Blackfire Archer (Fire/Trick Arrow) a chronology

[Argentae]

 Just want to emphasize how well the FF +Rech enh are doing. The two in Bonfire and Fissure proc often enough that my effective recharge is significantly in excess of my system values. It makes a difference.
/Stone continues to work out well. Getting like X4 XP between XP boosters and the double XP on TorchBearer, so up to about 47ish this evening. Got Cinders and dropped in a 4 pack of Baz Gaze I had handy.

I'm having increasingly less trouble with +3X8, which is a bellwether for how it will do in end game content once the Alpha is at Tier 3.  It's amazing how well this build does in the late 30's and 40's in terms of clear speed. I expect it will surge forward when I start dropping purple sets in. The MAIN problem is end.  I have a big AOE dmg and debuff chain, and it eats blue like candy. IO sets will help, it remains to be seen how much. I may need to consider end consumption in Alpha selection which is fairly rare for my builds. On the flip side I clear spawns fast enough that adding Intuition of Musculature may be enough speed wise. 

 

Anyone ever done a Controller build for +Res?

 

Not my forte, but it really may make sense with this build. 🙂

Edited January 8 by Argentae

[Argentae]

Dinged 50 last night but didn't get to slot any purple sets etc.

Did some of that tonight. Woof.

BFA is not nearly at final build, but I've got some good sets in finally. 4 purple sets, a 6 pack of Preventative Maintenance in Earth's Embrace, and the two Posi Blast 5 packs plus FF +rech.

 

I was in the mood to bash some Nazis tonight, so I've just been doing Council, but I've been romping through soloing +4/8 (no bosses, I had turned them off). Had two +4/x8 spawns on top of me at once more than one time and fought my way through. Granted, I'm running Rock Armor, so I'm well positioned to deal with Council given the Smashing/Lethal heavy damage.

 

I switched it out for CoT +4/x8 with Bosses, and it was substantially slower, but part of that is because I still haven't optimized my single target attack chain. I have a bunch more dmg procs to scrape together for Char / Ice Arrow, and Seismic Smash is still running lvl 49 SOs.  No sweat clearing it though.

 

The reality is: this build is strong. I have zero incarnate unlocked, so I'm fighting ACTUAL +4s, not +4s with a level shift so they are really only +3s. Earth's Embrace with the layers of mitigation that Fire/TA can stack is very tough indeed.

 

Been a uber long day at work, but I needed to take a break and smash some Nazis... BlackFire Archer was a GREAT pick for this evening. Fun.

Just... Fun. 🙂

I'll finish pulling her build together later this week/weekend and do some realistic comparisons, but this is a contender. Not sure that it will get to Plant/Dark/Dark level, but it's showing early signs of being a top tier combo.

Edited January 11 by Argentae

[Argentae]

It's a periodically re-occurring shock just how much harder +4 Bosses are than +3. 
I went through a whole +4/x8 CoT with 3 +4 Death Mage Bosses per spawn map and it takes a lot longer to take them down. Again, I haven't put in any more ST chain damage, so it's still anemic compared to what it WILL be. Cleared the whole map with no real difficulty, just took some time taking down the three Death Mages at the end of each +4 spawn.

 

********** Alpha Tier 3 slotted **********

 

Since I typed the above, I DID in fact get the Alpha slot opened and equipped with a tier 3 Intuition (Hold, Range, Damage, Def Debuf). I debated a bit between Vigor and Intuition, as the global endred would be VERY helpful, and if I went Core, the +45 Heal would make Earth's Embrace even more effective. Intuition just has more useful stats for me though. Range is really quite helpful when it comes from keeping the psyco imps under control. And this build is all about the damage.😛

 

I've slotted a fair number of Endred to keep up with the VERY end thirsty nature of Fire/TA, but it's working. I was going to go 5 pack of Armageddon in Hot Feet, but I think I'll shift the 5th purple set to Hecatomb in Seismic Smash instead of Armageddon in HotFeet. Hot feet got 5 Ice Mistral instead as it provides much better endred. I was going to put 3 Hecatomb in SS anyway, I'll just up it to 5 instead.

 

Still have a fair bit of playtesting and tweaking to do, but BFA is kicking some serious CoT butt at this point. pretty much a romp through +4/x8 with Rock Armor off. For anything doing much Smashing/Lethal BFA is probably close to unkillable at this point.  

 

This is definitely a top tier combo.

 

Side note: I have found Spirit Ward surprisingly helpful for keep the weakest Imp alive, and I'm using it to hold a Regen Tissue +Regen unique, so it helps me AND the most damaged Imp.
With all the -Def and the multi-layered mitigation, the Imps are decently effective. I resummon when needed, but that's generally only a couple times a map. 

For a build with no self heal in Pri/Sec the Sandman in Poison Gas Arrow and the hefty heal in a fully slotted Earth's Embrace (perma at this point, but I sometimes hold it back to use it as a heal) works pretty well.

 

I'm thinking at this point that I'll go Destiny: Ageless for the Debuff protection and End refresh. For interface, I think I'm going to go raw damage with Reactive. 

 

At some point I may try swapping out /Stone Mastery for /Ice Mastery. Ice Storm would be an awesome addition to my AOE damage chain, though I think I'd really miss Fissure and Seismic Smash. And Earth's Embrace make it feel a lot more like playing a REALLY fun tank!

Edited January 12 by Argentae

[icehero]

So this my up-close in your face Fire/TA build I'm looking at going with when I hit 50.

 

Any advice/thoughts?

Controller2 (Fire Control - Trick Arrow).mbd

[Carnifax]

Flashfire is Fires main AoE control. Personally I wouldn't skip it over Cinders

Ditto for skipping your main single target hold for Ring of Fire. 

Also I wouldn't bother slotting Cages for damage, it's pretty crap damage even then. 

Slotting Kick with a Winters seems wasteful as well. 

 

Overall your single target damage is going to be pretty bad and you've no way to lock a horrible boss down easily. Mez is defense too, something held, falling over or stunned can't hurt you. 

 

Edit : Here's a Fire / Trick I'd go for personally. You lose some s/l def but with Flash Arrow you'll still be okay. Mu is nice because it gives Energy Resists and you still get an AoE, plus Power Sink which is really handy, Fire Control is thristy. And energy damage still lights Oil Slick. I've a Trick Arrow / Elec defender who lives in melee Def numbers are about the same as this and they're fine in close (I also have a Ranged Grav/TA which is what I built this off of). 

 

Proccing up Ice Arrow and Acid gives you a little more damage. Char + Ice means a boss is held, hurt (and debuffed, Ice debuffs damage).

 

Honestly I'd also drop Tactics for Entangling, the immob is handy vs AVs and it has a 20% damage resist debuff to stick on top of Disruption (if you go with it stick in an Acc/Mez Hami-O). 

Quantum Arrow - Controller (Fire - Trick arrow) Mu.mbd

Edited March 5 by Carnifax

[icehero]

1 hour ago, Carnifax said:

Flashfire is Fires main AoE control. Personally I wouldn't skip it over Cinders

Ditto for skipping your main single target hold for Ring of Fire. 

Also I wouldn't bother slotting Cages for damage, it's pretty crap damage even then. 

Slotting Kick with a Winters seems wasteful as well. 

 

Overall your single target damage is going to be pretty bad and you've no way to lock a horrible boss down easily. Mez is defense too, something held, falling over or stunned can't hurt you. 

 

Edit : Here's a Fire / Trick I'd go for personally. You lose some s/l def but with Flash Arrow you'll still be okay. Mu is nice because it gives Energy Resists and you still get an AoE, plus Power Sink which is really handy, Fire Control is thristy. And energy damage still lights Oil Slick. I've a Trick Arrow / Elec defender who lives in melee Def numbers are about the same as this and they're fine in close (I also have a Ranged Grav/TA which is what I built this off of). 

 

Proccing up Ice Arrow and Acid gives you a little more damage. Char + Ice means a boss is held, hurt (and debuffed, Ice debuffs damage).

 

Honestly I'd also drop Tactics for Entangling, the immob is handy vs AVs and it has a 20% damage resist debuff to stick on top of Disruption (if you go with it stick in an Acc/Mez Hami-O). 

Quantum Arrow - Controller (Fire - Trick arrow) Mu.mbd 42.26 kB · 1 download

Very good points. Reason for the extra fire def is for when bored and want to take on some fire farms.

 

After looking at your build and fitting for my needs this is what im thinking. I want him be able solo +4x8

 

 

Quantum Arrow - Controller (Fire - Trick arrow) Mu.mbd