TwoHeadedBoy

Looks like a fine build, but could use some work. You don't need E Drain AND Ebon Eye slotted since your two best options for ST chains use either one or the other. I prefer E Drain myself even though that chain does slightly less damage since I get the stream of HP without having to drop my DPS to use stygian circle.

I don't slot e drain for any additional healing but I also have wider coverage defense-wise than you do. I slot G Well w/ 5 Hecatombs (all but the proc) and the UC smashing proc on the end so that I can use the Hecatomb proc in E Drain. This gives me a purple proc in every attack in my ST chain.

Armageddon (or at least the proc) is better suited in OD than Mire since the purple Fire proc will help your damage much more there.

Your Stygian Circle is very over-slotted, I say 4 slots max if you have them to spare in order to get the set bonuses from Perf. Shifter. I one slot it with an end mod/rech on my build and that's enough for me. You definitely never need to slot it for healing.


I'm really worried about your endurance for single target fights. You have minimal end reduction slotting in your toggles, you'll be sucking wind pretty easily in soloing or Team vs AV scenarios, which happen a lot especially during the end game (or if you're just trying to god mode the game by yourself. Human Shades are great for that.)


The toxic damage proc would be better in S Blast than the slow smashing proc, toxic is very rarely resisted, plus it looks cooler.

I suggest swapping those IO's out of your tp powers and the aegis IO out of G Shield. You should be able to save a slot with the latter, your eclipse is already capping the hell out of S/L so you can toss your Glad Armor in there. The goal for the former is to try and squeeze 12 points of KB protection into your build, it's nice to have and especially easy to get if you're taking Dwarf for mules anyways.

If you're going to exemp, I think you should just make a second cheap tri form build. Forms are best for pre-Eclipse levels, and that means your end game human build won't need to waste power choices on those resistance toggles. I personally have all of my positional defenses a small purple from the softcap so I find that if there aren't enough targets to cap my Eclipse (I cap everything w/ 5 targets, that's the best goal to set yourself) I don't need to worry about using it anyways. You won't have that luxary against non s/l attacks but I still don't think the resistance toggles are needed when you're missing out on stuff...


Last but not least, you're missing a couple of powers that I consider "must haves." The first one is Grav Emanation. Inky Aspect does just fine one-slotted so once you drop those res toggles you can sup Emanation in and have slots for it easily. The second one is Provoke. A Human Shade is one of the most ungodly survivable things in the game, and it's a great shame to build one that can't tank.

You're also missing Dark Detonation, which is a definite "nice to have" and bordering on "must have" as soon as the -KB proc comes out. For one, it's an extra AOE attack- AOE is the only weakish department for a Human Shade. For two it takes a FF +Rech proc for faster Mires and Fluffies. These are good things.

Spines/FA is good for farming and regular play. It'll be even better for both when Hybrid goes live- The taunt aura will help the scatter issues that Spines suffers from- Unfortunately though it can't be made perma. Even with the taunt aura a SS/FA or TW/FA Brute and Archery/Mental Blaster will likely all be faster farmers than Spines/FA but not by enough that it'll make a giant difference. If you like playing Spines more I say stick with it.

It's going into Dark Detonation on my Warshade. I like the KB in Grav Emanation for pushing mobs together for mires.

Next stop: All Kheldian Hami run?

It was me who told Dechs you played Magic, I get my nerd games confused sometimes. >.>

Nice job tonight everyone.

I agree with Stone without even reading his posts.

I'm going to kick myself for this later due to my ban on posting personal builds that I imposed on myself... But my pride is outweighing my righteousness.

My Archery/Mental Blaster LIVES and THRIVES in melee.

I play him on Freedom PUG Trials all the time- He is THB, you might know him.

-My Blaster soloed 2 Warwalkers and an entire bunker on a Keyes run the other day. With only 2 small purple inspirations per-feat.

My Blaster LIVES, and THRIVES in melee. With the help of t4 Cognitive, the +secondary t4 Clarion and my WoC Slotting, he can perma-confuse all of the minions/LT's in a spawn set to 54x8. In other words, while I cast ROA, all the minions and LT's are confused and the bosses are running to the hills. And that's just icing on the cake compared to all the inherent survivability you'll see in this build.

I believe that my Blaster is the ultimate Blaster, and in fact, "Blapper," except with the inherent "derp" removed from the term. He has more s/l/e resistance than my Claws/DA Brute, and the same defense--- 32.5% to all positions. I find that in the circumstances I put them in (most players would be best advised to never try to replicate these circumstances) my Blaster lives longer 90% of the time.

And without further ado, the build. Turn Accolades and Incarnates on. A small purple insp. softcaps to everything in normal content- 2 small purples softcaps on I-Trials. See Microcosm's Inspiration Maker Guide if that's a problem for you.

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And I know that Fire/Ment is the biggest contestant for Arch/Ment's crown as 'Ultimate Blaster,' so here's the Fire Blast version of my Blaster's current build

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Before anyone asks- Fences isn't a set mule. it serves the purpose of -KB on Archery to use Exp. Arrow without consequences, and solves the runner issue for RoF on the Fire Blast version... But yes, it is also a very useful set mule.


These Blasters are both fully functional 'Blapper,' High End AOE, Giant Monster soloing builds. I recommend setting up a bind for switching between fly and hover (I use /bind f "powexectoggleon hover$$powexectoggleon fly") for switching between the two in order to ensure that I get to the mobs quickly without missing out on any of the +def from Hover.

Edit: I forgot to mention here... That both of these Blaster builds regenerate over 100 HP/S with just 10 targets, and it's only a half a second from perma- Plus, it overlaps on the Archery build (the one I play) if you simply use Explosive Arrow often enough. Eat your heart out, melee characters, because the over 100 HP/s regen is on top of 32.5% defense to all positions, 50% s/l resistance and 33% energy resistance. Plus some pretty freaking solid mitigation, and some of the best AOE output that the game has to offer.

I love you guys for keeping this thread on top of the Blaster forums. I ended up having to take almost a week off from COH, which lead into my having to work on hoarding components on my mains for Hybrid (and making inf) so it has been pretty impossible for me to work on this project lately. Thanks for keeping the discussion alive, I'll be back to this ASAP, probably a bit after i23 launches.

Counter to the previous couple of posts: If you end up liking it enough, pair it with your favorite def/res set. The endurance can easily be made up for end game purposes via set bonuses, Agility, Cardiac and Ageless.

I know you were asking a general question about the performance of the set, to which I'll answer: It gives Super Strength a run for it's money, and that says enough imo... But it's also important to consider that it's a very endurance intensive set. However, I'm terrified of issues like this spreading a false PO on the forums and ultimately spreading in-game, that you HAVE to pair TW with a set that is forgiving on end in this case.

If you like the set enough to play it to the end game, you'd be best pairing it with a secondary that will be effective for your purposes, and cover the end usage through the various routes I suggested in my first paragraph. If you don't end up liking the set enough to play it to lvl 50, you clearly don't like it that much anyways so I don't see the point in giving advice about it.

I recently picked up t4 Cognitive on my (melee oriented) Arch/Ment and I love it. 6 slotted WoC (Coercive Persuasion) and Clarion Radial leads to some pretty great mitigation via confusion. This is now my main Interface for soloing 54x8's, I use Degen or Reactive against GM's or missions/TFs/etc. with AV fights where I feel the -HP would be more helpful... But either way I wouldn't recommend Cognitive unless you have another source of confusion. I also still need to pick up Megalomaniac on my Blaster, when that and the Control Hybrid are added into the mix I can see Cognitive being even more beneficial for my purposes.