Fire build questions

Comments

• joybuzzerx Posts: 882 Arc User

  October 2013 edited October 2013

  bughouse wrote: »

  I have a powered armor themed fire character, and had a couple basic questions. I get that fire works very well for damage, but a couple of powers might make or break the character.
  
  First, will using Invulnerability instead of Fiery Form as a passive kill off damage too much? The hard armor fits theme better than the energy body.
  
  Secondly, Conflagration is the mainstay AOE workhorse but it seems out of place because of graphics. Is there another power that would fit the AOE role and work with fire, or should I just bite the bullet and deal with the odd look of the power animations?
  
  Thanks for taking a look at this nitpicking ramble.

  
  You will notice a decrease in damage (at least I did from going back to LR from using Quarry), however, I wouldn't call it a game changer.
  
  Just use Fireball then. DPS wise it's not far off. It's not terrible. And it's AOE.

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• jennymachx Posts: 3,002 Arc User

  November 2013 edited November 2013

  I'd make up a concept like your PA character firing off many small incendiary bombs into the air as they then fall over the target area where the enemy is when using Conflag to keep it thematic. At least that's what I went with in CoX for my fire-based PA toon with the same kind of power animation (Rain of Fire).

  My City of Heroes album of memories

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• carrionbaggage Posts: 731 Community Moderator

  November 2013 edited November 2013

  The reason that Conflagration tends to be the DPS staple of Fire is because all of its damage is boosted by Fireball's Unstable Accelerant debuff. In terms of raw sustained damage, Fire's other options struggle to match that particular synergy.
  
  If you're looking for a henchman-melting AoE (as opposed to a sustained-damage AoE), Pyre works quite well. You can charge it while leaping toward a pack of enemies with Acrobatics or Superjump (or their respective clones), then unleash a heavy-damage alpha strike when you land. Its 25' radius makes it very easy to hit your target cap.
  
  If you're looking for a way to apply sustained damage to a boss, you could consider looking outside the Fire set. With the right coloring, Defile looks like a fancy fire blast, deals respectable DPS, hits from up to 100 feet, and has a damage type that works with Fire Snake's debuff.

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• ashensnow Posts: 2,048 Arc User

  November 2013 edited November 2013

  joybuzzerx wrote: »

  Just use Fireball then. DPS wise it's not far off. It's not terrible. And it's AOE.

  
  ^^^ what she said.
  
  With good energy management fireball tap-spam is pretty solid AoE DPS and 10k+ charged hits are fun as well.
  
  With a form and high superstats you would be pushing pretty heavily into diminishing returns on your additive damage buffs any way so the loss of an offensive passive will not be too painful. What you will miss more is the loss of the multiplicative damage buff from the DPS role. Even so a defensive passive fire build is quite capable of putting out respectable damage while maintaining high survivability.

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  'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.

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• bughouse Posts: 105 Arc User

  November 2013 edited November 2013

  Thanks for all the information and suggestions. I'll play around in the Powerhouse and see what works for me.
  
  As always, y'all are great for coming to the advice rescue!:biggrin:

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