Armor Set Recommendations Needed

[Sovera]

11 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

To flesh out Fire/ 's resistances though, is where the challenges will come as while you can sneeze and cap fire res, the others really have to be worked on significantly to achieve closer to res caps on all damage types.  And then there's its weaker(albeit better than in earlier years) KB protection that also requires potentially some IO sources and the lack of fear/terrorize that has to be supplemented as well.   

 

I mean, not really. All my Fire Tankers even have Tough toggled off and I don't even split Gauntled Fist for more E/N like I do for Stone Armor. I do play on the idea of having two stacks of ATO and Barrier because those are normal things to have for a max level character but that already accounts for 18%, and one -KB IO has also served me well and now there is even a little bit more.

 

Fire breath is one of those things that looks nice on a spreadsheet but has no value in actual gameplay. There's a reason it is so reviled. But yeah, immobilize and fear CAN be a problem though.

 

Best way I found to use Burn was actually at the end of the AoE cycle. Fire Sword Circle, Combustion, then when minions are dead from those since they were empowered by BU + Gaussian and there are only ailing lieutenants and a boss, is when Burn is dropped. Using Burn first just has a good chance to hit the minions who were going to died from the other two AoEs anyway.

 

 

But of course if they wanted a defence/resistance layered build it's not Fire Armor 😄 Pairing EM and FA does prop their shortcomings, a bit like my favorite FA/MA where MA's weak AoE was propped by Burn and Burn got to be spat out more often by Dragon Tail's FF proccage.

[Gobbledygook]

I never thought of Stone as boosting damage. I never paid attention, as I didn't want to look like poopoo man.

[Sovera]

40 minutes ago, Gobbledygook said:

I never thought of Stone as boosting damage. I never paid attention, as I didn't want to look like poopoo man.

 

Recharge and straight up damage from Brimstone. Granite isn't used. Personally I either pick the lava skins or the crystal to colour it to look like ice.

[Grizlee]

I'll toss out Dark / Martial Arts. 

 

AOE - no problem

Heals - No problem

Debuffs? - No problem

Utility? - No problem

Resists? - Without buffs only 2 of mine aren't @90 and those two are above 60. With RoP they both hit 90.

Defense? - Half are 40 or better, the rest are 25 at the lowest.

Damage? - It doesn't suck.

[Sanguinesun]

1 hour ago, Grizlee said:

I'll toss out Dark / Martial Arts. 

 

AOE - no problem

Heals - No problem

Debuffs? - No problem

Utility? - No problem

Resists? - Without buffs only 2 of mine aren't @90 and those two are above 60. With RoP they both hit 90.

Defense? - Half are 40 or better, the rest are 25 at the lowest.

Damage? - It doesn't suck.

 

As mentioned recently elsewhere, Dark/'s challenges stem from to either use slots and IO's/IO sets for KB protection or taking another power like acrobatics to ensure KB protections.  Endurance also is a challenge requiring both endurance discounts and recovery and that becomes even more important when paired with sets like MA that can allow you to slot for +300% +recharge from sets/procs because you're hitting more thus expending endurance more. Basically Dark/ while loved for what it brings to the table, is a endurance and toggle management heavy set and that doesnt match some players' playstyles.

[Grizlee]

48 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

 

As mentioned recently elsewhere, Dark/'s challenges stem from to either use slots and IO's/IO sets for KB protection or taking another power like acrobatics to ensure KB protections.  Endurance also is a challenge requiring both endurance discounts and recovery and that becomes even more important when paired with sets like MA that can allow you to slot for +300% +recharge from sets/procs because you're hitting more thus expending endurance more. Basically Dark/ while loved for what it brings to the table, is a endurance and toggle management heavy set and that doesnt match some players' playstyles.

 

Mindless button mashing can certainly spoil the party. I've not had the issues described, but then I build differently than others too. I don't care about Pylon this or min/max that. I want a smooth attack chain and toughness. I also don't fall prey to constant comparing to other sets and take it as it's own thing.

 

My KB is 12 taking nothing special or ruinous to the output. I couldn't imagine putting another toggle in 🙂 As you say, it's got enough.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Grizlee
had to check my number, I missed by 2

[ninja surprise]

On 12/8/2024 at 6:15 PM, Gobbledygook said:

 

I've read most of your guides @Sovera, though it has been a long time. I seem to remember someone writing a guide on Fa/Em at one point. They used CRUNCH in it alot.

 

You're thinking about @Camel's cRuNcH guide. I did an ITF with him once, it's an effective build. He's got a bunch of other builds with EM there too, for your build debating.

 

Edited December 11, 2024 by ninja surprise

[Camel]

On 12/10/2024 at 9:41 PM, ninja surprise said:

 

You're thinking about @Camel's cRuNcH guide. I did an ITF with him once, it's an effective build. He's got a bunch of other builds with EM there too, for your build debating.

 

I still need to update this. I haven't done a revised version for my FIre/Energy Tank and I'm starting to feel like maybe this is in the works. 

Do we need more cRuNcH?

[Camel]

On 12/8/2024 at 7:15 PM, Gobbledygook said:

 

I've read most of your guides @Sovera, though it has been a long time. I seem to remember someone writing a guide on Fa/Em at one point. They used CRUNCH in it alot.

CRUNCH guy here! I still would whole heartedly recommend giving Fire/EM a try! Fire plays unlike a lot of other sets in that it offers a relatively complete PBAoE package in the form of Blazing Aura, Burn and Fiery Embrace! Even if that was your only means of AoE damage this still wouldn't feel bad. But with Whirling Hands + Burn + Blazing Aura + all the extra fire damage procs from Fiery Embrace, your Interface choice... It really adds up. You can bolster this even further with an AoE attack from one of the Epics or Patrons. 

Even before FA got buffed, I thoroughly enjoyed my Fire/EM, it's still hands down the most single target burst I've ever done on a Tank. Period. If you get a team with a Kinetics user and one or two heavy debuffers you can literally expect to see 1.5k-2k damage off of Energy Transfer while fully buffed in terms of damage and Fiery Embrace. I've had the fire damage proc from FE alone be hundreds of damage, more than some Tanker attacks in general. The buffs to Consume and Temperature Protection are the cherry on top. I didn't even think it needed it but the buff is more than welcome and is absolutely noticeable in terms of survivability.

Attached is my updated, in-game version of what I'm currently using. I do have a pure DPS spec in Mids too that uses the new Psionic Epic for more ST burst with Dominate and a general increase across the board in DPS with a Force Feedback charged Psionic Tornado for even more AoE and utility. I haven't tested the DPS spec but I'm leaning towards making that my general build because survivability hasn't been an issue at all.

Tanker - Fiery Aura - Energy Melee.mbd

Edited December 30, 2024 by Camel

[Camel]

DPS spec involving more procs and Psionic Epic.

Tanker (Fiery Aura - Energy Melee)DPS.mbd

[Hjarki]

With any melee set, you need to start by figuring out what rotation you'll be running, how recharge will be necessary for that rotation and how much internal recharge (and thus how many procs) each attack can take.

 

In my experience, Energy Melee is a lot worse than it looks on paper because it requires an abnormally large number of melee attacks (limiting the diversity of sets you can use) and it doesn't function well except at extreme levels of recharge.

[Sovera]

7 hours ago, Hjarki said:

With any melee set, you need to start by figuring out what rotation you'll be running, how recharge will be necessary for that rotation and how much internal recharge (and thus how many procs) each attack can take.

 

In my experience, Energy Melee is a lot worse than it looks on paper because it requires an abnormally large number of melee attacks (limiting the diversity of sets you can use) and it doesn't function well except at extreme levels of recharge.

 

That's my annoyance with the set as well. Either we accept we use slow ET (which is still great damage, but who cares for such glacial animations?) or we use a TF, BS, EP, ET, EP, BS, EP. I mean, sure, it's doable, and sure, the damage's there, but CoH's not much of a piano game.

[Camel]

On 1/2/2025 at 7:19 AM, Sovera said:

 

That's my annoyance with the set as well. Either we accept we use slow ET (which is still great damage, but who cares for such glacial animations?) or we use a TF, BS, EP, ET, EP, BS, EP. I mean, sure, it's doable, and sure, the damage's there, but CoH's not much of a piano game.

I'm obviously biased because I was touting Energy Melee long before the buffs came. That being said. I've learned to embrace the slower animating Energy Transfer. Fun little fact, it actually has a better proc rate when you aren't in Energy Focus mode.

ET is always my opener, followed by TF then followed by the quick ET. After that I'll either use Dominate or throw down a Burn.. Or both! At that point my ET, TF, ET combo is back and by the time I finish that again, Burn and Dominate are ready to go once more. I've actually opted to not even have Energy Punch on my attack bar at all other than the occasional lower-level TFs.