here: - Close-enough to incarnate softcap S/L defense (55.7 currently) - As much S/L resist as I can squeeze in without sacrificing much offensive power. - Aggressive recharge slotting to cycle FA/Ice storm and my better ST attacks. Areas I am not totally happy with: - 5% shy of incarnate softcap E/N defense. Workable for sure, but would love to find a way. Maybe barrier? I feel like I may end up needing Ageless. - Endurance management. I am used to playing hungry builds on the edge, but I know this one is a little unbalanced on consumption. Not sure if I want to lean on Ageless - would be nice to be able to run Barrier. - Not capped on S/L resist, although close if we account for ideal tanker ATO proccing. - No Taunt! I like Taunt - it's convenient and has good IO sets. I could drop ice epic and go to Energy. I like the purple slotting opportunities and theme of ice though. My general tanker playstyle is very aggressive, bounding forward to new spawns as soon as I feel like the situation is manageable behind me. When the new issue hits, I'll likely swap Speed of Sound for teleport pool and the new combat teleport power. Otherwise using ninja run/whatever for travel. Rooted so far is really annoying and I'm not sure how it justifies its speed penalty, but here we are.

I can definitely see how ef makes life easier. Do you feel the lower target cap is noticable at all? Ef is only 10, while rof matches fireball with 16. You can spam it more, and it helps burn hit for full damage, so I imagine that more than makes up the difference.

I got to run my first itf on this guy today, and my build is mostly complete. Even before catalyzing my winter sets and atos, he is super fun and powerful to play! Definitely don't miss fire breath, and I find myself using burn more often than I thought I would. The double slow action of rof and hit feet make it relatively painless even without a tank holding them tight. I think I have a new favorite!

The loud rip of a fully saturated War Mace crowd control.

Thank you! I'm up to 40 at this point and excited to slot it all the way. Indeed it is what I meant. Fire doesn't need to lean on its secondary for good st, though it does help to fill out the chain depending on recharge. /Fire has reasonable tools for this in fire sword and burn, though not as good as say /electric. If we are looking at it for purely aoe, I think /fire is still among the best options because of hot feet.

One thing I don't think has been mentioned here - not only are Tanker aoes larger, but they also have a higher target cap. Most cones that are capped at 5 on scrappers/stalkers are capped at 10 for Tankers. Most PBAoEs normally capped at 10 are increased to 16. This makes an enormous difference in more crowded content. Also, although this is less relevant on teams, the inherent taunt on most attacks is a great quality of life improvement when you are churning through tough crowds. Mobs won't trigger the damage fleeing ai, and you can keep everything easily packed tight to kill. On shield/ specifically, you have a heck of a lot less work to do softcapping defense, as your base numbers are higher. This leaves plenty of extra slots for proccing your secondary out. Ultimately, a Tanker isn't going to provide the raw up-front damage numbers of blaster/scrapper/stalker, but can compete well in many situations with a smoother overall play experience. I see that you have chosen a different direction with this most recent character. I would encourage you to give Tankers a try some time. Like many of the other folks in this thread, I'm a huge War Mace fan. a Shield/Mace may be a fun starting point for you.

I was inspired by both Nemu's build, and Dreadshinobi's. I like the idea of having RoP as a fallback and easy mez breaker, as well as a tool to help mitigate the lack of an epic resist when using Scorpion Shield. I've given up on keeping Fire Breath for theme - it just gets too much in the way of IO priorities. I think I'm pretty happy with what I put together! This build matches Nemu's recharge, and reaches softcap for S/L/E/R (well, it's ~.4 off for all but E - close enough for my purposes). I may try another iteration where I pick flame mastery and see how high I can keep defenses, but it won't likely be of interest to you given your stated goals. With RoP up, resists are modest across the board, though S/L is still a step shy of what an epic armor would allow. As Nemu noted, part of the fun and challenge of a melee blaster is using your movement and positioning to survive. I still need to get this guy to 50 to really get a feel for it, but I doubt this build would have a problem jumping in blindly most of the time anyhow. Burnout is a clear flex pick. You could drop consume in its place if you want. I would love to have room to drop a few strategic procs in blazing bolt and blaze. It's a sad day for me when I don't get to use any purple damage procs, but the defense slotting makes it too tight as far as I can see. Fortunately, fire/ isn't exactly hurting for ST damage, so doesn't really need to rely on procs to get an edge. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Char King: Level 50 Technology Blaster Primary Power Set: Fire Blast Secondary Power Set: Fire Manipulation Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Sorcery Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Flares -- SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(A), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(7) Level 1: Ring of Fire -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(50) Level 2: Fire Ball -- Artl-End/Rech/Rng(A), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(9), Artl-Acc/Dam(11), Artl-Dam/End(11), Artl-Dam/Rech(13), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(13) Level 4: Fire Sword -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(15), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(48) Level 6: Rain of Fire -- Artl-End/Rech/Rng(A), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(17), Artl-Acc/Dam(19), Artl-Dam/End(19), Artl-Dam/Rech(21), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(21) Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23) Level 12: Aim -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(23), GssSynFr--Build%(25) Level 14: Kick -- ExpStr-Dmg/KB(A), ExpStr-Acc/KB(50), ExpStr-Dam%(50) Level 16: Build Up -- RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(A), RctRtc-ToHit(25) Level 18: Blaze -- SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(A), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(27), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(29) Level 20: Cauterizing Aura -- PreOptmz-EndMod/End/Rech(A), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/Rech(31), PreOptmz-Acc/Rech(31), PreOptmz-EndMod/End(31), PreOptmz-EndMod/Rech(33), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/End(33) Level 22: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(46) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(33), ShlWal-Def(34), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(34) Level 26: Blazing Bolt -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(34), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), StnoftheM-Dam%(36), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(36) Level 28: Spirit Ward -- Prv-Absorb%(A) Level 30: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(37) Level 32: Inferno -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(37), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Obl-%Dam(39) Level 35: Burn -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(42) Level 38: Hot Feet -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(43) Level 41: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45) Level 44: Rune of Protection -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(46) Level 47: Super Speed -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 49: Burnout -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance 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 -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon ------------

/electric provides better st dps than /fire, though this is almost moot if you have high enough recharge to more or less chain blaze and bolt. This one is a personal favorite. All of the melee powers except perhaps thunderstrike here are exceptional, and it still has a damage toggle. As a minor note, power sink is way better than consume. For aoe damage, most if not all secondary powers will slow you down vs just chaining what fire already provides. It we are ignoring mitigation, this leaves passive damage, buffs, and debuffs to consider. /Fire actually has an edge here with a second pbaoe toggle in hot feet, which has the added benefit of making rof easier to manage. Atomic has some interesting +recharge tools that may allow you to shift some io focus to defense more easily and maintain your totals. /Plant provides a fiery embrace type power that gives you a damage buff that operates outside the damage cap, so interesting for optimal teams. Obviously there are non damage oriented reasons to pick a secondary, but these are the standouts from my pov if you are laser focused on this aspect.

Other than the absolute excellence that is bonfire, I agree that flame mastery is not optimal. I generally start from a character concept and pick my sets/epics based upon this, then optimize from there. In some cases this meshes well with what would be the best possible synergy, but not always. I have run plenty of fire blasters before, but not since they introduced the sustains. I'm glad to hear the sustain is sufficient, as I'm not a big fan of consume. The end drain protection can come in handy on occasion - I guess the real problem is that there aren't any great candidates to replace it with that don't require more slots. As for cold mastery, the heal and +hp does help soften the blow of not having the extra layer of s/l resist, but cold defense in the armor is strictly inferior to energy defense in Scorpion Shield. I'm universally not a huge fan of Snow Storm, even on my stormies. It's useful for grounding fliers, but I imagine not worth the end cost and animation time for this sort of build. I'm just bumbling through my 30's on this guy right now - will put my heart into a build a little later.

A few questions, @beradical - do you find yourself using consume much? I see that it is left at base slot. I suppose if you are pumping recharge, even the endmod of a blaster sustain could run short. Is it just because it is a usable on-slot wonder, or do you need to lean on it a bit? I want to find a way to work Fire Breath into my own build - maybe there will end up being an IO reason to do so. It is thematic for my specific look, and a welcome addition to aoe power as I'm leveling up. Do you ever miss it when exemping down? I do get that it would conflict with the later level playstyle which requires living in melee more or less all the time to leverage the toggles.

I just started up a fire fire blaster myself! I'll plug in your build and see how it runs. I think we have a similar playstyle. I like living on the edge in melee and juicing recharge at the cost of predictable survival. I may end up going fire epic for thematic reasons. It is, as you noted, a solid challenge to juggle baseline defensive io priorities with recharge without the benefit of scorpion shield. I'll share if I come up with anything interesting!

Thank you for the clarification, @Bopper! I figured I might have misunderstood the implications, as otherwise there would likely be more discussion around this.

@Jimmy I'm dubious about the damage proc accuracy "bug fix." Did damage procs previously have an accuracy check that was later removed inadvertently? If not, what led to the determination that this behavior is a bug? It is not intuitive to me that an accuracy check should be required. The proc is a part of the power, and already has a percentage chance of triggering. This will have a fairly measurable impact on proc damage, especially in slotted powers heavily leveraging the mechanic. This also nerfs hybrid doublehit in comparison to core. Is there a balance reason behind this? This seems beyond the scope of a "fix." I know @Bopper has done a lot of proc testing. I may have misunderstood the notes or how it already works in game. Is anyone able to confirm?

The only possibly argument I could make against plant/kin is that its pet is ranged, and will thus benefit less reliably from fulcrum shift. Plant is strong enough with all its other tricks that it is not a major issue. Plant/Storm would more reliably leverage the pet, and of course Storm is more amazing than ever these days. Since it's a controller, both sets will solo reasonably well late levels. Both Storm and Kin are top tier support sets in general - just pick what you are inspired to play!

Most any solid traps build that chases ranged and/or S/L softcap is going to give you a solid soloer, regardless of secondary. You will have to translate the set bonuses accordingly for AR if you want to have a strong build. For example, don't take a Traps build that chases resistance and melee defense and combine it with an /AR build that is chasing Ranged defense. You will end up with a piddling amount of both and waste your set potential. Traps overall has a lot of built-in soloability, before you even taken other factors into account. You have strong base defense, mez protection, an alpha breaker, and other distractions to keep the mobs busy. Here is my own Traps/Beam for reference. I have S/L/E incarnate softcap defense (and more), with a heavy focus on extra damage with procs in my secondary. Honestly, if you have FFG and Scorp Shield in your build, you have a lot of freedom for how you build for solo content, as those two basically take care of most of your defensive needs by themselves. A neat trick that Nemu showed me is slotting the Decimation buildup proc in Seeker Drones. It pops really reliably when you cast the drones, letting you basically use them as a buildup in addition to their normal utility. This is especially helpful in Assault Rifle, which has no Aim equivalent.