SM/FA Build

Here is the build that I have come up with for my stone melee/fiery aura brute, with a focus on defense. Is there anything that I am missing, or should be looking at closer? Any critiques are welcome.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Lee Vitoll Behind: Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Stone Melee
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Stone Fist -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(50), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(3), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), RctvArm-EndRdx(37), GA-3defTpProc(40)
Level 2: Heavy Mallet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Panac-Heal/Rchg(5), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(7), Panac-Heal(27)
Level 6: Fly -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 8: Fault -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(9), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(9), RzDz-Stun/Rng(29), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(39)
Level 10: Boxing -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 14: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam(15), RctvArm-EndRdx(29)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(17), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Seismic Smash -- Hectmb-Dam%(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(34), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 20: Consume -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(21)
Level 22: Blazing Aura -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(23), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(23), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(43)
Level 24: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(25), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(25)
Level 26: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(40)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45), LkGmblr-Def(46)
Level 30: Burn -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(43)
Level 32: Tremor -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(42)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), Panac-Heal/+End(45), P'Shift-EndMod(45)
Level 47: Energy Torrent -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(7)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)

Your build looks solid to me.

I won't go far into the details but just a couple remarks, and they're more about how I would build things for myself, so feel free to take and leave here.

- You didnt set an Alpha on mids, but more probably you already have an idea about it. Anyway on a SM/FA the cardiac seems to be the right way because those powersets, especially SM can be very heavy on the endurance side. Getting a good cardiac could spare you a few slots here and there, and at the same time even with a cardiac you might find that some of your powers could use a little more end reduction. My Fire/Fire with a cardiac has more slotting toward endurance than you, and when she runs around spamming AoEs, I must not forget about hitting Consume pretty often.

- I wouldnt choose the Energy Mastery way (unless it's thematic) for a SM/Fire. You have already largely enough kd with Fault and Tremor, and you want to stand in the middle of the packs. So Energy Torrent (a range cone) would seem a bit redundant and not that good. I would rather get Fireball or Elec Fences + Ball Lightning. Of course not having Focus Accuracy (good riddance of another not that useful end burner) would require a little more slotting toward accuracy for some of your 4 slotted attacks (a kismet unique for example, always handy). But you can easily pull off something that hits +3s at 95% chance, and that's all that you need once you're level shifted. I think you can check that by using a 48% base to hit in Mids Configuration.

- Force Feedback procs in Tremor and Fault do wonders on the recharge side. In the middle of large packs they proc alot (% chance to proc by mob hit and not by cast), and give +100 rech over 5 sec each time. I wouldnt miss those.

- If you want to raise your defense to SL to the 40%ish level, even to the soft cap, it's possible, you'll need to 4-slot Boxing and Brawl with Kin Combat (and it makes a big difference when you dont want to rely on inspis). Get rid of Fly for SJ and take maneuvers. Yea I know, I like Fly very much also as a travel power, and I hate it each time I talk myself into not taking it just to gain 3% defense. But it's an option. My Fire/Fire brute has 41% there, a much cheaper build than yours, and farms SL maps +3/x8 like a breeze (I know she could also stick to Fire farms, but I like having several options for farming). But anyway, 34% SL for most of the game is already very fine. You just eat a purple when things get tough. Really depends on what you want to do here, and I guess that contrarily to my Fire/Fire you have alot of mitigitation from your primary, so you could run as good with less defense than her.

- Another option on the defense side is to use 3x Eradication and 3x Cleaving Blow in your PbAoEs, and that should get you your E/N defense into the 35% range easily. Once you have at top like 45% defense to SL and 35% defense to EN with a big self heal and some decent resistances, you're a really really tough Brute (of course as long as you dont get this defense debuffed). But that has a cost of loosing some global recharge on the other hand. So again, that's just an option.

Anyway best luck with that toon, you have chosen 2 of my favorite powersets, they have a very nice synergy together. It will certainly be alot of fun to play with !!

Thanks Ehina for the critique. I think I'm actually going to keep Energy Mastery, but swap out Torrent for Superior Conditioning. I'm thinking that with a little added end mod, I might be able to skip Cardiac and go with Spiritual (I'm a sucker for rech, making this build hard to put together with so little).

Here is what I've switched it to....lemme know if it looks like there will still be big end issues.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Lee Vitoll Behind: Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Stone Melee
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Stone Fist -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(50), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(3), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), RctvArm-EndRdx(37), GA-3defTpProc(40)
Level 2: Heavy Mallet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Panac-Heal/Rchg(5), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(7), Panac-Heal(27)
Level 6: Fly -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 8: Fault -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(9), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(9), RzDz-Stun/Rng(29), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(39)
Level 10: Boxing -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 14: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam(15), RctvArm-EndRdx(29)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(17), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Seismic Smash -- Hectmb-Dam%(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(34), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 20: Consume -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(21)
Level 22: Blazing Aura -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(23), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(23), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(43)
Level 24: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(25), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(25)
Level 26: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(40)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45), LkGmblr-Def(46)
Level 30: Burn -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(43)
Level 32: Tremor -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(34), FrcFbk-Rechg%(45)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(42)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(45)
Level 47: Superior Conditioning -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 49: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(48), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(48), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(7), Mrcl-Heal(36)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(48)

To answer your question, I don't think your build can sustain the endurance cost of your attacks (if you like to spam whatever is available). I can't be sure either, could be close with Consume on a good recharge timer. I didn't run any calculations, they would be a bit trickier because you don't have a clear attack chain in this build (and miss one single target attack in my opinion that you would have to replace regularly by an AoE while fighting a single boss or elite boss). It can also depends on your playstyle.

Anyway I made some modifications, trying to remain as close as possible to the spirit of your original build. The data chunk at the end is what I came up with, and once again it's more a way to present different options you can take or leave than saying : this is the way to do it.

So a few explanations :
- Focused Accuracy is a real endurance eater, and doesn't provide anything that useful. It's barely 8% to Hit bonus while full slotted and a single kismet already gives 6%. It also gives 20% accuracy, but you have largely enough acc bonuses with IO sets. The most useful thing there actually is the Perception bonus (against some Arachnos NW debuffs for example). Also 6 slotting it with Gaussians and the proc (that triggers only once every 200 sec on average and lasts only 5 sec) doesnt give that much of a benefit : you're more looking for typed than positional defenses, and it's only 1.25% bonus to all typed, not that much for 6 slots. So not taking it frees 6 slots, and a power slot we can do alot with.

- Your single target chain in the original build is lacking, I really think you need Stone Mallet there, because even if you use Burn in a single target chain you'll have some gap where you want to use Tremor or wait 1.3s for Stone Fist and in both cases it's a loss of dps. So Stone Mallet takes the slot left by FA. (And note that even if you'd want to take only one attack among Stone and Heavy Mallet, I'd take the first one, because it looks cooler, and you wouldn't have to wait for single target attacks to recharge, but it's just me).

- With a unique Kismet and one slot more in some attacks, you have enough accuracy to hit with 95% chance against +3s, so you will rarely see an use for more.

- Hasten is ok with 2 rech IOs when you add the Spiritual, because the Spiritual counts as the 3rd one, there's almost no gain with a 3rd slotted IO there.

- The Perf Shifter proc is better in slots like Superior Conditionning than any endurance IO because it's always a net 0.20 end/sec gain on average wherever you slot it (procs 10 endurance every 50 sec on average). For example in your original build the end IO in Superior Conditionning would be only a 0.08 end/sec gain.

- One or 2 anti KB IOs is the same in practice. So either you choose to get 1, and you'll get occasionnally knocked back (happens sometime on Fire/Fire but rarely), or you want to almost never be KB and you get 3 of those.

- Some attacks need to be better slotted for end reduction (single target attacks), as well as Blazing Aura. The defense gain of getting Stone Mallet with another set of Kinetic Combat makes up for the lost of FA with the gaussians, and the 6 slot bonus in Blazing Aura.

- Stamina needs more slotting than Sup Conditionning or Phys Perfection, because it has a higher end recovery base. So any endurance slotting slot left goes to Stamina and those 2 are very fine with just a PS proc.

- As your build doesnt rely really on +regen, but much more on that great Healing Flames heal, getting weave slotted with an Enzyme spares one slot. Enzymes are great for expensive defense toggles, and give more defense bonus than any IO in the game (a little bug exploit here tbh that went mainstream a long time ago and everyones uses freely now).

- With the spiritual counting as an additional recharge IO in your attacks, your purple slotted attacks are better with a Damage instead of a Dam/Rech IO.

Once again, those are just ideas presented in the form of a build. I think that those should work on the endurance side without a cardiac (better end recovery, less end consumption, better slotted attacks toward end reduction). Feel free to take what you like and change what you don't.

Have fun !

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