Fire/MA: the Brunker, and compilation of Fire Armor builds.

[Sovera]

Some things have changed with the patches. On the whole Fire Armor is still an offfense based armor and it is now more durable. But despite Burn having been tweaked to be (mostly) back on par with the bugged version it is (mostly) not worth using in a ST situation. This may require testing on a per case basis.

 

 

 

Previously known as Fire/Claws: the Brunker. Alas Claws, I knew thee well, but your time on the throne has ended.

 

What is the idea behind a Brunker?

 

Spoiler

My characters aim for the goal of just 'surviving enough'. Lets say I have a budget of 100 points to spend. I put 80 points in defense and 20 in offense. But if a fight only needs 50 points to be survivable then anything extra in that budget spent in survival goes to waste. I could have used those extra points in damage.

 

Damage is important. I like to hit things and them keeling over. It speeds things up if we happen to be soloing or split from the party even if not more than be in one corner of the room whittling a boss while the team is on the other corner. Even a Defender is recommended to take their attacks and slot them, and use them, to help speed things up and a Tanker is no different. There is also the indirect function of helping to survive if we kill faster.

 

I find that most of the game works on that 50 points approach. Some parts do not, but they are not widespread. An Imperious TF can easily kill a Fire Armor (and Radiation Armor, and, in fact, many Tankers if they don't have defense debuff protection. Yes, even resistance based tanks die if their defense is debuffed enough (every enemy has minimum 50% chance of hitting us. As our defense is debuffed this increases and from 50% - half the attacks missing - they suddenly hit with every attack. Not even 90% resistance to damage helps with this)).

 

It is not uncommon to see Tanker players preferring to to aim towards total and complete immunity to damage. 80 points in defense? Heck, lets go for 90! The team can kill, our task is to survive and take agro.

 

This is fine. It's a valid approach. It's just not mine.

 

With a '50 point' approach I've taken my Fire Armor characters solo through the ITF, no deaths, no inspirations, enemies buffed, +4x8 (I did die at the last boss when I got stunned and one shot but that was player error). And while that is not the hardest possible content it still is damn hard content, on a squishy Fire Armor, who on top of it is aiming to maximize damage instead of going full defense.

 

So the approach works.

 

 

While I had my toughest tank in the Rad Armor/MA that I posted previously the damage was never exciting (plus the use of lightning was not very thematic). @Camel's funny guide revitalized my interest in Fire Armor and I went back to poke at it some more.

 

I had been in a rut looking for a damage character to sink my teeth into but something never quite clicked as the moment I went into anything a bit more extreme the squishyness was felt. Sure, Council is never a problem but there is more to CoH than Council.

 

Now I am pleased I can tank *and* have a nice damage dealing character with how this turned out.

 

 

I am going to divide this multiple parts because after testing pretty much all possible combinations three have come out on top:

 

Fire/Ice Melee: the all rounder.

- Pros: This has become my favorite and my recommendation for a new player. Unlike the Martial Arts variant it works at near full potential right out of the box. The damage is good and the build has a very nice power progression. We get a good AoE at level 4 that usually makes me crank up spawn size to 4-5 that instant, we get Build-Up at level 16, then Burn at 18, then the ultimate protection skill at 20 in Ice Patch. At 26 we get our second Build-Up in Fiery Embrace, and at 28 we get the heavy hitting Freezing Touch. Everything afterwards is just padding. It is common to just destroy whole groups of enemies with Build-up + Frost + Burn leaving only nearly dead lieutenants and an half HP boss.

The best part is that in the very early levels before our defenses are consolidated we can start a fight by dropping Ice Patch and just watch the enemies come running and start flopping. This makes us and our team safe. By level 30+ Ice Patch is no longer required but depending on the enemy and if it does nasty debuffs (I.E. Circle of Thorns) then dropping it in the middle of a spawn will add a nice fat layer of extra security.

Lets face it, 90% of the game is pretty easy and does not require more than the baseline Tanker sturdyness. But when things get dire then Ice Patch can be whipped out and turn certain loss into wins.

- Downsides: no Force Feedback anywhere to accelerate the build. The single target is not amazing either since it relies on using Frost for the single target duration. That said the testing of the damage is done on a neutral target that has the same resistance to all types of damage. In the 'real world' both Claws and Martial Arts do a type of damage (Slash and Smash respectively) that is commonly resisted, sometimes heavily so. This is not the case of Ice who is a much more exotic type of damage. That means ultimately we may not notice this damage difference since Claws/Martial Arts may be pushing through 20% or more damage resistance the moment they fight robots or such.

Ice Patch is not a magic bullet for survival either. Enemies will flop but not all and not all the time so they will still attack. This is compounded by Freezing Touch applying a -1000% KB effect that effectively prevents Ice Patch from working (very annoying against Paragon Protectors we are trying to prevent from triggering their Moment of glory).

Attributing my subjective opinion I would say Ice Patch adds something like an extra 30% survivability but in no way makes a character invulnerable. What makes a character 'invulnerable' is a combination of defensive layers and killing fast which is something this build achieves.

 

 

Fire/Martial Arts: the Turtle.

- Pros: It ends with 45% defense to Melee/Ranged/AoE. This makes it pretty defensive since it will deflect debuffing attacks, even Psi which is a weakness of Fire Armor. The damage from Dragon Tail is anemic but it animates fast and the Force Feedback forces more recharge which pumps more Burns, more Focus Chi, more Healing Flames, more Consumes. Substituting Crippling Axe Kick for Cobra Strike is a minor damage loss and in return the build has a complete AoE and single target chain before level 20. This is the defensive version difficult to beat.

- Downside: it lacks an early Build-Up (Focus Chi) which prevents it from punching through early level BS such as -defense or -ToHit debuffing, but level 28 isn't that far. It also lacks an early AoE only obtaining one at level 18 and then 20. If soloing this means there is no point in increasing spawn size since they all need to be taken down one by one anyway.

The build is a gimmicky carefully built castle of cards. That means that for the end-game it may well be the best of all three not lagging behind in the damage in the slightest but also the strongest defensively. But it means it wants a lot of slots and thus it will bloom late (but still exemplar extremely well, it just needs those slots in place). With its strongest point being capped defense it asks at least level 45 to get this, or 39 (if exemplared) for 40% defense. This isn't as bad as all that since the baseline is still a Tanker but someone leveling it for the first time may not understand the enthusiasm.

 

 

Fire/Claws: the Dragon.

- Pros: This is a nice no brainer build. Spin is obtained at level 16 and due to some wacky maths it does twice the damage of any other AoE from other attack sets. Even those obtained at level 35-38 (slight hyperbole but not by far. Atom Smasher, for example, does 233 in one of my builds and Frozen Aura 195. In this build Spin does 341. Not quite double, uh? But wait, because of Follow-Up the build is near permanently under a 70% damage boost. So that's 430). Spin is just that good.

It also has a very solid and fast single target rotation and two places for Force Feedback slots to speed up the build. Follow-Up ensures we go around with at least two stacks of it boosting near permanently the damage of everything by 70%. Considering Build-Up increases damage by 80% for only 10 seconds and then has a recharge of 30 seconds then it is easy to see why Follow-Up is so well received. This is the offense oriented build.

- Cons: it lacks a punch-through-BS button. Follow-Up is great since we commonly run around with 70% damage boost but what's better than 70%? 160% damage. Normal Build-Ups can trigger the Gaussian proc and (nearly) ensure it goes off whenever used. When fighting problematic enemies it's best to drop a 160% damage empowered Burn and start slapping the debuffing enemies fast before they crumble our defense. Follow-Up also suffers from having to hit an enemy to provide the buff which can go wrong if we are being debuffed already.

 

 

The Fire/Martial Arts build is in this post. The Fire/Claws is here. The Fire/Ice is here.

 

 

 

Martial Arts boasts of Storm Kick giving 10% to all defense for 13 seconds. Even very early in the leveling career we can have as much as 25% defense. Martial Arts also has two places to slot Force Feedback +recharge procs turning the build into something turbo charged straight out of a random Fast and Furious movie. One of them in Dragon Tail which helps as low as Positron part one. Dragon Tail also provides valuable soft CC by applying a reliable knockdown. Time spent falling on their back and getting back up is time not spent hitting back. Then it merges with Fire Armor's Burn - also available as low as Positron part one - that works for both single target damage as well as AoE, plus the offensive bent of a damage aura and Fiery Embrace.

 

 

Upsides:

- DAMAGE!  Leveling with the character is pure carnage and I felt *very* powerful during the whole trip. Burn followed by Dragon Tail not just hurts enemies but puts them on their back nullifying the alpha and all with a nice wide AoE radius. Later on Fiery Embrace increases this even more where even Martial Arts being smashing damage shows the improvement with chunks taken off bosses with every hit.

- Very good exemplaring. Storm Kick + Dragon Tail + Burn is available straight from Positron part 1 with only Crippling Axe Kick needing to be replaced for Thunder Kick until level 30 (if exemplared). Or simply replace Crippling Axe Kick for Cobra Strike for a pretty minor damage dip. CAK is still better is wanting to hit pylons since it has a -res proc that can be slotted in.

- Pretty damn sturdy with 90% resists (with ATO stacks + Barrier) and 45% to Melee, Ranged and AoE, and 50% to melee (with Barrier).

- The slotting is a bit more exotic than my norm. The upside of the exotic slotting was that I realized I was so close to S/L cap that Tough was almost not needed. A bit of juggling and it turned out to not be needed at all. This makes one less toggle which is always nice. Tough still needs to be taken to reach Weave but it's merely a mule.

 

Spoiler

All this talk of stacks and Barrier can make it seem more time consuming or complicated than it actually is.

 

The game can be easily separated into two modes: easy mode, and hard mode. Easy mode is 90% of the game without debuffs and the problematic factions. For that mode you don't need to be ultra buffed to the gills and popping Barrier on CD. For harder content we have things like the ITF where even resistance based sets can be debuffed to a point they take a ton of damage (at base every enemy has 50% of hitting. But once we are debuffed that chance increases to 80-95% chance of hitting. At that point blocking 90% of the damage is not enough since we are taking twice the damage we usually do). That is when we use all the buffs at our disposal. Enter Barrier.

 

At base Barrier is a great panic button and team wide protection for the hard moments (my often repeated example of the ambush at the top of the hill in the ITF's first mission), but it also adds 5% defense and 5% resist to the build (Barrier's buff starts very high and then diminishes to just 5%. It lasts for two minutes and recharges in two minutes thus it is permanent). During easy mode play you don't need to be 45% defense and 90% resistances since, well, it is easy mode, and thus aren't going to bother using Barrier (unless noticing your squishies are suicidal, then you try to encompass them in it like a dotting momma tank). During hard mode softcap defense and hardcapping resistance is when you will want it.

 

The Tanker +res proc gives 6.7% and stacks three times. Between misses and procs-per-minute mechanic three stacks is best not be relied upon but two stacks is fine to assume as permanent once the fight has started.

 

 

Barrier = 5% to defense and resistance, so 45% to Melee/Ranged/AoE, and looking at the build numbers (with one stack of the +res proc) Smash and Lethal resistance is at 78.95%. You're happily slapping things around and collecting a second stack makes it now 85.65%. This is perfectly fine for most of the game, but hey, the going suddenly gets tough and you pop Barrier and now have 90%. As you can see this is still a little bit too much since Scaling Resists slotted in Hover would add another 1% at 90% HP but lets not nitpick. Energy and Negative resistance is at 77.54% and with the above math ends 89.24%. Scaling resists will cap it.

 

Is it worth it just for 5%? Yes, because the large initial buffer helps tremendously if we are defense debuffed. It is a panic button and should be treated as much. Also, it is a team wide protection and I can keep my squishies safe by using it if I see their HP lowering.

 

Downsides:

- Definitely squishier than my Rad/MA. The build works very well against simple opponents as @Camel mentions in his guide. It is not difficult to survive grabbing agro saturation in the monster hunt during Hami raids. But once debuffs start being used things can go sour very fast. 

- Dragon Tail plays horribly with the Clockwork's weakness to KB gimmick. Save yourself angst and use an unslotter to substitute one IO of your choice from Dragon Tail for a Sudden Acceleration while going through that TF during leveling or if deciding to put yourself through it again once at max level.

- The downside of the exotic slotting has Hasten suffering a bit and at a hefty 144 seconds but the FF procs are going to help narrow that gap.

 

It is important to notice that the build HAS sapper protection. It is actually a rather good sapping protection (98% endurance drain resistance) but we need to be pre-emptive about it. Basically it is Consume. Using it gives a two minute buff and since Consume recharges in one minute this is easily a perma effect. But, it needs to be used pre-emptively. If you're doing sapping content (a friend of mine made an AE arc purpose made to slap me, and it worked really well with sapping enemies) use Consume either on cooldown or keeping an eye on the buff. But this does not protect against -recovery debuffs! Standing by a Super Stunner when it resurrects will still smack your recovery down. But at least a Sapper will not take a huge gulp of of your blue bar leading to catastrophic detoggling.

 

 

 

 But the leveling, how is the leveling?

 

Spoiler

Fantastic.

 

Powerleveled myself to 22 before started as is my usual. I went to solo Posi 1 at +0x6 as is my usual as well and immediately noticed that the enemies were simply not hurting me. 25% defense to Melee/ Ranged/AoE (with amplifiers bought at level 1) explained that partly, but the real reason was how great the pairing is.

 

Run into the pack of enemies, Storm Kick to get the defense and resistance from the Tanker proc, drop Burn, drop Dragon's Tail. Burn starts killing mobs and Dragon Tail activates the recharge proc quite reliable so I can do it again, FASTER, and puts everyone on their butts. I was surveying my recharge and it was being constantly boosted even as low as Posi 1!

 

The KD from Dragon's Tail was -very- felt with the time spent falling and getting up buying precious seconds. Crane Kick helped bumping the recharge and added more soft CC with more KDs.

 

By mission 2 I had cranked the difficulty to x8 (Vhaz hurt, so I never do this as a rule and stick to +0x6 for all of Posi 1 and 2) and was mowing through enemies.

 

Best part? I wasn't even using inspirations where I usually eat purples to survive Posi 1 and 2 since Vhaz hurt and not enough slots yet, etc. The added recharge sped up all my important CDs so I barely needed Recovery Serum and could see just a few slots more in it would have been enough to have it back up before my endurance ran out.

 

The damage? Stupendous. Burn cranks it up, but MA by itself is no slouch and even barely slotted the recharge gaps were minimum.

 

I ended up having to use some inspirations at the usual places (too many ghosts debuffing accuracy making me run and eat greens. Some Luminous and CoT mages debuffing defense into the negatives) but considering I had bumped it to x8? Superb handling. Also, a very rare no deaths Posi 1.

 

MA not having Build-up early made me a bit eeh and how it would slow things down, but no, not really. To give an idea this is what I was slotted with as I brag about the damage:

 

 

 

 

 

When I reach a pack of mobs I will usually open with Storm Kick (defense, resistance from the Tanker IO), Build-Up, Burn, (DAMAGE!), then Dragon Tail (Force Feedback proc acceleration and soft CC). Because of the slotting this order means Dragon Tail will always be ready at the same time as Burn. It is thus easy to align both allowing Burn to go first so it enjoys the FF proc. Then Cobra Strike (big damage all procced out as it is further enhanced by Builds-Up and the Gaussian proc (Gaussian lasts 5 seconds, so 2.3 seconds from Burn + 1.7 seconds Dragon Tail = 4 seconds)) followed by another Storm Kick (keep dem Tanker +resistance procs rolling and defense up). By now Burn is available once more and everything can start over.

 

In single target I try to go with Storm Kick, Cobra Strike, Storm Kick, Crane Kick. Loop over. Burn whenever it is up. As the hardest hitter skill of the build it takes precedence.

 

Do not try to hoard Build up and Fiery Embrace. I would not use both at the same time though. Build-up + Burn will already kill minions and using Fiery Embrace at the same time would only double kill them. I would rather stagger the use of both but use them all the time. Fire Armor primes for being an offensive armor set and it is something to lean on. BU + Burn, keep fighting, Burn is up again? Now use it with FE. The Force Feedback procs ensure they come back often.

 

 

The build with Cobra Strike instead of Crippling Axe Kick. The changes are minor (Cobra Strike 327 damage VS Crippling Axe Kick 352), but the upside is that the build has all the AoE and ST by level 20! A friend wants to do Positron part one? Go in there like a champ with your full AoE and ST kit fully slotted, no greyed out attacks. Not many builds can boast of this. If wanting to play with pylon times take Crippling Axe Kick instead and replace one of the damage procs in it and Burn for a -res proc, but I have explained below why I stopped using -res procs, and that was the reason to take CAK so there is no particular reason to wait until 38 to have a full kit. Everything else after level 20 is just to add more damage or sturdiness.

 

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(5), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Thunder Kick -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(9), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Mk'Bit-Dam%(11)
Level 2: Storm Kick -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(13), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), TchofDth-Dam%(15), GldStr-%Dam(17)
Level 4: Cobra Strike -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(19), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Hct-Acc/Rchg(21), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(23), TchofDth-Dam%(23)
Level 6: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25)
Level 8: Fire Shield -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(25), Ags-Psi/Status(27), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Ags-ResDam(29)
Level 10: Healing Flames -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(29), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(31), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), NmnCnv-Heal(31), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(33)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(33), StdPrt-ResKB(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(34)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 16: Crane Kick -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), TchofDth-Dam%(37), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(37), FrcFdb-Rechg%(37)
Level 18: Burn -- Arm-Acc/Rchg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Dam%(39), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(39), Erd-%Dam(40), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 20: Dragon's Tail -- ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(A), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ScrDrv-Dam%(42), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(42), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), FrcFdb-Rechg%(43)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(43), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(43), SynSck-Dam/Rech(45), SynSck-EndMod(45), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(45)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 28: Focus Chi -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(46), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(46), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(47), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(47), GssSynFr--Build%(47)
Level 30: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 44: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(48), Rct-Def/EndRdx(48), Rct-ResDam%(48)
Level 49: Temperature Protection -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(17)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(19)
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 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment
Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
Level 22: Afterburner
------------

 

 Incarnate priority:

 

Spoiler

Newbie tips:

Spoiler

Guide here.

 

By vet level 2 or 3 you should have enough materials to create your first slot of Alpha. This will allow you to do the Tin Mage and Apex TFs. They are very short (usually 15 minutes each) and it is something you should aim at doing every day for the incarnate materials. While leveling gives lots of incarnate materials doing Tinpex is a good way to get them as well. As a plus each one gives 40(!) merits so that's 80 merits thus roughly 16 million if turning them into Converters and selling those.

 

- Alpha to Musculature Total Radial Revamp first. The -1 level to all enemies is very powerful both in offense and defense. For this build the little bit of endurance boost combined with Accolades makes the endurance consumption very manageable. This is not a hard need since we can go left side and spam Recovery Serums, but it is my choice since the damage difference between both is even smaller than the tooltip indicates.

- Destiny to Barrier Core Epiphany immediately after. Fire Armor is squishy and Barrier is not just a good panic button but also a sure way to keep squishies safe. Don't think of Barrier just as something for you but as a team wide buff.

- Hybrid to Assault Core Embodiment for the extra damage.

- Interface to Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface. Best middle ground Interface.

- Alpha to Musculature Radial Paragon to finish upgrading it. The increase is minimal so the others took precedence.

- Judgement. Pretty subjective. They all do the close to the same damage but some is resisted more, some less, some are cones and some are PbAoEs. I will not make an exhaustive description of it only the three 'best' choices:

1 - Ionic both spreads out more and hits more targets. Very easy to hit everything in a room which is great both to pull and do damage. it is the most popular choice for a good reason and it is hard to argue against using it.

2 - Pyronic is very fast to animate and thematic. 40y radius gives it a good reach to hit most things but not close to the extent of Ion who will chase targets across a map if need be.

3 - Void. A nice PbAoE for melee which is where we are working. The debuff options offers a hefty 50% damage debuff for an equally hefty 30 seconds. It is nearly a second Barrier in terms of defensiveness and a good middle ground. I don't give this a higher rating because I use Judgement as nukes and once having used a nuke most things are half dead already. It would take facing a lot of really tough enemies who would survive the initial nuke for this to REALLY shine. Imagine the cyst mission or the ambush in the ITF's first mission. These situations are so niche compared to the normal gameplay that simply nuking things works.

- Lore. Dead last. IMO one of the least useful despite how powerful it is to defeat AVs. Because I only bring them out to defeat AVs the obvious answer is the Longbow Radial thanks to the -500% regen. To be honest I rarely see people bring theirs out other than AVs as well, but if doing so than Banished Pantheon are a good choice as well. Going with theme will not hurt you at all though, this is just the min max version.

 

Lore pets can be guided with commands. This is important in two ways:

1 - Force the pets away from melee range so it does not get splattered: /macro Move petcom_all goto passive

2- Force the pets to hit the target that we want and not some random mook: /macro Attack petcom_all Attack Defensive

 

 

 

Leveling build with tips:

 

Spoiler

For the really new players my signature has a ton of information. Those with zero influence may check it as well for money making. I did a zero influence leveling run of Fire/Claws and documented it here.

 

- Do level with a bunch of Recovery Serums from the P2W vendor since they are super cheap and it is better to save inspirations for things that will help survival. While there and while level 1 purchase eight Amplifiers of each. They cost 1k and will make you a demi-god while they last. It becomes extremely expensive as we go higher in level (something like 1.6 million EACH by level 40) so level 1 is the moment to do it.

 

- The reason I take Fly so late is because it is smarter to spend 5k and buy a jetpack from the P2W vendor and use it until level 22. The jetpack is no longer as fast as regular Fly since Fly comes with Afterburner, but I would still use this approach. Change things around according to personal desire. A 'Jump Pack' is no longer as useful as it used to be, but it should also be obtained since it is free and worth using since it makes Hover as fast as Fly which is useful during combat and to go from one pack of mobs to the next. Once having obtained Evasive maneuvers this is not really required.

 

Spoiler

Hover

 

Hover + one of jump packs

 

Fly + Evasive Maneuvers

 

Fly + Evasive Maneuvers + one of the jump packs

 

Fly + Evasive Maneuvers + Afterburner

 

Fly + Evasive Maneuvers + one of the jump packs.

 

Information obtained from Booper's guide.

 

 

By level 22 things ought to look something like this:

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 49 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- GntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), GntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), GntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), GntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), GntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Thunder Kick -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A)
Level 2: Storm Kick -- MghoftheT-Rchg/Res%(A), MghoftheT-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), MghoftheT-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), MghoftheT-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 4: Hover -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 6: Fire Shield -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 8: Healing Flames -- NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(A)
Level 10: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(11), SynSck-EndMod(11)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 16: Crane Kick -- OvrFrc-Dam/KB(A), FrcFdb-Rechg%(17)
Level 18: Burn -- Erd-%Dam(A), Empty(19), Empty(19), Empty(21), Empty(21)
Level 20: Dragon's Tail -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A)
Level 22: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [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: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
------------

 

This is not gospel though but it's an outline of things. I suggest finishing slotting Burn immediately as Burn will carry the build hard. I do not have Burn slotted in the example build because Mids does not have the prestige IOs from the P2W vendor available, but before level 27 it is fine to level with those. They lose the procs at level 21 but the raw stats are decent and we can overwrite them at 27 with five Obliteration and the Eradication damage proc. Dragon Tail next as all the leveling involves killing lots of enemies. In the low levels we are starved for recharge and the Force Feedback in it will be a boon in the next levels. Work on Crane Kick next. Gladiator's +3% defense can stay in Fire Shield until Tough unlocks and then be moved there.

 

Since Mako's Bite can only be slotted at 27 it is fine to just drop four Kinetic Combat into Thunder Kick during leveling, then switch them out later with Unslotters bought from the auction house.

 

 

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- GntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), GntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), GntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), GntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), GntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(48)
Level 1: Thunder Kick -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(43), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Mk'Bit-Dam%(50)
Level 2: Storm Kick -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(11), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), TchofDth-Dam%(15), GldStr-%Dam(15)
Level 4: Cobra Strike -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(29), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), TchofDth-Dam%(46)
Level 6: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(11), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(47)
Level 8: Healing Flames -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(17), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(17), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), NmnCnv-Heal(19), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(21)
Level 10: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(21), Rct-ResDam%(23)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-Psi/Status(23), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(25), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(27), Ags-ResDam(43)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 16: Crane Kick -- MghoftheT-Rchg/Res%(A), MghoftheT-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), MghoftheT-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), MghoftheT-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(34)
Level 18: Burn -- ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(A), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(34), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-%Dam(36), Erd-%Dam(37)
Level 20: Dragon's Tail -- ScrDrv-Dam%(A), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(37), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(37), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(39), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), FrcFdb-Rechg%(39)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech(45), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(45), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(31), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(31), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(31)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 28: Focus Chi -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(40), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--Build%(43)
Level 30: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 38: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(47), Rct-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 41: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 44: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 49: Temperature Protection -- StdPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(9)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(9)
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 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment
Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
Level 22: Afterburner
------------

This how I slotted as I leveled. The slot levels are not gospel since they are re-ordered by Mids. Just think about what you need. Trouble with endurance? Finish slotting your attacks since the set's IOs have endurance reduction baked in. Finishing to slot Consume will also work. Getting hurt? Focus on finishing to slot your shields. It's not complicated but it varies between playstyles so choose what you wish to focus on. I personally lived off Recovery Serums and medium purple inspirations and slotted all my ST and AoE attacks first. Remember Burn has absolute precedence over all else. Dragon Tail after.

 

While leveling have a Blessing of the Zephir KB reduction in Fly. Once picking Temperature Protection put in the Steadfast Knockback protection and swap the Blessing from Fy for the Winter's Gift.

 

At max level the 77% to resists become 85% with a second ATO proc in Crane Kick and then 5% from Barrier (or a third (unreliable) ATO proc) puts resistances at 90%, though I expect by the time of having Barrier the swap to the expensive build has been made.

 

 

As a rule damage procs can wait until later since raw stats will be all around useful (making sure we hit, less endurance costs, etc) so it's valid to replace a damage proc for an acc-damage-endurance-recharge Gladiator's Strike quadruple while leveling, but not really necessary.

 

This is just to begin with. Depending if you level slow or fast either max slot Thunder Kick so there is a point in using that weak ass attack, or if leveling fast then leave it for last and focus on rounding all the things with an emphasis on Crippling Axe Kick once obtained. Fiery Embrace is a TON of damage so immediately slot it same as Hasten. When all of that is done start slotting Plasma Shield and Fire Shield. This should happen by level 30-40 or so. Until then survive on inspirations. Between missions type /ah and buy medium inspirations (even spending 5k for a medium purple should not be overthought when just doing Positron part one is worth three million in merits). If seeing you are in trouble immediately gobble a couple of them. If seeing a certain type of enemies gives you trouble (Vhaz?) pre-emptively use one before starting the fight. Do not get attached to inspirations, do not try to hoard. They are extremely cheap to purchase and should be used.

 

Which segues into my last tip. It is always useful to have emergency inspirations. I personally have a row of greens, two rows of purples, and then in the last row I keep two blues, one orange, and one break free. What I do is keep one row free so as I kill enemies they keep dropping random inspirations and I keep on eating them. This is a very useful thing to do as we enter combat with a myriad of different buffs. Do keep the emergency inspirations for, well, emergencies, but keep a row just for random gummy bears.

 

One row free to eat the random insp drops multiplies the power of any build that is soloing at x8 since, paradoxically, the more mobs we are facing the more inspirations drop and the stronger we get (pseudo Brute like), so it is normal to go around with 1-3 reds, multiple yellows, purples, etc, to the point emergency inspirations are not even needed.

 

From one pack of mobs:

 

 

 

/bind F1 inspexecname resurgence$$inspexecname dramatic_improvement$$inspexecname respite will eat a green anywhere it might be.

/bind F2 inspexec_slot 2 will use the second row which is the one I use for random inspirations.

 

 

 

Something I tested around page 4 or 5 was incarnates and their effect. Not napkin math but actual testing.

 

Spoiler

-The popular Reactive 75% chance for DoT is what helps a bit for regular play. Tested in a farm map it shaved one minute off a no Interface run. But Reactive had no measurable effect against +4 AVs due to their resistance and purple patch, as well as the low -res numbers reactive brings to the table.

- Degenerative 75% chance for -HP had no measurable effect on the farm map BUT it did once moving to Degenerative 75% chance for DoT. It decreased times in about 30 seconds. Degenerative has a large impact on AVs and so I recommend Degenerative 75% chance for DoT as a middle ground choice. Testing against an AV showed both had the same kill times.

- Since they don't stack if someone else has Degenerative then Reactive is fine, but seeing how Degenerative works for both where Reactive does not the logic of my opinion seems sound.

 

To be honest none of the Interfaces do much. Some are just plain bugged, some do very small numbers, some don't actually do as much as we might have thought like I tested. That one minute off is of seven minutes of constant beating on things. It went down to 6 minutes with Reactive. Six and a half with Degenerative. Where they really do a large impact is fighting against AV/GMs if having Degenerative.

 

 

- I found that the more exotic slotting of Fire/MA made me gasp for blue. Too often I would be idling and waiting the last seconds for Consume to recharge with my blue bar on fumes. I decided thus to change from Musculature 45% damage to Musculature 33% damage. This gives around 0.24 EPS more, plus boosting Consume's endurance and its 15 seconds buff to recovery. With just this small change I am no longer running on fumes. When I tested the damage change there was no particular change and slightly under 3 minute pylon times were still happening. As a bonus just by spamming Consume when up I lasted near five minutes of non stop beating and only conceded when Consume finally missed. We never fight something for five minutes in a row, but regardless Recovery Serums for emergencies are good to have.

- Despite Musculature having a loud 45% damage number in its tooltip it is actually more like 15%, so switching from 45% to 33% wasn't a big deal though I did change the slotting a bit to push the damage back up.

 

 

 

To use -res procs or not?

 

Spoiler

A quick run down on how the -res procs work: the effect is applied by the entity, not the player. Which means once the -res effect is applied it does not matter if it is applied a second time or from a different player because the effect will not stack unless they are from different procs. If two players have the -res slotted one of them has a wasted slot.

 

Is this a big deal? It is not.

 

 

Pylons are the measurement test that builds use. Pylons don't have a purple patch and are, for all effects, our level. This makes -res procs very powerful in these tests. At around page 4 or 5 as well I decided to test them against actual AVs since they resist the effects, plus extra levels above ours make the effect smaller:

 

- On a pylon using two -20% res procs in the build shaved as much as one minute (25% damage boost average) compared to the same build using damage procs. On a +4 AV the effect was dramatically lower at around 5-8% for two -20% res procs.

- Tested on a farm map they did not add any extra speed. Regular mobs die too fast for the -res to be of much use where a damage proc will simply do damage. If the times are about the same between damage procs and -res then is not the same? No, because as mentioned above the effects do not stack if more than one player has them.

- Paradoxically the -res procs work better the low level the enemies are. Without a +3 or +4 level difference getting in the way the -res procs become more powerful. This is paradoxical because the lower level the enemies are the less HP they have and the faster they die... which makes the -res procs less useful.

 

 It has to be considered that if no one in the team has the -res procs slotted then the 5-8% will be multiplied by everyone. At minimum it is another 40% damage that an AV would take.

 

I, personally, decided to drop the -res procs from my build because of the low to no effect on regular enemies and the low effect on AVs, combined with their non stacking nature. AVs usually die in a minute with 8 persons hitting them and that's if Lores are not used as well. A 25% damage boost for everyone would be something else, but 5-8%, nah.

 

In closing this is a lot of verbiage just for the sake of two slots in a whole build. But as the testing showed those two slots have a big impact on pylons. If wishing to use them for a pylon run or to help the team then swap the Eradication proc from Burn to a Fury of the Gladiator, and then do the same for Crippling Axe Kick with Gladiator Strike for an Achilles' Heel -res. The average player will not notice a difference either way.

 

 

+4 AV testing:

 

Spoiler

- Positron was a no go. Between his Overload giving him immunity to damage and his incredible debuffs he is near unkillable without extreme amounts of recharge/debuff protection. I am not sure if his Lingering Radiation has an accuracy check but eventually he would use it, or it would land, and I'd have minutes added to all cooldowns.

 

- BaBs was a slow go. Could have take him but it was so... very... slow... that I gave up. He didn't hurt back.

 

- Sunburst was slow as well and also did defense debuffs but went okay since I had the resistances to back me up, didn't really hurt but it was hard to tell since BaB was still agroed and I was tanking both, but not a problem.

 

- Some Tsoo AV was torn to pieces. Poor guy.

 

- Now the real piece de resistance: Fire Armor is weak against Psi, right? Well, both Praetorian Aurora and Lamashku from the Talos of Vengeance, both dealing psi... and they did not hurt. 45% to range and AoE was enough despite the lack of psi resistances. They got whittled down.

 

- Ghost Widow was a no go for the obvious reasons. Everything would be okay until she used her hold.

 

- Miss Liberty was melting without her buff. I backed away and she remembered about it. Did some -heavy- damage when she buffed up even through 90% resists. Beating her was a bit on the luck side as she whiffed with me well into the yellow and my heal on CD.

 

- Aeon and his army of EBs just immediately debuffed me and killed me.

 

 

All three that killed me are extreme content AVs so I am not feeling bad about it.

 

 

 

Pylon testing:

 

Spoiler

2:55

3:00

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Sovera

[Rathulfr]

I never liked the term "scranker".  It always makes my lips itch.  😬

 

[Sovera]

 This is the original Brunker. Fire Armor/Claws. Exquisite, but ultimately replaced by Martial Arts who further embodies the Brunker concept.

 

 

This is a leveling build I made for a friend that I convinced to play the game with me. It is a *lot* cheaper and still has 40% defenses (45% with Barrier) and the resistances are still capped with two ATO stacks and Barrier's 5%. So it has everything a Tanker needs to tank. There was care in picking up cheap sets a player can slot early as they level up and make money. Some things will always be expensive like the LotGs and the defense uniques but they are goals to be worked at.

 

The trade offs are a worse Hasten and less damage due to no procs in attacks but it will do just fine to burn the content until money is amassed.

 

I include tips for new players:

 

Spoiler

For new new players with zero influence check my signature for money making. I did a zero influence leveling run of this build and documented it here.

 

Do level with a bunch of Recovery Serums from the P2W vendor since they are super cheap and it is better to save inspirations for things that will help survival. Also, the reason I take Fly so late is because we can purchase the Steam Jump and Jump pack from the P2W vendor that makes Hover fly as fast as Fly.  Outdated. While the packs still do as said we can no longer alternate them. Still useful to have for long distance travel or in combat movement, but while leveling it is smarter to spend 5k and buy a jetpack from the P2W vendor and use it until level 22. The jetpack is as fast as regular Fly so there is no reason to rush taking Fly when there are more important powers to be taken first. The Jump Pack is free and worth using even after obtaining Afterburner since it pushes Afterburner to the hardcap max flying speed possible, something impossible without slotting Afterburner (and we have better things to spend slots in).

 

Spoiler

Hover

 

Hover + one of jump packs

 

Fly + Afterburner

 

Fly + Afterburner + one of the jump packs

 

Information obtained from Booper's guide.

 

My advice on what-to-slot-first-and-buy-first by order of priorities:

- Stamina (just the first slot for now).
- Health (same).

- Fly (Just the knockback protection, the 20% slow res can wait).
- Hasten (three recharge slots immediately, always minimum level 25, never lower).
- Follow-up.
- Burn.
- Spin.
- Healing Flames.
- Blazing Aura.
- Slash.
- Swipe.

 

This is just to begin with. After that Immediately focus on Focus (hehe) so that it can replace Swipe. Fiery Embrace is a TON of damage so immediately slot it same as Hasten. When all of that is done start slotting Plasma Shield and Fire Shield. This should happen by level 30-40 or so. Until then survive on inspirations. Between missions use the base macro (/macro_image "DayJob_Teleport" "TP Hub" "enterbasefrompasscode zone-8888") and replenish purples with the Nurse NPC. If seeing you are in trouble immediately gobble a couple of them. If seeing a certain type of enemies gives you trouble (Vhaz?) pre-emptively use one before starting the fight. Do not get attached to inspirations, do not try to hoard. They are extremely cheap to purchase and should be used.

 

 

This is the I-have-no-money-at-all build (incidentally check my signature for money making with merits):

 

Spoiler

The Gladiator +3% defense stays over Fire Shield until Temperature Protection is obtained and then moves to there.

 

 

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Claws
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(A), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mlt-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mlt-Acc/Dmg(5), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5)
Level 1: Swipe -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(7), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(11), UnbGrd-Max HP%(11), UnbGrd-ResDam(13)
Level 4: Slash -- KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(17), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(17), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(19), FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg(19), AchHee-ResDeb%(21)
Level 6: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(21), Prv-Heal/Rchg(23), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(23), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(25), Prv-Absorb%(25)
Level 8: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(9), SynSck-Dam/Rech(27), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(27), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(29), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(29)
Level 10: Hover -- Ksm-ToHit+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(31), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(31)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), StdPrt-ResKB(43)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 16: Spin -- RechRdx-I(A), Erd-%Dam(36), Mlt-Dmg/Rchg(36), Mlt-Acc/Dmg(36), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 18: Burn -- Mlt-Acc/Dmg(A), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mlt-Dmg/Rchg(39), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), RechRdx-I(39), Erd-%Dam(40)
Level 20: Follow Up -- KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(40), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(40), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), MghoftheT-Rchg/Res%(42), FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg(42)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 28: Focus -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(45), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(31), Rct-Def(46)
Level 32: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(48), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(48)
Level 38: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50), LucoftheG-Def(50)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- RctRtc-ToHit(A), EndRdx-I(47), RctRtc-Pcptn(50)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 47: Temperature Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 49: Taunt -- Taunt-I(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(15)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(15)
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 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 22: Afterburner
------------

 

 

 

 

This is the level 50 build with Shockwave. Shockwave has great value in keeping things on their butt with the KD which is invaluable in tough situations:

 

Tanker (Fire Claws Shockwave).mbd

 

 

The alternative build that I am currently using without Shockwave and my reasoning:

 

Spoiler

I found that I was not using Shockwave enough to warrant have it picked up and slotted. While it was my bread and butter on my Scrapper I just have not found use for it partly because Burn wants me close to the ground where Shockwave I used to hover over the ball of clumped enemies in order to have it act as a ghetto PbAoE. This was a long deliberated decision since Shockwave has a very important soft CC component in it that allows to chew more than we should. But since respecs are cheap and it *was*  gathering dust I'm trying this.

 

- Ditched Taunt. The reason I took it proved to be immune to Taunt mechanics and it was a crutch that only worked half the time. I took Vengeance instead to mule a LotG and to be honest I feel Vengeance itself is still more useful than Taunt. Your mileage may vary and so pick Taunt instead if desired.

- Used the now free slots to add things here and there.

- Slightly changed the slotting around based on Bopper's advice. Bit less recharge means bit more chance of procs going off.

 

With absolutely no support endurance goes down, but slowly, and I have found that I still have a quarter of a bar by the time Consume has recharged. This is a delicate balance perturbed by any sort of endurance drain but I have Recovery Serums for those moments. Most of the time endurance is full since someone in the team throws an Ageless (pretty common incarnate due to said recovery but also recharge) or we have someone with an endurance boost. Seriously, endurance is a non worry.

 

 

Single target rotation is Follow-up, Slash, Burn, Focus. Repeat, try to always use Burn after Slash.

 

AoE rotation is Follow-up, Spin, Burn, Follow-up, Focus, Spin. After that Follow, Slash, Focus will then leaves Burn and Spin perfectly aligned to start over. Try to always use Follow-up before AoE-ing.

 

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Claws
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(31)
Level 1: Swipe -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(9), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(11), UnbGrd-ResDam(27), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(29), UnbGrd-Max HP%(29)
Level 4: Slash -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(19), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(21), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), TchofDth-Dam%(23)
Level 6: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(11), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25), Rct-ResDam%(47)
Level 8: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(13), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(13), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(15), Prv-Heal(15), Prv-Absorb%(50)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(31), TtnCtn-ResDam(31), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 14: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(33), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(34), SynSck-Dam/Rech(34), SynSck-EndMod(34), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(36)
Level 16: Spin -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), Erd-%Dam(27), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 18: Burn -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Acc/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Erd-%Dam(40)
Level 20: Follow Up -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(42), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Hct-Dam%(42), GssSynFr--Build%(50)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 28: Focus -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg(45), Apc-Dam%(45), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(33), Rct-Def/EndRdx(43)
Level 32: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Tough -- StdPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 41: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(46), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 47: Super Jump -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 49: Temperature Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(9), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(25), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(17), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(37)
Level 2: Stamina -- SynSck-EndMod/Rech(A), SynSck-EndMod(17), SynSck-Dam/Rech(47)
Level 47: Double Jump
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 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 22: Afterburner
------------

 

 

Quotes:

 

Spoiler

- Someone needed help with an AV they were not denting, 'What the heck, are you using envenomed daggers or do tankers do that much damage??'

- Someone bitching because I was running ahead of a team in a TF and someone else tells them. 'They have Spin and Burn. They *are* the team'.

- Someone saying 'your damage as a tanker is terrifying'.

 

Tested against a pylon:

 

Spoiler

3:07 seconds.

3:13 minutes.

2:47 minutes with Hybrid Assault turned on

 

New times average 3 minutes without Hybrid Assault using the procced out Burn and Slash. Can dip to 2:45 with pylon regen ticks.

 

 Incarnates testing.

 

 Spoiler

  

I've ran some tests on Degenerative VS a pylon and I'll post them so others can make use of them:

 

- Reactive 75% chance of DoT: Pretty much same times as Degenerative VS a pylon or slightly better during the testing. In theory the Degenerative ought to have been better but don't ask me the math why Reactive caught up so handily. Maybe the fast Claw attacks plus damage aura plus Burn and its pseudo pet plus ticks from Burn synergized well with the chance to inflict a DoT? I will be using this for non pylon play since the DoT and the -res would be more useful on lower HP mobs.

 

 My reasoning is that I spend 1% of my time hitting AVs and pylons and while the -res is mostly negated on AVs due to debuff resistance since it's a popular Interface choice someone will be using it anyway. When that happens us using it won't matter since it does not stack between multiple players. At that point the 75% chance for a DoT will do more.

 

I.E. Three players have Degenerative. All three hit the AV. The stacks immediately reach maximum and now the only thing we extract from the Interface is the 25% Minor toxic DoT. Now lets say three players have Reactive. Same scenario in that the stacks build to maximum straight away and stay there. But now we have 75% chance of a Moderate DoT. ... all in all I do so long for a nice clean DPS meter like WoW has since I could check how much % of the total damage the DoT actually does.

 

It's important to notice that on AVs there will be more bang for the buck with Degenerative. The -HP mechanic has no resists anywhere. Anyone hit with it will get a -% of their maximum HP shaved off, which in turn means less regeneration ticks since regeneration is based on maximum HP. On the other hand -resists IS resisted by AV AS WELL as having a portion negated the higher up in level difference we are. Since an AV will be +3 on top of the resist debuff it makes the -res aspect of the Interface near useless.

 

 

- Pre-emptive 75% chance of DoT: simply to test the DoT. Tested against normal mobs and none were in the slightest bothered by the -endurance and -recovery 😄 A good 30 seconds past Degenerative by the time I stopped since the pylon was still up.

 

- Degenerative 75% chance for DoT: Near exact same times as Degenerative 25% chance for DoT. The extra Dot damage seems to have washed out the lesser upkeep of the -HP debuff.

 

 

While I was at this I tested the Hybrid toggles.

 

- Assault Core Embodiment VS Assault Radial Embodiment: +damage chance on each attack VS double hit chance. While it is long forum knowledge that the +damage is better for solo/non-kin-in-the-party and double hit is better when-a-kin-in-the-party in this particular case and for single target damage it was a wash. Same pylon defeat numbers either way. What small difference there was can be chalked to RNG. But when doing AoE each enemy hit has a chance to apply the stacks of +damage and it wins out because of that.

 

 

 

Mah first +4x8 ITF soloed, like a grown-up!

 

Spoiler

What a slog, good god 😄 It was my first time so things to remember for a next time: kill the damn healing nictus first 😛 That's about it. I'm sure the last AV must have taken me over 20 minutes since I used my lore pets three times and I was just whittling it down.

 

- Used my lores (Banished Pantheon) on AVs and on that ambush on the top of the hill. First time I tried I died there with only a handful left on a sliver but no more insps and not having used the lore pets after inadvertently spawning it, so instead of saying 'let me try again and be more careful not to trigger the ambush' I was OH YEAH?! COME AT ME! and spawned it on purpose the second time to then lay mayhem on the sea of space squid. On the last AV the lore pets were mostly useless since they did not hit my target and wasted their time hitting the nictus.

- Did not use envenomed blades.

- Used inspirations here and there, mostly greens, did not bother replenishing via vendor/AH.

- AVs did not hurt. Tanked both AVs after the computer and they did not even dip my HP. Tanked the last AV with all his nictus and not even the auto hit made me use my heal.

- Cheated on the crystals by leaving them all on a sliver and then breaking them all at the same time. I just did not want to deal with the minotaurs and their T9. The ambush themselves would not have been a problem since I was in the habit of picking two packs of romans at a time to speed things up so I doubt the ambush would have done more.

 

 

 

mids_build.mbd

Edited October 30, 2024 by Sovera

[Rathulfr]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

Well, what about brunker? 😄

"Brupper, can you spare a dime?"

 

[Hyperstrike]

I dislike "scranker".
But I AM prone to Tank-Lock.

This is probably how I'd have gone after Fire/Claws.
 

 

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Burner McSlicey: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Claws
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%:50(7)
Level 1: Swipe -- Hct-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(7), Hct-Acc/Rchg:50(9), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx:50(9), Hct-Dam%:50(11)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(11), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(13), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), UnbGrd-Max HP%:50(15)
Level 4: Slash -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(19), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(21), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(21), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(23)
Level 6: Healing Flames -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:40(23), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(25), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(25)
Level 8: Temperature Protection -- GldArm-ResDam:40(A), GldArm-End/Res:40(27), GldArm-3defTpProc:40(27), GldArm-Res/Rech/End:40(29), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(29)
Level 10: Taunt -- PrfZng-Dam%:50(A), PrfZng-Taunt/Rng:50(31)
Level 12: Consume -- EffAdp-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(31)
Level 14: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33)
Level 16: Spin -- FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech:50(A), FuroftheG-Acc/End/Rech:50(33), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(34), Arm-Acc/Rchg:50(34), Arm-Dmg:50(34)
Level 18: Burn -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg:50(36), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(36), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb:50(37)
Level 20: Follow Up -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(39)
Level 22: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A)
Level 24: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(40), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(40), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(42)
Level 28: Focus -- Apc-Dmg:50(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Apc-Acc/Rchg:50(43), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Apc-Dam%:50(43)
Level 30: Weave -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(45), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(45), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45)
Level 32: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def:50(46), Rct-ResDam%:50(46)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(46)
Level 38: Shockwave -- Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Ann-ResDeb%:50(48), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(50), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 41: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def:50(50)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- Prv-Absorb%:30(A)
Level 49: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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:50(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:50(17), Mrc-Rcvry+:40(17)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:50(A), PrfShf-EndMod:50(19)
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------

 

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[Sovera]

Quotes from people I've played with 😄 :

 

- Someone needed help with an AV they were not denting, 'What the heck, are you using envenomed daggers or do tankers do that much damage??'

- Someone bitching because I was running ahead of a team in a TF and someone else tells them. 'They have Spin and Burn. They *are* the team'.

[Camel]

 Thanks for the shout-out! Nice looking build too! I just recently flew to the pacific northwest for the 2020 wildland fire season, picked up a new gaming laptop as I was using my personal desktop when I was in Chicago. So I'm in the process of getting all my files in order. I'll get Mid's Reborn soon and might tweak my Fire/Energy to get to 45% S/L defense instead of 45% Melee defense. Not sure if I need to, as I don't die as it is. But might be an improvement!

 

21 hours ago, Sovera said:

Quotes from people I've played with 😄 :

 

- Someone needed help with an AV they were not denting, 'What the heck, are you using envenomed daggers or do tankers do that much damage??'

- Someone bitching because I was running ahead of a team in a TF and someone else tells them. 'They have Spin and Burn. They *are* the team'.

One of my favorites was when I was forming a PI radio team, I had herded all the monsters on the Cutlass Isles and was just standing there. I didn't have Barrier or Melee Hybrid on and They couldn't dent me. The whole team eventually came to me and they ALL died. There was even a 50+1 Invuln Tank (minimal IOs) he sent me a tell asking me if I had "God mode" on. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, my HP bar never dropped. I once soloed Vandal during a Citadel TF, I popped a bunch of reds, hit BU and Fiery Embrace and I kid you not... My Energy Transfer did AT least 7-10% of his HP bar in one hit. It was weird to see an AV's health bar drop as if it were a boss. When the team finally caught up to me, he was laying at my feet. Someone asked if I had an "insta-kill" button. I said yes, and drug Energy Transfer to the chat window. 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Camel

[Hjarki]

On 6/9/2020 at 9:36 AM, Sovera said:

- Definitely squishier than my Rad/MA. The build works very well against simple opponents as @Camel mentions in his guide. It is not difficult to survive grabbing agro saturation in the monster hunt during Hami raids. But once debuffs start being used things can go sour very fast. In particular sapping since the build has zero protection against such. I managed to get killed in five seconds from a Sapper spawning around my character and in the time of locating it, my bar had been dried. This is not a character I would expect to survive the 801 challenge unlike the Rad/MA.

- Some accuracy is a bit scarce (75% for Slash without FU, 88% for FU without FU) but I decided not to mess with the castle of cards. In any case I've taken to play with Focused Accuracy always on despite it not being slotted for constant use (originally just a mule to reach Physical Perfection, but "#$%& Arachnos and their blinds!). Turns out there is always someone spewing Ageless in a team, or SB, or AM, and it has not been a big problem.

Consume gives you End Resist. You just need to use it before you encounter enemies that End Drain.

 

In terms of the rest, I think you might be making a mistake pursuing S/L Defense. Fiery Aura is a resist/heal-based set, so getting to hard cap is more important than optimizing defenses. S/L Defense also isn't all that important if you've got S/L Resist maxxed.

 

For comparison, my Fiery/MA:

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7

https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Tanker

Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura

Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Concealment

Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Blazing Aura

• (A) Superior Might of the Tanker - Recharge/Chance for +Res(All): Level 50
  
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
  
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (7) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
  

Level 1: Thunder Kick

• (A) Empty
  
  

Level 2: Storm Kick

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (7) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (9) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (9) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
  
• (11) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
  
• (11) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
  
  

Level 4: Fire Shield

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
  
• (13) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
  

Level 6: Healing Flames

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
  
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance: Level 50
  
• (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (17) Numina's Convalesence - Heal: Level 50
  
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
  
  

Level 8: Consume

• (A) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (45) Synapse's Shock - EndMod: Level 50
  
• (46) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Rechage: Level 50
  
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Increased Run Speed: Level 50
  
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (50) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy: Level 50
  
  

Level 10: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
  
• (45) Kismet - Accuracy +6%: Level 30
  
• (46) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
  
  

Level 12: Plasma Shield

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30
  
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
  
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (23) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (46) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection: Level 30
  
  

Level 14: Super Jump

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
  
  

Level 16: Crane Kick

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
  
• (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
  
• (25) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
  
• (25) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (27) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
  
• (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
  
  

Level 18: Burn

• (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
  
• (29) Armageddon - Damage: Level 50
  
• (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (31) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30
  
• (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (31) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
  
  

Level 20: Dragon's Tail

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
  
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
  
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - RechargeTime/+Absorb: Level 50
  
• (33) Obliteration - Damage: Level 50
  
• (34) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50
  
• (34) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
  
  

Level 22: Warrior's Provocation

• (A) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
  
  

Level 24: Kick

• (A) Empty
  
  

Level 26: Tough

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
  
• (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (36) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP: Level 50
  
  

Level 28: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
  
• (36) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All): Level 50
  
• (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage: Level 50
  
• (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense: Level 50
  
  

Level 30: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
  
  

Level 32: Stealth

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
  
  

Level 35: Crippling Axe Kick

• (A) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
  
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50
  
• (39) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (39) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
  
• (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
  

Level 38: Gloom

• (A) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
  
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50
  
• (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (48) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30
  
  

Level 41: Dark Obliteration

• (A) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (42) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50
  
• (43) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50
  
• (43) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
  
• (43) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
  
• (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
  
  

Level 44: Darkest Night

• (A) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50
  
  

Level 47: Invisibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
  
  

Level 49: Temperature Protection

• (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All): Level 50
  
  

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Celerity - +Stealth: Level 50
  
  

Level 2: Health

• (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 50
  
• (13) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50
  
• (42) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40
  
  

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Power Transfer - Chance to Heal Self: Level 50
  
• (50) Power Transfer - EndMod: Level 50
  
• (50) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
  
  

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

 

[Camel]

9 minutes ago, Hjarki said:

Consume gives you End Resist. You just need to use it before you encounter enemies that End Drain.

 

In terms of the rest, I think you might be making a mistake pursuing S/L Defense. Fiery Aura is a resist/heal-based set, so getting to hard cap is more important than optimizing defenses. S/L Defense also isn't all that important if you've got S/L Resist maxxed.

 

For comparison, my Fiery/MA:

  Reveal hidden contents

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7

https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Tanker

Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura

Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Concealment

Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Blazing Aura

• (A) Superior Might of the Tanker - Recharge/Chance for +Res(All): Level 50
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (7) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 1: Thunder Kick

• (A) Empty
   

Level 2: Storm Kick

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (7) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (9) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (9) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (11) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (11) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
   

Level 4: Fire Shield

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (13) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
   

Level 6: Healing Flames

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance: Level 50
• (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (17) Numina's Convalesence - Heal: Level 50
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge: Level 50
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 8: Consume

• (A) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
• (45) Synapse's Shock - EndMod: Level 50
• (46) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Rechage: Level 50
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Increased Run Speed: Level 50
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Recharge: Level 50
• (50) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy: Level 50
   

Level 10: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (45) Kismet - Accuracy +6%: Level 30
• (46) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
   

Level 12: Plasma Shield

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (23) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (46) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection: Level 30
   

Level 14: Super Jump

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
   

Level 16: Crane Kick

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (25) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (25) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (27) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
• (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 18: Burn

• (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
• (29) Armageddon - Damage: Level 50
• (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (31) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30
• (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (31) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
   

Level 20: Dragon's Tail

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - RechargeTime/+Absorb: Level 50
• (33) Obliteration - Damage: Level 50
• (34) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50
• (34) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 22: Warrior's Provocation

• (A) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
   

Level 24: Kick

• (A) Empty
   

Level 26: Tough

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (36) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP: Level 50
   

Level 28: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (36) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All): Level 50
• (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage: Level 50
• (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense: Level 50
   

Level 30: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 32: Stealth

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 35: Crippling Axe Kick

• (A) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50
• (39) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (39) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 38: Gloom

• (A) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (48) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30
   

Level 41: Dark Obliteration

• (A) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50
• (43) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50
• (43) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
• (43) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
   

Level 44: Darkest Night

• (A) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50
   

Level 47: Invisibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 49: Temperature Protection

• (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All): Level 50
   

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Celerity - +Stealth: Level 50
   

Level 2: Health

• (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 50
• (13) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50
• (42) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40
   

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Power Transfer - Chance to Heal Self: Level 50
• (50) Power Transfer - EndMod: Level 50
• (50) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
   

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

 

I disagree. Had I not built for layered defenses, I would not be having as much success as I am. You can get away with not building as much as you have a permanent +10% Def to all from Storm Kick. 90% resistance is laughable in the face of cascading defense failure from +4 enemies. Run an ITF at +4 and try to dust off the damage they do. They might only be hitting you for 13-100ish damage... But it doesn't matter when 16 of those are coming your way per second. 45% defense to either S/L or Melee is absolutely the way to go if you are trying to survive any and all encounters.

 

If I didn't play aggressively, I would get WRECKED on a +4 ITF with minimal support, I am constantly dropping Burns/Whirling Hands as often as I can to thin the herd. I play very aggressively, often jumping and taking myself out of melee range while simultaneously taunting and controlling aggro. You built for a lot of recharge, which is fine. But I built for defense, I rarely have to use my heal, so recharge is a non-issue for me here, especially when I click Healing Flames MAYBE once a week. If I am rusty, I may hit it a few times. But outside of low level TF's it's rarely used. 

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, Hjarki said:

Consume gives you End Resist. You just need to use it before you encounter enemies that End Drain.

 

In terms of the rest, I think you might be making a mistake pursuing S/L Defense. Fiery Aura is a resist/heal-based set, so getting to hard cap is more important than optimizing defenses. S/L Defense also isn't all that important if you've got S/L Resist maxxed.

 

For comparison, my Fiery/MA:

  Reveal hidden contents

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7

https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Tanker

Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura

Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Concealment

Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Blazing Aura

• (A) Superior Might of the Tanker - Recharge/Chance for +Res(All): Level 50
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (3) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (5) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (7) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 1: Thunder Kick

• (A) Empty
   

Level 2: Storm Kick

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (7) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (9) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (9) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (11) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (11) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
   

Level 4: Fire Shield

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (13) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
   

Level 6: Healing Flames

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (15) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance: Level 50
• (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (17) Numina's Convalesence - Heal: Level 50
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge: Level 50
• (19) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 8: Consume

• (A) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
• (45) Synapse's Shock - EndMod: Level 50
• (46) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Rechage: Level 50
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Increased Run Speed: Level 50
• (48) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Recharge: Level 50
• (50) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy: Level 50
   

Level 10: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (45) Kismet - Accuracy +6%: Level 30
• (46) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
   

Level 12: Plasma Shield

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (23) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (46) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection: Level 30
   

Level 14: Super Jump

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50
   

Level 16: Crane Kick

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (25) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (25) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (27) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50
• (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 18: Burn

• (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
• (29) Armageddon - Damage: Level 50
• (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (31) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30
• (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (31) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
   

Level 20: Dragon's Tail

• (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
• (33) Superior Gauntleted Fist - RechargeTime/+Absorb: Level 50
• (33) Obliteration - Damage: Level 50
• (34) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50
• (34) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 22: Warrior's Provocation

• (A) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50
   

Level 24: Kick

• (A) Empty
   

Level 26: Tough

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance: Level 50
• (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (36) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP: Level 50
   

Level 28: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (36) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All): Level 50
• (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage: Level 50
• (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense: Level 50
   

Level 30: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 32: Stealth

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 35: Crippling Axe Kick

• (A) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50
• (39) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (39) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
   

Level 38: Gloom

• (A) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Damage: Level 50
• (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (48) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30
   

Level 41: Dark Obliteration

• (A) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50
• (43) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50
• (43) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
• (43) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
   

Level 44: Darkest Night

• (A) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50
   

Level 47: Invisibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed: Level 50
   

Level 49: Temperature Protection

• (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All): Level 50
   

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Celerity - +Stealth: Level 50
   

Level 2: Health

• (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 50
• (13) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50
• (42) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40
   

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Power Transfer - Chance to Heal Self: Level 50
• (50) Power Transfer - EndMod: Level 50
• (50) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
   

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

 

All but cold, toxic and psi are at 90%. Two stacks of the ATO and Barrier ensure it. I could decide to get hardcapped resistances without accounting for the ATO + Barrier, but then the ATO stacks and Barrier are useless. I prefer not to follow that course and instead use those tools.

 

S/L, for example. With one stack it's at 83.9%. With Barrier it's at 88.9%. With a second ATO stack it's overcapped.

 

Energy and Negative are at 79.3% turn into 84.3% with Barrier, then a second stack (barely) overcaps.

 

Two stacks are much easier to get and maintain than three where PPM and misses thanks to RNG can mess it up.

 

 

2 hours ago, Camel said:

One of my favorites was when I was forming a PI radio team, I had herded all the monsters on the Cutlass Isles and was just standing there. I didn't have Barrier or Melee Hybrid on and They couldn't dent me. The whole team eventually came to me and they ALL died. There was even a 50+1 Invuln Tank (minimal IOs) he sent me a tell asking me if I had "God mode" on. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, my HP bar never dropped. I once soloed Vandal during a Citadel TF, I popped a bunch of reds, hit BU and Fiery Embrace and I kid you not... My Energy Transfer did AT least 7-10% of his HP bar in one hit. It was weird to see an AV's health bar drop as if it were a boss. When the team finally caught up to me, he was laying at my feet. Someone asked if I had an "insta-kill" button. I said yes, and drug Energy Transfer to the chat window. 

 

And then there's the harsh wake-up call like I had 😄 I had been duoing/trioing TFs with friends (this build has been fricking amazing for such) and we decide to do Posi 1.

 

Yeah, that didn't go well.

 

Between the huge toxic hole, losing a ton of protection from set bonuses being gone AND running it at +2x8 (told you I was getting 100% cocky 😄) I got *annihilated* by the CoT with their massive spam of -ACC, -defense, and immobilizes.

 

In any other content it is as you've said it yourself. Go in, Burn, AoE, boom, melting pack and damage is immediately cut. With the astounding amount of -acc from the ghosts plus the bosses' FF bubble plus my friend half AFK I missed missed missed and they survived and spammed CC until they ate me alive.

 

 

That said it's not a stain on the build. I don't think many builds can run such early content with so many toggles and IO bonuses cut off on +2x8 and not suffer from the same. Even so swapping most of my insps for yellows and oranges might have been enough but it was going to be too slow and painful just to drag someone half AFK.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Sovera

[Hjarki]

1 hour ago, Camel said:

I disagree. Had I not built for layered defenses, I would not be having as much success as I am. You can get away with not building as much as you have a permanent +10% Def to all from Storm Kick. 90% resistance is laughable in the face of cascading defense failure from +4 enemies. Run an ITF at +4 and try to dust off the damage they do. They might only be hitting you for 13-100ish damage... But it doesn't matter when 16 of those are coming your way per second. 45% defense to either S/L or Melee is absolutely the way to go if you are trying to survive any and all encounters.

You've got it backwards. Soft-capped S/L/M without DDR is meaningless against defensive debuffs - that's why it's called a 'cascading' failure. The difference between having soft-capped defenses and no defenses at all is meaningless in such situations, so it all comes down to resists/healing/regen/control. Builds which emphasize the latter have a much easier time with defense debuffs than builds which don't.

 

You're also overlooking the fact that Soul Mastery effectively gives me soft-capped defense to everything if I so choose via -hit debuffs and an additional -20% damage. So, yeah, I'm 'dusting off the damage they do'. I very rarely use Darkest Night, I use Obliteration primarily for damage and Storm Kick is generally only used once a spawn is down to single target, but the options are there.

1 hour ago, Camel said:

If I didn't play aggressively, I would get WRECKED on a +4 ITF with minimal support, I am constantly dropping Burns/Whirling Hands as often as I can to thin the herd. I play very aggressively, often jumping and taking myself out of melee range while simultaneously taunting and controlling aggro. You built for a lot of recharge, which is fine. But I built for defense, I rarely have to use my heal, so recharge is a non-issue for me here, especially when I click Healing Flames MAYBE once a week. If I am rusty, I may hit it a few times. But outside of low level TF's it's rarely used. 

I don't actually use the Heal much myself - the constant regen from procs is normally sufficient because I take almost no damage in the first place.

 

What I'm trying to point out is that your 'layering' strategy is relatively inefficient. It definitely won't protect you against defense debuffs and your total mitigation is lower than it could be because you're dividing your attention between various different forms of mitigation rather than taking advantage of unusually strong powers and super-linear scaling.

6 minutes ago, Sovera said:

All but cold, toxic and psi are at 90%. Two stacks of the ATO and Barrier ensure it. I could decide to get hardcapped resistances without accounting for the ATO + Barrier, but then the ATO stacks and Barrier are useless. I prefer not to follow that course and instead use those tools.

Toxic can easily be hard-capped if you've slotted the heal with enough recharge/resist. That's part of the reason I only 5-slot the purple sets - the additional damage procs are always useful, while additional Toxic/Psi is only rarely useful.

 

The issue with the ATO is that while you can easily get two stacks while you're standing in a crowd, you'll probably lose one of those stacks running to the next crowd and consistently getting those stacks against a single hard target (such as AV/GM) isn't reliable. In other words, a dependence on the two stack fails you when you need it the most.

 

In terms of Barrier, I'm having trouble with this argument. Yes, Barrier can give you some resists. But it gives you ridiculous amounts of Defense - far more than you could even hope to get via IOs. If you're activating Barrier, your focus on resists matters a little bit - and your focus on defense matters not at all.

9 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Between the huge toxic hole, losing a ton of protection from set bonuses being gone AND running it at +2x8 (told you I was getting 100% cocky 😄) I got *annihilated* by the CoT with their massive spam of -ACC, -defense, and immobilizes.

As I noted above, the 'toxic hole' isn't actually a hole - you just need to be proactive about it. Between Combat Jumping and Burn, you should be almost completely immune to Immobilize.

 

For Posi 1, I would drop to ~70% resists (which means I'm taking triple the damage I ordinarily would). However, this wasn't a particularly big deal. The big deal was the ghosts. As fliers, they're not subject to the implicit damage reduction from the KD in the PBAoE (which tends to reduce damage by half or more). They also tend to stay at range, meaning that I have to take them out one at a time rather than being able to blast the entire spawn. Since my accuracy is built around 95% hit chance at 50 for +3, scaling back the accuracy slotted into powers can be a big deal at that level - builds with Tactics tend to exemplar a lot better (presuming they manage to take Tactics before that point).

 

However, even with all those disadvantages, it wasn't an issue of getting outright killed but slowly dying and not being able to kill enemies fast enough solo.

[Sovera]

On 6/10/2020 at 9:54 PM, Hjarki said:

You've got it backwards. Soft-capped S/L/M without DDR is meaningless against defensive debuffs - that's why it's called a 'cascading' failure. The difference between having soft-capped defenses and no defenses at all is meaningless in such situations, so it all comes down to resists/healing/regen/control. Builds which emphasize the latter have a much easier time with defense debuffs than builds which don't.

 

You're correct here. Against content that does DD. Not all factions do DD though, so while defense will not help against those (it will will for a few hits at least) every other faction in the book that does not DD will have that extra layer of protection. For the ones who do, well, 90% resists will have to do.

 

On 6/10/2020 at 9:54 PM, Hjarki said:

Toxic can easily be hard-capped if you've slotted the heal with enough recharge/resist. That's part of the reason I only 5-slot the purple sets - the additional damage procs are always useful, while additional Toxic/Psi is only rarely useful.

 

 

I don't find Toxic to be present in enough quantity to matter. Low level content is ran at +1 tops and eight people will demolish it anyway. High level content has Toxic, but not in the barbaric quantities that Vhaz has where every minion will spit it. High level is more... what? Toxic Spiders from the Arachnos faction I think? No, wait, there's the hydra in the Tinpex sewers. There I notice the HP being dented though I use Barrier before entering it so it's mitigated.

 

 

On 6/10/2020 at 9:54 PM, Hjarki said:

The issue with the ATO is that while you can easily get two stacks while you're standing in a crowd, you'll probably lose one of those stacks running to the next crowd and consistently getting those stacks against a single hard target (such as AV/GM) isn't reliable. In other words, a dependence on the two stack fails you when you need it the most.

 

In terms of Barrier, I'm having trouble with this argument. Yes, Barrier can give you some resists. But it gives you ridiculous amounts of Defense - far more than you could even hope to get via IOs. If you're activating Barrier, your focus on resists matters a little bit - and your focus on defense matters not at all.

As I noted above, the 'toxic hole' isn't actually a hole - you just need to be proactive about it. Between Combat Jumping and Burn, you should be almost completely immune to Immobilize.

 

ATO two stacking has not been a problem for me. Or perhaps I just consider it okay. It might be like when I thought throwing the proc in the aura was the bee's knees and it turned out not to be so. But when I glance at my monitor I see the nice blue 90% more often than not. I'll make an honest effort at tracking its uptime and will report on it.

 

As for Barrier what is hard to understand? A metric ton of defense *and* resist (Psi/Toxic/Cold which is what's lacking) makes for a good panic button. It makes a for a *great* pre-emptive team savior where we know hard moments will come (sewers in Tinpex, ambush on top of the hill in ITF), and at minimum it's 5% defense and resists added to reach (soft)cap. I mean, what else? Ageless? It's not like we're starving for recharge or endurance.

 

On 6/10/2020 at 9:54 PM, Hjarki said:

However, even with all those disadvantages, it wasn't an issue of getting outright killed but slowly dying and not being able to kill enemies fast enough solo.

Same thing that I had. Stacking yellows and breakfrees (I mistakenly said oranges back there) would have helped a lot, but my friend was half AFK and I did not feel like pushing the envelope.

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by Sovera

[Camel]

26 minutes ago, Hjarki said:

You've got it backwards. Soft-capped S/L/M without DDR is meaningless against defensive debuffs - that's why it's called a 'cascading' failure. The difference between having soft-capped defenses and no defenses at all is meaningless in such situations, so it all comes down to resists/healing/regen/control. Builds which emphasize the latter have a much easier time with defense debuffs than builds which don't.

 

You're also overlooking the fact that Soul Mastery effectively gives me soft-capped defense to everything if I so choose via -hit debuffs and an additional -20% damage. So, yeah, I'm 'dusting off the damage they do'. I very rarely use Darkest Night, I use Obliteration primarily for damage and Storm Kick is generally only used once a spawn is down to single target, but the options are there.

I don't actually use the Heal much myself - the constant regen from procs is normally sufficient because I take almost no damage in the first place.

 

What I'm trying to point out is that your 'layering' strategy is relatively inefficient. It definitely won't protect you against defense debuffs and your total mitigation is lower than it could be because you're dividing your attention between various different forms of mitigation rather than taking advantage of unusually strong powers and super-linear scaling.

Toxic can easily be hard-capped if you've slotted the heal with enough recharge/resist. That's part of the reason I only 5-slot the purple sets - the additional damage procs are always useful, while additional Toxic/Psi is only rarely useful.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that I did build for layered defense. And it is definitely not meaningless or inefficient. Unless I'm misunderstanding, it sounds like you are telling me my build is bad. But my experience is telling me that I can Tank 100% of the games content easily. Because I have, and am doing so as we speak. Agree to disagree I suppose. Having 45% defense to Melee or S/L is more than worth it.

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, Hjarki said:

You've got it backwards. Soft-capped S/L/M without DDR is meaningless against defensive debuffs - that's why it's called a 'cascading' failure.

 

Sorry but no.  Cascading Defense Failure actually refers to the way swarming debuffs make it more likely the next debuff will land, further swarming the effect.

This has nothing to do with DDR.

You can STILL have CDF, even with extensive quantities of DDR.
It just becomes less LIKELY.

[Sovera]

I've been pondering how to min-max my procs.

 

The Gaussian BU proc in Follow-Up seems dubious to me between the ton of slotted recharge in the power, the low native recharge, and also the fast animation.

 

I'm shy about placing the Fury of the Gladiator on the aura since @Boppermathed it at a -6% over time. It's ok, but not amazing.

 

On the other hand with the fast pace of things do I really want to place it on Burn? Much better chance for it to go off there, but the burst damage of Eradication: chance for energy would just help killing things dead instead of debuffing them. That said anything soft will die in the first volley and anything a bit meatier would then be taking extra damage. 20% extra damage VS 71 damage proc.

 

Does Burn still call upon multiple pseudo-pets who then apply procs? That would shift things towards the damage proc instead of the -res proc since that one would not stack.

 

Arrrgh, decisions!

 

Halp, @Bopper wan kenobi!

Edited June 12, 2020 by Sovera

[Bopper]

33 minutes ago, Sovera said:

I've been pondering how to min-max my procs. I'm shy about placing the Fury of the Gladiator on the aura since @Boppermathed it at a -6% over time. It's ok, but not amazing.

 

On the other hand with the fast pace of things do I really want to place it on Burn? Much better chance for it to go off there, but the burst damage of Eradication: chance for energy would just help killing things dead instead of debuffing them. That said anything soft will die in the first volley and anything a bit meatier would then be taking extra damage. 20% extra damage VS 71 damage proc.

 

Does Burn still call upon multiple pseudo-pets who then apply procs? That would shift things towards the damage proc instead of the -res proc since that one would not stack.

 

Arrrgh, decisions!

 

Halp, @Bopper wan kenobi!

I'm working on something else at the moment, but I will certainly come to your aid later this afternoon (Like...give me an hour). I will read the thread later, but basically I'll just need to know your build, your attack rotation, and finally I'll need to look up Burn because I think it has some unique proc mechanics that I want to make sure on before I dispense information.

[Sovera]

8 minutes ago, Bopper said:

I'm working on something else at the moment, but I will certainly come to your aid later this afternoon (Like...give me an hour). I will read the thread later, but basically I'll just need to know your build, your attack rotation, and finally I'll need to look up Burn because I think it has some unique proc mechanics that I want to make sure on before I dispense information.

Bopper to the rrrrrrescue! The build is up there. I'm considering respeccing out of Shockwave and grab Assault instead since I find myself not using Shockwave *nearly* as much as on my Scrapper. Spin and Burn has been good enough. Plus I could use those slots and Assault would pump me up some more with just the one slot.

 

The rotation, with a small gap, is Follow-up, Slash, Focus. Burn replaces Slash when it is up. On my own it's not enough to be gapless but in a team with recharge buffs it works fine.

 

For AoE I Follow-Up, Burn, Spin, Focus (fishing for FF procs) and whack-a-mole with Burn and Spin given priority and Follow-Up for the buff, and Focus for the FF proc, down the list.

 

What's your impression of Gaussian in Follow-up? The chance of it coming out seems pretty low, though when it does I nearly always am throwing Burn right after.

[Bopper]

25 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Bopper to the rrrrrrescue! The build is up there. I'm considering respeccing out of Shockwave and grab Assault instead since I find myself not using Shockwave *nearly* as much as on my Scrapper. Spin and Burn has been good enough. Plus I could use those slots and Assault would pump me up some more with just the one slot.

 

The rotation, with a small gap, is Follow-up, Slash, Focus. Burn replaces Slash when it is up. On my own it's not enough to be gapless but in a team with recharge buffs it works fine.

 

For AoE I Follow-Up, Burn, Spin, Focus (fishing for FF procs) and whack-a-mole with Burn and Spin given priority and Follow-Up for the buff, and Focus for the FF proc, down the list.

 

What's your impression of Gaussian in Follow-up? The chance of it coming out seems pretty low, though when it does I nearly always am throwing Burn right after.

First thing I'd do, I'd replace the Damage/Recharge in Focus with pure Damage. The reduced recharge will help with your FF and Apoc proc, and you have a gap anyways so have two small gaps is no different than one big gap. And if you get buffed by a teammate, the gap will close.

 

Gaussian in Followup isn't doing a whole lot for you (but does well enough). Currently, you have an 11.66% chance to proc every 3.96s (if gapless. 4.686s with gaps) for 80% damage buff that lasts 5.25s. So on average, that equates to 12.37% damage buff (if gapless, 10.45% with gaps). So, for one slot that's good. But if you could reduce the slotted recharge (which would increase gaps) and fill your attack chain with another fast attack or improve your global recharge further, you might like those numbers more. These numbers strictly analyzed for your mentioned ST attack rotation, not AoE.

 

As for Burn, you already saw my previous work with the 3.5 PPM resistance debuff proc in an aura, which equates to 30.7% chance to proc for an average of 6.14% resistance debuff over time (20% x 30.7% x 10s / 10s). If you slot the resistance debuff proc in Burn, I see a cycle rate of 9.9s (2.244s+7.66s), which is similar to the cycle rate of Blazing Aura (10s). The proc probability given your 89.92% recharge slotting gives you a 46.65% chance to proc. However, the power can only hit up to 5 targets whereas Blazing Aura can hit up to 10. So if you're farming, you might prefer Blazing Aura, but if it's normal content I doubt you'd rarely ever hit more than 5 with Blazing Aura anyways. But I digress...

 

So we show Burn has a better chance to proc (46.7% vs 30.7%) with nearly the same cycle time as Blazing Aura (9.9s vs 10s). However, Burn also summons a pseudopet, and I am willing to believe that pet also will give you a chance to proc with 30.7% chance (same radius as Blazing Aura, it would use the 10s activateperiod time). I would need to test this to be certain, but I would suspect Burn gives you 2 proc chances when you cast it...the initial damage from burn, and the pseudopet. The pseudopet lasts for 10s (according to City of Data) so your only proc chance would be on the summoning, and no additional checks after that.

 

Now...the 5 target max of your burn damage, and the 5 target max of the pseudopet does not necessarily mean both effects will HAVE to hit the same 5 targets, but given the fact target selection is based on distance from you (for PBAoEs) and an Immobilize accompanies the Burn effect, it's safe to assume you will hit the same 5 targets with both effects. Given that...and knowing that the Resistance Debuff proc can't stack, we can calculate your probability to be 100% - the probability of neither effect procs.

 

Probability to Proc in Burn = 100% - (100-46.65%)x(100%-30.7%) = 63.03%

 

So your average resistance debuff would equal 63.03% x 20% x 10s / 9.904s = 12.73%

 

Please, take all of my Burn analysis with a grain of salt. I'm basing this entirely off of other things I've tested in the past and assuming these multiple effects as all having their own proc chances (like how Glue Arrow procs off of a single target, then can proc again from the pseudopet). I highly recommend someone (maybe myself) to test this first. But I believe this should work as described...

[Sovera]

7 minutes ago, Bopper said:

(loadsa info)

Hmm.. I come out of this enlightened but not decided. On one hand the +12% final -res chance on Burn still appears to me superior than a damage proc. On the other hand the -res proc does not stack and if anyone else is using it then mine won't do much. Double the chance of a second damage procs would help burst down.... Yep, still as undecided as when I began!

 

I feel that the Gaussian would work better if I were to throw it into Tactics since I'm always teaming anyway. Apparently it's a 50% to go off every ten seconds with a full team around.

[Sovera]

An alternative build that I am currently trying.

 

I found that I was not using Shockwave enough to warrant have it picked up and slotted. While it was my bread and butter on my Scrapper I just have not found use for it partly because Burn wants me close to the ground where Shockwave I used to hover over the ball of clumped enemies in order to have it act as a ghetto PbAoE. This was a long deliberated decision since Shockwave has a very important soft CC component in it that allows to chew more than we should. But since respecs are cheap and it *was*  gathering dust I'm trying this.

 

- In exchange for the seldomly used Shockwave I picked up Assault. More damage for me and everyone else.

- Used the now free slots to add things here and there. I was displeased at the low accuracy of FU and Slash and took the Kismet unique to make up for it.

- Slightly changed the slotting around based on Bopper's advice. Bit less recharge means bit more chance of procs going off.

- Removed the -res proc in Burn for an Eradication proc. On the long run this might mean less damage. On the short run (and most of CoH's fights are short runs) the double proc is pretty bursty and I can see the HP of things moving in chunks when Burn goes off, then the double procs do, then the pseudopet double procs as well. I'm not super fussed about the Fury -res proc since it does not stack and it is a common thing to have in teams.

 

The extra recovery added from the new slots has been good at offsetting the cost of Assault. With absolutely no support endurance goes down, but slowly, and I have found that I still have a quarter of a bar by the time Consume has recharged. This is a delicate balance perturbed by any sort of endurance drain but I have Recovery Serums for those moments. Most of the time endurance is simple full since someone in the team throws an Ageless (pretty common incarnate due to said recovery but also recharge) or we have someone with an endurance boost. Seriously, endurance is a non worry.

 

With Focus having to pick the slack for FF procs my usual ST rotation is Follow-up, Burn, Focus (fish boy, fish!), Follow-up, Slash, Focus, Follow-up, Burn. This is why I don't have the purple damage proc in Slash.

 

For AoE it's still the same: Follow-up, Burn (star of the show), Spin (after Burn so the 2.5 animation happens while the recharge is ticking), Focus (fish, boy, fish!), Slash, Follow-up, Burn, Spin.

 

 

Alternative build:

 

Spoiler

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!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Claws
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(7)
Level 1: Swipe -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(7), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(11)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(11), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(13), UnbGrd-Max HP%(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Slash -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(17), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(19), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), AchHee-ResDeb%(21), TchofDth-Dam%(21)
Level 6: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(23), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(25), Prv-Heal(25), Prv-Absorb%(50)
Level 8: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(27), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(27), SynSck-Dam/Rech(29), SynSck-EndMod(29), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(50)
Level 10: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(31), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(31), Rct-ResDam%(31)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(33), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 16: Spin -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(34), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 18: Burn -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Rchg(37), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Erd-%Dam(39)
Level 20: Follow Up -- SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(40), Hct-Dam%(40), GssSynFr--Build%(40), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(42)
Level 22: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), WntGif-ResSlow(42)
Level 24: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 28: Focus -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg(43), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Apc-Acc/Rchg(43), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), FrcFdb-Rechg%(45)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45)
Level 32: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- RctRtc-ToHit(A), RctRtc-Pcptn(48)
Level 38: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(46), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(46)
Level 41: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48), LucoftheG-Def(48)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Taunt -- Taunt-I(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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), Mrc-Rcvry+(15), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(50)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(17)
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
------------

 

I've also added a leveling build I made for a friend I convinced to play the game with me. It's a *lot* cheaper and still has 40% defenses (45% with Barrier) and the resistances are still capped with two ATO stacks and Barrier's 5%. So it has everything a Tanker needs to tank. The trade offs are a worse Hasten and less damage due to no procs in attacks but it will do just fine to burn the content until money is amassed.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Sovera

[Sgt. Terminus]

Just to point something out, all my testing with Burn on my Tanker and Scrapper shows that Burn only hits 4 targets no matter how many are in range.   My wild assumption is that because your character is always the 5th target as Burn grants you immobilization.   Not sure how it impacts the debuff proc but for my scrapper, I can proc the +50% Crit proc off just myself, no enemy in range.

[Sovera]

Finally got off my lazy ass to test the build VS a pylon.

 

Titan Weapons and double Rage Super-Strength are still the reigning champs, but, unlike Super-Strength with its only AoE at 38 (and rage at 28) and Titan Weapons being a hot mess if exemplaring is attempted this one is good to go from level 20 onwards. 15 if exemplared.

[Sovera]

Ran some testing that turned into a wash.

 

Traded Gaussian in FU for a Touch of Death.

 

Traded the Eradication damage proc in Burn for the -res proc.

 

End result: exactly the same times.

 

 

According to Bopper the Gaussian only has something like 11% chance of going off. 11% giving 80% damage for 5 seconds is not tremendous and it showed when 41% chance of doing 71 damage kept up. Gaussian where it is is not doing much though where it is. It does feed both the AoE chain and the ST chain when it does go off. But since neither makes a difference on the long run I'm tempted by the damage proc for a bit more burst.

 

The -20% res in Burn did not alter times in the slightest, which sort of makes sense since the 46% of the Eradication damage proc going off pairs very well with Burn's pseudo pet for a second chance. The -res proc not stacking means double the chance of procing did not synergize well. I feel that  Eradication is still a better choice since it gives burst and the -res effect is unique (AKA if someone else in the team has it then it will not stack if both have/use it).

[Bill Z Bubba]

6 minutes ago, Sovera said:

The -20% res in Burn did not alter times in the slightest, which sort of makes sense since the 46% of the Eradication damage proc going off pairs very well with Burn's pseudo pet for a second chance. The -res proc not stacking means double the chance of procing did not synergize well. I feel that  Eradication is still a better choice since it gives burst and the -res effect is unique (AKA if someone else in the team has it then it will not stack if both have/use it).

Just found out that sticking a chance for knockdown in burn has some doubletap unintended consequences. I'll look into using eradication instead of chance for -res. Was hoping the -res was the way to go but thanks for testing.

[Sovera]

7 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Just found out that sticking a chance for knockdown in burn has some doubletap unintended consequences. I'll look into using eradication instead of chance for -res. Was hoping the -res was the way to go but thanks for testing.

The double tap from KD-turning-it-into-KB is something I had read about. The absorb proc ATO might work well in Burn instead if looking for mitigation.