Section 1: Should I even PICK fire/dev?
FIRE BLAST
*Pick Fire Blast IF: You like doing damage to as many different foes as possible. You like contributing to the team by wiping out scores of minions and LTs so that they rest of your team can tackle the bosses and the more dangerous mobs. You do not want to worry about managing the secondary effects of your powers. You like seeing LOTS of red numbers all over the place.
*Do not pick Fire Blast IF: You prefer the role of single target killer. You like your powers to have a secondary effects. You like a lot of utility or variety in your powers.
*GENERALLY: Fire blast is all about 1 thing: Area of Effect damage. Thats it. If you are looking for utility, look elsewhere. This next point is VERY important to understand thanks to Enhancement Diversification: Fire Blast has NO SLOTTABLE SECONDARY EFFECT. Thats right: energy has knockback, electric has end drain, ice has slows/holds, assault rifle has def debuffs
fire has NOTHING. You are going to slot it for optimal damage output, and that is it.
*Of Note: Though your single target damage is fairy limited, when you consider the fact that you are damaging many mobs with most of your attacks, you will most likely be the most damaging member on your team.
DEVICES
*Pick Devices IF: You like having a bag of tricks to supplement your blasting. You feel you have enough damage in your primary powerset to overcome the lack of it in your secondary. You like to set up your battlefield and ambush enemies. You like to solo.
*Do not pick Devices IF: You really love to PvP. You want to enter melee. You are not patient. You prefer your fights fair. If you really want the power build up.
*GENERALLY: A high utility set, devices is a jack of all trades bag of tricks. It is NOT like any other blaster secondary, it does not focus on attacks and damage (though the last few powers will cover that for you). Devices is the only secondary set to totally supplement blasting with utility while not substantially altering your Optimal Damage Range (Kill Zone). This set is all about setting ambushes and altering the battlefield to suit your needs.
*Of Note: Devices is a tough set to use in a team setting, insofar as a couple of its best abilities are geared more towards solo play than team play unless your team is patient. Additionally, I6 and enhancement diversification has hurt the utility of the set, and though it remains viable, it is not the brick house it once was. Also, now that damage has decreased across the boards for all archetypes, the lack of build up in this set is much more noticeable.
2. DETAILS MAN, I NEED DETAILS!
FIRE BLAST
Flares: Flares is a very quick recharging weak damage single target attack. Additionally, its animation is fairly long for what it does. Uses almost no endurance.
Commentary: I wouldnt pick this, personally. However, some blasters do take it, and for the earlier levels of the game, find it useful. I personally think there are better power choices to make. If you do take it, its quick recharge makes adding a recharge reduce in it pointless.
Fun index: 
Recommended Slotting: 4 slot 3 damage, 1 end redux
Fire Blast: a quick recharging and moderately weak damaging single target attack. It has a very quick animation. Uses very little endurance.
Commentary: This attack will be used, most likely, more than any other ability you will pick up short of targeting drone. It is your attack chain filler, and it goes off so quick that you will never find yourself in a position going: man, I died because I couldnt pop an inspiration during that animation. PICK THIS OVER FLARES. Its quick recharge makes an recharge redux redundant, and you are only slotting an end redux in there to keep its small cost even smaller.
Fun Index: 
Recommended Slotting: 4 slots 3 damage, 1 end redux.
Fire Ball: Area of Effect (AoE) Damage. More damage than fire blast. Quick activation.
Commentary: Whats not to love? Well, it does chew end a bit, but out slotting will take care of it. Against a single target fireball costs more end than is worth the damage unless you are working on sustained damage per second in AV & Monster fights.
Fun Index:
Recommended Slotting: 6 slots 3 damage, 2 end redux, 1 recharge.
Rain Of Fire: Wide AoE Damage over Time (DoT) targeted on a location. Long recharge. Eats a LOT of end.
Commentary: A rather poor power at first glance, Rain of Fire causes fear to any enemies effected by it. It does fairly weak damage (if enemies take the total amount of damage it would be equivalent to approx 2-3 fire blasts on each
but over somewhere around 10-15 seconds. Many fire blasters ignore this power, and I dont blame them. I, however, did take it as a flavor power, and enjoy it. Usage tips: use it in 3 situations. 1. as a form of soft control in situations where you are being overwhelmed a properly timed RoF will cause the enemies to focus more on scattering than attacking you. In situations where there is a door or a bottleneck, you can use RoF as a separating ability, and keep mobs on each side of the door where they are. 2. when enemies are held so you get that extra damage without the scatter. 3. with caltrops, as the slow effect of caltrops prevents a quick scatter, and in combination with other AoE damage, youll be putting a hurting on things. I would take it and test it and see if you like it. Not a required power.
Fun index: 
Recommended slotting: 5 3 damage, 2 end redux.
Fire Breath: High Cone damage over 3 Ticks. Recharges somewhat quickly and eats a respectable amount of endurance.
Commentary: Bread, meet butter; you guys will be spending a lot of time together. Do not, under any circumstances, skip this power. It is your most damaging AoE, and in combination with fireball will allow you to maximize your AoE potential. Usage tip: lead off with this and follow with fireball. The damage ticks will prevent mobs from using any interruptible abilities.
Fun Factor:
Aim: Quick activation power that grants you a large bonus to accuracy, and a minor bonus to damage over the next few seconds. (Typically enough for 3 attacks) Not a fast recharge, but only uses a bit of endurance.
Commentary: Its a good ability, both for its supplement to you targeting drones accuracy, and its minor damage increase. I would take it, but not necessarily as a priority. Recommended slotting will allow you to use it quite frequently (on either every, or every other mob group)
Fun Index:
Recommended Slotting: 3 3 Recharge Redux
Blaze: High damage single target attack. Quick activation. SHORT RANGE. (not melee
but close). Decent endurance usage.
Commentary: You wont do more damage to a single target than this power unless you are sniping. I wouldnt skip this power (though some do due to its range restriction). Admittedly, it does effect your Kill Zone, by forcing you closer to the mobs. However, its high damage makes up for its shortcomings. (at this point I was just pointed to Troys mix tape of love
so if my commentary gets wonky please forgive me
I just keep cringing) Usage Tip: if you chose not to slot for range, make sure against AVs that you push the boundaries of blaze and attack from as far out as possible. Being 1 shotted by a PBAoE or having your attacks interrupted by a damage aura is never fun.
Fun Index:
Recommended Slotting: 6 slot: 3 damage, 1 end redux, 1 recharge redux, 1 range (to make sure you can use it outside AV damage Auras and PBAoE attacks
more useful than you may think; if you chose not to slot for range, pop another recharge redux or end redux in there)
Blazing Bolt: Long activation, Extreme Single Target damage, Long Range, Interruptible, and uses a good amount of end.
Comment: You guessed it- this is your snipe. If you dont mind the set up time, the end usage, and the fact you can be interrupted, its a heck of an opener. Unfortunately since the advent of ED, this suffers from the same problem as Blaze
it can no longer 1 shot minions without aid. Aim *might* be able to put you over the edge, but pop a red inspiration just in case. The fact that its a snipe usually relegates it to battle opener, or pulling tool, so no need for recharges.
Recommended Slotting: 5, 3 damage, 2 end redux.
Fun Index:
Inferno: Massive Damage, Large Radius PBAoE attack that destroys foes around you. Even in the ED world inferno will still wipe our groups of foes. It has a 2 second or so activation time that will suppress stealth (allowing enemies to see/attack you before you finish the attack). It is uninterruptible. It also drains all of your end, and leaves you unable to naturally regenerate endurance for 10 seconds after it is used.
Commentary: Dude, you need this power. Though, thanks to ED, it will wipe out all white & yellow minions, white LTs, and possibly yellow LTs. Pop a red or three and you will still decimate anything but an orange boss. It has a few very handy uses: 1- as an alpha strike you can use this to destroy just about everything but the bosses. 2- when your group is the victim of unexpected aggro, your inferno can help mitigate this by wiping out nearly all of the offending group. 3- In AV/Monster battles where there are lots of enemies surrounding your main target, you can wait for the tank to take the aggro of the AV and inferno the rest, leaving a lot of breathing room for your team. Some people feel that its not worth losing all your endurance over, but in my humble opinion, they are wrong.
Recommended Slotting: 6 3 dmg, 3 recharge redux.
Fun Index:
OK So thats fire Blast. Now on to devices.
DEVICES
Web Grenade: Single target immobilize. Base duration is not very good, and enemies can still attack. Uses very little end.
Comments: You are stuck with it. The only thing I have ever used it for is to bring down fliers, or to immobilize a boss type foe so I can use Rain of Fire
and even then I use it rarely as Id still prefer him running around in the rain than shooting me.
Recommended Slotting: 1 1 immob duration.
Fun Index:
Caltrops: Area of Effect slot movement. Causes fear. Causes minor damage. Recharge is fair, and end usage is a bit high.
Commentary: Very useful power, contrary to what some believe. Throw this down right after your opening salvo (which will be discussed later) to cause foes that remain standing to run around aimlessly instead of attacking you. You can also use this as a doorjamb in areas where you pull through a door or bottleneck.
Recommended Slotting: 5 or 6 3 slow, 1 (or 2) end redux, 1 recharge redux.
Fun index:
Tazer: I suppose Ill describe it. Melee range single target disorient. Cant comment on recharge or endurance.
Commentary: The least used devices power, and maybe the 3-4th least used power in the game
for good reason. Do. Not. Take. This. Power.
Recommended Slotting: A slap upside your head if this is voluntarily in your power tray.
Fun Index:
Targeting Drone: A toggle power that greatly increases your accuracy. Uses a decent amount of end.
Commentary: Before the days of I6, targeting drone allowed devices blasters to 6 slot their attacks for damage, thus eking out an extra damage enhancement over their non devices brethren. Those days are no more, but still, the addition of targeting drone is a must, and it allows us more creative slot usage.
Recommended Slotting: 4 3 to-hit buffs, 1 endurance redux
Fun Index:
Smoke Grenade: An area of effect around target perception, causes stealth suppression, and a minor to hit debuff (which is partially or completely- suppressed when enemies are attacked
I believe the jury is still out on when the debuff is or is not suppressed entirely)
Commentary: In the pre-i2 world this power was the cats pajamas. No longer the broken easily exploitable power it once was, its nerfing has been overcompensated due to its former cheesy glory. As such, I would only recommend this power to complete your stealth abilities if you do not take superspeed. If you DO take SS, than smoke grenade in addition to cloaking device will give you complete stealth even from high perception enemies.
Recommended Slotting: 3 3 to hit debuffs
Fun Index: 
Cloaking Device: Toggle that grants stealth with no movement penalty. Uses a fair amount of endurance. Also provides a minor defense buff.
Commentary: Highly useful power for many, if not ALL, /devices builds. Cloaking device will allow you to do many things: Set up your cone attacks, set up trip mines, scout out areas, stealth to bosses, run through maps without worry of aggro, complete clicky missions in record time. Id say it would be foolish of you NOT to take this power.
Recommended Slotting: 1 or 2- 1 (2) endurance redux
Fun Index:
Trip Mine: A drop (summon) bomb that will detonate if any enemies come within proximity causing PBAoE damage and knockback. Will cause additional damage to foes near the epicenter of the blast. Recharge rate is OK and endurance usage is fair.
Commentary: Pre Enhancement Diversification this power was beyond excellent for the solo blaster. It would wipe out white minions, usually kill yellows, and ruin the day of oranges. Now, you need to couple it with more damage. Not too terrible. Usage tip: Lay the mine, and back away REAL fast and let loose with fireball to finish off most groups. For in depth trip mine usage, check out Revolver Laws trip mine guide. Usage Tip: Couple Superspeed with cloaking device and you can run up to any mob but a sniper, knife of artemis or rikti drone and drop the mine right on their feet. Usage Tip: Minefield- set up 4-6 mines one after the other down a corridor and pull an entire group run back down through that corridor and watch the group get blown apart as they chase you through your minefield.
Recommended Slotting: 6 3 damage, 1 acc, 1 end redux, 1 recharge redux.
Fun Index: (from 5 before i6
. Thanks ED!)
Time Bomb: Similar to Trip Mine, only instead of detonating when something comes close, it will blow in 15 seconds regardless of what happens around it. It supposedly will detonate due to enemy explosions, but I have yet to see it. Endurance usage and recharge are both fairly high.
Commentary: I skipped this power, but some people swear by it. As a solo blaster you can really frontload your damage using this, but a teaming blaster will find himself hard pressed to use it frequently. Usage Tip: Frontload your damage! Place a time bomb the same way you would a trip mine, count down from 15 seconds the moment you see the white squiggly stop spinning around the power
when you hit 6 mississippi initiate the trip mine. They should either explode simultaneously or stagger slightly resulting in some nice damage. For extra fun, layer it with a fireball!
Recommended Slotting: 5, 3 damage, 1 Acc, 2 endurance redux. (no recharges as you can set up time bomb minefields, so there is no need for it except once per spawn.
Fun Factor:
Auto Turret: You place a drop (summon) stationary turret which will fire rapidly at any targets in range. It takes a good 8-ish seconds or so to set up, does OK damage, and eats up a TON of end. It also has a very high recharge.
Comments: Well, where do I begin? Auto turret is universally considered a poor power
because it is. But its not the worst (that honor still goes to tazer) but it is most certainly a disappointment as our level 38 unlocked power. I would recommend not taking it, though pre i6, I used it. I am respeccing out of it. Why? Ill explain. Previously I only used auto turret in 2 situations. To absorb alpha strikes (very rare, as many alphas contain AoE attacks which would hit me anyway) and against AV/Monsters to help keep up sustained DPS. In i6 I will no longer use it for sustained DPS considering its high endurance usage and poor damage output and the fact that stamina was lowered. Id rather throw out 2 more blazes than an auto turret. Usage Tip: Recall friend will allow you to tote your little turret around with you wherever you go!
Recommended Slotting: 4- 3 damage, 1 end redux. (no need for ACC, even though it is a drop, it has high inherent accurancy)
Fun Index:
POWER POOLS:
I would recommend stamina. The addition of it to this build will allow you to basically blast all day without worrying about your endurance. Very helpful for sustained DPS.
I would recommend super speed. The additional +stealth is handy and hasten, even in its current state is still a great power
though hardly needed.
Flight: I recommend fly because an aerial view of the battle is handy and staying out of melee is nice. Also: youd be surprised how few people look up in large scale PvP battles in places like Bloody bay, Sirens call and Warburg. Additionally: with Superspeed as your primary travel you will need vertical movement. Also: Air Superiority is a great attack is you dont mind getting into melee. Though it will hinder your kill zone if you rely on it.
Section 3: Synergy between sets... why fire/dev combines well.
Fire / Devices works well for a bunch of reasons. As a primarily Area of Effect blaster, being able to not have to slot accuracy is still a boon. Where your other blaster brothers will be slotting accuracy you will be slotting either another end redux or another recharge redux, allowing your powers to recharge faster and cost less endurance. W00t I say, w00t! Also, Devices, as mentioned way above, in no way hampers your Kill Zone in a team situation. Being that you have no melee attacks, your optimal Kill Zone remains at the exact edge of Blaze range. 20 yards unslotted I believe. This means from that range, every direct attack at your disposal can be used. This range keeps you out of melee, and away from PBAoE attacks and damage auras. Also, cloaking device allows you to take your time and line up your cone attacks. Finally, since your most used 1-2 punch will agro whole groups, being able to set up ambushes with your caltrops and mines can be very helpful.
Section 4. For the new blaster
If this is your first blaster I highly recommend reading Concerns 3B guide, there are great tips in there.
My contribution is to help you understand the difference between burst damage and sustained DPS and when each is appropriate
Burst damage is cramming in as much damage as you can in the smallest amount of time. You worry about burst damage against groups Minions and easy LTs.
Sample attack chains (AoE Burst)
Tripmine -> Fireball
Fire breath -> Fireball
Tripmine -> Superspeed backpedal -> Fire Breath -> Fire Ball
Burst into Sustained DPS: used in spawns that contain minions, LTs & Bosses. Your burst damage wipes the Minions and LTs, and your DPS kills the boss.
Sample Attack Chains (AoE burst / Sustained)
Tripmine -> Fireball (minions) -> Blaze (boss) -> Fire Breath (boss) ->Fire Bolt (boss)
(get close to the group) Fire breath -> caltrops -> Rain of fire -> fireball -> blaze -> fire bolt -> fire breath
Burst damage (single target) used to off a solo boss who is by him or herself
Sample attack chain:
Trip mine -> Blazing Bolt -> Blaze -> fire breath -> fire ball -> fire bolt
Sustained DPS: Used against AVs or monsters who have obscene hit points and insane regen rates.
No sample attack chains here, just keep your attacks coming and be happy you slotted heavily with endurance reducers.
AND A NOTE ON DEFIANCE:
The blaster's inherent ability is called defiance. It increases your damage the closer you are to being defeated. It is, in my opinion, a terrible inherent ability and I would suggest playing your blaster as if that bar didnt even exist. If you would normally use a green insp but are chosing not to thanks to defiance, I cannot feel sorry for you when you face plant. The only up side to defiance is at least the devs didnt take anything from us to compensate for giving it to us.
[ QUOTE ]
*Do not pick Devices IF: You really love to PvP.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wow. Are you serious? Unless a blaster has a pocket empath, /DEV blasters are the norm in PvP (well, Siren's Call and below).
Let me just remind you how bad WEB GRENADE is for stalkers. And Caltrops... And T-Drone + Tactics... yikes. You may want to re-think your comment on PvP.
Ice/Devices seems to be the current flavor of the month for blasters in PvP zones; even Ice/Energy (the most common pvp builds) are getting harder to find (/elec is picking up speed).
I've played a Fire/Dev blaster since issue 1, and have had great success in PvP with him. I can see the stalkers before they AS (tactics + t-drone); fire's DoT component prevents them from hiding immediately; web grenade and/or caltrops prevents them from running.
Fire/Devices may not be the best pvp blaster build, but it certainly is quite effective.
Your guide is very good in some places (such as emphasizing AoE, which is what fire is all about); however, it would not be great in PvP - I'd actually drop Firebreath (self-hold!) for Rain of Fire (reveal hidden stalkers using invis+hide). But I'd never take rain of fire for PvE.
And that's the tough part of Fire/Devices... to go PvP or PvE... it's hard to take one road and be decent on the other.
Next, you don't like Web Grenade? Not only is it great -fly and immob (to those who don't have CJ) but it is -rechage, too! Granted, in PvE I usually only 2-slot it (2 acc). But it's not because it isn't good! I'm glad I'm "stuck" with that, compared to other secondaries.
I agree with Taser... have only seen one guy take it (AR/Dev) and that was to compliment his beanbag attack so he could stun bosses. I prefer to just kill them ASAP.
T-Drone and Cloak are both 5-star powers. Pick up SS and you're invis with cloak.
I completely skip Mines, Bomb, and Auto-Tickler... they are such a waste of time, and incredibly situational (i.e. for the VERY patient soloer, then again, soloing I've never had such a tough mob that I needed to use em). Some PvP builds rely on Trip Mines & TP Foe, but that's not my PvP style...
Finally, I'd take LEAPING over fly because I don't have a lot of time to waste travelling. Plus you get CJ and Acrobatics. Add SS as needed (as you point out, it's great with Cloak). STAMINA is mandatory, shouldn't be recommended, as fire is an end hog and you're now running more toggles than any other blaster (CJ, T-Drone, Cloak, Acro, SS).
Not a bad guide, but definately a narrow one.
-FyreBlast
"Look how many pages of crap are in this thread already!" -r0y to all threads on these forums.
I have to agree with you about Dev's. The most successful blasters I fight are most often dev's. Especially the ones who know how to set up correctly.
The happy fun guide to Fire Blast / Devices blasting in I6 and beyond!
(borrowing from EGs style and there are worse people to steal from)
Hello all, I am going to give you guys a review of both sets and hopefully help you decide if either of these powersets are for you. This guide will include slotting recommendations, but will not provide a complete build for you you need to decide on your own how you want to build your character.
Also, please understand that this is a guide being written from my experiences; by that I am trying to reiterate that I am not necessarily a min/maxer, nor a number cruncher. I can only tell you what I think works and doesnt and include anecdotal evidence or commentary from fellow friends and players. (a great example of this is my recommended slotting on targeting drone: 3 to hit buffs. Its ALWAYS been 3 to hit buffs for me, I never felt the need to 4-6 slot it, and I hit everything just fine. Other would scoff at this concept and 6 slotted it in the pre-ED world). Additionally, the slotting recommendations I list here are a significant departure from what I would have listed in i5 and previously.
A note on slotting:
All recommended slotting takes into account 3 SO slotted targeting done on all powers.
In pre-SO drone levels you may want to consider slotting an additional 1 Acc in any and all attacks. Either at the expense of one of the other slots or in addition to them to be respecced out later.
Additionally, I am recommending slotting that would yield to sustained DPS and you not running out of end often. This will be most noticeable in long fights (either AVs, Monsters, or multiple spawn wave like battles). And also keep your downtime down. Thats why you will see so many end redux as well as me recommending stamina.
Fun Index ratings are out of 5.
A quick terminology explanation:
Optimal Damage Range, or Kill Zone. By these two terms I mean the best place for you to be sitting to unleash your full damage potential. A very important thing to consider when looking at devices vs. other secondaries.
DPS- Damager Per Second.
Frontloaded or Burst damage: Packing in as much damage as you can in the shortest possible timeframe.
Sections:
Section 1: Should I even PICK fire/dev?
Section 2: Details man, I need details!
Section 3: Synergy between sets... why fire/dev combines well.
Section 4: For the new blaster.