Time/Fire Def Build

[Warboss]

Hi all,

 

Title says it all. I usually hang out in the Tanker forums/run Tanks, but in an effort to expand my current CoH experience, I've agreed to level up a Time/Fire Def (why Fire instead of DP... well... because it's FIRE). That said I've managed to get him into his 40s but after checking things out. I really have no idea how to slot the build. I've checked a couple of threads here and taken what I could from them, but I thought I'd ask the folks that specialize in Defenders for advice. Any powers to skip (won't take Fire Breath, unless there's a good argument for it), any others I should watch out for/skip in either set. Any pools that make the sets "moar better"? Anyone got a good build for the combo?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice/build comments.

[Spaghetti Betty]

Hullo!

 

I don't normally find myself here, either! Mostly because I feel like Defenders are super easy to build.

 

Case in point, you picked a really easy combo to play! Time Manipulation is super strong with Defenders values, and Fire Blast is Fire Blast!

 

The real cream with Time Manipulation Defenders is that adding Power Boost to your toolkit greatly inflates basically all of your numbers across the board. Using it before popping Farsight will allow it to pump out extremely good DEF numbers. It will also boost all healing you do while PB is active, which is double good for Time since it focuses on HoTs instead of solid numbers. Chrono Shift is also a fantastic buff that slaps a whopping +50% global recharge on your teammates in a big AoE and grants them massive healing over time. Give Temporal Selection to your Blaster and watch them have a great time! Stand in the middle of crowds and watch Time's Juncture cure any doubt that you'd ever get hit!

 

So, saying all of this, the most important thing to point out is that Time Manipulators tend to have endurance problems! Chrono Shift's recovery buff only lasts for 30 seconds!

 

With all of that out of the way, I did take the time to make an example of how I'd build one!

 

Defender (Time Manipulation - Fire Blast).mbd

 

 

Numbers are before Power Boost is applied to Farsight, but if my math is correct, using PB will put you just above the softcap! This will allow you to wade through combat pretty easily. Use Chrono Shift on cooldown to juice the whole thing up! For my Incarnate choices, I went all in on an aggressive playstyle with the Musculature + Ageless Core combo. This will pump your damage, solve any lingering endurance issues, and make Chrono Shift perma (Ageless displayed at 60sec for median effect)!

 

I hope this helps!

[Uun]

See below for my current Fire/Time corruptor build. I don't think there's anything in there that couldn't be flipped to a defender.

Uunreal - Corruptor (Fire Blast).mbd

[Warboss]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the input and build SB, and thanks for the build Uun. I noticed what you mean about End issues SB, I'll take that to heart when building mine.

[MonteCarla]

This is a great pairing - one of the most powerful Defenders I've played.

 

Power Boosted Farsight (slotted for Defence) and Time's Juncture pretty much softcap you, so no need to build for Defence.

Make sure you've got a Achilles Heel Chance for -Res slotted in Slowed Response, and the Gaussian's Chance for Build Up in Aim, and give them both good recharge slotting. The procs will still nearly always fire off.

Take Hasten and ChronoShift to maximise your Recharge, and build for +Recharge Set bonuses. 

 

That way you can get Slowed Response, Build Up, Inferno going as often as possible.

Rain of Fire and Distortion Field leave any survivors running for the hills in slow motion.

[Uun]

3 hours ago, MonteCarla said:

Rain of Fire and Distortion Field leave any survivors running for the hills in slow motion.

This is a really effective pairing. Rain of Fire's "Afraid" effect combined with slowing foes to the movement floor really messes with mob AI. They focus on getting out of the effect (which they can't) instead of shooting at you. You can get similar results with Ice Storm or Whirlpool combined with Tar Patch, Glue Arrow or Tide Pool.

[Warboss]

On 9/24/2025 at 4:08 AM, MonteCarla said:

This is a great pairing - one of the most powerful Defenders I've played.

 

Power Boosted Farsight (slotted for Defence) and Time's Juncture pretty much softcap you, so no need to build for Defence.

Make sure you've got a Achilles Heel Chance for -Res slotted in Slowed Response, and the Gaussian's Chance for Build Up in Aim, and give them both good recharge slotting. The procs will still nearly always fire off.

Take Hasten and ChronoShift to maximise your Recharge, and build for +Recharge Set bonuses. 

 

 

Thanks for the input and confirming some slotting that I already have in place.

 

On 9/24/2025 at 4:08 AM, MonteCarla said:

That way you can get Slowed Response, Build Up, Inferno going as often as possible.

Rain of Fire and Distortion Field leave any survivors running for the hills in slow motion.

 

I've noticed this with some of my current (sloppy) slotting.  I've been comparing my slotting with suggestions made. I need a few tweaks, but looks like I'm on the right track.

 

[DrunkFlux]

This is a combination I used for one of my mains on live, and i consider this combination, on defenders especially to be the ultimate "Budget build" for newcomers and veterans alike:

Maxed defenses using power build up/power boost before farsight and times juncture
Flooring enemy recharge so they have even less attacks with distortion field + rain of fire makes them not do anything from trying to veinly escape the field.

Can be made sustainable even with just SO's and incarnate powers(Cardiac Alpha + Clarion) with minimal IOs.

Some thoughts:

Fire breath is also a solid power if you use it right before fireball, as the DoT it applies will hit its final tic often as the fireball lands.  This is more burst-fire AoE tactic, not as necessary on homecoming(thanks to inferno being good) as it was on live(where Inferno was trash thanks to end crash), but can easily be a good hold-over until higher amounts of influence and merits are available to flesh the build out on more advanced IOs bring inferno recharge to a more competitive range.

If using Clarion and willing to risk a few seconds of downtime with farsight, use Radial Clarion for the huge boost, then power boost/power build up for even HIGHER defense numbers.  Not always recommended though, as a few seconds of downtime may be all the mobs need to score some hits or a defense cascade.  But it can be a strong opener for a tougher fight, especially if summoning lore pets as they benefit from the increased boost.