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

Sovera · June 6, 2022

After looking at Stone Melee I finally conceded that the problem with its ST rotation was trying to only use the mallets. It makes leveling a chore, it makes the ST clunky, and even at end game it requires everything in place plus an FF proc to be gapless.

Once I accepted this I also saw that, y'know what? Actually Stone Fists isn't bad all.

I cranked up another Fire/Stone Melee, used an alt to do two passes in a farm map which placed it at level 23 and then went for Posi 1 cranked to 0x8 after having grabbed eight hours worth of amplifiers.

The ST rotation was Heavy Mallet, Stone Fists, Stone Mallet, Stone Fists. Repeat. While Hasten was up and even at such an extreme exemplaring the rotation was already gapless and a pleasure to work with.

Spoiler

Later on Seismic Smash will recharge in 5.9 seconds and the same Heavy Mallet, Stone Fist, Stone Mallet, Stone Fist rotation makes 5.8 seconds total. If one of the Mallets procs a FF then skip the last Stone Fist. When Burn is used both Stone Fists can be skipped. For example Seismic Smash, Burn, Heavy Mallet, Stone Mallet, Seismic Smash, Heavy Mallet, Stone Fist, Stone Mallet, Stone Fist, etc etc.

Obviously this is mostly academic since during regular gameplay we're bouncing around, we're using Tremor, etc etc, but it's always good to know there is a nice gapless chain.

Burn was a good help as usual and the sole AoE since Fault is... well.. it's crummy. and a bit of a noob trap IMO. Large recharge, heavy endurance costs, abysmal accuracy, low damage, weak CC (when the accuracy even allows it to hit). Burn was enough for my AoE needs and with Build-Up I could punch through CoT BS while the FF procs in the mallets helped things along.

Only used the inspirations that dropped and did not replenish at the store or AH. Only one death... at the very end... last spawn after the shadow bosses... I was already banking on bragging rights for a deathless run but after surviving eight shadow clone bosses I was out of inspirations and a mix of -tohit aura + force field + earthquake + spammed immobilizes finally got me.

Still not bad for a 'squishy Fire Armor' and done in 46 minutes. Also the non weapon aesthetic looks nice with a very brawler feel to it.

The usual with my builds: 76.7% resists with one stack of the Tanker proc in Heavy Mallet, a second stack and it's 83.4%, Barrier's 5% and it's 88.4% and once at 90% HP the Scaling Resists IO in Hover pushes it to 89.4%.

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: Stone Melee
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-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Stone Fist -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(7), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(11), TchofDth-Dam%(11)
Level 2: Stone Mallet -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), TchofDth-Dam%(17), FrcFdb-Rechg%(19)
Level 4: Heavy Mallet -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(23), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(23), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), TchofDth-Dam%(25), FrcFdb-Rechg%(27)
Level 6: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(13), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(27)
Level 8: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(29), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(29), UnbGrd-ResDam(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(31)
Level 10: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(31), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(33), Prv-Absorb%(33), Prv-Heal(34)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 16: Build Up -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(36), GssSynFr--Build%(37), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 18: Burn -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Dmg(37), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Rchg(39), Arm-Dam%(39)
Level 20: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(40), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(40), SynSck-Dam/Rech(40), SynSck-EndMod(42), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(42)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 28: Tremor -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), FrcFdb-Rechg%(45)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A), RctRtc-ToHit(45), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(49)
Level 38: Seismic Smash -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Acc/Rchg(46), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(47), UnbCns-Dam%(47)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 44: Tough -- StdPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(48), Rct-Def(49)
Level 49: Temperature Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-EndRdx(A), Clr-Stlth(13)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(19), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(21)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(21)
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: Musculature Radial Paragon
Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 22: Afterburner
------------

If desired I can post a leveling build.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Sovera

Pzn · June 6, 2022

46 minutes ago, Sovera said:

After looking at Stone Melee I finally conceded that the problem with its ST rotation was trying to only use the mallets. It makes leveling a chore, it makes the ST clunky, and even at end game it requires everything in place plus an FF proc to be gapless.

I had the same epiphany, especially with tanks since stone fists is an automatic pick. That wasted power pick was really detrimental with a chain that didn't need both.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Pzn

Sovera · June 7, 2022

Used the Fire/Stone Melee build and soloed Posi 2 at 0x8 in 48 minutes, no deaths. Then did Yin, and, surprisingly, did not use inspirations until having reached Clamor. I say surprisingly because I had an unslotted heal, unslotted shields, unslotted Consume, but even so it was done in 48 minutes (again). Still deathless.

...which is not really bad at all considering it's a Tanker and its ST heavy hitter is over level 38. Previous attempt was 46 minutes.

The recordist in these 'Yin challenges' is still the Claws/Fire Brute at 38 minutes followed by a Fire/Rad Melee Tanker with 39 minutes and honorable mentions to the Savage/Stone and Rad/Stone Brute at 42 and 43 respectively.

Rad Melee is just brutal even without Burn and Fiery Embrace and this is not even counting on how most of its damage is energy/toxic instead of smash/slash.

Golden Azrael · June 7, 2022

On 6/9/2020 at 2:36 PM, Sovera said:

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?

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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 30-40% protection 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. 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.

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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?

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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.

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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:

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Newbie tips:

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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:

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Martial Arts
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
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-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(17)
Level 4: Fire Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(19), UnbGrd-Max HP%(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 8: Healing Flames -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(25), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(25), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(27), NmnCnv-Heal(27), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(29)
Level 10: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(29), Rct-ResDam%(31)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- Ags-Psi/Status(A), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(31), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(33)
Level 14: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(33), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(33), SynSck-Dam/Rech(34), SynSck-EndMod(34), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(34)
Level 16: Crane Kick -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(36), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(36), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(37), FrcFdb-Rechg%(37)
Level 18: Burn -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(37), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Erd-%Dam(40)
Level 20: Dragon's Tail -- ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(A), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ScrDrv-Dam%(40), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(42), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), FrcFdb-Rechg%(42)
Level 22: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), WntGif-ResSlow(43)
Level 24: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 28: Focus Chi -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(45), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(45), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(45), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(46), GssSynFr--Build%(46)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Crippling Axe Kick -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(46), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(48), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), GldStr-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(48), TchofDth-Dam%(50)
Level 38: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 44: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-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+(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
------------

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.

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.

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-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?

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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:

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- 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:

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2:55

3:00

A must read for any beginner Tank who wants to be a powerful Tank. It's jam-packed. I've just discovered this thread. So I'll mine it for 'pearls of wisom.'

A sound read. One I'll keep coming back to for all the details.

eg. Your noting of which tanks can AND can't fit 'Force Feedback' is noteworthy. It is something I've only recently wrapped my head around with my 'ten tank rolls'. Some attack sets you can. Some you can't. Useful to know if you want a high octane build.

Impressive.

Azrael.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Golden Azrael

Golden Azrael · June 8, 2022

I like your '80-20' approach.

You don't HAVE to build an immutable tank. You can build an AT (any AT...) to the point where it will give a good account for '80%' or 'most' of CoH's content. (Ie. It may not survive all edge cases. It may not have the fastest Pylon Time.)

But if you build a very good (as opposed to 'Excellent') Tank which you can enjoy playing. He can 'hang' with the big boys even if he's not the 'Superman' on the block.

I call this 'reach.' Eg. When you're leveling. Weave. '5%, you don't notice that.' (I do.) Then you take Cj. Another 2.5%. Then Manoeuvres. Another 2.5-4%. All of a sudden, you have At least ten per cent defence to all damage types. Pop a luck and that's another 15% giving you a temporary 25%. Add that to Resistances of 60-80% and you're a Tank that can handle themselves.

Obviously a build out can push you close the cap or past it depending on your trade offs.

Azrael.

Golden Azrael · June 8, 2022

On 9/14/2020 at 11:24 AM, Sovera said:

On a lark I have started leveling a new character on Excelsior and decided on iron man rules (no inf transfers). Which means starting with zero cash and like a destitute refugee (from another server).

A few things were immediately noticeable as I went on and it ended being that my experience in leveling with ATOs and attuned IOs made a world of difference. I mean, yeah, intellectually I knew it, but the rose tinted glasses made me remember leveling without them much easier than it turned out to be.

I leveled feeling super squishy and my damage output being no great two shakes. Burn, as praised as it is by the community, is a weak little thing when we compare its basic slotting to the procced out slotting. Just like Savage Leap of Savage Melee Burn takes to procs like fish to water. The summoning of a pseudo pet who tries to use the procs a second time, coupled with the long recharge and animation makes it an amazing host for damage procs. In its ultimate form it is a 10 second ish mini nuke and in its basic form it is a warm breeze.

Anyway, I will add my experiences as I leveled because new new players can certainly make use of it.

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Started as level 1. Zero inf. I decided I wanted to level with amplifiers but those would cost a total of 24k (a fortune :D). While I never bothered with it in the past people had mentioned the exploration badges in Atlas as a source of 5 merits. I proceeded to the P2W vendor, bought the Inner Inspiration power (I wanted to sell the insps, but it turned out there was no market for them so I ignored it from then on), one of the free Jump Packs (the second one costs 100k) and Beast run. I pulled out the wiki (https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/CoH_Exploration_Badges) and proceeded to look for them (Edge of Chaos made me google it but the badge is inside the Atlas Hall over the DATA section).

Came out of it 5 merits richer. Turned them into converters and sold for 1 inf. It made me around 1 mill. Looking good!

Bought the second Jump Pack, bought a maximum stack of Recovery Serums, then bought a few medium sized purple inspirations from the /AH. I ended buying 20-30+ leaving the bids at 500 which filled as I played. This part is crucial and I will return to it later.

Did a call for Death from Below.

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New new players can just wait for someone to call for a DFB since it is very common. But if they want to show some initiative (and I cannot stress how much showing initiative sped things up) then they can do /lfg DFB LFM! and just click the names of the persons as they show interest, then click on LFG over their chat window, choose Death from Below and then queue.

At each level appropriate cut off I would head to the next contact (https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Task_Force) and pick the new one. This meant I never repeated content.

Chose Recovery as my bonus. Was still level 7 and could not yet do Positron part one so I did Death from Below a second time and chose Damage as my second reward. Started a Positron part 1 and lucked out on having an Empath in the team. Fortitude is a world of difference. Even so the medium purples were of use.

Finished Posi 1, used the SG base macro of Excelsior (each server has one so just ask on /lfg for the macro), converted, sold all for 1 inf again. Proceeded to Posi 2. No Empath this time around but had an Electrical Affinity character who had joined. This time the purples were of more use. Got it done. Traded merits for converters, sold.

I was then past level 22 and had ample inf to buy all my generic IOs. Still terribly squishy.

Went to do Synapse. At this point the ATO leveling build mocks Synapse. They hurt but not much, and they sap, but doable. This was not the case on generic IOs. Even with Recovery Serums and a triple recharge Consume I was gasping for blue air. They also hurt a lot more than what I remembered with no double 3% unique IOs and none of my attacks slotted with Kinetic Combats. This is where the medium purple came in to save the day. I would eat one before combat or if I saw my HP dipping too fast and then /ah between missions and refill my tray from those 20-30 I had bought earlier and who were waiting to be picked up.

My endurance woes did not lighten in the slightest even by the time I could afford a Panaceia, Miracle, Numina and Performance Shifter (around level 35-ish). Recovery Serum in both Synapse and Yin was incapable of coping in the slightest. This new experience tells me I was being too greedy with one accuracy, three damage, two recharge slotting. Leveling with ATOs and attuned IOs is a big difference than generics. That said I did detoggle a lot (especially over Yin. like, a LOT) but never died from it. It was still annoying and if I was to start over I would do two endurance reduction in each attack and cover the gaps with the use of Swipe.

I had to buy more medium purples as I was going through them at a fast rate since my shields were porous. But, at around 30-ish I triple slotted my shields and also bought the Shield Wall 5% resists... for no appreciable difference. Two extra resist IOs in each shield and 5% from the unique did nothing as the damage pierced me through anyway. Again, medium purple inspirations are a savior and are pretty cheap. Even bought at 5k a piece it is peanuts (the Panaceia, Miracle and Shield Wall uniques were all 10-ish million a piece, so 5k for an inspiration is really peanuts and should not be overthought).

I saw a Mothership Raid happening and joined. Did the Join the Vanguard mission real quick for the badge and earning vanguard merits from killing Rikti and proceeded to get bored for the next half hour. Came out of it with one level and a half and about 1k vanguard merits which could, and were, turned into 30 regular merits.

Did a Katie Hannon as well. Cue in more endurance woes. Also, the Lightning Storms were kicking me around as 4 -KB points weren't enough to cope. What makes it easier to deal with is a finished build with a high S/L defense which protects from the Lightning Storm attacks. Without Kinetic Combats slotted in every attack and both 3% defense uniques the storms were bating me around at their leisure.

Finished Numina at level 39 (accolade, got!) and missing one level to do Market Crash I joined an Admiral Sutter TF. Tough TF with all the defense debuffing which lead to two deaths. Afterwards I did the Market Crash, crafted my purple (first time doing it grants a purple IO recipe), used converters (choosing convert out of set) until it turned into a purple from a set I would use at level 50.

Called it a day at level 44.

I have 26 million to my name and my current build is:

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"It was still annoying and if I was to start over I would do two endurance reduction in each attack and cover the gaps with the use of Swipe."

Ya don't say? 😉

Seriously. My golden rule for stamina equilibrium (which is what I call the conflict between stamina going out and stamina coming in...) is toggles. Minimum? x1. For Fighting Toggles? x2. Tough and Weave seem expensive. I wouldn't run Man's from Leadership with no end red in it? 😮

I'm obsessive about it. In fact, my SO builds are often better with stamina than the build outs.

Attacks? If it's above ten? x2 End Reds. If it's below ten, at least 1 End Red.

You had plenty of stamina coming in. Just not enough inertia on the stamina going out. And it's easily and quickly spent on an AoE, MA (quick performing set) Tank. You already had loads of damage up to L20. The priority for me, when 'turbo levelling' is end. Keeping my feet. I don't have to stop because I prioritise the Eq. Since the patch, Tanks do plenty of dam. And if you have Fire AoE armour, you're golden, even unslotted for damage.

I'm not surprised you were having end issues. (Almost all alts seem to have a problem with end on that TF, though.)

An enthralling guide.

I'll take notes for my next Tank.

But which of your Dragon, Turtle or Ice/Fire will I choose?

Azrael.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Golden Azrael

Golden Azrael · June 8, 2022

As for incarnates.

I used Cardiac on my Fire/Fire Tanker. Stamina problem well and truly vanquished. I had it sorted with SOs. Fire is a squishy tank. So I like Cardiac's -20 % to incoming damage? I can take Ageless Radial to soften/stop the debuffs to slowing up my #regen attack/survive chain on the alpha mob hit. Plus Winter's Gift (which I'd put in CJ.) Plus the Avalanche style sets. Base global recharge of 60-70% plus Hasten. 130-140% recharge?

I can make up the damage by? The Tank patch. I'm a fire tanker. I'll take Assault Incarnate. I'll take Pyro Judgement and 'vark' anything that decides it wants to 'Have a go...'

Plus I get damage bonus points from my purple sets.

I have build up. I Fire Embrace.

I have burn.

I have a damage Tik.

Just how much damage do I need? 😮

Azrael.

Sovera · June 8, 2022

I am trying to figure out why I am enjoying the Fire/Stone Melee and what makes it stand out from The Big Three (Ice, Martial Arts, Claws). I'm thinking it may be because it has a bit of everything from The Big Three hybridizing it into a single entity.

Ice has a big hitter in Freezing Touch and has an early Build-up, but lacks a good single target rotation that feels good thanks to Greater Ice Sword being terribad (so bad it's about the same to use an AoE in a ST rotation with all the downsides it entails). Ice Patch makes it safe and good out of the box though.

Claws has a good attack chain, a very good early AoE, but lacks a heavy hitter and Follow-up has its downsides. For example I wanted to test my Claws/Fire Brute in Moonfire after having done it on the Fire/Stone Melee Tanker and was surprised at having so much of a hard time getting through the first mission since I was not using inspirations to mimic the Fire/Stone run. The vampyres would debuff my accuracy so much I would have to slowly hope for a lucky shot since Follow-up could not even hit to buff my accuracy. On the other hand a set (like Stone Melee) with an early build-up had no problem with that (or with low level Circle of Thorns with the bosses doing the big forcefield, the little ghosts doing -acc and the big ghosts doing a -ToHit aura) because they can punch through with BU + Gaussian.

Martial Arts has a late Build-Up preventing punch-through until 28 and lacks a heavy hitter. It makes up for this with the unique gimmick of allowing a resistance based armor to softcap melee/ranged/AoE. The Force Feedback proc in an AoE is a world of difference compared to just having it in a single target skill and it has a large impact on the damage output of a build that has two Build-Up mechanics and healing/endurance clickies. This is why the build is a beast that is as offensive as the others while being a veritable turtle.

Spoiler

Granted that these are not altogether big worries. The Moonfire would have done without too much problem just by popping a small purple so enough hits would miss and my accuracy would not be floored, and in a few levels the exemplar level would have reached Focused Accuracy which puts those debuffing worries to the side. The sets without BU will eventually get it.

There are other sets that have their own minor niggles. Energy Melee hits like a truck but has a late BU and a bad rotation that requires 38 to be complete. Street Justice has fluid animations and fast recharging skills that are easily chained allowing to always be pressing buttons, but anyone looking at Mids can see how low damage the attacks are (averaging 200ish damage each) and where the offense budget is heavily skewed towards Crushing Uppercut. Until having it we are but whittling enemies with fast, good looking, fluid, but ultimately weak attacks.

Most of these either have bad AoE or in some cases no AoE at all until late making them unstomacheable for me. In fact I looked at making a Stone Melee character with a Brute for more damage and had to accept that it would mean leveling to 28 without any sort of AoE other than a damage aura. I tried Radiation Armor in the past and while true it can overcome Fire Armor in terms of clearing speed it requires having Ground Zero as well as Radiation Therapy. Radiation Therapy alone was not enough to ghetto AoE until later.

A Tanker is is the best position to overlook this with two choices in armor sets that can do AoE by themselves and soon: Fire Armor with Burn at 18 allowing to exemplar as low as level 13 and still melt a spawn by themselves while having it for every pack. And Radiation Armor who can use proc bombs in Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero to do all the AoE needed (preferably paired with one of the attack sets that has FF procs. Rad/Stone Melee is not quite to my standards since it would take reaching 26).

Fire Armor also helps with ST with Burn being powerful enough to replace an ST attack and also providing cleave (if five or less mobs left there is no need to use AoEs, just keep hitting the boss and Burn will coincidentally handle the rest) and Fiery Embrace for further pushing. The combo of both can be alternated for long enough to make Tanker damage feel good.

Build-Up lasts 10 seconds and has a 28 second CD (less with FF procs), so we use it, the 28 seconds start ticking, and when the 10 seconds are over we use Fiery Embrace. Fiery Embrace lasts 20 seconds. So when it is over the 18 seconds have elapsed and we can use Build Up again for another 10 seconds.

I'm digressing. Back to the topic.

Stone Melee is very nice. The animations are just a touch slow but not too much. War Mace/Axe prime for their 2.5 animations despite hitting hard. Rad Melee's heavy hitter is a glacial 2.9 and even Energy Melee has at least a 2.77 Total Focus in the rotation and that's for those who don't also do 2.9 slow Energy Transfer.

Stone Melee on the other hand chills about with 1.8 animations. Heavy hitter? 1.7. To compare it does 613 where Knockout Blow is 631 (782 with one stack of Rage) and 2.4 animation, Devastating Blow is that glacial 2.9 and doing 577 damage, Crushing Uppercut is 740 with three combo points and 2.3 seconds. Freezing Touch is a blazing 1.2 animation but pays for it and being a T7 by doing 514 damage.

Not seen in a vacuum they all have their perks though. EM is still the best ST damage and being mainly energy it gets past the annoying resistances, KO Blow comes with Rage that can be twice stack to push the damage even more, Devastating Blow has Irradiated Ground ticking in the background for much more damage than a mere damage aura could dream of (plus being a very good vehicle for two -res procs which push Devastating's damage).

Now Fire/Stone Melee, well, it just combines the best traits to produce a good playing experience. It will not do the most ST, or do the most AoE (Tremor pays for the wide native radius by doing a nudge more damage than Stone Fists), or be the safest, but, it has a little bit of everything.

The attack chain starts early. Even without having everything in place there are few gaps where waiting for something to cycle so we can press a button. Even super low level.

Two FF procs in the ST chain make everything feel better in the low levels. We have Consume up faster, heal, Burn.

It does not need to reach 38 to finish the attack chain. Rather level 38 is just a damage boost since the attack chain remains unperturbed.

It is a -bit- safer by doing a mass KD with each Tremor, and each Tremor is a near guaranteed FF proc which boosts the offense and defense by making all clickies available sooner.

Early AoE in Burn, later boosted by Tremor.

Now with this Is Fire/Stone The Strongest Build? No. Fire/Rad cleared Yin in 40 minutes where Fire/Stone did in 48 minutes (and Fire Rad later on gets a second AoE), but so many people hate Devastating Blow for good reason, and until then we twiddle thumbs because we don't have a complete ST rotation. Energy Melee will do more damage, but what a slog to 38 to complete the ST and gaps until then.

But playing it I'm thinking, this is smooth, this is buttery, I'm brawling mobs with the No Weapon animations and they keep on being thrown up in the air and interrupted, I'm throwing BU + Burn followed by Tremor and half a spawn is dead.

At the risk of making Bill sad again Claws is in danger of being pushed from The Big Three.

Golden Azrael · June 8, 2022

Interesting read, Sovera.

A Trinity of Tanks.

Then you roll a Fire/Stone Tank. 🙂

I smile. Because a while back, before I went on my Tank Top Ten spree....

I decided to see what all the fuss was about regarding Brutes. (Sure, I'd rolled a Shield/SS Brute and capped it out in all positions...who hasn't? A real 'gangster' with Electric fence, Ball and Pyro' Incarnate to AoE the hell out of mobs...stacking with Shield Charge and Foot Stomp.... *Hmm....Mmmm...powerful this one is....)

So I did an experiment and rolled x3 concurrent levelling Brutes. Rad/Rad. Fire/Stone (*Waves at Sovera) and? Elec Armour and the Energy Melee.

Oh yes.

I did the beatdown to L50.

Rad/Rad.

And I do like all three for different reasons. Rad/Rad melts. And it hits hard single target. You get the damage ticks. Then you get that Tier 9 with the Res' Boosts and Dam' Boost. It's off the charts good. It will melt Council +4x8 with no resistance from them. Ambush mobs, the lot. All melted.

Fire/Stone.

This came from my slight irritation of play Invul'/Energy Tank and Invul' having no passive tick. I wanted MOAR damage. (I think this was before the Tanking patch and BEFORE the Energy Melee pass.) So I put my Tank on 'pause' to level up later.

I rolled the 'Brute' version of two brutes. Fire/Energy and Fire/Stone. I was far more satisfied with the aggregating damage from a brute and the passive tick. It was night and day compared to pre-patch Tanks.

So I came back to the idea of a Fire/Stone Brute with my 3-Way Challenge.

Fire/Stone on a Brute is a revelation. Yes, we know Fire does damage. But Stone melee seems to get bonus if you have Fire armour? What I like about Stone is it is fun. Nothing beats getting Fisted (!) by a Stone Fist. Or a Stone Hammer. Or another STone HaMmUR that is even bigger than the other one. You get TWO AoEs. One that didn't used to do damage but now DOES! (And that makes a big difference on the post Patch Tank.) And another that is up in the air, down to the ground knock the skittles over satisfying. It never fails to 'give.' Stack those two? You get decent hedge trimming values for a mob. Fit x2 Force Feedbacks in those and mobs never keep their feet with a foot stomp and a crashing beat down.

Then you get Seismic which is absolutely quick, devastating and super accurate stun tastic. Stone is relentless. It's the one melee set I've tested than any other. WP/Stone Tank. Stone Dominator. Stone Brute. Stone/Stone Tank... (All of these I did on live as well.) So that's 8 times, at least I've played Stone Melee.

With fire? It's riotous. Council mobs hate me...and I give them a burning kicking.

Elec Armour/Energy Melee.

+4x8 Council Mobs can hurt me over time. But I have a pocket regen button that brings my health back. And Power Sink to dampen their enthusiasm. Mean time? You deliver some City Rocking Blows to to +4s. Two shots minimum. Many one shotted. It hits with Heaven and Earth. The much improved AoE/Cone and AMP'ed Total Focus mechanic thin the herd with compelling speed.

Wide Screen Truck Hitting. The mother of said.

I could roll ANY of these as Tanks and Find them compelling.

My Conclusion?

You'll really enjoy a Fire/Stone Tank.

Best of both worlds. You get some AoE Burn, some BIG hitting Melee Attacks. You even get a couple of Melee AoE attacks that stack with your burn auras and keep mobs on their Az.

You even get fun thrown in for free.

Azrael.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Golden Azrael

Golden Azrael · June 8, 2022

The simple fact is Stone IS that good. Put Fire behind it. And...I did it on a brute. But a post patch Tank and following the Stone pass...be worth rolling said wit a Tank. Relentless.

My Stone/Stone Tank is insanely good. Walks into a +4x8 Arachnos mission. You know what's coming next. 🙂

Claws. Never tried it on a Tank. But it's sublime on my Scrapper. Though I dare say I'll crib some finer points from your Fire/Tank build. Focus. Chunk. Spin. And a Claw AoE throw attack. Vicious stuff. Aint no mob going anywhere went I gets my claws inta dem. (Proc city. Assault Radial Tier 4.)

Th' only way they leave is through a cheese grater.

Azrael.

Sovera · June 8, 2022

*crawls out of Manticore's TF* ....two.. hour... long... Over 30 minutes just to kill Hopkins twice... Fighting something that has like 65% Smash resistance tested my will to live.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Sovera

PLVRIZR · June 9, 2022

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

*crawls out of Manticore's TF* ....two.. hour... long... Over 30 minutes just to kill Hopkins twice... Fighting something that has like 65% Smash resistance tested my will to live.

Solo? At what diff?

The upgraded PP Elites are no joke, either...

Sovera · June 9, 2022

6 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

Solo? At what diff?

The upgraded PP Elites are no joke, either...

Solo +1x8, no deaths. PPs were no problem. In fact I can count on the fingers of one hand any PP who managed to get their T9 off thanks to Seismic Smash keeping them perma CC until death.

No, it was basically killing the two AVs at the end. The woman was okay, but dat Hopkins... Tanker damage, no -res, and pure smash was not a good combo against that AV in particular.

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

Well, AVs are bit grindy. I always thought so. Entire teams thraping an AV for 20 mins and wondering why they got nowhere.

That's where I'd call a Rad/Sonic Defender as back up.

I limit my Tanks to doing EBs. I haven't got the patience for solo-AVs.

Would Rad/Stone better for that? And the 'Degen' Interface from the Incarnate Interface?

Anything S*L resistant. We know when we hit that wall in the 40-50s where the debuff based play grinds. GRINDS! I guess I just double up and hit them harder. 😛 I love giving the Malta Gunslinger the Seismic Beatdown.

'You're not Captain America now, are ya?#

Azrael.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Golden Azrael

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

9 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

Solo? At what diff?

The upgraded PP Elites are no joke, either...

I thought some of the mobs were getting upgrades here and there. I even got Taunted by one of them which I hadn't noticed before...

Azrael.

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

On 11/20/2021 at 7:12 PM, Rakshir said:

@Sovera, Could you use Spring Attack with the Fire / Ice build to get another AE and a FF +recharge into the build ? I'm not a big fan of Flight, so will have Super Jump and Combat Jump already.

I'd say. 'Try it.'

I 'DID' put a Force Feedback in Shield Charge on my Shield/MA Tanker. I had 'that' many AoEs in the end I could just use a couple of powers with FF and max out my Melee with Oblivion Set in SC.

I, ofc, find Force Feedbacks best in AoE attacks when surrounded with 'moar' mobs. Both my Shield MA and my Shield Elec Armour are 300% recharge at times (with other recharges taken into consideration...)

Azrael.

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

On 6/9/2020 at 2:40 PM, Rathulfr said:

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

Well, here in the UK, you'd better watch yourself saying dat ta someone. *(Brunker, 'You called me, what?!')

Ok, Sovera. I've read re: the basic idea behind all three builds. The Fridge. The Dragon. The Turtle. The idea: one is safe, one deals the damage and another comes out top in both metrics in terms of 'Balance' for your Brunker terminology? (Is cool for a CoH phrase that caught me off guard and will go down in community Lore. Sure, why NOT a mix of Tank and B****?)

The one question I'd ask Sovera? If they had to give a 'Fun Factor' out of 5 for each one, I wonder how they'd score? I've done Claws on live and HC. I think it's seamless. It is for melee what Energy is for blaster. Pure butter. (Many of the 'old school' sets are silky smooth though. The design on them. Top Notch.) MA is super cool. But I'd rate Stone higher than MA. Will Sovera's Fire/Stone Odyssey supercede even their Fire/MA?

I've saved 'most intriguing' of each build variations to my Mids Folder.

*Tanker Dice rollin' hand. **Gettin' real itchy. (Don't do it Azrael, you've rolled Ten Tanks in a Row...let it go, man. We don't want ta have to take you down tuh the Tank Therapy Centre.)

Azrael.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Golden Azrael

Sovera · June 9, 2022

2 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

I thought some of the mobs were getting upgrades here and there. I even got Taunted by one of them which I hadn't noticed before...

Azrael.

The new ones now do -res (deadly on defense based sets but not much on resistance sets), -def, psi attacks and confuse. Taunting has always been a thing from the juggernauts.

2 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

Well, AVs are bit grindy. I always thought so. Entire teams thraping an AV for 20 mins and wondering why they got nowhere.

That's where I'd call a Rad/Sonic Defender as back up.

I limit my Tanks to doing EBs. I haven't got the patience for solo-AVs.

Would Rad/Stone better for that? And the 'Degen' Interface from the Incarnate Interface?

Anything S*L resistant. We know when we hit that wall in the 40-50s where the debuff based play grinds. GRINDS! I guess I just double up and hit them harder. 😛 I love giving the Malta Gunslinger the Seismic Beatdown.

'You're not Captain America now, are ya?#

Azrael.

Manticore is level 30-35 so no Degenerative yet. Hopkins is -always- a slog though. So even coming out of it disheartened I accept the guy is my kryptonite lite (because I did get him even without envenomed daggers or insps 😛 ).

Otherwise the TF went swimmingly with PPs locked down, juggernauts prevented from bubbling up and even the S/L resistant bosses being slapped down without undully slowing things. Locking the psi/-def/confusing bosses before they could get up my face felt amazing.

This is also part of the 'smooth 'buttery' experience. Sure, we can plow through or wait for the bubbles or T9s to elapse. Or we can prevent them from happening.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Sovera

Sovera · June 9, 2022

10 minutes ago, Golden Azrael said:

Well, here in the UK, you'd better watch yourself saying dat ta someone. *(Brunker, 'You called me, what?!')

Ok, Sovera. I've read re: the basic idea behind all three builds. The Fridge. The Dragon. The Turtle. The idea: one is safe, one deals the damage and another comes out top in both metrics in terms of 'Balance' for your Brunker terminology? (Is cool for a CoH phrase that caught me off guard and will go down in community Lore. Sure, why NOT a mix of Tank and B****?)

The one question I'd ask Sovera? If they had to give a 'Fun Factor' out of 5 for each one, I wonder how they'd score? I've done Claws on live and HC. I think it's seamless. It is for melee what Energy is for blaster. Pure butter. (Many of the 'old school' sets are silky smooth though. The design on them. Top Notch.) MA is super cool. But I'd rate Stone higher than MA. Will Sovera's Fire/Stone Odyssey supercede even their Fire/MA?

I've saved 'most intriguing' of each build variations to my Mids Folder.

*Tanker Dice rollin' hand. **Gettin' real itchy. (Don't do it Azrael, you've rolled Ten Tanks in a Row...let it go, man. We don't want ta have to take you down tuh the Tank Therapy Centre.)

Azrael.

Fun fun I would say the MA version. The first times we do Burn followed by Dragontail and everyrhing is burning, flopping, FF procs acrivates... It is glorious. Someone describbed it as turbo charged blowtorch and it fits.

The cherry on top is the 45% defense. It takes doing content with a ton of debuffs to appreciate how they are not landing.

But with your preference to level with SOs then Ice Melee (do try to stick minimum two damage procs in Burn).

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

Well, that's pretty good going when you put it like that.

The thing is. Every narrative needs a nemesis? Or where would the fun be in CoH if you were completely immune.

Part of the fun reading your Brunker thread is the 'struggle' of your journey to get that holy grail of balance in Defence/Attack for Tanks.

That's the whole challenge of 'what's the best tank?'

Everybody has a solution for the design trade offs involved. In particular, I had fun reading your proc solutions in your Brunker Tank Trinity.

Proccing is something I've got into in the last year. And laser targeting in a Tank build deals aggregate damage or speed. (One you've wrapped your head around them.)

And your cake fest of procs in a couple of powers made me think, 'I want a slice of that...'

Azrael.

Golden Azrael · June 9, 2022

2 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Fun fun I would say the MA version. The first times we do Burn followed by Dragontail and everyrhing is burning, flopping, FF procs acrivates... It is glorious. Someone describbed it as turbo charged blowtorch and it fits.

The cherry on top is the 45% defense. It takes doing content with a ton of debuffs to appreciate how they are not landing.

But with your preference to level with SOs then Ice Melee (do try to stick minimum two damage procs in Burn).

That's good to hear. You have to give it to MA. It's very 'explosive.' Nothing quite beats Crane Kick and the Mob flies 'off camera.' It always gives.

'Turbo-Charged' is a phrase I've come to use on my Tank drive chains. (The FF's have been a recent science for me. Turbo-Charged. The means by which armours and attacks recharge their intentions.) And a Turbo-Charged BLow TOrRcH sounds like rains glorious fun. With a capital F. All dat burning, proccing, floppin'...FF (what does the F stand for *wink. Force Feedback or *********** fun?)

Like you say, I try to move Heaven and Earth (without chopping up my Primary and Secondaries...) to get that 45% Melee cap. If you have that on a Fire/MA. They're going to be difficulty to handle. And like all great fights? It's who gets the 1st punch in...

Aye. My preference IS to level with SOs. Recently, I've softened my stance on this to surgically add the 'odd' Unique IO as they become available. You know, the usual suspects of Panacea, FF's. Global defences. I'd maintain to any 'Starter' Tank or anyone 'new' to Tanking? Just a handful of of Uniques and later, the Tanking ATs can go a long way for relatively little coin. As I've noted re: your build advice. You often include a 'cheap' build option. Ergo. You DON'T have to spend hundreds of millions to have fun. Using your 80/20 rule you can create a fun tank that is 'good enough' for most game content.

The 'two dam' procs in Burn is noted. 🙂

Azrael.

muggtonp · July 17, 2022

Thanks for posting this - I've been stealing it and having a lot of fun. I might just be dumb, but is the one posted under 'leveling' the final product for Fire/MA?

Sovera · July 17, 2022

40 minutes ago, muggtonp said:

Thanks for posting this - I've been stealing it and having a lot of fun. I might just be dumb, but is the one posted under 'leveling' the final product for Fire/MA?

Yep, good catch. It's been up for years and no one ever noticed. I've replaced it for a real leveling build for Fire/MA.

muggtonp · July 18, 2022

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

Yep, good catch. It's been up for years and no one ever noticed. I've replaced it for a real leveling build for Fire/MA.

Alrighty, so to steal the final build properly I WOULD want cobra strike over crippling axe kick

Sovera · July 18, 2022

Just now, muggtonp said:

Alrighty, so to steal the final build properly I WOULD want cobra strike over crippling axe kick

You can have either. Near zero difference if the slotted damage is compared. CAK does a tiny bit more damage and can slot a -res proc if you intend to break pylons. But while leveling there is no point in using Thunder Kick since it is very bad in terms of damage.

For leveling the rotation is something like Storm Kick, Crane Kick, Cobra Strike, Thunder Kick, Storm Kick. If there are gaps then mix in more Thunder Kicks. But around 20-ish the recharge starts kicking in and Thunder Kick can be completely removed from the equation. Without Cobra Strike then Thunder Kick would still be in use until 38.

At max level and depending if you never intend to exemplar pick CAK or Cobra Strike. If you do exemplar lower than 33 then Thunder kick is back on the menu.

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

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