Champions Online Inferno Guide

Champions Online Inferno Guide
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Flame On

The Human Torch is a widely popular character from the Fantastic Four comic book series, and he stands as the Inferno archetype role model in Cryptic’s Champions Online Free-for-All. Gamers who enjoy tossing flames and wielding the power of fire as their superhero archetype will find everything they need to know about the fire-starter in this Champions Online Inferno guide.

The role of the fire archetype is completely and entirely associated with the role of being pure DPS. The class doesn’t have enough defensive or damage mitigation skills to be anything other than a prime damage dealer. Still, if you enjoy throwing flames at opponents and setting multiple mobs on fire or shooting meteor-style AOE attacks at foes, then the Inferno archetype will be perfect for you.

Attack Strategies

Shooting fireballs

The strategy of playing as a fire-type character who has very little defense and no melee attacks means that close-quarter combat is completely out of the question. The main focus of playing as a fire-type character is to rely on distance and movement. Much like the archer archetype on the game or standard ranger classes from other MMOS, the Inferno class needs to stay on the move to avoid being pinned down and damaged too heavily.

The two main stats that will propel the archetype forward is Recovery and Endurance…meaning that your character will recharge energy very quickly and have a lot of it to dispense. This, of course, comes at the cost of not being able to do much else other than running around and flaming opponents from a distance consecutively and quickly.

It would be wise to pick a travel ability that coincides with the required fast-movement of being an Inferno archetype, such as flying or super speed. This enables players to move around very fast and pepper opponents with fast attacks while staying on the move.

Research And Development

Running through the streets

It’s important to pick a R&D skillset that compliments the abilities of a fire-starter. This means having an ability that enables you to absorb damage or to quickly recharge health will go a long way in the survival game. One of the highlights of having Science as a R&D skill-set is that it offers up plenty of shields and counter-reagents for players who want to avoid getting pummeled to death.

Mysticism isn’t a bad way to go if you’re looking for additional projectiles and pet devices. Arms is almost completely useless for a fire-type character because it offers little or no advantage for both offensive and defensive properties.

Inferno Skill List

Charged fire blast

Level 1 – Throw Fire: The first and most basic attack from the Inferno archetype. This skill is used primarily to charge other attacks. Burning Desire and Fuel My Fire are good alternatives to have if you plan on using Throw Fire for more than just an energy generator. Players who want to focus on DOT’ing will want to add Fuel My Fire to their list for additional chances to have a fire DOT clinging to opponents when using Throw Fire.

Level 1 – Fire Strike: A standard fire attack with two additional ranks for increasing damage. Crippling Challenge increases threat while Wild Fire refreshes Clinging Flames, the fire DOT caused from Fuel My Fire. Wild Fire also adds additional fire damage and spreads to other opponents within a 15 foot sphere.

Level 6 – Fireball: A charge-up attack that requires players to stand still while it’s being charged (perfect for creating Dragon Ball clones who require fireball charge-up attacks). Additional attributes include Unstable Accelerant that debuffs opponents, as well as Challenging Strikes to raise additional threat.

Level 8 – Fiery Form: A slotted passive that activates with the use of fire attacks. This skill can be ranked up to increase all fire or elemental damage. If used with Free-Form characters this could also work well for characters who go Super Saiyan.

Level 11 – Fire Breath: A standard AOE attack that does continuous fire damage while in effect. Perfect for close-quarter mobs or when fighting melee opponents. Players will have to choose at level 11 between Fire Breath and Pyre.

Pistol device

Level 11 – Pyre: An effective, full AOE attack that damages all nearby enemies and has optional attributes like Backdraft to knockdown all nearby opponents.

Level 14 – Fire Shield: A damage reduction shield that also applies Clinging Flames to melee attackers if they’re within range of the of the shield while it’s active.

Level 17 – Conflagration: A raining fire attack that does fixed AOE damage where it’s used. Has the chance to inflict Clinging Flames. A high advantage to this skill is Burning Rain, which enables Conflagration to track the target it was first used on, inflicting damage to all nearby opponents of the original target.

Level 22 – Thermal Reverberation: This is an innate passive that draws and re-energizes the player with the heat generated from within the environment.

Level 27 – Immolation: An active offensive buff that lasts for 30 seconds which increases the standard output of all fire-oriented attacks.

Taking down some bad guys

Level 32 – Heat Wave: This is a direct immobilization and debuffing skill that also deals direct, continuous damage. This skill, in addition to the standard rank ups, offers players Engulfing flames, which lessens the output of Heat Wave’s damage but increases the length and debuff amount caused by the skill. Players can choose between this skill and Fire Snake at level 32.

Level 32 – Fire Snake: A tier 3 attack that sends a fire serpent after foes, doing up to 58 points of damage per every 1 tick the snake engulfs opponents. To help the snake overtake fast opponents players have the option of adding points into Trail Blaze which increases the movement speed of the snake.

Level 40 – Flashfire: A ring of fire that overtakes anyone unlucky enough to be trapped inside with up to 73 points of damage dealt to opponents every tick they’re inside. An additional attribute called Sweltering Heat enables players to reduce the movement speed of those trapped inside Flashfire, enabling for the skill to deal additional damage to slow moving targets.

You can check out more guides and walkthroughs for Cryptic’s superhero MMO with the Ultimate Guide to Champions Online.

This post is part of the series: Champions Online Free-For-All Archetype Guides

A guided tour of the Archetypes in the new Free-for-All version of Champions Online.

  1. Champions Online The Inferno Guide For Beginners
  2. Champions Online Beginner’s Guide For Soldiers
  3. Champions Online: Free For All Behemoth Beginner’s Guide
  4. Champions Online Beginner Guide For The Glacier
  5. Champions Online Free-For-All Beginner’s Guide For Grimoire