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Author: Firespray_uk
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10 Comments
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Well I think it is about time that I delve into the inner workings of Firespray, my first and primary toon in CoH. This doesn’t cover all the powers available, just the ones that I have incorporated into Firesprays build.
I appreciate that people will have comments on the build and say I should have picked or slotted differently but this is what I am happy with. It’s worked to get me to 50th level. Comment away on the build if you must, but please appreciate that this is my fave toon and having people who think they know better rip into it isn’t what the guide is here for. This is to potentially help other players who may make a fire blaster.
Blasters are squishy. A lot of the powers available in the Fire Manipulation set are close combat. I learnt very early on that blaster and close combat do not mix. As soon as I got a respect I removed a lot of the close combat powers simply because it wasn’t working for me at all. A Blaster is there to simply put as much damage into an opponent at range as possible. You simply do not have the hit points to deal with up close and personal combat. Getting involved in close combat is what earned me a lot of my early level debt (this is when you got debt from level 5).
Play advice for the blaster.
Stay away from the centre of the combat.
Hit from range.
Do not lead with AoE attacks as you are not built for aggro.
Stand next to or near the teams healer, preferably an empath to ensure survival.
Don’t rely on defiance. Yes it’s handy but the benefit kicks in right before you die. You can take down that one bad guy but his friends will use your corpse to sweep the floor.
Building a Fire Fire blaster – the level by level guide
Note – I’m not saying what to fill each slot with at each level, just how I assigned the slots as I went through, I’ll give a final level 50 slotting at the end and allow for creativity when and if you decide to take a Flamer :)
Starting powers
You don’t get a choice from the Fire Manipulation secondary pool; you start with Ring of Fire. It’s an ok power, enabling you to hold one target in place and deal some damage over time while you blast the heck out of everything else.
For the Fire blast starting power, I went with Fire Blast, simply because it has a quicker recharge and activation than flares. It’s a single target power that rips off very fast, unlike flares, and it also deals a small amount of Damage over time to the target.
Level 2
I went for Flares next. Once again a single target but it gives you the second blast option that has a fair recharge time on it. It does have the downside of having a lower damage output than Fire blast, but it’s a good offence power.
Level 3 – Slots
One each in Fire Blast and Flares.
Level 4 – Fireball
Your first Area of Effect power. It’s got a great animation and lets loose one huge ball of fire that strikes your chosen target and explodes outwards catching anything in about 10 feet of them. For mobs in the Hollows that’s about everything in a 10 troll mob. Just remember, once you let loose with this power that aggro is coming your way. Lots of it. A good power to hurl off once the team troller has laid down a grab power as no one can come after you!
Level 5 – Slots
Fireball and Ring Of Fire
Level 6 – Travel Power
Firespray’s a flyer. I went for hover here. Number one reason – getting across the hollows. Yes it’s slow. It takes about 8 minutes to get from the gate to the south east corner, but you get there alive! It’s also hand against pesky CoT Earth thorn casters and their earthquakes… plus any enemies without a ranged attack can’t get to you and you can hover there and blast to your hearts content... until you run out of endurance.
Level 7 – Slots
Fire Blast and Fireball
Level 8 – Rain of Fire
Another AoE attack. One draw back is that although it drops fiery hell onto your targets, it also scatters them which will serious peeve tanks and trollers. Best to use once things are held and can’t move or if you are in the kaka, drop this and run for it, everything will attempt to get out of it and ignore you. Don’t use it as a primary attack, its best as I said as defence or once everything has been held.
Level 9 – Slots
Fireball and Ring Of Fire
Level 10 – Pool power – Teleport – Recall Friend
The only reason I took this was that I could hover around places, sometimes getting to missions first and safely and waiting on team mates to negotiate the hollows. Also, standing next to an empath it helps if you can TP a carcass to them for a rez. It’s really nice to be able to teleport people to a mission door on a pick up team and gives you that little bit more use than being there to take heals, awakens and rezes.
Level 11 – Slots
Rain Of Fire and Fire Blast
Level 12 – Aim
Added Accuracy and around an extra 60% damage. It’s simply one power you have to take. Aim also means you can drop the need for accuracy enhancements. So it doesn’t last long, the boost it offers helps a lot.
Level 13 – Slots
Aim and Rain Of Fire
Level 14 – Travel Power – Flight – Fly
Vertical and horizontal movement and the ability to safely cross a zone. Fly gives you the opportunity to live a little longer. Get to a mission door and start using that Recall Friend.
Level 15 – Slots
Fly and Fireball
Level 16 – Build Up.
Like aim, this is a must have power. 100% extra damage and 60% accuracy bonus if slotted right. Aim + Build Up = most things dead.
Level 17 – Slots
Recall Friend and Fire Blast
Level 18 – Power Pool – Speed – Hasten.
Why? It enhances recharge on powers. Gone are the days of perma hasten but you can still get close to it and it’s a nice little Ctrl-click power to keep it going.
Level 19 – Slots
Fly and Fire Blast
Level 20 – Blaze
If the salvo of Fire Ball, Flare and Fire blast haven’t dealt with the enemy, this is one up close and personal short range piece of destruction. Yes I said short range, but the damage output is fantastic. Good to hit anything that runs toward and past you or a good baddie finisher.
Level 21 – slots
Hasten and Flares
Level 22 – Pool Power – Fitness – Hurdle
Why? I can fly so running faster wasn’t needed so I went for hurdle simply so I can jump over stuff when I got fly turned off. It’s also necessary for taking Health and Stamina, two powers that as a blaster I feel you need to take – stops you being quite so squishy and also helps with that pesky endurance drain from dishing out so much damage all the time.
Level 23 – Slots
Aim and Blaze
Level 24 – Pool Power – Fitness – Health
Like I said, it helps keep you alive as it recovers health at a greater speed. Well worth taking as a squishy especially in fights where you take some damage and don’t have a healer at the start to get you back on your feet quickly.
Level 25 – Slots
Health and Flares
Level 26 - Pool Power – Fitness – Stamina
As per health, this will regen your endurance quicker and enable you to stay in a fight longer without having to rely on CABs too much.
Level 27 – Slots
Stamina and Fireball
Level 28 – Blazing Bolt.
The fire blasters snipe. Long animation, interruptible but with Aim and Build up, if it hits, the target is toast. Not so good to use a pull power as if you hit a target, nine out of ten times the target ain’t coming at you.
Level 29 – Slots
Fly and Blaze
Level 30 – Combustion
I took this a lot later as I didn’t really see a use for it on what I wanted for Firespray. It’s better to take later on once you have a few more powers and health and stamina as you can take a little more damage and once you are in the middle of a fight (yeah I know I said stand back but there are times when you just have to get in there) that you want to send off a little boom. It’s got a great AoE on it, slightly more damage output that Fireball and a slight faster recharge – and it does a little Damage over time.
Level 31 – Slots
Build Up, Flares and Fireball
Level 32 – Inferno
Boooooooom time. The most powerful nova in the blaster range. The only reason its called inferno under the Fire blaster set is due to the human torch having a nova blast and marvel copyright etc. Still, it’s one devastating attack and has a six minute recharge. Forget ED, forget recharge, forget endurance reduction, slot it with damage, run into a mob and let rip. Nine out of ten times nothing is left standing, an occasionally you’ll be astounded to see one target still up so make sure you have CABs as it takes a while before you start getting endurance back.
Level 33 – Slots
Inferno, Aim and Build Up
Level 34 – Burn
This is one of those more situational powers. It does nice damage but the AoE is not that big. Keep in mind that this power is also going to be boostable with Aim and Build Up after I7. It also has the added ability to get rid of pesky holds and slows by burning them away. Having spent far too much time held by CoT Earth thorn casters this power is really helpful. It’s also nice to drop on an area and then retreat back to resume blasting.
Level 35 – Slots
Hasten, Hasten and Blaze
Level 36 – Slots
Fly, Blaze and Blazing Bolt
Level 37 – Hot Feet
Thinking purely PvP here, it deals damage to anything nearby so them pesky stalkers seem to pop up from nowhere taking damage and also interrupts assassin strike nicely. It’s good in a scrap too, dealing damage but has the unwanted agro on me effect that blasters really need to avoid. It also has a nice slow effect on it to keep things nearby incase the troller misses something.
Level 38 – Slots
Hasten, Build up and Health
Level 39 – Slots
Hasten, Inferno and Blaze
Level 40 – Epic Power Pool – Flame Mastery – Char
You throw a handful of soot at the target and they choke. Why is it good? It stops anything from attacking if it hits and it deals damage. It’s a good hold and helps with effective soloing.
Level 41 – Slots
Blazing Bolt, Blaze and Hot Feet
Level 42 – Slots
Char, Blazing Bolt, Inferno
Level 43 – Epic Power Pool – Flame Mastery – Fire Shield
Finally you get some defence!!!! Gives you resistance to fire, cold, lethal and smash damage. Pretty handy considering that you have to spend so much time in melee range.
Level 44 – Slots
Fire Shield gets all 3 just for the hell of it.
Level 45 – Slots
Health, Blazing Bolt and Inferno
Level 46 – Epic Power Pool – Flame Mastery – Rise Of The Phoenix
Self Rez – Hell YEAH! No more needing rez or wakies. Now you kiss floor and you are up in a blaze of glory. It heals, it dishes damage, and the only draw back is it also knocks opponents back from you. A small consolation to dying and getting up is the debt badges and bucket load of influence you get to earn, and using this power which has a great animation if viewed far enough away of actually giving you a fiery phoenix aura as you float to your feet, hit aim, build up and let loose with an inferno!
Level 47 – Slots
Rise Of the Phoenix x 2 and Fire Shield
Level 48 – Slots
Inferno, Burn and Fire Shield
Level 49 - Epic Power Pool – Flame Mastery – Bonfire
Good for indoor maps to drop in a corridor as nothing is getting past and it has the tank/troller hating HUGE knock back if you drop it in a mob. I’m talking a huge knock back here; it literally scatters mobs like bowling pins. Great for blocking doors.
Level 50 – Slots
Bonfire x 2 and Rise Of The Phoenix
So there you have it, one pure Fire Blaster from level 1 to 50.
So, about the powers I never took. Fire sword and fire sword circle. I’m a blaster and I do my job in a team from the back, not standing in a mob and I never really liked the powers so I got a respect and got rid of them. Fire breath I just simply hated the animation and never thought that it suited Firespray so I just never took it.
What to put in what slots.
Damage. Accuracy. Recharge. Endurance Reduction. Although once I got Stamina I got rid of the end redux on most powers. Below is the final slotting of enhancements for Firespray, tried, tested, and working still at level 50.
It’s not a perfect build, but it works for me!
Flame On!
Firespray
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All in all, a very good guide Firespray. However, if you don't mind, I'd like to present a few alternative ideas.
Just for everyone who doesn't know me, Warron is a Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster, and my first toon to 50. Consequently, I have invested alot of time and thought into his build, and changed it quite a few times as he lvled.
First things first, as an alternative to Flares, you could pick up Fire Sword. The end cost is higher, the recharge is longer, but the activation is much shorter, and the damage is nearly 3 times as much as Flares. The major downfall? Melee range. However, after going many levels with a blaster, you realize that melee range is not always such a bad place, nor is it entirely avoidable. Solo, the baddies will run to you no matter what. They want melee, and unless you can kill them before they reach you (easy with minions in later levels, but even at 50 I can't keep a boss from reaching me in melee, and the only thing I have to stop LT's is Char, a lvl 41 power) they will get melee with you. Nice to have an option for much more damage that gives them what they want ("You want Melee? You got it!").
I went 26 levels (read: Half my career) with Rain of Fire. To be honest, I was never impressed. Even in those situations where you drop it to run, it instantly draws all aggro on you, regardless if the tank or scrap is there to cover your escape. The fear effect causes them to scatter, yes, but there is a funny thing about the way fear works in PvE. It's like a cross between a sleep and a hold. A sleeping foe does nothing untill attacked. Once attacked, they are no longer sleeping, and won't sleep again until hit with another sleep effect. A held foe will sit there and do nothing, regardless of what happens to them, for the duration of the hold. A foe affected by fear, however, will be unable to do anything, and remain afraid for the duration of the effect. However, like sleep effects, if you attack a foe affected by fear, they have ONE opportunity to attack back, then they return to that fear state, until the effect wears off. Rain of Fire is not just DoT, its multiple attacks in a location. The opponents are hit with fear, caused to run, but as they run, they get chances to attack someone, namely the person they are attacked by, YOU. Rain of Fire will draw aggro on you, cause a mob to scatter, and will also make sure that regardless of any taunt effect (read: all tanker powers), they will attack you, and only you, while affected by the Rain. While I can see a use for this solo, or when teamed with a strong controller (GOOD TIMES!!!), I would advise against this power if you don't have a regular group of friends that you team with regularly, one of them being a controller.
Now one thing I found interesting about Fire's build/guide is that he advocated staying far away from melee, and then went and got 3 powers that only really benefit from being in the center of a mob. Combustion does very little damage to a single target, has a long animation time, high endurance cost, and is PBAoE. For the damage output of this power to be worth the animation and endurance cost, it would have to hit a minimum of 3 foes to equal even Flares, going into 5-6 foes for it to be a worthwhile power. This means that you would follow the tank into the mob, fire it off, and risk taking all that aggro from him, leading to a very swift death (trust me, I've been there). Burn is an interesting power to have. When I had it, I mainly used it against tough bosses, when the tank had their attention. It added a fairly nice DPS overall. I also used it for a nice side effect it has, that is it breaks Immobilizations. Just be warned that you CANNOT use this power while hovering or flying. You must be on the ground to set the ground on fire, of course. Hot Feet is a power I played with on the Test Server. Like combustion, it has a very high endurance cost, fairly low damage (6 slotted at lvl 43, I got average ticks of 10 damage every 2-3 seconds), and is also a PBAoE. This power requires you to be in the thick of a fight to be of best effect, and again, for the damage output to be comparable to the endurance cost, you need at least 5 foes affected by it, with 7-10 foes making it worthwhile. This again means getting in the middle of a fight fairly early, and risking drawing alot of aggro on yourself (Boy, did it!).
Ok, so I said my piece about his primary and secondary power choices. Now to delve into pool power choices. This is unrelated to Fire's choices, but more a matter of Blaster Theory. Fitness is obvious. In a tough fight, you don't want to run out of endurance before the fight is over. Also, healing faster is healing faster is healing faster. With low HP, almost non-existant defenses, anything that can keep you alive longer is a good thing. Now, as far as travel powers go, I've run all of them at some point or another, and Warron has had all but Teleport as a main travel power for extended periods of time. Till level 26, when I earned my first respec, he was a super speeder. Which was not so good a choice for a fairly new player. Not knowing the maps as well, zones with more vertical areas (Skyway for example, or *shudders* Faultline) are very difficult to traverse. I failed the respec trial twice, simply because when I had to go to the hospital from the reactor, I COULD NOT get back to the reactor because I did not know how to get there by land (Still Don't :P). When I finally was able to succeed, at lvl 26, I respeced into flight, and never had the problem again. I kept flight until level 43, although I did later pick up SS, which is very fast overland movement, and especially when you can 'jump' with flight over obstacles or walls. I kept it because it worked for me. Until I realized that Hover, even slotted for speed with SO's, is still slow in missions, has a somewhat high endurance cost, and offer mediocre defense. I was actually better off having Air Sup to open up flight, because it gave me another attack to fill my chain. That got me thinking about Flares versus Fire Sword, and the blap-lite build I use to this day was born. I got rid of flight completely. Probably won't ever have it on a toon again. Cost is too high, speed is too low, and being able to reach the ceiling of a zone is just unnecessary. Only one map has given me issues with not having flight, and it was an AV map. High level mission, full team, one of the fenders had fly and tp, not an issue. And there were ways to jump up to the top of that tower anyway. Not hard when you take a good look at it.
Anyway, I now have the Leaping pool as my vertical movement. Faster, lower end cost, and two of the other powers in it are PHENOMINAL for a squishee lil blaster. First off is Combat Jumping. It offers the same level of defense as Hover, for a much, much lower end cost, and doesn't slow your movement down at all. It actually gives you a very minor boost to your jumping speed. It also completely protects against Immobilization. Since picking it up, the only time I have been immobilized is when I fired off Inferno, causing all my toggles to drop, and I had an immo still on me that I hadn't noticed before. Kinda funny in an "Oh Crap!" sorta way, lol. Then there is Acrobatics. Acrobatics just plain out stops knockback/up/down. It just does not happen to me anymore. It also provides very minor protection from holds (never noticed it stop em, but thats kinda hard to tell. Seeing it stop me from fallin down when a ruin mage puts out earthquake and everyone else cant do a thing, that is noticable). Running both toggles together at the same time does cost a lil bit more than Hover by itself does, but you are paying for mobility and freedom from immobilization, and that is worth it to me.
Being any kind of squishee character means you have to worry about mezzes. The leaping pool takes away some of those worries. Keep it in mind.
Wow, a few ideas, huh? Mama never told me I should talk more, I guess. If anyone wants to see Warron's build, by all means, let me know. I'd be more than glad to post it up, so people can see what got me to 50. Any questions? Please ask, I'll do my best to answer them.
Hope this helps,
Warron
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