SnipeFu's Definitive Guide to Energy Blasters V3.0
By
Airhammer,
Posted on: 2004-11-09 13:44 in Player Guides
Thanks, SnipeFu! 
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The Energy Primary also has some of the sweetest audio and visual effects in the game. It definitely has a very superhero feel to it. This can be evidenced by the fact that I have started yet another energy blaster and so has my cohort and fellow SG leader, MsKnight aka Energy Star, who I would like to thank and give major credit to for the development of this guide.
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/em blush
Thanks Snipey! I learned quite a bit from you also! But who is this "Energy Star"? Now "EnergyStar" is a ruggedly handsome super-powerful heroic-guy.
Also, two questions based on v3 (which looks great btw).
1. Cone range enhancement: does the range (AoE) of damage increase or only the distance ET's cone can hit? The second example is more consistance with how regular, single-target attacks work the range enhancement.
2. Perma-hasten...you might want to note that this can be achieved with only SOs and that 6 slotting before you can buy SOs will now give you "perma" status...so one could wait for the level closest to SOs to devote the last enh slots to hasten to make it "perma."
Just as before, VERY awesome, SnipeFu! I have pointed so many people to this thread and I'm very proud to do so!
My favorite line in 3.0: [ QUOTE ]
Presence. This is not a pool for blasters unless you really like going to the hospital.
[/ QUOTE ]LOL had me rolling.
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Just as before, VERY awesome, SnipeFu! I have pointed so many people to this thread and I'm very proud to do so!
My favorite line in 3.0: [ QUOTE ]
Presence. This is not a pool for blasters unless you really like going to the hospital.
[/ QUOTE ]LOL had me rolling.
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You'd be surprised Jury. I saw an Ice blaster with provoke the other day.....
The Legion of Freedom
Thanks Snipe, MsKnight,JuryDuty and everyone else who's contributed to this great thread.
Snipe, congrats on 50! ...And ya got me thinking, not always a good thing =)
I tested
Power Push:
Great once you get the hang of cycling through your attacks. I knocked out 3 +2 Freaks, then went after the Boss. I have Conserve power and 6 slotted stamina, so I still had the juice to take him out after a cab or 2. Had him on his back the whole time. Ofcourse he ran (they always do) but my snipe
got his attention. I'm a single target blaster so this works really well for me. Great "OH @#$!%" power. Not so hot in groups with melee AT's, and it fits my concept.
Energy Torrent;
Needs slotting but I can see how this would become a mainstay for taking out even level cons and lower. Besides you need something to shoo away those annoying Rikti Monkeys "Bad, Bad Monkey!" BOOM!
Power Boost:
Tried it out, and liked it, alot. Really hard not to take. As it is I'm always concerned about KB when dealing with melee AT's. I'd rather have another attack up my sleeve, and add the disorient enhancements to TF. So I'll have to leave this out and get ET instead.
Bone Smasher:
Animations are a bit slow for my taste. I can see it's value, but I just don't want to get that close. And with ET properly slotted, I think I'll get more bang for my buck with it.
Boost Range:
Not tested yet, but I'm always wishing for extra range. An extra 60% range? Thats like 3 SO's. That's great. Allows me to fully slot for damage. A definite for my guy
So this is what I wind up with until 50.
Thanks to all your combined input, I have a build that I love to play that can solo and kick mighty butt on teams
Archetype: Blaster
Primary Powers - Ranged : Energy Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Energy Manipulation
Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Power Bolt
Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Power Thrust
Level 2 : Power Blast
Level 4 : Build Up
Level 6 : Hasten
Level 8 : Hover
Level 10 : Power Burst
Level 12 : Aim
Level 14 : Fly
Level 16 : Hurdle
Level 18 : Swift
Level 20 : Stamina
Level 22 : Sniper Blast
Level 24 : Conserve Power
Level 26 : Super Speed
Level 28 : Stealth
Level 30 : Power Push
Level 32 : Nova
Level 35 : Boost Range
Level 38 : Energy Torrent
Level 41 : EPP Personal Force Field
Level 44 : EPP Temp Invuln
Level 47 : EPP Force of Nature
Level 49 : Total Focus
Chess
Star Bolt lvl 30 NRG/NRG on Protector
Look me up!
On your first question about cone range enhanser's...Now this is based on what I have heard and even tried it myself, it not only extends the range but how wide an area <cone effect> gets hit by the power it's applied to.
An example it simple, with out the enhance, I had hit 3 mobs side by side that were within range of the Energy torrent, with the enhancement in place not only did I hit 3 mobs , roughly about the same distance away, but hit 3 more further away and in a wider arc. And for you youngster Blasters out there, don't try that at home til you can prove you're of legal age, once you slap them they get very nasty about it and can take it quite personally.....wait til your capable of taking a bit of a hit or two or can hover or get a tank to taunt them off of you, telling a mob his mother wears combat boots works pretty good, so tell the tanker to insult the mobs that way
Dawnstarr
I'm Energy/Ice and I'd just like to add one observation.
Ice Patch is a great tool to assist in using Power Burst.
Against "tricky" groups, I will open with the patch before snipe/blasting. Any that try to come and melee me, more often than not, trip up on the patch, and then I can burst with a lot less risk.
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Besides you need something to shoo away those annoying Rikti Monkeys
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Nova: the best bug zapper (swarms) and monkey extermination influence can buy!
Get yours today!
Actually aim or BU + Expl Blast worked great and has a much faster recharge time.
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Besides you need something to shoo away those annoying Rikti Monkeys
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Nova: the best bug zapper (swarms) and monkey extermination influence can buy!
Get yours today!
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Ok...those DE swarms are really starting to tick me off too!
I used Nova for the first time in real combat the other night against a swarm of monkeys bothering my controller teammate wih their psi attacks.
BOOM!! "Yes, Houston, we have no bananas!" 
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I used Nova for the first time in real combat the other night against a swarm of monkeys bothering my controller teammate wih their psi attacks.
BOOM!! "Yes, Houston, we have no bananas!"
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LOL you're going to begin to LOVE Nova...except for the times you fire it against 10 reds and one survives...and you suddenly realize you have no blue pill...and you forgot to push Conserve Power beforehand.
I use it all the time though and LOVE it!
Well it's the morning after respec and how are we all feeling today? Me pretty good for the most part, just sitting at work itching to be playing atm.
And for the NEW Ryker or Ryker Version 9.275 (lol), have to admit that over the past few hours, I've had to relearn some old tricks but I dare say I'm loving it.
But as I said before I was gonna post the new build and check if anyone else has anything new about power boost.
I just picked it up and not sure if I like it or not. Also PFF is good, but things can still get through and makes a good bridge into Phase Shift. I'll double check PFF's slotting when I get home because I can't remember if I slotted with 2 end red, 2 dam resist, or one of each. 
Primary
Power Bolt (3 Dam, 1 Acc)
Power Blast (4 Dam, 1 Acc)
Snipe (5 Dam, 1 Inter)
Aim (3 rech)
Explosive Blast (2 Dam, 1 Acc)
Nova (2 Dam, 4 rech)
Secondary
Power Thrust (1 Dam)
Build Up (3 rech)
Conserve Power (6 rech)
Power Boost (2 rech)
Boost Range (2 rech)
Fitness
Hurdle (1 jump)
Health (4 heal)
Stamina (6 recov)
Flight
Hover (6 fly)
Fly (5 fly)
Speed
Hasten (6 rech)
Concealment
Stealth (1 Resist)
Invisibility (1 end red)
Phase Shift (2 end red)
Force Mastery
PFF (2 end red)
As you can see, I had to rearrange my slots to make sure everything was covered but for the most part, I'm doing good with it. I will be adding more slots back into my attacks and I also wanted to experiment with Hover and Fly and see the big difference and I wanted to see for myself how fast Fly is at lvl 50 with what I have slotted. With Hover 6 slotted, I hardly ever touch the ground anymore.
Just wanted to congratulate Snipe on 50 (yeah i know little late) and thank everyone in advance on this thread for the help. Just go easy on me. 
lol
As always....
Ryker, nice build man.
I have a few suggestions for you, take them as you like. I suggest taking the 3 slots out of health, 1 slot from phase shift, and 3 slots out of flight and putting those slots in to your attacks. Here's why:
Health doesn't really do much at all for blasters, the regen rate is not fast enough to make any real difference in combat, it will just shorten down time between fights and at your level down time is very little to begin with. EnergyStar tested this extensively and we also know since the regen rate is based on hit points blasters benefit the least. With six slotted stamina you don't need to end reductions in phase shift as you will not outpace your end regen even with one or two toggles going. Flight gets to 99% of the cap with three flight speeds. If you put those extra 7 slots into your attacks I feel you will be much better off as you will be getting through things much faster. What do you think?
The Legion of Freedom
Question with Invisibility or Phase Shift can you sneak up and Nova people WITHOUT SS ????
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
I was looking over that build and it sounds really good, in fact it's given me a few ideas for a possible respec later. I still haven't used the free respec because I find my current build <wish I could remember it right off hand> more then suits my current needs. As for SnipeFu's suggestions, they are very sound, my Blaster is currently 25 and with two lvl 25 SO's for recharge in build-up, I find that it recharges almost fast enough to hit it a couple times during a battle. Maybe my fighting style and everyone else's are completely different, but who knows? I still only have 5 lvl 25 recharges in Hasten, and most battles are over by the time I notice that I'm not firing as fast as before....the few seconds that I am with out Hasten before it Auto starts again, is hardly noticed , by me anyways. To be honest though, I may yet put an extra slot into it to make it fully perma-hasten.
Now for a question, I noticed that conserve power before Nova should be executed to conserve end, for the stragglers. Does Conserve power really help all that much ? I have the fitness <?> pool powers Hurdle, Health and Stamina. I've never gotten Nova or even seen it used yet or the effects of the Blaster it's said to have after firing it off.
Any info would be great, Thanks
Dawnstarr
Hi gang,
I reviewed the past few posts and had some thoughts.
Ryker: Your build's a bit different than mine so I'll assume it's playstyle/how you enjoy your character so I'll just offer a couple of thoughts on slots where one sees little incremental benefit--as you mentioned that you might like to reslot for more damage. As Snipe mentioned, slotting health doesn't do alot for blasters, unless you want the minimal downtime between fights...it won't help really during a fight. Boost Range...with only one SO and 6 slotted hasten you'll have 1 second of downtime before it recharges...so with the 2nd you don't gain a whole lot. Fly: Fly maxes out at 4 SOs..and that 4th is a smaller boost in speed than #3...Snipe says to get rid of a few but I've played w/ 4 slotted fly at 50 and its really fun and I miss it, so my recc is only to remove that 5th slot that's really not value-added (unless you change it to say end rdn). Those two, and maybe the 3 extra in health should give you room to play with. If you're interested my final build is posted some pages back on this thread. Oh one more thing...PFF with stealth pretty much equals phase (not as complete protection and you cannot phase through 5th prisons), so the powers are somewhat redundant (PFF has a 2 sec activation, only 1 sec better than phase). I dropped phase (still miss it tho, just like 4 slotted fly) for more power choices (PFF and 6 slotted hover are fine replacements tho)
AirH: With Invis (from the power pool) and Phase you cannot attack so you can't fire off nova...you can get in position, but you'll have to drop the power in order to fire off nova...with the 3 second activation time it's enough to get stunned...and subsequently defeated. I recc either stealth and SS...or flying/hovering over the mob...deactivating and falling to activate nova....or the "run and jump" aka jousting method.
Dawn: CP acts differently than Stamina...whereas stamina increases the rate of end recovery, CP cuts the cost in half. Here's why the difference is important after nova (esp in a long battle). Nova completely drains your endurance and, assuming no teammate buffs you, you have a penalty whereas you cannot (naturally) end for 10 seconds or so afterwards...this effectively takes stamina out of the equation (for those 10 seconds). You'll have to pop a catch a breath inspiration to get endurance, but if you have several stragglers or, if you use it in a big fight as an "oh <bleep>" power, especially when on a team, you'll want to keep fighting for awhile...a single cab will usu last long enough to pick off stragglers, but you'll have to pause a bit before your next fight...with CP all the powers you use (except nova) will cost 1/2 end...so you'll be able to attack more after you use it.
Yeah I guess I just dont want to drop flight thats all.. I Love flight.. Yeah I know its slower than SS but I just LOVE flying... I might do the whole drop in set off Nova.. Fly out.. does that work really well ??? Because I can see myself doing that and screaming DEATH FROM ABOVE !!!!! he he he
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
Snipe and Energy thanks for the help and maybe its just our server but I havent had the experience with powers that you describe.
Boost Range hasn't ever recharged in the way you describe, i still have to wait about 7-10 seconds for it to be rdy for me to fire off again (and before respec I had 3 rechs in it which did give me about 2 - 3 sec downtime with it). But then again I only use it to either I need to outrange or keep mobs in range which I seem to be doing alot now.
Slot wise I pulled from boost range (2), health (1), stealth (1), and grant invis (1) to max out hover, but I was also able to max snipe which is my opening attack and can use it alot during battles (even solo). I try to keep as minimal downtime between fights as possible, I originally had health 5 slotted. As far as the Fly cap, I've heard 3, I've heard 4, but since I dropped SS I'll take my flight over one lvl without damage. Besides I pretty much spam aim and build-up so that it makes up for the less damage. I may change it to an end red at 50 but til then I'm happy with the results.
Phase Shift, I've found that I need 2 end redux in it just to be able to fly with it on. And I can run Stealth or Invis with it and be invisible and untouchable. I dropped Swift and SS so I could pick up Power Boost and PFF. PFF, I found is a good bridge to switch on PS. I can switch from PFF to PS and get away much faster and not get hit as hard or stunned during the switch. It does take some practice but when it works, it works.
Since I pretty much have figured out what I want power wise I have 1 pick left and that may be Total Focus. When I hit 43 I'll finish slotting out Bolt and Blast and start working on my other powers.
Power Boost I found does raise +def, knockback, etc. but I haven't seen a speed boost with it concerning fly, but I do find that I like the power specially when I can knock down an AV. Again this doesnt happen all the time but in the fight I just had vs. the Envoy I did knockdown twice on him. And NO I wasnt soloing him either lol. I wish.
Thanks for the help guys I have appreciated it very much and enjoy your ragging of my build. 
Snipe, Star, I salute you.
As always..
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Yeah I guess I just dont want to drop flight thats all.. I Love flight.. Yeah I know its slower than SS but I just LOVE flying... I might do the whole drop in set off Nova.. Fly out.. does that work really well ??? Because I can see myself doing that and screaming DEATH FROM ABOVE !!!!! he he he
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Well...it works better than dropping invis in the middle of the mob but not as well as the jousting method and a far cry from the stealth + ss way.
It takes ALOT of practice, as you have to get an idea how high you are...then time the drop and activation...then you can still be hit briefly when you land. Not perfect, but a different method that, when applied well, would be really really fun.
Hey Ryker, didn't mean it as ragging (clarification: what I do to Snipe...THAT'S ragging), I just wanted you to have the "max" build you can have based on what you want to do (i.e. not a cookie cutter copy of mine) by avoiding slotting over caps.
Some thoughts: Power Boost effect on Fly speed. It does have an effect but since you're at "the cap" you don't see this. Let me elaborate: Fly speed increases with level...but max fly speed is set by level. E.g. one w/ 6 Fly speeds at L30 will not fly as fast as a L50 w/ only 4 fly speeds. With 4-5 SOs, being at the max fly speed for your level, Power Boost will not appear to have an effect. However it will on Hover (I often "fly" using 6 slotted hover and get a very noticable boost when I hit power boost).
You mentioned using stealth and phase to give you complete invisibility. I respec'd out of phase (miss that power) but I thought they were mutually exclusive powers. I'll have to check my older copy on test. Generally I stacked SS w/ phase (or stealth) for complete invis.
Boost Range...are you running your recharge numbers while hasten is activated? I notice that you have hasten 6-slotted for perma status, but the numbers you posted are more in-line w/ my calcuations w/o Hasten (note, I created my calculations based upon what I knew and read of how recharge red work, then compared the output to various other reported numbers from random posts I came across, tweaked my calc, and then tested/confirmed with live testing).
Boost range has a 30 sec duration and a base 60 second recharge. Without hasten, with 1 SO recharge drops to 45 sec, with 2 down to 6 sec and with 3 to 30 sec. With hasten 70% base factor added to an SO's 33% factor, the 60 sec recharge drops to 30 sec w/ only 1 SO (the equivilant of 3 SOs w/o hasten). With the 30 sec duration it's effectively "perma" available. I tested this several times last night (using hasten) and everytime my Boost Range Icon disappeared I looked down and it was already recharged.
I don't think the servers s/b different, and the last time I checked I wasn't smoking crack (note: is smoking even the way to "do" crack? It's been awhile since I've been a "peer leader" while in school), so let me know if you still get the same results!
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Yeah I guess I just dont want to drop flight thats all.. I Love flight.. Yeah I know its slower than SS but I just LOVE flying... I might do the whole drop in set off Nova.. Fly out.. does that work really well ??? Because I can see myself doing that and screaming DEATH FROM ABOVE !!!!! he he he
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Well...it works better than dropping invis in the middle of the mob but not as well as the jousting method and a far cry from the stealth + ss way.
It takes ALOT of practice, as you have to get an idea how high you are...then time the drop and activation...then you can still be hit briefly when you land. Not perfect, but a different method that, when applied well, would be really really fun.
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Thanks for all the help Energy Star, I am just going to respec out of flight and go with Six Slotted Hover which will work well for most cirumstances.. I use my flight to fight.. which means most of the outdoor fighting I am doing I am in hover.. switch to flight.. fly away.. switch to hover... attack again... With Six Slotted Hover.. no problem.. no switching.. If I have to cross a zone I will just use SS and 6SH ( my new thing for six slotted hover ) to get away from people.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
Hey Star just wanted to add something I may have missed, I found that I can use both Invis and Stealth (not together) while Phased. Its pretty cool when I'm getting ready to use Nova. I either hop or hover in, power boost, boost range, aim, buildup, shut off invis, watch them try and hit me, shut off phase, and then its "BURNING BIG BANG" time. I also have noticed a slight range increase with Nova and Boost Range. Its cool.
Also noticed the increase speed with PB and Hover, so its good.
The numbers I mentioned are with hasten activated, so I don't know what the problem is. I've also noticed that Boost range lasts longer than 30 sec., next time I'm on I'll time it again, just to be sure. Aw heck I'll retime everything again just to be sure.
Yeah keep ragging on Snipe, he needs it. lol and was wondering if we were gonna get together again on test, like you guys had planned in another thread? I missed it but am hoping if you do it again I can hop in and say Hi besides doing it here.
great guide. i got to lvl 28 today and after waiting for the holiday respec, im going to be pickier with my powers. im a tech blaster, eng/eng. Trask on infinity server. see you on the streets of paragon!
w00t!!!! updated to version 3.0!!!!111!!!!
The Legion of Freedom