Dragonkat

Disagree on saying caltrops is the only good power. Though I will agree that time bomb to this day sucks, and taser is eh and easily passed up, but the rest?

Web grenade packs a hefty minus recharge on top of root/slow -50% if you believe Mids

Smoke grenade may have been nerfed to heck and back, but like flash arrow it makes pulling infinitely easier, and still has a nice -acc.

Cloak is all of the concealment pool minus the speed reductions, and lets you set up devices tricks however you want, or position yourself better for aoe's and cones.

Target Drone is tactics in a can without taking leadership pools, and helps if you like IO sets that lack much of an acc bonus.

Trip mine? Never mind the fact you can just lay them and forget about them for a defiance bonus, but if you want real hilarity just walk up to mobs cloaked, and toe bomb by planting a mine on top of them, then fire off your aoes as it explodes, then retreat behind caltrops and keep going to town on anything still standing.

And Gun drone? It's been buffed enough to be welcome on any build for the extra damage, or a distraction you can use to soak an Alpha as you walk up cloaked.

What devices has going for it is an ability to handle virtually any situation in some way shape or form, and is a lot more then the overly cliched field of trip mines. Granted it's not as flashy as EM or elec in terms of huge melee hits, or the slows in ice, or the aoetasticness of fire. But it can get the job done, and I'd say it's only second to EM in terms of solo only builds. (I'm a blapper at heart, always will be) Maybe third if you want to argue for /ice, but having never played that set i can't offer an opinion on it.

Side note about aid self, this is long term gaming, but with the PFF from the epic force pool + power boost from /eng, you have a bubble to hide in and the heal is super boosted which is a huge help.

Also if you use it as a pre combat buff it helps to resist stuns, which everything from tsoo to de to frigging malta stun grenades all can pull to give a solo blaster fits.

Speaking as a 26 DP/Eng that's the current blaster I'm leveling if i'm going to ask for anything in dual pistols it's keeping knockback regardless of ammo type, that's the main reason i'm not fond of using swap ammo. That and fire seems the only good choice given how blasters don't have very good debuff values.

But all the numbers in this thread aside (see sig) Has anyone considered the defiance mechanic here? Instead of trying to ram that square peg into the round hole by treating is a starter nuke and dying constantly (again don't blame the tools) why not consider it as part of the set as a whole? Hit the mob pack first with a few attacks under build up, like a bone smasher and energy punch if you're /eng to drop a minion or seriously wound an LT, or start with supressive fire to mitigate some incoming alpha (or stun annoying damn raider engineers and sappers) and once you've got a bit of a boost THEN fire off HoB on what's left?

Know for a fact that a simple defiance boosted pistols plus dual wield can drop even con minions and put a hurting on +1 to the point where power thrust finishes the job. (This with plain jane level 25 IO's) And given how I play blasters like brutes I like to keep the bonus high as possible by running from pack to pack, in tightly packed maps i could see a defiance enhanced hob doing nasty things to a second group.

Gotta think outside the box a little here, not clamor for some magic I win button, which four seconds of untouchable would be. Asking for defense in a blast set is just about as bad, it aint gonna happen, and our best defense is a dead mob anyway.

Ice/dev

with 2 holds + heavy ST damage + all the tricks devices can pull it's almost impossible to stop solo. At epic levels if you take munitions that's a 3rd hold to ensure any boss will spend all his time perma held. Get enough set bonuses from entropic chaos and other recharge boosts and it's almost the return of perma hasten as well. Not to mention two gun drones at once for a few seconds.

AR/Eng or now DP/Eng (force epic)

Lethal isn't flashy but pair it with blapping and build up super early and it's hard to stop, the fact both primaries have a stun you can buff with power boost helps a ton too. That and boost range + full auto or flamethrower, well I cackle with glee every time put it that way. DP seems knockdown tastic the way the energy primary is, much makes life a lot easier, and you have power thrust to play with too. Also once you get the force pool and pop force of nature the fun just goes up another notch, my AR/ENG pre inventions soloed a +1 fake nemesis and a +1 warhulk at once that way, and could stand toe to toe with most any AV going to town on them.

Need a little advice on this topic as I know that we can't use copyrighted content for AE arcs, but what about ripping on tv shows out there?

Basically it was a silly idea for an arc about reality TV gone bad, complete with an Elite boss named "bridezilla" (Yes I was REALLY bored at work this week) Or a ghost hunters spoof with malta sapper allies (Cookie for anyone who guesses why )

Just don't want to step over that line and cause any issues with copyright infringement, any chance it might be doable?

A blasters job is damage pure and simple. Where he does the damage from is not as important as the fact he makes the orange numbers keep coming. What range you do it from depends on build, playstyle, or teams you run with.

But blasters fixated on range only as a defense are just as silly as hardcore melee only blappers to me. You have a mix of powers so why not use them all?

EDIT: And to answer the OP along those lines. You'd be hard pressed to find a better blaster set then AR/Eng/Force if you ask me. Everything from a boost ranged full auto to a power boosted Total focus. You cover every end of the range spectrum and have bagoodles of damage to boot.

[ QUOTE ]
Now that's total bunk. Blasters can and do solo AVs.

[/ QUOTE ]

*self edits* my mistake, I should have added onto the end of what I said "So we can't solo AV's and EB's Without insps so what?"

Fair point on the scrappers too Fulmens. Though can we agree that just as not every blaster build is a mitigation king (say ice/ice vs fire/fire) Not every scrapper build will be an AV killing machine? Yes I'm generalizing a bit, but I hope the overall point was still sound?

Sam: Regarding the zeus's and preparing for a fight. Let's face it, Malta is an outlier when it comes to hard mode in CoX, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it, and the zeus is by far one of the hardest boss in the game hands down. I'd rather fight the KoA chicks any day of the week. Do you have these same issues as a blaster when it comes to a fake nemesis, or a council vamp, or a greater devoured? Bosses come in all flavors and styles, and different levels of damage/status resistances. We can't use just one, complain about how it's too hard, and say oh look blasters have issues! It doesn't work.

One other big difference, zeus's and gunslingers are all ranged damage, KoA and a majority of other game bosses are primarly melee bosses. And when range stops being a defense that's when blaster life does get a bit more tricky. But when it comes to most bosses any blaster with a decent build can kite, joust, or simply flat out root/hold/stun them by the end without any issue to keep the damage down. Granted I think jousting is a semi broken mechanic, and YES I know scrappers don't have to do stunts like that to wail on a boss, but I don't think this points out this mythical "disparity" people want to bring up between blasters and the other AT's. If I'm soloing a even con fake nem and a greater devoured plus mobs around them and the swarms being spawned without popping any insps I think I'm doing ok here.

Anyway back on topic. Triple damage? Seriously? Not touching that one, but the question stands how do we buff Blasters? Do they need a further one?

Answer to me? Nope. Defiance 2.0 really was the buff that made blasters that much better. Insofar as I'd say we should be compared to brutes now more then corrupters. We don't have a fury bar, but when you watch all those pretty buffs filling your screen just from attacking, and can see a noticable amp up in damage when using attacks like bitter ice blast you've got to love it. My ice/dev even plays like a brute now. The only time I don't stop attacking in a mission or moving forward is the 10sec intervals where I'm placing a fresh gun drone. Also I've learned to change my attack chain, and build up to the big attacks so they hit even harder, or throw down a few debuffs like web and freeze ray for their bonuses before attacking.

As for bosses this where blasters got even more love thanks to the high hp totals. Which lets us build defiance the way a brute builds fury, pile up damage, kill him that much faster, and we don't need to wait for his hp to get below 50% to do it *hates scourge as a mechanic*

Attacking while mezzed? LOVE it! Lets me keep the mezzer rooted away at least (think lost rectors and the big swords) and still keep plinking away. Unlike the days of malta stun grenade means i win button for them if you didn't have a break free. Now my blasters only carry one row of them, instead of the 8+ I used too.

Not defiance related, but I have to add to it the global change of defensive toggles not fully dropping when mezzed. No more turning back on TD, CJ, acro, and cloak every other fight, and when the first hold drops off my protection is right back up as well.

Honestly I can't think of any global buffs that blasters need by this point. Now individual powerset complaints? *coughtimebombcough* I think we can agree on that one. But if you gave me any more defense or damage, or something like a reduction in endurance use (didn't blasters get one back before I9?) and I'd be a tankmage, no need to break blasters in the other direction. And any change the devs make has to take possible IO slotted out characters into account too.

I like the challenge of playing blasters just fine the way they are, even more so after the global changes that have come down the line. Means I can find a real team in the 40's now, not bridge requests and dumpster divers. And I'll say it again myself. Hard is not equal to broken, merely different. It's why my ice/ice tank is sitting around 41 still, she's boring to play when there's no challenge involved past how many packs can I herd round the corner.

Quick pop quiz. What do Anti-matter, neuron, bobcat, shadowhunter, chimera, nightstar, siege, infernal, battle maiden, and maliase all have in common?

Every last one of them has been soloed in EB form by my ice/dev now. With the help of 4 reds and 2 to 4 purples.

The only one that defeated me was shadowhunter the second time cause he got a heal off and i wasted too much time after popping my insps. Though nightstar came close, i did need four greens for her. The rest? Total complete jokes.

Which blaster has been killed by ambush adds only three times in her entire career?

my ice/dev again, two times being malta. The third during an AE mission, 8 person team, and an ambush mid AV fight. The malta ones were a zeus fight in the daedlus arc solo, the other the end of project world wide red on the kronos map when the ambush ported on my head in a 4 person team. The Rikti EB in the RWZ nearly did, but after a quick retreat and a couple purples + greens I finished him and them off.

Sorry if I delve into snark again here, but come on, let's drop this woe is blasters we can't do a thing crap. So we can't solo an EB or an AV, umm so what? When was the last time you saw a troller do it since the purple triangles were added? When was the last time you saw a tank do it without reds and/or blues to offset the fact that otherwise the fight will take the next 72 hours? When was the last time a scrapper did it without a little extra boost to heal from a nuke or a little extra damage?

The fact that blaster can't solo AV = blaster somehow broken is a quantum leap of logic I can't follow. And the same goes for using Insps = blaster broken. Hello, we have them for a reason. And I see zero problem or zero shame in popping 4 reds and 2 purples to drop every one of those EB's. I fight with any means I can to win, and I dare you to point out any other AT player that doesn't feel the same way.

Tactics? Somehow blasters need to have a monopoly on that too? Leeroy charge in scrappers are the kind of scrappers I hate, more so the kind that just randomly attack rather then go for the boss, or have aoe attacks but no idea how to bunch up mobs for them. Tanks who have attacks that scatter before the troller lays an aoe hold, or go after that one mob and loses sight of the others are tanks I hate. Trollers who keep laying down immobs when you have a tank or blaster using knockdowns as mitigation are trollers I hate. Same for ones who can't manage their pets. Defenders who can't keep enough situational awareness to drop a debuff or heal at the right time, or ones who think it's just their job to sit back, put up bubbles then do nothing are defenders I hate. Add to that list ones who think they are blasters with buffs.

Somehow me using my holds and mitigation is taking away from my blasting? Samuel I respect your posts and your opinions, but this time you are way off base. If that was the case then we wouldn't need the entire devices set for one, a majority of the ice secondary, hotfeet, need I go on?

Not being able to use my powers to their fullest? I use nearly two full toolbars of powers pretty much full time. Adding munitions means i almost need a third. And the only time, ONLY time I couldn't pull off a fight that a scrapper or tank could have was a duel zeus titan freak tank combo. (again I blame malta here, and the fact I was too stubborn to take the slider back to heroic) The fake nemesis and devoured boss though? Heh, no contest.

Blasters are not broken just as scrappers are not easy mode (Pre IH nerf regen scrappers aside =p) I've leveled this one to 48 now with a hefty hunk of IO's, but my old 50 ar/eng? Still totally SO'ed and got there pre inventions and I9 with barely a faceplant. The only thing stopping any blaster from using their powers to the fullest is a lack of tactics, build knowledge, or imagination, not busted game mechanics and AT disparity, that's total bunk.

Given that my ice/dev tore through all of indigo's missions, and all of crimson's up to project world wide red (gonna hunt me a kronos) I really don't see any real problems with malta. In fact I go specifically for them, carnies, and the KoA because everything else is a total joke for that character now.

Granted I'm now sitting on three holds with cryo freeze on top of the two in ice/ But that doesn't stop me from keeping a row of break frees for the stun grenades. And a constant supply of purple, red, and blue for the boss level mobs. That and if I do slip up on the holds things can get ugly fast.

My only real issue is the zeus titans and their 27hp damage a second burn patch they leave after the missile barrage plasters you. That and the hp totals. Even with survellance, gun drone, three single target attacks, and BFR's damage+hold they are total beasts. And one screw up on my part had me pop 4 greens against one till I got it reheld. The common stuff though is all chumps, just keep them held before they blast you or lay gun drones, rack up the defiance, never stop shooting.

Hard as heck? Oh yes. Blasters need not apply? Hardly that. The game needs more mobs like them, not less. Though I certainly wouldn't mind a little extra exp for taking them on over the laughable high HP punching bags freakshow are. That really makes no sense to me.

Looking back through the thread now that my inner snark has calmed down (apologies for that) I realized we've covered a lot of opinions but we never got down to a why, or in a sense the how things are done. So question for the OP about your fire/fire. When you're soloing or on a team, how are you operating?

Build up and aoe blitzing? Pulling round a corner to bunch up mobs for more aoe damage? (specifically the PB ones in /fire) Making sure the tank has taunted some, or the controler getting his holds in place first? Possibly something to do more with the build then the blaster AT in general?

Just curious, maybe a lil specifics could help us pin things down. Cause currently a lot of what you said, heh I could say the same about scrappers. I love blasters and SUCK at playing them. To each their own eh?

Given that my ice/dev on rugged can solo Rikti, KoA, Malta, Nemesis, DE, CoT, or I should say pretty much anything why yes she is a tankmage already. Giving her any more damage or defense would just be unfair.

Granted yes I have 3 holds unlike a fire/fire (cryo freeze ray too in APP) But Aim + survellance + ST attack chain + gun drone = dead +1 LT before the first hold wears off. And when you make a build with zero AoE's in it besides your nuke, you learn real quick how to handle large packs, juggle holds, keep bosses locked down, keep attacking fast as possible to keep my defiance up (very brute like the new version) position myself to make sure gun drone keeps attacking, etc. It's this little thing we call skill and learning how to play ones toon.

If I see a zeus Titan in front of me, you damn well bet i'm going to pop a red or a purple, probably both before the fight. And odds are i'll need a blue to finish him off if I'm heavy on spamming Bitter freeze ray. Is this some inherent flaw in the blaster AT? No it's playing the game, it's how it works, insps are there for a reason after all.

Defiance 2.0 is a major help for me as well, just start with the fact that gun drone alone gives me a 40% boost right off the bat. Then add in the fact that spamming the ST blasts fast as possible really ups the output further.

I won't call you a whiner, but to be honest it's really sounding like you're a lousy blaster player. Which besides your stubborness to try and solo on unyielding looks to be your biggest problem, that and thinking it's the baseline for AT effectiveness when it's anything but. I'd say rugged really is closest to old school CoX before the slider was added, it's where I love to keep things.

Personally it honestly sounds like you want (no matter the diff) to just walk in, build up, and spam aoe's till everything falls down, sorry no sympathy for players who just want an I win button, that's not how blasters work, specially the powerset with the least mitigation and the biggest aggro management skills on a team. You are waiting a couple seconds for the tank to build up some taunting right?

Though my ice/dev probably could bump the slider if I wanted the risk vs reward factor between actually getting missions done vs xp from the mobs within keeps me just high enough for hard mobs and real bosses.

Just chill, turn the settings down a bit, and you'll probably do better.

Though if we were going to give blasters anything, I would have said a slight increase in the effects of pool power buffs. Like making tough or weave something approaching actually useful, or leaderships giving a slightly higher buff so i'd take them on something besides a defender.

That or fix time bomb already.

Played around with mids this afternoon, came up with an ultimate dream build, long long term planning and lots of spending.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Trianna: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Manipulation
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Electrical Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shriek

[*] (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (5) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (5) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (7) Entropic Chaos - Accuracy/Damage[/list]Level 1: Electric Fence
[*] (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun[*] (7) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (9) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (9) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (23) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (27) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[/list]Level 2: Scream
[*] (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (11) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (11) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (13) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (13) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (15) Entropic Chaos - Accuracy/Damage[/list]Level 4: Charged Brawl
[*] (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun[*] (15) Pounding Slugfest - Disorient Bonus[*] (17) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Recharge[*] (17) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Endurance[*] (19) Pounding Slugfest - Accuracy/Damage[*] (19) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[/list]Level 6: Shockwave
[*] (A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge[*] (21) Force Feedback - Recharge/Endurance[/list]Level 8: Lightning Field
[*] (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun[*] (21) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (23) Damage Increase IO[*] (25) Damage Increase IO[*] (25) Damage Increase IO[*] (27) Accuracy IO[/list]Level 10: Havoc Punch
[*] (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun[*] (29) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (29) Pounding Slugfest - Disorient Bonus[*] (31) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Recharge[*] (31) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Endurance[*] (31) Pounding Slugfest - Accuracy/Damage[/list]Level 12: Teleport Foe
[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]Level 14: Teleport
[*] (A) Range IO[/list]Level 16: Build Up
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 18: Swift
[*] (A) Run Speed IO[/list]Level 20: Health
[*] (A) Healing IO[/list]Level 22: Stamina
[*] (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (33) Performance Shifter - EndMod[*] (34) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge[*] (40) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge[*] (40) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy[/list]Level 24: Lightning Clap
[*] (A) Razzle Dazzle - Chance of Immobilize[*] (34) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Endurance[*] (34) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (36) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge[/list]Level 26: Screech
[*] (A) Razzle Dazzle - Chance of Immobilize[*] (36) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge[*] (36) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Endurance[*] (37) Razzle Dazzle - Endurance/Stun[/list]Level 28: Thunder Strike
[*] (A) Razzle Dazzle - Chance of Immobilize[*] (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (37) Obliteration - Damage[*] (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (39) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 30: Combat Jumping
[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]Level 32: Dreadful Wail
[*] (A) Razzle Dazzle - Chance of Immobilize[*] (40) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (42) Obliteration - Damage[*] (42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (42) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[*] (43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 35: Power Sink
[*] (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun[*] (43) Performance Shifter - EndMod[*] (43) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[/list]Level 38: Shocking Grasp
[*] (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (45) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (45) Pounding Slugfest - Accuracy/Damage[*] (45) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Endurance[*] (46) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Recharge[*] (46) Pounding Slugfest - Disorient Bonus[/list]Level 41: Shocking Bolt
[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge[*] (46) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (48) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Endurance/Hold[/list]Level 44: Charged Armor
[*] (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance[*] (50) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%[*] (50) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection[/list]Level 47: Surge of Power
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (48) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (48) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (50) Resist Damage IO[/list]Level 49: Static Discharge
[*] (A) Accuracy IO[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Defiance

+23.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
+23.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
+3% Defense(Smashing)
+3% Defense(Lethal)
+3% Defense(Fire)
+3% Defense(Cold)
+6.75% Defense(Energy)
+6.75% Defense(Negative)
+3% Defense(Psionic)
+3% Defense(Melee)
+4.88% Defense(Ranged)
+3% Defense(AoE)
+18% Enhancement(Accuracy)
+10% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
+4% Enhancement(Stun)
+20% FlySpeed
+180.7 HP (15%) HitPoints
+20% JumpHeight
+20% JumpSpeed
+Knockback (Mag -4)
+Knockup (Mag -4)
+MezResist(Stun) 4.4%
+8% (0.13 End/sec) Recovery
+80% (4.02 HP/sec) Regeneration
+25% RunSpeed

Till the sets fill out Just picture old school SO slotting (acc, damage, recharge) Just replace the SO's with 30 and up IO's

[ QUOTE ]
I can't believe no one else has said this one yet:

The catwalk/Fashion Show AP map from the Twilight's Son TF in Ouroboros. Me want.



[/ QUOTE ]

That's where I saw that map! Totally agree with this one.

Just rolled this one up for when my current 44 ice/dev hits 50, still toying with mids after getting her to lvl 5, but not sure what to take just yet, or what style to use (ST, cones, blapping, etc)

Between the two powersets though anything in particular I should look to take, or would be considered skipable? Powers I'm most curious about would be shockwave, lightning clap, and the viablilty of lightning field for damage with sonic's -res stacking or the chance to stun IO in the energy manipulator set. That and using it's drain plus power sink to keep mobs from reticking any end back. Or would that not be enough drain without short circuit?

Planning in the 40's to stack the elec epic pool as well. Best course or choose a different one?

Gotta speak up in defense of devices, using some examples from recent gameplay.

Smoke grenade and cloak: We were playing a friends custom mission, pack of 7-8 mobs. Drop a smoke, slip back to ice bolt's max range, plink, pull one lone mob into range of friends and gun drone, plink, repeat, plink, till nothing was left but a lone boss.

Smoke grenades debuffs aren't useful if you do things like hit with high damage attacks, or kill a minion right next to his smoked buddies. (basic pulling 101 too) But nothing I've seen, not even stealth IO's pulls as well as that power does when paired with a stealth. Cloaking device also has no movement debuff (unlike stealth) And doesn't require wasting slots, power picks, or cash on Stealth IO's. Along with the end being spent to keep a travel power running, combat jump aside.

Gun drone: Little known fact I love about this puppy. When summoned it gets EVERY buff on your blaster, including defiance bonuses and insps. And the buffs don't fade off the drone till your character loses them. That and when you get enough global recharge (through hasten or IO sets) You can get two drones out at once for about a 30 second window.

Fast forward to the imperious task force i was on last night, second to last mission, Romulus gets pulled up the hill where the team was waiting, now picture him getting wailed on by dual gun drones buffed with hasten, speed boost, red insps, and fulcrum shift. They never stopped firing and my SG leader actually complimented me on the help they were in the fight.

Web grenade: Second best tier 1 out there (I'll give #1 to chillblain) And the power that let me casually sit beside a rooted red con greater devoured. Who was trying to spit at me now and again, but had a hard time of it with the recharge debuffs and no means to melee while I devoted a barrage of ice/ blasting and holds into the fake nemesis beside him. That or you just kite one boss away from the other, problem solved till the immob wears off.

Caltrops: short of ice patch name one blaster secondary power that lets you pull a mob pack, then bunch them up nice and close for AoE's? Or a power that (like ice patch again) means no mob is getting past short of being a flyer or a warwolf. This is kinda cheating i'll admit, but my own arc uses the cargo ship map in the first mission, I knew the ambush was coming. So I dropped caltrops in the hall behind me, had time to kill 2 malta and 3 freaks, walked back through the door, the 3 mobs from the ambush were still doing the caltrops i can't get by dance. The trick is knowing to throw them, then backing up, mobs are too dumb to walk through the whole patch to try and get to you. Unlike if you stand beside the trops, then they'll be more then happy to come melee you still.

I've been trying to write a guide for ice/dev, and the hardest part was trying to find a way to explain devices, finally settled on it being the swiss army set of blasterdom. It doesn't do anything special on it's own, but what it does do is make every power in your primary that much better. Because it gives you the tools and time to use them for max effect. and it has a trick for pretty much any situation.

Is the set perfect? Heck no, time bomb is utterly useless, past threads show the jury is still out on TD (though I say it's fine as is) and trip mine while fun is a more solo then team power, you can sneak up and toe bomb by the tank, but it's tricky, time consuming, and odds are your primary could have done more damage in the time spent if it's an AoE heavy one.

But one thing devices isn't? Lousy or useless. Just a matter of knowing how to use it properly. Though sadly you still can't take a drinking straw, a rubberband, and a paperclip to build a full set of purple IO's.

Taking the build with power slotted out. Not that I'd do it this way by level, I just went down the list making sure every power had the slots it needed.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Assault Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Slug -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(5), Empty(7)
Level 1: Power Thrust -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Buckshot -- Empty(A), Empty(7), Empty(9), Empty(9), Empty(11), Empty(11)
Level 4: Build Up -- Empty(A), Empty(13), Empty(13)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 8: M30 Grenade -- Empty(A), Empty(15), Empty(15), Empty(17), Empty(17), Empty(19)
Level 10: Bone Smasher -- Empty(A), Empty(19), Empty(21), Empty(21), Empty(23), Empty(23)
Level 12: Sniper Rifle -- Empty(A), Empty(25), Empty(25), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(29)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Conserve Power -- Empty(A), Empty(29), Empty(31)
Level 18: Flamethrower -- Empty(A), Empty(31), Empty(31), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33)
Level 20: Acrobatics -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 26: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(34), Empty(36)
Level 28: Power Boost -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)
Level 30: Beanbag -- Empty(A), Empty(37), Empty(37), Empty(37), Empty(39)
Level 32: Full Auto -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 35: Boost Range -- Empty(A), Empty(42), Empty(42)
Level 38: Total Focus -- Empty(A), Empty(42), Empty(43), Empty(43), Empty(43), Empty(45)
Level 41: Body Armor -- Empty(A), Empty(45), Empty(45)
Level 44: Surveillance -- Empty(A), Empty(46), Empty(46), Empty(46)
Level 47: LRM Rocket -- Empty(A), Empty(48), Empty(48), Empty(48), Empty(50), Empty(50)
Level 49: Ignite -- Empty(A), Empty(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance


Works out well, you have the space for all your attacks getting 6 slots, (minus power thrust) all your buffs having enough slots for three recharges, you can three slot health and stamina for the max bonuses with SO's or generic IO's, and there's three slots or more for body armor. Depending on if you want resists, or you can pluck a few slots from surveillance for a full set bonus.

That aside some alternate thoughts to consider.

#1 Hurdle over swift, you are taking the leaping pool.

#2 Switch out m30 for beanbag, you'll want it and need it a lot eariler then 30, any damage mitigation blasters can get is happy mitigation. Specially when you start running into the mezzing mobs like tsoo ink men and council vamps, nail them before they nail you. Where beanbag would be at level 30, add in hasten. With both stamina and conserve power in the build endurance shouldn't be an issue, and it gets conserve up that much faster.

#3 Do consider burst being added, bumping the 1-10 picks down a notch, and dropping sniper rifle to do so.

#4 If you want the med pool, replace out sniper rifle and conserve power. Cause a power boosted aid self really is a downtime saver, and conserve power really isn't as good as it used to be.

#5 I still say force or cold is the better epic pick, but if you are dead set on munitions, then consider picking up cryo freeze over surveillance, then ignite at level 49. Freeze em, then BBQ them. Also see above opinion on how held/stunned mobs are also mobs not hitting back.

I'm of the school of thought that every blaster should have acrobatics, period. Not for the hold resist mind you (though that's handy) But virtually every single high level group, notably Rikti, malta, and nemesis, has a means to knock you on your butt way too much. Out of all my blasters i've been killed more trying to recover from knockbacks and knockdowns then I ever have holds, that's what break frees are for.

Ignite...meh unlike what my badly needing to be updated guide says, it's totally skipable now if they did put it on a 20 sec recharge.

Boost Range = must have, makes your cones go from lethal to godly with what they can hit, specially full auto.

Med pool: Either, aid self is the real jewel, whatever you pick ahead is merely filler.

Epic pool: If you want to go heavy melee with /EM then pick up the force pool. Force of nature makes you a killing machine with the energy attacks, and gives you the resists to stand toe to toe with bosses and most AV's. If you prefer ranged combat look into cold. Power boost ups the defense on frozen armor further, snow storm is great damage mitigation, hoarfrost is an instant 30% hp boost, and hibernate is hands down a great way to recharge in a pinch. Don't bother with munitions, you don't need LRM for more damage, and cryo freeze doesn't have anything to stack with. Given the amount of attacks you will have odds are everything will be dead before you could hold them anyway.

Accolades: with the exception of geas of the kind one, most are toys or trinkets (crey cryo gun comes to mind) Though go for any that offer end or hp boosts, every bit helps.

My ice/dev has freeze ray and bitter freeze ray with basilik's 4 slotted, then 2 lockdowns for the 3% damage boost.

About skipping power boost. Don't. It's not just AR's piddily -def it boosts, but also many other powers, such as any heal you take, any def boosts you get from epic armor later on, the stun durations in beanbag and the EM attacks, and probably a few others i'm missing.

To steal a favorite trick from my guide power boost paired with aid self (if you have the room) Is a great way to fill in one status defense hole. What most people miss is the fact that aid self heals and gives a stun resist for a short time. Which Combat jump (immobs) and acrobatics (holds + knockback) don't cover.

Seen my Ar/eng with that up take a malta stun grenade (high level mob in the 40+ range for our newer OP) To the face and keep on fighting. As opposed to the usual walking in a daze for way too long. Put that with the fact power boost also makes Aid self's heal recover over half the HP bar in one shot, and it's even better.

It's a can't miss power in /EM if you ask me.

Just because I'm feeling bored and love throwing out random ideas, what if timebomb, or trip mine for that matter acted like the bombs the cim engineers have? Chuck it for a boom and a burn patch? Like an oil slick arrow without the whole needing to set it off error issues.

That or we could just replace it with poison gas trap, i'm game either way.

Hehe well first off welcome to CoX for starters, and enjoy the ride. That and don't worry too much about being that mythical best, take what you want, try things out, find your own style, most importantly have fun. That's what games are for after all.

On topic though what FF said is a good way of looking at it. My only real difference of opinion comes from being a more in your face type. So I love the damage build up does with bone smasher and energy punch in early levels. Pop a red and a purple insp with it and it's "what boss?" That and I'd say no matter the build, beanbag is just too good to pass up, the synergy between it and power boost alone. makes it a great way to keep annoying mobs out of a fight from beginning to 50. Always mezz them before they mezz you. Total focus on top of it for boss stunning is just pure gold.

[ QUOTE ]
Which i don't think anyone would complain having those powers lose a lot of their defiance if targetting drone gave a constant damage buff.

[/ QUOTE ]

No But as others said I would complain about the fact that TD would have to lose some of the acc bonus, otherwise it would be overpowered even in a set like devices. And like the cloak changes to add a stealth strike it's trying to shoehorn the set into something it's not meant to be.

Is it stupid that TD only gives a bonus to AR snipe? Yes no disagreement. But acc and damage and +perception in one power? Let's not try to turn it into the old smoke grenade here.

[ QUOTE ]
And its not the animation that gives gun drone the high defiance boost, well partially, but its mostly its insanely long recharge when trying to use it in that fashion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since my ice/dev is pulling off this plan. Gun drone with three 35 IO recharge + any three large global recharge bonuses (three entropic chaos sets in my case) = perma drone. Throw in hasten and a few more bonuses and you can get two up at once for a few seconds. Pricy but doable.

I get the feeling this is probably due to two big issues. An old as dirt CPU (1.8 gig processor) and an older ATI card. (radeon 9250) But either way I'm having issues getting the MA builder to work for me at all.

Specifically every time I try to pick a different character, or anything that causes an animation to start up, the end result is my HD chugging, and a 30+ second lag time on my computer before i can even click the stop animation button, or cycle to the next one. And that's if I click one, and don't move the pointer at all during those 30 seconds. Also the characters in the animation window are so tiny I can't even tell what they look like. That and if I try to bring up the whole list of characters instead of cycling, my computer hardlocks on me.

Tried AE stations in crowded areas, deserted zones, quiet room, main room. Same problems every time and it's kinda frustrating not being able to use the big feature of I14. Any way to resolve it, or am i doomed till I finally upgrade the computer?

Don't know if this is a result of having an older computer, or maybe a radeon card instead of an nvidia, but the MA system is totally unusable for me as is.

All the characters come up as tiny and unseeable when I look through them. Also when I tried to pick an animation for a captive hostage every time i cycle it (say from cowering to something else) my comp goes into total slowdown when the animations on the right start. Everything gets jerky, and it takes a good 15-30 seconds to try and cycle to the next animation, or click the stop animation button to get things back to normal. When I tried to click the list directly to bring up all the choice, it hardlocked my computer to the point where i had to manually shut it down.

Tried AE stations in AP, crash site, IP, quiet room and non, same problem everywhere, and it's a little frustrating cause it'sm aking it impossible to create anything. Any ideas how to fix it?

From the perspective of my current level 37 ice/dev I honestly don't see why devices takes such a bad rap, short of making the mistake of pairing it with AR. As one of the above posters said if you take ar/anything or anything/dev it's gonna be a lot better. But this toon? soloing I had to bump the slider up to level 4 before I even had anything remotely approaching a challenge. And that's flying through missions nonstop without taking minutes to lay trip mine fields. Though it is fun to bash the occasional pack with a toebomb ice storm combo, with caltrops on top for extra giggles. But going down the list.

Web grenade: Out of the box you're looking at an instant -50% recharge -50% run speed, and if you believe mids a -10 fly (Chillblain is -1.6) along with a -50000% jump height (which chillblain totally lacks) WG not stackable? So what? I can keep a freak tank or any boss perma immob'ed, debuffed with SG, sitting in trops and ice stom for dot's, and attacking maybe 2-3 times with their much weaker ranged attacks while ice bolt, blast, and BiB wail on them. And that's before you throw in freeze ray if i felt like it.

Caltrops: bottle up any doorway, hide out of line of sight, fire ice storm or any targetted aoe that doesn't need LoS, lure mobs into nice tight group for your team, laugh, repeat. That or just keep a nice bit of distance between the harder hitting mobs and you.

Taser: Didn't take, can't offer opinions, have considered respec'ing out of trip mine for it though now that it's ranged, reasons below.

TD: Ok i'll concede that it could use a little love, but giving it a damage boost? No thank you, I get the feeling i'd have to trade off too much acc for that knowing the devs, and it's the acc + debuff resists that i like. Even with no slots in it but 1 end reducer i've stopped missing against +2's. That's without double acc slotting in my blasts now. Maybe let it boost more then AR's snipe, say a snipe from any powerset, but more damage is not the solution to all the worlds problems, specially for a device player.

Smoke grenade: The biggest flaw in the whole SS + IO = stealth arguement is this. That's a stealth centered on you, which goes away when you attack, which means you tend to attract more attention even as a good stealth puller. SG on the other hand is such a -per debuff that you take a pack of mobs and if you're smart about it pull them all but one at a time. Or not have to worry about nearby mobs wandering close enough to notice and bringing more adds. The to hit debuff is just icing on the cake compared to the pulling ability this power brings.

Cloaking: no movement reduction unlike pool stealth, no combat supression unlike a travel + IO duo, across the board 3.5% def boost, and paired with combat jump you've got a quick 5% def plus the immob resist goodness. And that's before you take into account the ability to set up dev goodies close as you want to the mobs before being seen, or simply play games with SG and point blank trip mines.

Trip mine: Love it, love it, love it, great aoe kaboom, and if you happen to just leave a couple laying around each tacks on an extra boost to defiance. The only reason i'd consider ditching it for taser though is I'm plowing through mobs too fast solo. It's easier for me to use my ice attack chain to flatten everything then take the time to mine lay. Stealth and sneaky games are going to be less of an issue when I have gun drone for extra damage output. That and devices has all the tricks to make bosses a total non issue. But reasons i'd keep it? Teaming, no rule saying you can't sneak up beside the tank, drop one into his herd, then drop back and watch the fireworks. Did so to great effect in a simple three man group. And since my only other aoe is ice storm or blizzard, really amped the damage output. That and it's just a FUN power, and isn't that why we play games in the first place?

Time bomb: Here i'll agree, it's useless, it needs a lot of love, or a tweak to make it something approaching useful, if you could set it off yourself like the oil slick/blazing arrow duo a TA/arch defender has (maybe with a trip mine beside it) that alone would make it better. But right now, yeah it kinda sucks.

Gun drone: give me one more level, hehe between the global recharge set bonuses i'm getting (three full entropic chaos in all three single target ice attacks) and hasten, keeping one perma is cake. We'll see how I feel about it further soon enough.

Anyway, rambling take on the powers aside, dev offers great options for any blaster looking for more control and a different way of doing things, after all if all we needed was damage everyone would be something/fire, and we all know what a real winner that set is right? [/sarcasm]