A powerleveler's guide to blasters (very long)

I can feel the nerf-bat warming up...

How's this for a template? I already reached lvl 14, which is why I have Buckshot and why it's 3-slotted . The only thing I couldn't figure out is where to put in Maneuvers. I guess if I didn't take Buckshot I would've had room for it. Is it really that good? Or could I just 3 or 4-slot Combat Jumping with Def buffs and be ok? I don't really feel like re-rolling.

Archetype: Blaster
Primary Powers - Ranged : Assault Rifle
Secondary Powers - Support : Devices
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Slug /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Web Grenade /Empty
Slot[03] Level 2 : Burst /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[04] Level 4 : Buckshot /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[05] Level 6 : Combat Jumping /Jump,DefBuf
Slot[06] Level 8 : Caltrops /Slow
Slot[07] Level 10 : Targeting Drone /HitBuf
Slot[08] Level 12 : Sniper Rifle /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[09] Level 14 : Super Jump /Jump,Jump,Jump
Slot[10] Level 16 : Hurdle /Jump
Slot[11] Level 18 : Flamethrower /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[12] Level 20 : Swift /Run
Slot[13] Level 22 : Stamina /EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec
Slot[14] Level 24 : Cloaking Device /DefBuf,Rchg
Slot[15] Level 26 : Hasten /Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg
Slot[16] Level 28 : Smoke Grenade /HitDeb
Slot[17] Level 30 : Trip Mine /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[18] Level 32 : Full Auto /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[19] Level 35 : Ignite /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[20] Level 38 : Time Bomb /Dmg

Lose time bomb.

I am not going to discuss Ice anymore as the cult mentality is only going to argue anything I say with some unfounded statement. I team with a 34 fire/fire... I know the dmg ability. I play my own, albiet at a lower lvl (17 now).

Anyways, I never purported that an energy melee blaster would be a viable toon to hit lvl 40, much less solo to that level. I can do more dmg than any other blaster per hit, more than any scrapper per hit. Attacks are slow recharges. Risk is higher in melee. I was just letting you know that hit for hit, an energy melee blaster outdamages anything in the game.

Finally, for those who are still new to the whole blaster thing, the fire blasters being an "AOE build" just means that they have just one AOE, fire ball. Very nice attack and I use it all the time, but that is the extent of their AOE superiority. This ball is what defines an AOE blaster (elec/fire/AR) vs a single target blaster (ice/energy) in most people's mind. Personally, I think AR is the only real AOE blaster as they have 3 nice cones and a couple target AOE attacks. The rest all basically have the same thing +/- one AOE attack, as each other.

But hey, the original post was well written and if you wanted to play fire, it definately is fast lvling. I just want it known that there is not a huge difference in battle time per group (up to the lvl 34-36s I have fought at least).

beauty sheer beauty i read the whole damn thing its beautiful

Thanks for taking some of your time to write this guide RSRobinson! Great post.

I am 1/2 roleplayer and 1/2 power gamer and what this guide does for me is helps me make sure the power gamer side of me stays happy. I took hover/flying to satisfy the RP side but I'm not going to argue the fact because the reason I took it was not to power level.

I'd also like to recommend to our other blaster brethren who have not taken one of the ideal paths to blaster pwnage to not worry about it. RSR is not saying that you are lame or that you have no place defending Paragon City...he is just showing the optimized way to create/play your blaster regardless of anything outside of pure exp gains. So keep playing your Elec/Elec blaster (I have one....and I like him because he looks kewl and has kewl looking powers) and don't worry about it. If you are kinda burnt that your blaster is not included in the "top performers" category...just make one to his specs and see if he is wrong. Something tells me he is not though.

Thanks again for the thread RSR!

Ivan,

You'll need to get 2 lower level fitness powers before getting stamina. So you'll need to add health into your build after swift, but before stamina.

he has hurdle

RSRobinson,

I've been watching this thread closely. Great stuff!

If you have a moment, I need some advice. Till now, I've been balancing my power choices between what I think would be fun and what would do the most damage.

What do you think my next power choices should be if my goal is damage output?

Notes:
<ul type="square"> [*]I've made some bad choices already and won't be able to address those till respec. I speak of Tazer, Leadership:Assault, 2 slotting Hover, 4 slotting burst. [*]The powers I'm listing below are not in the order I took them.[*]I'm level 23 and have 7 more power choices in front of me.[/list]
Current Powers:
<ul type="square">[*]Slug[*]Burst[*]Sniper Rifle[*]Flamethrower[*][*]Web Grenade[*]Tazer[*]Targetting Drone[*]Caltrops[*][*]Hover[*]Fly[*]Assault[*]Hurdle[/list]
I'll need to get health and stamina, that brings me down to 5 more power choices till 40.

I'm starting to think of getting Hasten, SuperSpeed, Smoke Grenade, Cloaking Device and Full Auto. But that leaves out Trip Mine and Ignite. What do you think RSRobinson?!

I don't play enough to reroll - I'd never be able to catch up with my friends. I'm happy to stick with the choices I've made until respec.

why skip Raiin of Fire, i find it usefull when i solo'd in Perez Park ( i'm only 16 )
could you tell me why to skip this power , and what to keep instead

Hmm. Following this guide, I pieced together an AR/Dev build, and I'm looking for thoughts on it.

Archetype: Blaster
Primary Powers - Ranged : Assault Rifle
Secondary Powers - Support : Devices
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Burst /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Web Grenade /Acc
Slot[03] Level 2 : Slug /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[04] Level 4 : Caltrops /Slow,Slow
Slot[05] Level 6 : Swift /Run
Slot[06] Level 8 : Hasten /Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg
Slot[07] Level 10 : Targeting Drone /HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf
Slot[08] Level 12 : Sniper Rifle /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[09] Level 14 : Super Speed /Run,Run
Slot[10] Level 16 : Smoke Grenade /HitDeb,HitDeb,HitDeb
Slot[11] Level 18 : Flamethrower /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[12] Level 20 : Health /Heal
Slot[13] Level 22 : Stamina /EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec
Slot[14] Level 24 : Cloaking Device /DefBuf
Slot[15] Level 26 : Beanbag /Dsrnt
Slot[16] Level 28 : Trip Mine /Acc,Acc,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[17] Level 30 : Combat Jumping /DefBuf
Slot[18] Level 32 : Full Auto /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg
Slot[19] Level 35 : Super Jump /Jump
Slot[20] Level 38 : Acrobatics /EndRdx

I'm not sold on the last two powers - SJ and Acrobatics. I think they'd be useful, I'm just not sure if they're optimal or not -- but from what I've heard of Auto Turret, it's awful. No firsthand experience with it, though.

Anyways, comments are more than welcome.

[ QUOTE ]
why skip Raiin of Fire, i find it usefull when i solo'd in Perez Park ( i'm only 16 )
could you tell me why to skip this power , and what to keep instead

[/ QUOTE ]

The damage on RoF scales very poorly. It also makes things scatter, which is typically not a good thing for a fire blaster.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sold on the last two powers - SJ and Acrobatics. I think they'd be useful, I'm just not sure if they're optimal or not -- but from what I've heard of Full Auto, it's awful. No firsthand experience with it, though.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's auto turret you've heard bad things about.

Going the CJ, SJ, Acro route at the end gives you resistance to immobilization, hold, knockback/down, and a better way to transverse messed up zones like Faultline (SS sucks in that zone). The only reason I would say not to go with these is if you were losing out on other key powers.

This thread is fascinating, and a great read. However, we're starting to branch out into unrelated areas about personal builds, and it's losing steam. I know that when I read a post with specific questions about a build, I just skip over them, and from the low response it looks as if most other people are too.

This is not to discourage people who have questions! But you will probably get more answers if you started a new thread with an appropriate subject, like "Which power to take at Level 24?" or whatever. Otherwise, you won't get many answers, and this thread will decay. Yes, it would be nice for the original poster, RSRobinson, to give you personal advice on your build, but if you review the thread you'll see he isn't doing that for anybody.

Thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
I'd like to see you guys skipping hover and then getting owned by Freak Tanks and speeded Ink Men. You can't hop around like a little bunny with those. The tank doesnt care about little tacs on the ground, he'll knock you down with his m30, run straight over caltrops and 1-hit you. Now please tell me an example where jumpin around would be more effective than hovering.

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Just kill them. The guys you mentioned can be 1-shotted. Speeded ink men have a tendancy to flee as well, so your worry there is catching them which you're not going to do with hover. You can also just keep them at range.

In any case, if you like hover, play with hover. It's not that bad a choice. It's just not the best choice from a strict powerleveling perspective. Mostly cause it ties up an entire power pool.

-Brae
-36 Elec Blaster
-leader Knights in Tights
-virtue server

I personally think they should ditch Short Circuit and give us [electricity] a 3rd nuke, even though "waaaa they have moderate/heavy as their first powers" the heavy [lightning bolt] takes 4 or so seconds to recharge even with a green SO and a DO, doing 60 damage with a damage SO... And the moderate does 40 or so damage with 2 DOs Hmmm... as I say wait until PvP and the end drains... muahahaha

--Enron
level 21 Elec/Fire Blaster, Pinnacle [Tesla Cage ownz!]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
why skip Raiin of Fire, i find it usefull when i solo'd in Perez Park ( i'm only 16 )
could you tell me why to skip this power , and what to keep instead

[/ QUOTE ]

The damage on RoF scales very poorly. It also makes things scatter, which is typically not a good thing for a fire blaster.

[/ QUOTE ]


To me Rain of Fire is a DEFENSIVE power, when things go wrong for your team, launch Rain of Fire and give everyone time to flee

Great guide! Thanks a lot

I've been reading a LOT of threads since getting CoH and this kind of summerizes them and spells things out very clearly, so hats off to you for delivering on the topic title.

The only thing I have to kind of disagree about is endurance drain being worthless. Your example friend didn't take Short Circuit, our primary end drain skill. It has an inherent +20% acc according to the hero planner, and unslotted will drain a little under 1/2 enemy endurance and prevent regen. I've read from other topics as well that Super Speed + Stealth is an awesome combination. Use that, speed into a group and open with Thunderclap. Follow up with Short Circuit. Run back and use Thunderous Blast, everything has 0 endurance that is still standing. Endurance Drain has the potential to be the best defense, the only problem is that you need to get them to 0 and keep them at 0 or it really is as worthless as you describe it. As you said, Electric alone only has one hold. Shocking Grasp is the answer to having 2 holds (too bad we get it so late). You yourself described how using melee attacks isn't a big problem if you do it properly, and I agree totally. It will be fun whenever I get to 38 and start Tesla Grasping bosses that live through Thunderous Blast, which I hope will remain viable when they up the cap to 50. Anyways, can't wait for your friend to respec himself with Short Circuit, I think you'll re-evaluate your position. Electric is definately a late bloomer though because of all the other skills you need besides SC to be effective at reducing all the mobs to 0 QUICKLY, appearently. Your friend didn't take Power Sink either? Thats the other BIG endurance drain skill supposedly. What this shows me is that 1/3 of Electric / Electric's big endurance draining capability does not impress you. Just like Ice has very specific Hold skills, Electric has some specific skills that drain very large amounts of endurance, and you shouldn't discount the effect based on 1/3 of them (TB alone). Of those 3 you only need 2 to render an entire group unable to do more than Brawl you, and that beats Holding 2 Lts or a Boss if you want to compare secondaries effects directly. Run in and use Power Sink or Short Circuit again (it has a pretty short recharge with Hasten) when they start regen'ing and they are back to nothing and no regen.

I will not argue with you though about Elec being lacking for a power gamer. Late blooming means slow leveling early on, and even the combo I described above is probably slower xp than what you describe doing.

Er... right. Auto Turret. Not Full Auto. I blame lack of caffeine there. XD Thanks for the input either way.

So you don't think Tough and Weave are worth taking? I was planning to take them both (by 24) and end up three slotting them with SO's. Seems like it would really help keep a blaster alive.

I'm doing an AR/Elect blaster (roleplay reasons) that is going to end up being a mid range fighter (Flamethrower, Ignite, and Full Auto), so I thought getting those powers would really help. With the cap of damage and defence at 90% three so's would more than do the job in them.

I haven't gotten to the point of taking them yet so any advice would really help. I do plan on taking Health and Staming but they would be my last two powers - also three slotted (how many slots would you use?).

Anyway, yeah, in the end the first power from Fighting would be basically wasted, but Tough and Weave seem pretty awesome.

So, what do you think?

I agree completely that Electricity's secondary effect is inferior in its usefulness in PvM Vs the other blaster primaries.

But has anyone taken time to consider the potential juggernaut endurance draining/stunting it could be in PvP (especially group PvP)? Assuming there is a possibility that actual damage dealing might be reduced in pvp to make the battles longer and less DAOC-like, this secondary effect might all of a sudden become quite valuable to top level villain/hero fighting endeavors. I think this line holds its own nicely in PvM and any requests to change the line should be held until CoV is released and rolling for a few months.

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing I have to kind of disagree about is endurance drain being worthless. Your example friend didn't take Short Circuit, our primary end drain skill. It has an inherent +20% acc according to the hero planner, and unslotted will drain a little under 1/2 enemy endurance and prevent regen. I've read from other topics as well that Super Speed + Stealth is an awesome combination. Use that, speed into a group and open with Thunderclap. Follow up with Short Circuit. Run back and use Thunderous Blast, everything has 0 endurance that is still standing.


[/ QUOTE ]

Or you could just skip the first three steps and Thunderous Blast them to begin with.

There's almost no mobs you'll come across where draining their endurance is better than defeating them.

[ QUOTE ]
Endurance Drain has the potential to be the best defense, the only problem is that you need to get them to 0 and keep them at 0 or it really is as worthless as you describe it.

[/ QUOTE ]

But in that same amount of time you could just defeat him. Seems better.

Building an endurance drain blaster might be fun, or roleplay, or match your style, but it certainly is not for the powerleveler.

[ QUOTE ]
I will not argue with you though about Elec being lacking for a power gamer. Late blooming means slow leveling early on, and even the combo I described above is probably slower xp than what you describe doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly.

Here's a powerleveling guide for Electricty/Electricty - do
swarms. The 30s are the levels that really suck, but as long as
you have the option to do swarms during them, you are at least
ok. The sad fact is that the amount of exp needed to level in the
30s is sick. Only exploits or things that feel like exploits like
swarms hide how poorly balanced it is. Take away swarms and
everything but maybe Assault/Fire blasters and Fire Tankers are
severly screwed. I street hunted all of 37 to 38 in Founder's
Falls (I wanted to earn a large bank of Influence) and mindlessly
killing as fast as I could it took about 10 hours for the level.
I remember doing 39 to 40 on swarms in about four and a half
hours. I'm guessing it would have taken 12 to 14 hours street
hunting. The game is that far out of whack. If the new content
has no exploitable mobs, it will be plainly clear just how
unthought out the leveling system is.

Electricity is worse than other Blaster options, but heck you
still are a blaster so that makes you better off than anyone else
other than a fire tanker. And no I don't have a fire tanker, it
was clear to me that they were going to get nerfed. So I don't
really know how good they are currently, whether they are still
in the same league as a good blaster.

As for secondary effects, with Ice, Bosses swinging much slower
equals a good thing. For Energy and knockback, just use it or
watch someone using it. It works. The key to both effects is that
you don't need to be shooting off extra attacks that don't do
damage to get the effect, you do your damage and get the effect
for free. Note that I talk about bosses because lieutenants and
minions live 1-3 shots, a few seconds, so secondary effects
aren't really of any concern.

As for not needing Cloaking Device, Smoke Grenade, Targeting
Drone, Trip Mine - you can play without anything, but these are
efficient powers that make you level much faster, the point of
the guide.

As for the guy who claims I will get owned by Freak Tanks and
speeded ink men. First ink men are minions so they are no threat
whatever they are doing. Oh no, they stunned me. Um, wait, they
do so little damage, why again was it that I cared? As for Freak
Tanks, the fact that you cannot safely kill them without Hover
doesn't mean I cannot safely kill them without hover. Caltrops
works fine on them, you just have to know how to use it. Mobs
often run through a Caltrops most of the way before it 'catches
up' with them. If you are standing right at its edge, you get
crushed. If you are standing back a bit you don't. Besides with a
Tank, I'll just be kiting it on Superspeed, it never gets
anywhere near me. In fact, it generally will go into flee mode
long before it dies. Its an artifact of kiting and mob AI which
you will be unaware of if you use Hover all the time. Chasing
down a slow moving Tank and killing it while it tries to run away
is zero risk. Plus, with Cloaking Device, I can chase it in and
through packs of other mobs and they'll never even notice me.

Its simple really, I played the game to 40 and I hardly ever die.
And although I did power level at times, I did the vast majority
of missions from all my contacts including every one of them 30+.
I've fought and killed Purple Nemesis lieutenants five levels
higher than me, red tank smashers, the lot. I never used Hover
and I didn't die.

My Targeting Drone has 3 slots in it, seems fine for me. You
could probably get by with 1 slot, it really is a big boost, but
3 slots seems enough to hit consistently any mob I've ever
fought or am likely to fight.

Mezrah, just try slotting the powers the way I suggest. Recharge
sounds fine until you realize that first Hasten is easily enough
and anything past that goes into serious diminishing returns and
second, you will be 1-sniping and 2-shotting the minions you will
be exping on. By lowering the damage, now you need 2 or 3 shots
to kill those minions maybe even 4. Since you start the battle
with all of your powers charged and ready to go, making them do
as much damage as possible means faster kills. If you were always
fighting 20 or 30 mobs and had to use your powers over and over,
then recharge becomes tempting. But you get that free salvo,
damage is king. Just play it both ways and I'm confident you will
be slotting all damage very soon.

Lightning_Fast, what defines an AOE blaster is the ability to
kill a large pack of mobs in a single salvo. Fire has Fire Ball +
Fire Breath, which will kill a pack in one salvo. Assault Rifle
has Flamethrower and Full Auto which each can do the same. For
Energy, Energy Torrent plus Explosive Blast will not kill a pack.
For Electricity, Short Circuit plus Ball Lightning will not kill
a pack. For Ice, Frost Breath plus Ice Storm will not kill a
pack. Thus, Fire and Assault Rifle can level using AOE quickly
and effectively and the others cannot. That is why they are AOE
powers and the others are single-target powers. Using Fire and
Assault rifle, you will level fastest using your AOE powers on
large packs of close-to even cons. For the others, you will level
fastest by taking a few of the highest-conning minions you can
take down efficiently.

Of course, once you reach 30, everyone levels fastest if they can
find some efficient ways to take down swarms. Before the patch,
Explosive Blast 5-slotted could take down packs of swarms. I
don't know if that is still the case now that they are no longer
vulnerable to energy. This is one reason Devices is so good. Trip
Mine plus swarms means that the 30s go by quickly. There is
something immensely satisfying about standing on a trip mine,
shooting a swarm and having a pack of 10 or more of them decend
on you and get blown to pieces.

And notice I did not mention swarms in my guide. I wouldn't be
surprised if they get nerfed more. I think they are exploitive,
but the exp system is so out of whack they are exploitive
compared to everything else but not exploitive because everything
else is ridiculously undervalued exp wise.

Anghell, Rain of Fire is ok low level but as you level it gets
worse and worse. Since the higher levels are the harder levels, I
build for them. And trying to get Stamina as early as possible,
taking Rain of Fire just uses up a slot that could be used to get
a stepping stone to Stamina or a more critical power. Plus even
early on it is just so mana intensive that I find it slowed down
my leveling when I tried it, way too much downtime because of it.

As Jim_Gleaves mentioned, I am not looking at people's template
builds. There are a million threads for people asking about
particular templates, please take a look at the first few pages
of this forum and probably your exact build has been asked by
someone else. As long as you get Stamina by 20-24, get a travel
power, and have space for the bread and butter attacks for
primary, you are well on your way. The only problem you may
encounter is taking too much damage because you couldn't fit in a
defensive choice early on. That's another plus for Devices, Smoke
Grenade comes early and it alone can basically cover your
defensive needs.

Lone_Vandal, Thunderous Blast doesn't come until 32 and
generally, when you use it the only things standing are what you
missed You have this huge scenario to drain a bosses endurance
(as I said, minions no threat, bosses are). All I can tell you is
that as an Energy blaster I am just killing it, concerned only
with damage and I am also negating him with the constant
knockdowns putting him on his butt without having to worry about
using any powers that aren't severely damaging him. My friend
often comments while watching me play how unfair it is as I kill
bosses who just can't fight back. Why go through all the trouble
of trying to get endurance drain to do something when you can
just use knockdown and actually have a workable power? And before
Ice blasters jump on my case... Or you can slow the boss so he is
dead before any of his powers can recharge?

Zen_Lord, Tough is most effective when stacked with other
lethal/smashing resist. 15% base or 30% slotted resistance by
itself just doesn't make that big of a difference. Now Weave is
nice for defense but you have to take 2 powers that I don't want
to get it. You could take Manuevers, Combat Jumping, and Stealth
instead of Boxing, Tough, and Weave and be better protected. Once
you get high enough, you don't really need the defensive powers
to survive. You just need enough so that you don't get downtime.
With them, your health regen and health inspirations will offset
the damage you take. Without you take too much damage, especially
in spurts every so often and you get downtime waiting on health
(and maybe the occassional death too). For blasters, forget about
damage resistant and just go for +DEF powers. There are so many
of those available as the first power in their respective pools
that it just doesn't make sense to me to go for a 3rd tier power
that does basically the same thing. Once again, another reason
why I love Devices. You get both Cloaking Device and Smoke
Grenade, fantastic defensive powers, with no power pool choices
used up.

Krikket, I guess my problem is that *right now* I have a hard time imagining being able to drop entire groups of things my level that quickly. The point of the post was that end drain isn't worthless though. The bosses / lts left standing after that combo will have nothing to fight back with while you pop an inspiration and finish them all off. I guess the end game is easier than the early if you are killing everything your level that quickly. I don't have Focus yet, but I can imagine how much faster things go with it.