Bunny_Man

Another tip:

DO NOT FOLLOW THE STALKER.

That's the CoV version. Longer version is "IF YOU DON'T HAVE STEALTH, DO NOT TAG ALONG WITH SOMEONE WHO DOES." The only exceptions to the second are storm or dark defenders, and even in those cases, their AoE stealth can suddenly disappear (usually because they move).

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Because disorient durations can be very valuable when fight +3s (whom suffer only 65% of the normal duration). A diso can be the difference between having a notable gap between pulses and being disoriented, or keeping ten Crey minions layed out.


[/ QUOTE ]
Good point. But... ever since ED and I5 I have not been on very many PUGs that are able to handle large spawns of +3s. It seems much more efficient to roll over +1s. But still it is better to have the option for being more effective versus higher levels.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, for the +3's, you don't want to forget slotting with +ACC on top of the +disorient duration.

In my own experience, if it's +3s, I'm either in Nova or Dwarf form most of the time. Why? Nova's innate accuracy boost is -very- noticeable at this difficulty, and the Dwarf's damage resistance is handy for the converse reason (getting hit a lot). Human form is of course doable, but there are two warshade weaknesses to overcome in this style. 1) enemies drop at a much slower rate than for +0-+2 enemies, so healing and pets can be hard to obtain, and 2) mezzing requires accuracy and duration to be useful, and I don't think it's possible to slot for enough recharge/acc/disorient to reliably perma-stun anything (without hami-o's, of course).

"Hi!

A minor update w/r to Inky Aspect. It only stuns minions, which seems somewhat useless for higher levels, ...

but ...

it stacks with Gravitic Emanation to mez bosses.

I was soloing even-con pairs of Fake Nemesis and Warhulks without leaving human form.

They'd occasionally un-stun and so on, but nothing that an insp or two didn't fix right up.

BTW, I learned this from reading up on the journals of human-only warshades. So you see, Path? They aren't <bleeped!>."

<< I'm not going to respond, on account of the fact that doing so might result in my being forced to watch far too many "chick flicks." >>

"That's why we love you, Path!"

W/r to your comments about Nova and Power Push:

My last free respec (to comply with ED) added Power Push and didn't remove Nova, and freed-up slots helped Nova recharge faster. I'm still of mixed opinion about Power Push, but that's partly because Knockback is very nerfed at the moment, but I -do- see its potential without the nerf. Nova, recharging prompty, and in a team, seems to be available for most groups of enemies: this is partly because most teams tend to dawdle after finishing a group.

Another nice note w/r to the sneezing emote for Nova: I hit "AH..." three times before the final "CHOO..." which gives kinetics defenders time to activate fulcrum shift.

I'm thinking my main bias against Nova is that it's most effective in team situations, and it sits unused while I solo. For one thing, the downtime is much more annoying in solo play, cuz there's no one to chat with and no fight to watch finish while I recover, and I'm ready for the next batch of enemies long before Nova is recharged.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My advice to you neophyte blasters is: use defiance on purpose until level 10, at which point debt kicks in. Then never use it again on purpose. If you get hit to within a hit point of death, and then get a blast off, well, gee, that was lucky for you. Maybe you kill the boss that almost killed you. Then a minion trips, falls on his laser rifle, which accidentally goes of and hits you for 3 points of damage. Luck goes both ways, and with Defiance, luck will be -against- you, not -with- you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Couldn't agree with you more. Nice concept, poor execution.

Have you considered the Energy Mastery Ancilliary? PFF, Temp Invul & FoN have come in QUITE handy, especially during those times when it goes to heck in a handbasket and you're suddenly in a tight spot. Properly timed FoN can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory - just be ready to book as FoN wears off if you're not in the clear yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I considered it. I like having a HOLD attack more. Why? Sappers and mezzing LTs. If I can hold the sapper, I have a chance. I can't one-shot him. And the hold is always available, and is -very- nicely buffed to a long duration via Power Boost. I six-slot it. With respect to Fire Shield, I find that after smash/lethal, fire is the most common damage type. It's possible to have missions in which all the damage is fire. The Demons in the Infernal AV mission don't bother me at all (just Infernal, whom I did finally solo in Elite Boss form).

Also, I've 3 alts that have the forcefield set and two invuln tanks, so the Energy Mastery set felt like more of the same. I'm very sure that FoN rocks, and I said there weren't any bad choices.

I've just added a Warshade tri-form guide. It's ED-compliant and focuses more on combat style than on builds, power analysis or slotting techniques.

Also, I think you might be interested to meet Samantha and Path Integral. [guide is written in roleplay style]

The Dancing Warshade - A Guide to Tri-form Combat

<<Greetings.

I am Path Integral, a Kheldian of what you call the "Warshade" variety. It has become my assigned task to inform you, those of you who have also bonded with humans-->>

"Um, Path, I think you need to include humans in your address, too."

<< ...
It has become my assigned task to inform you, those of you, warshade and human, bonded together, to provide valuable information regarding combat tactics and strategy.

In particular, this is addressed to those who choose to develop all three forms, nova, human and dwarf. By adopting such tactics, a bonded warshade gains a superior set of powers to those of warshades who choose two adopt two, or even, um, ONE form. -->>

"Knock it off, Path. There aren't any inherently superior warshade form choices."

<<
...
As you can see, my fellow Kheldians, humans can be rather ... interesting ... at times. My human--
>>

"My name is Samantha, not 'my human'."

<<
...
As I was saying, Samantha is rather outspoken in her views. Nevertheless, while she is correct that a warshade need not be weak with only one or two forms, the three-form style of combat allows for extensive tactical and strategic flexibility that demonstrably does not exist, otherwise. A three-form warshade is almost as powerfully offensive as a blaster, and almost as tough as a tank, and can hold and control enemies nearly as well as a controller. The primary drawback is that one is not all of these at the same time, and the time in which one attempts to switch from one role to another is time enough to be defeated.

Thus, the primary personal skill a three-form warshade must needs develop is what my human-->>

"Samantha!"

<< ... Samantha -- who cannot even pronounce my real name! -- calls 'The Dancing Warshade'. Though why she would want to call it something so demeaning as-->>

"OK, Path. Enough. We've tried it your way. Now, hush."

<< ...b-->>

"Hush.

Now, you'll have to forgive Path. He isn't all that bad, for a warshade, and he can be really cool and helpful at times. But I think the way Kheldians talk and humans talk are different enough that they really need us to translate things into human terms.

So.

Anyway.

Where were we?

Ah, yes.

The Dancing Warshade ...

Basically, the idea is this: as a 3-form, we have more abilities than you can shake a stick at. We have two big weaknesses, though. If we're in one form, the abilities of our other forms aren't available, except very indirectly (like our so-called "click" powers ... why do we call them "click powers" anyway? It's like we were in some sort of game ...). The other major weakness is that by being expert in all three forms, we are master of none of them. Any warshade who fully trains his Nova form will be able to dish out more damage, faster. Any warshade who fully trains his Dwarf form shall be better able to hold his own in that form than we can. And, of course, any warshade who opts to train with a human-only form will always have access to all of his potential."

<<Yes, but that potential is gi-->>

"Hush, Path!

This is big enough of a weakness that many warshades -do- opt for only one or two forms. They become very skilled with their chosen, smaller set of powers, and can become quite mighty."

[Path snorts.]

"Cut it out, Path, or I'm going to watch 6 hours of chick flicks tonight!"

[Meek silence.]

"OK ... assuming no further interruptions ..."

[More meek silence.]

" ... ok ...

The style I call 'dancing' is an attempt to address these very real weaknesses. It doesn't matter if we can blast like a blaster, if we only end up defeated because we can't take the damage. And it doesn't matter if we can tank, if we find ourselves stuck in dwarf form, doing minor damage until the fight is over. Then there's all of our human-form abilities both warshade and nonwarshade, that are really very useful, but distinctly lack in defense and damage.

We can dance to overcome the problem. It's tricky. It takes some guts. And you're probably gonna find yourself going to the hospital fairly often while you train yourself in this form of fighting. But having done so, you will be able to use all of your potential.

So, first, some basics (without going over warshade abilities in detail):

NOVA FORM -
<ul type="square">[*]The Nova Form is remarkably powerful, and can be achieved with little training. Its blasts are very long range, 3 of the 4 are 100 ft, and the 4th, the cone, is fairly large for a cone. Prior to the infection of ED that permiated Paragon City, it was possible to take down a large group of baddies (council, nemesis, etc., that like to stick close together) with an application of the two AoE blasts. Even now, however, the 2nd round of AoEs will usually finish of the group. The strong AoEs end fights quickly, and create piles of arrested foes from which to heal (via Stygian Circle), and generate plenty of inspiration to keep fighting.[*]The Nova's flight speed is also of worthy note. Novas naturally fly faster than non-Kheldian heroes, with a much smaller espenditure of personal energy.[/list]DWARF FORM -
<ul type="square">[*]The Dwarf Form seems a bit weaker, offensively, than the Nova form. However, this is true only in terms of defeating large numbers of foes at once. One on one, the Dwarf does damage about as fast as Nova form, and is generally much safer from reprisal. Further, if one chooses to develop its strengths, the Dwarf can exert crowd control and amplify damage considerably with its Mire. Its healing ability is weak, but is generally enough to deal with the rate at which damage comes in. In a pinch, when no defeated foes lying around for Stygian Circle to heal oneself, the Dwarf's Drain can serve to self-heal with some measure of safety.[*]The Dwarf's Teleport ability is easily overlooked, especially for us warshades who can teleport in human form. However, even our mighty Dwarf can on occasion be badly hurt and in need of retreat. No matter how fast we can run in human form, our Dwarf form runs and jumps fairly slowly. In emergencies, it pays to recall the Teleport (the "Dwarf Step"). It can move you far from danger even faster than super-speed heroes can, for superspeed powers are subject to villainous supression in such circumstances. Especially in outdoor missions, this tool has saved me from participating in a total team wipe.[/list]HUMAN FORM -
<ul type="square">[*]The Human Form is the core of the tri-form dance. While it is occasionally useful to step directly from Dwarf to Nova and back, we must pass through human form in any event. Further, while it is faster to change from Nova or Dwarf to Human than the reverse, the Nova and Dwarf forms don't actually bring anything to human form except for the Dwarf's Mire. All other non-human powers are only available in the other forms. It is often worthwhile to at least pause in human form to recharge yourself with some of your human abilities. For example, if you can use Eclipse in human form to boost your defenses, you can change from Dwarf to human, use Eclipse, and then keep your Eclipse defense boost in Nova form.[*]As a human, one has the very nifty ability to teleport with no training whatsoever. Of course, being skilled in the -art- of teleporting is another matter, but you can always manage it. Even better, after a good deal of training, you learn how to teleport your teammates around, which is always welcome by your friends.[*]You've a large selection of powers as a warshade human, including stealth, control, and attack powers, along with some of the unique warshade abilities such as extracting an essence to serve as a "pet," using defeated foes to re-energize ourselves, absorbing foe's energy to self-energize and boost damage resistance, and so on.[/list]

DANCING -

The dance is the ability to use -all- of these, synchronistically. Here's a simple example, perhaps the easiest of them all. It requires the use of Eclipse, Dwarf Mire, Sunless Mire (the human mire), and Quasar (the human "nuke"). The Quasar power is a bit on the weak side, natively, and even fully trained, it will generally drain all of your own energy, while severely annoying (but not defeating) your nearby enemies. However, given a moderately large group of enemies (six or more will suffice), you can go into melee range in the middle of the group and use Eclipse (while in human form). This doesn't do much except boost your defenses for a bit, but that's the idea. They're gonna be mad and shooting/hitting you in another second or so. So, after that, hit Sunless Mire (while still in human form), then change to Dwarf form, and use the Dwarf Mire. This is kind of slow, so be patient. Fortunately, your use of Eclipse has prevented your enemies from hurting you badly, yet. Now, finally, drop the Dwarf form and use Quasar. By doing this, using both human and Dwarf powers together, you can maximize the power of Quasar in ways that are not available to someone limited to just human and nova forms. Thus, as at least a two-form (Dwarf and human), you can "nuke" almost as well as any big-bad blaster.

And that's an easy one! 6 steps: Eclipse-&gt;Mire-&gt;Dwarf-&gt;Mire-&gt;Human&gt;Quasar.

And that's not the end. The mires haven't worn off yet, and Eclipse won't wear off for a while. So Catch a Breath and run by the nearest set of fallen foes, and use Stygian circle to recharge your energy to full. Now, if you're a triform like me, you can go into Nova form and be a true tank mage for a short while. Your damage will be maximized by the mires and the return fire will not hurt you badly at all. I've easily managed to plow through 3 large groups in quick succession this way. With maximized Nova AoEs, two shots usually takes out most all of a group.

But there's more to dancing than blindingly obvious powerups using warshade abilities.

Dancing is remembering everything you can do at all times.

It's fairly obvious, for example, that if you need to damage lots of enemies at once, the Nova form is ideal, and that if you want to avoid getting hurt or held or stunned, being in Dwarf form is ideal, and that if you want to control, then human form is ideal. But that's missing the point.

We want to control, and to damage, and to withstand damage. We want it all, and dancing is what gets it.

For instance, instead of Eclipse, it's possible to use Gravitic Emanation in the mire/mire/boom combo. It loses you the advantage of being tank-like even as a Nova, but it's doable, and it's usable far more often. With a single application of Gravitic Emanation, you can immediately go into Nova form and defeat everyone you just made dizzy. If you went in as just Nova, they'd all shoot at you over and over while you took them down. With Gravitic Emanation, they don't shoot back (mostly). And you can use the same tactic on group after group, and even skip the mire/mire part, as well.

Another f'rinstance: you're in Nova form, and you're getting too badly hurt. Now you -could- go into Dwarf form, but there's gonna be a long pause where you aren't shooting and just getting shot at before you become a Dwarf. However, if you go into human form, and fire Gravitic Emanation, you stop the pain right away. If there's any leftovers, use Gravity Well. Then go back to Nova form and go about your business.

This is just like dropping to human form for a quick heal, but with a more offensive-minded twist. It's easy to get caught up in "thinking like a nova" or "thinking like a dwarf." It's easy, and we all do it. But we aren't just that. We have stealth and teleporting and a huge set of tricks that are more useful than not. I don't need to teach you the tricks. They're obvious. You just gotta get out of your nova, dwarf, or human rut and think about them. DANCE them!

Dancing also implies learning several steps in sequence, and making those steps intuitive in execution. You don't think "OK, I need to do step one, now step two, now step three ..." Instead, you think, "I need to stun and heal" and just do it, no matter your current form.

POWER CHOICES -

It's easier to remember the Warshade powers in which I haven't trained, than it is to list the ones in which I have. I've trained only the basic shield, because it was either that or the poorly-named Orbiting Death or the Gravimetric Snare which keeps enemies in one spot, but still able to shoot. I've trained no other shielding powers (unless you want to count Eclipse as such, but it is very different). I trained the two fast-blast powers for offensive use while I'm human. Early on in training, these are primary attacks, but later they're just something to dish out damage with while I'm cycling control powers -- if I want to deal damage quickly, I try to go into Nova form.

I didn't train the other damage powers of human form except Quasar. I'm considering Unchain Essence for advanced training, but I've not trained it yet. Nor have I trained Essence Drain as a human. Finally, I've not trained Nebulous Form. ED or some related affliction that struck Paragon at the same time has severely curtailed access to the "phase shift" dimension. Strange that those carnies are as good at it as ever.

That said, I've trained all other powers. [As of level 43, so 3 more power choices remain, which could include some of these.]

Starless Step is an excellent pulling power. If you need to deal with a void or quant, without having to worry about his buddies, just use Starless Step to grab him near ya and then use your other powers to stun/hold him into submission. The primary virtue of this is that you don't need line of sight. And if you could close doors after opening them (why do villain's doors, even in invaded complexes, have such properties?), you could do it through the doors.

Gravity Well is excellent both for dealing significant damage while in human form, -and- for holding your target for the duration. You need pretty good accuracy and firing rate to keep a single enemy locked down with this power, but with enough damage, they don't need more than a single application and a few blasts from other sources. I've not quite fully trained this yet, but I think I can get it to fully lock down if I give up some damage or train it some more.

Gravitic Emanation is a very very very good power, and a key one to use in the dance. You can stun most of a group, and they'll stay stunned for a while, giving you plenty of time to go into Nova form and blast away. This is particularly useful against tough enemies who all can stun/hold you in return. Train your firing rate for this power to be high, and it will always be ready. It's possible to keep baddies perma-stunned, but there's a trade-off between stunning duration, fire rate, and accuracy that makes this difficult. I usually find them recovering just before I can use it again. Also, be careful! Some enemies, even mere minions, resist stunning effects well. Dwarf form is what gets you through such tight situations.

Dark Extraction almost doesn't bear mentioning, because it's that obviously useful. With enough training, especially training in speeding up oneself (OOC: Hasten from the Speed power pool), one can keep two "pets" going at the same time [mostly ... you'll be with one pet for a while before you can get back to two]. These combine well with all three forms, adding to your damage, and distracting enemies from focusing on yourself.

Quasar and Mire I've already mentioned. Strangely, I don't think Mire needs much training, and Quasar only needs training to fire it off more quickly, because two mires buff both damage and accuracy.

Of our so called secondary powers, I've trained Gravity Shield, Shadow Cloak, Stygian Circle (of course!), Inky Aspect (some regrets), Stygian Return and Eclipse (no regrets at all).

The shields aren't that useful unless one stays mostly in human form: changing to dwarf is a better shield than any of these, and Eclipse often means not needing any extra shields. Still, if one's strategy indicates that staying human for a while is likely, Gravity shield at least stops bullets and fists to some degree. Stygian Circle, totally untrained, is as good as a night's sleep, if you have at least three defeated enemies near.

Inky Aspect, while very useful by stopping minions in their tracks, does nothing against the lieutenants and their bosses. It doesn't stack, of course, being more of a "field" that is "toggled" on and off. Prior to Eclipse, Inky Aspect is useful against large groups, because minions not firing at you is as good as 100% immunity to minion damage. It is very simple with Inky Aspect to finish them off in detail. However, with Eclipse, it's just as easy to switch to Nova and finish them off faster, or with a fully-trained Gravitic Emanation, one can stun foes and then change out of human form and they'll still be stunned. (So then to Nova and AoE them with impunity.)

Stygian Return is a funky power. You don't want to have to use it, but it is so handy when you need it. If your enemies have defeated you, you can call on -their- energies to re-energize yourself and get back in the fight. I highly recommend executing Eclipse, if available, and immediately going to dwarf form. Most situations that can take me down usually do so by doing damage quickly, or I was taking a risky move outside of Dwarf form against a boss or the like. This gives two advantages: 1) you are almost always able to get back into the fight without help (teammate or hospital), and 2) you can do so in the middle of battle, rather than off to one side in safety. [A third virtue is that it very much reduces downtime from defeats! "OK. I think she's dead." "No, I'm not!"]

Eclipse doesn't need much explanation, other than to take it and use it. It doesn't protect you from being held or stunned or slept or whatever, but even if you do get held or stunned, they won't be able to damage you fast enough to take you down before it wears off (barring exceptionally powerful boss/AV attacks, or it was a poorly-executed Eclipse affecting only a few enemies). I train it to be accurate and to be used more often.

Of my non-warshade abilities, I've mostly trained myself to be physically fit, like most heroes do [Fitness Pool], and to be fast [Hasten only from the Speed Pool]. Most other powers that can be trained by any hero just aren't that useful to a triform. Medicine can be useful, but we don't need that as a self-heal, with 3 possible powers to use to self-heal and even self-rez. Concealment can stack with Shadow Cloak, to attack by surprise from melee range. Leadership requires staying in human form to work (I guess people don't like taking orders from a squid). Presence would be an interesting choices, but it would require considerable training to get to the most useful power to train: Invoke Panic, and Dwarves can taunt without this training. Training in Fighting wouldn't add much to Warshade powers, since we can just change to Dwarf form for the same effect. Finally, training in Leaping doesn't add much unless one is always in human form, since we can already TP and Fly and have other defenses besides acrobatics. In human-only form, Leaping is far more useful, because human-only necessarily lacks the Nova's flying.

POWERS TO SPECIALIZE [Slot] -

The first things to specialize in would be your Nova AoE blasts. To be blunt, until you are advanced enough to train in dwarf form, your best defense is that of a blaster: defeat them all and defeat them quickly. AoE is the only way to defeat a group fast enough to avoid being defeated oneself. It's risky, but the slowing effects of our blasts help very much in this regard. [I only 4-slot these, post ED, btw. 1 ACC, 3 DAM.]

After that, specialize your forms as you get them. Both need to train for extra endurance, while Nova can get extra training for flight speed, and Dwarf can train at better resisting damage.

After that, specialize in Gravity Well, Gravitic Emanation and Dark Extraction as you get them. That doesn't mean that you should neglect your other abilities: rather, choose your other training to your taste, but don't neglect training these.

[OOC: Of all my powers at lvl 43, only Gravitic Emanation and Dark Extraction are six-slotted. Only Gravity Well and the two forms are five-slotted. Nova doesn't not benefit from a 3rd fly SO, 2 maxes out fly speed.]


SUMMARY -

Dancing involves keeping track of all of your powers. There are some general guidelines to remember for form shifting
<ul type="square">[*]1 - Changing to human form is instant. Any human ability only requires the normal time to execute.[*]2 - Changing to Nove or Dwarf takes a bit of time, so usually we intend to stay in the form for a while ... except to grab a Dwarf Mire before a Quasar, of course![*]3 - Figure out which human powers you want to always use when available, such as Eclipse, Quasar, Gravitic Emanation, Gravity Well, and so on. [It helps to put them on your 2nd or 3rd power bar, so you can see when they're ready, even if inaccessible. See other guides for kheldian macros/binds that juggle your first bar.][*]4 - Always have pets, unless on a team or needing to be stealthy. (It sucks to have a sniper spot your pet, but not you!)[*]5 - Nova is best against lots of minions, because of the highly-damaging AoE attacks.[*]6 - Dwarf is best against single bosses (not AVs, usually, cuz in a team, your Nova damage serves better than tanking) and against groups of mezzers.[*]7 - Think like a blaster. This means take out the mezzers first. Either go in as a tank and hit them, or use Gravitic Emanation to stun them, then switch to Nova and finish them off.[*]8 - When there are few or no mezzers, Eclipse, whatever mires you wanna do, then go to town as a tank-Nova.[*]9 - Figure out how to safely switch out of Dwarf form in sticky situations. Often, key buffs are ready to go in human form, but you're busy in Dwarf form trying not to get hurt. Don't let yourself get stuck this way. Often a bit of tactics can keep you safe. For example, go to human form, then immediately hit Gravity Well or Gravitic Emanation (Emanation works against most bosses for knockback, and can affect a group, especially useful on a group of mezzers). Then run your buffs and go back to Dwarf form, or Nova form if you've Eclipsed yourself with several foes and the mezzers are neutralized.[*]10 - [Stock up on Break Free inspirations. It's the only thing you can't provide for yourself outside of tank form. Secondarily keep purple shields on hand for sticky out-of-dwarf situations. All other inspirations duplicate what you can do via your own powers, not that they aren't handy on occasion. We all need Respites on occasion.][/list]
Only in the most drastic of cases do I see a need to stay in Dwarf form exclusively, usually against a mezzing boss (rikti and carnies). Any other boss, no matter how tough, can be taken down faster with Nova form, largely because the four nova blasts all slow the boss's firing rate by a huge factor, and the damage rate is very high.

So, does that about cover it, Path?"

&lt;&lt; Yes, Samantha, I think it does. However, it is still empirically true that human-only warshades are gi--&gt;&gt;

"Hush, Path. We don't use such terms, here. It's called 'Iron-man style', not gi-- ... er, um, that word you were going to use."

&lt;&lt; Yes, Samantha. &gt;&gt;

This is very good to know, Positron.

Might I suggest that if there are other global balance considerations that are simultaneous with ED, that you please let us know of them, too? The endurance aspect is a big deal, but so is the initial damage aspect. Is one-shotting a white-minion with a "snipe" power going to be impossible with ED, now? I see damage over time being about the same, and you've addressed endurance balance concerns, but the ability to do a large initial burst of damage is key to some ATs (blasters especially).

Greetings Heroes! Welcome to Dr. Opie’s Energy/Energy Blaster Design and Strategy Seminar.

I am Dr. Opie, an archmage of incalculable power [if you can't count to level 50] who has soloed the archfiend Inferno [and failed]. Why should you listen to me? Because you want to do the blaster thing right, with an eye to the details of energy/energy blasters, specifically. If you're already a blaster, and have your own strategies and tactics, none of what I say is intended to disparage your techniques, and your input is welcome. If you are a neophyte or journeyman blaster, this is only one of several resources available online for learning to be a blaster. Read them all and draw your own conclusions.

Your Power Sets:

Energy Blast - Your Energy Blast primary is of course the bread and butter of your set. You probably will not acquire all of these powers but you will end up with most of them by the end of your career. Every single blast in this set does energy and smashing damage in various ratios, and does knockback some percentage of the time, except Aim, which is a personal boost. Your asset here is strong single-target attacks that can be fired in rapid succession, keeping your enemy off of his feet.

Energy Manipulation - Your Energy Manipulation secondary is your true strength. The powers you select from this pool do far more to ensure your success than your primary choices. With the right choices, you can hit harder than any other hero without inspirations or buffs from teammates, you can do massive damage to any target that dares to get within close range of you, you can fire everything you have without pause and not run out of endurance, you can buff your defense and movement in unexpected ways, you can increase the range of your attacks, and you can mez (disorient) a boss with a single attack.


The Powers:

I am not going to give a rundown on every power in the set. Other instructors have handled that task quite nicely. The purpose of this class is to understand how the powers in the set can be used.

On the Energy Blast side of things, there really are no wrong choices to make. Every power fits into an overall attack strategy. On the Energy Manipulation side, your choices should be more carefully made, because you can't select them all and take a good selection of pool powers.

There are a few "must haves" of every energy/energy blaster build. <ul type="square"> [*]Take both Build Up and Aim. They stack. With the 500% cap returned to blasters in Issue 5, they stack well even with powers fully slotted for damage.[*]Take Conserve Power and fill it with recharge SOs. I did not do this for most of my career, and did OK. I switched over using a free respec at level 47, and increased my effectiveness to devastating levels. I only had to avoid using my high-endurance powers (the AoEs, mostly) for the brief period when Conserve Energy was down. The only thing keeping me from throwing firepower left and right was sound tactics (avoiding excess aggro). This was with Stamina, too, of course. The advantage of spending endurance only half as fast in a major battle cannot be underestimated. This makes every other power you have that much more effective, because you can use them all much more often.[*]Take Total Focus and level 38 and slot it completely. I suggest 1 ACC, 1 recharge, 4 DAM. This power will stop a Boss cold. With this, I hunted Paragon Protectors solo, and only bad luck got me faceplanted (miss ... miss ... miss ..., even after a full Aim+BuildUp).[/list]Aside from these four powers, everything else is gravy. Also notice, 3 of these four are in your secondary! This does not include Power Pool "must haves" such as Stamina.


Specific Power Choices:

::Early choices

Early in the game, you have a choice to go with any two of these three blasts: Power Bolt (your lightest blast power, has range and fires fast), Power Burst (like Bolt, but more damaging and slower), and Energy Torrent (an AoE cone). This choice will affect your entire early career. If you forgo the AoE cone attack, you'll have two reliable single-target powers that are always available and don't chew up your endurance too fast. You will have better control over your aggro in team situations, and the light-damage Power Thrust is a good pulling tactic. If you forgo Power Thrust, then you'll have two medium-damage attacks that fire slowly and use a good deal of endurance. However, this setup is more effective for soloing, because all foes in a group will be aggroed onto you anyway, and Energy Torrent has a very high knockback chance that, combined with Power Thrust (a 100% Knockback punch that you must take from your secondary), will keep enemies away from you, while dishing out a significant amount of damage. I do not recommend the third option, going without Power Burst, as it is your highest-damage long range attack aside from Sniper Blast, which has its own issues.

::AoE attacks

It is a personal choice whether you want to take AoE attacks. There are two main ones in this set, aside from the Nova (nuke) power at level 32: Energy Torrent (cone) and Explosive Blast (ball, same range as Power Bolt/Burst). Energy is decidedly not an AoE-specialized set. It's AoE powers, however, are effective in their own ways. The first thing to realize is that an AoE from an Energy blaster is not supposed to eliminate large masses of weak enemies, the way more AoE-focused sets can. Rather, your energy blast AoE attacks are better thought of as "DeBuffs". Yes, debuffs. Their damage is significant only in that it is applied to several foes; the knockback is more significant. The knockback itself has been the subject of much disparagement, because it moves all the enemies out of range of further AoEs.

The trick with your AoEs is to remember that you want to use the knockbacks, rather than pretend that you have non-knockback AoEs. When the baddies are closing in, both AoEs will serve to push them away, and knock them down for enough time for you to get away or buff up with insps or whatever. Explosive Blast has an interesting side effect in that it ALL blasts away from you, not away from the center of the blast, so at close range, it appears to just be a "wider cone" than Energy Torrent. A major advantage of Explosive Blast is that if you get mobbed, you can just target one foe, and most all of them will be pushed away from you.

If you want to use AoEs for damage purposes, it is best to hover above a group (stealthed, or with some major range boosting for your cone attack) and use both AoEs down on the group. Knockback thus becomes knockdown. Fully slotted with BuildUp/Aim, this can eliminate a group of even-con minions. The knockback/down eliminates a good deal of the potential alpha back from your targets. Alternatively, a good wall or corner can keep them together. With good manueverability, you can zip around and line up your cone AoE, and knockback the bad guys to keep them together in a blob for other attacks.

Finally, an advantage of having the AoE attacks is that they can be cycle in for doing damage against a Boss or AV while staying at range.

If you don't want to use AoEs, you don't have to. It's optional, but adds some versatility.


::Sniper Blast

By level 8, the Energy/Energy blaster gets access to something unavailable to other blasters until much later, or even at all: Build Up + Sniper Blast. Other secondaries get Build Up at level 16 or not at all. We get it at level 4! Other primaries get Snipe at level 12 or later, or not at all. We get Snipe at level 8! That makes sniper attacks a particular strength that belongs to the Energy/Energy blaster, especially in the early game. With both of these powers, you can take down one minion in a single shot (color varies based on slotting and level, but you'll always be able to down an even-con minion if you hit, except for certain specialized minions with extra hit points or damage resistance). Reducing your enemy count by one even before the fight begins is a win/win situation. If you take Sniper Blast and Build Up, and slot appropriately, you will not regret the choice.

That said, sniping isn't for everyone. First of all, it's a slow-activating, interruptable power. In general, you can't use it in the heat of combat, and you could have taken some other attack instead and output damage in a continuous stream with other attacks. If you take Snipe, you will generally have an attack pattern of sniping, hoping it hits, and then following up and taking down the other enemies swiftly. Another disadvantage is that Snipe takes so long to go off that Build Up (and Aim) have mostly run out before you can do anything else. It's often more damaging (and more risky) to do your self-buffs and then get off 3 or 4 attacks with extra damage and accuracy than to just get Snipe and one other attack. The difference comes down to play style. If you think of yourself as a stealthy infiltrator that has a job to do, Snipe is for you. If you think of yourself as the “rawking” blaster who delivers damage in a continuous stream of showy and spectacular blasts, Sniper Blast probably isn't for you.

::Nova

Nova is the "nuke" power of the Energy Blast set. Frankly, I don't like it. Sorry, but I don't.

It has its place in the scheme of things. For a very brief moment, you devastate all of the foes nearby (up to 16, as of Issue 5), and then you have no endurance, and must use inspirations to do anything for about 10 seconds. Its recharge is very slow; 6 minutes without slotting or Hasten, and no faster than 98 seconds fully slotted for recharge (meaning no damage slotting).

In practice, this becomes a team power. In team missions, there are groups large enough to be worthy of the sacrifice this power entails, and backup protection from teammates to keep the aggro off of you for those that survive. Also, multiple Novas (or other blaster set equivalent) can quickly destroy a large group of orange/red enemies.

In solo play, it becomes mostly worthless and not very fun (for me). Yes, I can take on a large group of red-conning minions and live. In between, I must wait 3 to 6 minutes (depending on slotting, cuz it doesn't deserve all recharges). It isn't fun to wait that long, and I'd much rather have a strong, long distance, single-target attack that recharges fairly quickly, to accompany my Power Blast.

It is not a "bad" power, per se. I just don't find it fun. However, if you do like causing massive amounts of damage all at once, and don't mind waiting for it, and you don't mind looking severely constipated right before doing your damage, Nova will serve you well. Remember, I said that no wrong choices to make for your primary set, and that includes this power.

FYI, as of this writing, I do have Nova in my build, and it has 4 slots. I emote a sneeze as it goes off.

::Power Push

I am not that familiar with Power Push, though I have tested it fairly thoroughly. Its main advantage is (in my opinion) for those who didn't take energy as a secondary. It targets a single target, at range, and knocks them away from you, limited only by the target's knockback resistance. It differs from Power Thrust mostly in terms of range. Power Thrust does more damage, costs less endurance, and recharges faster. Power Push has a 70 range (more than your cone, less than your mainline attacks), and a good deal of built-in accuracy (+40% according to Joe Chott's CoH Planner v1.5B). Since as Energy/Energy blasters, we are forced to get Power Thrust, having a second knockback attack is entirely optional. I would suggest that it is at its most effective when teaming with higher-levels (even if SK'ing), where its built-in accuracy comes into play, and keeping a boss on his back is often more useful than doing real damage, when on a team.

::Energy Punch

Energy Punch does more damage than any blasts you get before the Sniper Blast, and it recharges faster and activates faster and uses only as much endurance as your puny Power Bolt blast … all for the price of being in melee as a blaster. This is doable, and “blappers” can be quite viable. That said, this is the weakest of the attacks in Energy Manipulation that you are not forced to take, and even blappers regularly skip it, because its chance of stunning is so low.

::Bone Smasher

This is the power I gave up for Conserve Energy. I wanted to give up Nova, but I was teaming a lot at the time, and getting the blasters to coordinate their nukes was part of teaming. I like Bone Smasher, and I’ve included it ever since my earliest builds. The damage is amazing from low levels until high levels. It does nearly as much damage as the Sniper Blast, and fires and recharges faster, and uses much less endurance. Its role in my tactics was usually as a second attack to remove a second minion. Snipe one minion (it goes down), then run up as fast as possible and use Bone Smasher on the next minion (it goes down), leaving only one minion or LT to deal with in a solo mission. The chance for stunning is fairly high, but it isn’t something to rely on, as with Power Push or Total Focus.

::Stun

Of all powers in the Energy/Energy sets, this is the one with which I am least familiar. Its damage is low, and its stunning doesn’t last long, so it requires slotting, and can become extremely effective with Power Boost (doubles stun duration). It is a mez power, which means it shouldn’t be ignored in the scheme of things. The only reason I didn’t take it is that by the time I had acquired all of the power pool powers I wanted, I was of a level to get Total Focus, which is remarkably more effective.

::Power Boost

This isn’t a “must have” power, but it is much, much, much, much, much more effective than it appears at first glance. To start, it buffs your movement speed for any movement powers aside from walking (and teleporting). It also doubles your DEF bonuses, your mez durations, your knockback distances, and so on. I slotted this with four recharges, which when combined with Hasten gave me 15 seconds on and 5 seconds off with this power. It’s possible to make it perma, but the cycle is 15 seconds, and is rather annoying. I would usually pull it up before doing a stun attack, or when under heavy fire, or when I needed to move very fast (it makes hover go as fast as fly, without having to 6-slot hover with fly SOs).

::Boost Range

This power does exactly what it says, and I have no beef with it, except that by the time you get it, just about everything in the game outranges all of your powers, even with this on. I see some advantage for teleporters, which for a brief while would teleport much farther (hence faster), too, but that isn’t significant enough to strengthen this power beyond the “very optional” category.

::Total Focus

While this is a slow-activating power, and your target and its friends will likely get an alpha on you if you don’t quickly charge in and launch it, it can stun bosses and one-shot LTs. The stunning of bosses is the main utility, though, and turns you into a “boss-killer” on a par with any scrapper. Combined with Power Boost, the stun lasts for 20 seconds. Combined with Build Up and Aim, you can deal with a boss-less trio with three one-shots: Total Focus on the most powerful, then Bone Smasher on the next most, and then Power Burst (a short range heavy blast I hadn’t mentioned until now) on the last. In a trio with a boss, you stun the boss with a Power Boosted Total Focus, then immediately switch to his companions with Power Burst and Bone Smasher, leaving only the mezzed (for 20 seconds) boss. Total Focus will recharge before then, and you can re-mez him.


- Power Pools
Most power pool advice is ably covered by other instructors, and I’ve no wish to re-hash their wisdom here, so I’ll summarize some essential points.

The fitness pool is a must, even if you take Conserve Power, because running out of endurance is as bad as being mezzed or slowed. With both Stamina and Conserve Power, only firing Nova or using lots of AoEs when during the CP downtime will dry up your endurance. At all other times, you can use everything you’ve got.

Aside from Fitness, I recommend the Speed pool, because even though it now lacks a+DEF bonus, perma-Hasten is valuable for cycling through your powers quickly. Just as Stamina is worth a couple of endurance cost SOs in every power, Hasten gives you effectively two recharge SOs in every power. Your job is to throw out damage as fast as possible against the tactically/strategically most effective target, and even if you have enough powers that there’s always one ready to go, your more effective powers will be ready to go sooner.

All other pool choices are a matter of personal play style and choices. I took Stealth (to combine with Super Speed) and the Flying pool (for Hover and Fly). This let me get into whatever tactical position I needed to in order to be the most effective. Hover keeps most opponents at bay, and is pretty darn fast with 3 fly slots and Power Boost.


-Ancillary Power Pools

Any choice is good. Cold Mastery combines well with Power Burst, because Frozen Armor gives +DEF to smash and lethal (thus you double your bonus from Frozen Armor for 15 seconds at a time!). I preferred Fire Mastery because Char was a more effective hold for me. The mass sleep in Cold Mastery would stop all the LTs and minions … after letting them notice me and alpha-strike me. Char I could use as an alpha, and was especially useful against Sappers. Rise of the Phoenix appears to suck except for two things: after level 50, there is no such thing as debt, and for a few seconds after you rise, you are totally immune to everything and can act with impunity.

Still, it’s all a matter of personal choice at these levels. Nothing is uber ... and if it is, it’ll be nerfed, eventually. Speaking of which:

- Issue 5 changes to blasters

Issue 5 has made several changes which affect blasters.

:efense changes

+DEF power pool powers are no longer as effective as they used to be, especially stealth and Hasten. While this doesn’t make that much of a difference to blasters given that the bonuses were small to begin with, it does affect one of the better aspects of Power Boost. While fully self-buffed, I had 17.5% +DEF before Issue 5, and Power Boost make that into a +35% boost, which is fairly significant indeed (though definitely not uber). With Issue 5, I think it’s just 6% and 12%, respectively. As a blaster, you’re gonna take more hits.

::Hit Point changes

Blasters got a boost in hit points with Issue 5. It seems a poor trade, trading your defense for extra hit points, but in play, it appears to be enough. I don’t recall the exact amount of the HP boost, but consider this: even a 10% boost of hit points is logically equivalent to a +10% Damage Resistance against every single attack in the game, including psionics, and it stacks with every other Damage Resistance boost in the game, beyond any “caps”. I’m sure that blasters would have a more emotional appreciation if they’d been granted a click or toggle power that gave them +10% DR to smash/lethal that they could slot up, but this change is much, much, much better. I found myself to be much more resilient in Issue 5 because of this.

::We got the 500% damage cap back!

Along with the hit point changes, this is far more significant than it appears at first glance. What it really does is increase the color of the minion that one can single-shot with Sniper Blast (Orange minions, instead of just White), or that can be taken down with your two fully-buffed AoE attacks (White minions, instead of Blue). The class of what can be taken down right away changes gameplay significantly. You will be very happy with the effectiveness of your attacks, especially since you get Build Up and Aim fairly early in the scheme of things when compared with other blasters.

:efiance

*Dr. Opie chuckles.*

*Dr. Opie grins goofily and starts singing GIR’s “doom song”*

“Doomy doom doom doom doom doom DOOM doomy doom doom …”

*ahem*

Er, um … please excuse me. At times, I am awed by the brilliant design and balance of the powers in this game. Then they come up with things like “suppression” and “defiance.” These, too, awe me, though not in a positive way.

Sorry.

Defiance is effective at low levels, when you don’t have Build Up and Aim and blasts fully slotted with SOs. In such a situation, even a blaster isn’t in danger of death at even 10% of their full hit points, and the minor bonuses from defiance at this point (yes, minor … the bonuses are remarkably small until you get to about 1-2% of your hit points) play a valid strategic role.

If you try such a thing after 20th level or so, you will die. Quickly. If you keep on trying it, you will be in perma-debt. A blaster at 50% hit points is in grave danger of being killed in by two more hits, or a single hit from a powerful boss. Against the kinds of dangerous foes against which one would imagine defiance would be useful (because, after all, they just hit you really really hard), Defiance is useless (because, after all, the next hit is going to be just as hard, and take you down to zero.) So the math is: 100% -&gt; hit -&gt; 50% (no defiance bonus yet) -&gt; 0% (um, do I get infinite defiance if I’m at 0 HP?).

My advice to you neophyte blasters is: use defiance on purpose until level 10, at which point debt kicks in. Then never use it again on purpose. If you get hit to within a hit point of death, and then get a blast off, well, gee, that was lucky for you. Maybe you kill the boss that almost killed you. Then a minion trips, falls on his laser rifle, which accidentally goes of and hits you for 3 points of damage. Luck goes both ways, and with Defiance, luck will be -against- you, not -with- you.

I would like to see defiance based on the damage rate, not damage amount. That way, if you are getting hit a lot, but using heals judiciously, defiance builds up because of all the hits, but doesn’t go away just because a heal took you back to full. But you are still obviously in severe danger, because if the damage rate is very high, then lacking heals for 10-20 seconds is enough to kill you. I’d call that real risk, and I’d judge that Defiance should be giving at least a moderate bonus at that point.

- Conclusions

An energy/energy blaster has a great set of powers, some of which are diamonds in the rough, and others of which are real gems. Your secondary powers deserve special scrutiny: don’t ignore them just because you don’t want to be in melee range. Your AoE’s strength -is- their massive knockback, not their damage. And Conserve Power + Stamina will keep you blasting for a long time to come.

This concludes my seminar. Questions and comments are welcome.

Statesman said:
[ QUOTE ]
Thought I'd post a further explanation about the Blaster damage explanation in "Ask Statesman."

That was - and is - the reason why Blaster damage is capped lower than Scrappers. I did forget to add that the ranged attacks of mobs deal less damage (typically) than melee attacks - and the Blaster is generally the target of raned attacks.

But many issues have come up - most notably, the perception that Blasters are too fragile at levels 35+. Their damage potential does not compensate for their low hit points.

And, of course, there's the complaint that some Secondaries have too many melee attacks - something that the Blaster avoids at all costs.

At the moment, Scrappers, and to a lesser degree, Tankers, are being analyzed. Once we establish a baseline, then we'll be in a better position to look at Blasters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blasters do not have a range advantage.
Blasters do not have a range advantage.
Blasters do not have a range advantage.

There are several reasons for this:

[*]Ranged attacks do less damage, but they hit just as often. (The chance to get hit doesn't go down with range.)[*]Many mez attacks are ranged.[*]Power Pool defenses aside from damage resistance do not mitigate ranged AoE damage.[*]Melee attacks require enemies to take time to move next to you in order to work. Enemy ranged attacks go off instantly.[*]Aggro makes all enemies instantly fire a ranged attack. Enemy mezzers make this an instant-death scenario if it wasn't before.[*]Firing ranged attacks locks you into position, giving enemies time to run up to you and use their more damaging melee attacks unless you can use Hover to advantage.[*]My energy/energy blaster (a "single-target" blaster) has only one single-target attack with a range of 80 feet that does decent damage (Medium) at a decent firing rate (8 second recharge). (Snipe does more, further, but is very slow; the minor damage attack is fast, but the damage is VERY minor, not worth slotting, and certainly not with only a 400% damage cap; Torrent doesn't have the range; Explosive blast has the range, but is AoE and weak on damage; Power Burst has good damage and rate, but has only 20 ft range; Nove has a very, very lowrate and is PBAoE; all secondary damage powers are melee). This means that in a team, as a "ranged blaster" I have one and only one decent-damage attack that doesn't generate tons of aggro and/or doesn't force me very close or into melee range. [*]The corrolary is that if I am in melee range, I have ALL of my attacks available, giving me a very fast firing rate, but with no defense other than knockback, the occasional bonecrusher stun, or the slow-but-reliable Total Focus.[/list]
Now, let me say for the record that I -do- enjoy having the melee attacks, and they are often worth the risk of melee, especially as a solo blaster, though they are useless in a team environment PvE where the enemy mostly fires AoEs. "Blapping" can be a fun part of the game and I would not want to see it removed.

The problem comes in with respect to the mental picture of the blaster archetype, flying around, avoiding melee, using power blasts to defeat enemies quickly. Blasters don't defeat enemies quickly at range, with the exception of the AoE-oriented power sets, and that's only because enough AoE attacks with enough buffs defeats large numbers quickly so long as the aggro doesn't kill the blaster.

Personally, I find Nova useless. I use it on occasion, just cuz. Against groups without bosses, it's nice to just take 'em down in one shot. However, it isn't fun because it is infrequent, very brief, leaves me crippled, and doesn't even work well as a panic-button. I would much prefer a very-high-damage single-shot power, not unlike snipe, but faster and without interruption, and perhaps with a high-magnitude effect of some type (knockback, disorient), perhaps kind of a ranged Total Focus.

To make blasters more range-oriented, they need more single-target ranged attacks or more damage on the couple of AoEs in those sets that don't focus on AoE. In the energy set, for example, giving Power Push more damage (Medium at least), and/or replacing Nova with a faster high-damage single-target power would help immensely.

Further, if range is supposed to be a defense, then the most "realistic" way to do that is to give all ranged attacks (with a few exceptions) a -20% ACC debuff (or corresponding buff on defense), AND counter it on blasters (only) by giving them +20% on their ranged attacks. Obviously this would require some tweaking/adjustment, and I don't intend 20% as a hard number, but just as a basic concept. This would truly give a good defensive advantage to range that corresponds both with reality and pencil-and-paper RPGs.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"3 SO's would reduce the cost of Teleport by 50%. Since the reduce endurance cost enhancement modifier affects a denominator rather than a numerator, the equation would be:

(base cost)*(1/(1+(sum of endurance reduction modifier))

meaning...

15 endurance * (1/(1+(33.33%+33.33%+33.33%))

15 endurance * (1/(1+(100%))

15 endurance * (1/(1+(1))

15 endurance * (1/2)

7.5 endurance

You can further reduce this by slotting in + or ++ enhancements, but with 3 SO ++ enhancments, I 'think' you only reduce the cost to ~7.14. I forget if +'s increase the percentage by 5% per plus or add 1% =/.


[/ QUOTE ]

Could you explain the math you used to come up with that formula? Using that same formula adding a single SO (33.33%) would only reduce the End Cost by 25%, not the 33.33%, which it's supposed to.

Example:

100 Endurance * (1/(1+33.33%))
100 Endurance * (1/1.3333)
100 Endurance * 0.75
75 Endurance

Not debating you, just asking if this, in fact, the case.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's the funkiness of fractional/percentage math. A "33% increase" is not the same ratio as a "33% reduction". I have commonly read others saying that endurance reduction has diminishing returns, that you just don't save as much endurance with that 6th SO as you do with the first, and that Endurance Reduction SOs never "really" offer a 33% improvement.

This is simply confusion due to not asking the question, "percentage of what?" Look at the math: it isn't 33% of the base endurance cost, it's 33% of its divisor. Ask yourself why the math would modify the divisor and not the endurance cost itself. Answer: such math would reduce endurance costs to nothing at all (and without proper checking, could conceivably cause power usage to increase endurance.) Endurance efficiency would approach infinity (and beyond).

Another reason why it is 33% of the divisor is that in the case of increases it is 33% of the multiplier (which happens to be equivalent to the concept of a "33% increase").

If we think of Endurance Reduction enhancements as "Endurance Efficiency" enhancements instead, the mathematical concepts here become more clear. Three Endurance Reductions increase the -efficiency- of using a power just as linearly as the damage enhancements increase damage. In the context of teleporting (and disregarding endurance recovery), this means that a "tank" of endurance will get you 20% further with a range SO, and 33% further with an End Reduction SO. There is no "sweet spot" because each extra SO adds to the distance linearly. (There is a sweet spot when one considers endurance recovery, as noted earlier in this thread.)

Therefore, Endurance Reduction does -not- have diminishing returns if you regard it as affecting endurance efficiency, and this is most apparent with teleporting, where one can easily tell that one can TP twice as many times (hence, twice as far) on a tank of endurance with 3 Endurance Reduction SOs, even though that is "only" a 50% endurance reduction (and not 100%, which would mean not using endurance at all).

The same is the case for Recharge Reduction, where an SO doesn't give a "33% reduction" of the recharge time, but rather a 33% increase in the recharge -rate-. If not for animation times in the mix, 3 Recharge Reduction SOs would increase your firing speed by 100% (doubling it). There are no diminishing returns here, either, except for the animation time.

Think of Endurance Reduction as "Endurance Efficiency" and Recharge Reduction as "Recharge Rate", and the application of the 33% SO bonus becomes clear.