Morning!
My global handle is @Thilenium and my ingame characters start with or contain 'Thile' in their name - no exception. So far I have played and equipped about 20 characters. ten of which I took through the incarnate stuff. Others I 'swiped left'.
I made this build because Fiery Melee has a low damage area of effect ability named 'Combustion' available at level 4. That would be a great lead in into a tanking character, so i thought. Since i tested some of the other primaries already, i chose Fiery Aura. And for the possibility of a tanker on fire-meme. Although that Primary does not get a lot of defensive skills i was still somewhat surprised of how good the resists have gotten by the end. The build represents the current status of my gear and also my zillion hours of experience in improving and reviewing on character builds (tailored to my tastes - sure. and that is where we might not find common ground. but see for yourself).
all the best, Thilenium
Summary Tanker (Fiery Aura - Fiery Melee)
+ decent starting character
+ good resistances (just psionic slightly below 70%, before the proc from the tanker-set)
+ 3 build-in AoE-attacks, and 3 Single-target
+ 'Blink Blitz'
- at lower levels endurance drains can ruin your day
Contents
a) The role of a Tanker
b) Fiery Aura Primary
c) Fiery Melee Secondary
d) 'Blink Blitz'
e) Genesis Incarnate Power
a) The role of a Tanker
The Tankers role is to soak up and survive all the damage that otherwise squishy targets in your party would face. He does it by having enemy Npc's focus all their attention on him with a special mechanic called 'taunt' - basically coaxing a target into targetting you. Every skill that hits a target, even skills that do not do any damage to the target and just debuff it, taunt. Taunt has a duration and you can stack its intensity up by repeatedly attacking and/or using the Secondary's Taunt-skill (which may vary in name) to make very sure that you are and stay the target. Using the Taunt-skill on a ranged enemy also reduces their attack range, forcing them to enter melee range.
b) Fiery Aura as Primary
Just three defensive abilities are included in this primary, which is a pretty low number, but it works. With 'Healing Flames' you have a 'oh shit'-buttons which also buffs Toxic Resists. With set-boni and some special IO's you can fix a lot of the resists and the low health. This primary comes with its own point blank area of effect (similar to Shield Defense), which I use while clearing or facing off a single target. Fiery Aura still gives me some anxiety, for whatever reason, and I do not feel like a walking walnut like i do with my DA-Tanker. But for what its worth it still far exceeded my expectations.
c) Fiery Melee Secondary
As I mentioned at the beginning the whole idea for this build started around the skill 'Combustion'. I like area of effect-skills with a 15 ft radius. And this one is available at level 4 (and only available to the Tankers version of Fiery Melee). The second area of effect 'Fire Sword Circle' has a decent area with 10 ft still. I wish some other Secondaries had similar. Starting with 'Blink Blitz', those two in succesion will hit a group of mobs while they move in, doing actually quite a bit of damage too. Add 'Burn' to it and you have pretty amazing clear for a tanker. There is a tradeoff as those powers do not have any secondary effects like i.e. knock-ups and the activation times are long too. It takes three seconds to activate either 'Combustion' or 'Burn'.
A lot of the skills in this Primary have damage over time-components, so the damage does not look massive on hit, but it will add up.
This Secondary looks underappreciated, i can not think of any tanker in the late game running it. I may try to use it for a Radiation Armor-Tanker, a project i have been postponing because that Primary is represented a lot and for good reason.
d) 'Blink Blitz'
Blink Blitz' is my goto-power for every melee build: lands you smack in the middle of an enemy group, taunts them (for Brutes or Tankers) and gives you defenses. All in one neat package. Follow it up with your other area of effect-skills and you have all the enemy's attention. Blink Blitz sometimes lands you in obstacles. With enough cooldown you can use it on a mob to get out of it again. Or you can use the command /stuck.
e) Genesis Incarnate Power and helpful keybinds and macros
Genesis Incarnate Power:
Socket Core Flawless Genesis
>> Choosing a Genesis power in Mid's messes with the build sheet, that is why i keep it unselected. This one increases the chances for Interface-procs, but more importantly: passively gives your champ 10% more hitpoints and endurance, increasing survivability and sustain. Any champ, any role - this is it!
Helpful macros and keybinds:
/bind g "target_enemy_near$$follow"
>> autofollow nearest enemy
/bind f "target_enemy_near$$face"
>> face the direction of the nearest enemy
/macro INC "windowtoggle Incarnate"
>> Open the Incarnate window
5 buttons (taunting ability) is all you need to run this build:
/macro M1 "powexec_name Scorch$$follow$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Greater Fire Sword"
>> Uses those two skills in succession. Follows the target.
/macro M2 "powexec_name Incinerate$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Burn"
>> Uses those two skills in succession.
/macro PbAoE "powexec_name Combustion$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Fire Sword Circle"
>> Uses those two skills in succession.
/macro TAoE "powexec_name Blink Blitz$$powexec_auto Brawl$$powexec_auto Scorch"
>> Uses those two skills in succession.
Using Mids import the following using Menu: Build Sharing/Import DataChunk
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Ah, the classic Fire/Fire! It's better than people think or give it credit to be, and I'm glad you found it fun enough to keep it, Thile. Personal opinions (and they -are- opinions) aside, it's a very solid combo with its nearly always available self heal and very respectable defenses. Its biggest weakness, in my opinion, is the psi and energy mitigation... but that's what the self heal is for, eh? And if you burn 'em down before it becomes a problem then there's no hole, right?
What, you're curious about my opinions? They really aren't important here, it's just subjective preference. I've never liked the animations on Fiery Melee very much, so even though it's a good set that offers respectable damage, it doesn't 'feel' fun to me. Moreover, I like to mechanically exploit sets, and there's nothing to exploit in any offensive fire set; their secondary effect is 'moar damage' and about the closest you can get to synergizing with that is -res, which largely doesn't exist natively (Sonic and Hellfire are pretty much it, and Sonic is... not great).
Thanks for sharing your experience, Thile!