Frozen_Burn

I have an Ice/Fire blaster too... LOVE him! But Ice Storm is something that I've never found much use for. The damage output is iffy since half of it is lethal damage (other being cold) and most mobs resist lethal. The slow debuff, the casting time, and the somewhat middle-of-the-road damage is not that useful for me and my playstyle with this particular blaster. I'd rather cast a BU + Aim + Blizzard + blue insp + Consume and go on to the next mob.

However, I do keep the power in my build (single slotted with rech) for fun and for the times I'm teamed with a kin--then it becomes a mini-nuke without the end crash and it's up more often.

On my Storm/Ice defender, however, I have 6-slotted the power and placed the Rag KD proc, Posi proc, and Impeded Swiftness proc in it and I use the power as often as I can along with Freezing Rain and Blizzard.

...So it's really up to you, your playstyle, concept, or whatever you feel like in whether it's a good power for you or not.

Time Bomb seems to be one of the most skipped powers in the /Devices set. And understandably so with 9s of casting (8s interruptable) and 12s of a delay in its detonation (21s from button click to explosion). It is very hard (and sometimes impossible) to time it for an effective detonation in a team setting and when solo, it just adds more to the already slow moving set.

In a team setting, I typically have to stealth ahead of the team 2-3 mobs in front of them in order to have enough time to drop the Time Bomb before the team shows up. Otherwise, the team will either: 1) scatter the mob making the explosion useless; 2) causes AoEs that interrupt me; or 3) completely eliminate the mob before the Time Bomb explodes.

Solo, sure you can stealth in, drop it, and wait the 21s for the "nuke" level damage to devastate the mob... but other blasters can stealth in and "nuke" a mob with Inferno, Nova, Blizzard, Thunderous Blast, and etc in only 3s-4s. But that's a PRIMARY "nuke" vs. a SECONDARY "nuke"... so I'm ok with a longer cast time to keep the damage high on Time Bomb however, 9s is still FAR too long.

A suggestion for a fix to this power and to make it more useable in a team setting (and solo) is to make the Time Bomb a "Detonation Bomb." Instead of dropping it and waiting for it to go off, you can drop it and then click a button to set it off when you want to. The mechanics are already in the game to accomplish this: Drop a pet, and then "dismiss" it, at which time it blows up doing damage. You could click the button once for casting, and then click it a 2nd time for detonating when you're ready for it to go off--instead of when IT wants to go off.

But it should also have a 7s cast (6s interrupt) instead of the 9s it currently is (this would be fair on the whole and in-line with other changes I've sugegsted with other powers in the /Devices set in other threads). 9s is just too long to viably use in a team setting... 7s is still long enough towarrant the damage of a secondary powerset "nuke", but also short enough to make it more useable.

This would also be more in-line with the "ambush"-iness of Trip Mines and Caltrops by setting up everything ahead of time and pulling your enemies to trap. When the minions and lieutenants clear your Trip Mine field, you have your "Detonation Bomb" ready for the bosses (or EBs).

In a team setting, this would also eliminate having to guess and "time" the explosion with your team's actions (which is near impossible) and you can "detonate" it when it's best for you and your team.

I also think this would be more appealing to other players and people might actually start taking the power.

...for the love of all that's good in this world, PLEASE fix:

Gun Drone!

1. Gun Drone keeps moving into melee range of its target--it never used to do that! I've been playing /Devices for years and have always enjoyed it and dealt with the lower damage output on the whole in a team setting because it takes too long to set up the devices, but now that Gun Drone flies into melee range and dies a WHOLE lot faster, my damage output is now WAY less than what it was and FAR less than other blasters with different secondaries.

First of all... /Devices is SO slow to use because of the long cast times of Gune Drone, Time bomb, and Trip mine... and those are the damage powers of the set! Yes, they do high/extreme damage, but they're no good if you can't use them because you're always interuppted or the team has destroyed the mobs before you finish casting the powers! /Devices doesn't get a "Build Up" type of power so we need all the damage we can get out of the GD, TB, and TM.

In a team setting, the mob is usually cleared before the Gun Drone can really do anything. Yes, you made it so the Gun Drone can fly to the next mob (thank you!) but 10s-15s of the GD's life span is eaten up by traveling (or more, depending) and then in the new mob, it charges into melee and gets itself killed (or times out) and I have to spend another 7s casting and waiting for another one to start shooting (after an additional 2s delay) and... now the 2nd mob is already defeated by my teammates! ...and the horrible cycle starts over again and I never get any really good use out of the Gune Drone.

AV/EB fights were always a perfect time to cast GD since the fights lasted longer and you could get really great use out of it and it KIND OF made up for it being useless going from mob to mob. But with AVs/EBs being more powerful (as they should be) AND the Gun Drone flying into melee range, the GD dies in 1 or 2 shots and is once again useless--and thusly my damage output on the whole as a blaster is FAR less than the damage output of other blasters with a different secondary.

In solo settings, you tend to set up ambushes with Trip Mines, Time Bomb, and Caltrops (which I enjoy!), but it's very difficult to use the Gun Drone because it takes SO long to cast and you're always interrupted. If you set it up ahead of time (before mob aggro), it ruins the "pull" to my Trip Mine/Caltrop ambush because it flies into melee range (and usually gets me killed). And trying to spawn it AFTER I engage the mob is impossible since I'm constantly being interrupted.

Fixing Gun Drone to stop going into melee and getting itself quickly killed is a HUGE fix for this set.

2. The cast time of Gun Drone is also WAY too long. Always has been. 7s for casting (6s is interruptable) and then for some reason there is another 2s before the guns actually start shooting (even when it has immediately locked onto a target after spawning). That's 9s before any damage is done by the Gun Drone. This is FAR too long. It should be 5s max from button push to the bullets flying (so if you can't eliminate that 2s delay after it spawns and before it actually starts shooting, then make the cast time 3s). ...And then Trip Mine should be 3s cast and Time Bomb 7s cast--I think that is a balanced and fair assessment.

3. The Endurance cost of Gun Drone is WAY too high. Always has been. Costing 39end to cast is absurd--especially with 6s of being interrupted and EVERY time you're interrupted you spend that endurance ...for nothing! You can completely drain your end bar after a few failed castings. That is ridiculous! Please, lower the endurance cost of this power and/or make it so that you only spend the endurance upon a successful casting.

Summary:

So basically, the GD has very little use right now. And I can't in good conscience tell anyone to take this power... which I hate, because I love what it was and what it could be... but now it's just not worth it.

Please fix it so Gun Drone does not fly into melee range anymore (begging/pleading).

Suggestion: please lower the endurance cost of summoning Gun Drone and please re-evaluate the cast times of the only 3 real damage dealing powers in the set Gun Drone, Trip Mine, and Time Bomb.

Chrysame, it all depends on what your playstyle and what you want to do with your blaster.

If you tend to be in melee range a lot, then fighting pool could be good. Hasten is always good for any build, IMO. Leadership is always good, but not necessary. You could also pick up the medecine pool, if that's your thing... Aid self is always handy.

With my Arch/Dev/Munitions blaster, I play at range (even when I'm ambushing with trip mines and time bomb) and I went for a VERY recharge heavy build so I can have more Rain of Arrows and Gun Drone! But, I'm very squishy as I have very little defenses... but not too much of an issue when I kill things quickly.

I added in Taser, Smoke Grenade, and Combat Jumping. All 1 slotted except for Taser, which I pulled 4 slots out of Surveillance so I could 5-slot Taser with Stupefy IOs for more +rech and a LotG +Rech in CJ. Plus Taser stacks nicely with Stunning Shot for bosses (which you probably already know) and CJ gives me some immob protection too.

I already had hover and fly as I usually rain death from above when teamed and it keeps melee'ers off me. Teams usually kill too quickly for me to really set up any mines, unless I stealth ahead a few mobs. Hover is also a great place for another LotG +rech IO.

But anyway, again... it's all up to you and your playstyle as to what to take.

I would love to join this if there is room for my Ice/Fire Blaster. Just let me know. Thanks.

@Frozen Burn

I whole heartedly agree with StratoNexus. Especially seeing the numbers compared to Fiery Aura like that.

I also feel that if Electric Manipulation can have Power Sink recharge in 1 minute (unslotted) and be auto-hit, some changes can (and should) be made to Fire Manipulation's Consume to have it recharge faster.

Talking about toggles in the sets, Elec Manip only has 1 and is paired with a fast recharge auto-hit power for end recovery (PS); Fire Manip has 2 (and an extremely heavy 2 as StratoNexus mentioned above) and is paired with a slow recharge end-recovery power (Consume) that requires a to-hit check. Why is Fire Manip's Consume getting such a raw deal like this?

The radius on Consume is 20ft compared to PS's 12ft - which is fine! Hot Feet makes makes foes run away from you and the larger radius is fine whereas Lightning Field doesn't make things run away and foes tend to tighten in on you so the shorter range with PS is fine.

FM's Consume needs a faster recharge. Plain and simple.