I will post one later with regards to fire/dev for blasters. 
Back after 18 months away!
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I will post one later with regards to fire/dev for blasters.
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Fantastic! Drop me a PM or sumtin' when it is up1
Hopefully, this will turn into a much fuller guide down the road. For now, since you asked for it, here's a rundown of the Fire/Dev Blaster:
Part One: Blappers versus Blasterswhat the Fire/Devices Blaster can and cannot do.
Lots of times on CoH, you find that the blaster is asked to do several different jobs. The primary of this is blasting. Sure, they can blap or blank or blaptroll. But, as my daddy used to say, if it aint a real word, it dont mean squat (actually, my dad never said anything like that; but it sounds like something someones southern, redneck dad might say).
So heres what the Fire/Devices Blaster cant do:
- It cant be a scrapperno melee attacks for this build kids. Sorry. If you want to blap, stop ready and roll a /eng or /elec
- It cant tanknot really. Certainly not as well as tanks.
- It cant act as a controllerno group holds, one single-target immobilize. /Dev gives you a little soft control (caltrops makes for a great slow/soft hold), but nothing to write home about.
- It cant defendthough it could offend.
- It cant use Buildup, which is a huge turnoff for a lot of blasters
Heres what the Fire/Devices Blaster can do:
- Long range damage of the fire-type, which is much less resisted than other types of damage (lethal damage, for example, a la AR)
- Self-Stealth (Cloaking Device) that, when combined with Superspeed, mimics Invisibility, thus giving the ability to toe-bomb and surf through levels where you either have to defeat a boss and minions or click a glowie.
- It has the only pet in the blaster secondaries, which, when combined with Teleport, makes for a fun aggro-drawing tool.
- Rain of Fire provides a fear-based ability which, combined with Caltrops, allows the player to nickel- and dime- enemies to death.
- No melee, which, though bad for those who like the battles up close, allows the Fire/Dev blaster to stay away from the center of battle and move to where s/he wants to.
- Team with the best of them. Fire/Dev blasters used to be the ultimate killing machines before they nerfed the game a few times. While this killed much of their solo ability (which still exists, but is much harder), they are still fantastic team players.
Back after 18 months away!
Part Two: The Fire/ Powerset
A brief breakdown of the powers and what I think of them. Much of the information from here is directly from Adam7s I6 guide to Fire/Dev blasters, which I found invaluable (and is a much better guide than this). Please note that slotting is a SUGGESTION, not by any means an authoritative definition of how the powers should be slotted.
Quick definitions:
AoE: Area of Effect (an area larger than just a single target)
DoT: Damage over Time (usually defined in ticks)\
PBAoE: Player Based Area of Effect
Moving on:
Flares: Quick recharge, minor damage. Uses little endurance, but has a long animation time.
Pick this if: You feel some strange desire for a low power weapon. I have used it and disliked it. Dont pick this up if youre a min/max kind of player (minimum animation time, maximum return)
Slotting: 3 Damage, 1 End Redux
Fireblast: Quick recharge, moderate damage. A tad more endurance draining than Flares, but faster animation time and bigger return.
Pick this if: you didnt pick Flares (which, unless you picked Flares for concept, should be all of you. In fact, take this even if you did get Flares).
Slotting: I go 3 Damage, 2 Recharge, 1 Acc or End Redux, depending on preference. Im considering switching it to 3Dam/1Recharge/1Acc/1End. You decide how you feel with it.
Fireball: AoE Damage based on the enemy you target. Quick activation, more damage than Fireblast, but more endurance draining.
Pick this if: Well, why WOULDNT you pick it? Its your bread and butter, dang nabbit! This and Firebreath are going to be your most consistent attack chain. Take this.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 Recharge, 1 End Redux
Rain of Fire: AoE Damage based on a location defined by the hero. DoT damage over 180 very quick ticks. Now affected by inspirations and buffs, thus making it very powerful. Also causes a fear effect from the enemies, causing them to attempt to move out of the AoE. Best combined with a slow or immobilize power. Eats a considerable amount of Endurance.
Pick this if: you enjoy seeing your enemies run. Its a good power for scattering mobs that are in danger of overpowering you. Also, combined with Caltrops, this becomes a very powerful AoE that can overlap with Firebreath and Fireball.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 Recharges, 1 Acc/End Redux
Firebreath: Cone damage with 3 ticks. Good damage, eats decent endurance.
Pick this if: you want to do damage. As previously stated, its still as good as the day it came out of the box.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 Recharge, 1 End Redux.
Aim: Boosts accuracy a lot and damage some for a short period of time.
Pick this if: you want more damage and accuracy. Though you have Targeting Drone available to you, this will help some of your attacks land better and harder. Since you dont have Buildup, its best to take this early.
Slotting: 3 Recharge, 3 ToHit buffs (if you can afford the slots)
Blaze: High Damage, single target attack. Close range, but damage is almost equivalent to a snipe.
Pick this if: You dont mind getting in close. Its a powerful attack, and can certainly be used to two-shot a higher-con minion or LT. Be aware of the damage auras of certain AVs and youre set.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 recharge, 1 Range (When you get Hami-Os, get 3 Damage/Range Enhancements)
Blazing Bolt: The highest damage snipe in the game. Long Activation, single target, decent endurance consumption, interruptible.
Pick this if: you like staying back. Can be used to two-shot (and sometimes one-shot) darn near anything.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 End Redux, 1 Acc (just in case)
Inferno: Your version of Nova. Massive Damage, Large PBAoE. Moderate Activation time, leaves you drained of endurance for a short time. To be used as either a way to clear lots of minions or as a last-ditch effort.
Pick this if: you have a soul. Its a great attack, just needs the slots to push it over the edge.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 3 Recharge.
Back after 18 months away!
Part Three: The /Devices Powerset
Web Grenade: Single Target Immob. No damage, but has a fly component that helps in PvP.
Pick this if: you dont have a choice. Which you dont.
Slotting: 1 Immob Duration.
Caltrops: AoE Slow with small occasional ticks of damage. Causes some fear.
Pick this if: you picked Web Grenade, which you did. One of the /dev signature powers, it combines with all of your fire powers for good overall damage and control. Take this especially if you picked Rain of Fire.
Slotting: 3 Slow, 1-2 Recharge.
Tazer: Melee Disorient.
Pick this if: you hate babies. No one uses this power. Not ever.
Slotting: 1 I hate babies buff.
Targetting Drone: Toggle-based power used to automatically increase the ToHit buff of every power. Drains consistent endurance, but greatly increases accuracy.
Pick this if: You dont want to have lots of Accuracy buffs in all of your powers. It no longer completely gets rid of the need for Acc in some powers, but most can still go without it if you have this.
Slotting: 3 ToHit Buffs, 1 End Redux
Smoke Grenade: Targeted AoE that causes Perception to enemies, causes Stealth suppression, minor ToHit Debuff.
Pick this if: you want it for concept. Sadly, its not as useful as it used to be (a misplaced decimal caused it to be ten times as useful as intended). It got reduced even further, and is now only useful for hardcore PvPers.
Slotting: 3 ToHit Debuffs, 1 Recharge.
Cloaking Device: Self Stealth with no movement penalty. Takes some Endurance, minor Defense Buff.
Pick this if: You want to toe bomb your enemies. Combined with Superspeed and Trip Mine, you can effectively lay mines without getting your powers suppressed. Its nice to have for soloing.
Slotting: 1 Defense Buff (maybe), 2 End Redux
Trip Mine: Drop bomb which, when stepped on by enemies, causes lots of damage, knockback, and toggle dropping.
Pick this if: You want to have a good opening attack or you want to solo. Its powerful, and can even be used in the middle of fights, if you time it right, which can be very helpful. Combine with Caltrops to ensure the enemy actually steps on it.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 Recharge, 1 End Redux
Time Bomb: Same as Trip Mine, but a 15 second countdown from setting instead of motion sensing. More powerful, but less useful.
Pick this if: You like bombing stuff. It requires lots of patience to use this, and it sometimes doesnt feel like its worth the wait.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 1 Accuracy., 2 End Redux
Auto Turret: A pet that can be summoned which does moderate lethal damage to any target around it. Lots of Endurance used, takes a while to recharge.
Pick this if: you want something to draw aggro. Best used in combination with Teleport.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 1 Accuracy.
Back after 18 months away!
This all took a while to write. I'll add some info on builds and powerpools later. In the meantime, feel free to disagree with me on my impressions with some powers.
Back after 18 months away!
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This all took a while to write. I'll add some info on builds and powerpools later. In the meantime, feel free to disagree with me on my impressions with some powers.
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Thank you so much for your input! I can't wait to read the rest of it!
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This all took a while to write. I'll add some info on builds and powerpools later. In the meantime, feel free to disagree with me on my impressions with some powers.
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Doin Great so far. dead on.
205723: A Different DESTINY
When Soldiers of Arachnos got their names added to the Destiny List, Longbow managed to get a copy of the list and began rounding villains up. But one name on the list shocked them...
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Much of the information from here is directly from Adam7s I6 guide to Fire/Dev blasters, which I found invaluable...
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Holy crap you read that guide?
I thought NO ONE read that guide... lol
I feel so much better now 
Part Four: Power Pools, Ancillary pools, and You!
More vocab:
PvP: Player versus Player combat
PvE: Player versus Environment combat (or PvM, player versus monster)
So, youre thinking to yourself, what kind of PPs should I be looking at? What about Force APP versus Fire?
Just remember: All of this is an idea. If you have a concept, ignore my advice and run with it.
Concealment: Kind of not helpful for the average Fire/Dev blaster. Given the no movement penalty of Cloaking Device, you find that no one takes Stealth. If you are desperate for a I need to take a quick breather power, I would suggest getting Personal Force Field from the Force APP down the road instead of Invisibility/Phase Shift.
Fighting: Most blasters say to forget the Fighting pool, and I tend to agree. Boxing or Kick adds a small melee-range attack you can do without. Tough and Weave, while nice for resistance and defense, are hard on the endurance when combined with everything else. Smarter blasters will find other ways of beefing up their defense without needing this pool (such as the medicine pool), since it can only held resistance against Smashing and Lethal damage, and small defense against melee and ranged attacks.
Fitness: The staple of every blasters PP choices. Swift or Hurdle, it doesnt matter (I get Hurdle usually for a little combat manuvering and to assist with Superspeed down the road), then three slot Health and three slot Stamina (some people disagree with three slotting Health. I say, the faster I can get hit points, the better). More than the three slots will have minimal return, but having those abilities/slots will greatly increase your ability to constantly dish out damage.
Flight: A great, safe travel power, though the slowest one. Air Superiority is a fantastic melee attackquick animation, decent damage and a knockup power that can be used to fill an attack chain. Hover is good for combat manuvering and minor battle defense, and if youre really cool, like all the cool kids, youll find the binds in the forums that show you how to program your arrow keys to go in and out of hover/fly depending on whether youre moving or not (I have never personally used this, but I hear its cool. Im not cool enough to use it!). Ill see if I can find a link to what Im talking and tack it on later. Oh, and Group Fly: barely anyone uses it, and it eats endurance like a fat kid in a candy store. If you need a group transport, take teleport.
Leadership: Just last night I teamed with a blaster who had Assault and Tactics. It was nice to have the buffs (especially in Warburg, where you need as much +perception as possible), though it ate his endurance a bit. If you PvP, its good to have. If you dont have a defender you know and you like the buffs, go with it. Otherwise, totally optional.
Leaping: An alternative to Flight thats good. Jump Kick is not great, but Combat Jumping is fantastic, and Super Jump is a great middle between Fly and Superspeed. Acrobatics is great for knockback protection. Also, if youre making a Robin clone, its funny to have as a travel power (but who makes a Robin clone?).
Medicine: A great set to have in the back of your pocket. Aid Other (heal a small amount of HP for someone else) or Stimulant (protect someone else from Immob, Sleep, Disorient, and Hold) are both good (Stimulant stacks, which is nice). Aid Self should be slotted with 2 Heal, 2 Recharge, 2 Interrupt Redux. With this, you can fire it off between ticks of DoT. Kinda nice to have. Resuscitate is okay to have, but Id rather carry rezzes in my inspiration tray.
Presence: Unless you want it for concept, you dont want to add aggro to yourself. Youre already and aggro MACHINE, you dont need more of it. Intimidate and Invoke Panic are powers Ive never used and have no opinion on.
Speed: I love Hasten. Three slot it with recharges and it will make things go much faster. Flurry has a long animation and not a ton of damage (I skip it). Superspeed, though, is a great power to have. I have both Fly (for vertical travel) and SS (for horizontal travel), though lots of people get away with Hurdle and SS (you could add an extra slot to Hurdle for a boost in vertical travel). Just be careful in places like Faultline and Boomtown. Whirlwind has a funny animation, but it fairly useful for knockback (though I find it more concept-useful than combat-useful).
Teleportation: The fastest, and most endurance-consuming, travel power there is. Recall Friend and Teleport will make you the best friend of any pickup group. Teleport Foe is good for PvP and pulling in PvE, and great for messing with stalkers in Recluses Victory. Never used Group Teleport, but my Mastermind friends swear by it for their minionsdont know if youll need it as a blaster.
Ancillary Power Pools:
Again, a warning: Ive yet to use these. Just my impressions on synergy with Fire/Dev blasters.
Cold Mastery: Snow Storm and Flash Freeze both seem like good ideas, but Ive yet to hear anyone praise Frozen Armor in any particular way. Hibernate seems like a good oh crap button, but I think we can do better.
Force Mastery: The APP I think works best for us. Personal Force Field is just as good an oh crap power as any other (combined with an unsuppressed Cloaking Device, it might be nice to have). Repulsion Field is unnecessary, but Temporary Invulnerability will give that resistance you want and Force of Nature will give you GREAT resistance (though drained of endurance).
Flame Mastery: More burninating with a Fire Shield and Self-Rez thrown in. Certainly synergistic with the other flame powers you already havethough it might be a little excessive. But who am I to say?
Munitions Mastery: Body Armor adds S/L protection at no cost. Nice. Cryo Freeze Ray is the hold we wish we had from day one, which cant be all that bad. Sleep Grenade seems kind of unnecessary for Fire/Dev (most things are dead before we need to sleep them), and LRM is a snipe we dont need (we have the most powerful snipe in the game).
Electric Mastery: Unless you take it for concept, feel free to skip this powerset. I understand its not exceptional. If you need an EMP, go to Warburg and get a missile.
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I am hesitant to post builds, but will do so later. In the meantime, more commenting is great!
Back after 18 months away!
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Much of the information from here is directly from Adam7s I6 guide to Fire/Dev blasters, which I found invaluable...
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Holy crap you read that guide?
I thought NO ONE read that guide... lol
I feel so much better now
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Dude, I swear, that thing saved my build! It's a GREAT guide! Now, you should still update it for I7, but it's a great guide! 
Back after 18 months away!
I just may do that
(though I totally gutted A7's build last night to try out a few new ideas, so I may wait a bit before an update. I need to see how well onoly taking 4 devices powers will play out)
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I just may do that
(though I totally gutted A7's build last night to try out a few new ideas, so I may wait a bit before an update. I need to see how well onoly taking 4 devices powers will play out)
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One of the guys I was playing with last night ONLY had Web Grenade, CD and Targetting Drone. With Tactics, Medicine and TP, he seemed to be doing just fine (he's AR/Dev, though, so maybe the acc buffs were overkill).
Back after 18 months away!
Phaeton,
a couple of things:
--Web Grenade. One thing to remember about this power is that it has a -Rchrg component. I find it helpful to stack a few of these on a troublesome boss or Elite Boss.
--Taser. I used to think that this power was crap. Now I realize how very, very useful it is. Need to take out an irritating minion or Lt RIGHT NOW? Use Taser. One shot, and they're out of the fight for a good while (assuming you have it three-slotted for disorient duration). This is AWESOME for dealing with Sappers and mezzers.
--Trip Mine. Why no accuracies in Trip Mine? As far as I know, Targetting Drone doesn't buff it. I slot mine with two accuracies, and I still ocassionally miss.
--Electric Mastery. I haven't tried it myself yet, but this actually looks like a pretty good set. It has probably the best armor, since it gives you Smashing, Lethal, and ENERGY resistance. Plus, you get a ranged single-target hold, which can be very useful for a character with no ranged mezzes.
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--Web Grenade. One thing to remember about this power is that it has a -Rchrg component. I find it helpful to stack a few of these on a troublesome boss or Elite Boss.
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Good call.
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--Taser. I used to think that this power was crap. Now I realize how very, very useful it is. Need to take out an irritating minion or Lt RIGHT NOW? Use Taser. One shot, and they're out of the fight for a good while (assuming you have it three-slotted for disorient duration). This is AWESOME for dealing with Sappers and mezzers.
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While I agree that the power is more useful than it previously was, I tend to think of Fire/Dev blasters as the penultimate "stay away from melee" AT (i just like the word "penultimate"). If you need the disorient, you're not killing fast enough.
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--Trip Mine. Why no accuracies in Trip Mine? As far as I know, Targetting Drone doesn't buff it. I slot mine with two accuracies, and I still ocassionally miss.
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Good advice--but to each is own. I am not 100% sure about the TD affecting it, but you might be right.
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--Electric Mastery. I haven't tried it myself yet, but this actually looks like a pretty good set. It has probably the best armor, since it gives you Smashing, Lethal, and ENERGY resistance. Plus, you get a ranged single-target hold, which can be very useful for a character with no ranged mezzes.
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Like I said in the guide, I have yet to run Phaeton w/ APPs, and will be setting him up with one shortly. I'll let you know what I think once I test them all.
Back after 18 months away!
I'd love to see what build you use. While I don't follow them verbatim I do enjoy seeing how other people have built their blasters.
Any got got a heavy damage build for Fire Devices... something a great deal less wordy? :P
I looked but the newest I saw was from october and it really wasn't a build. Can anyone offer up any suggestions?