Chance for build up proc in a buildup power?

[cohRock]

The incongruity didn't hit me until after I had slotted Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up. I put it in the to-hit buff / +damage set Rage, but it holds for normal build ups as well.  The proc describes itself as so:

Quote

... Gives a minor chance to have a "Build Up" power effect the caster. The effect will trigger roughly 1 time per minute.

I've been watching without triggering Rage, and it never seems to go off.  If it only has a chance to fire immediately after activating Rage (or even normal Build Ups), what good is it?  Sure it might stack a Build Up effect, but I would much rather have a more frequent effect than a stronger one.

 

Should it be auto-firing about once a minute, rather or not I have activated Rage? 

[Doomguide2005]

Yes what you are observing is how it works because it is in a click power.  The advantage is you have much greater control over when it fires.  But yes it means spikier firing.  Want more random generalized firing it would need to go into an auto or toggle power where procs, in general, check every 10 seconds.  Tactics will do it.  The issue is it might fire when you are between spawns or with a foe who's almost dead essentially wasting the proc.

[tidge]

20 minutes ago, cohRock said:

The incongruity didn't hit me until after I had slotted Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up. I put it in the to-hit buff / +damage set Rage, but it holds for normal build ups as well.  The proc describes itself as so:

I've been watching without triggering Rage, and it never seems to go off.  If it only has a chance to fire immediately after activating Rage (or even normal Build Ups), what good is it?  Sure it might stack a Build Up effect, but I would much rather have a more frequent effect than a stronger one.

 

Should it be auto-firing about once a minute, rather or not I have activated Rage? 

 

A %proc in a click power requires the power to be activated. If it was in a toggle or auto power, it would have a chance to trigger on every tick of the toggle (per the relatively poor proc rate for toggles). If it was a global, it would just have to be slotted.

 

The only exception I am aware of is the Preventive Maintenance %absorb, which will fire (per its PPM) one the Health conditions are met.

 

The Gaussian's %Buildup can be interesting if it is slotted in a toggle ally-affecting aura... each ally (pet, henchmen) within range of the aura can help it to trigger... for the character that has it slotted. In practice this is best for solo Crabberminds (because their damage scales don't suck) or on DPS characters that always have large teams.

[Snarky]

Working as intended.  In a “click” power like rage 😡 procs only check on the click.  

[Jacke]

14 hours ago, tidge said:

A %proc in a click power requires the power to be activated. If it was in a toggle or auto power, it would have a chance to trigger on every tick of the toggle (per the relatively poor proc rate for toggles). If it was a global, it would just have to be slotted.

 

AFAIK, Procs in Auto or Toggle Powers are checked every 10s, with their Proc chance based upon that Activate Period.

 

 

14 hours ago, tidge said:

The only exception I am aware of is the Preventive Maintenance %absorb, which will fire (per its PPM) one the Health conditions are met.

 

That's because despite being called a Proc, it's actually a Global that provides a Proc with the funky conditions.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Preventive_Medicine:_Absorb_Proc

Found that out when I had it slotted in Spirit Ward back when that was a Click Power and I got the Absorb shield when I'd not used the Power.

 

That one IO (which I craft at L20 to allow slotting as early as possible) has probably saved my Toons from being defeated more than any other single Enhancement.  That big title from it floating up also very visibly warns me my Toon dropped below 75% MaxHealth in HP long enough for it to Proc, so it's time to shift a bit defensive.  I always try to fit that into a build and as early in the Leveling process as possible, even if I will have to move the IO to another Slot later.

 

 

[Maelwys]

18 hours ago, cohRock said:

 If it only has a chance to fire immediately after activating Rage (or even normal Build Ups), what good is it?  

 

In a regular "build up" or "aim"  power, a Gaussian Proc will have a capped (90%) chance to activate as long as you aren't slotting a lot of local recharge aspect (~71% local recharge or more). This effectively results in your Build Up power granting double it's regular ToHit and Damage buff for several seconds.

 

It's an extremely useful spike damage boost that can be used right before a string of powerful attacks (and/or a Nuke). Although my Blasters typically slot it into Aim to give them a better average damage boost over time.

[Major_Decoy]

18 hours ago, tidge said:

The only exception I am aware of is the Preventive Maintenance %absorb, which will fire (per its PPM) one the Health conditions are met.

There's also Spider's bite: Global Chance for Toxic Damage and Assassin's Mark: Chance to Recharge Build-up.

[aethereal]

6 hours ago, Jacke said:

 

AFAIK, Procs in Auto or Toggle Powers are checked every 10s, with their Proc chance based upon that Activate Period.

 

This is correct.  Proc chance is also affected by area factor.

[tidge]

5 hours ago, Major_Decoy said:

There's also Spider's bite: Global Chance for Toxic Damage and Assassin's Mark: Chance to Recharge Build-up.

 

Not wrong, but also not being slotted in Rage.

[Scarlet Shocker]

what is the % chance of a proc firing and is there a way to divine/know this?

[Psyonico]

1 hour ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

what is the % chance of a proc firing and is there a way to divine/know this?

There's a spreadsheet somewhere that will calculate this. 

 

The short answer is "it depends" since procs were changed to a PPM system, the %chance is based on a few different factors.

[Glacier Peak]

This thread has gone long enough without an @Bopper sighting!

[Riverdusk]

On 10/11/2025 at 5:39 AM, cohRock said:

The incongruity didn't hit me until after I had slotted Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up. I put it in the to-hit buff / +damage set Rage, but it holds for normal build ups as well.  The proc describes itself as so:

I've been watching without triggering Rage, and it never seems to go off.  If it only has a chance to fire immediately after activating Rage (or even normal Build Ups), what good is it?  Sure it might stack a Build Up effect, but I would much rather have a more frequent effect than a stronger one.

 

Should it be auto-firing about once a minute, rather or not I have activated Rage? 

 

Probably the most useful of all on a stalker.  Put it in their build-up (along with their proc that auto recharges build up quite often) and you turn into even more a one shot death machine.

[aethereal]

3 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

what is the % chance of a proc firing and is there a way to divine/know this?

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Procs_Per_Minute

[Biff Pow]

On 10/11/2025 at 6:39 AM, cohRock said:

I've been watching without triggering Rage, and it never seems to go off.  If it only has a chance to fire immediately after activating Rage (or even normal Build Ups), what good is it?  Sure it might stack a Build Up effect, but I would much rather have a more frequent effect than a stronger one.

 

I don't know what you've paired Super Strength with, but if it's Invulnerability, put the Chance for Buildup in Invincibility. It fires off a lot when you have a crowd of enemies around you.

[Maelwys]

5 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

what is the % chance of a proc firing and is there a way to divine/know this?

 

It's probably easiest to just use MacSkull's PPM Calculator Spreadsheet (make a copy) plus City of Data v2 for the base numbers to plug into it.

 

[cohRock]

2 hours ago, Biff Pow said:

 

I don't know what you've paired Super Strength with, but if it's Invulnerability, put the Chance for Buildup in Invincibility. It fires off a lot when you have a crowd of enemies around you.

My character is an SS/Energy brute. I had already decided to 6-slot the Gaussian set in Rage. The set's 6th slot set bonus is extra defense to just about everything, and the earlier bonuses seem to be quite attractive as well.  Thus, even if its Chance for Build Up proc of limited utility in this situation, it needs to stay where it is.

[Championess]

On 10/12/2025 at 8:06 AM, Scarlet Shocker said:

what is the % chance of a proc firing and is there a way to divine/know this?

It's a combination of factors. 

 

Procs have their base PPM and are affected by the internal slotted recharge (or base recharge if you didn't enhance the recharge) plus the animation time of the power, which tends to factor in another 1s to 3s to the equation.  So you have lots of control over PPM by not slotting recharge and building in high global recharge into your builds, which global recharge doesn't factor into ruining your proc rates and in fact makes your assaults (and overall build in general) better.

 

For single target attacks its easier to figure.  If a proc says it has a 3.5 ppm that means it has a fire rate of every 17s if it were to 100% fire, but all procs have a default 10% misfire rate so you can adjust down your recharge in that power from the 17s to about 14s and still result in the same topend 90% fire rate.  Any ST attack with a 12s+ recharge/animation I look to beef up for more damage by way of adding usually 3-4 procs unless I specifically need to slot a purple set.

 

For AoEs its a bit trickier, it factors in the max target count of the power plus the area of effect the power covers.  I tend to like to throw procs into 32s+ recharging AoEs like epic fireballs that aren't nukes, nukes are typically better just slotting for more damage/recharge since that'll usually outdo procs you toss in there.  Also those tight area almost ST attacks with 5 targets I'll look to slot procs if the recharge seems a little longer.

 

So for the Gaussian it's 1 PPM but you can account for the 10% misfire rate which would knock off 6s so if you have the recharge of your Build Up down to 54s that'd be the optimal recharge to net the 90% fire rate.  Toggles behave different and tend to have a far less anticipatory style opposed to clicks so slotting this in Tactics would be fine but hard to anticipate.  

 

This is just my general rule of thumb but yeah do check out @macskull's list it is very informative.

Edited 1 hour ago by Championess