Blaster Guides and FAQs

I find this quote amusing, because it hangs a lamp shade on the flaw with ranged attack sets. You're making my point exactly; not every attack set has the capability to construct a seamless attack chain at all, much less one that passes over low-tier starter attacks that may be sub-optimal in a high-end context. Blast sets are notoriously bad for the purpose of constructing seamless attack chains without IO investment.

Melee sets are complete in and of themselves. Blast sets need supplements. For Blasters, that supplement takes the form of Secondary (usually melee) attack powers, which is why I cited the extra selection of attacks as an (offensive) advantage for melee Blasters. I don't believe that should be a meaningful advantage, because I believe that blast sets should have a stronger selection of good attack powers (rather than the typical 3 regular-use ST attacks, one of which, up until I-24, only works at half-range) -- but there's no evidence that blast sets are getting the kind of overhaul I'd like.

Personally? I think Blaster melee attacks should be boosted so that they're more worthwhile even in comparison with a theoretically complete selection of ranged attacks. But I don't make the decisions.

I'm telling you what a Blapper's potential advantages are, and will be, in I-24. You keep saying that melee for a Blaster will be superfluous, but you haven't explained why you think that. The snipe buff and the range boost to tier-3 attacks doesn't even come close to killing off the Blapper, even if we ignore the qualitative benefits of various Blaster-secondary attacks (that is, even if we pretend that damage is the only standard by which to measure the melee attacks' value).

As for the rest, we're in irreconcilable disagreement territory. I'm not interested in rehashing the epic wall-of-text exchanges we've had elsewhere (and I doubt you're interested, either). At least you're open about wanting Blasters to be weak, and wanting Blaster ranged offense to suffer for the sake of the Blapper playstyle. And at least I'm open about my opinion that Blaster Secondaries were designed (and I use the term loosely) with a pitcher of beer and a dart board.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

The fact that you're conceding any advantage at all implies that blapping will still have a place. We don't generally stop doing things that are better because they become less better.


But that's not analogous, because the ranged option didn't become better at immediate nullification of impossible to quick-kill targets (i.e. mezzing bosses). Nothing in the ranged buffs does that. In fact you could argue that the D2.0 change of shooting while mezzed and increasing the ranged modifier to 1.125 did more to shift the balance from melee to ranged, and it didn't really do all that much in that regard.

I get that way sometimes. Like when I said the devs would normalize defense, or when I said there was an easy path to animation customization, or when I gibbered about adding new defense mechanics to the game. You should ignore me when I get into one of those fugues.

Seamless is barely relevant in normal play. I assure you, every ranger can build to be attacking at a very high rate. Between throwing out AoEs, self buffs, single target attacks, moving, using inspires, using buff/debuff powers (for rangers that are not blasters), etc., the ranger is not frequently staring at a power tray without stuff recharged.

But true, against those tough targets like AVs, a rangers single target chain can be lacking (although I find I have that trouble with some armored characters and have to throw in an AoE as well). And we all know that AVs are really when you want to move into melee to fill those gaps!

I don't think they are superfluous, I think they are getting close. The advantages they bring are already tenuous, and I24 further reduces them. I admit

The first sentence is incorrect. I am guessing (hoping) you intended it to be funny, I smiled a bit.

Next, I am starting to find the term Blapper grating on my nerves. As if using the blaster secondary attacks is some kind of degenerate playstyle. I am not talking about those builds that are excessive melee combatants. Rather, I am talking about blasters. Not rangers, not blappers. Blasters. Those who use both. When you are already building to be solid at range and supplement with melee attacks. As the range part improves, the need and/or value to supplementing with melee goes down.

Finally, however or whatever the original design for blasters was, if you are going to abandon the melee portion, then abandon it. If the design has issues, but you want to keep the melee portion, fix both range and melee. Unless, of course, the melee attacks and powers are already good enough? I could be convinced of that, although I think some sets would still fall short.

You're not necessarily wrong. I like the angle you're taking wrt: Blaster modifications, arguing for a fundamental change to the AT, and removing the "blasters cannot do X" mindset. I think you'd make a great DM in a tabletop game, for instance.

I just don't think the devs can back you up, is all.

Being a Peacebringer player, animation customization is something of a sore subject.

A seamless attack chain is a useful benchmark not because you should adhere to one in normal play, but because it means that you can start to pick and choose among your best attacks. The point is that melee sets can do it with one set whereas blast sets traditionally don't allow you to do it. The point is that you can supplement your offense with higher DPA attacks from your secondary, if you choose to utilize Blaster melee attacks.

The fact that Blasters are more prone to interrupt themselves while attacking isn't an advantage.

Pitcher of beer and a dart board. You're preaching to the choir. This is why I don't think it's cool that the Primary set of the supposed damage specialist should be disadvantaged relative to melee characters. The closest thing we have in CoH to a DPS-throttled PvE encounter is an AV/GM fight, and Scrappers are better at it than Blasters, even in a team. Uh ... awesome. (Support ATs are by far the best at those encounters, of course, but that ship's sailed.)

Yeah, I was joking.

I use the term as a convenience, because it's not a given that a Blaster will want to use melee attacks at all, or even that a given Blaster will have access to melee attacks (Devices doesn't have any -- though you could make an argument that Taser and Trip Mine count towards a 'blapper' playstyle).

It's not a degenerate play style to move into melee range situationally. It is, I think, given the over-arching design of the game, an odd-ball play style to rely heavily on (single-target) melee attacks as a matter of course. I personally can't justify taking them, unless they have some sort of situational utility (like the Bonesmasher/Total Focus combo Arcana mentions). PBAoEs I'll take, but as noted previously, that's largely because many primaries don't allow for WTFPWN AoE damage exclusively from range. The nuke buff will change that somewhat, but many nukes are PBAoEs themselves.

Which is an advantage for Blappers. Or Blasters who use secondary attacks, if you prefer.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

Alright. I am probably being paranoid. It does look like I am pretty much guaranteed to lose our bet.

Alright. I am convinced to wait and see. I do like using HoB precisely because it meshes so well with blaster melee powers.

LOL. Don't mind me. I think I just went off the deep end for a little. And scrappers don't jump in and out of melee like a blaster who uses both sets.

This is not necessarily true in a scenario with multiple variables. Using the melee attacks may be better in some ways, added damage and possible control, for example. But they have build costs as well as the obvious exposure to extra risk.

It is possible for the added damage and control to be better, but still not worth those costs. Not enough better?

I am figuring we are not at that point though, so I will cease belaboring the concern.

corpses

Well I think you are missing what was the original point which was energy manipulation as a set is going to be the best seconday choice to pair with all the primaries.

This is based not on the relative strength of the recovery/regen powers which I thought would all be of roughly equal strength. (Mutters about drain psyche(too awesome my foot)). Rather /Energy can provide perma fast snipe and it can greatly amplify the secondary effects of the new crashless nukes.

Examples.
PB + Thunderous blast = Everything that wasn't killed now has no endurance and no recovery.
PB + Blackstar = -65% to hit on everything that didn't die.
PB+ (Overcharge/psychic wail/Atomic Blast/Dreadful wail/Geyser)= Greatly enhanced stuns all of which can be stacked with stuns from /Energy Manipulation.

Also /Energy Manipulation gets its end management and regeneration in a single click power that does not require the presence of enemies. This is inherently superior to having it in a suppressing toggle or multiple click powers that require enemies.

I was under the impression you were tossing out the absorb mechanic in frigid embrace as being sufficiently superior to energize as to offset the other advantages that /energy manipulation enjoys.

Frigid embrace may well be that much better but not for the reasons you or I thought. Seeing as the absorb pulse is twice the size of the amount of regeneration you could expect from the regen benefit in that same period this implies you would need hits that were 20% or bigger of the blasters hit points and and happened no more often then every 2 cycles of the Absorb shield (assumes absorb shield max at 10% of hp). Now you spoke of leveraging frigid embrace by building for resistance. That is exceptionally painful currently and likely impossible to get 50% resistance across the board on a blaster let alone get the high levels mitigation blasters get from defense now.

What you can do is build an ice blaster for defense to space out the hits and leverage Frigid Embrace by taking Aid Self. I am assuming that the Absorbed message for an attack doesn't produce an interrupt for the player if that is the case Frigid Embrace effectively removes the interrupt that makes aid self near useless in combat against enemies with large amounts of damage over time.

Also as a note the greater regeneration that is coming in I24 dovetails very neatly with the ability to get very high levels of defense using power boost. /Ice Manipulation would likely do better with regeneration as well simply from all its minus recharge. Unfortunately frigid embrace's -damage which would be helpful only applies in melee range when the enemies in general have higher damage attacks.

"highest dps in the game if you can survive that long"

Seriously, do the numbers for an IO'd / Incarnate Energy or Fire Manipulation alongside Fire Blast or something else that can fill the natural hole in their attack strings.

Yeah, I don't think it's consistently possible because as Dug indicates they die alarmingly fast. But as long as they're alive, they do incredible single-target DPS.

If the devs do a fantastic job of buffing Blasters otherwise, I might reconsider dropping my subscription... assuming nothing else good has come along.

To my knowledge...the regen/recovery boosts being added to the blaster secondaries are all single power for each one and not multiple powers. Field Operative, Frigid Embrace, Touch of the Beyond, Energize, and....the other revised power names that i can't think of off top of my head that are replacing/revising Blazing Aura and Thunderclap.

These powers are (again...IIRC) going to keep their original effects AS WELL as boost regen and recovery (or grant +absorb in frigid's case). The regen/recovery portion of these DO NOT REQUIRE YOU TO BE NEAR ENEMIES. These fire off regardless, so they can be used outside of combat to grant you the buffs. Post I-24...the only power of this type that will require you to be near bads will be Drain Psyche.

In the case of the toggles, its my understanding that the regen/absorb/recovery portion will not be suppressed by mez.

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe ::looks at RaikenX's signature:: Something funny.

I dunno, man. On paper, you're probably right. Energy already had a surprising amount of utility before I-24; the (needless) mechanical quirk of the snipe change only adds to that utility, relative to the utility of other Blaster secondaries.

But realistically? Managing all of those extremely short-duration click powers (Power Boost, Boost Range, Build Up, Aim) is going to be a PITA. The dead animation time you'll incur in the regular use of those powers shouldn't be underestimated either.

Someone recently (either in this thread or another) compared I-24 Energy Manipulation to Scrapper Regeneration, and I think that's an apt comparison: EM will give you high theoretical performance potential, but that potential will come at the cost of constant micromanagement.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

Oh no doubt you will have to work for your performance but at least the performance is there.

After a few sessions with your final build, the timers in your head will keep it all together for ya.

Sure, I'm not saying it's undoable, and I'm not disputing that the options EM offers are advantageous, even if you don't consistently make use of them.

What I do question is whether the pay off is ultimately worth the effort. That's largely a subjective question, but I'm also not entirely certain that the mechanical trade off in terms of dead time doesn't offset the DPS advantage of EM's perma-fast snipe, even on paper. If, for the sake of argument, you're hitting Boost Range and Power Boost once each per 30 seconds, then that's, what? 2.64 / 30 = 0.088, or almost 9% of your potential attack time eaten.

That's on top of the 9+% of dead time that most any IOed Blaster will incur through the regular use of Aim and Build Up. Now, sure, the EM Blaster is getting offsetting benefits over and above the perma-fast snipe (a part-time DEF and control/debuff boost, and a significant boost to the coverage of any ranged cone), but if the perma-fast snipe isn't an unreserved advantage, then that changes the complexion of the discussion by a not-inconsiderable amount.

My offhanded comparison between Blaster EM and Scrapper Regen wasn't a wholly whimsical. Rightly or wrongly, people have complained for years that as Regen approaches its (defensive) performance peak, it loses more DPS -- and Regen's clicks aren't available anywhere near as often as EM's. Clearly, EM will be very strong, perhaps even the strongest Blaster Secondary in I-24 (based on what we know now), but it's not obvious to me that EM will be significantly superior to its peers, all things considered.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

Energy Manipulation isn't as clickie as Regen. Once Power Boost is perma you basically put Hasten on auto and hit PB as is comes up. That doesn't seem that bad to me.

Boost Range doesn't need to be refreshed as soon as it comes up.

Really, perma-dom is much worse to me than any /Energy build. You can't put both Hasten and Domination on auto. The penalty for missing either click for too long is very severe - Domination resets.

With Energy is you miss a Power Boost click it's no big deal, you can just hit it again as soon as you realize it's down.

Perma-fast snipe for EM requires that you juggle Power Boost with Aim and Build Up. Really, all non-Devices Blasters have become significantly more click-heavy in I-24; that's one of the reasons I don't like the snipe change.

EM is just more click-heavy.

As for perma-Dom? That's why god invented keybinds. It's easy to set up the auto-toggle to alternate between two powers on a relatively long-term basis (~80-120 seconds, in this case); it's not so easy to manage four extremely short-duration clicks, and even if we ignore the qualitative complaint, the activation of all those short-duration clicks does eat up non-trivial amounts of time.

That's true.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

In actual game play, my /Energy blaster isn't really that hard.

You don't need to include Boost Range in the rotation. You only need to click it right before a cone sequence as a spawn starts. It is very useful, but in actual play you are not hitting it once things get mixed up unless you break away and want to start another cone burst.

Basically it's Hasten on auto, hit Power Boost as it cycles, and otherwise it's the same Aim-Build Up-Attack sequence other blasters use. At least that's my experience playing my /Energy blaster.

In actual game play, your attack chain doesn't fall apart when you don't use Power Boost. Come i24, it will.

And, again, using at least one click power every 10-15 seconds is a non-trivial amount of time not spent attacking, regardless of whether you find it qualitatively annoying or not.

For me it will be Tactics + Karma + Power Boost. No need to time and Aim and Build Up with Snipe. You get 22.6% To Hit once Power Boost is perma.

Can you elaborate? Do you macro your spam attack with Domination or something?

Um, Power Boost is what caps my defense. If it goes down I die. There will be no change of play there.

A significantly less hit than my Regen scrapper. But yes the DPS loss can be annoying.

1. Reducing Power Boost's cycle time to 15 seconds or less is a non-trivial endeavor. If your build does it, then more power to you, but yours isn't the typical case. Yours isn't even the a-typical case.

2. If you're cycling Power Boost every 15 seconds, then you're eating up the previously mentioned ~9% of your time without even touching Boost Range.

3. You should be using Aim and Build Up fairly often, regardless.

Click on the link in my previous post. I use movement keys to trigger the auto-toggle switch, but you could also use attacks if you wanted. I'm not gonna tell you that it's the most convenient arrangement on earth, but I think perma-PB would be about a bajillion times more annoying than my Domination setup. YMMV.

Plus, the Villain-Alignment power, Fury, gives me instant Domination if I happen to let it lapse. I haven't checked in awhile, but you used to be able to jump-interrupt snipe a bunch of times to fill your Dom bar even out of combat, too.

[Edit: Heh, that's supposed to say, "Frenzy," not "Fury."]

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build