Fire/Storm/Earth build advice

Miss Magical · August 5, 2021

Hello! So, for reasons of theme, my brain insists it wants to play this exact combo. Apparently, the good folks on Excelsior somehow allowed the name Spellmistress to go unclaimed for however many years your servers have existed. This just calls for a classic elemental mage, and a controller is the only way to get all 4 Aristotelian elements on a single character. (The only possible alternative is a diabolical elementary school English teacher. Probably dark/poison. But that's a lot less sexy.)

I even have a snazzy costume all ready to go:

But I actually haven't played either of these sets before. So, I'm turning to you for advice! I want a controller that is able to perform adequately in the modern meta environment of high-DPS, fast-moving, TF/incarnate trial speedrun teams (even if these powersets might not be optimal for such a goal). Hence, the chief concerns are damage and +def.

The build:

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Spellmistress: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Sorcery
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char

(A) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
(3) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
(3) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
(5) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage
(5) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb
(7) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)

Level 1: Gale

(A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 2: Fire Cages

(A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
(11) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
(13) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage
(13) Trap of the Hunter - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
(15) Superior Overpowering Presence - RechargeTime/Energy Font
(50) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure

Level 4: Arcane Bolt

(A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge
(15) Explosive Strike - Chance for Smashing Damage
(17) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
(17) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)
(19) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage
(50) Apocalypse - Damage

Level 6: Mystic Flight

(A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure

Level 8: Hot Feet

(A) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
(19) Armageddon - Damage
(21) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 10: Steamy Mist

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(21) Reactive Defenses - Defense
(23) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance
(23) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
(25) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 12: Flashfire

(A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration
(25) Superior Will of the Controller - Control Duration/Recharge
(27) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge
(27) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge
(29) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage

Level 14: Hasten

(A) Recharge Reduction IO
(29) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 16: Freezing Rain

(A) Accuracy IO
(31) Recharge Reduction IO
(31) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff

Level 18: Cinders

(A) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold
(31) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge
(33) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
(33) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge
(33) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold

Level 20: Snow Storm

(A) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 22: Maneuvers

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(34) Reactive Defenses - Defense
(34) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance
(34) Kismet - Accuracy +6%

Level 24: O2 Boost

(A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

Level 26: Boxing

(A) Empty

Level 28: Tough

(A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
(36) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance
(36) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist

Level 30: Weave

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(36) Reactive Defenses - Defense
(37) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance

Level 32: Fire Imps

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
(37) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
(37) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(39) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
(39) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up

Level 35: Fissure

(A) Ragnarok - Damage
(39) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
(40) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(40) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
(40) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance
(42) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 38: Lightning Storm

(A) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
(42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
(43) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
(43) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)
(43) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown

Level 41: Tornado

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
(45) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
(45) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(45) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
(46) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

Level 44: Rock Armor

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(46) Reactive Defenses - Defense
(46) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance

Level 47: Seismic Smash

(A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
(48) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(48) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
(48) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
(50) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 49: Earth's Embrace

(A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Celerity - +Stealth

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 1: Swift

(A) Flight Speed IO

Level 1: Hurdle

(A) Jumping IO

Level 1: Health

(A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance
(7) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
(9) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
(9) Endurance Modification IO
(11) Endurance Modification IO

Level 4: Arcane Power

Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
------------

The build goals are:

Permahasten with 1 Force Feedback proc
Softcapped S/L defense
Tohit chance capped vs +3 enemies (Fire Cages at 93.94%)

This build must take either intuition radial or musculature alpha (i.e. the ones that give damage) and Assault radial hybrid. This means I can't rely on either of these slots to solve problems regarding end, +def or accuracy - the loss of damage is likely too high.

I am undecided on the lv24 power choice and considering tactics, hurricane or O2 boost (which is what the build currently has):

Tactics: costs a lot of end and the build already has -def.
Hurricane: costs a lot of end, terrain to use it effectively is not common, time spent moving to maneuver enemies with the hurricane (and hence not casting) is a loss of damage.
O2 Boost: It's a container for Preventive Medicine and stops the tank from dying to Lord Recluse's -end attacks. That's about it.

While this build has no heal, the hardcapped HP and constant absorb procs going off from Char should prevent it from being too fragile.

Snow storm is used for grounding enemies so they sit in freezing rain and get eaten by imps. Bonfire is normally good, but skipped here since there is already a knockdown patch in freezing rain. Similarly, Thunderclap is skipped for Fissure which has a smaller radius but deals damage. I am not certain about the slotting in Lightning Storm and the location of the Apocalypse set; I have considered putting the 5-Apoc in Arcane Bolt and proccing Lightning Storm instead, or 5-slotting an Armageddon in Hot Feet and proccing both Arcane Bolt/Lightning Storm. Note that there is no sudden acceleration knockback --> knockdown in Gale, which is intentional: since I am skipping Hurricane I intend to use this instead for moving enemies (e.g. clearing Keyes reactor terminals).

Please leave your thoughts. Thanks!

DreadShinobi · August 5, 2021

Remove the Superior Entomb from Char, it is gutting your proc chances. Put the Entomb in Seismic Smash.

Slot Fire Cages 5 posi blasts + bombardment. skip the posi dmg/rchg. You lose less than 6 average damage by taking out the extra two procs (and you come out even post containment application) and get the posi blast set bonuses. It also really needs the endredux from the posi blasts.

Put the full 5 pc armageddon set in Hot Feet.

5 Slot Steamy Mist -- lotg +7.5 rchg, lotg-def, gladi armor unique, gladi-res, and gladi end/res

2 slot maneuvers -- lotg +7.5 rchg, lotg-def

2 slot weave -- lotg +7.5 rchg, lotg-def

2 slot rock armor -- lotg +7.5 rchg, lotg-def

base slot tough -- steadfast res/def

the S/L res is inconsequential. the 40% extra regen affects your layered mitigation vs all damage types, see below the note on health to boost your regen further.

+5 boost all these IOs

5 slot Freezing Rain with Ragnaroks, achilles optional. Achilles can also work more consistently in tornado if you spawn it directly on the intended debuff recipient.

Switch Ragnaroks in Fissure to Posi Blast - the single proc is higher value than the purple set here.

Remove the forcefeedback in Arcane Bolt, put it in Tornado.

Lightning Storm does not need kb-kd, fire cages provides kb resist to critters.

Drop Snow Storm for Rune of Protection, Assault, or Bonfire.

Rune of Protection is very nice for dangerous mezzes and also harmless brief mezzes because it prevents your hot feet from detoggling losing you immediate dps and retoggling animation.

Consider dropping o2 boost for any of the above.

If you drop o2 boost consider 6 slotting preventive medicine in Earths Embrace

With the slots saved above you probably have enough slots to put 5 absolute amazements in Boxing, and drop Cinders to 4 basilisks gaze.

Hasten can be 1 slot

Alongside the numina regen/recov in health you can slot a +5 numina: heal. This gives +33% regen, more than any other single slot can give, for any build. It is a superbly valuable slot that most people don't know about. For your build capped at 1606 hp with earths embrace this single slot provides 2.23 hp/sec, or 133.8 hp/min.

Drop Intuition for Vigor Core Paragon - this will fix your endurance issue, it lets you save an enormous amount of slots in your toggles by slotting as shown above, gives you an accuracy boost to drop the kismet, and adds heal value to o2 boost, earths embrace, and a little extra base regen. The endurance reduction applied to toggles is a massive slot saver, but it also applies to every attack you have - notably the massive end cost in Tornado, Lightning Storm, Fire Cages, Seismic Smash, Cinders, Flashfire, and Freezing Rain. Char is also actually a very high end cost because of the 1 second animation and is otherwise not going to be slotted for endredux, saving an extra 2.1 endurance every time you cast char alone is a big deal for your blue bar. Your build goal to restrict yourself to Intuition/Muscles is a bit ridiculous because your character will literally go OOM with just your toggles running and putting Char on auto cast against a target dummy. Powers at 97.3% enhanced damage go up to 121% with intuition radial. That 23.7% dmg buff is not worth what vigor core will do for your build. That 1 red insp is not worth the amount of blue insps you will need to chug to play this character.

Edited August 5, 2021 by DreadShinobi

Corythia · August 5, 2021

This would probably put a cramp in some of your desired min-maxxing, but when I made my Fire/Storm/Earth I went with a concept I had been wanting to try for a while which was making heavy use of Gale as a control power. I named her Gail Warning. I ended up 5 slotting Gale for end reduction, accuracy, and recharge along with the kb to kd. It is wildly effective. I was on a +4/Kill most ITF this weekend and was able to completely shut down pretty much everything with her using a build that's a lot less optimal than yours.

Just a thought, it's really fun and surprisingly effective, giving much more control/safety than Fire/Storm would otherwise have.

I just noticed you left out Thunder Clap. You realize that with Flashfire + Thunderclap you can aoe stun bosses ... I think it's one of the better combo's available to this build.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Corythia
Thunderclap comment

Miss Magical · August 5, 2021

6 hours ago, DreadShinobi said:

...

Thanks for taking time to provide very detailed, quantitative, well-reasoned and comprehensive advice that bore in mind my original build goals of maximizing damage and defense. I think if there's a gold standard for build advice, it would be something like this: concrete suggestions, backed up by numbers and sound reasoning.

Now, I have to admit that when I first read your post, it didn't make a lot of sense to me. 2-slot weave? 6-slot earth's embrace? Lots of posiblasts? Does this actually work? But I put it together for a look:

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Spellmistress v2b: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Sorcery
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char

(A) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
(3) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
(3) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
(5) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage
(5) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)

Level 1: Gale

(A) Accuracy IO

Level 2: Fire Cages

(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
(11) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
(13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
(13) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(15) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)

Level 4: Arcane Bolt

(A) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
(15) Explosive Strike - Chance for Smashing Damage
(17) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)
(17) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage
(19) Apocalypse - Damage

Level 6: Mystic Flight

(A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure

Level 8: Hot Feet

(A) Armageddon - Damage
(19) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(21) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
(21) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
(23) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage

Level 10: Steamy Mist

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
(25) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
(25) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance
(27) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist

Level 12: Flashfire

(A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration
(27) Superior Will of the Controller - Control Duration/Recharge
(29) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge
(29) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge
(31) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage

Level 14: Hasten

(A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 16: Freezing Rain

(A) Ragnarok - Damage
(31) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
(31) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(33) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
(33) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance

Level 18: Cinders

(A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
(33) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
(34) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
(34) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold

Level 20: Maneuvers

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(34) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 22: Assault

(A) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 24: Boxing

(A) Empty

Level 26: Bonfire

(A) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown

Level 28: Tough

(A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 30: Weave

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 32: Fire Imps

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
(36) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
(36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(37) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
(37) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up

Level 35: Fissure

(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
(37) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
(39) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
(39) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(39) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
(40) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 38: Lightning Storm

(A) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
(40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
(42) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
(42) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 41: Tornado

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
(42) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
(43) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(43) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
(43) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown
(45) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 44: Seismic Smash

(A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
(45) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(45) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
(46) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
(46) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)
(46) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb

Level 47: Earth's Embrace

(A) Preventive Medicine - Heal
(48) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance
(48) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime
(48) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime
(50) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
(50) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

Level 49: Rock Armor

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

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Celerity - +Stealth

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 1: Swift

(A) Flight Speed IO

Level 1: Hurdle

(A) Jumping IO

Level 1: Health

(A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance
(7) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
(7) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
(9) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
(9) Endurance Modification IO
(11) Endurance Modification IO

Level 4: Arcane Power

Level 50: Vigor Core Paragon
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
------------

And it's... seriously good! I didn't catch on to regen as a possible 2nd layer of protection, but on a HP-capped character it just makes a lot of sense. Earth's embrace is now a 900+ HP heal, the endurance situation is much improved, and taking assault instead of tactics even makes up most of the damage lost from not having Intuition radial. Force Feedback in the tornado makes much more sense (so it can proc even when I'm not busy blasting).

I might try a posiblast instead of ragnarok in freezing rain for the damage proc, and maybe try to eke out a slot somewhere for an achiles heel, but I don't see any way I can improve on this. I plan to take Clarion, so I decided to take bonfire over rune of protection.

The reliance on the alpha slot to provide endrdx and acc means that the build only works at level 45+. I have a preference for builds that work well at both 45+ and exemplared, which is why I usually prefer to get only damage from the alpha slot. But this is actually good enough that I'll forego the rule in this case, and just come up with another build for exemplaring (probably replacing assault with tactics, and redistributing the slots from earth's embrace into cytoskeletons for the def toggles).

Thanks again for your comments!

Miss Magical · August 5, 2021

2 hours ago, Corythia said:

This would probably put a cramp in some of your desired min-maxxing, but when I made my Fire/Storm/Earth I went with a concept I had been wanting to try for a while which was making heavy use of Gale as a control power. I named her Gail Warning. I ended up 5 slotting Gale for end reduction, accuracy, and recharge along with the kb to kd. It is wildly effective. I was on a +4/Kill most ITF this weekend and was able to completely shut down pretty much everything with her using a build that's a lot less optimal than yours.

Just a thought, it's really fun and surprisingly effective, giving much more control/safety than Fire/Storm would otherwise have.

I just noticed you left out Thunder Clap. You realize that with Flashfire + Thunderclap you can aoe stun bosses ... I think it's one of the better combo's available to this build.

My reasoning for deliberately using knockback in Gale and skipping Thunderclap are explained in the original post. I am skipping Hurricane, so I plan to use Gale as knockback for those rare occasions where I need to move things around - Keyes terminals are the big one. (Nobody ever wants to clear the terminals so I can charge them!) Between tornadoes, freezing rain, bonfires, lightning storms and fissure, there are a lot of knockdown powers, and most of them do damage or -res or don't eat up valuable animation time. So I'll try out Gale while leveling, but I don't predict it will be significant once the build starts getting core powers in the 20's to 30's.

Thunderclap would normally be taken to combine with Flashfire. However, Earth APP means that Fissure is taken instead, which not only serves the same function on a lower recharge, but deals damage. It's even usable as low as level 30 when exemplared!

Carnifax · August 5, 2021

Earth's Embrace is also an option for slotting the 2 +Def resist uniques if you are skipping Fighting, very useful on my "I need Sorcery AND Teleport" Ice/Traps controller.

DreadShinobi · August 6, 2021

12 hours ago, Miss Magical said:

Thanks for taking time to provide very detailed, quantitative, well-reasoned and comprehensive advice that bore in mind my original build goals of maximizing damage and defense. I think if there's a gold standard for build advice, it would be something like this: concrete suggestions, backed up by numbers and sound reasoning.

Now, I have to admit that when I first read your post, it didn't make a lot of sense to me. 2-slot weave? 6-slot earth's embrace? Lots of posiblasts? Does this actually work? But I put it together for a look:

Reveal hidden contents

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Spellmistress v2b: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Sorcery
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char

(A) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic)

(3) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic)

(3) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal)

(5) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage

(5) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)

Level 1: Gale

(A) Accuracy IO

Level 2: Fire Cages

(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage

(11) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance

(13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range

(13) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(15) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)

Level 4: Arcane Bolt

(A) Decimation - Chance of Build Up

(15) Explosive Strike - Chance for Smashing Damage

(17) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic)

(17) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage

(19) Apocalypse - Damage

Level 6: Mystic Flight

(A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure

Level 8: Hot Feet

(A) Armageddon - Damage

(19) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(21) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge

(21) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance

(23) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage

Level 10: Steamy Mist

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

(23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

(25) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)

(25) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance

(27) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist

Level 12: Flashfire

(A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration

(27) Superior Will of the Controller - Control Duration/Recharge

(29) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge

(29) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge

(31) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage

Level 14: Hasten

(A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 16: Freezing Rain

(A) Ragnarok - Damage

(31) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge

(31) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(33) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge

(33) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance

Level 18: Cinders

(A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold

(33) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge

(34) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold

(34) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold

Level 20: Maneuvers

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

(34) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 22: Assault

(A) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 24: Boxing

(A) Empty

Level 26: Bonfire

(A) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown

Level 28: Tough

(A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 30: Weave

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

(36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 32: Fire Imps

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage

(36) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance

(36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(37) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge

(37) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up

Level 35: Fissure

(A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage

(37) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance

(39) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge

(39) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

(39) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)

(40) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 38: Lightning Storm

(A) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge

(40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge

(42) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance

(42) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 41: Tornado

(A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage

(42) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance

(43) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(43) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge

(43) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

(45) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge

Level 44: Seismic Smash

(A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge

(45) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

(45) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge

(46) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance

(46) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)

(46) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb

Level 47: Earth's Embrace

(A) Preventive Medicine - Heal

(48) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance

(48) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime

(48) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime

(50) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance

(50) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb

Level 49: Rock Armor

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

(50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Celerity - +Stealth

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 1: Swift

(A) Flight Speed IO

Level 1: Hurdle

(A) Jumping IO

Level 1: Health

(A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance

(7) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery

(7) Numina's Convalesence - Heal

(9) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

(9) Endurance Modification IO

(11) Endurance Modification IO

Level 4: Arcane Power

Level 50: Vigor Core Paragon
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 50: Portal Jockey
Level 50: Task Force Commander
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion
------------

And it's... seriously good! I didn't catch on to regen as a possible 2nd layer of protection, but on a HP-capped character it just makes a lot of sense. Earth's embrace is now a 900+ HP heal, the endurance situation is much improved, and taking assault instead of tactics even makes up most of the damage lost from not having Intuition radial. Force Feedback in the tornado makes much more sense (so it can proc even when I'm not busy blasting).

I might try a posiblast instead of ragnarok in freezing rain for the damage proc, and maybe try to eke out a slot somewhere for an achiles heel, but I don't see any way I can improve on this. I plan to take Clarion, so I decided to take bonfire over rune of protection.

The reliance on the alpha slot to provide endrdx and acc means that the build only works at level 45+. I have a preference for builds that work well at both 45+ and exemplared, which is why I usually prefer to get only damage from the alpha slot. But this is actually good enough that I'll forego the rule in this case, and just come up with another build for exemplaring (probably replacing assault with tactics, and redistributing the slots from earth's embrace into cytoskeletons for the def toggles).

Thanks again for your comments!

Regen slotting is a big deal for sets like poison and storm summoning. It is the only way you're regaining health outside a green insp. When you have a defense softcap and a good chunk of resists, the regen you have just goes farther and farther towards tank mage goodness.

Freezing Rain and other rain powers have crap for proc chances - mids is incorrect in its display of 90% chance.

Freezing Rain is slotted with Ragnaroks so you arent wasting slots frankenslotting for value while missing out on set bonus opportunity. +5 Ragnaroks = 97.39% rchg redux, 41.41 endredux, 74.41 with Vigor Core - these are the values you want for Freezing Rain, the damage doesnt matter, the set bonuses do. +5 Posi Blasts only gives 33.13% rchg, not good enuf.

Pick up a full stack of recovery serum temps from p2w vendor, these help alot with exemplaring. You can also get sg base buff recovery and recharge. If you +5 your gladi armors the kb protection will not exemp with you, but you can get 10 pts of knockback protection from sg base buff. These last 90 mins iirc and will last you through the full TF or multiple tasks.

The build will inevitably work just fine exemplared with purple set bonuses staying with you. Posi Blasts are great to attune and not +5 boost because they exemp to lvl 17. Preventive Medicine also attune this one it exemps to lvl 17. Your 2 sets of expedient reinforcement attuned exemp to lvl 27, you can also choose call to arms and exemp those set bonuses to lvl 7. Basilisks gaze attuned exemps to lvl 7. LotGs can be attuned also but I prefer to +5 those. Freezing Rain defense debuff at high recharge with all those exemped purple and attuned set bonuses will fix accuracy issues without Vigor handily.

Since you added Assault, which I agree with, you could also try Vengeance instead of Bonfire since you have a ton of KD already. Vengeance gives you that 5th lotg slot.

Don't forget to change one of the basic endmod IOs in stamina to performance shifter. Free movement speed set bonus.

Edited August 6, 2021 by DreadShinobi

Argentae · August 7, 2021

This a fantastic thread! Many thanks. 🙂

I just hit 38 with my Fire/Storm Lavan, and have been having a ton of fun with the stacked KD of FR, Bonfire (with KB->KD) and Tornado (also KD). I find myself considering waffling between /Ice and /Stone. As all /Storm, the lack of a self heal/downtime reducer is keenly felt.

Any thoughts?

I’m slightly leaning towards going /ice and getting Hibernate at 38 and LS next, then armor, then Ice Storm which should be a great AOE damage option.

I figure do Alpha strike, dropping all pseudo pets (FR, Bonfire, Tornado, LS) another then if I’m taking enough damage, turtle up and either come out with another full round of AOE control if needed, pseudo pets etc… Or bring up Hurricane before dropping Hibernate if I need to break off and regroup. Seems like a perfect panic button and heal/recovery in one?

Hmmm…

Earth vs Ice.

Armors seem pretty even.

Hibernate + Ice Storm

vs

Earth’s Embrace + Fissure or Seismic Smash.

Ive focused more on AOE than single target in this build, and all the stacked Pseudo Pets and Imps have been doing quite well…

Plays VERY differently from my -ToHit focused Dark/Dark! Part of what I love about Controllers. So many ways to build them.

Carnifax · August 7, 2021

5 hours ago, Argentae said:

This a fantastic thread! Many thanks. 🙂

I just hit 38 with my Fire/Storm Lavan, and have been having a ton of fun with the stacked KD of FR, Bonfire (with KB->KD) and Tornado (also KD). I find myself considering waffling between /Ice and /Stone. As all /Storm, the lack of a self heal/downtime reducer is keenly felt.

Any thoughts?

I’m slightly leaning towards going /ice and getting Hibernate at 38 and LS next, then armor, then Ice Storm which should be a great AOE damage option.

I figure do Alpha strike, dropping all pseudo pets (FR, Bonfire, Tornado, LS) another then if I’m taking enough damage, turtle up and either come out with another full round of AOE control if needed, pseudo pets etc… Or bring up Hurricane before dropping Hibernate if I need to break off and regroup. Seems like a perfect panic button and heal/recovery in one?

Hmmm…

Earth vs Ice.

Armors seem pretty even.

Hibernate + Ice Storm

vs

Earth’s Embrace + Fissure or Seismic Smash.

Ive focused more on AOE than single target in this build, and all the stacked Pseudo Pets and Imps have been doing quite well…

Plays VERY differently from my -ToHit focused Dark/Dark! Part of what I love about Controllers. So many ways to build them.

Fissure stacks well with Flashfire and the stun in Tornado, and is another good place for Forced Feedbacks (along with Tornado and Lightning Storm). Nowadays with it being chainable (won't stack but will extend and no lockout period any more) you can sustain it nicely. Seismic is the heaviest hitting controller attack going, holds bosses and takes a lot of procs. And since Fire likes melee range thanks to Hotfeet you aren't forcing yourself in to use them. Ice Storm is fine but not amazing (meh for procs as it's a patch).

Both sets have spots for the Resist set uniques (Frozen armour and Earth's Embrace) but you have Steamy anyway.

Hibernate is good as "combat rest", excellent for End heavy stormies who can Hib up and let the chaos carry on around them. Frost breath is slow but not terrible as more AoE.

If your End woes are tolerable I'd go Earth. If you can deal with the look of Earth Armour (Ice is ugly too but can be tinted dark blue / purple to become tolerable).

Corythia · August 9, 2021

I would probably recommend Earth as well, you will be in the middle of the mobs for your Hot Feet to be working, which is exactly where you want to be for Fissure and Seismic Smash. With Ice, you have to get outside the mobs to line up frost breath, which is a great power, but works much better with a controller who is staying at range. If you find yourself spending most of your time at range, then perhaps Ice would be better. Earth's Embrace, if slotted is a good heal and doesn't take you out of the fight like Hibernate does. The nice thing about /Storm is that there is so much KD that you can be in the middle fairly safely.

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