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The biggest problem with it(tripmine) is that your targeting drone has no effect on it.
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Not true.
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Fully slotted with DMGS, I will take out oranges...
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Shall I be polite and simply state the non-truth of this statement?
... or just call you outright liar?
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Wrong on both counts.
TD doesn't effect TM.
I've taken out groups of purple cons with multiple TMs.
And your attitude is especially puzzling considering you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
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And your attitude is especially puzzling considering you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
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Ditto.
Run a test for yourself please.
Targetting Drone does affect TripMine.
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I've taken out groups of purple cons with multiple TMs.
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Right MULTIPLE TripMines.
One TripMine will not one hit kill anything Orange or Purple.
Aim+Tripmine could, I wouldn't know:
AR/dev lvl 42
First off, I want to apologize for my tone in my first post here. I was in a bad mood and I could have easily disagreed without the cheeky, arrogant name-calling.
Sincere apologies for that.
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The trip mines are considered a pet and do not get your current buff
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I have easily taken out entire groups of 5th column ORANGE cons with a fully slotted trip mine. With 5 DMGs I can still do it with the help of aim.
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Is it obvious to anyone else that both of these statements cannot be true ??
I have never had anything slotted in tripmine but dmg enhancements. I know several other device blasters that slot 6 damage in their TripMines. None of us have a problem hitting. Occationally I missed 2 or 3 in a group and then notice I accidently toggled my TripMine off.
I don't understand your "TripMine is a pet" rational. It's an unlikely assumption leading to false conclusions. You said yourself that Aim works on TripMine. Are you saying that Aim would work with Turret too?
Aim(self buff) works with Tripmine, Rage(self buff) works with Tripmine, but does Targetting Drone(self buff) work with TripMine?
I have plenty of experience using TripMine with TG on and I can say that rarely ever miss, seldom enough that I'm sure I'm at the 95% acc cap against =lvl minions.
So today I ran around PI using TripMine on stuff with Targeting Drone off. Did I notice a huge difference? No, not with most groups. I was mostly using it on -1 to +1 lvl mins and it's pretty hard to tell if the difference between 75% and 95% accuracy when in both cases, most things in the radius end up getting hit.
Though after a couple dozen groups, there were a few that had some extremely unlikely ratios like 3/9 hit and 4/8 hit. Ratios like that would be expected after a couple dozen groups at 75% accuracy, but at 95% the chances are of that are astronomical.
I also stopped and asked a Fire/Dev blaster what his experience was with it and he replied that TG does not affect TripMine and thus had slotted his TripMine with 1 Acc and 5 dmg. So I told him about this thread on the boards and he was a helpful and curious fellow, so we ran around PI for a bit using TripMine and observing the results. Me with TG on and no acc slots, him with TG off and 1 acc slot.
So had your arguement been true: He would have had a better hit ratio than me because he had that one acc slot while I had only TG to affect my acc.
So what was the end result?
I'll just say that there is one more hero in Paragon City with his TripMine 6-slotted with dmg.
It might have been just me, but while I was fully slotted I was missing quite often with or without targeting drone.
Hmm... I will have to revert back to the 5 slotted trip mine and try it out.
I used the orginal build as a guide but did not follow it exactly to the letter. Still, my fire/dev reached 36 in 4 weeks although in that time I also leveled my AR/Dev blaster from 37 to 40, my kinetic defender from 17 to 22, and my BS/Regen Scrapper from 10 to 16 (year there was the Labor Day weekend in there). Oh, I had exactly one death between levels 10 and 36 - during my first level in Dark Astoria - because my DO enhancements were not up to snuff for that level of foe.
The man has a valid build. The only thing I can say I didn't find too cool was that everywhere I hunted, there were fire/dev's who obviously followed the exact same guide hunting, exactly the same way - hit and run - LOL!
After the lonely grind that was Boomtown (and a level or 2 in DA), I spent the rest of my 20's hunting duo in Terra Volta with an elec/elec blaster the same level as me. SG was not an issue as we would reduce large groups of Sky Raiders to nothing in about 4 seconds flat. (I even have screenies of the best places to hunt these guys) Because we knew the SG nerf was coming, we tried to restrict our diet to no more than white or yellow cons, minions or LT's and only an occasional boss when we got really bored.
Odin_Grey, I respectfully disagree with you about some of the powers you intend to respec out. Super Speed is still great esp when stacked with stealth or cloaking device, plus you already got Hasten. In Bricks, my AR/Dev used his SS plus Cloaking Device and Hurdle to zip back and forth on the lower east and south walls. You'll find very good spawns of 5th Column and Crey minions, LT's and Bosses there that are appropriate XP from 36 to 39 (all solo hunting BTW). Heck, even at 40 my AR/Dev still prefers to hunt that exact area when powerleveling friends. I'm soloing there now with my Fire/Dev. Without SS, you will get beaten to the spawns by over enthusiastic groups that also know it's a good place to hunt. Effectively cloaked I can SS right up to a group of 10 5th column minions, plant a tripmine and be on my way to the next group before the mine starts to go off.
Ditch hurdle? If you are going to get combat jumping, then yes. Otherwise, keep it as it is indispensable when running around a crowded hunting area like Brickstown and trying to beat other people to the spawn locations.
Caltrops still useful? I just asked this question the other day on the blaster forum. So far the answers are that yes, they still are useful all the way to 50 and they do keep some of the mobs from firing at you long enough for you to finish them off. I ran some survival tests on the training room server with and without caltrops on level 37 enemies and I think I will keep mine.
Ditch flares? You betcha!
Slot SG? I'm torn on whether or not to keep the darned thing! I ran my survival test on the test server today (at level 36) to see if I could function completely without SG against +1 and +2 minions. And I could.
Finally, I would like to add that I'm not an avid gamer or power gamer. I enable Godmode on every FPS I play. I use hints and cheats on most games. I play flight simulators with all the difficulty and crashability off. I'm a sucky gamer!
Anyone can follow Krunch's guide and make it to 40 in 4 weeks. Anyone.
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
Ok... ran a few tests.
Your right when it came to the ACC, I put a DMG in and hit the same amount with TD on, did not try it with it off.
But a fully slotted TM can drop orange cons, I just did it for an hour straight. Every once in a while it will not completely hit a couple with its full force and they will stay up, so decided to drop the mine, run and hit fireball on the way. Works like a charm.
Also, when I did respec, I followed a whole different pattern.
First of all, I did keep the trops (mostly because I had to :-D)
I dropped SG, it's pointless now.
Dropped aim (The way I fight, they are down weather or not I use aim)
Dropped flares (Not gonna comment)
Dropped Blazing Bolt (see below)
I picked up:
Blaze (I had blazing bolt before and it did not coincide with my play style)
Combat Jumping (for the defence)
Superjump (Because its better than jump kick, and I hated ss)
Acrobatice (95% of the time I die, I'm on my back or held)
KEPT haste (perma haste baby :-D)
KEPT Superspeed (For it's complete invis with cloaking, took it over Smoke)
With this setup, I have a +ACC (TD), +DEF(Cloaking Device), +DEF (self res Knockback, minor holds[Acrobatics]), another +DEF (Combat Jumping), + Recharge (hasten) and a -ACC (SS. Countered by TD). The enemy has a -ACC(super speed)
At 35 I am getting either box or time bomb (Depends on how good time bomb is...) 38 = tough and 41 = weave if I get box.
This build is really suit for Post-Patch. I can take out the same stuff I was fighting earlier and not have to worry too much about my health with all my defences and stronger single target attacks.
Hmmm unless they changed something between Targetting Drone and Trip Mine (slotted with dmg only) I always found that I hit with much more regularity with my Fireball then I did with Trip Mine (leading me to believe that the TD was the difference).
My TD is 3 slotted now for ToHit Buffs and I virtually never miss with any of my direct attacks. I do miss around 25-40% with my Trip Mines (depending the cons). I haven't done exhaustive tests on this, so take that for what you will.
And yes I agree with you that a single Trip Mine, even with Aim will not one shot an orange con minion. It is generally assumed that when people are saying they are taking out multiple higher con mobs with Trip Mine they do mean they are using more then one.
BTW I only have TM slotted with damage. It's miss ratio never really bothered me as I've always used Trip Mines as a softening up measure. Now with the SG changes, I think you will find TM becoming more important in this build.
Sorry if I've caused a gluttony of Fire/Dev Blasters ... it is a fun build 
Oh definitely Trip Mine. I can't use this for comparison because the COT Behemoth Overlords are 'moderately resistant' to fire damage, but my fire dev with 6-slotted fireball and fire breath at level 36 (37 as of tonight, yay!) took 2 complete cycles of each (i.e., ball, breath, ball, breath) with Aim to drop a level 35 Behemoth Overlord (conned white, LT) in FF. At that same level, my AR/Dev will drop an orange Behemoth with just tripmine and sniper rifle (plant mine at his feet, cue sniper, bang!). There is no return fire and I am gone before he hits the ground and at least 850 XP, IIRC. Any lower LT's or minions around are usually also dropped by the tripmine alone.
I am considering Blazing Bolt for this and a couple of other reasons. There is a good change they will nerf AoE's and good single-target damage never hurts. Also, a sniper attack gives you advance range on a boss or you could modify my above attack: plant tripmine at boss' feet immediately cue sniper and SS away - let him come to you and face the rest of your fire attacks on the way in. Finally, I saw the usefulness of a sniper attack while doing the cape mission with my AR/Dev. It seems that many of us AoE blasters have forgotten the long lost art of pulling targets one at a time to thin out a crowd. I still do this with my kin/rad defender so I'm not rusty at all and can reliably separate minions from large groups. With snipe, you prolly will take out the minion, but if you pick your target carefully and back up quickly, you can get away with not aggroing the rest of the mobs - most of the time. So in an indoor mission crawling with mobs like that, I can see the benefit and tactical advantage of a sniper attack. I suspect we will be needing blazing bolt more and more if the current trends continue. Too bad it has no knockback tho ...
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
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One TripMine will not one hit kill anything Orange or Purple.
Aim+Tripmine could, I wouldn't know
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I think I might have taken out a group of level 39 5th Column minions in Brickstown with just 1 tripmine when I was level 37 (they conned orange; I had 6 level 40 SO's in it tho) as an AR/Dev. I'm not 100% sure but I recall bragging to a friend on the SG channel when I realized that I could do it ...
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
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Sorry if I've caused a gluttony of Fire/Dev Blasters ... it is a fun build
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I'm fairly new to the game, and a definite "casual" player due to travelling for work. I started a Fire/Dev char after the update 2, and have found it to be a lot of fun.
I can't say I've been concentrating on leveling as fast as possible. I've done a lot of missions, and duo'd quite a lot. I've givien up on solo missions after getting a red con boss and multiple OJ LT's, and a tonne of yellow minions, in the final room of one. I did finally complete it, after dying many times, by buying 6 heal's and 2 damages. Even then it was very close.
Currently I'm level 13, almost 14, really looking forward to my travel power next level, especially the little bit of stealth that comes with Super Speed.
So far, this build is definitely not a boss killer, which makes missions hard. I didn't take Flares, so that may make a difference at this level, but I'm happy to work along without it so far.
One thing that surprised me is that this build requires very good tactics, and is not the uber powerful build people seemed to beleive. When I get it all set up right, it's truly impressive. When I mess it up, I can die very, very quickly.
Looking forward to the new powers later, like TM and so on.
Also, with issue 2, the Hollows is also a good place to hunt, as an alternative to Perez, maybe starting a level earlier, and finishing a level earlier.
Biggest problem so far has been a group that was also hunting in Perez, using a similar tactic to mine, but with a high level friend herding the mobs, and them leaving the bosses and LT's standing. A lot of the time, between us, there seemed to be nothing standing except LT's and Bosses, so finding the gaggles was difficult.
Marsian on Victory
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So far, this build is definitely not a boss killer, which makes missions hard.
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You are correct there. I don't believe I've killed a single red boss with my fire/dev and my last mission was at level 10. This is a hit-and-run build that pretty much exploits the fact that large groups of killable minions are sitting around and tightly huddled in hazard zones, just waiting to give you XP. It's a build that's designed to level quickly and whether or not that's fun is up to you. Essentially, you strike quickly and leave behind whatever you did not kill outright.
Also, and I say this with all due respect to Krunch, just because you do reach 40 with this build, it does not mean you are a bad a.s.s. - you MIGHT be, but we'll probably never know because the efficiency of this template does not require much in the way of skill. However, for those who want to experience more of the game zones that you are paying for, this is a quick way to do it. My advice is don't forget to roll other AT's to play with and share this build with others by inviting a tank, defender or controller to reap some of that XP and keep you company. At the later levels, in the abandoned sewers, a controller or tank might really come in handy as the hydra tend to wander around and are hard to AoE.
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
is this build good for a cross between mishing and hunting?
since it is hard to kill red bosses couldnt you lvl on hunting then come back? because i ran from DAOC because of the reliance of sitting on one spot killing mob after mob waiting to lvl to the next spot. i would like to be able to do missions too because they are fun
Duo'ing in missions is fun and works well. Solo is no problem except for the red and oj bosses you now get sometimes. Yellows and OJ's cause me a lot of downtime and kiting. Reds cause me death when solo, and need lots of health inspirations and kiting.
Basically, you can do missions, but you are not the fastest at it, as you'll get quite a lot of downtime fighting the higher cons (white and yellow minions in most of my missins, plus the big guys). Some missions I've leveled once or twice before coming back, but then the mission xp is pretty lame. I do them for the fun and challenge when I get tired of street hunting.
Street hunting is very good and very fast.
Currently level 15, and hunting boomtown. Knowing where to hunt is definitely the key. In boomtown, the 5th column are wonderful. With practice, you can set up so that the firebreath cone and fireball take out all of the minions. Trolls and hellions or whatever they are, are a pain, because they wander about and don't pack together neatly.
** Knowing the range and shape of your firebreath cone is very important **
It's a lot more fun now that I have superspeed finally. The extra few seconds to get into position really helps.
Biggest problem for me with this build is a feeling of wanting to "clean up" and not leave stray mobs or bosses. When I force myself to do this, it works much better and faster.
Got a bit bored with it, and started playing a tanker boss killer, almost the exact opposite. It's more fun at the moment, but I'll get back to the Fire/AR blaster.
edited!
"Cupcake cupcake cupcake; Cupcake. Merry_Mint is the best." - Abraham Lincoln
Just another reason why Positron is the worst TF in the world.
Balance is not about making everybody the same. Balance is about making your strengths worth all of your weaknesses.
Ok, Ive got a level 26 fire/dev blaster that ive been casually playing for about 2 months. I spend over 87 hours a week in front of a computer for work and stuff, so I get plenty of opportunities to play.
My build is:
Fire Blast (1dam,1acc,1end,1rec)
Fire Ball (2dam,1acc,1end)
Fire Breath (2dam,1acc,1end)
Blaze (2dam,1acc,1rec) (will be 3dam,2acc,1rec)
Blazing Bolt (none)(will be 3dam,1acc,1rec)
Web Grenade
Caltrops
Cloaking Device
Assault (i know, i know...)
Hasten (3rec) (will be 5rec)
SuperSpeed (2speed)
Swift (2speed) (respecing to hurdle @ 34)
Health (3health)
Stamina (1end+) (will be 4end+)
Recall Friend
At the moment I can two hit kill minions at my level with snipe and blaze(blaze does 30% more dam. than snipe atm), plus with my cloaking device, even Fire Blast pulls without aggoing mobs.
If I use snipe, blaze, and 2 fireblasts and get burn off of one of them, I can take out a lieut. at my level as well.
I did not take smoke grenade because I heard it had been made a little useless since the last patch.
I plan to take timebomb at level 28, but I dont know if I should get smoke grenade still or other handy powers.
I only team for task forces or trials.
(or to power level a friend)
*all enhancements are SOs at or above my level*
Any suggestions?
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L21-25: Dark Astoria. Start at the right hand side of the zone (west end). Super speed around and 2-shot gaggles of blues-yellow cons and super speed on to the next pack. Don't worry about stragglers or LTs left standing as you will get experience when another group comes along and cleans up your mess.
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Heh, I'm all power efficient leveling but I sure as heck won't be the one to clean up someone else's messes and give them risk-free XP. I completely understand why a fire blaster has to take this approach but I still think this type of attitude ("someone else will clean up your mess and you will get the XP") amusing. If I see a mob with less than full health, I just move along because I know what's up and won't be party to it.
Everyone must understand that this guide was written pre-Issue #2, when Smoke Grenade was still invincibility and Fire Blasters were capable of different things. It's not really practical to "hope someone else cleans up your mess" these days, particularly in deserted zones like DA.
Level 36 Fire/Dev here.
FireBlast (3 slots)
FireBall (6 slots)
FireBreath (6 slots)
Blaze (6 slots)
Inferno (3 slots)
Web Gren (b/c I have to)
Caltrops (don't use them anymore really 2 Slow SOs)
Targeting Drone (3 ToHit buffs, 1 End Redux)
Cloaking Device (the best 1 End Redux)
Smoke Grenade (still useful, see below 1 ToHit Debuff)
Trip Mine (5 dmg, 1 acc)
Hasten, SS
CJ, SJ, Acro (defense + status affect res)
Hurdle, Swift, Stamina
The AoE Fire Blaster is most effective as a Stealth build. This means that SS, Cloaking Device and Smoke are your best friends. SS+Cloak = complete invisibility to everything except Drones, Snipers, some Werewolves and some Rularuu (sp?). Hitting them with a SG means complete invisibility to *everything* that I've run up against. Snipers are the most difficult to get enough to to drop a SG on them. The secret is approaching them from the rear.
2 things about Trip Mine that I've noticed (pre-issue 3); one, variable damage to same targets and two, TD doesn't seem to help.
- When using TM against Behemoth Masters (white - orange) I see that damage varies. I can eliminate a Orange Lt with a TM and a FireBall sometimes, mostly its TM + Fireball (to get rid of all the yellow minions...just to be sure) + * on the Lt. If I face an Behemoth Overlord, I use TM+FireBall+Blaze and its pretty much 100% effective. The best is when the TM causes a knockdown, since that means free attacks, and Blaze requires up close and personal range.
TD is not supposed to aid with the TM from everything I've ever read on these boards. Perhaps I'm wrong, but its in the guides on accuracy and damage. I can vouch for 1 Acc, 5 Dmg TM (one) taking out yellow minions. Orange minions, I don't think so, but I don't think its impossible since I know that yellows go down pretty easily. When going up against orange Agents (minions) in Brickstown, its hard to determine how close it is, since I usually follow up with a fireball anything that is higher that white to me. I think that the timing of the fireball makes a BIG difference too. Sometimes, if I fire off the fireball too soon, its like the mob has increased defenses and takes no damage from the TM...
Blaze is the boss killer you are all looking for. 6 slotted with damage, its best used in combination with FireBlast to finish off what TM doesn't. --> If you think about it, the Fire build cannot not make effective use of Blazing Bolt unless you use it close up. We dont' WANT to pull, we want to GROUP, this is our design specialty.
SS+Cloak up to your target, SG them, lay down your mine, back up and fire off a fireball just as the TM trips. Anything still alive receives the Blaze --> Fireblast. Many times, I do a Firebreath instead of Fireball after the TM and its about the same except the animation and DoT makes a difference. If the target is knocked down, its actually better for Lts/Bosses as it does more damage.
I don't use Inferno, because its rarely worth it. Why should I knock off most/all of my toggles, reduce my endurance to near zero, risk leaving some baddies around when I can easily dispose of groups with my TM+Fireball combo?
I really do not fear any minion up to orange. Reds make me nervous, but if there isn't a Lt/Boss around I usually try it and be pleasantly surprised. Purps aren't terrible if you do your setup properly......just make sure that bosses and Lts are not around and you have room to do some kiting.
My Fire/Dev does almost exclusively missions since I think farming is worthless and boring. There are a lot of story arcs in the 30s and plenty of badges to be had. I don't have to depend on anyone to have fun, and if my friends are on we group. I don't even look at exp/min because I'm not a level [censored]...I'm paying for entertainment, and this build is very entertaining once you get into your 30s.
Respec'ed last night just to tweak it a little. Level 36 --
Fire Blast (5 damage)
Fire Ball (6 damage)
Fire Breath (6 damage)
Blaze (6 damage)
Inferno (1 damage)
Web Gren (empty)
Caltrops (1 Slow)
Targeting Drone (5 ToHit Buffs, 1 End Redux)
Cloak (1 End Redux)
Smoke Gren (1 ToHit Debuff, 1 Acc)
Trip Mine (1 Acc, 5 Dmg) <-- I tried this with 2/4 Acc/Dmg, 1/5 Acc/Dmg and 0/6 Acc/Dmg <-- with 2 Acc, I almost never missed anything (including purple Lts). With 1 Acc I hit just about everything with occasional misses. With 6 Dmg, I missed like 1/3 of the targets/time. Since this often occured on the Behemoth Overlords (ranging from orange to purple) that I was testing on in FF, I was kinda upset. Running over to Mark IV and swapping out an Acc for the 6th dmg made all the difference. Smoke+TM+Fireball+Firebreath+Blaze did the job and I didn't have any pesky Fire/Air Thorns still around to make my life more difficult
Smoke is still effective, since its the final ingredient to complete invisibility (against everything). If you get a sniper's attention, you can drop a SG on him/her and then retreat for awhile. Come back in 15 seconds, and their short-term memory loss kicks in. I really don't use it any differently than I did back in Boomtown, pre-issue #2. I use it to make them miss more, and to get myself closer without drawing aggro.....only thing is, now I have cloak and trip mine to make the battle more favorable for me.
I did use caltrops on the Respec Trial, since it was nice for slowing down the incoming Freaks. Enough time for us to put a big dent in their initial rush, and then the trip mines I laid usually got those tanks down to a sliver
But, even against bosses, I still don't use caltrops very often. Maybe I should? They do seem to be effective at slowing down the rush...perhaps I should invest more heavily in slotting them.....
hmm..ok i was gonna follow this guide to a "T"..but just realized its pretty old..
I've followed it exactly..and now i'm lvl10..
anything i should do differently from what the guide says?
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hmm..ok i was gonna follow this guide to a "T"..but just realized its pretty old..
I've followed it exactly..and now i'm lvl10..
anything i should do differently from what the guide says?
[/ QUOTE ]
Without knowing the results of the 3rd issue, we'll just go with what we are running today (12/14/04). After two respecs trying to tweak this build.......
1. FireBlast/Web grenade (never get flares)
2. FireBall
3. - slot fireball x2 (3)
4. Caltrops (you'll find these helpful occasionally)
5. - slot fireball x2 (5)
6. Hasten (for slotting purposes)
7. - slot fireball x1 (6), hasten x1 (2)
8. Firebreath (as soon as you get this power, go out and practice with it. Nothing is more pathetic than a Fire/Dev that can't figure out how to get the most mobs with their firebreath and waste it -- tip, find a group, profile them so they have the least width (from the side for a group of 5th column in boomtown for example) and target the enemy furthest away from you (so you burn everyone between you and them)
9. - slot firebreath x2 (3)
10. Targeting Drone
11. - slot firebreath x2 (5)
12. Hurdle (vertical movement will be your biggest gripe, but you'll get over it. Hurdle lessens the pain)
13. - slot firebreath x1 (6), TD x1 (2)
14. Super Speed --> here it is...you need super speed, not because of the travel (worst of the travel powers IMHO), but because of the slight stealth. This allows you to get close enough to line up the firebreath, and then the fireball and also to get away quickly from fights (you're all squishy). Your attack cycle is thus; Firebreath --> Fireball --> Fireblast stragglers or run away
15. - slot TD x1 (3), Hasten x1 (3)
16. Smoke Grenade --> ToHit debuff bug is gone, but it does give you increased stealth and slight ToHit Debuff on targets (and you are still squishy). Attack cycle; Smoke --> Firebreath --> Fireball --> Fireblast stragglers or run
17. - slot Smoke x1 (2), TD x1 (4)
18. Swift --> I say swift because when your endurance runs out, you better be faster than your opponent if you hope to run away (health seems to have a neglible affect)
19. - slot Hasten x2 (5)
20. Stamina --> Thank God we made it here finally!
21. - slot Stamina x2 (3)
22. Blaze (yay, we get another attack finally!)
23. - slot Stamina x2 (5)
24. Cloaking Device --> 5% defence, low end drain, SS+Cloak = invisible to all except snipers and Rikti drones, some Illusionists (and Rularuu, but that's later)
25. - slot Stamina x1 (6), Hasten x1 (6)
26. Combat Jumping --> more defense, and you'll be tired of your vertically challenged build to this point
27. - slot Blaze x2 (3)
28. Trip Mine --> oh glory be! My favorite new toy! You'll love this for at least 10 levels......
29. - slot Trip Mine x2 (3); New Attack sequence -- SS+Cloak up to mob, lay down TM --> back away and hesitate for just a second, then Fireball or firebreath. Anything left standing gets other AoE + Blaze + FireBlast (enjoy!)
30. Super Jump --> Wheeeeeeeee, trip mine + SJ = less bordom
31. - slot TM x3 (6) --> 1 Acc, 5 Dmg for best results. By everything I've seen, TM is not affected by your Targeting Drone.
32. Inferno --> You could go for Blazing Bolt here, but it seems like everyone likes to go farming with a tanker and get mass kills using their new final primary power (we call it our "blow up"). Really, 4 trip mines are better because they don't knock off your toggles nor drain your endurance. This is a personal choice on style. I find that you can use Blazing bolt to add flavor to your style, by using it to drag bosses into mine fields+caltrops and reduce your risk.
33. - slot Inferno/Blazing Bolt x3 (4)
34. - slot TD x1 (5), Inferno/Blazing Bolt x2 (6) -or- Smoke x1 (3), TD x2 (6) --> if you are hunting higher level mobs, you may want the TD x2 + Smoke to get more hits and less return damage. However, the blasters' motto of, "Mitigate return fire by killing all your targets with an alpha strike" might be better served by slotting Inferno/Blazing Bolt (personally, I took the TDx2+Smokex1)
35. Acrobatics
36. - slot Blaze x3 (6) --> this is your shot to finish off Lts and drive down the HP on bosses
37. - slot Fireblast x3 (4)
38. - Take whatever you didn't take at 32 Inferno/Blazing Bolt
39. Max out TD, get Smoke to 3 slots, Fireblast to 6 slots, and/or new attack with remaining.
40. Same as #39
41. Boxing
42. Get Smoke to 5 slots
43. - slot --> TD should have 6, FireBlast should have 6, Inferno 6, Blazing Bolt 6, Smoke 5, Caltrops 3 --> fill in the gaps
44. Tough
45. - slot Tough x3 (4)
46. - slot Tough x2 (6), Smoke x1 (6)
47. Weave
48. - slot Weave x3 (4)
49. Rain of Fire --> just for fun
50. - slot Weave x2 (6), RoF x1 (2)
Fireblast (6 dmg)
Fireball (6 dmg)
Firebreath (6 dmg)
Blaze (6 dmg)
Inferno (6 dmg)
Blazing Bolt (6 dmg)
Rain of Fire (2 dmg)
Web Grenade (1 hold)
Caltrops (3 slow)
Targeting Drone (1 End Redux, 5 ToHit Buffs)
Smoke (1 Acc, 1 End Redux, 4 ToHit Debuffs)
Cloak (1 End Redux)
Trip Mine (1 Acc, 5 Dmg)
Hasten (6 Increase Attack Rate)
Super Speed (1 End Redux)
Swift (1 Run)
Hurdle (1 Jump)
Stamina (6 End Rechg)
Combat Jumping (1 End Redux)
Super Jump (1 End Redux)
Acrobatics (1 End Redux)
Boxing (1 Acc)
Tough (1 End Redux, 5 Def Buffs)
Weave (1 End Redux, 5 Def Buffs)
That should do you. In the later levels, you can switch out a couple of things, because you have to be the one that determines what you need the most. If you find you are constantly getting hit, you may want to build defenses. But, from my experience, Trip Mine + Fireball will kill all minions less than red (grey - orange) and Blaze with Fireblast will supply the rest of your clean up work. Tough bosses (orange+) will require some time (setting up a trip mine field properly), but with practice and Blazing Bolt you should be able to avoid a lot of danger. This build, IMHO, needs to be based upon STEALTH, and with SS+Cloak+Smoke, you have it. Most missions can be done with a minimal of risk, and you can just run around killing the minions and Lts. When you do find you need to kill a boss or AV, you have the tools, it just takes longer to set up. This class really can do really really well (as of issue #2) solo or in a group. In fact, when I SK my friends in my SG, they are amazed at my efficiency. Rarely do I need any assistance, but if you can find a good Tank with Invul/* that can round up a whole map....well, you are the perfect machine for dealing with that. Lay out 6-8 mines in a predesignated area, run far away, but in sight of the mines, have the tank round everyone up and haul them back to the mine field, and then run in and do an inferno (trip mine + inferno = everyone everyone everyone everyone dead)
If you want to throw in Time Bomb and/or Auto Turret, that is also up to you, but I find that using your 3 primary AoEs (Fireball, FireBreath, Trip Mine) and your 3 single target attacks (Fireblast, Blaze, Blazing Bolt), you are ready for just about anything and don't need to waste your time on anything else. Like Grandma Gemini used to say, "If you're going to do something, do it right!"
Good luck, and don't get discouraged in the mid-20s....it gets better, honestly.
TY for the guide Krunch, my Fire/Tech blaster is a better hero becasue of you
Just curious, now that FF is not quite what it was in the original guide due to SG nerf, where does a low-30s fire/dev farm now?
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The biggest problem with it(tripmine) is that your targeting drone has no effect on it.
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Not true.
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Actually, it's very true. I've had to slot an ACC enhancement to counter this effect. The trip mines are considered a pet and do not get your current buff
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Fully slotted with DMGS, I will take out oranges...
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Shall I be polite and simply state the non-truth of this statement?
... or just call you outright liar?
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Well if you do, then you are ignorant.
I have easily taken out entire groups of 5th column ORANGE cons with a fully slotted trip mine. With 5 DMGs I can still do it with the help of aim.
Please for the love of god, don't post things that you do not back up. Like on one of the other posts Krunch did on this guide, someone wrote "Good luck, the guide is flawed" and that was it. You arn't backing up what you said, just posting it like a smart *** and acting all smug about it.
Now if you were to say "I have a lvl 50 with trip mine that I can't take out oranges!" Then you would have proof. But at my current build which I STILL USE, I can take out Orange cons with Aim+Trip mine, and before I slotted an ACC, trip mine alone.