Need experienced pyro HE advice

[RainmakerDD 0]

I just got this game recently and now I'm a level 21 pyro HE. So far I have modded blazing tempest with scorch and conflagration, getting ambition next. I've also modded incendiary shower with skull smash, and continuance, getting intensity next. Since I use blazing tempest for very high damage and burn percentage Area of Effect and incendiary shower for quick stun with decent damage, what mods should I use for my ancestral fireball. I really want it to be strong vs 1 target, so globe for silver mod for sure.

 

My problem is deciding the other two, because in the bronze mod, I would think most of the mobs would be on fire from blazing tempest already so greek fire seems like a waste (unless it stacks?) and the explosion Area of Effect damage won't compare to blazing tempest Area of Effect damage either so I'm not sure there. As for the gold mod, I want the fireball to be a single strong attack, but hot pursuit seems useless because usually the enemy is running towards you anyways, so having a homing fireball seems like it wouldn't be very useful but I could be wrong. As for the gold mod fusillade, again, I want it to be a strong single target attack, (unless 2 fireballs can hit one target?) but the other mod seems useless.

 

If an experienced pyro HE can suggest what mods would be best for me and answer questions in parentheses that would be great. This game is awesome so far and I don't want to mess up my mods permanently.

[Katran 0]

Hello and welcome to FDM RainmakerDD! I will try to asnwer some of those questions for you.

 

Since you are going for a singe powerful weapon for gold go with Hot Pursuit. This is your best choice since 2 fire balls is very very funny and hard to target. Plus your total AF damage will be split between then 2 balls. As for AF itself dont count on it to much in later games. It becomes obsolete fast in face of BT and IS. Plus monster HP will go up faster then your AF damage as the levels pass.

One other thing you said nothing about Incandescent Skin. Have you finished modding it yet? Since it is very very important.

[RainmakerDD 0]

Thanks for the advice, and no I didn't put any points into incandescent skin yet, only 2 in blazing tempest and 2 in incendiary shower. Based on what I already spent, could you recommend what mods I should put into incandescent skin? And should I even bother modding fireball now or is it not worth it? I wouldn't mod it but I don't really have any strong single target attack and I struggle against boss health regeneration. What would you say is the best single target attack for me to mod after incandescent skin? I'm modding some arcane spells as a back up (haven't started modding those yet) so maybe colbat strike would be good? I do great against mobs because blazing tempest is amazing, it's just those strong ones that give my trouble sometimes.

Edited May 19, 2009 by RainmakerDD

[Katran 0]

Here is what I got on my Incandescent Skin :

*Bronze: Combusting Arrows

*Silver: Energy Focus

*Gold: Arrant Pyromancer Expertise

 

as you can see I get most of it for regen. cut time.

 

As for a single target killing you got the most powerful weapon its called Incendiary Shower and here are my mods on it.

*Bronze: Skull Smash

*Silver: Smoking Rock

*Gold: Intensity

As for BT heres what I got:

*Bronze: Scorch

*Silver: Conflagration

*Gold: Ambition

 

Pls remember that IS is one of the most powerful if not the most powerful boss killing weapons in this game. Plus it has a stun mod for it.

For more info take a look at my Pyro HE build I know you probably want to take your own path but its a solid build thats level 163 at this time and has no problems you can get some pointers there. If you dont like it answer here and I will answer.

[thinkingofaname 0]

At what level does fireball become obsolete? I was using it to one shot things in niob around high 90s. I find it useful throughout the game as both BT and IS require time to kill, and you may end up getting hit in the process, whereas AF will 1 shot normal mobs from a screen away and they die before reaching you (only good for 1-3 targets though).

[Katran 0]

Well isnt that obsolete? What are 1-3 monsters in niob for leveling. you need some big mobs to get that experience 20-30 monsters thats how everyone hunts but I guess if you plan to kill them one at a time then it wont be obsolete ever.

[jrok 0]

I dont really have any xp with HE builds but ive found on my seraphim, when I upgraded my archangels wrath I checked the damages (needed to make 2 different chars to test it too) ...

 

you get the option to increase the damage of one fire ball by about 40% make the damage of 1 fireball go from 100-140 lets say

or the option to split it into 2 fireballs (that hit the same target with seeking) with slightly decreased damage for 2 fireballs, what I found was the decreased damage was about 20% for each fireball (40% total decrease), but because there are 2 of them both doing 80 damage each your sitting at 160 damage as a base.

 

But the real bonus comes in when you have Double the chance to hit (if the mob has high resist) and you have double the chance to crit (on top of the crit mod)

 

So IMO the 2 fireballs are a GREAT upgrade if you want a very powerful single attack

[Weavelord 0]

2 fire balls also have their damage mitigated twiece if the enemy has the ability to do so.

I find AF an eccelent combat art for when I am in dungeons.I am a romantic rpg gamer so I went for one big homing fireball with splash damage xD

[jrok 0]

2 fire balls also have their damage mitigated twiece if the enemy has the ability to do so.

 

Even Mitigated 2 fireballs do more damage than one...

 

80 damage - 20% mitigation = 64 x 2 =124 damage

140 damage - 20% mitigation = 112 damage

[buttfedora 0]

Fireballs have never become obsolete for me either as 93 now. I use them for simple cleanup, or when mobs like to hide behind trees and stuff where BT won't cover. They also 1 shot bosses on bronze, but thats just for farming low level sets XD

 

As for your mods, preference is a big thing. I noticed Katran has a totally different Skin mod than me. Mine is

Inferno - I like it when they burn, K?

Revenge - I like it when they hit themselves

Fiery Ardor - Increases all your fire damage. My regen times are off the charts low, why waste a mod on them?

 

Fireball mod doesnt really matter, long as you get hot pursuit.

 

IS I have Magma rain and smoking rock (damage) then Intensity. I went for all damage. Bosses die too fast for me to give a ... about stunning them

 

BT also really doesnt matter. In higher lvls the damage is sick enough that however you mod it, works. Long as you dont waste the speed. Speed doesnt matter. Thats just a stupid mod.

 

Anyway, yeah. Pick what you really like more, what intrigues you more. In the end, they all do insane damage and as long as you gear right and allocate skills properly, the regen times are low, so no real use wasting mods on them

[thinkingofaname 0]

Problem with 2 fireballs is that they tend to split to different targets than combining to hit one. Not sure about PC, but on the console, 2 fireballs will sometimes make 1 fireball miss even at point blank when there is only one (small) target, basically one hit while the other flies past the target to hit god knows what.

[Three Stars 0]

As for your mods, preference is a big thing. I noticed Katran has a totally different Skin mod than me. Mine is

Inferno - I like it when they burn, K?

Revenge - I like it when they hit themselves

Fiery Ardor - Increases all your fire damage. My regen times are off the charts low, why waste a mod on them?

 

...

 

Anyway, yeah. Pick what you really like more, what intrigues you more. In the end, they all do insane damage and as long as you gear right and allocate skills properly, the regen times are low, so no real use wasting mods on them

 

I totally agree about regen mods. You can get regen from so many different sources, but scaling damage and reflect are quite valuable for a rather squishy character.

 

I have a fire HE at level 50, but I'm going to try remaking her once of these days. Fire HEs just don't seem to have the versatility of the ice HEs, especially since BT is useless on any kind of ground with water or obstacles. Plus, incendiary skin isn't really much of a defensive buff, even with reflect mod.