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fire/dark levelling build (no sets), do I have all I need by level 27?


Papaschtroumpf

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OK, a bit of a clickbait title, but I rolled a fire/dark corruptor, currently lvl 27, and really loving it.  I saw a few endgmae builds with IO sets, etc... but I didn;t find a guide or build for the early to mid game, when all you use are IOs (or SOs), so I'd like some advice/comments.

 

My thoughts:

- I find that /dark is pretty slot friendly, so even at 27 I have quite a few slots in my attacks.

- I like the AoE Damage (tarpatch + rain of fire) and I find the single target attacks quite serviceable

- Twilight Grasp (-regen) and Darkest Night (debuffs) seem like good powers agasint AVs and Elite bosses, unless their effect is negligible.

So I'm pretty happy about the balance and utility of the sets so far.

 

I don't care for Fire Breath. Maybe it's a matter of more practice but it seems pretty ineffective. Maybe I should have taken Flares instead but its description of doing "minor" damage turned me off, and fast recharge can mean sucking blue, so I skipped it.

 

I took recall firend because I was in the middle of a TF and hadn't trained several level when we decide we wanted to stealth some of it. Since I had Superspeed and was planning on taking Shadowfall to stack for invisibility anyway, I took recall friend.

 

I'm not sure what to think about howling twighlight, I have used it once or twice as a rez and then realized it doesn;t need a dead teammate to work, the rez is just a side effect, so I'm considering slotting it as an opener or at least crowd control / debuff power (and hope I don't need it right after that to rez a teammate)

 

I don't know if the game mechanics changed, but I remember my energy blaster snipe to take a long time to execute and be easily interrupted. Blazing Bolt feels almost like a normal single target attack instead

 

But I'm wondering what to take next:

- I think fearsome stare should provide nice crowd control or a nice panic button, but I assume it doesn't fear bosses.

- petrifying gaze doesn;t sound appealing, I'm not a controller and I have several AoE controls already. I think the Dark Servant will have hold of its own, so maybe it would stack to hold bosses, but you can't control the dark servant target right?

-I think I'll definitely try Inferno, more AoE goodness to stack on rain of fire

- I'm taking Dark Servant, more control and debuffs, and I won't feel lonely

- black hole seems liek a good way to piss teammates off so I'm plannign on skipping

 

So even if I take Fearsome Stare, I'me not sure what I even care to take at 28 and 30 and tehn again at 35

 

I can probalby take a fly power for when superspede gets annoying (it happens) as I have not yet figured out how to get flypacks like in the old days.

 

What secondary pools should i take for synergy? i play solo and team, and since i don;t have pets, not sure leadership is a great choice until the end game? Even worse with Fighting, I think it's best used as a place to put IO sets once you get there?

 

I'm also not sure what Epic pool is good synergy. Thematically I like Dark. Power mastery might be good, Power Build with Aim could boost my AoEs and it Force of NAture could add a layer of resitance on top of shadowfall, with temp invulnearibilty being a good panic button?

 

 

So let me know your thoughts on powers and pools. Also any advice on what to slot for. So far I have been slotting more or less whatever drops I get, with accuracy/dmag going to fire powers and recharge going into tarpatch and rain of fire primarily. With hasten I'm running out of endurance so I will satrt slotting more end red and stamina, etc...

 

I sort of recreated my build so far in Mid's designer (from memory so not an exact match, but it's close) to give you an idea of where I am so far:

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Mr Burns: Level 28 Magic Corruptor

Primary Power Set: Fire Blast

Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Teleportation

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Fire Blast

  • (A) Empty
  • (3) Empty
  • (5) Empty
  • (9) Empty
  • (13) Empty
  • (17) Empty

Level 1: Twilight Grasp

  • (A) Empty

Level 2: Fire Ball

  • (A) Empty
  • (3) Empty
  • (5) Empty
  • (9) Empty
  • (17) Empty

Level 4: Tar Patch

  • (A) Empty
  • (11) Empty
  • (15) Empty

Level 6: Rain of Fire

  • (A) Empty
  • (7) Empty
  • (7) Empty
  • (11) Empty
  • (13) Empty
  • (15) Empty

Level 8: Super Speed

  • (A) Empty

Level 10: Darkest Night

  • (A) Empty

Level 12: Recall Friend

  • (A) Empty

Level 14: Howling Twilight

  • (A) Empty

Level 16: Shadow Fall

  • (A) Empty

Level 18: Fire Breath

  • (A) Empty
  • (19) Empty
  • (19) Empty

Level 20: Blaze

  • (A) Empty
  • (21) Empty
  • (21) Empty
  • (25) Empty

Level 22: Aim

  • (A) Empty
  • (23) Empty
  • (23) Empty

Level 24: Hasten

  • (A) Empty
  • (25) Empty

Level 26: Blazing Bolt

  • (A) Empty
  • (27) Empty
  • (27) Empty

Level 28: [Empty]

Level 30: [Empty]

Level 32: [Empty]

Level 35: [Empty]

Level 38: [Empty]

Level 41: [Empty]

Level 44: [Empty]

Level 47: [Empty]

Level 49: [Empty]

Level 1: Brawl

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

  • (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Scourge

Level 0: Born In Battle

Level 0: High Pain Threshold

Level 0: Invader

Level 0: Marshal

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift

  • (A) Empty

Level 2: Hurdle

  • (A) Empty

Level 2: Health

  • (A) Empty

Level 2: Stamina

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

  • (A) Empty

------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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oh, and share your own fire/dark builds, both levelling and endgame. I ahve a sort of plan for end game that involves focusing set bonuses on defense (around 40% for most?) but it will be a long time before I can afford any of that. First character on the new servers, so starting building inf from scratch.

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Some tips I actually just posted in a controller thread:

 

Twilight Grasp- single target aoe heal centered on you, packs a hidden -50% regen debuff as well as a -5% tohit debuff and a -10% damage debuff. If you ever play with a Dark Miasma character and they have Twilgiht Grasp on autofire it's not for the heal. You should have more slots in yours, accuracy plus some recharge and maybe a little end reduction.

 

Tar Patch - GTAOE damage resistance field, -30%. You have 3 slots probably for recharge, which is great, but while leveling I might make do with just 2 to free one up for Twilight Grasp - but see my slot tips after this.

 

Darkest Night - if you can't control the foe, surround them in darkness so they can't hit you. -15% tohit and -30% damage. I soloed the Skull elite boss Veles on a Dark/Dark controller because I put this anchor on him and he stopped doing damage to me and then I chipped away at him. (Also I confused his minion and she shot him the face but it was mostly me.) This is worth at least 2 slotting with end reduction while leveling and then enhancing with some tohitdebuff at higher levels. It really is like dropping a wet blanket onto your foe.

 

Howling Twilight - this is an area effect autohitting mag 2 stun and mag 3 fear which also applies a -500% regen debuff, making it on a par with Radiation's Lingering Radiation except it's autohit. Both powers also have a slow and -recharge effect. The mez only lasts about 15 seconds but the regen and slow debuffs last just as long as Lingering Rad's, though the recharge is twice as long. Extra bonus: Howling Twilight also does a full life resurrection on your team! Using it as an opener is a possibility though usually Fearsome Stare is used that way since it has a great -tohit debuff and it's close to spammable. If you're REALLY aggressive consider putting a damage proc in it.

 

Fearsome Stare - really amazing cone AOE fear power which also carries a hefty -tohit penalty. The things that resist the fear and shoot you will likely miss.

 

Petrifying Gaze used to have stats that made controllers envy so when their AoE holds got nerfed, it got nerfed even harder.

 

Note that there has been a change with Snipes. If you get enough tohit buff they become instant, so Aim + Blazing Bolt might be triggering that. Dark Servant also benefits from Leadership so it might be worth taking assault and tactics a little earlier.

 

I specced out a sample build for you using most of the same choices you had and just inserting my suggestions. I did this with SOs. Here is the thing, it is really awkward really to do an SO build for me anymore. Look at a bread and butter move like Fire Blast. Six slots: 1 acc, 3 dmg, 1 recharge, 1 end redux. Classic attack slotting. Now, suppose you get a level 25 Ruin: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge and a level 25 Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge. Those 2 IOs add up to 32% Accuracy AND Damage AND Recharge. You literally just crammed 3 SOs worth of enhancement into 2 slots worth.  If you finish by adding 2 generic damages and an end reduction you still 6 slotted it in 5 slots and now you have a slot that can go somewhere else.

 

That's what I actually do all throughout most of my builds. Sometimes I do stay with generics - like for Darkest Night I would probably just put 2 end reducers in while leveling. But Fearsome Stare instead of putting 1 acc and 1 recharge and 1 fear or tohit, I'd go after 2 mismatched Acc/Fear/Recharge and 1 tohit debuff/endurance piece ... that would end up with me getting 32% accuracy, 32% recharge, 32% fear, 20% endurance reduction and 12% tohit debuff (remember THAT one is on the scale where an SO is 20% not 33%). That's like 4 1/2 worth of SOs in 3 slots. 

 

Finally the jetpack is sold by the pay to win vendor and you can buy multiple half hour charges of it at once and really bank some time. It's in the temp powers tab.

 

Sample Villain Plan that stops at 38 by Eri, via Pine's/Mids' Villain Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 38 Magic Corruptor

Primary Power Set: Fire Blast

Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Teleportation

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(3), Dmg(13), RechRdx(29), EndRdx(34)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc(A), RechRdx(5), EndRdx(11)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(5)

Level 4: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(15), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(31)

Level 6: Rain of Fire -- Acc(A), Dmg(9), Dmg(9), Dmg(13), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(31)

Level 8: Super Speed -- EndRdx(A)

Level 10: Darkest Night -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(11)

Level 12: Recall Friend -- IntRdx(A)

Level 14: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(15)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(17), DefBuff(17), DefBuff(23)

Level 18: Aim -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19)

Level 20: Blaze -- Acc(A), Dmg(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(31)

Level 22: Fearsome Stare -- Acc(A), RechRdx(23), ToHitDeb(36)

Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(25)

Level 26: Blazing Bolt -- Acc(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(27), Dmg(33), RechRdx(34), EndRdx(34)

Level 28: Assault -- Empty(A)

Level 30: Burnout -- RechRdx(A)

Level 32: Inferno -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(37)

Level 35: Power Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(37), RechRdx(37)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- Acc(A)

Level 41: [Empty]

Level 44: [Empty]

Level 47: [Empty]

Level 49: [Empty]

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

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: Scourge

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)

------------

 

 

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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See me on Excelsior as Eridanus - Whisperkill - Kid Physics - Ranger Wilde - The Hometown Scrapper - Firewatch - and more!

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Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback and will look for your controller thread (I also have a fire/dark controller at lvl 19 I think but I've played a lot of controllers in the old days a d decided I wanted to try something else first)

I also posted a thread on asking for tips on frankenslotting earlier. I couldn't remember what buffs you get from certain levels of IO sets (like a dual effect 25) but based on your post I really need to look at it more in Mids. I'm trying to not overthink or min/max the build while leveling. Don't want to spend a ton of inf. But also don't want to need the build too bad.

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  • 1 month later

Some tips I actually just posted in a controller thread:

 

Twilight Grasp- single target aoe heal centered on you, packs a hidden -50% regen debuff as well as a -5% tohit debuff and a -10% damage debuff. If you ever play with a Dark Miasma character and they have Twilgiht Grasp on autofire it's not for the heal. You should have more slots in yours, accuracy plus some recharge and maybe a little end reduction.

 

Tar Patch - GTAOE damage resistance field, -30%. You have 3 slots probably for recharge, which is great, but while leveling I might make do with just 2 to free one up for Twilight Grasp - but see my slot tips after this.

 

Darkest Night - if you can't control the foe, surround them in darkness so they can't hit you. -15% tohit and -30% damage. I soloed the Skull elite boss Veles on a Dark/Dark controller because I put this anchor on him and he stopped doing damage to me and then I chipped away at him. (Also I confused his minion and she shot him the face but it was mostly me.) This is worth at least 2 slotting with end reduction while leveling and then enhancing with some tohitdebuff at higher levels. It really is like dropping a wet blanket onto your foe.

 

Howling Twilight - this is an area effect autohitting mag 2 stun and mag 3 fear which also applies a -500% regen debuff, making it on a par with Radiation's Lingering Radiation except it's autohit. Both powers also have a slow and -recharge effect. The mez only lasts about 15 seconds but the regen and slow debuffs last just as long as Lingering Rad's, though the recharge is twice as long. Extra bonus: Howling Twilight also does a full life resurrection on your team! Using it as an opener is a possibility though usually Fearsome Stare is used that way since it has a great -tohit debuff and it's close to spammable. If you're REALLY aggressive consider putting a damage proc in it.

 

Fearsome Stare - really amazing cone AOE fear power which also carries a hefty -tohit penalty. The things that resist the fear and shoot you will likely miss.

 

Petrifying Gaze used to have stats that made controllers envy so when their AoE holds got nerfed, it got nerfed even harder.

 

Note that there has been a change with Snipes. If you get enough tohit buff they become instant, so Aim + Blazing Bolt might be triggering that. Dark Servant also benefits from Leadership so it might be worth taking assault and tactics a little earlier.

 

I specced out a sample build for you using most of the same choices you had and just inserting my suggestions. I did this with SOs. Here is the thing, it is really awkward really to do an SO build for me anymore. Look at a bread and butter move like Fire Blast. Six slots: 1 acc, 3 dmg, 1 recharge, 1 end redux. Classic attack slotting. Now, suppose you get a level 25 Ruin: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge and a level 25 Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge. Those 2 IOs add up to 32% Accuracy AND Damage AND Recharge. You literally just crammed 3 SOs worth of enhancement into 2 slots worth.  If you finish by adding 2 generic damages and an end reduction you still 6 slotted it in 5 slots and now you have a slot that can go somewhere else.

 

That's what I actually do all throughout most of my builds. Sometimes I do stay with generics - like for Darkest Night I would probably just put 2 end reducers in while leveling. But Fearsome Stare instead of putting 1 acc and 1 recharge and 1 fear or tohit, I'd go after 2 mismatched Acc/Fear/Recharge and 1 tohit debuff/endurance piece ... that would end up with me getting 32% accuracy, 32% recharge, 32% fear, 20% endurance reduction and 12% tohit debuff (remember THAT one is on the scale where an SO is 20% not 33%). That's like 4 1/2 worth of SOs in 3 slots. 

 

Finally the jetpack is sold by the pay to win vendor and you can buy multiple half hour charges of it at once and really bank some time. It's in the temp powers tab.

 

Sample Villain Plan that stops at 38 by Eri, via Pine's/Mids' Villain Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 38 Magic Corruptor

Primary Power Set: Fire Blast

Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Teleportation

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(3), Dmg(13), RechRdx(29), EndRdx(34)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc(A), RechRdx(5), EndRdx(11)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(5)

Level 4: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(15), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(31)

Level 6: Rain of Fire -- Acc(A), Dmg(9), Dmg(9), Dmg(13), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(31)

Level 8: Super Speed -- EndRdx(A)

Level 10: Darkest Night -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(11)

Level 12: Recall Friend -- IntRdx(A)

Level 14: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(15)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(17), DefBuff(17), DefBuff(23)

Level 18: Aim -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19)

Level 20: Blaze -- Acc(A), Dmg(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(31)

Level 22: Fearsome Stare -- Acc(A), RechRdx(23), ToHitDeb(36)

Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(25)

Level 26: Blazing Bolt -- Acc(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(27), Dmg(33), RechRdx(34), EndRdx(34)

Level 28: Assault -- Empty(A)

Level 30: Burnout -- RechRdx(A)

Level 32: Inferno -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(37)

Level 35: Power Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(37), RechRdx(37)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- Acc(A)

Level 41: [Empty]

Level 44: [Empty]

Level 47: [Empty]

Level 49: [Empty]

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

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: Scourge

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)

------------

 

 

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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@Erydanus I'm really enjoying this build - any change of fleshing it out to 50?

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