TrainRobber

I think it will quickly be relegated to rarely played. Non IO'd blasters will find Soul Drain a death trap. I think it will only really be reliable end game on fully IO'd out blasters, or on teams with strong aggro control. Even then, outside a few sets, it wont mesh very well most blasters attacks. Everyone seems to like to talk about melee blasters, but aside from a challenge or oddity approach, they simply cannot compete with scraps or brutes, for either survivability or damage close in. I love blasters, but they have painted them into a corner on what they allow in the secondaries, and I dont think any of the choices will be appealing.

I would take DB. The combos can be frustrating, but on WP, it wont be too bad. I think DB thrives in the middle of lots of mobs, you focus on the boss, while whittling away the minions as a side effect of your combos, the KD will aid in keeping WP upright. Thats considering you take both final combos. I think if you skip 1k cuts, you might as well go Claws. I actually like 1K both visually and for the sweep combo, if you dont, I think that Claws is the better choice.

SM/Fire is kinda fun too. I dont think its as good, but I actually enjoy playing him, so I use him for everything now. For me, he is more versatile. If you are just farming tickets, not sure I would even bother with anything besides a lowbie Claws/Fire.

I dont think it hampers effectiveness, but I found it annoying enough that I permantly shelved my Claws/Fire after reaching 50. I think some redraw just rubs me wrong. I mean I have a DP/TA for goodness sake, which is tons worse and I dont mind it at all.

I will say its a stupid powerfull combo, but for some reason, the redraw on it killed the fun for me, and I cant really even understand why myself. Then again it just might be claws for me, I have deleted every claws I have made, and not because they lack effectiveness.

I can only speak to WM and Stone as I have only briefly tried Axe. I do like some of the axes though.

I have an equal lvl WM and Stone brute at the moment on different servers. I think they are both fun, and I find them both effective. If I play them seperatly, I kind of feel they are similar, when I play one right after the other, I always go away thinking I should delete the WM as I just think the Stone Melee is more fun (not more effective really, just more fun). It just feel superheroish.

I think TheBruteSquad summed up my feelings about it pretty well.

Nice build, Its lots more expensive than mine with the glad, but aside from price, I think its better, though I would miss boost range.

Should be very sturdy. I wonder if the increased s/l defense, is superior than having aid self. Definatly more fire and forget, which is nice for continous blasting.

I use both spiritual and the recharge proc. On big mob counts, I can nearly chain Blast and Torrent. If you blap more, then you likely dont care about that style of play.

If you care less about having your AOE's up more, then I would double proc them atleast, as you can get alot of mileage out of that. I previously had mine double procced with Posi and the Explosive procs and found that very nice also. I think the recharge proc, vs a damage proc in them is purely a play style choice.

If you can squeze it in, the damage proc in your tier one blast is amazing. I couldnt fit it in for my ranged defense build, but on my other build I had it, and it is amazing on attack you use so often.

So what did you go with, ranged or S/L for your defense?

I think traps and Rad suffer from the same issue, on fast moving teams, neither is used much. I know, the traps guys will jump up and say they run in first, lay traps, blah blah. I havent been on a higher lvl team in a while that the traps guy woulld even get his first trap out before the mobs were down. Static fights are similar, except against aoe hitting big targets, your traps can go blewey, along with your shield. Thats not saying traps isnt great on some things, or even better than Rad in some ways, but I find it cumbersome on fast teams.

I would take the corr version. I think DP is sad for single target, and scourge helps there, more than the new defender inherent or its higher shield value.

In the end, its personnel choice on these two, as I dont think there is enough difference to really push one as a clear favorite.

A last note, on small teams, running difficult missions, where your kill speed is down, I think traps shines and is really a fun set to play, I just dont run into that scenario much myself, though I have on a couple occasions with my traps/dp and it was fun to have fort fights.

I agree with Jim, though to be honest, with range capped defense, -1 and most any player settings will not be an issue. Neither will +2/1, which is about the same really as far as difficulty. The same mobs that are troublesome for everyone are still tough. I think at 50 I still have the worst time with Malta, though the danger of sappers and gunslingers is greatly reduced, as neither hit very often. I actually dont worry about the sappers much at this point.

Carnies have really become pretty easy for the most part, as once the minions are dispensed with, the mistresses are not that hard if you have ranged defense, as the summons are ranged attackers.

Tight quarters is a challenge at times, as you dont want to get surrounded in melee range with only ranged defense.

I dont blap like you want to, but I do use bone crusher at times, usually for fun, or against a boss once in while.

I would say consider the force feedback proc in your AOE's if you plan to play on higher player settings, it makes tearing through minions and lts easy peasy. I would go so far as to say, with those procs, Nrg is the most effective AOE blaster solo, and maybe even teamed. If they changed KB to KD, I think it would be no contest. In todays game style, Ill take Nrg's fast animating aoe's over fires one good, one bad one any time.

If its your thing, you can even bring him to the ambush farms with high cielings and simply fire away with impunity. Mine is not much slower than my ss/fire on lower difficulty settings, and if you are farming for tickets, that is the way to go anywya.

Well dont I feel silly not reading his third comment carefully before posting.

I like the brute, I have them both. Too many runners with the Scrapper. Fury works wonders with Blazing Aura. More hit points, better healing with Healing Flames and Siphon Life. Burn is so good, that I think of it as my best attack, and use Dark to support it.

I dont like Brutes for everything, and am anxious for Mace coming to blue side, but for this combo, I think the Brute wins out.

Seems the poster wants to take on groups. DB is a perfect fit for WP. No interupting clicks, and its mitigation helps WP from getting big alphas. The way I play DB is to target the boss, and then run the last two combos, against him. What that gets you is solid single target attack, while at the same time, taking out the minions around you. You can always just run attack vitals if you are fighting one boss. So you get very strong AOE, while still focusing a solid single target chain with mitigation.

Toss in Shadow Meld, and you will have a very robust character. I played like that with my DB/Regen, SM to take the alpha, then run the combo's. The boss would usually fall shortly after the main group was down.

I cant imagine playing this game with anything remotely single target oriented now, unless you are a AV soloer.

Something besides fire. Not because its not good, but because I think of Burn. Burn is just too good not to use, yet in my opinion breaks the flow of DB's too much. Between Healing Flames and Burn, I think you lose out on the strength of DB. Everyone has their opinions how to play things, but for me, I like the second two combo's for general play, and I think Fire would break that flow. I have a DB/Regen, and all the Regens clicks just took the fun out at the end, even though he was a great ride to 50. Fire, will be nearly as clicky, though more offensive, still disrupting.

I think I would go Electric. Recovery, increased recharge, a heal. Works nice against the end game content. When I play /fire, I tend to play a primary that wont get in Burns way, when I play DB, I play a secondary that doesnt get in its way.

GL

So what set is best of Psy powers, Im thinking of either a Elec/Psy Dom or a Pys/MM blaster, Im partial to blasters, but it looks a bit stronger on the Dom side of the world.

Defenders are too low on damage for my tastes, so they are out.

Thoughts?

Oh, this is a team based character, so facing Pys resistant mobs, will not be problematic.

Blaster.

I still dont see anything putting out the heat like they do. Most of the other big hitters are situational. With nearly zero set up, Blasters are ready to pour it on. I know corrupters, brutes and doms get the aoe love, but they are usually slower at doing the job, tougher, but slower. I play regularly with a brute player and corr player. When I ask what to bring, they always want the same from me, damage and that means my blaster.

For farming, Blasters arent as good, but for missioning, running from spawn to spawn, with little or no set up or positioning, Blasters really fill the screen with Orange.

I would say Rad/Fire or for lots more safety and utility Sonic/MM

The other advantage of swap ammo is you can use two nice procs from the knockback sets, without the problem of having KB. I think pistols is fun grouped, solo, can be painful I think.

When I grouped I see a flurry of orange numbers and feel like Im the man, solo, nothing is dying and I realize Pistols is a little soft on crime and the mobs doing it Im trying to stop.

Fire is stronger ST target and AOE. Ice is of course safer. I think the game has evolved into a much more AOE oriented style of play. Solo its a great set, teamed, you may at times feel like you are not contributing as much as others. Single target of course has its place, but less than before I feel. Its still a great set, but probably overshadowed by others, except for solo play on a low players setting, which it will still excel at.

PVP, shruggs, didnt know COX had PvP. smile.

Nice Fulmens.

I deleted my Stone/El. Didint like him. He is reborn as a Stone/Fire which is more to my likeing and a better fit with who I play with.

He is lvl locked at 25 until I get all my reactives (getting close) and either all my smashings or if I get ambitious Kinetics. I was rolling bronze 15-19 for my Reactives and am flooded with Karma and Steadfast KB protection and the Steadfast def unique. I am inclined to let him go to lvl 35 so I can get Tremor, but I am determined to stay the course on outfitting him. On the plus side, he is pretty strong already for a lvl 25 character as I fill in his sets, so on teams, he is loads of fun. Something to be said for stepping away from the trials and playing the rest of the game.

I look at characters differently now. Though I rarely have played my lvl 50's exemplered down, its fun to look at what powersets mature early, and how you can build them to be pretty darn good at the lower lvls.

Anyway, between the occasional trial with my blaster and now these low lvl projects, I have been having more fun than I had for a long time. Its kinda like Diablo now, farming for uniques or sets, because most times, influence, wont buy what I need, because no one is selling it.

Uncle,

If I, an old, stubborn and not to informed guy can farm AE tickets with my blaster at the rate of about 9000 tickets per 30 minutes, you can too! Thats just me having fun with my blaster who I love.

You can make a ticket farmer in about 5 minutes. Make a claws/fire brute, only farm the lvl 1 missions.

As for the OP, maybe just a less lofty goal as Fulmens has suggested. Heck, on most teams, you can have SO's and be about as good as anyone. I think the power builds only really shine solo, teamed, shruggs. My one power build (nobody here would even begin to call it that) is my blaster who is ranged capped with a stealth proc and now two Force feedbacks. I built him for about 300mil, which seems crazy to me. I am sitting on close to 3 billion now and have no idea what to do with it. Im obsessed with cheap builds that are at near full effectiveness at lvl 25 now, so I farm for the recipes, because there are none for sale.

My biggest win yesterday during a farming session, was on a lark entering my first costume contest. A cool 25mil for honorable mention!

Oh, all my money is made just selling what I find or turn in tickets for. I dont bother crafting or even trying to make the highest possible. I have got burned a couple times, selling a recipe worth 15 million and getting 1k. Happened yesterday. lol.

Takes some special insanity to post your new found purple for 100. smile.

The latter, which makes me think you could get to the soft cap on ranged with a bit of tweaking, Im not able to look at mids on this computer.

My theory is this, especially after saying what you did about how you play. After the initial scattering, you focus on single target blapping to take them down. So if it works like I think you are stating, you are in melee range of one mob ideally, and several mobs are close, yet still out of melee range. So my thinking is, range defense is still superior, as most mobs will be now attacking via their ranged attacks. The mob you face in melee, will go down pretty quickly, or be incapacitated, so you are relatively safe there. Another thing to think about is, that at times, melee is simply death for blasters, no matter what defense you choose, in some of those cases, ranged defense and hovering, can keep you alive and out of harms way.

Of course, all my advice comes from a bias towards ranged play, and a player who is more determined to blap, my contradict or have other opinions on what you should do.

I run them together on my blaster. It accounts for 6.2% of my ranged defense, between the defense of the powers and zephyr. Saves me from Immobs, and I run the stealth proc in Hover. I actually dont see the reason for SS/Stealth. I never have issues with the trials now with softcapped Defense and the stealth proc. With boost range, you can stay out of aggro range of the mobs guarding crates or acids on Lam, and just blast them away. If I end up on a team that does not stay together, I just go find a crate or acid and destroy them, move to the next. I think futzing about with SS is a pain, and is just an endurance suck. For most blaster sets, I cant see near invisibility of ss/stealth combo is really needed.

I think it will be frustrating to be honest. I think Nrg primary works at odds in supporting Nrg secondary. The opposite is not true. I think it may be better to concentrate on ranged defense, use your primary for mitigation, then swoop in to blap on the downed mobs, or after scattering them with Torrent and Blast, move in and blap on target. Selective blapping as system, is more easily survivable, as opposed to blapping as your primary attack method.

Ranged capped defense is also very affordable on an Nrg/Nrg, while still giving you your nuke, all ranged attacks, aid self and a hard hitting blap of your choice. In a mixed setting, you will also get mezzed less, so capping range, also give you the dual benifit of ghetto mez protection.

I liken Regen to being a blaster. Not in survivability, though maybe their is a correlation for some sets, but play style. I like my blaster, because it takes active mitigation to stay alive, much like regen. On my blaster, in tough fights (not impossible fights) I am often staring at my powers, waiting for some key power to come back up, or for my chance to KB to finally hit. Regen to me is much the same, using my primary to help keep me standing, praying one of my clicks is about to come up. Is this balance, shruggs, I dont know, but its different. I think Regen is just fun, but frustrating. I think its always fun to play, edge of your seat kinda action, I think its frustrating to play alongside another set, and watch them just stand there and swing away, without really seeming to be in danger.

Its really playstyles to me. Do you enjoy the challenge of building a very tough character, then take him out and not have to be very attentive to play him effectively, or do you want to build your regen best you can and then run, out, and find some fun in trying to just keep upright with the tools you have, even though probably inferior?

I have three lvl 50 Scrappers I have not deleted, and I guess another 3 or so that were sent to oblivian. I have or had invul, wp, regen twice, sr and electric. I only play the regen still, though I find him likely the least sturdy character I have. In the high lvl content, I find him inferior, but fun. My first power scrapper at the time, was my DM/SR, hated the ride there, got him capped, had fun being nigh unkillable for about a week, then havent played him since, I would rather watch paint dry than take him out.

So Im anxious for regen, I dont like melee as much as ranged, but I will have a SM/Rgen as soon as its out, and likely, just as I do with my DB/Rgen (terrible matched set) be cursing that my clicks are too slow, the WP I play with never faceplants like I do, and why did I do this too myself again he will never be good.

I think it's pretty safe to say its not as tough as a lot of other sets in the end, but it gives a different play style, and for me, that is enough. Some people are just weird (like myself) and while we envy the power sets of all AT's, we just dont seem to fit in playing them, so we play regen, Stone Melee, Energy blasters and Trick arrow characters.

The melee attacks are definetly riskier. The mobs you named are also pretty tough hombres. I think you can still use your melee attacks, but you must be more selective and much more careful at your lvl than you were earlier. I dont blap much at all, though I did add Bone Smasher back into my latest blaster build, and I find myself using it. Since you are EM, you can also liberally use Power Thrust, which I always do when something gets close. I am capped to range and play at range nearly always, but I do sneak in for a quick hit once in a while. Im Nrg/Nrg, so I often have time to hit something as it stands back up.

In melee, you are probably already doing this, but hitting Power Thrust and queing up one of your other melee hitters gives a better degree of safety at time.

The late game is definetly tougher, if you like the character, you may want to look into increasing either your ranged defense, or your Smashing/Lethal if you want to melee more, its helps alot.

Looking at the tables, Im not sure if I should take the slightly better odds of 20-24 and go for the reactives and haymakers, and try to buy the LoG for bronze, or just continue with my 25-29 rolls. Terrible luck with the haymakers, actually getting twice as many LoG pieces through silver and bronze. No real luck on the reactives either. Not like my sample so far is very big. I have bids in for the lvl 25 stuff of each, but not much moving or available so far. Could be a long process.