StrykerX

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Happy_Cat View Post
    Oh wow. That's a big piece of the puzzle I was missing there...
    Thanks for the answer!
    I suppose it's rather easy and possible to go for capped range defense without spending a fortune?
    Depends on what you consider a fortune. My Archery / Energy hover Blaster has around 30% ranged defense and 45% global recharge... his build cost around 100 million and I find it very playable. I can almost softcap with one small purple and overcap with one medium, so I can use Lucks for times I need more defense (like EBs) and 30% defense is plenty for normal spawns if you're not trying to solo 8-mans.

    Actually hitting 40-45% defense is going to cost considerably more inf and will also require some significant build compromises... things like skipping nukes, not capping Hover speed (doesn't bother some people, but it does me), sacrificing a lot of recharge (or requiring LotGs to get it, which drives the price way up), and needing to "waste" slots and power picks on set mule powers. Capping the ranged defense itself isn't horribly expensive (though it's going to cost a few hundred mil)... but getting enough recharge for a good attack chain after slotting all those +defense sets (which generally lack +recharge) is.

    I'd suggest trying for around 35% ranged defense and Aid Self unless you are wanting to solo 8-man spawns. If you are, you'll probably need the capped defense to survive alphas. That build Santorican posted is nice, but it'll likely cost around a billion inf thanks to the uniques and LotGs, you'll be kind of slow when hovering (you may want to use a bind that switches to Fly when moving), and you lack Aid Self or Inferno. The build does have good regen so Aid Self may not be needed, but no Inferno? That's missing out on a lot of fun... I'd consider dropping Total Focus for Inferno and living with only 43% ranged defense, but that's just me. After all, how often are you going to be using a slow-animating melee attack on a ranged build?
  2. Any particular reason for all that recharge? Most of the Axe attacks have almost exactly the same DPA, so Chop -> Gash -> Swoop -> Cleave is pretty much as good as it gets and only needs around 95% global recharge so you can use Hasten, Quickness, and one or two minor recharge bonuses to get that... and you can just add Pendulum when Hasten is down or there are multiple enemies in range for a minor DPS drop but increased AoE.

    About the only reason I can think of for 155% recharge on Axe is for spamming Whirling Axe and Pendulum faster, but that's not going to help you if your blue bar is empty...
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by plainguy View Post
    But that being said I don't think I could go the AV killer route that many do with /Traps.
    True... /FF has no debuffs or heals so you're stuck in a loooong fight with only Aid Other and Repair to support your bots. They'll be softcapped, but without -regen or -resist the fight will be so long that the AV is bound to get some lucky shots in.
  4. StrykerX

    Best solo AT COV

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
    I
    I've personally found Masterminds to be even slower-going than my Stalker, but I'm not a huge fan of robots so haven't bothered with that primary before. I have played a Necro/Poison and Thugs/Poison into the high 20s... while they didn't die often, Poison does tend to be pretty heavy on endurance usage and is notably better on a team than solo. I'd certainly go with /Dark instead if you're interested in a fast solo experience, with either Thugs or Bots as the primary.

    (Sidenote: I also have plans to make both a Demon/Dark and Demon/Thermal MM when Going Rogue launches.)
    Poison is one of the slowest Mastermind secondaries. It specializes in debuffing single targets into uselessness, which is great for AVs but not so good for general play. As far as Bots go, they do start off pretty slow but once you hit 32 they become monsters. Thugs speed up faster since they get AoEs a lot sooner, but Bots are more survivable. Both are very good though, especially paired with Dark, Traps, or Storm (all of which can debuff entire spawns and boost your kill speed).
  5. There are several ways to go on a high-end Blaster build. You can softcap Ranged (and possibly AoE) defense and fight at range, you can softcap Smashing and Lethal defense and use a mix of ranged and melee (the best damage option for Energy / Energy, but more dangerous). You can also focus on massive recharge bonuses and use your heaviest hitters more often.

    The key to getting the most damage is DPA (damage per activation). Unless you have a long recharge power you want to use a lot, you basically need enough recharge bonuses to chain your best DPA attacks nonstop. Energy Blast doesn't really have any very high DPA attacks so you don't gain a lot from extreme recharge... the basic Bolt -> Blast -> Bolt -> Burst attack chain isn't much worse than the best possible chains and it only requires around 45% global recharge (very easy to get even on a mid-price build). If you don't mind getting into melee you'll hit a lot harder using Bone Smasher, Energy Punch, and Power Burst... but not only does that take a lot of recharge, it's dangerous enough that you'd need to focus more on survival which leaves less room for recharge.

    My personal suggestion for a high end build would be to focus on ranged attacks, get around 45% global recharge, and softcap Ranged defense plus as much AoE defense and +HP as possible. I'm not really good at making high end builds since I never spend that much on a single character, but in general you'd probably need to drop Teleport to pick up Tough and Weave. Here's a rough build I threw together that softcaps Ranged defense, gets AoE defense up to over 27%, and has 40% global recharge plus some extra HP and recovery:

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Level 50 Magic Blaster
    Primary Power Set: Energy Blast
    Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
    Power Pool: Fitness
    Power Pool: Flight
    Power Pool: Fighting
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Power Bolt
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 1: Power Thrust
    • (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
    • (7) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
    • (9) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
    • (9) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
    • (11) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (11) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
    Level 2: Power Blast
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (13) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (13) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (17) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 4: Energy Torrent
    • (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
    • (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
    • (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
    • (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
    • (21) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    Level 6: Power Burst
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (21) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (23) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (23) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (25) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (25) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 8: Build Up
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 10: Swift
    • (A) Flight Speed IO
    Level 12: Aim
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 14: Health
    • (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
    Level 16: Hover
    • (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
    • (34) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
    • (34) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
    • (34) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
    • (36) Flight Speed IO
    Level 18: Fly
    • (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
    • (36) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
    • (36) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
    Level 20: Stamina
    • (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
    • (37) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
    • (37) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
    • (37) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (39) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy
    • (39) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
    Level 22: Boxing
    • (A) Empty
    Level 24: Tough
    • (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
    Level 26: Weave
    • (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
    • (27) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
    • (27) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
    • (29) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
    • (29) Red Fortune - Defense
    • (31) Red Fortune - Endurance
    Level 28: Explosive Blast
    • (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
    • (31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
    • (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
    • (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
    • (33) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    Level 30: Energy Punch
    • (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
    • (31) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
    • (42) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
    • (42) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
    • (42) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (43) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
    Level 32: Bone Smasher
    • (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
    • (43) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
    • (43) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
    • (46) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
    • (46) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (50) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
    Level 35: Boost Range
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (50) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 38: Nova
    • (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
    • (39) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
    • (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
    • (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    Level 41: Personal Force Field
    • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
    Level 44: Temp Invulnerability
    • (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
    • (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge
    • (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
    • (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance
    • (46) Reactive Armor - Endurance
    Level 47: Force of Nature
    • (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
    • (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge
    • (48) Reactive Armor - Endurance/Recharge
    • (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance
    • (50) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 49: Combat Jumping
    • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Sprint
    • (A) Empty
    Level 2: Rest
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Defiance


    I'm sure people with more experience making high end builds could do better though. As you can see, softcapping Ranged defense requires a lot of sacrifices (no Aid Self, Teleport, snipe, or Power Push) but it does make you very hard to kill. It's also a very expensive build, though not nearly as bad as one with purple sets (which provide tons of recharge, but no defense so actually would hurt this build).

    Of course if you really meant you were willing to spend billions of dollars rather than billions of influence, might I suggest buying NcSoft and making them give you the dev-only insta-kill and immortality powers?

    (Sorry, couldn't resist...)
  6. Only Trick Arrow, but that requires being a Defender instead of a Blaster. I like using Energy with Archery and going the pure ranged perma-Boost Range route. That way you only get redraw when you hit Boost Range or Build Up, or when you swat something away with Power Thrust.
  7. Having the entire Efficacy Adaptor set in Stamina does seem to be a waste of slots just to get a 5% recharge bonus. Three generic end mod IOs will give you about the same recovery, and a Performance Shifter End Mod, Performance Shifter Chance for +End, and two generic End Mod IOs will give you more. I'd also put more accuracy in the Genin, since they're -2 levels to you they'll be fighting things as high as +4 to them when you solo and +5 or +6 on teams. I'd suggest something like four Acc/Dam pet IOs, the +defense aura, and the +resist aura. Also, take Tornado... it's pretty good damage against KB immune enemies like EBs and it can slot the Recharge Intensive Pet defense and resist aura IOs.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven View Post
    Bwuh?

    I specifically took [Provoke] on my MM to get the aggro onto me. Why would I want it on the pets, they take my damage, I don't want them to get their own too. Of course, I do solo with him a lot, so that might have something to do with it.

    And yes, the attacks do use a lot more endurance than a standard attack on, say, a Blaster... but they have their uses. I usually take one of them (but never all three).
    There are a couple of ways to go with Bots / Traps. You can softcap your own ranged defense (or close to it) and use Bodyguard and Provoke, which lets you keep the aggro on you and keeps the bots safe. You can also softcap all the bots except the Protectors and just let them take the heat while you sit back untouched... you lose more bots but it's a lot cheaper to softcap them than you.

    As for the attacks, they really are pretty pathetic damage once you get into the 20s. Taking one or two to speed up the lower levels and then respeccing out of them works well if you lack veteran reward attacks though, and Photon Grenade slotted for stun can be useful. It does lousy damage but at least it's AoE and can disable a couple of minions for a few seconds...
  9. I'd strongly suggest a respec before IO-ing out your build. Redistributing a few slots can make you a lot more effective. If you don't have a freespec or veteran respec you can always run a respec trial...

    You might try something like this:

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Level 50 Magic Blaster
    Primary Power Set: Energy Blast
    Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
    Power Pool: Fitness
    Power Pool: Flight
    Power Pool: Medicine
    Power Pool: Teleportation
    Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Power Bolt
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (19) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (40) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 1: Power Thrust
    • (A) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Knockback
    • (3) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback
    • (7) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback
    • (15) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
    • (21) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Endurance/Knockback
    • (43) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback
    Level 2: Power Blast
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (5) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (9) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (17) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (21) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (43) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 4: Energy Torrent
    • (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (5) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range
    • (9) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
    • (17) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
    • (23) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
    • (46) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
    Level 6: Power Burst
    • (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (11) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
    • (11) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
    • (25) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (25) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (43) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 8: Build Up
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (50) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 10: Sniper Blast
    • (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage
    • (13) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance
    • (13) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range
    • (19) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge
    • (23) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (48) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    Level 12: Swift
    • (A) Flight Speed IO
    Level 14: Aim
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (50) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 16: Health
    • (A) Healing IO
    Level 18: Hover
    • (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
    • (27) Flight Speed IO
    • (27) Flight Speed IO
    • (29) Flight Speed IO
    Level 20: Stamina
    • (A) Endurance Modification IO
    • (31) Endurance Modification IO
    • (31) Endurance Modification IO
    Level 22: Fly
    • (A) Soaring - FlySpeed
    • (31) Soaring - Endurance
    • (33) Soaring - Endurance/FlySpeed
    Level 24: Aid Other
    • (A) Healing IO
    Level 26: Explosive Blast
    • (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (33) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range
    • (33) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
    • (34) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
    • (34) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
    • (46) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
    Level 28: Aid Self
    • (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
    • (29) Doctored Wounds - Heal
    • (34) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
    • (36) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
    • (36) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
    • (36) Interrupt Reduction IO
    Level 30: Recall Friend
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 32: Nova
    • (A) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    • (37) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (37) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
    • (37) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance
    • (48) Multi Strike - Damage/Recharge
    Level 35: Boost Range
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (39) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 38: Power Push
    • (A) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Knockback
    • (39) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback
    • (39) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback
    • (40) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
    • (40) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Endurance/Knockback
    • (46) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback
    Level 41: Char
    • (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
    • (42) Essence of Curare - Endurance/Hold
    • (42) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
    • (42) Paralytic - Endurance/Hold
    • (48) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 44: Fire Shield
    • (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
    • (45) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
    • (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
    • (45) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
    Level 47: Teleport
    • (A) Jaunt - Endurance/Range
    • (50) Jaunt - Endurance
    Level 49: Rise of the Phoenix
    • (A) Healing IO
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Sprint
    • (A) Empty
    Level 2: Rest
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Defiance


    It doesn't use anything expensive except the Steadfast 3% defense IO in Fire Shield and you can always skip that for now (replace it with a resist SO and get it later when you can afford it). I removed Conserve Power because you just don't need it with the low number of toggles and good endurance slotting in the attacks. I also removed Bone Smasher and Stun because as a hover blaster you don't really want things getting that close to you, and you have Power Push and Power Thrust to swat them away if they do.

    You could make this build considerably better by switching to Positron's Blast for the AoEs but that's a much more expensive set. The good news is that Kinetic Crash is a cheap way to get recharge bonuses and knockback resist, and you have two knockback powers you'll actually be using so it was a cheaper alternative to a -KB IO.

    I'm sure there are far better builds, but this one is quite cheap, good for hover blasting, and even has some modest ranged defense to help you stay alive. I also added Aid Self because that makes a huge difference on a Blaster. Feel free to drop it and Aid Other if you want those melee attacks back, but if you go pure ranged you won't need them.
  10. StrykerX

    Best solo AT COV

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
    Dominators. Which are also the best group AT.

    The above, of course, is 100% opinion. But they're the best (read: most overall fun) to me. Masterminds are quite good, I'll agree, but you will *absolutely hate* Scrapyarders when you're at probably your weakest point (late teens-early 20s, before your second tier2 or your tier3, and before SOs) ... which is, of course, when you get to fight them.
    You can avoid Scrapyarders in the teens by staying in Cap until 20 or 21. They are a royal pain to most Masterminds, but the one I'm leveling now has no problem with them at all. He's Bots/Storm... I find pinning those stupid Demolitionists and Foremen in a corner Freezing Rain patch with Hurricane while the bots laser them down works quite well. It also feels really, really good to finally be able to fight those guys without endless re-summoning. This will probably be my first Mastermind who doesn't go back to Sharkhead at high levels and spend some time in Scrapyarder territory with the pets on aggressive mowing down everything in sight for revenge.

    (Nah, who am I kidding... I'll still do that. )

    I'd highly recommend Masterminds, especially Bots or Thugs. Bots/Traps is pretty much the ultimate soloing machine at high levels, even with a low-cost build, but really any combination of Bots or Thugs and Traps, Dark, Pain, or Storm will steamroll things. So will many other MMs, but those are the ones I consider the best.
  11. You might try a Fire/Regen or Fire/WP Scrapper and go live in DA for a few months. Or a Fire/whatever Blaster with enough IOs or a good tank. Farming at 15 would indeed be tough, you wouldn't have many slots and your set selection would be very limited. If I were to try it I'd use something like this:

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Level 15 Magic Blaster
    Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
    Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
    Power Pool: Medicine

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Fire Blast -- Volly-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Volly-Acc/Dmg(3), Volly-Dmg/Rchg(3)
    Level 1: Subdual -- Volly-Acc/Dmg(A)
    Level 2: Flares -- Volly-Acc/Dmg(A)
    Level 4: Fire Ball -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg(A), AirB'st-Dmg/EndRdx(5), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(5), Dmg-I(7), Acc-I(7)
    Level 6: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A)
    Level 8: Fire Breath -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg(A), AirB'st-Dmg/EndRdx(9), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(9), Dmg-I(13), Acc-I(15)
    Level 10: Psychic Scream -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg(A), AirB'st-Dmg/EndRdx(11), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(11), Dmg-I(13), Acc-I(15)
    Level 12: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 14: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A)
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Defiance

    I'm not sure the increased value of the few useful sub-20 recipes would be worth the lower kill speed and the fact that 99% of all recipes in that range are vendor trash. Even the handful of semi-useful non-proc IOs in that range sell so slowly that they're not worth bothering with... so you're pretty much going to be farming for stealth IOs, Kismets and procs. I'd almost think farming merits on a good level 50 and buying specific recipes would be faster...
  12. One other thing to keep in mind is that ED kicks in around 70% enhancement but doesn't really get bad until 100%. That means that three SOs still provide most of their benefit (you'll be around 95% instead of 100%).

    Though if you are using Granite you definitely should not be using SOs. Grab every IO set you can afford with recharge or movement speed bonuses and you'll see a huge difference, and if you can't afford those (they're admittedly a bit pricey) you can frankenslot your powers with IOs from cheap sets and get around 90% recharge while still having good accuracy and damage. For things like melee attacks you can find recipes from sets with less useful bonuses dirt cheap... just check to make sure they don't require rare salvage you can't afford. If you shop carefully you can get 8-9 SOs worth of enhancement (that never loses effectiveness) in an attack for less inf than slotting new SOs at 35-50. I always frankenslot in the low 30s or high 20s... it's cheaper than SOs in the long run and you never have to worry about your enhancements turning red on you.
  13. One other quick word about the various Blaster sets... each has its advantages and drawbacks but they can all be fun. However, some do play a lot differently than others so don't give up on Blasters as a whole if you don't like the first one or two you make. My own opinions of the various sets:

    Archery: Fast attacks, good area affect damage, but only average DPS and a heavily resisted damage type. Not much control or mitigation (you do get one stun and an AoE with a chance for knockback), but overall a good set for AoE capability with decent single target damage.

    Assault Rifle: I've not played this one much, but it has some nice AoEs and a moderate amount of knockback, plus a stun. It's kind of like Archery, but with more cones and more fire.

    Electrical Blast: I've never liked this set. The damage is rather low (for a Blaster) and it doesn't have a lot of AoEs. It does have a ranged nuke and it can provide decent mitigation through endurance drain (especially when paired with Electricity Manipulation) but it's kind of a "love it or hate it" set.

    Energy Blast: Pretty much middle of the road in both single target and AoE damage, with relatively slow attacks that all have at least a chance of knockback. If you want to send stuff flying this is your best choice... it doesn't excel at anything but it also doesn't really suck at anything, so it's not a bad place to start.

    Fire Blast: This set is pure damage. No mitigation, no secondary effects, just the highest burst damage, highest sustained DPS, highest AoE damage... and highest faceplant rate. If you want to blow stuff up good and don't mind a steady diet of pavement go for it. Just remember that when you hit this hard it's not a question of if you draw too much aggro and die, but rather how often. I'd suggest pairing it with a high mitigation secondary like Ice if you want to solo since Fire really shines against large groups and you can't really solo those without good mitigation (or an expensive IO build).

    Ice Blast: Pretty much the opposite of Fire. Minimal AoE capability but massive amounts of control and good single target damage. This is the safest solo choice but also the least beneficial on large teams since you don't have the AoE damage other Blasters have. On the other hand, you can easily kill bosses that other Blasters struggle with thanks to having two ranged holds to stack on them.

    Psychic Blast: If you're considering this set and play with the sound on, make one and fire off your starter attack a few times. Now imagine that noise and others similar to it pretty much nonstop. If that's fine with you (or you don't play with sound on) go for it, but be aware that some people really hate Psy's sound effects. As for the powers themselves, Psy is a single target heavy set with lots of -recharge debuffs, so you slow down enemy attacks much like Ice does. Psionic damage is not resisted often, but things that do resist it tend to resist it heavily so stuff like robots will be a pain.

    Radiation Blast: I've not tried this one yet (it's the newest Blaster primary), but it seems to be similar to Energy Blast only with -defense instead of knockback. That means you won't have any real mitigation but the more you hit things the easier it will be to keep hitting them. The attacks also look very cool. There's a nice IO (Achilles' Heel proc) for -defense powers that has a chance to apply a -resist effect that goes great in this set, but you probably won't be able to afford them if you're just starting out.

    Sonic Attack: Remember what I said about the sound effects on Psy? It goes double for this set. As long as you like the sounds or don't have them on, you get a great single target focused set that has stacking -resist debuffs. That means the more you shoot something, the more damage your attacks do to it... since with good slotting you'll be at the 95% cap on to hit chance most of the time I find this a lot more useful than Rad's defense debuffs (except in the early levels but those go by fast). You also get a huge cone Sleep attack that can incapacitate a whole spawn and let you fight them one at a time, so it's a good solo set.



    Electricity Manipulation: This secondary has great melee damage and decent AoE capability, plus endurance drain. Pair it with Electric Blast and you can actually keep enemies drained of endurance, which limits ther ability to attack you. Pair it with a higher damage primary and you can use the melee to really boost total DPS. It doesn't offer much mitigation though unless you go the endurance drain route.

    Energy Manipulation: This is a fun secondary. You get good melee attacks that can stun, plus several handy self buffs. It's a great choice for a pure ranged Blaster since you get Build Up early, can use Boost Range later on to attack from even farther away, and your required starter attack knocks the target flying so you can use it to swat away anything that gets too close. It's also a good "blapper" (melee Blaster) set since the melee attacks are quite good and the fact that they stun helps you stay alive.

    Fire Manipulation: Yep, you guessed it... damage, damage, and more damage. Heavy single target damage, multiple AoEs, and an endurance boost power... no mitigation whatsoever but no other secondary has more AoE power. Nothing in the game does as much AoE damage as a Fire/Fire Blaster (or as much single target for that matter). Also, nothing in the game faceplants as often.

    Devices: This set is a real oddball. In the interests of full disclosure, I really don't like it much at all. You get a bunch of assorted buffs and oddball powers, but little in the way of direct attacks. If you're patient you can kill almost anything by spending 2-3 minutes piling up Trip Mines and then leading the enemy to them, but I'm not that patient. If you like the idea of using stealth, planting bombs, and never missing (you get a nice to hit buff power) at the cost of spending significantly more time per mission then by all means go for it.

    Ice Manipulation: Not a lot of damage, but plenty of control. /Ice really boosts your survivability and helps you survive to use high damage sets like Fire. Also, Ice/Ice Blasters have more control than most Controllers... you'll be at the bottom of the chart for damage output (which for a Blaster means you still outdamage most other ATs ) but you'll be packing an insane amount of holds and slows that will make you extremely hard to kill.

    Mental Manipulation: Lots of AoE damage (actually more AoE powers than /Fire, but they're not as strong as /Fire's), some single target damage, a moderate amount of mitigation, and a truly powerful recovery/regeneration boost. High recharge IO builds can get truly nasty by keeping Drain Psyche up most of the time, but for lower cost builds it'll be a part time boost. It's still a great power though, and Mental is overall probably the best secondary if you don't have a specific reason to pick one of the others.
  14. Blasters take some practice, in particular learning which enemies to prioritize (such as ones that can hold or stun you) and how to avoid pulling too much aggro on teams. They're also hugely fun to play. Just remember a few handy tips:

    - You will faceplant. A Blaster that never dies is a Blaster that's spending all his time fighting greens and blues. It takes time to learn the ropes as a Blaster, and even the most experienced still eat pavement from time to time. It's the price you pay for having such high damage... even if you do everything right you'll occasionally hit a string of bad luck and die. At least you will if you're fighting anything challenging.

    - Missed attacks don't do any damage. Be sure to slot enough accuracy before worrying about anything else. Your base chance to hit starts very high (around 90%) but drops a little each level until it's only 75% at level 20+. Your chance to hit also drops against higher level targets. That means your first few levels you'll usually hit but as you get into the teens you'll want to slot more accuracy... I go with two dual origin accuracy enhancements per attack in the teens and then one or two single origin accuracies at 22. Before level 12 just slot whatever enhancements you happen to get as drops... training origin enhancements are too weak to really bother with buying them. The important thing is that if you can't hit your target consistently you're probably going to lose, because Blasters can't take a lot of hits so they need to end a fight quickly.

    - Once you are hitting consistently, hit hard. Slot plenty of damage enhancements but only after slotting accuracy. In general, more than three single origin or six dual origin enhancements of the same type is the point where you no longer get any significant boost from adding more. Since you can't have more than six enhancements in a power that means you really only have to worry about the limits when you get to SOs (single origin enhancements). The general rule of thumb is never put more than three of any single type of SO in the same power. I find 1 accuracy, 1 endurance, 1 recharge, and 3 damage a good mix for most attacks once I get SOs, and 2 accuracy and the rest damage good with DOs.

    - Use the market. It's a good idea to get a basic feel for what things cost at Wentworth's and learn about invention origin enhancements (the intro mission at the university and paragonwiki.com are good starting points). But even if you don't want to fool with that, sell any salvage you get at Wentworths and also sell any recipes that have bids out. If you don't know what it's worth, drag it into your market tray and click the "more" button to see the last 5 bids. Prices do vary wildly so you can't always trust those numbers to be typical (in fact they rarely are), but the important thing is that you can see how many bids are out for that item. My advice for a beginner: until you learn a bit about the market, sell any salvage and any recipe with at least one open bid for 1 influence and sell anything with no open bids to a vendor instead of on the market. You'll get the highest standing bid (provided it's at least as high as your sell price) regardless of what sell price you put in, so selling at 1 inf means you'll get an instant sale. Note that you'll lose out on a lot of influence doing it that way, but you'll still make a ton more than you would selling to vendors so it's a good start until you learn what you're doing. You should have no problem affording dual origin or single origin enhancements just by selling your salvage for 1 inf each... and once you actually learn a bit about the market and IOs you'll be able to make even more.

    (Also, when you do vendor an enhancement, sell it to a vendor that sells that type. They pay more. For instance, a science / tech dual origin enhancement sells for more in a Science or Tech shop than a Natural, Mutant, or Magic shop. Some people don't bother any more since the influence values are so small compared to what you get on the market but I personally hate losing money.)

    - This game has a great community, so don't hesitate to ask questions in game or on the forums.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    Well wait a second...

    I think it could work, it'd just require new claws and shields. If you choose this power combination, maybe it'd lock the normal "claws" and "shields" options in the costume section and replace it with "gauntlets" or something. Basically, Gauntlets would be shields with claws sticking out on each arm OR clawed gloves that had shields on the back of the hands. You probably couldn't customize the individual claws/shield parts but the weapon as a whole. Incidentally, I don't think that'd work with Spines or Dual Blades.
    The problem with that is that you'd have to limit both weapon and shield selections depending on both the primary and the secondary, so that the "gauntlet" pieces appeared only when both Claws and Shield were chosen. That would probably require either an engine update or creating a new version of Claws and Shield Defense that only work with each other and have different weapons. Either would probably be too much work right now...
  16. It really depends on your budget. A Fire/Mental Blaster has massive damage (AoE and single target both) but to be able to hit large groups and live without inspirations requires an expensive build. A Spines/WP Scrapper, on the other hand, does less damage (but still quite a bit) while being a lot harder to kill. Spines/Invulnerability is even better if you can afford a high end IO build. And if you have some serious inf to spend, Elec/Shield is just plain nasty with massive recharge and softcapped defense. And of course there's always Fire/Kin Controllers... you don't have the massive alpha strike of a Blaster but you can lock down the whole spawn and then burn them down safely in a few shots.

    Redside, Bots/Traps is just insane with even a moderate IO build. It's not the highest damage AT, but it has tons of AoEs and just doesn't die... the bots are softcapped, the Mastermind is softcapped, and the light show when five full auto laser bursts and a missile swarm all go off never gets old. For the rich who just want to smash huge groups, get a SS/Shield Brute, softcap him, and pile on as much recharge as you can get... Double Rage + Against All Odds + high recharge Foot Stomp is about as good as it gets. Bots/Traps is a heck of a lot cheaper though, and Brutes don't get laser guns and missile barrages.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by eryq2 View Post
    lol at Sardan. Everything does more everything with a /kin.
    True, but Brutes gain more from having a /Kin around than Doms or other ATs do. The Brute damage cap is insanely high, so they're the only AT that can fully benefit from double stacked Fulcrum Shift.
  18. I normally use mid-range IOs on my builds since I have so many alts I never play my 50s enough to get purples, but I'm considering going all out for once. My first love is Blasters, so I was thinking about going for an ultra-high recharge Fire / Mental for maximum single target and AoE damage plus almost perma-Drain Psyche for survival. Since I've never actually made a high end build I'd really like some advice... my initial idea was something like this:

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Level 50 Mutation Blaster
    Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
    Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Fitness
    Power Pool: Medicine
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Flares
    • (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
    • (3) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (3) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
    • (5) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
    • (5) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
    • (7) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)
    Level 1: Subdual
    • (A) Accuracy IO
    Level 2: Fire Blast
    • (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
    • (7) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
    • (9) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
    • (9) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
    • (11) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (11) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    Level 4: Fire Ball
    • (A) Ragnarok - Damage
    • (13) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
    • (13) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (15) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (15) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance
    • (17) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown
    Level 6: Hasten
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (17) Recharge Reduction IO
    • (19) Recharge Reduction IO
    Level 8: Fire Breath
    • (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
    • (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
    • (21) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
    • (21) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
    • (23) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
    Level 10: Hurdle
    • (A) Jumping IO
    Level 12: Aim
    • (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
    • (23) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
    Level 14: Health
    • (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
    • (25) Miracle - +Recovery
    Level 16: Concentration
    • (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
    • (39) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
    Level 18: Blaze
    • (A) Apocalypse - Damage
    • (25) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
    • (27) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (27) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (29) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
    • (29) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
    Level 20: Stamina
    • (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
    • (31) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
    • (31) Endurance Modification IO
    • (31) Endurance Modification IO
    Level 22: Drain Psyche
    • (A) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
    • (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
    • (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
    • (33) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
    • (46) Doctored Wounds - Heal
    • (46) Accuracy IO
    Level 24: Super Speed
    • (A) Run Speed IO
    Level 26: Aid Other
    • (A) Healing IO
    Level 28: World of Confusion
    • (A) Coercive Persuasion - Confused
    • (34) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge
    • (34) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
    • (34) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (36) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance
    • (43) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion
    Level 30: Aid Self
    • (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
    • (36) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
    • (36) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
    • (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
    • (37) Doctored Wounds - Heal
    Level 32: Inferno
    • (A) Obliteration - Damage
    • (37) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
    • (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (48) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
    • (50) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
    Level 35: Combat Jumping
    • (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
    Level 38: Psychic Shockwave
    • (A) Armageddon - Damage
    • (39) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge
    • (40) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
    • (40) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (40) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
    • (42) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
    Level 41: Flash Freeze
    • (A) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep
    • (42) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Recharge
    • (42) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge
    • (43) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Recharge
    • (43) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Endurance
    Level 44: Frozen Armor
    • (A) Red Fortune - Endurance
    • (45) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
    • (45) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
    • (45) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
    • (46) Red Fortune - Defense
    Level 47: Hoarfrost
    • (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
    • (48) Doctored Wounds - Heal
    • (48) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
    • (50) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
    • (50) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
    Level 49: Hibernate
    • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Sprint
    • (A) Empty
    Level 2: Rest
    • (A) Empty
    Level 1: Defiance


    Would I be better off dropping some recharge and getting some defense, or will Drain Psyche's regen be enough? Or even switching to LotGs for the recharge? (I originally had a couple in the build but dropped them because of slot limitations and the fact that 15% more recharge did basically nothing for me at that point.) I'm also not sure I'd need the uniques in Health with Drain Psyche on a 3.4 second downtime, but I figure with a build this expensive there's no reason not to get them... they'd help a lot while waiting to collect the purples.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Illumancer View Post
    I ask because my current attack chain is blaze (3.48 recharge and 1 sec cast), fire blast (1.39 sec recharge 1.67 sec cast) and flares (.76 sec recharge, 1s cast) with fireball, a hold, aim, or buildup thrown in there if there's a moment downtime.

    Usually my attack chain goes build up, blaze, fire blast, flares, fire blast, blaze, repeat.
    If you're playing a high-recharge Fire Blaster you won't see any benefit from melee attacks since you have an insane DPS single target ranged chain. Most Blaster primaries can't get anywhere near the burst damage from their ranged attacks that they can from melee, which is useful for putting a boss down fast. Also, Energy's melee attacks have pretty good mitigation due to stuns, which can be handy, and /Fire has good AoEs (useful for high S/L defense builds especially).
  20. I find that the place set IO level really matters is in powers you want to enhance a wide range of things on instead of just pushing a couple really high. Pretty much any "standard" slotting is going to push you into ED territory and the diminishing returns mean a few percent more isn't important. On the other hand, for those few powers where you are trying to get a bunch of things into the 40-60% range it matters. For instance, my Plant Controller's immobilizes do decent damage so I slot them for accuracy, damage, recharge, immobilization, and endurance... ideally I want a couple SO's worth of each. Since I'm not hitting the initial diminishing returns point (I think it's 70%) that 3-4% per IO difference would actually matter.

    But for most powers, the difference between level 30 and level 50 sets is pretty much one unslotted Brawl, so who really cares?
  21. Any Blaster can contribute well to a team... they do tons of damage, which is always welcome. AoE damage is generally most useful but high single target damage can still be a big help. If you also want to be able to solo well you'll need some decent single target damage to handle bosses / EBs, plus solo spawns are generally small.

    Some good options:

    Archery / Energy - makes a fantastic pure ranged hover blaster with great AoE damage and a solid single target chain. Get Boost Range permanent ans set it to auto and drop a Rain of Arrows on each spawn then plink away from 100+ feet.

    Fire / Mental - massive AoE damage, great single target damage, and a huge survival boost from Drain Psyche. With some defense and enough global recharge you'll be giving the team a huge assist by going off and soloing entire 8-man spawns pretty much as fast as the rest of the team kills one. (Seriously, a permahasten Fire/Mental is pretty much death incarnate. It's a hellaciously expensive build though.)

    Fire / Ice - What's better than high AoE damage? High AoE damage plus control.

    Sonic / Mental - Cones, cones and more cones... you'll have a nonstop AoE attack chain plus stacking -resist debuffs. Not to mention Drain Psyche.

    Ice / Energy - The ultimate single target wrecking machine. Massive single target damage plus multiple holds and stuns means you're going to kill bosses faster than most Scrappers can. You don't have a lot of AoEs so you'll add less to an 8-man team, but solo and in small groups you'll really shine. Plus having Blaster damage plus more single target hard controls than any Controller is amusing... (As many as 3 holds, 2 guaranteed mag 3 stuns, and one 60% chance of a mag 3 stun.)
  22. Most Blasters get a lot harder in the 30s and 40s. Energy / Energy is pretty much average in all respects... you can't get the extreme burst damage of Fire or the heavy control of Ice to help overcome the increased amount of mez you run into at higher levels. That means you're going to have more problems soloing (like most Blasters)... though you can get a decent amount of mitigation through knockback and stuns. The 30s tend to be the hardest part, since once you hit the 40s you can start picking up more mitigation through epic pool powers.
  23. It depends a lot on your power sets. In general, you need a certain amount of recharge to hit the highest DPS attack chain you can reasonably achieve... after that any more recharge has very limited benefits. For Radiation Blast you really don't gain a lot of DPS by going from Neutrino -> X-Ray -> Neutrino -> Cosmic to X-Ray -> Cosmic, so you really only need about 40-50% global recharge to get a good solid chain. If you're looking for AoE damage and you want to chain Irradiate -> Electron Haze -> Neutron Bomb... well, you can't without a /Kin or two thanks to Irradiate's stupidly long recharge.

    I'd suggest getting around 45% recharge and then piling on as much defense as you can. Softcapping Ranged is good, and Ranged + AoE is better, but getting them to around 33% or so will give you a major survivability boost and one Luck will put you at the cap. 45% recharge and 30-35% defense should be achievable without breaking the bank, especially if you're able to afford LotGs.
  24. StrykerX

    Damage output

    If you want to do good damage and be softcapped you're looking for a /SR or /Shield Scrapper or Brute. As far as which primary... that depends on what sort of damage you want to do. If you want huge damage against single hard targets plus some AoE capabilities it's hard to beat Fire/Shield. On the other hand, if you want massive AoE damage at the cost of less single target effectiveness it's hard to beat Spines... either Spines / SR (if you like the softcapped defense route) or Spines / WP (if you prefer high regen and moderate defense). Redside, pretty much nothing beats a SS / Shield Brute with high global recharge.

    Of course if you want absolute maximum damage you're going to have to give up some defense and play a Blaster. Fire Blasters outdamage pretty much any other AT in the game, whether single target or AoE. Fire / Energy is an Av / EB wrecking machine (assuming enough support to keep you alive), Fire / Electric is an AoE monster and single target monster all in one, and Fire / Mental with high global recharge is pretty much death incarnate, combining insane AoE damage, great single target damage, and massive regen and recovery. It's an expensive build solo but with a speed boost or two you can get by with less global recharge and still hit the really high DPS attack chains and keep Drain Psyche up most of the time.
  25. StrykerX

    Weak to fire.

    Fire Blasters and Tankers can pretty much live in Dark Astoria during the 20s. The zombies are weak to fire damage and don't have much in the way of special abilities (especially if you have a -KB IO or Acrobatics), and the shamans aren't really that bad if you make sure to burn them down first. I'd avoid bosses on a Blaster though.