Harkness

I've seen this mentioned quite a few times recently, though mostly in reference to Hot Feet.

Is there a good damage-bonus to aim for in a Fire-Kin's attacks before looking at procs?

For my Fire/Fire, I found endurance a serious problem (even with Stamina) and I was always lusting after more recharge so I could keep the AoEs coming.

I slotted 1 Acc, 2 Damage, 1 end-red, 2 recharge reductions in most of my attacks when I was using basic IOs.

I got Hasten early and slotted 2 recharge reductions in it right away. I slotted my auras with 2 end reds. At the higher levels, when you get more enc slots, I upped those to 3 each.

With both Aim and Build-Up recharging quickly, slotting each power for accuracy is less of an issue.

That changed totally when I hit 50, had my epic and started using IO sets, but the above combos worked best for me until that point.

Are you comparing AoE or ST damage? That seems to be blurred in this discussion, and it's incredibly relevant.

While I've seen some impressive AoE damage from spines scrappers or fire/kin controllers, it usually feels like the mob-massacring AoE damage comes from the Blasters (whether I'm the one playing a Blaster or not).

While it seems like Blasters have fallen behind in terms of ST damage vs personal survivability, their AoE damage seems to be keeping them safely at the top of a team's DPS output.

The sheer potency of those multipliers is under-estimated by the player-base (myself included for the first year and a half of playing the game), and the mechanics are quite alien compared to any other game I've played.

For vills, Brutes are popular because they're the only obvious "tough melee fighter" option, and the overwhelming popularity of tanks and scrappers blueside displays the typical player-preference for those types of characters.

Brutes are pretty-much required in redside teams, where they usually act as the tanks (even though I believe the design of redside intended MMs to be the tanks?), which is great since finding redside teams can be a lot harder than blueside.

Brutes are also so popular because they can out-damage scrappers and have near-tank levels of protection. Most Brutes can tank, scrap or solo just about any of the PvE content without any real problems or requiring IO set tricks.

They're arguably the easiest AT to play through to 50 and they never stop being tough or striking hard.

I'm curious to see just how many people will bother with Scrappers and Tanks blueside, once Brutes can exist there.

Yeah, I do get that, but in the case of CP, it's so cheap and so good, it seems a shame to not mention it.

Agreed. I can hold most AVs by myself like that and that makes a hell of a difference on TFs or solo-ing.

I'd agree that many Corruptors and Defenders seem like they can be played quite similarly, but I always find myself leaning towards the play-style of the AT. My Defenders always seem to end up more focused on keeping the team stronger and my Corruptors are more focused on the kill.

Example: Dark/Kin Corr vs Kin/Dark Def in the last few seconds of mopping up an enemy mob. My Corr would attack, taking advantage of Scourge. My Def would probably try to get a Transference out to boost the Endurance-depleted team-mates and/or make sure SB is still running on everyone.

These differences are usually quite distinct by the time I'm hitting 50 and have all of my power pools, patron/auxiliary powers, and I'm figuring out my IO sets.

With Mace Mastery, any Corruptor can be looking at the S/L softcap and a ridiculous to-hit with Focused Accuracy. Corruptors can always get pets and always have Scourge, and so their damage output will always be noticeably higher and more relevant to the team than a Defenders.

That said, when selecting team-mates, I actually prefer Defenders to Corruptors, Controllers, MMs or Dominators. Defenders tend to focus more upon their buffs and debuffs, and that's really the "open secret" to tearing apart the PvE content.

(Every time I've built or lucked-into a PuG that has a good tank and seven complimentary Defenders, we've slaughtered our way through the mishes/TFs.)

Of course, a good player playing their AT well trumps everything else, but I do think that the differences between Corruptors and Defenders are strong enough that while they could be played similarly, they probably won't be.

I can understand that impression. In the current game, the other ATs have received tweaks and boosts that make a Blasters damage-output seem less impressive and their squishiness more noticeable.

However, in the current game, most Blasters can soft-cap one way or another, so they're really not that squishy anymore either.

That's not at all my experience. I've never had anything but a Malta Sniper even see an incoming snipe before it's taken a hole out of them, and my ranged PCs frequently play distance-games with the NPCs.

If you're in-range when the attack was launched, it may well hit you after you've moved out of range, but that goes both ways in the game and it's just something to account for.

If you want to be damn-sure you're always getting the first hit, slot a Stealth proc into Super Speed and run around invisible.

But more importantly, I think you missed what people mean by saying that "Range is a Blaster's defense".

Of the three types of damage, Ranged attacks are typically less damaging than Melee attacks. By keeping yourself at range, you're limiting the damage directed at you.

In a team, a Blaster that lives in close-range will face those more-damaging Melee attacks and any AoEs being tossed around, whereas a Blaster that hangs back and lives in Ranged will only face a fraction of the damage.

Of course, if you only play solo, then you'll still face the AoEs and have people charging in for melee, so the advice becomes less relevant.

I'm not going to compare this MMORPG to another one because I think there's far too many differences and subjective preferences involved in that.

However, I think this MMORPG has always pitched Blasters as glass canons. If you want to escape that flaw, the changes to Defiance and ability to softcap have given you that option to a large extent.

I agree, and think that it's fairly-true as an overall blue-side / red-side comparison. I'm pretty sure it's deliberate.

Given the relative-cheapness and huge-benefits of Coercive_Persuasion, I'd mention six-slotting that before three-slotting Hamis...

The basic macro is:

/macro name "insp_combine (insipirations to combine) (inspiration desired)"

An example that'll try to combine Tier 1s (except wakies and breakies) to an Insight:

/macro "Blue1" "insp_combine Insight Catch_a_Breath$$insp_combine Enrage Catch_a_Breath$$insp_combine Luck Catch_a_Breath$$insp_combine Respite Catch_a_Breath$$insp_combine Sturdy Catch_a_Breath"

I think most Controllers, Defenders and Blasters can get a serious advantage from removing themselves from all melee and most aoe typed damage. In fact, I'd suggest it's a rare Controller, Defender or Blaster that can't derive a strong benefit from that movement option.

That's the "Mac Special Edition In-Game Item Pack".

The Good vs Evil Pack gives you the Pocket D teleporter.

An Unbounded Leap: Stealth proc in Sprint is cheaper, saves a slot, and won't leave Stealth permanently on.

Fire/Fire is incredibly carnage. All those AoEs do rock, but you'll probably find that getting 3 out of the 5 (Fire Ball, Combustion, RoF, FSC and Fire Breath) is sufficient.

Hot Feet and RoF might not work as you're hoping, particularly solo. Both make mobs scatter, although this can work as mitigation.

RoF has its detractors because the scatter is wide and you rarely get the full benefit of its 15 second DoT. In solo play, I use it only if I want the mob scattered (breaking up a tough mob) or if I'm convinced that I can kill everything before it scatters out of my AoE range. In teams, the trick is to wait for the tank to pull the mob in tight before using RoF.

But you'll still rarely get the full benefit of its 15s DOT.

In the case of HF, mobs tend to run away out of melee, pause, shoot you, then run a bit more, shoot, and then run right out of HF's range to give you more Ranged and AoE attacks. A Ranged softcapped build might get a lot of mileage out of HF in solo-play.

In team-play, the scatter is negligible as along as you wait for the tank to gather the mob before you jump in, but then it's questionable as to whether or not you'll derive enough benefit from HF's slight damage to make its end cost worthwhile. I find that I'm making that decision from mission to mission (am I making less attacks per mob with HF on?).

I find Fire Breath difficult to use, but most people love it. If you can make sure to hit 3+ targets, then it's an excellent power.

(Don't use hover with Fire Breath; IME, you consistently hit fewer people due to the downward angle even when trying to remain ground-level.)

Combustion is extremely slow and its end cost is too high. Its slowness can be a survival problem as much as a DPS problem. Being tied into a "regular" attack for 3 full seconds can be dangerous.

FSC is excellent. (Just be aware that its radius is half that of Hot Feet.)

Fire Ball is pure love.

Enjoy it!

Frozen Armour, from the Cold Mastery epic, is usually seen as the way to go for the S/L softcap (a base 10% S/L, IIRC). All of the other epics offer Resistance options, so there's very little chance that your S/L defense is to reach 45% unless your entire build is focused on that goal.

With CJ, Weave, Hover and Maneuvers all running 3-slotted for Def, you're looking at less than 15% Def total.

Frozen Armour has a base of 10% S/L Def that can easily be enhanced to 16%.

From the better builds I've seen, people either build their Blasters to fly and look for the Ranged softcap (with AoE to support), or take the blapper route with Cold Mastery and the S/L softcap. Or they just forget about the softcap and focus upon some other equally-valid goal.

TLDR; Trying to achieve the S/L softcap without Frozen Armour's massive S/L boost is hard without gimping yourself.

They're functioning normally.

They're doing two entirely different things.

Numina and Miracle are boosting Recovery and Regeneration. They're not seen as "firing", just like a Stealth proc isn't, or many others. They adjust your stats in the combat attributes.

The Perf Shifter Proc gives you a chance at plus 10 Stamina. This has an equatable level of recovery, but it's not a recovery bonus. So "+10 stamina" is mentioned much like receiving a Heal is mentioned.

It isn't necessarily giving up on defense. Hover/Flight can be run at the same time as the other defensive powers, including CJ.

If your standard tanking technique is to fly into the middle of a mob, then there's little difference between that and using SJ, TP or SS.

If you like to herd, then Flight can be a superb herding ability. I've seen flying Invul and WP tanks drag three mobs into a corner (fireball one, fire blast another, taunt the third) in half the time it would have taken a stone tank to jump between them.

Additionally, with that kind of herding, most of the alpha strikes are ranged, not melee, and tend to do less damage.

I've also seen beautiful tight herding with a tank hovering just above the heads of the mob, just within their melee/aura range. It takes a lot of skill and the right situation, but it can maximise those AoEs.

Personally, I think Maneuvers is a bad power for a tank. You're not there to buff the team, you're there to draw all of the aggro and survive it. There might be a strong argument for Weave in your build, but not Maneuvers.

Since I'm considering my first Stalker as my next toon: What would say most are failing to do that they should?