CBeet

I'm giving up Snow Storm and a 0.5 second recharge bonus from Flares.

I like Blasters to have utility and plenty of survivability, it's all they need to be built for as their damage is already superb, even moreso if you're alive. An AoE sleep which has a chance of healing back some health, even the smallest amount, is still better than most of the support built into the Blaster sets.

Especially if thrown into a huge group of Rikti in the final room of the LGTF, every little helps afterall.

Thanks for the replies, respecced and all now, seems to be working nicely.

Good to know, the chance for a nice chunk of heal was the main reason for it (I don't use Snow Storm for the amount of aggro it gets and mez detoggles it).

Thanks for the quick reply.

If you slot a chance for heal into Flash Freeze, or any AoE sleep, does it have a chance of proccing once per every enemy hit for multiple heals, or is it just the one heal but a higher chance of it happening due to so many hit?

Similarly, does the placate work if the sleep also deals damage?

I'm planning on Flash Freeze for a Blaster to use as a panic button on top of Hoarfrost and Hibernate, but this is useful info for sleep powers in general.

My only changes would be a 30-50% damage buff while cloaked with Cloaking Device, Gun Drone's endurance and summon time halved and make Time Bomb be turned into an Omega Maneuver clone.

Having just come from another thread my vote/s would go to Sonic Resonance and Kinetics, both have their pros and cons but if both were on the same team then things are gonna get steamrolled.

Only sets I find people underestimate would be Trick Arrow, Assault Rifle, Bane sets and Sonic Resonance.

Trick arrow (Defender) is capable of AoE -tohit (10%), -perception (90%) -speed (180%), -recharge (20%), -damage (31%), -defense (83%), -resistance (40%), -regen (1000%), -end (109%), as well as an ST hold and immob plus a really powerful AoE hold. All available against pretty much ever group you fight, except for EMP Arrow and Oil Slick Arrow, which will decimate every other group if you cycle between them.

Assault Rifle's damage can be surpassed by more specialised sets, it can be heavily resisted, it can even be slow to animate, but it's pure brute force of damage and mez and DoT is enough to make you charge ahead and let loose. It can use a little boost numerically, but it's really fun and by no means weak.

Banes have the same deal as Assault Rifle. Crabs have more desired powers, more efficient AoE damage, better survivability because they can stay at a range but the raw power and potential DPS a Bane can throw out is spectacular, it feels powerful and it can floor an EB in seconds should the need arise.

Sonic Resonance is like the debuff and utility cousin of Kinetics' buff and support abilities, I wouldn't be able to make a choice between the two if I was on a melee toon as both are crazy good, but Kinetics are more obvious. Sonics has a constant AoE -res which can anchor to you, buffs which can put you up to 50%+ resistance to most damage, protection from mez, AoE control and an ST resistance debuff which can turn even a weakling ally into a damage and surviability powerhouse.

*click*

...

I want another three pages, which I would quickly pay for then fill with new and original character ideas before demanding more pages for slots before I go off to the plaync store and buy the latest booster pack.

*throws money shurikens* TAKE IT, TAKE IT ALL! I WANT MORE THINGS TO BUY!

If the team is mostly AoE or melee based already, the Stalker

For everything else, there's Scrapperlock.

My only gripe with the pack would be that there are far more species of canine than feline and would've liked to see something more than just wolf. This springs to mind.

I may or may not have an idea for a Dober-Man guard dog Hero for hire. Looking forward for future packs, I know this one's already got my money.

I have an MA/SR Scrapper who's constantly hovering in a fight and not only does it look awesome, it's really useful numbers wise. It's 2-3% extra defense, the endurance cost is minimal and great mobility in combat for cones or flying enemies.

For slotting Hover, I'd suggest going for 2 defense and 1 flyspeed (endred isn't needed) then putting 1 or 2 flyspeed into Swift, Hover's faster than you'd think and slotting up like this is effective.

Build-wise, getting Tough and Weave on top of Hover will help softcap quickly (the 3% defense proc is awesome in Tough, no need to put any slots in or run the power) and you can also get Combat Jumping for a little extra defense. You should then be one bonus away per defense position to softcap, so three powers used up (Mako's Bite, Touch of Death and Scirocco's Dervish are the easiest I find). I'd then suggest using the rest for +end/recovery then +hp/regen, depending on how much inf and time you can put into it. Alternatively, get the endred Alpha Slot and use your IOs for +recharge and +hp once you're softcapped.

My personal suggestion would be a Fire/Son Corruptor. Fire Blast's very fun and active and will nicely compliment the mostly ST nature of Super Strength until the higher levels. Sonic's buffs and debuffs compliment a Brute really well, especially an Invuln (You get an AoE -res toggle which anchors on an ally and is awesome).

I agree, the helmet looks very.. Special at that escewed angle, certainly not right if you try and make a PraePD character.

In fact, I've only found one use for it.
DOCTOR BRAIN HELMET!

My only characters who have an actual Incarnate connection IC are my immortal Efranof and the demonicly possessed Lord Darvek.

Efranof's is his katana, originally made with his blood folded into the steel it had a connection to him and never breaks or needs to be sharpened, the sword will 'die' only when Efranof does. He is meant to be an incarnate of fear and to a lesser extent doubt.

The demon 'Lord Darvek' has been eternally bound to possess the males in the Darvek family tree, a curse to both the humans and the demon. Since the demon is the only one with power and possesses the most recent Darvek, it's Incarnate item is the host himself, their body and soul which it owns and is also a slave to. Together they are meant to be an incarnate of deceit, manipulation, lies and imbalance.

How about giving Ignite the Burn treatment, turn it into an ST attack with Ignite's damage front-loaded and dropping a burn patch under the target? Keep the fear as it's useful for area denial.

Bam, AR gains a new powerful ST exotic damage attack, Ignite still keeps it's original uses and there's no need to pass on another set's originality.

Edit: Alternatively, combine Ignite with Flamethrower so it's like the Longbow Flamethrower's attack, keeps Flamethrower's DoT but also puts a burn patch under every target. Put Flamethrower where Ignite was and where Flamethrower is put a new unique power for AR. My personal favourite is:

Reload: Click self +recharge (200%) 20 seconds, 240 second (4m) recharge

As said, the main use for it is as a distraction/mini tank, a Blaster with a good distraction can be devastating.. But I also agree that it needs to be faster. Faster animation, longer lasting, but make the recharge longer to compensate. As it is, if you're running a high recharge build, it's possible to have two or three out at once (yes, they do stack) which while useful is still a lot of time for summoning and trying to manage endurance.

I've got an Energy/Devices and a Fire/Devices high enough to use GD and only the Energy has it, only reserving for Boss/EB/AV fights. Any less and it's not worth it and GM fights last too long that it's boring having to resummon five or more times in the fight.

Figures it'd be the Fire Blaster that dies.

Impressive numbers, but when you're talking 150%+ recharge I usually find it's not how high it gets, it's which sets it's with.

My favorites for this are Dominators.

I put it down to if I want to be a steamroller (Brute) or a blender (Scrapper). Scrappers can afford to be lazy due to not needing to keep up with their fury bar (press a button and they'll go, with no problems of stopping if needed, not that it's easy to stop once you start of course) while Brutes can and will destroy everything in their path, so long as they've the time to build up their fury (like a steamroller slowly edging towards a hill, takes it's time but then it goes VROOM and everything's gone splat).

I see Devices as sort of the Shields of Blasters. Not as good until you get a few key powers.. Devices, you want Trip Mine, Cloaking Device and Super Speed. Go into the group completely invisible, put down the mine under them and while you're putting it down you cue up your primary set's targetted AoE.

It will one-shot +1 Minions, even level Lieutenants (Usually, YMMV) and take a nice chunk off of a Boss's HP. Add in the portable distraction in Gun Drone, ability to never miss and the fact you can just stealth into a group and nuke anyway, or put down a mine and nuke to make up for no Build Up.

It lets you be more flexible with your primary set's slotting, Dual Pistols doesn't even need accuracy slotting for example. Put in extra recharge, more endred, slot damage before accuracy, slot for range even (Who needs Boost Range when you can free up slots for it anyway?) and, IMO, it has many skippable powers, so you can get that Leadership, you can work your way to Resuscitate. Devices can be a far more team oriented Blaster because it lets you be, you just need to think outside the box.

I can answer this question with a resounding no, pick what you like but if you go AR/Devices then good luck. I have a (funnily enough) AR/En and I don't have Boost Range. Just enjoy your Flamethrower/Full Auto/Buckshot/M30 Grenade (I prefer the grenade over Buckshot as it doesn't need the positioning and isn't short range, plus the radius is bigger than you'd think) then unleash your ST fury if you missed anything, depending on secondary of course, you may just want to throw more AoE at it too

Plainguy: Regen's very tricky to compare to defense and resistance, as if you have any amount of regeneration over the incoming DPS you're not doing to die but you will if it goes over, no real middle ground for calculations.

Brophog + Dragonkat: While increased regeneration works in %s so it's the same for all ATs (so to speak) and will decrease downtime, you also have to consider not having downtime in the first place (through the already mentioned softcapping S/L route for example) or just having Aid Self in the build, which also means Aid Other and Resuscitate. I like the idea of a regen Blaster but it's not that realistic due to their relatively low HP (which is why Regen Stalkers are funny) and little to build upon for +Regen, unless you've gone for Mental Manipulation in which case go nuts.

Checking the build, you need +hp (As I said, regen works on %s so the higher HP you have, the more the regen has to work with) and.. Uhm.. More +regen, actually. I'll have a play around in Mids and see if it is possible to get a good amount of regen, but it's questionable.

Edit!

Okay, since you said you're doing a lot of Blaster TFs, I'm assuming you'll all be running your Leadership and the like which explains the lack of Targetting Drone and happy fun times with the slotting. I've managed to get 25hp/sec regeneration (capped HP plus 376% regen), Aid Self/Resuscitate, still some KB protection, the option for a combat invisibility (CD + SJ with proc), a few IO procs which are honestly as useful as a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Lost a little bit of recharge, but since it was overall pretty low it wont be too missed.. Also threw out Smoke Grenade, if there is a reasoning for that I'm missing then hey it's your build free to edit whatever but the capability of stealthing is there and the tohit debuff shouldn't be major if everyone's running Maneuvers.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Devices
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Apoc-Acc/Rchg(A), Apoc-Dam%(7), Entrpc-Heal%(7), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(9), Dev'n-Hold%(23)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(13), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(13), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(15), Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(15)
Level 2: Ice Blast -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Entrpc-Heal%(17), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(19), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Dev'n-Hold%(31)
Level 4: Caltrops -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A)
Level 6: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Freeze Ray -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(21), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(23), Dev'n-Hold%(45), Lock-%Hold(50)
Level 10: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(11), S'dpty-EndRdx(11), S'dpty-Def(36)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), Krma-ResKB(43)
Level 14: Super Jump -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 16: Aid Other -- Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx(A), Tr'ge-Heal/Rchg(37)
Level 18: Bitter Ice Blast -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(27), Dev'n-Hold%(37)
Level 20: Cloaking Device -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34), S'dpty-EndRdx(46), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(46)
Level 22: Aid Self -- Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx(A), Tr'ge-Heal/Rchg(40)
Level 24: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(37), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(40), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 26: Bitter Freeze Ray -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(31), Dev'n-Hold%(42), Lock-%Hold(50)
Level 28: Vengeance -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(34), Numna-Heal/Rchg(43), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(43), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 32: Blizzard -- Posi-Dam%(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Acc/Dmg(33), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Gun Drone -- Dev'n-Hold%(A), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(39), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Repulsion Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(45), EndRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Force of Nature -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(A), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg(48), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Resuscitate -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), RgnTis-Regen+(3), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx(3), Tr'ge-Heal/Rchg(50)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(5), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(5)



PS, update Mids. I see you like your Blasters and it is fun playing around without crunching in inherant Stamina/Health