DrMike2000

All gameplay is pointless dead-end gameplay. Thats the point of it.
And I'd disagree that Blasters have one true point or purpose.

Some are more Controller-ish, some are more AoE death machine or single target, why not try to make a Super Reflexes Blaster when we do have the tools to do so?

This seems harmless enough. The boards are full of people who enjoy tweaking numbers and making hypothetical builds. And its not as if the Chosen One can do much else with his influence after a certain point - why not give it away in a contest? This is no different to a costume contest.

Short Circuit is base 35%
Ball Lightning is base 7%

So if I enhance SC for END drain and use Power Boost, I'lll drain:

35 * (1 +.95 +.76) + 7 * (1 +.76) = 94.85 + 12.32 = 107.17% END.

Against a group of +1's, that gets dropped to 90% of the base value, or 96.4%

So the Elec/Energy Blaster combo is still pretty badly neutered, since at level 28 you'd hope to be fighting +1's at least.

If you slot Ball Lightning for END drain, you'll get to drain a group of +1's just, but you're really eating into your AoE damage that way. And you'll still fail to drain +2s.

Static Discharge (5% Drain) will push you over the line for +1s, but at level 41 thats not such a great result.

Electrical blast has a lot of issues.

Compared to Holds, End Drain specialises in disabling bosses, since it affects all tiers of enemies equally. But to counter that, the one power that really drains END properly is Short Circuit, a AoE drain used in melee range with a long animation.

So to really take advantage of END drain you need to be in melee range of one or more bosses.

It would be great if some meaningful drain was added to the single target blasts, so that a Blaster slotted for END drain would drian a boss before killing them just by using Zapp, LB and CB.

Would anyone recommend the Gaussian Build Up Proc in Follow Up?

It adds a 5% chance of a further damage boost, is it 100% extra? Sort of like the damage boost from Follow Up critting.

I'm not sure. Im thinking of trying this one out unless anyone recommends against it from personal experience

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Electric Blast still needs a good once over from Castle.

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It certainly does. Its never been the best blast set, and has received a couple of little kicks recently.

1) Voltaic Sentinel, often viewed as the poor substitute for a third heavy hitter like Blaze, no longer benefits from Recharge mods on its caster.

2) Blaster Power Boost in Energy Manipulation, one of the three other sets that make End Drain a viable levelling tactic (along with Defender Kinetics and Blaster Electrical Manipulation), has recently had its End Modification boost lowered so that power Boost + Short Circuit no longer drains a group of even cons, let alone the +1's and +2s commonly fought in most missions.

It has received a boost as well, in that Mission Architect mobs tend to use more realistic amounts of END just like players. But for non-MA PvE, Electrical Blast is hurting.

Recharge and Positional Defence are the two types of set bonuses that seem to give consistently good returns for me.

Thunderstrike (Ranged Damage set) gives you +2% Recovery, +7% Accuracy and +3.75% Defence vs Ranged and Energy/Negative attacks per full set. And some movement boost to boot.

It's base statistics (ie the bonuses to that power from the actual enahncements) are around +95% Damage, +55% End reduction, +55% Recharge and +55% Accuracy. Much better than 3 Damage, 1 Acc, 1 END Redux and 1 Rech SO.

Its not a rare set, so recipes typically sell for 1/4 to 1/2 million, and no rare salvage is involved.

Start getting 3 (or 4 if you include Power push) sets of that in your single target blasts and you'll really notice the difference.

I've been wondering this too. I've got the following characters:

Account A:
Elec/Energy Blaster
Warshade
WP/SS Tank

Account B:
Empath/Psi Defender
Claws/Regen Scrapper
Illusion/FF Controller

I'm leaning towards the Empath and Blaster for duoing Positron - Energy and Psi Damage work well vs CoT and Clockwork.

Anyone with experience of this TF suggest another combination?

Pace makes a big difference too - if you're playing with someone who doesnt want to steamroll through everything at breakneck speed, Stamina becomes less important.

It should lead to an intersting dynamic where you hold off on healing your girlfriend a little bit in order to get cheaper end cost on your powers. Talk about playing with fire? Mental!

I'm always up for skipping Stamina if I think I can get away with it, partly just to be contrary.

Ive taken it (and Manuvers) on my shield Scrapper.

Out of four potential partner characters when I dual box, three are squishies with their own Defence built up to around 20% vs Ranged and AoE via IO bonuses, so the extra Defence and Def debuff resistance are very nice to have.

What you describe there would be very much possible in theory, ie have maps tagged with appropriate objects that can be picked up from the ground. It would take a fair amount of work, and is the kind of thing games developers avoid once a system is up and running.

It would still often look wrong - pulling a pool table out of the floor in a casino or a forklift out of a warehouse floor wouldnt look right in the way that pulling a boulder out of the floor in a cave does.

So its a lot of work for a mediocre result. If you look at how the sinlge player game Freedom Force did it, ie you interact with pre-existing props, you get a much more satisfying result, but scaling that up to a MMO is another matter entirely, where you have to synch up which props have been thrown and where. Propel currently can show up as throwing different objects for different teammates since the type of object isnt sunched across the network. Thats fine for now, because the type of object is just cosmetic.

That all said, Champions looks like it has throwable interactive obejcts. We shall see.

Some Tanker sets already have a ranged attack in them, as do some Scrapper sets.

Tanks get Hurl and Hurl Boulder, Scrappers get Impale. The common theme here is concept - these aren't super-powery ranged attacks but a tough guy throwing something. Which seems wrong to me -the devs should be dictating powers based on game blanace, not on concept.

I dont think people take Superstrength and Stone Melee specifically for the ranged power, ie its not seen as the crown jewel of the set by any means. So there isn't really any game balance reason for Energy melee not having a Power Blast in it, or Axe having a Throw Axe ranged attack. Not many ranged attacks but just one, and that would satisfy concept players, I think.

Now, the devs arent going to pull out an existing power and replace it. I also doubt they'll make a new "Energy Melee with Blast" set.

But I've got to say, I can see the option to have a single energy blast or throwing hammers and axes would be really popular with concept players.

With what we've got, the best solution for the ranged tanker is the FF/* Defender. Your survivability takes a while to come together, but by the late 20's/early 30's you'll really notice it.

I currently run a space marine Tanker who carries a number of assault weapons. Basically I horde all the temporary powers I can get and sometimes fire off a shot in combat, to pull a group maybe. I also tend to pop out my flamethrower or shotgun if I have to run across town, just for the looks

The Confiscated Beanbag stun gun, for example, is available with 75 shots from Ouroborus, and is actually very nice to have against Sappers and other nasties.

The Revolver can be crafted whenever you have a moment for 30 shots.

All the temp powres would benefit from either Invulnerbaility or Superstrength for the To Hit bonuses from Invincibility or Rage

Containment doesnt really matter if the Blaster is doing most of the damage. The blaster in this duo should focus on maxing their own damage, not helping the Controller to boost the damage from Spectral Wounds and Blind.

Fire/Energy or Fire/Fire. Maybe Fire/Mental?

With an Ill/Rad controller you wont need to look out for your own safety, and can focus on doing as much damage as possible. So giving up any holds or mitigation for extra AoE carnage is a good move here.

My 2c on Repulsion Field.

It has a much smaller radius than I thought it would. So its not like you walk into a group of enemies and send them all flying, more like you touch them to repel them. It will kick in on anyone who tries to melee you too, maybe after they get a hit in, maybe before. But its a lot easier to control than I thought it would be.

Its also autohit. Force Fields, being a purely buffin set (rather than debuffing) allows you to run with a group of allies two levels or so above you quite easily without diminishing your main contribution of +Defence.

If you do end up in this situation (and sucking up the sweet XP that it brings) Repulsion Field will still work, and can allow you to easily keep a single troublesomeboss off their feet while the rest of the team engage the rest of the group.

I'd recommend either Force Bolt or Repulsion Field rather than both. This is the big upside of Repulsion Field - the autohit

Definitely Sonic.

Kin/Rad is a nice combo because the Kinetics powers need to hit and rad provides -Def, but its very short on damage mitigation.

Sonic is ugly?
I ask Sonic defenders to turn their Sonic Dispersion ON in Wentworths!

The power pool powers in Red Tomax' site currently show a SQL error for the numbers, and display Blaster as the class modifier in the drop box.

If you switch to another class (eg Defender) and then maybe back to Blaster if they're the values you want to see, you get the proper results, and it displays the numbers correctly.

I kind of like the idea of Force Fields only getting additive damage boosts (ie extra attacks) rather than multiplicative ones like most Defenders.

Repulsion Bomb is already a decent AoE attack, its lthe same damage as say Explosive Blast. Its a bit slower to recharge and has a slow (and IMHO dumb-looking) animation, but its otherwise good.

I'd suggest Force Bolt getting upped to scalar 1 damage, ie as much as Power Bolt, XRay Eyes, Ice Bolt and all the other tier 1 attacks. Im not madly keen on adding a stun. Force Fields shine when the enemies are not mezzed, but are missing you anyway.

I also think it should retain its status as the best Defence and poorest offence set. Its biggest advantage over Cold is the mez protection and extra Defence from Dispersion Bubble.

If I were to boost the set in any other way, it would be some small bonus to the Defender's own protection. Maybe buffs to Repulsion Field (+5% vs Melee) and Force Bubble (+5% vs Ranged and AoE).

That would give the Defender themselves a very solid 15% Defence (24% when slotted) to work from. Currently, self defence for a Force Fielder falls into the crackpot expensive build category (see my guide). Its been extended a little into the mainstream with some recent IO changes (Blessing of the Zephyr. Thunderstrike, Aegis), but it would be nice for this to become part of the standard approach to the set.

A little bit of Resistance in the shields wouldn't hurt I guess. Not too much, but along the lines you suggested.

And I agree with Cosmic Thunderer. The cold shields obscure the recipient's costume way too much.

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I wouldnt' go Sonic/Sonic or FF/Dark because you're introducing some redundancy there. FF provides as much not being hit as you need, so works better with Sonic Blast as an offensive secondary.

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I wouldn't quite agree with that.

First of all, the -res cap is quite high; Sonic/Sonic is an exceptional offensive debuffer. It may be more specialized than a Sonic/(not Sonic) combination, but it is very effective in that particular niche.

Second, FF does not necessarily provide as much +defense as you need. There are defense debuffs/to-hit buffs, and Dispersion Bubble + Shield + Maneuvers puts you just at around the soft cap, and that's assuming that it is actually safe to stay close enough to cover everybody with Dispersion Bubble (which is not always true). Also, you yourself will not be anywhere near the softcap (since you can't shield yourself): Dark Blast gives you better protection and also provides you with a self-heal when you do get hit.

Both powerset combinations are very specialized and generally stack poorly with other specialists of the same kind; but they are not necessarily redundant with themselves.

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Good points there, especially regarding the self-protection offered by Dark Blast.

Force Fields offer 90% protection and not much offence boost

Sonics offer 60% protection or so and a decent 40% increase in damage output maybe.

I wouldnt' go Sonic/Sonic or FF/Dark because you're introducing some redundancy there. FF provides as much not being hit as you need, so works better with Sonic Blast as an offensive secondary.

Sonic Resonance woks well with Dark Blast for providing the extra protection that it lacks. Or with other defensive sets like Energy Blast, my own favourite.

I always like to balance offence and defence like that.

In the late game, Sonics two holes of no Psi resistance and no End Drain protection really highlight themselves.

Dark/Rad will solo pretty well for a Defender.

One of my main issues with rad Blast for a solo-er is that you dont get a hard control until 28 - with Dark Miasma thats not an issue because you're very safe with your debuffs.

Dark Miasma lacks any kind of accuracy enhancement/Def debuff to get the vet attacks hitting relaibly, and Rad Blast provides just that. So the two sets work very well together, and generally just look cool to boot!

Firing eye lasers from within a dark rolling cloud? CHECK!

Use the Lady Grey chance for Negative Damage procs and Achilles Hell -Res procs to boost your damage - they can be slotted in all your attacks. Neutrino Bolt should definitely hold both, possibly the new-ish Shield Breaker damage proc as well.

And yeah, try herding up larger groups of -1 con's to start with and then using your AoEs.

I made one character with no travel powers way back, a non-powereed MA/SR scrapper, and did feel a little bit gimped, deliberately.

I didn't mind solo, it really doesnt take that long to cross zones and I'd often beat up a few guys on the way to a mission.

It also felt great when I hopped onto an alt who could fly or run at superspeed.

On teams, I found I wasn't usually the last to the door. Someone would need to go and sell, or level up, or see a contact or whatever. In exceptional conditions (eg crossing Indepenedence Port and no teleports available) I'd pull out the jump pack.

I usually found people with Recall Friend are only too happy to use it, just like any other power. When I get the chance to teleport a teammate on my Recallers I feel special.

Occasionally I'd get a teammate who wouldn't shut up about me not having a travel power by the 30's. (Despite the fact I hadnt held them up). I'd reply in character - just like Batman would if the rest of the JLA started to hassle him about not being able to fly or run at superspeed.

These days half my characters are travel-power free because I dual-box. The other half have Group Fly, Kinetics or Recall Friend for ferrying their partners around. Just for fun.

Sonic/Energy/Electrical

Its a difficult build, and one Ive made twice now. My first attempt got to 28 and was deleted as being the first character I couldnt solo on Invincible at that level.

I've since made a second one with the same power themes - Marvel-style cosmic energy blasts and molecular transmutation for all the +/- Res powers, and I'm having a brilliant time, probably because Im playing characters in pairs these days.
Sonic really is a great support set, and a lousy solo set.

Sonic/Energy also lends itself to messing around with IO's and benefits hugely from some of the changes in I14.
Thunderstrikes now give Ranged Defence bonuses twice, and Aegis gives AoE Defence bonuses twice. Add in the new Blessing of the Zephyr and I'm very happy with my collect-the-set "how tough can I make this Defender" obsession. So its one of those builds that grows and I get excited with each level for the new slots or powers.

Finally, it just looks cool. Orange and Blue are complementary colours, and both powersets look like they're manipulating large cosmic energy fields.

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The assumption that "healing is the best thing at low levels" is unfounded. The only thing that changes at level 12 is that Fortitude becomes available -- there's nothing special about level 12 that makes a big damage, tohit, and defense buff better in most cases than heals. That happens at level 1. Nobody needs heals against Contaminated.

An even more vivid illustration: a starter combination of Healing Aura+Fortitude blows Healing Aura+Heal Other away. It's synergy instead of redundancy. See also Thermal Radiation, which starts off with a Warmth+Thermal Shield combo.

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Well, for a Force Fielder, two things do happen at level 12. One is you get Dispersion Bubble to stack with your ally shields. The other is Dual Origin enhancements.

At level 11 you're providing maybe 17% Defence. Suddenly this jumps to maybe 19% + 12% = 31% ie becomes almost twice as effective. Meanwhile, your tank and scrapper allies may be picking up new defence shield powers that further stack.

Defence and Resistance both stack in a kind of asymptotic way - the closer you get to the cap the better each increment becomes. The downside of this is that Defence and resistance powers alone without healing tend to be a bit rubbish at very low levels, like before level 12.

Healing on the other hand, just gets wasted if it goes over a certain limit.
And as I said, healing's main weakness is spike damage, which incrases later in the game.

I agree that no-one needs heals against Contaminated.
No-one needs anything against them. But against Damned and Eidelons in the sewers, I've always found a Healing Aura to keep a team alive better than the bare bones 15% Defence from Force Fields or 20% Damage Res from Sonics.

Equating the Empathy powerset with feeling other people's emotions and being "nice" pisses me off.

Not because I'm pedantic, but because it meant this awesome powerset was not propagated to Villains because of its name.

While I'm here, taking Rage from Superstrength doesnt mean you're angry, either :P