First time trying to build a Fire/Staff, please tear my build apart and improve it.

[Astalto]

         So after looking at some fiery aura builds (but none that featured Staff Fighting) I attempted to make my own, trying to aim for the goal of 45% defense and capped resists (I assume this is a good baseline for Tankers).

 

         The intention of this build is for general use, doing some soloing with occasional team-play when the opportunity presents itself (going to be exemplaring alot rather than play lvl 50 content only). The influence budget is not an issue; I just want to play the best possible version of Fiery Aura/Staff Fighting.

Tanker (Fiery Aura - Staff Fighting).mbd

[Xandyr]

Take a look at this build I threw together. Your build only has 5pts of KB/KD protection, so be prepared to be knocked around a lot. 

Tanker (Fiery Aura - Staff Fighting).mbd

[Nemu]

I see a lot of the vet posters forsake the core toolkit/principals that contributes to the survival of any particular combo in favor of stacking hard def/resist bonuses at the expense of everything else.  With the influx of new players to the game it's time to call that out and take a more analytical approach to making builds.

 

Here are the build elements you should focus on for anything fire armor in terms of survival, and why:

 

1 - slow resist, because fire armor is pretty dependent on healing flames and the ability to kill quickly for survival. Dead things don't fight back, and you'll want healing flames to be available as much as possible because you WILL be taking hits regardless of how much defense you stack. This means if your recharge is neutered, you can't heal, and you can't attack, and that means you will die.

2 - recharge, for the reasons stated above. You need recharge to kill stuff quickly and cycle healing flames.

3 - resist, because defenses will fail and your core damage mitigation will fall back to resists

4 - defense, it's a cushion to soak alpha strikes

 

Now let's look at what is available in staff fighting to help with those elements:

 

1 - Knock down powers like eye of the storm and sky splitter are good candidates that can fit a force feedback +recharge proc. It's not consistent but a few of these in the build will boost your recharge over time. Knock down powers also contributes to your survival. It's not consistent, but it's synergy nonetheless.

2 - Guarded spin provides some melee defense which is good, but also can fit a luck of the gambler 7.5% IO, and that helps with recharge.

3 - Of the forms, form of the body provides both a damage boost when building stacks, and a resist boost when you consume stacks of perfection with sky splitter. This should be the form you want to be in by default.

 

So here are some priorities when I look at how I want to build fire/staff:

 

1 - recharge, as much recharge as I can fit in while being mindful of some of the secondary objectives I want to achieve, such as

2 - slow resist, don't need to cap it at 100%, but enough so that a base buff or time lord buff will top off, I'm aiming for 80% slow resist with temperature protection

3 - At the very least, decent Smashing/Lethal/Energy resists (which are the more common damage types throughout the game) so that form of the body Skysplitter proc and tank ATO proc will top me off at 90%

4 - enough defense so I can hit 45% melee defense softcap with one guarded spin

 

However, you also want to exemp, and this is something a lot of people overlook. Power picks matter when you plan your build to do lower level content. This means I also need to plan the build in a way that you get the core of your build by level 30 (it's my metric for exemp friendliness, yours may vary), which includes travel, core mitigation features and a decent attack chain. You'll see a lot of build that take stuff like combat jumping at level 47 as an afterthought, that's not how we roll for your build.

 

Hero Tanker
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.6.6 rev. 3
──────────────────────────────

• Primary powerset: Fiery Aura
• Secondary powerset: Staff Fighting
• Pool powerset (#1): Leaping
• Pool powerset (#2): Speed
• Pool powerset (#3): Concealment
• Pool powerset (#4): Fighting
• Epic powerset: Energy Mastery
  

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Blazing Aura

• A: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage
• 3: Superior Avalanche: Damage/Endurance
• 3: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• 5: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 5: Superior Avalanche: Recharge/Chance for Knockdown
  

Level 1: Mercurial Blow

• A: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Damage/RechargeTime
• 19: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• 21: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 43: Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage
• 45: Superior Blistering Cold: Recharge/Chance for Hold
  

Level 2: Healing Flames

• A: Preventive Medicine: Heal
• 19: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance
• 21: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime
• 23: Preventive Medicine: Endurance/RechargeTime
• 23: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
• 27: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb
  

Level 4: Guarded Spin

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 11: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage
• 15: Superior Gauntleted Fist: RechargeTime/+Absorb
• 17: Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 17: Nucleolus Exposure
• 29: Superior Might of the Tanker: Recharge/Chance for +Res(All)
  

Level 6: Fire Shield

• A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance
• 7: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance
• 7: Unbreakable Guard: RechargeTime/Resistance
• 9: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

Level 8: Combat Jumping

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 9: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
• 31: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage
• 33: Blessing of the Zephyr: Knockback Reduction (4 points)
  

Level 10: Hasten

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 11: Invention: Recharge Reduction
  

Level 12: Plasma Shield

• A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance
• 13: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance
• 13: Unbreakable Guard: RechargeTime/Resistance
• 15: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

Level 14: Infiltration

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 45: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)
  

Level 16: Eye of the Storm

• A: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage
• 39: Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Recharge
• 39: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 40: Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 40: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 40: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 18: Burn

• A: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge
• 36: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage
• 37: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 37: Armageddon: Recharge/Accuracy
• 37: Armageddon: Damage
  

Level 20: Staff Mastery

Level 22: Consume

• A: Synapse's Shock: EndMod
• 27: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Rechage
• 33: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Recharge
• 39: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 45: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Accuracy/Endurance
  

Level 24: Boxing

• A: Absolute Amazement: Stun
• 25: Absolute Amazement: Stun/Recharge
• 25: Absolute Amazement: Stun/Recharge/Accuracy
• 31: Absolute Amazement: Recharge/Accuracy
• 49: Absolute Amazement: Stun/Endurance
  

Level 26: Tough

• A: Gladiator's Armor: End/Resist
• 29: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance/Rech/End
• 31: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
  

Level 28: Innocuous Strikes

• A: Nucleolus Exposure
• 34: Armageddon: Damage/Endurance
• 34: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage
• 34: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 36: Ice Mistral's Torment: Chance for Cold Damage
• 36: Fury of the Gladiator: Chance for Res Debuff
  

Level 30: Sky Splitter

• A: Hecatomb: Damage
• 42: Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 42: Hecatomb: Recharge/Accuracy
• 42: Hecatomb: Damage/Endurance
• 43: Hecatomb: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 43: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 32: Weave

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 46: Shield Wall: Defense/Endurance
• 46: Shield Wall: Defense
• 46: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
  

Level 35: Focused Accuracy

• A: Invention: Endurance Reduction
  

Level 38: Taunt

• A: Invention: Range
  

Level 41: Temperature Protection

• A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%
• 48: Steadfast Protection: Knockback Protection
  

Level 44: Fiery Embrace

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
  

Level 47: Serpent's Reach

• A: Apocalypse: Damage
• A: Apocalypse: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• A: Apocalypse: Recharge/Accuracy
• 48: Apocalypse: Damage/Endurance
• 48: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 49: Stealth

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Brawl

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Gauntlet

Level 1: Sprint

• A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth
  

Level 2: Rest

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Swift

• A: Invention: Run Speed
  

Level 1: Health

• A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
• 33: Miracle: +Recovery
  

Level 1: Hurdle

• A: Invention: Jumping
  

Level 1: Stamina

• A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  

Level 1: Combo Level 1

Level 1: Combo Level 2

Level 1: Combo Level 3

Level 20: Form of the Body

Level 20: Form of the Mind

Level 20: Form of the Soul

 

Highlights:

 

+102.5% global recharge bonus

 

80% slow resist (including temperature protection, without it's 60%), enough to be topped off to a very respectable level through base buffs/time lord day job.

 

This is with the Tanker ATO and Sky Splitter - form of the body proc (which lasts 15 seconds)

 

11pts of knockback protection, enough for most content and you can also get a KB protect base buff to further bolster that.

 

This is not including the force feedback procs that I sprinkled into the build and one procced up attack that helps you do a bit more damage.

 

Is this a perfect build? Nothing is perfect.

Does this build have more hard defense/res stats than other builds? Absolutely not.

Does this build play to the combo's strengths more while maintaining a balance between chasing those hard stats and using/strengthening existing synergies? Yeah, I absolutely think so.

Tanker (Fiery Aura - Staff Fighting).mbd

[Sovera]

I've tried to like Staff and brought more than one AT to max level with it but the low single target damage and mediocre AoE eventually wears me down faster than I wear a mob's HP 😄

 

You've done a very good job with the build btw, as a Fire Armor fan I approve. There's a small bit of min-maxing that can be done but honestly I think you nailed 99%. Kudos.

 

 

I would take Temperature Protection pretty last since it is not super needed. I would also slightly lower your S/L resistances since you're already past 90% with just one ATO proc (6.7% per stack to all resistances and it goes up to three stacks and Mids only accounts for one) and two stacks is the norm.

 

.... which, speaking of, you forgot to put it in 😄 Easily fixed though.

 

Innocuous Strikes is probably one AoE too many I feel. Staff is hurting for single target damage and you're skipping Serpent's Reach.

 

With some creative slotting you don't need to toggle Tough and it's becomes just a mule.

 

I would also take Combat Jumping and Super Jump much sooner just in case of exemplaring (or leveling). Hasten will be welcome much sooner as well and I'd honestly put Temperature protection as a level 50 power and grab Hasten by 24-ish since there are so many good powers to grab early on.

 

A +perception unique instead of ToHit/recharge  in Focussed Accuracy would not go amiss either.

 

 

Tanker (Fiery Aura - Staff Fighting).mbd

 

77% resistances looks low but a second ATO stack pushes that to 85% and if you use Barrier (which you should, IMO) will bump that to 90%.  Barrier will also push S/L to 45%-ish (44.6%). If you don't want to use Barrier then push your resistances to roughly 83-84 so a second stack puts them at 90% always remembering more than 90% is useless unlike defense.

 

Your endurance is going to suffer but Staff is uniquely equipped to deal with this with the form that reduces endurance costs and in the next patch Focussed Accuracy is going to have its costs halved which will help. Do get the accolades for endurance to further help though, I have that in my newbie guide signature.

 

 

You have two slots to do whatever with since goals have been reached. A damage proc in your attacks or pushing defense a bit more, etc.