Alpha [Rimefire Build]

uncertainprime

I've gotten Alpha up to 28 loosely using advice on these forums for a decent Rimefire build. So far he has been a lot of fun to play, as Rimefire requires a good amount of attention to pull off those awesome damage spikes.

Regardless I think I may have made a few mistakes along the way and I'm thinking of respeccing him, but before I did that I wanted to get people's advice.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Alpha

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Intelligence (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Hero
Level 6: Jack of All Trades
Level 9: Field Ops Training
Level 12: Survival Training
Level 15: Command Training
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Martial Training

Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards
Level 1: Ice Blast (Rank 2, Hard Frost, Accelerated Metabolism)
Level 6: Frost Breath (Rank 2, Frost Bite)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Rimefire Burst (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 20: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Flashfire (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Palliate (Absolve)
Level 29: Fire Snake (Rank 2)
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Nanobot Swarm (Rank 2)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Swinging (Flippin')
Level 35: Ice Slide

Specializations:
Intelligence: Enlightened (3/3)
Intelligence: Tactician (2/2)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (1/3)
Intelligence: Tinkering (2/2)
Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Make It Count (2/3)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Vindicator Mastery (1/1)

He's built around two ideas, setting up Rimefire and using Ice Blast inbetween setups for single-target damage.

I usually take talents to boost my super stats, but I was thinking it might be better to spread them out to take better advantage of Intelligence's stat boosting specializations. He certainly benefits from nearly every stat, but I wasn't sure if that was the best way to go.

I took specializations to maximize offense and defense and have them feed into each other. He's kind of squishy so that seemed pragmatic. Also some stuff thrown in there to increase crit chance and damage.

Appreciate any thoughts.

flowcyto

Its a solid build overall. Some nitpicking:

R2 + Trail Blazer on Firesnake is nice if ur not going to be close to ur target(s) that often. The debuff drops off quickly before renewed. Getting it there faster w/ good CDR means ya can have brief moments of 7-8x stacks, whereas if ur further away the normal firesnake speed is slow enough to have gaps in the debuff uptime.

Ya can take ranks from Flashfire and/or Accel Metab if ya want to free up some adv points, and those points can also be used to get R3 or the HoT adv on Nanobot Swarm.

Ice Slide is a pretty annoying TP to use, imo. Its neat and thematic, and keeping it just for the flair is fine, but I wouldn't use it in a practical sense. Otherwise I'd pick one TP and rank it up for the speed both in and out of combat. Flippin can prob be dropped for a build not focused on heavy dodge rates.

Make It Count is in the additive/passive dmg bonus layer, so its actually pretty weak for blasts when ur geared out. I'd take Ruthless since general crit severity is nice for builds w/ decent crit%. Focused Strikes would be better for dps than Modified Gear since Ice Blast w/ Hard Frost is likely to be ur best ST dps (aside from Rimefire, which is flagged as AoE so I'd prob keep Mass Destruction).

Ya def want Expertise instead of Tinkering in Int PSS- esp since it interacts really well w/ Dex (for crit) and Con SS's (for maxHP).

uncertainprime

Solid advice, flow, thanks. I'm still fuzzy on the different damage layers even after having read the analysis so I appreciate your thoughts there.

As far as Ice Slide goes, yeah it's annoying. I took it purely for thematic purposes.

Not putting points into the travel power was an oversight, good call there. I kept flipping to get a bit more dodge bonus along with what Quarry gives. Like I said, he feels squishy and boosting dodge where I could (minus gearing) made me feel better.

uncertainprime

Updated.

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Alpha

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Intelligence (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Hero
Level 6: Jack of All Trades
Level 9: Field Ops Training
Level 12: Survival Training
Level 15: Command Training
Level 18: Paramilitary Training
Level 21: Martial Training

Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards
Level 1: Ice Blast (Rank 2, Hard Frost)
Level 6: Frost Breath (Rank 2, Frost Bite)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Concentration
Level 14: Rimefire Burst (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 20: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Flashfire
Level 26: Palliate (Absolve)
Level 29: Fire Snake (Rank 2, Trail Blazer)
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Nanobot Swarm (Rank 2, Rejuvinating Injectors)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Swinging (Rank 2, Rank 3, Flippin')
Level 35: Ice Slide

Specializations:
Intelligence: Enlightened (3/3)
Intelligence: Tactician (2/2)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (1/3)
Intelligence: Tinkering (2/2)
Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (2/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Vindicator Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

Looks pretty good to me, though Vindicator Mastery won't be a great choice here. Int Mastery isnt great either, but helps a bit more. Guardian Mastery I'd prob also skip since its dodge buff wasn't adjusted to compensate for the nerf to dodge rating a while back, and ya aren't usually charging Ice Blast w/ Hard Frost.

Although INT/Dex/Con is fine, ya could consider EGO/Int/Con (Int-focused w/ gearing) since ur using Quarry- if ya wanted an alternative SS setup. That or DEX/Int/Con (again, still Int-focused).