page 3 [FOCUSED FEEDBACK] Fiery Melee Adjustments

[The Curator]

Fiery Melee

• Quote

  Design Note

  The last pass to this set went well, perhaps too well in some cases, but at the same time we left Breath of Fire untouched to revisit later. We are revisiting it now and making it a more viable melee cone attack. We attempted broadening the enhancement options during last pass, in part to help the Tanker version as it lacked Cremate. We feel this change was an overcorrection, especially when it also was applied to non-tanker versions of the set. We are not removing the options entirely, but Greater Fire Sword is losing access to it's -Defense secondary effect and -def enhancement options. Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle continue to have these options. And finally, the Tanker version of the set now has access to Cremate as a slot opened up by making Cremate and Breath of Fire mutually exclusive options.

  Expand  

• Breath of Fire
  • Recharge increased from 10s to 15s
  • Endurance cost increased from 10.192 to 14.352
  • Arc increase from 30 degrees to 120 degrees
  • Cast time reduced from 2.67s to 2.4s
  • Max Target hit reduced from 10 to 5 (16 to 10 on tankers)
  • FX has been adjusted to reflect new area
• Combustion
  • [Tankers] Combustion and Breath of fire are now mutually exclusive
• Cremate
  • Tankers now have access to Cremate as a T3 melee attack
  • Not accessible if they have taken both: Breath of Fire and Combustion. You will need to respec out of either power to pick Cremate
• Fire Sword
  • Now has a No Swords theme
• Fire Sword Circle
  • Now has a No Swords theme
• Greater Fire Sword
  • No longer applies a -defense debuff
  • No longer accepts Defense debuff sets
  • Now has a No Swords theme

[dangeraaron10]

Going from 10 to 5 kinda stings on Breath but I'll take what I can get.

 

Thank you very much for no sword options!

[bAss_ackwards]

• Breath of Fire
  • Going down in Max Target hit is painful. Using it on Live, the combined potential damage unenhanced at level 50 Scrapper is ~1490. On beta the combined potential damage unenhanced at level 50 Scrapper is ~810 damage.
  • I forget which AT has it, but there is one version of Breath of Fire that has an alternate animation of the fire flowing from an outstretched hand. If we're going for increasing theme capability with Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle, this would be nice for characters that don't want to spit out fire from their mouth.

 

• Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle
  • Anything that enhances character theming capability gets a thumbs up from me 👍

[lemming]

19 minutes ago, bAss_ackwards said:

I forget which AT has it, but there is one version of Breath of Fire that has an alternate animation of the fire flowing from an outstretched hand.

Blasters (and I would think the other ranged ones)

[dangeraaron10]

Let's be real though, the original 15ft, 30 arc Breath of Fire isn't hitting 5 enemies, let alone 10.

 

At least the newer one, while still kind of finicky to use, can reliably hit all 5 of its targets.

[Sovera]

Petition for alt Fire Breath becoming Combustion. Sign below, and Say No To Cones.

[flakoff]

Please please get rid of fire breathing from fire breath!

[flakoff]

Just tried to slot ANY set into cremate and it won't let me at all. Not even the tanker ato set.

[Myrmidon]

Thank sweet little eight pound, six ounce baby Jesus, No sword animations.

 

Ice Melee next, please.

[Gobbledygook]

15 hours ago, Sovera said:

Petition for alt Fire Breath becoming Combustion. Sign below, and Say No To Cones.

 

I second this motion.

[Nathic69]

Thank you for a swordless theme but can Ice Melee get the same ?

[merrypessimist]

Can I chuck cremate and keep breath of fire AND combustion? I'd rather have THAT pair.

 

EDIT: On the Tanker version.

Edited yesterday at 05:56 AM by merrypessimist

[Midnight Mystique]

So, awesome changes overall. The only borderline changes are the altered animation - I am a huge fan of adding extra animations to, well, everything as much as possible and I am happy for all the folks who want to drop the sword animations because it doesn't fit their theme, I find the new animations, well, lacking and looking kinda silly - basically you are still attacking with a blade, only now its invisible. Seriously, the GFS animation isn't so bad, although an overhand single target attack looks a bit odd, but the fire sword animation still looks like you are attacking someone with a blade, just one you can't see. 

 

I am certainly not advocating the dev's drop the new animations, if that's all they have time for its still awesome. But some true NEW animations that actually look good would be really nice. 

 

EDIT: I went back and took a closer look at the new animations. FSC is actually pretty cool looking even without the blade, so kudo's on that one. GFS is better than I first thought, its acceptable but fire sword still makes the character look like a dork. YMMV as this is purely my opinion but hey, its feedback. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Midnight Mystique

[ExeErdna]

On 12/7/2025 at 11:08 PM, bAss_ackwards said:

• Breath of Fire
  • Going down in Max Target hit is painful. Using it on Live, the combined potential damage unenhanced at level 50 Scrapper is ~1490. On beta the combined potential damage unenhanced at level 50 Scrapper is ~810 damage.
  • I forget which AT has it, but there is one version of Breath of Fire that has an alternate animation of the fire flowing from an outstretched hand. If we're going for increasing theme capability with Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle, this would be nice for characters that don't want to spit out fire from their mouth.

 

• Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle
  • Anything that enhances character theming capability gets a thumbs up from me 👍

All the ranged versions have the palm yet with how the angle is now, it should use the "steam spray" animation

[bAss_ackwards]

50 minutes ago, ExeErdna said:

All the ranged versions have the palm yet with how the angle is now, it should use the "steam spray" animation

 

That could work. Definitely would help for character themes that emanate fire from their hands, be it through technology or otherwise.

[Uun]

On 12/5/2025 at 5:31 PM, The Curator said:

Combustion

• [Tankers] Combustion and Breath of fire are now mutually exclusive

This doesn't appear to be the case. When I logged in I still had both Combustion and Breath of Fire, both of which still worked.

 

Ran paper missions vs. Malta and CoT on my Fire/Fire tank set to +3/x6 (+1 lvl shift). Change to Breath of Fire is a big improvement (and I liked the prior version).  Did not test Cremate. Change to GFS is fine.

 

[Sovera]

37 minutes ago, Uun said:

This doesn't appear to be the case. When I logged in I still had both Combustion and Breath of Fire, both of which still worked.

 

Ran paper missions vs. Malta and CoT on my Fire/Fire tank set to +3/x6 (+1 lvl shift). Change to Breath of Fire is a big improvement (and I liked the prior version).  Did not test Cremate. Change to GFS is fine.

 

 

I believe it requires a respec for this to be seen. If you have a free one floating around perhaps you could see if this is the case.

[Captain Powerhouse]

40 minutes ago, Uun said:

This doesn't appear to be the case. When I logged in I still had both Combustion and Breath of Fire, both of which still worked.

 

The powers are not removed from anyone's build but the rule would be enforced upon a respec. 

[Uun]

17 minutes ago, Sovera said:

I believe it requires a respec for this to be seen. If you have a free one floating around perhaps you could see if this is the case.

Yes, this is the case. Not stated in the patch notes is that both Combustion and Breath of Fire have moved to T6 (lvl 20). Unless you take both T1 attacks, you're essentially forced to take Cremate at lvl 4 or you won't be able to pick another attack until lvl 20. You're also limited to 2 AoE attacks, as compared to the 3 you can take on live currently. In essence, I can never respec this character now.

[Uun]

37 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

The powers are not removed from anyone's build but the rule would be enforced upon a respec. 

I do NOT like this change. Fiery Melee has been in the game since launch and was originally only available to tanks. Tanks have always had both Combustion and Breath of Fire available in their version of Fiery Melee. Brutes were given Cremate instead of Combustion when they were introduced in i6, and it was given to scrappers and stalkers when Fiery Melee was proliferated to them in i12 and i25. AoE damage has always been a signature attribute of Fiery Melee tanks and I see no justification for taking away something that tanks have enjoyed for over 20 years.

 

Combustion should remain at T3 and should be mutually exclusive with Cremate. 

[Sovera]

Ugh. I hadn't seen that change. Having early AoE with Combustion was a big draw for me. Yes, okay, doesn't take long to level, yadda yadda. Not everyone teams and by not having AoE we're reduced to arresting mobs one by one.

[ExeErdna]

4 hours ago, Uun said:

I do NOT like this change. Fiery Melee has been in the game since launch and was originally only available to tanks. Tanks have always had both Combustion and Breath of Fire available in their version of Fiery Melee. Brutes were given Cremate instead of Combustion when they were introduced in i6, and it was given to scrappers and stalkers when Fiery Melee was proliferated to them in i12 and i25. AoE damage has always been a signature attribute of Fiery Melee tanks and I see no justification for taking away something that tanks have enjoyed for over 20 years.

 

Combustion should remain at T3 and should be mutually exclusive with Cremate. 

 

I agree with this since I have a Fire/Fire tanker on live. I didn't really use ST, I was rotating Combustion, Fire Breath, Fire Sword Circle and Burn. That means I need to respec on live before I transfer over to test the changes 

====

 

Yeah, tragically Cremate doesn't really work for the late game pick. Incenerate, GFS and normal FS is fast enough to basically make not worth it over Combustion. Fire melee isn't there for ST. Especially paired with fire since now Consume is the filler I'm using. 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by ExeErdna
updating comment

[Jacke]

On 12/8/2025 at 4:07 AM, Sovera said:

...Say No To Cones.

 

Cones only really work well as a proper Melee Cone (wide and brutal) or on a Ranged Toon with a number of Cone Attacks.  Throwing in one as an afterthought is just sad.  Especially when the Power's numbers are bad too (Electron Haze, I'm looking at you).

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Jacke