Boltmeister

Rolled Boltmeister in EU beta (november 2004 I think). En/En blaster. Power Bolt. Still in my build

I've noticed lately that my bots are "all over the place" sometimes, even when I try to set them to passive stance. It often requires multiple "passive" commands before they start to react. And also, in some tunnel-maps they sometimes get lost and start wandering off like drunken buzzards, aggroing lots of mobs. Upon issuing any command they start to zip off in different directions! I swear - it's like hide and seek sometimes with my bots. I have TP friend and must then gather my forces again in that fashion. Btw, noticed this last month or so, am currently lvl 33...

and it's also the potential build for getting your name engraved on a gold-plaque in all the hospitals around Paragon City

spot on! A blapper is a blaster acting like a scrapper, i.e. melee for the most part instead of ranged attacks

Boltmeister (on list): en/en/elec

Take it. Slot it. Use it. Love it. But not like it was Hobo's mum. Please.

I am "blappish" with my current build (en/en/elec btw) - and with total focus and bone smash I deal quite alot of damage, especially when BU+aim. Charged armour from elec-epic gives me over 60% more HP since I've slotted max for def-res (effectively boosting my HP). Have 1 hold aswell from the elec-epic, and bosses +1 takes 2 zapz to hold, lieuts and minions get held on 1 zap. So -> zap boss, disorient lieut with TF+bonesmash (if not insta-killed), zap boss again (him held now), blast+bolt minions, deal with boss (hold'im and unleash carnage). Done.

Have only done a wee bit PvP, but if not held/mezzed I deal enough damage to be quite a threat considering I am squishy.

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Why take stealth? A concept thing maybe? With Superspeed you don't really need it in PVE and in PVP it's not that useful. If your gonna take it, better slot it with end reduc instead, because the defense is basically nothing.

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Well, I used stealth + SS as invis. And end reduc was one-slotted in stealth. But that was I4 and I5. I respecced into flight and didn't go concealment for I6, so dunno now about the "stealth + SS = invis"-part anymore....

a quick look and a quick reply - drop 1 acc from TF and insert 1 disorient in there. If u wanna get fast cycle, drop 1 acc from powers where u got 2 acc and insert 1 additional recharger. U wanna do aim+BU+PB all the time, and u gotta have nimble fingers to pull this off - infact, u gonna be pushing buttons more and faster than a scrapper on meths

Try to wiggle in snipe and power boost earlier. After you get total focus you're going to have 2, almost 3 alpha strikes (bone smasher, total focus and snipe) at your disposal. Not too many stand after this assault. Snipe, run up, TF (disorient) then bone smash (disorient + toggle-dropper). Blast and snipe, then Bonesmash and/or TF again.

I went elec for my epic (I am en/en also), and charged armour and the hold is good. Very good. Consider this for your epic, I know the PFF is a panic-button solution but you wanna be able to dish out enough damage and still have some control/defence while you're at it

hot dang, it's gonna be a huge one blapper, troller, blaster - and then u got diversity within each category, and then again with ED in mind. And oh - build-advice 1-24, 25-34 and 34+ with the final 50 build. Mate, u got some work ahead of you

But I applaud the effort

replying to OP:
defiance helps first 15 lvls, but then again - no debt until lvl 10 makes it only viable for the latter 5. Then you start to get to baddies that with 2-4 minions bearing down on you -> dead. Add a troll boss and that one alone wipes the floor with ya in 2 hits.

After 15 it gets just silly. Give us back our damage potential, loose defiance and we're once again the king of damagedealers. As of now (me en/en/elec) scrappers, tankers and even controllers outdamage me

Yeah, I had more fun 40+ than 1-40. At times it was awesome Went on one of the first invincible 8-man missions after I5 was launched - a bit "ooohhh, when is the gameengine gonna come and slap us in the face for being this cheeky?!" in the beginning. Then... well, I'll just say it was mayhem and carnage

Please don't try to get cheeky, it only manages to [censored] me off. By the time I've managed to bubble the entire team or even my own minions, the mish is over. That is why single target bubbles loose the appeal after a few levels, and just sit quietly in the corner - ready to spring into action when they're needed good and proper. Why waste end if you don't have to? And yeah, I am going for a non-health and non-stamina build too. I bet that ticks you off aswell.

So don't try telling me that the */ff powerset doesnt suit me. You can go around bubbling minons/prots/hostages/whatever whenever, but please don't tell me in any way that I don't have a clue about being an */ff'er and also tell me to go play another AT. Assault+tactics+dispersion bubble+prot-bubbles, combined with proper slotting in regards to ED makes my team of tincans whoosh through baddies like a hot knife through butter. And oh - I also got the medicine pool. No self-heal, only topping up on minions health if the prots are too busy kicking bee-hinds. And guess what - it works. Like a charm. Every mission. Regardless of opposition (so far, I know it gets hairier in the mid-30s - but then I have Upgrade and will kick some more bee-hind).

Since lvl 22 I havent used the single-bubbles much. Just occasionally, and then only just before I _know_ I am going to aggro an entire room Dispersion bubble is up all the time, and the bubbles my prots are dishing out seems to provide the extra +res my army of walking tincans need. So I defo think I am playing the right powerset

This is a soloist's mindset tho. When in teams I throw out bubbles when neded to melee fighters and the occasional one to ranged fighters. But heavily used? Nope.

And mind you - I've planted twice in 28 lvls, once due to seriously miscalculating aggro-range of some demolisionists(frigging AoEs) and the second due to horrendous graphical-lag and 4 minutes later (with about 1 frame pr minute) I was sucking grit.

edit: sorry, 3 times. Got a few +4 (6 I think, with 2 bosses in there) after me when I was picking up heist-mish from broker in Nerva, and couldn't get away fast enough (well, was 400+ yards away when final damage hit me...)

it looks like I must juggle in PFF and detention field in a respec, and loose the single target bubbles. Thanks all for a good thread

Yeah, can't wait for my bots/ff to reach SL32 myself. Still, I think I kinda rock in PvE now at SL27.8 - and am drooling with anticipation thinking "what, it get's better?!"

Yeah, I tried respeccing for I6 with ED in mind - and well, me don't like being a blaster now. I have 1 respec left and am thinking about going back to my I5-build with just a cpl minor tweaks.

A must-have. assault 1-slotted with endrdx and tactics 4-slotted with 3 tohit-buff and 1 endrdx -> makes the drones hit nearly all the time with only 2 accu in them. My assuault is currently without accu and I've seen it miss maybe a cpl times so far And yes - me like the 4th +dam in drones albeit it be only +5% due to ED.

i havent bothered using single-bubbles for my bots for the last 7 lvls, unless I know I'm going up against a particular nasty foe. Team-members enjoy my bubbles whenever ready, but dispersion bubble is indispensable. I haven't gotten PFF, so I can't comment on that one - but since I'm rather active with my Force Bolt I can't use it anyhow. If baddies/goodies constant on back -> no return-fire

I have died 2 times so far, am currently at lvl 27.3 so */FF is very viable in PvE atleast. Dunno about PvP, but what I've done PvP-wise in CoH reminds me that a bubbler was really annoying to meet

No pets (afaik) have regen-ability other than normal health-regen. So using heal-enhancers in pet-power will increase the healing ability inherent for that pet (i.e. the return of hp regained when my protector bots uses heal to.. well, heal drones and assault bot (and each other, but not on themselves).

substitute "should" from Max' post with "will only", and it'll be 100% accurate

Good luck to ya, EK - I'll always remember that last cpl missions during one of our trialists "trial"-period where your absolute disrespect for number of baddies facing you really shone through Bleedin' good fun it was.

I hope you come back ingame sometime in the future, but methinks you'll stay active in our forums....

I have to disagree here, well at least with my build which is robots-based. 1 AoE from some boss conning red (maybe orange too?) will almost instawipe my minions (leaving maybe my assault bot) and if my minions are gone you can bet your last cent that I'm not far behind in "ooohhhhh, nice gravel"-mode. A team of MMs on the other hand - yeah, that'll work, cause the dam-output from so many different targets will wipe a group of mbs before they get the chance to retaliate. But so will other ATs with AoE-capability.... Point is - any good/skilled player will look like a xp-herding-machine almost regardless of AT (and no, I am _not_ including pure healers/single targetters only in this category).

being a robots/ff'er I've skipped the first one, and gotten the last 2 (assault and tactics). Tactics helps alot for my drones (currently 3 tohit) and any buff for +DAM is welcome in my book (assault 1-slotted with endred). Unless u a bubbler I can see the point of getting manuevers though.

Good post, LN. Just gotten my assault bot (yay) and upped my mish-difficulty a cpl notches. Whoa - cue bosses with AoEs that take out 80% of drones health and 50% of prots in one hit. The only reason they didn't insta-wipe was because I'm an FFer with medicine and was spamming single target heals like mad along with all the buffs I've got. So easy to play? Heck no. Looks easy when you know what you're doing? Heck yes. Deserves a nerf because of skilled players knowing how the AT works? Heck no.

I've seen a few (not many) MMs with absolutely no control and they die. A lot.