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

[Sovera]

10 minutes ago, TheOSP said:

As I don’t have any of the tanker ATOs(and only 10mil inf), with some scrapper ATOs laying around with plenty of alts with sub 100 merits, should I just single converter roulette a scrapper enhancement til I get a tanker one, then 3 converter roulette til I get the proc? Then rinse/repeat for the other?

 

I have a large amount of dmg procs, both def uniques(both +res as well), plenty of LotG global , and other random sets that I can slot in til I get better stuff. I’m looking forwards to adding some procs to Burn tho. BURN is life! Haha

 

Easier to just sell the Scrapper ATO and buy the other, but honestly I'd say keep the Scrapper ATO for your next Scrapper. CoH is recycling heaven.

 

My next character will be done iron man challenge with no transfers and though I have decided not to play the AH, as in, buy mats, craft, sell back, I did decide I would roulette EVERY non-generic recipe. Even those that require orange salvage as it's always going to be profit (just less profit).

 

If you're not bound by ironman challenge rules then keep rouletting until you get LotG and sell for 7 million. Even with crafting and rouletting you should still even with 3-4 million profit.

[Uun]

13 hours ago, Sovera said:

I did decide I would roulette EVERY non-generic recipe. Even those that require orange salvage as it's always going to be profit (just less profit).

I do this on all my characters. If you spend 5 minutes at the end of each play session it's pretty manageable.

[Gobbledygook]

RISE, OH FIRE ARMOR POST!!!!

 

Ok, now that it has been properly necroed, I have a question.

When is the last time you ran a pure fire build?

[Sovera]

7 hours ago, Gobbledygook said:

RISE, OH FIRE ARMOR POST!!!!

 

Ok, now that it has been properly necroed, I have a question.

When is the last time you ran a pure fire build?

 

Oh, I think the last time I played. Been binging on PoE2, new season of D4, then Thunderspy, and etc, so been a while. I got annoyed at how squishy it was around Yin and it only was a handful of minutes faster than Stone - despite triple PbAoEs - who absolutely cruised through the game.

[Uun]

I've got a Fire/Fire that I play pretty often. 

[Latex]

I'm hoping to make a homage to Magik one of my favourite X-men with a build that's using Fire Armor.

Whilst this is a Tanker forum I think Sovera might be the person to ask about Fire Armor, I figure I might get more damage (and less survivability) as a Scrapper pairing Battle Axe with Fire Armor? Maybe I'm underestimating Tank damage? (I went off Ston's tierlist just to try and gauge it.) The idea is to pull them in with Axe Cyclone into a Burn Patch and watch them melt, then Combat Teleport to the next battle, just like Magik would with her stepping discs.

Trying to make my own build, are there pitfalls to look out for? Skippable powers? Do I need Knockback Protection? Ideally I'd like to hit 45% DEF but lean harder on damage than anything else - I never play solo, the chaos of big teams is something I find more fun.

Totally not Magik - Scrapper (Battle Axe - Fiery Aura).mbd

Edited Sunday at 01:21 AM by Latex
Added Build Idea

[Sovera]

20 hours ago, Latex said:

I'm hoping to make a homage to Magik one of my favourite X-men with a build that's using Fire Armor.

Whilst this is a Tanker forum I think Sovera might be the person to ask about Fire Armor, I figure I might get more damage (and less survivability) as a Scrapper pairing Battle Axe with Fire Armor? Maybe I'm underestimating Tank damage? (I went off Ston's tierlist just to try and gauge it.) The idea is to pull them in with Axe Cyclone into a Burn Patch and watch them melt, then Combat Teleport to the next battle, just like Magik would with her stepping discs.

Trying to make my own build, are there pitfalls to look out for? Skippable powers? Do I need Knockback Protection? Ideally I'd like to hit 45% DEF but lean harder on damage than anything else - I never play solo, the chaos of big teams is something I find more fun.

Totally not Magik - Scrapper (Battle Axe - Fiery Aura).mbd 41.8 kB · 1 download

 

When ever I get asked this question I invariably give the answer people don't want 😄 Which is don't do Fire Armor on a Scrapper.

Fire Armor is a squishy armor, Scrappers are squishy, and then Scrapper values for resistance cap out at 75%. On top of that Fire Armor on a Scrapper has no agro aura so mobs will just run away when they feel like it and doubly so when using Burn.

 

As you play in teams these downsides might not be that bothersome as long as you follow the Tank/Brute.

As for the build.

 

 

Don't slot damage procs into the aura as they will seldomly go off.

 

Slot a Force Feedback in Pendulum or Axe Cyclone, and preferably one in a ST attack somewhere like in Chop since the 6th slot adds little.

 

You kinda want Consume properly slotted, but playing in teams might not make this a problem

 

You want Healing Flames properly slotted, but, again, teams. If you find yourself having problems either in surviving or with endurance you know where to mitigate it, but if not then continue.

 

Temperature protection is just a mule and does not warrant that heavy slotting, nor being picked that early.

 

Only the proc in Swoop is actually worth slotting as the rest of the bonuses are not amazing. You can slot 5 Hectacomb instead, of 4 Kinetic Combat.

 

Consider where you place that Superior Critical Strikes proc. It will not activate for the power it is slotted on but will buff critical chance by 50% for the next 3.5 seconds. Burn is not affected (fairly sure but inquire in the Scrapper forums)) but Cleave is usually a good place for it since in an AoE situation your AoE rotation will be Cleave, Fire Sword Circle, Pendulum, Burn (if up), so both FSC and Pendulum will benefit from the critical chance

 

Speaking of I'd lower the defenses further trying to reach around 33% so that a small purple would bring it naturally to 45%. If you aim for that you're going to free a lot of slots including Burn that in it's current watered down form still wants at least two damage procs. Burn is a good place for things like the Gladiatior -res proc, or the new Cupid proc.

 

You definitely want at least one slot minimum dedicated to <KB (and others might even say three slots). I usually choose the Steadfast Protection -KB and pair it with the Steadfast Protection +defense for that itty bitty extra recovery.

 

Gaussian does not have the best bonuses for a resistance armor. Three Adjusted Targetting will bump your E/N a bit more.

 

Combat Jumping barely gets anything out of slotting for defense. You can take the defense slot from there and throw it in Sprint for two Celerity and get a touch more S/L resistances.

 

Fiery Embrace and Fold Space not being maxed for recharge is almost a sin. Fold Space in particular can have its recharge nearly halved from what you have now. Completed with the Force Feedback procs you could/should be able to use it at every spawn instead of the current every 4th group.

 

 

There is plenty to chew on for now. But if you've been using the build without problems then don't fuss too much because if it works then it works.

 

Edited Sunday at 06:55 PM by Sovera

[Latex]

4 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

When ever I get asked this question I invariably give the answer people don't want 😄 Which is don't do Fire Armor on a Scrapper.

Fire Armor is a squishy armor, Scrappers are squishy, and then Scrapper values for resistance cap out at 75%. On top of that Fire Armor on a Scrapper has no agro aura so mobs will just run away when they feel like it and doubly so when using Burn.

 

As you play in teams these downsides might not be that bothersome as long as you follow the Tank/Brute.

As for the build.

 

 

Don't slot damage procs into the aura as they will seldomly go off.

 

Slot a Force Feedback in Pendulum or Axe Cyclone, and preferably one in a ST attack somewhere like in Chop since the 6th slot adds little.

 

You kinda want Consume properly slotted, but playing in teams might not make this a problem

 

You want Healing Flames properly slotted, but, again, teams. If you find yourself having problems either in surviving or with endurance you know where to mitigate it, but if not then continue.

 

Temperature protection is just a mule and does not warrant that heavy slotting, nor being picked that early.

 

Only the proc in Swoop is actually worth slotting as the rest of the bonuses are not amazing. You can slot 5 Hectacomb instead, of 4 Kinetic Combat.

 

Consider where you place that Superior Critical Strikes proc. It will not activate for the power it is slotted on but will buff critical chance by 50% for the next 3.5 seconds. Burn is not affected (fairly sure but inquire in the Scrapper forums)) but Cleave is usually a good place for it since in an AoE situation your AoE rotation will be Cleave, Fire Sword Circle, Pendulum, Burn (if up), so both FSC and Pendulum will benefit from the critical chance

 

Speaking of I'd lower the defenses further trying to reach around 33% so that a small purple would bring it naturally to 45%. If you aim for that you're going to free a lot of slots including Burn that in it's current watered down form still wants at least two damage procs. Burn is a good place for things like the Gladiatior -res proc, or the new Cupid proc.

 

You definitely want at least one slot minimum dedicated to <KB (and others might even say three slots). I usually choose the Steadfast Protection -KB and pair it with the Steadfast Protection +defense for that itty bitty extra recovery.

 

Gaussian does not have the best bonuses for a resistance armor. Three Adjusted Targetting will bump your E/N a bit more.

 

Combat Jumping barely gets anything out of slotting for defense. You can take the defense slot from there and throw it in Sprint for two Celerity and get a touch more S/L resistances.

 

Fiery Embrace and Fold Space not being maxed for recharge is almost a sin. Fold Space in particular can have its recharge nearly halved from what you have now. Completed with the Force Feedback procs you could/should be able to use it at every spawn instead of the current every 4th group.

 

 

There is plenty to chew on for now. But if you've been using the build without problems then don't fuss too much because if it works then it works.

 

Thanks for the advice here, I think I've got a better build because of it! Not played it yet, I really enjoy having a build before diving in. A few things;

Mainly Scrapper for the big Crits on Battle Axe, my main character is a Sonic/MA Blaster that's 100% Melee, I figure if I survive without issue on her I could on this! I am a little worried about this mobs running away thing, I think in this build most standard mobs will be dead before I even put down Burn.

 

I didn't put Crit Strikes in Cleave, I think primary AOE attack will be;
Axe Cyclone (acts like a reverse repel to pull-in enemies) this will activate crit strikes >
Pendulum this should trigger 100% FF recharge >
Cleave for big damage to also capitalise on crit strikes

I built around Shadow Meld this time, aiming for 45% all DEF while it's active, then focused on Recharge much more to bring the cooldown of that down. Basically I should be able to shrug off 'alpha strikes' if Shadow Meld is active.

Focused much more on Heal, 6 slotted with Preventative Medicine
Also focused more on Consume too, 6 slotted with Synapse's Shock
2 slotted most key recharge powers, like Hasten, Fiery Embrace, and Fold Space
Swapped Combat Jumping for Manoeuvres
Added knockback protection to Combat Teleport
(I can't figure out how to 50+5 Regular IO's but I think Hasten would be Perma in this build.)

I'd really like to fit in Phoenix Rising, it sounds like a very good nuke and a stun? But I really don't think I can give up a single power.


Take a look if you want, maybe there's a bit more polish to add or something vital I've missed, thanks again for your advice! I really like what the Devs have done with Fire, on paper it looks great and all out on the offense which I really love!

Totally not Magik II - Scrapper (Battle Axe - Fiery Aura).mbd

Edited Sunday at 10:59 PM by Latex

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, Latex said:

Thanks for the advice here, I think I've got a better build because of it! Not played it yet, I really enjoy having a build before diving in. A few things;

Mainly Scrapper for the big Crits on Battle Axe, my main character is a Sonic/MA Blaster that's 100% Melee, I figure if I survive without issue on her I could on this! I am a little worried about this mobs running away thing, I think in this build most standard mobs will be dead before I even put down Burn.

 

I didn't put Crit Strikes in Cleave, I think primary AOE attack will be;
Axe Cyclone (acts like a reverse repel to pull-in enemies) this will activate crit strikes >
Pendulum this should trigger 100% FF recharge >
Cleave for big damage to also capitalise on crit strikes

I built around Shadow Meld this time, aiming for 45% all DEF while it's active, then focused on Recharge much more to bring the cooldown of that down. Basically I should be able to shrug off 'alpha strikes' if Shadow Meld is active.

Focused much more on Heal, 6 slotted with Preventative Medicine
Also focused more on Consume too, 6 slotted with Synapse's Shock
2 slotted most key recharge powers, like Hasten, Fiery Embrace, and Fold Space
Swapped Combat Jumping for Manoeuvres
Added knockback protection to Combat Teleport
(I can't figure out how to 50+5 Regular IO's but I think Hasten would be Perma in this build.)

I'd really like to fit in Phoenix Rising, it sounds like a very good nuke and a stun? But I really don't think I can give up a single power.


Take a look if you want, maybe there's a bit more polish to add or something vital I've missed, thanks again for your advice! I really like what the Devs have done with Fire, on paper it looks great and all out on the offense which I really love!

Totally not Magik II - Scrapper (Battle Axe - Fiery Aura).mbd 42.67 kB · 1 download

 

Everything looks well in place. There is barely a gain in defense from switching from Combat Jumping to Maneuvers and the cost is heftier, but it IS an AoE buff and with Consume properly slotted you might not even notice it. I think that you would considering the skimming on the recovery uniques and when in a ST fight, but, if teaming 100% of the time this shouldn't come up.

That said Axe is VERY heavy and you might find your endurance floundering due to said skimming. I remember doing an Axe/Rad Scrapper and despite Rad being very good with endurance it was 100% unable to keep up with Axe even with Recovery Serums running at the same time. But nothing that incarnates won't fix if you notice that this is the case,

 

Shadow Meld is a very solid choice as it replaces small purples. You could even build around it and lower defenses to around 16% and be at the softcap when using Shadow Meld. That would free a heck of slots and slotting. At a glance doing this and swapping for resistance slotting you should be able to aim and reach for 70% resistances and then have Barrier as a panic button (squishy Fire Armor + squishy Scrapper) if Shadow Meld was not enough or it is not up yet, or you're on the verge of dying. Barrier would add another 5% minimum which you can account for, or not and just have it as a panic button.

 

Again, Critical Strikes is not particularly interesting other than the proc. 10% recharge is nice, sure, but it eats a lot of slots for it.

 

Keep in mind that keeping the Critical Strikes proc in Axe Cyclone will work as you say, but are you going to be using Axe Cyclone for a ST moment? Be it AV or even a regular boss? Where Cleave will be used for ST and for AoE since Cleave + Pendulum + Axe Cyclone is a self contained AoE rotation. So if nothing else I'd swap the slotting of Axe Cyclone and Cleave.

 

Without Gash you'll have gaps in the ST rotation but both Burn and Moonbeam can take over. Cleave + Swoop + Chop leaves around a second and a half at which point alternate with Burn or Moonbeam, which ever is up.

 

 

Lastly, to boost slots you right click the IO and then before selecting it you hit + on your keyboard 5 times.