Fire/Fire Build help

[The Forest Ninja]

I was hoping that I could get a few opinions on this build. The idea is to do tons of AOE damage using combat teleport and PBAOE's including Hot Feet, Inferno,  Bonfire, Fireball, Fire Sword Circle, Rain of Fire, and Fire Breath. I plan to keep health and endurance up using Cauterizing Wounds and Consume. At the end of a group the plan is to finish up with Blaze and Blazing Bolt. I plan to usually be with a group, so external heals and other buffs are expected, and it is likely I will have some form of a tank to help out with agro, but I want to be mostly concerning myself with eliminating mobs as fast as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions for boosting damage/recharge or think that there is anything redundant in the build? Thanks in advance!

 

Puf 2.0 - Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd

[Snarky]

Without comment on your build I will share mine.  just an hour ago finished a 1 star ITF on him.  I have run him a lot.  He has fly on almost all the time.  I just him aim, buildup, float in, nuke, maybe more pbaoe.  Then out, two rains, some more ranged aoe, some ST.

 

This is a maximum damage build effort.  Alpha is musculature +45% dam.  Interface is reactive 75% damage proc. Hybrid is assault damage with an immediate restrike for enegy damage.  

 

 

 

 

Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation) 2024 v 2.01.mbd

[ForestNinja]

I tried reworking a few things and fine tuning the build overall. I swapped a few powers, dropping flight for leadership and worked in some more set bonusses that seemed appropriate. I seem to have some pretty good Damage, Accuracy, To Hit Buff and Recharge. Anyone have any suggestions? I just reached 50, so i will be beginning to work on incarnate XP as I gather recipes and salvage. Thanks for the help!

Puf 2.0 - Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd

[Maelwys]

Your build is a bit... all over the place.

• Fireball, Rain of Fire, Fire Breath and Blaze have ED-capped damage but Fire Sword Circle and Blazing Bolt don't. None of them are procced out.
• Aim and Build Up are way overslotted and you've put the Gaussian Proc in Combat Teleport??
• Hot Feet isn't noticeably slotted for Damage, Endurance Reduction or Slow.
• Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet)
• You've taken Rune of Protection, which is fine, but it's not slotted for Damage Resistance and you're not alternating it with a similar buff like Melee Core.
• Fire Shield has no resistance slotting beyond the Steadfast +Def Unique.
• Maneuvers seems to be used as a mule for Defence Uniques, but it includes the Kismet Unique which functions as a proc not a set bonus.
• No Combat Jumping on a mobile powerset with multiple PBAoEs.
• The Fury of the Gladiator -Res Proc is in Rise of the Pheonix?
• NO BURN??!? 🤯 🔥 😛

If you're going for maximum damage, slot for damage% but for recharge% pay close attention to Proc rates ("PPM" aka "Procs per Minute") - Mids does a reasonable job of calculating the average damage of "damage procs" in various powers, however other stuff like -Res procs and the Gaussian you'll need to calculate the rate manually based on the properties of the power and how much +recharge you've got slotted in it. In general for procs you'll want to go for low amounts of recharge slotting in the power itself, and high amounts of Global Recharge from things like Hasten, Set Bonuses and Ageless Incarnate. This plus this will get you exact values - Maximum Proc rate is 90% so if you're over that then you can add more recharge slotting.

Unfortunately I don't have a recent Fire/Fire/Fire build immediately to hand - the closest is a Fire/Ice/Fire, but it's a very similar idea - kill all the things as fast as possible.
Should be a reasonable starting point at least -
Blaster - Fire Blast - Ice Manipulation.mbd 
 

Edited May 8 by Maelwys

[Troyusrex]

I don’t have Mids loaded so I can’t talk specifics to this build, but the general advice from @Maelwys looks strong. Procs are very helpful. 
 

My one specific is that if you are going to do PBAOE then strongly slotting hot feet for slow makes a tremendous difference. You can’t hurt people if they run out of your radius. Without a good boost to the slow effect hot feet will simply drive everyone away. My very extensive experience in this shows that slow is far more valuable than damage on Hot Feet. 

[ForestNinja]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I will comment on @Maelwys comments so you have a better understanding of how I got where I did and what I might be misunderstanding.

 

 

 

Your build is a bit... all over the place.

I agree that is not conventional, but it made sense when I was building it...

• Fireball, Rain of Fire, Fire Breath and Blaze have ED-capped damage but Fire Sword Circle and Blazing Bolt don't. None of them are procced out.

ED was not my primary concern. I was mostly looking for high global damage buffs. I tried including every global damage buff I could fit, but that build was atrocious. This build felt like it took advantage of global boosts while still taking advantage of a few other things like accuracy, regen, recovery, and recharge when damage was not easy to achieve. Blazing bolt is (according to Mids) doing 1582 damage. That seems pretty good. I don't think it needs any more damage, but I guess I would not mind it if I could find another slot to give it. As far as fire sword circle goes, I'm not sure what your point is. If your argument is that I should ED cap, then why are my other powers an issue, and if it is not, then why does it matter that FSC and BB are not. Lastly, all of the powers you listed have procs in them. I'm not sure what you mean by saying they are not procced out. Do you mean only slotting with procs? That doesn't make sense to me, but I may not understand procs completely. I think I need to read about them some more.

• Aim and Build Up are way overslotted and you've put the Gaussian Proc in Combat Teleport??

Aim and Build Up (and Combat teleport for that matter) are 5 slotted Gaussian for the 2.5% damage bonus x 3 in addition to the damage bonuses they all carry anyway. I put the proc in Combat Teleport because I assumed I would be using it more often, so it would have a better chance of triggering. Again, I don't fully understand procs, so I may have made a poor choice here. 

• Hot Feet isn't noticeably slotted for Damage, Endurance Reduction or Slow.

Totally valid point. I think this is a great observation. Slow is probably what I should be slotting this for. I will definitely try to work out a better slow slotting here.

• Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet)

This is probably a misunderstanding on my part. So this will not give +feedback for myself every time I activate the power? That does change things. As far as the knockback goes, does it stop being knockback and just become knockdown because of the Sudden Acceleration? I am definitely having a hard time with these procs.

• You've taken Rune of Protection, which is fine, but it's not slotted for Damage Resistance and you're not alternating it with a similar buff like Melee Core.

To be honest, I did not completely realize that this was a click power and not a toggle. My primary purpose for this was a Mez protection. It may not be what I need it to be. As far as Melee core is concerned, I dont have any incarnates chosen. I dont know enough about them yet. I have not been too concerned with Damage mitigation in general. I dont expect to be a tank. I am likely more of a glass cannon. With a decent healer/buffer along, my personal protections will be redundant and with a decent tank along I should be dropping the mobs before I gain agro. That being said, this is probably the biggest problem with this build. It is mostly overcome with some inspirations though, so maybe its a risk worth taking. For what it is worth, I thought it would be a better idea to put procs in it than slot for resistance. Assuming keeping 3 slots, would you recommend procs or slot for Resistance?

• Fire Shield has no resistance slotting beyond the Steadfast +Def Unique.

This felt like a weak power that could benefit from some procs, but was not really needed overall. It would likely be a first power to drop if I am short on endurance, but I might as well slot it with some useful procs. The real reason I took it was to get the rez. The more I think about it though, maybe the res is unnecessary and that could mean dropping the Fire epic completely for other powers or maybe Force Mastery. Then again, maybe I should move some slots from Rune of protection and get some decent resistance out of it. Do you think it is worth it?

• Maneuvers seems to be used as a mule for Defence Uniques, but it includes the Kismet Unique which functions as a proc not a set bonus.

Yes. As far as Kismet is concerned.... man I gotta learn about how these procs work. 

• No Combat Jumping on a mobile powerset with multiple PBAoEs.

Combat Jumping is fine, dont get me wrong, but it is not the only form of mobiity. That being said, an earlier iteration of this build used combat jumping as the mule for the defense powers, but I liked the idea of combat teleport and leadership over just some slightly better jumping. I am not convinced that I cant use combat jumping and acrobatics in place of Rune of Protection and Maneuvers, but that also means giving up leadership in general and I still like tactics (and i might work in assault). 

• The Fury of the Gladiator -Res Proc is in Rise of the Pheonix?

I mean I guess I could leave it unslotted. Honestly I dont care about this one, but if you have a reason this is terrible I'm open to a suggestion.

• NO BURN??!? 🤯 🔥 😛

Yeah. Burn damage kinda sucks. You have to be on the ground. It is a PbAOE that gives Immob protection, but there are better protections for that right? I would rather nuke, fireball, FSC, Fire Breath or just go single target almost every time that I can think of. But please, if I am missing something about burn, educate me. I really do want to learn. Originally I was all about combustion and burn until I started looking at the numbers and thought "wait a minute, these powers seem like a waste of activation time."

 

If you're going for maximum damage, slot for damage% but for recharge% pay close attention to Proc rates ("PPM" aka "Procs per Minute") - Mids does a reasonable job of calculating the average damage of "damage procs" in various powers, however other stuff like -Res procs and the Gaussian you'll need to calculate the rate manually based on the properties of the power and how much +recharge you've got slotted in it. In general for procs you'll want to go for low amounts of recharge slotting in the power itself, and high amounts of Global Recharge from things like Hasten, Set Bonuses and Ageless Incarnate. This plus this will get you exact values - Maximum Proc rate is 90% so if you're over that then you can add more recharge slotting.
 

This seems like some great advice that I cannot quite utilize yet because, again, when it comes to procs, I'm an idiot who needs to read some more.  

Unfortunately I don't have a recent Fire/Fire/Fire build immediately to hand - the closest is a Fire/Ice/Fire, but it's a very similar idea - kill all the things as fast as possible.
Should be a reasonable starting point at least -

 

In conclusion, I really do appreciate your feedback.  I know it sounds like I am being ungrateful, but I just want to make sure you know what I was going for when I started looking at the build so you can tell me how I am screwing up my view of things. The thing that shocked me is that when I load my build compared to others i see posted, I seem to be doing a significantly higher amount of damage, but is that accurate, or do i just completely misunderstand how Mids or my slotting works.

 

Thanks so much for your time. I am going to try relooking at this build again. and I will learn about procs! I swear it!

[Maelwys]

There's a lot to unpack here, and I'd a long step-by-step response mostly-typed whenever the Ctrl-Z forum monster ate it on me ( 😠 ) so apologies - I'll try to do a general response  instead here and then follow up with any lingering questions afterwards. 

General rules of thumb are:
+ "Try and get ED-capped damage in all of your attacks, plus reasonable levels of accuracy (aim for 95% hit rate versus +3s at a minimum) and then slot damage procs"
+ "Craft an attack chain(s) using the powers with the highest damage compared to their activation time ("Damage Per Activation").
+ Use global recharge rather than slotting recharge in your attacks themselves (exception = where activating a power spawns a "psuedopet" which applies the effect instead of your character applying the effect directly) because the more recharge slotting you have in an attack, the worse its proc activation rate will be.
+ Do NOT concentrate on damage set bonuses because these give a very small increase and stack additively with most other sources of additional damage (e.g Base damage, %damage slotting, Inspirations, external buffs like Fulcrum Shift, Incarnate abilities like Muscular Alpha [and Assault Core but not Assault Radial], and notably in the case of Blasters - Defiance stacks!) up to the damage limit of your AT (500% for Blasters) so they provide a very small proportional increase in overall damage output. They're fine to pick up in passing, but they should never be the main focus of your build and especially not something that affects the slotting of your attack powers.

Many attack powers can only take one or two damage procs, but others can take 6 or more. Choosing whether to slot another damage proc over slotting more damage% is a balancing act and depends on a few factors - the base damage of your AT (e.g. the same attack power would gain more from slotting a regular Damage IO in a Scrapper than in a Brute) and whether you need more accuracy (The standard min-maxed attack slotting setup of "2x Acc/Dam HOs + 4x Damage Procs" is just as much about being able to hit the enemy as it is about pushing the limits of raw attack damage).

Mids does a reasonable job of calculating the average additional damage contribution from damage procs in regular "clicky" attack powers. But it's rubbish when it comes to pseudopets and doesn't help when it comes to figuring our optimal slotting for non-damage procs (like "chance for build up").
Exact proc activation chances are best calculated with a PPM calculator, using values for power activation time and recharge time taken from City of Data (both of which I linked in my previous post) - the main things to remember are that offensive Proc chances get capped at a 90% (maximum) and 5%-and-a-bit (minimum) and it is affected drastically by how long a power recharges and how many targets it hits.

Procs that debuff resistance (like the Achilles Heel and Fury of the Gladiator) tend to be seen as very important for damage output since -resistance debuffs stack multiplicatively with your damage output. So people will usually try to get the effects of these to be "active" as much as possible. Putting them in a power that is not part of your Single Target or AoE attack chain is a waste; especially for the FoTG since it's unique.

A lot of "special IOs" (like Kismet, Miracle, etc) are coded as "guaranteed activation" Procs with a duration of 120 seconds; which means that you need to activate the power that they're slotted into at least once every 120s for it to work.
Others (like LoTG, Preventive Medicine, etc) are coded as Global "Set Bonuses" and you can stick them in a power that you hardly ever activate and they're still always active.
And a few annoying exceptions exist... like the Stalker's Assassin's Mark ATO and Kheldian Essence Transfer ATO which are set bonuses that need you to activate the power they're slotted into ONCE each time you zone before they start working.
https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects
 

[Hedgefund]

12 hours ago, ForestNinja said:

This is probably a misunderstanding on my part. So this will not give +feedback for myself every time I activate the power? That does change things. As far as the knockback goes, does it stop being knockback and just become knockdown because of the Sudden Acceleration? I am definitely having a hard time with these procs

 

I happen to be Mids-ing a Fire/Fire blaster now and decided to skim the forums for this topic before I started in earnest.  I did notice this comment about the FF proc in Bonfire. 

 

To avoid a sequence of "no it doesn't" "yes it does" exchanges here's a screenshot of a fire troller whose only action was to cast Bonfire, so yes it does work on cast.  This true for for other pseudopets too, such as Tornado.

[Maelwys]

On cast, yes, the Proc can affect the caster once for 5 seconds (the summoning of the pseudopet "pets.bonfire_epic" triggers the proc on the caster)... however the pseudopet itself can't gain the benefit of it; and subsequent activations of its own powers "pets.bonfire_epic.bonfire" (the actual ongoing damage and knockback ticks) do nothing.
So I guess if you think a single 5 second recharge buff every ~40 seconds is worth the slot, go for it?

I'll try and comment on the remaining questions now that I'm home from work and the kids are down for a sleeps...
 

15 hours ago, ForestNinja said:

• Aim and Build Up are way overslotted and you've put the Gaussian Proc in Combat Teleport??

Aim and Build Up (and Combat teleport for that matter) are 5 slotted Gaussian for the 2.5% damage bonus x 3 in addition to the damage bonuses they all carry anyway. I put the proc in Combat Teleport because I assumed I would be using it more often, so it would have a better chance of triggering. Again, I don't fully understand procs, so I may have made a poor choice here. 

I've talked about the issues of chasing damage set bonuses already... but Aim and Build up can generally make do with only 2-3 slots.
By far the most important thing for these is to place a Gaussian "Chance for Build Up" proc in one of them.
That proc remains at a 90% capped activation chance in either Build Up or Aim until you slot 70.85% recharge.

Personally I usually put either 1x level 50+5 Recharge IO or 2x Adjusted Targetting IOs (1x Level 50+1 Rech IO and 1x level 50+5 Rech/ToHit/EndRed IO) in Aim plus the Gaussian Proc ('Build Up' grants higher native +Damage so this way they even out; but it's a case of personal preference!). Build Up typically gets a similar treatment but with a Rectified Reticle IO (which is a global "set bonus" buff that increases your perception enough to see stealthed enemies like CoT Ghosts at close range).
The "Adjusted Targeting" set has some nice set bonuses including damage, accuracy and global recharge; so if I ever have enough spare slots, I might even 6-slot Build Up with 5x ATs + the RR IO.
The Gaussian set is generally only heavily slotted into a power if you're shooting for the Defence softcap (its 6-piece bonus is excellent).

• Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet)

This is probably a misunderstanding on my part. So this will not give +feedback for myself every time I activate the power? That does change things. As far as the knockback goes, does it stop being knockback and just become knockdown because of the Sudden Acceleration? I am definitely having a hard time with these procs.

Clicking on the Bonfire power will trigger one chance for the FF Proc to activate.
However unlike most non-pseudopet powers Bonfire's ongoing effect (the Bonfire pseudopet cycling its damage ability) will never trigger any additional chances for the FF Proc to activate... or more accurately - it will technically activate the effect of the FF Proc on the Bonfire pseudopet itself and since pets are immune to recharge changes nothing will happen.

Yes, slotting a KB>KD IO in Bonfire will cause it to inflict knockdown instead of knockback. The original KB activation rate drops noticeably; but it'll still bounce plenty of foes on their rear and - more importantly - it'll stop flinging your enemies far away from you whenever you're trying to PBAoE them. 

• You've taken Rune of Protection, which is fine, but it's not slotted for Damage Resistance and you're not alternating it with a similar buff like Melee Core.

I thought it would be a better idea to put procs in it than slot for resistance. Assuming keeping 3 slots, would you recommend procs or slot for Resistance?

RoP tends to be used for two things - mez protection and increasing your resistances (combined with an Epic Pool resistance shield you can often hit the 75% S/L Cap).
You can alternate it with other powers like Melee Core Hybrid (120s up, 120s down) to gain more coverage or hit the cap - and it used to be that those two powers alone could attain full mez protection coverage before they altered the uptime/recharge ratio on RoP.
If you're just after occasional Mez protection, by all means stick a Global (not a proc) like Unbreakable Guard in it.

Personally I'd either leave the default slot with a global in it, or tweak the build so that with RoP running you're either at or within inspiration-activation distance of hitting the 75% damage resistance cap (which will require slotted Fire Shield and possibly Tough).

However note that constant Mez protection can be gotten via the Clarion Core Epiphany Destiny slot (as long as you can do without Barrier!)

• Fire Shield has no resistance slotting beyond the Steadfast +Def Unique.

Do you think it is worth it?

Absolutely. If you're taking a resistance epic shield, I'd aim to ED-cap resistance in it. In these sort of epic armors I typically go for either 3x Gladiator's Armor (Resistance, End/Res and Unique) plus the Steadfast; or 2x Reactive Armor (Resistance, End/Res) plus the Steadfast.
If all you want is a mule power for the Steadfast; Unbreakable Guard and Gladiator uniques then fair enough... but as you're nowhere near the defence softcap so IMO there won't be a huge benefit there.

Some damage types are more prevalent that others. Smashing, Lethal and Fire damage are all very common so being able to outright ignore a third of the damage you take from them is IMO worth spending a slot or two on. 

• NO BURN??!? 🤯 🔥 😛

please, if I am missing something about burn, educate me. 

That one was mostly tongue in cheek! 😉 Burn was once upon a time seen as the be-all-and-end-all of AoE farming on Melee ATs; then they added the high mag "run away" fear effect to it and everyone dropped it like a hot potato; then in Issue 18 they removed the fear effect and lowered the initial DoT damage. It's been nerfed and buffed so many times it's become something of a running joke.
These days IMO Burn is a decent power; particularly if you're surrounded by lots of foes of different strength levels (because its DoT is technically multiple activations of the same pseudopet power, Burn won't keep trying to damage foes after they die and instead will switch to a different enemy; so less damage gets "wasted"). 

And whilst it's in my head - the Fire/Ice/Flame build I posted earlier in the thread has gone for high global recharge and AoE damage output (Burnout is excellent for double-nuking) and I often joke about them needing Rise of the Phoenix recharging as fast as possible because of all the aggro they're capable of pulling... but the fact is that if I choose to play them carefully then they actually very rarely die; despite having little/no defence buffs.

At first glance, you might notice the high HP for a Blaster - I try to shoot for 1.6k+ via set bonuses, globals and accolades plus the Preventive Medicine Absorb Unique. Their resistances aren't sky-high but 30-40% is enough that they don't often get two-shot.
Shiver plus Ice Patch plus Bonfire plus Rain of Fire (and occasionally Hover) can floor enemy movement and keep me well out of harm's way; and having a solid ranged mez (Char) can take care of nasty enemies like Sappers. Chilblain can even let me play keepaway with an AV. Frigid Protection gives me a health buffer and extra healing procs and helps whenever I dive into melee to activate Frozen Aura or Inferno.
They also have full invisibility against most foes (Superspeed plus a +Stealth IO in Sprint) and +Perception which lets me go undetectable myself but spot invisible enemies.

So IMO it definitely pays to build for a variety of benefits rather than monofocus.
 

Edited May 13 by Maelwys

[Hedgefund]

With no recharge slotted in my Bonfire it's up every 20 seconds (maybe less, I'm not in game) so yes, I did  "go for it".

[Maelwys]

4 minutes ago, Hedgefund said:

With no recharge slotted in my Bonfire it's up every 20 seconds (maybe less, I'm not in game) so yes, I did  "go for it".

Bonfire on a Blaster comes from the Epic Pool, and has a 120s base recharge time.
The ABSOLUTE MINIMUM you can get a power to recharge in is 1/5 of its base time (which would reduce that to 20 seconds).
However that requires 400% recharge.

I very much suspect that you're thinking of the Fire Control version of Bonfire. There is no way in hell you are getting the Blaster version to recharge in 20 seconds without any recharge slotting in Bonfire itself; unless you're stacking Ageless, Geas, Hasten, every set bonus under the sun and a considerable amount of caffeine.

[Hedgefund]

The part where I said "here's a screenshot of a fire troller" was a hint for what AT I was looking at.

 

Here's the bottom line, you said

 

• Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet)

The bolded  was incorrect, you later corrected it. 

[Maelwys]

25 minutes ago, Hedgefund said:

The part where I said "here's a screenshot of a fire troller" was a hint for what AT I was looking at.

 

You also said "I happen to be Mids-ing a Fire/Fire blaster now and decided to skim the forums for this topic before I started in earnest.  I did notice this comment about the FF proc in Bonfire."

...and y'know, you are posting in the Blaster forum within a thread asking questions about how to build a Fire Blaster; and quoted the OP's reply to my comment about their Fire Blaster build using the Fire Blaster version of Bonfire.

🤷‍♂️

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Quote

Here's the bottom line, you said

• Bonfire is slotted for +Knockback and has the Force feedback Proc (which won't affect you since it's a pseudopet)

The bolded  was incorrect, you later corrected it. 

The later statement was a clarification; but by all means feel free to look on it as a correction if it makes you feel any better.

In the interests of precision I have just re-edited my detailed response to the OP to re-highlight that "clicking on the Bonfire power will trigger one chance for the FF Proc to activate. However unlike most non-pseudopet powers Bonfire's ongoing effect (the Bonfire pseudopet cycling its damage ability) will never trigger any additional chances for the FF Proc to activate... or more accurately - it will technically activate the effect of the FF Proc on the Bonfire pseudopet itself and since pets are immune to recharge changes nothing will happen."

Happier now? 😸
Mondays suck enough as it is so I'm sorry if someone took a dump in your Froot Loops this morning.

[A Smidge more Snark than usual and for once we can't blame the wampire...]
 

Edited May 13 by Maelwys

[ForestNinja]

19 hours ago, Maelwys said:

There's a lot to unpack here, and I'd a long step-by-step response mostly-typed whenever the Ctrl-Z forum monster ate it on me ( 😠 ) so apologies - I'll try to do a general response  instead here and then follow up with any lingering questions afterwards. 

General rules of thumb are:
+ "Try and get ED-capped damage in all of your attacks, plus reasonable levels of accuracy (aim for 95% hit rate versus +3s at a minimum) and then slot damage procs"
+ "Craft an attack chain(s) using the powers with the highest damage compared to their activation time ("Damage Per Activation").
+ Use global recharge rather than slotting recharge in your attacks themselves (exception = where activating a power spawns a "psuedopet" which applies the effect instead of your character applying the effect directly) because the more recharge slotting you have in an attack, the worse its proc activation rate will be.
+ Do NOT concentrate on damage set bonuses because these give a very small increase and stack additively with most other sources of additional damage (e.g Base damage, %damage slotting, Inspirations, external buffs like Fulcrum Shift, Incarnate abilities like Muscular Alpha [and Assault Core but not Assault Radial], and notably in the case of Blasters - Defiance stacks!) up to the damage limit of your AT (500% for Blasters) so they provide a very small proportional increase in overall damage output. They're fine to pick up in passing, but they should never be the main focus of your build and especially not something that affects the slotting of your attack powers.

Many attack powers can only take one or two damage procs, but others can take 6 or more. Choosing whether to slot another damage proc over slotting more damage% is a balancing act and depends on a few factors - the base damage of your AT (e.g. the same attack power would gain more from slotting a regular Damage IO in a Scrapper than in a Brute) and whether you need more accuracy (The standard min-maxed attack slotting setup of "2x Acc/Dam HOs + 4x Damage Procs" is just as much about being able to hit the enemy as it is about pushing the limits of raw attack damage).

Mids does a reasonable job of calculating the average additional damage contribution from damage procs in regular "clicky" attack powers. But it's rubbish when it comes to pseudopets and doesn't help when it comes to figuring our optimal slotting for non-damage procs (like "chance for build up").
Exact proc activation chances are best calculated with a PPM calculator, using values for power activation time and recharge time taken from City of Data (both of which I linked in my previous post) - the main things to remember are that offensive Proc chances get capped at a 90% (maximum) and 5%-and-a-bit (minimum) and it is affected drastically by how long a power recharges and how many targets it hits.

Procs that debuff resistance (like the Achilles Heel and Fury of the Gladiator) tend to be seen as very important for damage output since -resistance debuffs stack multiplicatively with your damage output. So people will usually try to get the effects of these to be "active" as much as possible. Putting them in a power that is not part of your Single Target or AoE attack chain is a waste; especially for the FoTG since it's unique.

A lot of "special IOs" (like Kismet, Miracle, etc) are coded as "guaranteed activation" Procs with a duration of 120 seconds; which means that you need to activate the power that they're slotted into at least once every 120s for it to work.
Others (like LoTG, Preventive Medicine, etc) are coded as Global "Set Bonuses" and you can stick them in a power that you hardly ever activate and they're still always active.
And a few annoying exceptions exist... like the Stalker's Assassin's Mark ATO and Kheldian Essence Transfer ATO which are set bonuses that need you to activate the power they're slotted into ONCE each time you zone before they start working.
https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects
 

 

Wow! Thank you so much for your breakdown. I tried starting over from the beginning with procs in mind first. I then started working in some other enhancements to try to figure out high damage and accuracy. When it was all done..... I hated it. That being said, I think I learned a lot in the process.

 

So I went back to my build above and started reevaluating everything I slotted with the recommendations you made. It makes a ton more sense, (i am really starting to see why you said I seemed all over the place) but I am still struggling with the slotting of a few powers. 

 

The first issue is Aim/Build up/Combat Teleport/Tactics. I like having high accuracy overall (if I want high damage, I have to be able to hit), and these powers all help to ensure high level Acc. Is there a good spot for Gaussian's proc in this group? Is it ever worth it to 5 slot to get the damage boost (I feel like I already know that answer)? How much ToHit buff is needed/ideal/overkill? Is there a good spot for Rectified Reticle's +perception? Currently they are eating a whole lot of slots, but I still can't decide what is ideal.

 

Part of my whole issue there is that I have a hard time figuring out how to calculate accuracy in mids. I am working on that, but if anyone has any pointers on what to look for, let me know.

 

Here are some notes on my new concept broken down power by power. Let me know what you think.

 

Flares/Fire Blast and Ring of Fire I have pretty much ignored. Sure I could throw a bunch of slots in them to make them plausible ST damage, but with Blaze and Blazing Bolt doing it so much better and my AOE's still feasible against single targets, these just seem like a waste of enhancement slots. 

 

Next up is Fireball. I like Superior Defiant Barrage in here. This is going to be primary attack. So far I have it 5 slotted, gaining a little recharge set bonus and reaching ED on both damage and recharge. I would not be opposed to throwing in another slot to include the Res Debuff from Annihilation, but I don't currently have that slot free yet.

 

Hasten is obviously two recharge IO.

 

Rain of Fire is one of my favorite powers. I really like the Ragnorok KD in it. In the past I have used this to great effect as a form of minor damage mitigation. I figured I might as well continue in Ragnorok to grab some set bonuses, two damage procs and for good measure, some dam debuff. These numbers are close to ED but not quite there. I figure that this power rarely does allot of burst damage anyway. The procs are going to be doing allot of heavy lifting.  With that in mind, I figured the immobilize proc from Superior Frozen Blast is also pretty useful to keep them in the AOE, so maybe that would replace one of the damage or Ragnoroks. That being said, a fourth Ragnorok could net me 15% accuracy set bonus which is pretty nice. I would prefer to 12 slot this power. hehe.

 

Fire Breath is pretty important to the character concept (Fire breathing Dragon). I five slotted it with Superior Blaster's Wrath. This includes a damage proc and ED on both Acc and Dam.

 

Fire Sword Circle is currently 6 slotted gaining two 3% damage bonuses including a proc damage, but my acc and damage are not quite maxed out. I could see reslotting, but i am just not sure how I want to go with it. I need to keep looking at that one.

 

Blaze could probably use an Acc IO (or a Hami Acc/Dam), but I need to free up a slot for it. I have it 5 slotted with Apocalypse which includes a damage proc. I honestly dont hate the idea of Decimation: chance for buildup, but it likely is not needed as once I start using the ST stuff, most things are pretty hurt anyway. Alternatively, Devastation's Chance for Hold could be very useful for that one guy that  breaks away from the group to go after the blaster. Good offense and good defense.

 

I tried to make Cauterizing Aura a decent "keep me alive" constant heal, but I'm not sure it totally works. Opinions welcome. I plan to have this running most of the time, so the +end proc seems like a good idea. The only thing really missing here is damage, but again: Slots.

 

I like Blazing Bolt....some. The chance buildup is nice as it is a great opener power. The chance Hold and chance disorient seems very nice as well since it could give me some breathing room when I need it but still deal some pretty high damage. Of course the Acc and damage is terrible right now. This needs reworking.

 

I like five slotting Performance Shifter in Consume for set bonuses and Acc/End Mod. I have seen that others slot this for damage instead. My issue with this power is that I am not sure how much end slotting I need in this to refill my endurance and how many targets I need to make that feasible.  I may do some experimenting and revisit this. This may be a great spot to regain some slots or to turn this into less of an end gain and more of an additional attack.

 

Inferno is five slotted with Superior Avalanche. This just seems like a good idea to me. I hit ED in Acc and Dam and get some decent set bonuses while I'm at it. I could definitely see adding a recharge, damage proc, or maybe grab the proc from Fire Breath to get both. I just need another slot again.

 

I dropped the FF +recharge proc in Arcane Bolt. If I can find a way to slot this up some more, it becomes a viable part of ST damage and should be used more often to take advantage of the +recharge. This is likely a priority.

 

The suggestions for Hot Feet made a ton of sense as that is a primary way to keep the mobs still and in AOE range. I would prefer to drop the end down some more but it doesn't look like there are many end/slow enhancements.

 

Bonfire was definitely slotted wrong. Thankyou for opening my eyes on that one. I still like the KB to KD proc. I am not sure how well it works in practice, but if it functions, it will be fantastic and if it does not, I will swap this power for burn or less likely combustion. This is another opener power, so I dropped in a res debuff proc. I'm still unsure how the pseudopet procs work. What is your take on this slotting?

 

Sadly, right now Rune of Protection and Maneuvers are just muleing global procs. Which of these procs do you think are unneeded? Which are unskippable?

 

I took Super Speed for the sole purpose of getting Burnout. Your arguments for double rain/nuke/ any other double power is a very good one. I never tried this power before. I may start taking this more often.

 

I threw the stealth into Sprint for sneaks, the end mod synapse proc in Stamina and a bunch of heal procs in Health since I don't have a click heal.

 

I am going to post my current unfinished build here with the caveat that several of the powers are noticeably overslotted and will be reworked again, but let me know if you think it is moving in the right direction and where I am just delusional. Also, this is partly to help myself keep track of what I was thinking when I started dropping powers into slots.

 

 

Puf 2.0 - Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd

[ForestNinja]

After I made all these notes and posted I just went ahead and gutted the ToHit powers and spread some of those slots around. I am also starting to think Tactics might be pointless. Why not go Assault instead? So here it goes.

Puf 2.0 - Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd

[Nemu]

High damage in this game doesn't come from stacking +damage IO bonuses. 2.5% damage at the expense of 4 additional slots is poor ROI when those slots can be allocated to helping your global recharge, which synergizes with procs since proc chances are not negatively impacted by global recharge bonuses (but they are negatively impacted by recharge reduction you slot in the power you want to proc)

 

Here's your original build, let's use Fire blast as an example

 

You have an SO's worth of +damage from set bonuses. Fire blast does 115 damage

 

I removed the +dam bonuses from guassians, sudden acceleration and performance shifter, theft of essance and overwhelming force, your +dam went down to 18%. but I put a single damage proc in fire blast without slotting it for anything else

 

 

Now it does 121 average damage, the caveat is that the proc won't fire all the time and hence "average damage", your average damage without the proc falls down to 99.

 

Fire/fire doesn't lend itself well to extravagant proccing of powers compared to something like this:

Mecha Banshee - Blaster (Radiation Blast).mxd

 

Back to your original build - Note your unbuffed damage on blaze in your build, it tops off at 488 with muscalature alpha.

 

Look at the damage potential for echo chamber in my build, this is a tier 3 hold that happens to do some damage under normal slotting,

 

Cosmic burst

 

 

Moral of the story is that procs can elevate certain, but not all powers from utility tools to heavy hitters (usually holds or powers with secondary debuffs like slow or -defense because they can take a huge variety of procs).

 

The other way to think about procs is that if you are at the damage cap, procs and -resist powers is the only way you can deal more damage to your target.

 

The typical approach to high damage builds prioritizes recharge and procs. The two goals have synergy because most recharge bonuses also offer ACC bonuses along the way and heavily procced powers do not have a lot of room for stuff like ACC/Recharge/endurance reduction slotting. Inferno will contribute the bulk of the damage you do in your career, so recharge helps there too. For Fire/Fire though, I'd worry less about procs.

 

On Accuracy, a few things:

 

Your accuracy is represented by the "accuracy" field on the left tab showing the power. It's impacted by buffs and enemy level. You can set the enemy level at the very top. +3 or +4 is where most builds check against. 95% is the cap, any overflow helps buffer against debuffs. All the stuff I circled on your actual power selection area are non-persistent to-hit buffs. Uncheck those radial dials so you can see your real chances to hit.

 

As for your comment about fire blast, it's more conducive to think about how powers work together than to look at each piece in a vacuum. Yes Blaze and Blazing bolt do more damage. but they animate fast and you have a gap between the recharge of those two powers, even if you use fire ball as a filler blazing bolt still takes 5 seconds to recharge so you still have that gap. Fire blast can fill that gap. The fact that you can use fire blast while you are held/stunned/slept/mezzed means that you still have the opportunity to kill stuff before they can get close to you. One typical recommendation is to slot the full defiant barrage set into either your T1 or T2 blast so that when you are mezzed you can use it and hope to proc the +mez protection proc to break free. The other school of thought is to put the +mez protection proc in an opener like fireball and hope to pre-emptively trigger it, I don't have experience with the latter. I prefer the former for build/set bonus efficiency/ROI reasons.

 

The build has a distinct lack of status protection. There are some low hanging fruits that you can address even with the blaster AT.

 

Knockback is the most obvious one. there are many IOs that offer 4 points of KB protection, blessing of zephy 4pt kb is a easy one to slot into a travel power.

Immobilize is the other, combat jumping gives you protection against that. It also offers superior (in my opinion) mobility compared to combat teleport or hover. Some people play blasters without it, I can't imagine my life as a mobile blaster without it. My advice to you is to learn movement if you are committed to doing high damage at the expense of survival. The following tips might help you on that journey.

 

 

Some people will go as far as to grab acrobatics as well. That's your call. Most optimized builds are tight and you'll have to make some decisions on what powers you drop in favor of other powers.

 

There are other comments I have about your build but I need coffee. Stay tuned.

 

Edited May 14 by Nemu

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, ForestNinja said:

 

Wow! Thank you so much for your breakdown. I tried starting over from the beginning with procs in mind first. I then started working in some other enhancements to try to figure out high damage and accuracy. When it was all done..... I hated it. That being said, I think I learned a lot in the process.

 

So I went back to my build above and started reevaluating everything I slotted with the recommendations you made. It makes a ton more sense, (i am really starting to see why you said I seemed all over the place) but I am still struggling with the slotting of a few powers. 

 

The first issue is Aim/Build up/Combat Teleport/Tactics. I like having high accuracy overall (if I want high damage, I have to be able to hit), and these powers all help to ensure high level Acc. Is there a good spot for Gaussian's proc in this group? Is it ever worth it to 5 slot to get the damage boost (I feel like I already know that answer)? How much ToHit buff is needed/ideal/overkill? Is there a good spot for Rectified Reticle's +perception? Currently they are eating a whole lot of slots, but I still can't decide what is ideal.

 

Part of my whole issue there is that I have a hard time figuring out how to calculate accuracy in mids. I am working on that, but if anyone has any pointers on what to look for, let me know.

I did cover the Gaussian Proc in this bit (if you expand the quote I've put my comments in Blue!) 

Basically, stick it in either Aim or Build Up and make sure you have less than ~71% recharge slotting in that power. That way whenever you activate the power, in addition to its regular effects (Damage/ToHit buff for 10s) you'll get a 90% chance for the Gaussian to activate too; giving you a VERY powerful damage spike for the next 5 seconds.
So that becomes the button you want to hit right before you Nuke and/or open with a devastating high-damage attack chain on an AV.

Regarding Accuracy Slotting in Mids, make sure you set the relative enemy level to +3 (top menu bar dropdown box) then check the "accuracy" value in your attack powers - you want this to be capped at 95% at a minimum (above 95% is better as it lets you better hit things which have defence buffs and the odd level -shifted +4 foes on hardmode TFs).
Note that this is a very easy bar to hit even without Aim or Build up running.
As mentioned, pseudopets are handled badly in Mids - so assume that they have the same accuracy as a regular power (base 48% hit rate versus +3 foes) rather than the "2x accuracy" bonus that Mids often claims.

[Maelwys]

2 hours ago, ForestNinja said:

After I made all these notes and posted I just went ahead and gutted the ToHit powers and spread some of those slots around. I am also starting to think Tactics might be pointless. Why not go Assault instead? So here it goes.

Puf 2.0 - Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd 48.9 kB · 2 downloads

That's better... however the Gaussian's still in an odd place and the attack power slotting is a little wonky (You've procs in pseudopet powers; and damage procs with recharge slotting in non-pseudopet AoEs).
Also a few powers like Maneuvers and Arcane Bolt really aren't doing much for you.

Maybe look at this revision?
Puf 2.0.1.mbd
  
I kept the same powers except for swapping Arcane Bolt > Spirit Ward to give an extra mule slot for the Preventive Medicine global; and Assault > Fire Shield because Assault gives a very low bonus on a Blaster and I still think it'd be worth having some extra damage resistance.
Can work Arcane Bolt back in and move the slots over from Fire Blast if you want to use it for flavour purposes... or take "Char" instead (from the epic pool) which would give you a solid ranged CC ability.
Powers are now better slotted with a few procs and minimal recharge (whilst still keeping sets intact) in the non-pseudopet powers.
Still rubbish defense (Maneuvers is a mule and personally I would trade it for Combat Jumping in a heartbeat) but you'll have decent passive healing and recovery and ~1645 HP with accolades; plus capped S/L resists with Rune of Protection up providing either Barrier Incarnate is going or your HP is low (due to the Reactive Defences IO).
The Ragnarok "Chance for Knockdown" is probably more useful in Fireball than Rain of Fire (where it only has a small chance once every 10 seconds because it's a pseudopet) if you want to keep it around, but Bonfire should be quite capable of bouncing things by itself.



(and now that I'm looking at it screenshotted, all I can think is "if I moved the Rectified Reticle from Build Up into Combat Teleport that'd free up another slot for a Performance Shifter Proc in Stamina"... there's always room for more polish!) 😁
 

Edited May 14 by Maelwys

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, Nemu said:

Knockback is the most obvious one. there are many IOs that offer 4 points of KB protection, blessing of zephy 4pt kb is a easy one to slot into a travel power.
Immobilize is the other, combat jumping gives you protection against that. It also offers superior (in my opinion) mobility compared to combat teleport or hover. Some people play blasters without it, I can't imagine my life as a mobile blaster without it.

Nemu makes a lot of good points here, but I want to highlight this in particular.

Combat Jumping isn't merely about increasing your jump speed and being a mule for a LOTG +7.5 global... it also grants Immobilise Protection and extremely good "Air Control" and a smidge of defence all for an utterly tiny insignificant endurance cost.
On a powerset like Fire/Fire which has PBAoEs like Fire Sword Circle and Inferno; you often want to dart in and back out of melee range. Combat Jumping means that's literally just a case of "Jump in, activate power, jump out again" and often you can do that quickly enough that nothing will get a melee attack off; particularly with Hotfeet running. AoE CC like Bonfire can make it easier, but it's still very annoying when you start to "run in" and get knockbacked or rooted in place by an immobilise for several seconds - so always get at least a little KB protection (In my revision above I put +4 from a BoZ in Mystic Flight, and another +3 from a 3-piece Gladiator set in Fire Shield) and ideally some Immobilise protection as well.

In my aforementioned revision build you could easily swap Maneuvers for Combat Jumping without changing anything else (other than taking it much, much earlier than level 44!) ...but if you're still dead set against that, keep the RoP button and some Breakfrees handy and perhaps consider taking Clarion Core instead of Barrier Core Destiny (since it grants 120s Mag 6 mez protection with a 120s duration).
 

Edited May 14 by Maelwys

[ForestNinja]

Dang that's good. I agree with the Reticle move. Combat Teleport doesn't cost that much to begin with. I am going to try this out and see how it works. I had this idea to use Combat Teleport to hop right into a mob, but maybe I really will dislike it and change it out for Combat Jumping and mess up everything all over lol.

 

I see what you mean about the Rain of Fire. It just was not computing in my head that Rain of Fire is a pseudo pet. Of course, now that I think of it, obviously it is and therefore the procs work differently. 

 

I can't believe I completely missed your whole dissertation on Aim/Build Up. There was just soooo much information. Thanks for being so patient. And thanks for the Incarnate suggestions. I had a Tank with some incarnate back on live, but stopped playing shortly after they came out. 

 

I think I have a build! or at least I will in a few hundred farms or so.

[ForestNinja]

Oh yeah. Now that i dropped the idea of needing tactics and is assault isn't that helpful, Combat jumping makes more sense. I wish there was a way to switch stuff around to get acrobatics as long as I'm in the Leaping pool, but I will start with this and see where it leads. 

[Doomguide2005]

A little late to the party but for slotting in Hot Feet but consider using Microfilament Exposure HO's (endred and movement).  2 lvl 53 HOs and you are into yellow for endred and markedly slowing movement of foes in the PBAoE (just hitting DR aspect).  That'll leave you with up to 4 slots to add damage, procs or whatever the build might need more of.  

 

@ForestNinja

 

Combat Jumping for Life!  Try the difference between pulling while leaping up and around a corner (so you fire mid-leap and land around the corner) with and without CJ and you'll never go back.  The mobility and control added to movement in conjunction with Hurdle is wonderful.

[Frozen Burn]

13 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

A little late to the party but for slotting in Hot Feet but consider using Microfilament Exposure HO's (endred and movement).  2 lvl 53 HOs and you are into yellow for endred and markedly slowing movement of foes in the PBAoE (just hitting DR aspect).  That'll leave you with up to 4 slots to add damage, procs or whatever the build might need more of.  

 

To be correct, Microfilament (Endred/movement) will not increase the slowing effect of Hotfeet.  The movement portion of that HO is only useful for increasing travel speed and since Hot Feet is a "Slow" / debuff power, the runspeed portion of Microfilament does not work.  

 

You are looking for the newer "Steroscilia" HO or the D-Sync "Deceleration" that enhances Slow Movement and EndRed.  

[Doomguide2005]

Interesting, thanks for the update.

[ForestNinja]

Hey everyone! Update time!

 

I finished the build and it works like a charm. I am able to hold my own n almost any TF or GM I take part in. I just tried a fire farm for the first time since updating. With minor buffing I am pretty unstoppable, but with out that, I help tanks/brutes to drop groups very quickly. The global recharge means I get to concentrate on either AOE or ST as needed with very little instances of waiting for a power to recharge. Even the nuke comes up almost every mob. Endurance has not been an issue in a very long time. My idea to Combat TP in, nuke and TP out works especially well. Thanks for all of the help.

 

PS, I checked the idea of HO's in Hot feet. If 5 slotting "Steroscilia," the slow does increase, but you lose some HP and, arguably more importantly, some mez resistance, so it may be worthwhile. I think I will grab some unslotters and get the HOs to try both versions and report back.