Pyro - thoughts on great secondaries?

[Force Redux]

Hi fellows,

Now that pyrotechnics had been out for a few weeks ... I'd love to hear some thoughts on pairings with various secondaries.

 

I've tried /Rad, /dark, and /time and I enjoy them all, very familiar with them.... But indecision is generating interest in others' opinions. Thoughts, experiences, meta gaming?

[BRADICAL]

Pyro/Marine is the best it's gonna get in terms of DPS, and is a very desirable secondary across the board while also keeping things fast paced on both sides. Procced-out with the right build, it handily dispels the myth that trollers do low DPS—I've clocked a 38 second average pylon time, and cleared a benchmark +4/x8 mission with an average time that's neck and neck with my Demons/Marine MM, and the blasters and tankers on the same list.

 

Other secondaries have their own utility, some of them more niche than others (like doubling down on the -tohit auras with Poison or Time might seem synergistic, but it's unnecessary in my opinion).

[Force Redux]

@BRADICAL curious what kind of theme you came up with? 🙂

 

Thanks for your feedback! 

 

Any others want to share?

[BRADICAL]

40 minutes ago, Force Redux said:

@BRADICAL curious what kind of theme you came up with? 🙂

Literally Just Magic™️ which worked out better after I modded all the sounds and animations! 😆

[TygerDarkstorm]

I haven't played mine yet, but rolled with /kin, though it was really tempting to go with /time. And Marine's just such an amazing set that it's hard not to go that route.

[Renatos1023]

I also rolled with /Kin and just hit 37. So far, it has been really fun. Pyro/ reminds me of Earth/ with the sheer number of controls I can toss out -- always seem to have something up to throw at a mob, and the +recharge and +dam that /Kin offers are always boon to any team. Once I picked up Transference any and all endurance issues just magically disappeared.

 

I went /Kin for a kind of energy control theme. Plus, I know /Kin likes to be in melee and I thought the PBAoE aura from Pyro/ would provide a little bit of extra protection for that. 

Edited Sunday at 02:58 AM by Renatos1023

[Force Redux]

Really appreciate these answers - Pyros seems to be a great set, I just need to not make a Jubilee knockoff... I need that vital idea... (and to pick a secondary past level 22) 

[Force Redux]

3 hours ago, BRADICAL said:

Literally Just Magic™️ which worked out better after I modded all the sounds and animations! 😆

 

I find Marine to be very busy set... and Pyro is a bit busy IMO... are the two together even busier than I imagine?  As much as I loved Arsenal/Trick Arrow, it was a beast to just use the plethora of abilities!

Edited Sunday at 05:15 AM by Force Redux

[arcane]

Of course any high damage secondary like Marine or TA or Storm is gonna be a slam dunk, but Time and Poison are also appealing for toggle debuff aura stacking synergy.

[Octogoat]

/storm looks like cottom camdy

[Force Redux]

1 hour ago, Octogoat said:

/storm looks like cottom camdy

If only storm had a self heal...

And I wasn't so clumsy with hurricane 😂

[Octogoat]

6 minutes ago, Force Redux said:

If only storm had a self heal...

And I wasn't so clumsy with hurricane 😂

That just makes the chaos more fun, force!

[evetsleep]

2 hours ago, arcane said:

Of course any high damage secondary like Marine or TA or Storm is gonna be a slam dunk, but Time and Poison are also appealing for toggle debuff aura stacking synergy.

Can confirm poison is pretty darn safe...especially once Venomous Gas gets into the mix, but the lack of a heal, sometimes, makes things interesting.  Time would probably a little safer if standing in melee range is concerning.  Personally I'm loving pyro and poison together.  They mesh so well with the -ToHit that both sets offer (among other debuffs).

[Onlyasandwich]

I'm thinking about coming back and starting up a Pyro of my own - I'm thinking Pyro/Rad looks like a great platform!

 

I like Poison as well, but it doesn't quite click with the character themes I have in mind. Since Pyro has what seems like a very reliable opening hit with glittering column, you should have ample time to get your -tohit toggles and auras into position before mobs start reprisal. Glittering sets up -tohit oriented sets super well by clumping things, taking the alpha, and setting an awesome baseline of tohit to stack off of.

 

Rad can be colored all sorts of pretty things to thematically integrate with Pyro, and has the standard suite of Rad tools we've come to count on over time, which are more powerful than ever since they buffed RI's animation time.

 

I'm usually a fan of choking cloud, but it has minimal synergy in this combo, despite some melee encouragement from incendiary aura. 

 

Here's the build I jummed up this morning for reference -Controller (Pyrotechnic Control - Radiation Emission).mbd

 

It looks like Multipurpose Missiles has some interesting proc opportunities, though perhaps the reality of how it's implemented will make it less powerful than Mids represents. 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:21 PM by Onlyasandwich

[BurtHutt]

I am also wondering about a good secondary. I think I'll try ELEC as I don't have it on a troller yet. Thoughts on this? What about time?

[BurtHutt]

On 6/28/2025 at 3:50 PM, BRADICAL said:

Pyro/Marine is the best it's gonna get in terms of DPS, and is a very desirable secondary across the board while also keeping things fast paced on both sides. Procced-out with the right build, it handily dispels the myth that trollers do low DPS—I've clocked a 38 second average pylon time, and cleared a benchmark +4/x8 mission with an average time that's neck and neck with my Demons/Marine MM, and the blasters and tankers on the same list.

 

Other secondaries have their own utility, some of them more niche than others (like doubling down on the -tohit auras with Poison or Time might seem synergistic, but it's unnecessary in my opinion).

Any chance you could post this build?

[BRADICAL]

7 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

Any chance you could post this build?

Sure thing! I keep revising it but I'm pretty happy with this version so far.

 

And Pyro/Marine is fairly active but I consider that a good thing! There's always something to do and it all slaps 😄

Controller (Pyrotechnic Control - Marine Affinity).mbd

[Psylenz0511]

I went Pyro/Storm. I had two defenders as my main on live Storm/Rad blast and Forcefield Psy blast (my global handle).

 

I am playing through leveling up now, no AE or MSR for this character. I plan to try to maximize recharge for maximum storms, tornadoes, etc It's been a blast. I mostly group. and play on task forces and giant monster hunts when I can.

[brasilgringo]

No Control v8.mbd

[Maxzero]

Being busy isn't an issue. You should always be constantly using abilities with any build. If you are standing/floating there not using any powers, then you are literally doing nothing, and then doing anything would be an improvement.

 

The problem comes if you have multiple power you want to spam on low CDs and they get in each other's way.

 

So Pyro/Marine works since only Whitecap is really spammed. 

 

Pyro/Storm, on the other hand, is a bit of an issue since you want to spam Tornado, Freezing Rain, and Lightning Storm, which can clash with some of Pyro's spam.

Edited 1 hour ago by Maxzero