Fire Blast / Force Field - Switching gears.

[Grizlee]

Hello, 

 

 I had made a Controller with parameters to suit my current condition. It was ok, and would probably be decent as a full time group build, but that isn't what I was after.

 

I did like the Force Field aspect so am keeping that. It makes it flexible to allow me to be a good team build, when I'm able. I think it gives me a decent buffer for defense as a solo player.

 

@Uun made an observation about Fire being a good direction to go in, so I have done that. 

 

For my Epic, I decided on Dark to bolster my sustain, damage and defenses.

 

 

Hopefully this is a good starting point. I can finagle enhancements as needed. 

 

 

 

 

Plasmatic Pulsar - Corruptor (Fire Blast - Forcefield).mbd

[Psyonico]

You should be taking Dispersion Bubble ASAP.  It provides better defense than Maneuvers and also gives status protection to Immobilize/Stun/Hold.

 

Repulsion Bolt and Spirit Ward are over slotted.  RB really only needs an Accuracy, you could slot a KB->KD in there too.  If you are mostly solo, you don't have anything to hit Spirit Ward with, so anything beyond the base slot is a waste.  Put the Preventative Measure +Absorb process in there and call it a day.

 

I think Damping Bubble is of more use than Repulsion Field, but if you are sticking with RF, you should slot some end redux into it.  Also, the KB->KD IO turns off the repel aspect of the power.

[Grizlee]

Thank you for that. 

 

RF, my hope was that it would just drop them as soon as they hit the edge. I'm not interested in herding with it, just getting enough soft control to give my old addled butt time to react to it 🙂

 

RB, @ level 20 so far, I like it's GOMF practicality. In groups, I just position myself, or avoid it since Flares is so fast (2 SO endRx in) It's damage per activation is surprisingly high so getting it basically whenever I want/need is nice.

 

I'm switching the Disp/Maneuvers ASAP, I didn't know that about them, thanks a ton for that info!

 

Spirit Ward, Yeah, I've used it a bit in groups this morning. Underwhelmed - really. Folks on Excelsior seem to run willy nilly all over the farm. I guess with an older server most folks are twinked to high heaven so while in a group, they tend to do whatever they hell they want anyway. Ward breaks and I and up tending that more than I would like. It's coming out of the build. 

 

It's been finagled to this now:

 

 

 

Plasmatic Pulsar - Corruptor (Fire Blast - Forcefield).mbd

Edited November 26 by Grizlee

[Zect]

You build for def but have no steadfast +3 def which gives in 1 slot more def than your 6 slots of gaussians. You build for HP but have no unbreakable guard +7.5% HP which at 4 slots also gives melee def that you crave. When constructing a build, ensure key uniques and critical procs are in the right positions before you go off chasing set bonuses.

 

Take fire blast, not flares. Better DPA and recharges within the animation time of any of your other attacks.

 

Def/insulation shield should be slotted lotg, +5 lotg: D (not D/E) for a 2-slot budget. You don't need the endrdx because it lasts 4 mins and costs only 7.8 end.

 

PFF is one of very few powers in the game that are nigh-useless. You may think it makes sense for emergencies, but if you are old and addled (your words, not mine), you want to avoid powers that require you to toggle them on to avert disaster (as PFF does), because you are less likely to recognize the danger and activate them in time. You want passive defenses and mitigation such as def and res set bonuses, or at least powers that you routinely use every time they are available, such as barrier. Besides, you have PFF, repulsion field and a self-rez, so this sounds excessive to me. Drop it and move the lotg to CJ (loses only 0.34% def to all).

 

When slotting CJ and hover try to use them as your lotg mules. As I have just demonstrated, a single lotg in CJ/hover is slot-efficient because the lotg special boosts def, other defense uniques like kismet, winter's and reactive def do not. Hence, mule the lotgs in CJ/hover, and mule the non-def-boosting uniques elsewhere.

 

Rep-bolt and force bomb are used for their -res, the most important debuff in the game. They are a critical part of FF's arsenal, should not be skipped, and should be taken at the earliest opportunity (level 4/28).

 

Damping is overslotted.

• It is a location aoe not a toggle, and the cost is low, so you don't need endrdx.
• Slotting def enhancement increases the strength of the -def resistance. This can be worthwhile, but you can cap it with 1-3 slots; there is no need to give it 5.

Dark embrace is underslotted despite the effort you put into chasing res bonuses, a classic case of penny wise, pound foolish.

 

Slotting in soul transfer and inferno should be swapped. Inferno is the dps power, so it should get the set with the better damage proc, better endrdx and the -res proc.

 

This can be chalked up to playstyle differences but you do not need melee def as a hoverblaster. You have no powers that require hanging out in melee, except for briefly dipping in for an inferno. Armored toons need melee def, because they both stay in melee for prolonged periods AND often have aggro auras that make mobs cluster tightly around them and not run, you do not.

 

This is a very minor gain, but purples and pvpios can be boosted +5 without losing set bonuses when exemplared.

 

For all your fear of dying I am surprised to see you have no prevmed proc. It can be useful because the chance to proc goes up when you are at low HP.

 

This is a minor nitpick but maneuvers is overslotted. 4 slots is the max number of shield walls you need, for the EN res. Mitigation toggles typically do not need more than 3-4 slots because you really only want 3 things from them, def/res, endrdx, and uniques/procs. There are a few exceptions (a few tankers may find it worthwhile to have a 6x unbreakable guard for the res, on some builds with poor set diversity 6x glad armor is a way to get ranged def from a power that normally doesn't give it) but in general you do not need to slot them too heavily.

 

No spirit drain. Spirit drain is very good even though it can now only max out at around 50% uptime, unlike the old soul drain (note: duration is 15s, mids is incorrect). Aim + spirit drain + inferno.

You seem to be taking clarion radial for the +special. Because you already have mez prot vs all but sleep from disp bubble, a potential alternative is to take soul (not dark) mastery, which offers power boost, soul drain and dark embrace instead, but no self-rez. This can then free you to take a different destiny, either barrier or ageless, the former of which will result in higher def across the board for you and your team. Only you can decide if you die often enough to neez a self-rez, though.

 

You seem to be using support hybrid to softcap. As a note of caution, support hybrid is not permanent. When activated, the toggle stays active for 2 mins; then it detoggles on its own and starts recharging, which takes another 2 mins. Hence, its uptime will only ever be 50% at most. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm talking down to you and telling you lots of things you already know, but I've already seen multiple basic misconceptions in this build, so I'm being thorough.

 

Your overall build goals and incarnate strategy can be rethought. Right now, you have agility. Agility is a defensive alpha. It tanks your proc chances and hence dps, and in return, both boosts def and frees you to chase def bonuses without regard to rech. If you're using agility alpha, you should cut some rech bonuses and try to hit 40% or 45% def to R/aoe without hybrid. As it is, you have "too much" rech (hasten is far above permanent at current rech levels) and "too little" def if we discount the def you are getting from hybrid, which is not permanent.

 

A fightingless R/aoe softcap is easily achievable with 3 +def pool powers and agility alpha:

This is with support hybrid OFF and hasten at a rech of 120.1s. 4 slots to spend.

 

Your -KB is in the gladiator's armor 3x bonus.

 

In fact, agility is not required: FF has no long-recharging powers that require hasten. It is perfectly fine to drop agility for some other alpha, usually musc radial or intuition radial (musc would also keep the endmod bonus), buff the def a little to compensate, and just live with hasten being 2-8s off perma. Put an FF proc in force bomb or something, if it truly bothers you. My own fire/FF runs musc/barrier/assault with tri-vector softcap and soul mastery.

[Grizlee]

Thank you for taking the time to explain everything. Just the kind of post that is amazingly useful to those of us still learning ( or trying to, at any rate ) Mids and building in general. 

 

I honestly didn't catch that I had missed one of the key defensive enhancements. Kicking myself for that one as it's not something I usually do. 

 

Having played my build to 26 now, the one bit that I struggle with is Endo. I go endo shy quite fast if I'm not careful. I'm on all SO's at this point and my slotting has been Acc/Rech/Damx3 and EndoRex for my attacks. If I leave hover off, I can make do, with it on I have to pray I get blue drops or I'm empty in one fight.

 

I'm going to focus on getting all the explore merits and get enough inf. to buy a few end build enh. if I can. My START bonuses have finally fallen off so now is the time to relax and explore a bit 🙂

 

I do have a question though. I was led to believe that the rule of 5 applies to purple sets as well. Your example has more than 5. 

 

Again, thank you kindly. It's much appreciated.

Edited November 26 by Grizlee

[Grizlee]

Ok, given the wonderful direction given by @Zect I've made changes that take into account the give information as well as knowing my personal play style and creature comforts ( evasive, I'm looking at you! ) I left evasive off so as not to skew the defensive stats, however the defenses DO apply when taking an initial alpha strike so they are considerable indeed in that regard.

 

 

Plasmatic Pulsar 2.0 - Corruptor (Fire Blast - Force Field).mbd

[Wimbochismo]

17 hours ago, Grizlee said:

Ok, given the wonderful direction given by @Zect I've made changes that take into account the give information as well as knowing my personal play style and creature comforts ( evasive, I'm looking at you! ) I left evasive off so as not to skew the defensive stats, however the defenses DO apply when taking an initial alpha strike so they are considerable indeed in that regard.

 

 

Plasmatic Pulsar 2.0 - Corruptor (Fire Blast - Force Field).mbd 44.57 kB · 1 download

 

Hi again! You can net yourself more recharge, endurance, and survivability with a few quick changes.

• Remove the def/end/rech Shield Wall slot from Maneuver's.
• Technically your chance to hit vs +3 is way overshot. You won't need to run Tactic's, varying on the situation. Remove 2 slots and just slap a 50+5 end red in it.
• Remove Unbreakable Guard end/res slot from Dark Embrace.
• Remove the Power Transfer heal proc from Stamina. Switch the Power Transfer endmod to a regular flat 50+5 endmod.

Now that you have some slots available...

• Add 3 slots to Dispersion Bubble to max it out. Switch the full 6 slot Reactive Defenses to it.
• Add 1 slot to Damping Bubble. Put 2 slot LotG global recharge and a defense in.
• Add 1 slot to Health for Preventive Medicine absorb proc. This proc is much better for survivability.

Your situational toggles will be Tactic's, Assault, and Evasive. So long as you're only running 1-2 of the 3, your endurance should be solid. If you team with someone that buffs end you can probably run all 3, this also applies if you use Agility Core. Even though Agility buff's your shields even further, as a Corruptor I would still consider something like Musculature Core or Radial. You slightly lose out on proc dmg and dmg in general by taking Agility. You're also utilizing Power Boost on your shields already so Agility is even less needed.

[Grizlee]

Does the heal proc in stamina not work? Just curious why you would personally remove it.

 

And as always you legend, thanks 🙂

[Grizlee]

Ok, after some more fantastic advice I think I have it. I made a teeeeensy little switch and I'm pretty chuffed with how this looks now. I just finished soloing the Black Scorpion epic arch @ level 35. Now for the push to 50, and trying to get this turkey stuffed 🙂

 

 

Plasmatic Pulsar 3.0 - Corruptor (Fire Blast - Force Field).mbd

[Psyonico]

57 minutes ago, Grizlee said:

Does the heal proc in stamina not work? Just curious why you would personally remove it.

 

And as always you legend, thanks 🙂

It does work, my guess is that @Wimbochismoddeems it slot inefficient.

[Wimbochismo]

52 minutes ago, Grizlee said:

Does the heal proc in stamina not work? Just curious why you would personally remove it.

 

It does work. It was just in that instance if it was the heal proc vs absorb proc, I'd pick the absorb proc first.

 

If your health is between 31-75%, it has a 10% chance to proc. If your health goes under 31%, it has a 100% chance to proc. Basically if you ever get chunked down for some reason it provides an extra "oh crap" buffer allowing you to hit a heal inspiration etc. It ends up being a huge lifesaver in many circumstances.

 

If you can finagle the power transfer heal proc, it's 5% of your max hp on 3ppm. That's still solid if you can fit it in.

 

Your current build is looking great! It's hard to tell if the ranged defense to hit max from 2 slot Blessing of the Zephyr in Fly is worse/better than the heal proc in your iteration. My guess is the heal proc would be better? Your own testing and playstyle would be needed to figure that one out.

[Grizlee]

1 hour ago, Wimbochismo said:

 

It does work. It was just in that instance if it was the heal proc vs absorb proc, I'd pick the absorb proc first.

 

If your health is between 31-75%, it has a 10% chance to proc. If your health goes under 31%, it has a 100% chance to proc. Basically if you ever get chunked down for some reason it provides an extra "oh crap" buffer allowing you to hit a heal inspiration etc. It ends up being a huge lifesaver in many circumstances.

 

If you can finagle the power transfer heal proc, it's 5% of your max hp on 3ppm. That's still solid if you can fit it in.

 

Your current build is looking great! It's hard to tell if the ranged defense to hit max from 2 slot Blessing of the Zephyr in Fly is worse/better than the heal proc in your iteration. My guess is the heal proc would be better? Your own testing and playstyle would be needed to figure that one out.

 

 

In my mind it was close for sure. What tipped me towards the absorb proc with the Heal as well was doing the oro missions. They will be there from 15 on up ( I swapped miracle with Preventative just now when I /respec'd )

 

I suspect it will have more legs if considered in that way.

 

I'm struggling with endo at the moment with SO's so I can't wait to get some help from enhancements and Incarnates. 

 

 

Edited November 28 by Grizlee