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City of Heroes Class Overview: Playing With the Fire / Fire Blaster
MMORPG.com City of Heroes Correspondent Cecil Adkins writes this look at the Fire/FireBlaster character build in Paragon Studios' City of Heroes.
By Cecil Adkins on September 08, 2009
My first character in City of Heroes, way back in June 2004, was an Electrical Blast/Electricity Manipulation Blaster. I'm not sure why, other than I think I thought it might be fun to ZAP! the bad guys. His name was Merrlinn or something dumb like that, and he didn't last very long. He maybe got to level five before I deleted him.
Shortly thereafter, after trying out a Tanker and not liking it, I made another Blaster. This time I went Fire Blast/Fire Manipulation. At the time, everyone was making Devices Blasters because of a "decimal error" in the Smoke Grenade power that made its "To Hit" debuff much stronger than it should have been (basically villains that you attacked wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn). But I didn't know that, because that was before my involvement in the game's community in general and the official message boards in particular.
Even if I had known about the FOTM (flavor of the month), I doubt it would have changed anything. Concept was pretty important to me at the time, and still is. I wouldn't say that I'd be so adamant about concept that I'd be able to play a really weak powerset combination all the way to 50, but overall concept is much more important to me than what everyone else thinks is "uber." To name my new Blaster, I looked for two words relating to the two biggest aspects of the character - that he was a fire user and a hero, a guardian - that I could combine into a unique and fitting name. I ended up settling on Hellguard, and still like the ring of it over five years later.
Like most powerset combinations, playing a Fire/Fire Blaster over the years has had its share of ups and downs. Despite not being as safe as Fire/Devices with the Smoke Grenade bug, Fire/Fire did okay for me back in the day. Before Enhancement Diversification, it was typical to have five enhancement slots in each of your attacks devoted to damage. This was huge for Fire/Fire, since, unlike other Blaster primaries and secondaries, the Fire sets have no "secondary effect." The more damage you can pile on, the better. It wasn't uncommon for me to have taken out a large group of bad guys before the scrappers on my team could even get to them, or before my Radiation Defender friend could finish applying his debuffs. Most of this was no thanks to the Fire Manipulation secondary since, even though I'd taken it for concept reasons, I usually ignored most of its powers since they were really lackluster.
;)
Before ED, you could six-slot Stamina for a fantastic endurance boost. Six-slotting Hover for flight speed so you could stay at a safe distance but still have good and fast mobility was something else I really liked for a while. I don't have a problem with Enhancement Diversification, but it was tough to lose some of the things that we had before it. Looking back, it's hard to see how they would have been able to introduce the fantastic Inventions system if they didn't implement ED, but out of all my characters I think my Fire/Fire Blaster suffered the most. I know Tanker players were deeply affected by the lesser resistances that their armors now offered, and Regeneration Scrappers used to play the "How am I getting nerfed now?" game every time there was a new issue, but for me, I really felt ED when it came to my Blaster. The loss of those extra damage enhancements, as well as the sudden reduction in endurance gain from a six-slotted Stamina, may seem like minor things, but it reduced my Blaster's effectiveness in ways that diversifying his enhancements just didn't help.
Things are much better now, of course. With the advent of the Invention system, and to a lesser degree, the new Defiance (a Blaster's inherent ability to gain more damage with each successive attack and to use lower level powers even when he would otherwise be incapacitated) and the buffs to Fire Manipulation, Hellguard is a lot stronger than he used to be.
Now that the stroll down memory lane is over, let's take a quick look at the powers of these flame-based sets.
Fire Blast
- Flares. A minor damage power, it used to be a joke. With the buff to its animation time, and the fact that you can use it when slept, held, or stunned, it's now a staple power. It doesn't hurt that it's a quick damage builder with the new Defiance either.
- Fire Blast. A moderate damage power and a decent single-target attack that looks like you're throwing a baseball (of fire!) at enemies. Can also be used when slept, held, or stunned.
- Fire Ball. The first of many Area of Effect (AOE) powers, this one has a smashing damage component.
- Rain of Fire. You raise your hands and cause fire to rain down from the sky on a targeted area. Another power that didn't used to be selected all that often, it's become a lot better since they made it so its damage is affected by things like Build Up and Aim.
- Fire Breath. The other bread-and-butter AOE power of the set, this one is a cone that requires proper positioning for maximum effect. Part of the classic one-two punch of Fire Breath/Fire Ball.
- Aim. A self-buff power that increases your chance to hit and gives a good damage boost.
- Blaze. A high damage power that is short-range, although it now has longer range than it did originally, making it a bit safer to use.
- Blazing Bolt. An extreme damage attack, a lot of Fire Blasters skip this one to focus more on AOE damage. It's still a fun power though, and one I wouldn't be without.
- Inferno. An extreme damage blast of fire centered around you, this is a Fire Blaster's "nuke" power.
Fire Manipulation
- Ring of Fire. Since it's the first power of the secondary, you have to take it, but it has its uses as an immobilization power. Also, it's another you can use while otherwise incapacitated.
- Fire Sword. A fiery sword appears in your hand to smite your enemies. It features good damage, but you obviously have to be in melee range to use it, so be careful.
- Combustion. A point-blank AOE (PBAOE) power that does moderate damage. It's one I usually skip when respeccing.
- Fire Sword Circle. The best of the PBAOEs of the secondary, this one has you spin around with your Fire Sword and strike all enemies close to you.
- Build Up. A staple power of most Blasters, Build Up gives you a huge damage boost and a smaller but still useful To Hit bonus.
- Blazing Aura. A minor damage-over-time (DOT) power that's pretty skippable.
- Consume. A great power for regaining endurance, this power does minor damage to nearby enemies and replenishes some of your endurance based on how many bad guys it hits.
- Burn. A situational power that does moderate DOT damage and frees you from being immobilized.
- Hot Feet. A PBAOE power that does minor DOT damage and slows down nearby foes.
As for the ancillary pools, I like Flame Mastery for concept reasons. Char gives you a nice foe hold, Fire Shield buffs you a bit with resistances to fire, cold, smashing, and lethal damage, and Rise of the Phoenix is a cool-looking self-resurrection power that has you rise in the midst of a fiery phoenix. RotP is my favorite power in the game, and I've been accused of being a bit too reckless just to use it.
Fire/Fire Blasters aren't the safest or even most damaging of Blasters, but for me it's a really fun combo that is all about concept. Oh, and burning your enemies. Sometimes slowly, while they watch helplessly. If you're looking to make a new Blaster, try out the combo. It's, well, a blast.
Nice work, Cecil. Good overview for someone unfamiliar with the game or with Blasters. I share your "overall concept" philosophy and have taken a similar approach to my thermal/thermal corruptor.
However, I do have one question.
8. Burn. A situational power that does moderate DOT damage and frees you from being immobilized.
What is a "situational power"?
One of my first characters was a fire/ice blaster, and I really enjoyed the fire primary. You could lay down some serious AOE damage with it. I died a lot though -- in big teams, it was obvious after one pull whether the tank had taunt or not. Tauntless tanks had absolutely no hope of holding aggro unless I really held back.
After launch, almost everyone in the know was a /devices blaster, as you say, and I knew a lot of people who were upset when the bug to smoke grenade was fixed. But keep in mind that the fire secondary had a bug that was unfixed for longer than smoke grenade -- one of its powers inadvertently had mez protection (Blazing Aura maybe? I forget exactly). The tanker version was supposed to, but the blaster version was not, and it took the devs something like a year to fix it. I believe that was the only form of mez protection available to blasters, so fire was a great secondary for quite awhile, perhaps the second most popular after energy once smoke grenade was fixed.
A situational power, is a power, not useable in every combat, but more for specific fights or bosses.
As it says in itself, a power used for certain situations :)
But I think that Cecil is right on most of what is said in this lookon, even though I do believe fire is the most damaging of all powersets, or atleast all I heard is that all pvp'ers should make a Fire/ice blaster, since it apparently is the best combination.. however, I don't pvp very much, so I wouldn't know
I played a fire ice tanker. It was pretty boring after a while. Fire Ice blaster would work pretty much the same way, I am thinking. Ice patch the ground then aoe rain on the mobs as they slip and slide around unable to touch you. Conversely, listening to my superhero league mates on vent when I pulled out the Fire Ice tank and started mowing down enemies in droves was pretty funny. I am unsure if things still work the same as they did back then though. Last time I checked, they had completely screwed regeners up, making them pretty much a dead build, changing toggles out for duration buffs. I did not check the tanker but the suspicion was that the tanker toggles were set up the same way. It made me sorta mad because my MA regener was really fun to play and was made totally unplayable.
No they didn't do that to tankers, only regen.
They DID
Half defenses across the board
Then half them again with ED
Then put in agro caps guving AOE powers a cap of 16 but Taunt a cap of...5?
Yes 5
the blaster can agro 3 times the enemies that a tanker can taunt
No they didn't do that to tankers, only regen.
They DID
Half defenses across the board
Then half them again with ED
Then put in agro caps guving AOE powers a cap of 16 but Taunt a cap of...5?
Yes 5
the blaster can agro 3 times the enemies that a tanker can taunt
Well, thank goodness Taunt is not the only agro management tool at the Tanker's disposal then. :P
When I said Fire/Fire wasn't the most damaging, I meant just that. Other secondaries, when paired with the Fire primary, make for more damaging combos than Fire/Fire. Fire/Ice and Fire/Energy are two that I'm sure could outdamage Fire/Fire, although the Fire secondary has received some nice buffs since the beginning...
That's actually the first time I've ever heard this. Whatever power this was, I must never have taken it, since my Fire/Fire Blaster spent quite a bit of time back in the day sleeping, held, or stunned. :)
EDIT: Thinking about the Tanker Fiery Aura set, though, the only three powers it shares with Fire Manipulation are Blazing Aura, Consume, and Burn. Blazing Aura and Consume don't give any form of mez protection, even for Tankers, but Burn has its Immobilization resistance. Now that I think about it, I think I remember some change to the Blaster version of Burn at some point, but can't quite remember what it was. Perhaps it was giving Immobilization immunity instead of just freeing you after the fact?
Well, thank goodness Taunt is not the only agro management tool at the Tanker's disposal then. :P
punch voke and aura voke are the same though.
5 taunts
which strikes me as the most bass ackwards design desision ever.
A blaster can triple his agero with /1/ power but a taken has to work to regain/maintain control?
While Fire/Fire is interesting from a concept/theme point of view, I think it's a lower tier set in terms of fun. Even you mentioned that you rarely use the fire secondary. THere are much stronger sets, and much more interesting sets.
My favorite blaster of all time is a Fire/Nrg blaster, built off a thread called "Short Range Artillery"
Fire Breath is close range. Blaze is short range. Rain of Fire causes way too much scatter. So really, your bread and butter as a fire blaster is fireball/fire breath. To maximize it, you're in close. If you're in close, you might as well either control them with /ice or abuse them with the brilliance that is /nrg.
Also, when you're levelling, you can get fireball and build-up at level 6. There is nothing so good at getting you in to your character as being able to drop a built-up fireball at level 6 and wipe a group of yellows. Your teammates are just learning how to use their abilities, and you've hit your stride. It's awesome.
This is somewhat misleading. A single Taunt can only hit 5 targets at once, yes, but that's NOT the "aggro limit" for Tankers. Multiple taunts, including smart application of Gauntlet and taunt auras, mean Tanks can indeed hold the aggro of more than 5 targets at once.
i've played tanks, while they can gain "agro" with other attacks the long durantion "taunt" only hits five targets. Making rather hard to keep agro lock in a team of blaster as they hare generating argo on 11 bodies you havent locked down.
i've played tanks, while they can gain "agro" with other attacks the long durantion "taunt" only hits five targets. Making rather hard to keep agro lock in a team of blaster as they hare generating argo on 11 bodies you havent locked down.
But it's perfectly possible for Tanks to get up to 16 or so targets "locked down" before the Blaster starts blasting. They can rotate their Taunt target, rotate their "punch voke" target, move around in a large group with their taunt aura, etc. They're not limited to only having 5 targets "taunted" to them at one time. It's not like they lose the aggro of the first five mobs they Taunted when they use Taunt again on another batch.
But it's perfectly possible for Tanks to get up to 16 or so targets "locked down" before the Blaster starts blasting. They can rotate their Taunt target, rotate their "punch voke" target, move around in a large group with their taunt aura, etc. They're not limited to only having 5 targets "taunted" to them at one time. It's not like they lose the aggro of the first five mobs they Taunted when they use Taunt again on another batch.
that's true but it's insanly easy for blasters and scrappers in the heat of combat to "gain agro" on mobs when the taunt runs out and hasent been refreshed. All i'm saying is. Withthe reduced defenses and required reliance on IOs/Defenders for a tank to survive forcing them to pay agro tag with a blaster who, automaticaly and without effort, grabs 3 times the agro of a tank is prety messed up.
Doesn't "tank-targeting" help with all that?
you assit targeting through the tank? Not really since a blaster will, with pratically every shot, be generating agro on 2-3 times the taunted mobs forcing the tanker to work his ass off to keep up. Which is bass ackwards.
When you have to be concerned your buffs arent running our, clicking your heals, and preventinting your self frome dieing tho add "keep switcing targets so your not stantingtaunts on the same 5 guys" is pretty messed up.
It's the main reason most tanke now a days play more like scrappers and the "prefered" method is 2 tanks so their tants can work off each other. Tankers are now low dammange scrappers, true tanking was killed.