Do you guys like /fire PPP?

[kiramon]

My Necro/Sonic is kinda in flux on its PPP -- I usually use Widow on my other Necros, so figured I might try something different. I was going to use Leviathan, but wasn't really a fan of it outside of the Graphic on Shark skin, lol. 

 

I think If I don't like fire, I'll end up with Mu, just because the energy resist is more useful to me than the cold resist from Shark... 

 

but mind you:

1. I play a very active MM, so Fire works well because I have a nice attack chain with Gloom, Life Drain, Procced Char, Fire Blast, and procced fireball. 

1.5 I got rid of Clarity in favor of Bonfire and haven't missed it.

2. I would have procced attacks in any of the other PPPs, but typically no fire blast replacement

 

My resists are capped in whatever Patron Resists I get, so 75 Cold/Lethal/Smash or Energy/Lethal/Smash for leviathan or mu, respectively. Again, I'm very active and in the thick of things, so resists are good... thinking Mu will make me feel quite tanky, as smash/lethal/energy is very common (esp compared to Cold lol)....

 

Anyways, any thoughts on fire? Are the attacks worth it despite the lack of resist armor?

 

[Nyghtmaire]

It depends on the build. But I would agree with your instinct on Heat Mastery for a Necro/sonic. Bonfire (with KD) and tier 2 zombies (also with KD proc) together are a significant amount of mitigation. My Necro/sonic with fire PPP can reach fairly respectable levels of resistance without a patron shield before bodyguard is factored in. As for the attacks, fireball allows slotting of the annihilation -res proc, as well as the Apoc KD Chance to proc (although the chance for THAT is bit too unreliable for my tastes).  Gloom, life drain and char should be enough, skipping fire blast (why bother?!?). 
 

For tankiness, KD - def/-ToHit - resistance - tip off with life drain

 

Cycling Vorpal radial (with the defense buff), Barrier Core, and even Hybrid Support will do a ton to protect you and your pets (except for the Judgment blast). Alternately, Void -dam is an option, as is Melee (core or radial depending on focus). 
 

With the Lich’s -ToHit, this only adds to the mix (are you slotting for -ToHit at all in the Lich?). Basically, you’ll have a solid foundation of decent resists anyways between sonic dispersion, tough, IOs and slotting/set bonuses which allows for building towards other layers of mitigation/protection. Add in Cardiac, you can reach mid 50’s S/L, ~ low 30s to everything else but Psionic. Admittedly, 50 resistance vs. 75 (+ bodyguard) means you’re taking twice as much actual damage, but with layered defenses, that will happen less often. And of the enemies that are not attacking because they’re knocked down, that’s another layer of pseudo defense. I like the function of two effective layers (Defense/-ToHit and knockdown) to minimize the even needing to consider resistance. 
 

All in all, that’s a long way of saying “it depends.”

[kiramon]

Yeah, I switched to it and have been having an enjoyable time, especially for opening with Bonfire. I much prefer it now that i think about it over the extra resists. 

 

And yes, my Lich is slotted for -tohit. 

[Nyghtmaire]

@kiramon this thread got me so excited, I had to log on to my Necro/Sonic. So thank you!

[kiramon]

3 minutes ago, Nyghtmaire said:

@kiramon this thread got me so excited, I had to log on to my Necro/Sonic. So thank you!

 

I was so worried at first about my pets dying without a heal... their 80-90% resists just laugh at so much xD

[TheSpiritFox]

Fire is my most taken epic pool specifically because of bonfire. I make MMs that aren't that active, I support the pets and take support powers and go tanky, do not take many personal attacks at all, if any. But bonfire's CC is amazing for pet survivability. 

[Dr Causality]

Because of the KB->KD proc Fire Mastery is definitely one of the top MM pools.   It's not only great for soloing, but also adds the most team utility where you rarely need the additional Tankiness of the Epic shields.  

 

Side note:   Personally I feel like the KD proc in Bonfire is a bit game breaking.  Sonic is a good example.  A tier one Epic power like Bonfire that's available to all MM's should not be better than Sonic's T9, but with the KD proc Bonsfire clearly is better.   Bonfire with KD proc has close to the same mitigation as Liquefy, but it's 120s base recharge means you easily have it up every spawn, and high recharge builds can even stack it.   Whereas liquefy with 300s base recharge is only good for special occasions... 

[kiramon]

12 hours ago, Dr Causality said:

Because of the KB->KD proc Fire Mastery is definitely one of the top MM pools.   It's not only great for soloing, but also adds the most team utility where you rarely need the additional Tankiness of the Epic shields.  

 

Side note:   Personally I feel like the KD proc in Bonfire is a bit game breaking.  Sonic is a good example.  A tier one Epic power like Bonfire that's available to all MM's should not be better than Sonic's T9, but with the KD proc Bonsfire clearly is better.   Bonfire with KD proc has close to the same mitigation as Liquefy, but it's 120s base recharge means you easily have it up every spawn, and high recharge builds can even stack it.   Whereas liquefy with 300s base recharge is only good for special occasions... 

I use em both now ^_~

[Hedgefund]

When comparing Liquefy to Bonfire, the conclusion isn't "Bonfire is gamebreaking" it should be "Liquefy sucks".  Because it does.

[Nyghtmaire]

34 minutes ago, Hedgefund said:

When comparing Liquefy to Bonfire, the conclusion isn't "Bonfire is gamebreaking" it should be "Liquefy sucks".  Because it does.

THIS! A mere recharge adjustment would go a long way to reversing its suckiness.

[TheSpiritFox]

Bonfire is the single best patron power masterminds have access to. Fire is the DEFAULT epic power pool for masterminds if you do not need either a shield, power boost, or have a character concept in mind that removes fire as an option. 

 

Edit: Apparently I posted this twice in one thread 

Edited August 13, 2020 by TheSpiritFox

[Nyghtmaire]

7 hours ago, TheSpiritFox said:

Edit: Apparently I posted this twice in one thread 

That’s how good the power pool is! 😂