Buy alot of BFs, then I just run arround and hurt stuff until its dead. Soloing my ice / nrg is increadible easy. I dont solo on anything but invinc, except for getting AVs down to EB status.
I cant think of a blaster build that cant solo missions on invinc if you think about how your slotted and what powers to take. The only difference is speed.
50s
controllers: Ill rad , grav rad, fire kin, ice kin
blaster: ice em
scrapper: spines sr
Well i generally solo on tenacuious (because i'm a wuss 
)
and have no real problems. Post ED i changed my slotting from 6 dam (i'm a /dev blaster so the drone sorts the accuracy out) to 3 dam 2 recred and 1 end red (only for the more end hungey attacks)
Basically i don't hit as hard as i could pre ED but i can hit more often 
With slotting like this i work on the principal of hit em hard and fast and then there should hopefully be no one left standing to hurt me
Hmm. Sounds like it's just me then. 
I've been soloing on tenacious lately, but maybe I should actually go rugged to get fewer enemies as I'm not all that strong on AoE. I originally dropped to Tenacious because +2 bosses were a problem, but since then I've picked up a second hold so it should go a bit smoother now.
Idris, what type of blaster do you have?
A few tips.
Always start with the stragglers of a group. If you can't snipe them, try a hold, then blast.
If you pull a large group, take cover, wait for them to come to you - will give you time to activate aim, bu etc.
Take melee powers. All blaster secondaries are useful if combined properly.
Use your inspirations and use them often.
Use your nova if you have one if you are facing a large group (remember to hang onto a blue for afterwards)
Take the medicine pool for less downtime between mobs - and for Disorient resist - i.e. heal yourself before you attack.
Take CJ and Acrobatics or pick up break-frees for a mezz free time.
Take your time. Don't take on too many at once.
I solo on Unyielding which results in +2s. This gives less bosses but enough minions and lts to make it interesting without having to go to the hospital too often. 
Melee attacks don't work for devices. I recently tested out time-bomb, it does a lot of damage but aggroes survivers. Should give my blaster some more play time, need to test that tp foe power
G-Force
for the /dev blaster tripmines and caltrops are your friend.
Idris, as i 'm sure you saw ion the Numina TF mines are great for evening the odds.
Solo if i get a large group i'll find a handy corner, lay about half a dozen mines on the apex of the corner, garnish with caltrops (3 slotted for slow) and then pull the entire group towards me (possibly the only occasion when using an AOE to pull isn't suicide) and retreat round the corner
If anyone survives the mines they should be slowed enough by the trops for me to deal with them.
It has to be said this can be quite slow as setting up the mines takes time but it saves a faceplant or two
I'm elec/elec and have lots of melee attacks, snipe, thunderous blast and two holds, as well as CJ and acrobatics. I actually love my secondary and think the primary is weaker. I used to rely on endurance drain for some protection, but that's useless until i7 at least.
Couldn't fit Medicine in, though, and I don't have Fitness at the moment. It forces me to get into melee now and then to use Power Sink, but I want to get there anyway due to all my best attacks being melee. It's not a solo build, really, but sometimes you end up soloing anyway. I feel it does reasonably well in teams, so at least that's good.
I do try to pull when I can and that does work, it's actually just groups with bosses in them that are trouble and tend to force me to use hit and run tactics.
Everybody mentions inspirations, so I'm going to try using them more. My other toons tend to rely on drops but maybe it doesn't hurt me to actually buy some
Energy/Energy/Force and I got most of the way before ED hit, so I could still solo invincible. It's not as bad now, simple Blast/KB/Blast/KB/Arc KB keeps them at bay until I run into the Cullers. (Zeus/Psi/Sapper)
At that point I stealth in, KB punch, Total Focus and blast quickly before they recover.
I can still clock Reckless most days, even at 49.
elec/elec is a very good powerset combo.
The punches are great.
Lightning field is great in both PvE and PvP (anti-stalker).
I currently have it 3 slotted accuracy - but will eventually be 3acc/3dmg.
Jump in the middle of a mob, aim and bu, lay into the first 2 with both quick punches, should take out 2, then holds, with elec primary tesla cage is great. LF will gradually take down the others and enable you to finish them off with lower damage powers and with powersink you can run lightning field all the time very easily.
Obviously this won't work on all mobs, i.e. freaks and rikti mezz can be a pain. But a couple of purples and a b/f will see you through.
Aim, bu and the 2 (havoc and tother one) punches should also take out +1 bosses. Maybe add another attack or 2 for +2 bosses.
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I'm elec/elec and have lots of melee attacks, snipe, thunderous blast and two holds, as well as CJ and acrobatics. I actually love my secondary and think the primary is weaker. I used to rely on endurance drain for some protection, but that's useless until i7 at least.
Couldn't fit Medicine in, though, and I don't have Fitness at the moment. It forces me to get into melee now and then to use Power Sink, but I want to get there anyway due to all my best attacks being melee. It's not a solo build, really, but sometimes you end up soloing anyway. I feel it does reasonably well in teams, so at least that's good.
I do try to pull when I can and that does work, it's actually just groups with bosses in them that are trouble and tend to force me to use hit and run tactics.
Everybody mentions inspirations, so I'm going to try using them more. My other toons tend to rely on drops but maybe it doesn't hurt me to actually buy some
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I've found Lightning Clap from the secondary (disorient/knocback) to be a very useful panic button if one of my holds fails to stick. As you say, relying on End drain is no good anymore (hopefully changing in I7) but two holds plus a lot of damage ought to help a lot. Given that you have two, holds I guess your level must be at least 38 - things get a lot easier for soloing once you can pick up some protection from your Epic. FWIW I find it more fun to solo on Unyielding since ED - DVM can still manage Invincible but it's slow enough going to feel like a grind.
DVM has Force mastery and wouldn't swap it for anything... Elec. mastery used to work well when I could End drain, but doesn't cut it anymore. It's also more tru to my original concept, just got tempted by the sparkly newness of Elec when I hit my 40's.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
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I'm elec/elec and have lots of melee attacks, snipe, thunderous blast and two holds, as well as CJ and acrobatics. I actually love my secondary and think the primary is weaker. I used to rely on endurance drain for some protection, but that's useless until i7 at least.
Couldn't fit Medicine in, though, and I don't have Fitness at the moment. It forces me to get into melee now and then to use Power Sink, but I want to get there anyway due to all my best attacks being melee. It's not a solo build, really, but sometimes you end up soloing anyway. I feel it does reasonably well in teams, so at least that's good.
I do try to pull when I can and that does work, it's actually just groups with bosses in them that are trouble and tend to force me to use hit and run tactics.
Everybody mentions inspirations, so I'm going to try using them more. My other toons tend to rely on drops but maybe it doesn't hurt me to actually buy some
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I have an elec / elec as well. I disagree with the comment that end drain is useless, since I'm building my blaster to be an end drainer too - Thunderous Blast might not do the damage or the fireworks as Nova or Inferno but I can drain the life out of everything up to reds, when used with a blue pill afterwards and then using Power Sink when they're spazzing out then Short Circuit. Trust me, they don't have any end left, but I do. Cue electrical melee doing it's work.
That's a bit situational, but I solo on Tenacious, and for mezzing (though I never normally solo) I Telsa Cage / Snipe the minions with mind banging attacks, or use a break free. Then AoE and run in with everything, ThunderClap is useful for crowd control as well.
Generally a good wind blowing in your direction helps too 
I'm exactly 38, having scraped about 3 levels since I started playing her again. I think a lot of my trouble comes from the fact that I feel so unfamiliar playing her after having so long a break and altering the build a lot when I respecced. She also feels a lot more vulnerable compared to my scrapper (obviously) but also peacebringer and even dominator, so it's probably the change that unsettles me. So anyway, it's a while until epics. I was thinking of going with Electric Mastery, but looking at it Force Mastery seems to offer more tools for survivability. Force of Nature doesn't really have mez protection though, does it? I think the description in my planner is incorrect. If it isn't, I'm so there.
I was thinking, would Personal Force Field allow me to herd mobs for AoEs? Could be a nice strategy once endurance drain works again. My only experience about it is the ha-ha moment when goofing off in Arena with a mate: he turned PFF on and I couldn't hit him until I got so annoyed that I hit Aim+BuildUp+Thunderous Blast and 1-shot killed him. He was all "what was that" but I don't know if I got lucky
Edit: forgot to say, I don't have Lightning Field or Lightning Clap. I have one respec left if really needed but would rather try to work with what I have for now. It works in teams and I can solo too, it's just a bit tricky.
Okay, endurance drain can have some use in some situations, but in general every-spawn occasions it doesn't. You can't drain lts and bosses faster than you can kill them, and when it comes to minions they get way too soon enough end back to attack normally.
I love Thunderous Blast and don't generally have any trouble staying alive after using it and Power Sink. Only thing limiting me using it even more is the lack of blue drops
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I'm exactly 38, having scraped about 3 levels since I started playing her again. I think a lot of my trouble comes from the fact that I feel so unfamiliar playing her after having so long a break and altering the build a lot when I respecced. She also feels a lot more vulnerable compared to my scrapper (obviously) but also peacebringer and even dominator, so it's probably the change that unsettles me. So anyway, it's a while until epics. I was thinking of going with Electric Mastery, but looking at it Force Mastery seems to offer more tools for survivability. Force of Nature doesn't really have mez protection though, does it? I think the description in my planner is incorrect. If it isn't, I'm so there.
I was thinking, would Personal Force Field allow me to herd mobs for AoEs? Could be a nice strategy once endurance drain works again. My only experience about it is the ha-ha moment when goofing off in Arena with a mate: he turned PFF on and I couldn't hit him until I got so annoyed that I hit Aim+BuildUp+Thunderous Blast and 1-shot killed him. He was all "what was that" but I don't know if I got lucky
Edit: forgot to say, I don't have Lightning Field or Lightning Clap. I have one respec left if really needed but would rather try to work with what I have for now. It works in teams and I can solo too, it's just a bit tricky.
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Since you don't have Stamina, don't even think about Lightning Field - it's End cost is huge. I do find it useful, though. I'd try Lightning Clap out on Test before taking it - i the KB it causes isn't to everyone's tastes.
I find 2 Holds to be enough and I like the extra toughness from Force mastery - PFF lets me soak up the alpha from a spawn and then drop it and defeat them at leisure. Also, Force of Nature stacked with Temporary Invulnerability will make you very tough for a short while against S/L type damage and respectably tough against anything else. Nice for those boss-soloing moments. Repel is pointless - slower to activate than Lightning Clap, way more End expensive and pretty much does the same job (except that LC also applies a disorient).
If you're on Union I could show you DVM's build and soloing tactics, if you like.
<edit> btw. Force of Nature doesn't give any Mez protection. When Epics were first announced Blasters were going to be given Unstoppable in this pool. It was tweaked downwards to FoN, which is pretty much Unstoppable without the Mez. protection and lower base Res but still a really excellent power. </edit>
@Frazzle
It's not that End drain is impossible - just useless. As pointed out above I could certainly soak up an alpha strike in PFF, drop it and hit Short Circuit + Power Sink and then clean house. But it's a lot riskier and less effective than just taking out the 1-2 most dangerous enemies with Holds and just laying down AoE damage on the whole lot. IMO End drain really shouldn't be a concern in any attack chain involving Thunderous Blast - almost nothing should be left standing after TB + Ball Lightning anyway, and your single target holds/attacks are quite capable of taking care of anything that is. ie. Although End draining in PvE is still possible, it's no longer any safer than simply dealing damage and considerably less effective.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
Hear what you're saying, but is it just me or do high level blasters tend to be respeccing in defence and stuff, trying to avoid aggro from no more than 2 mobs?
Just not fun for me, regardless of the status effects raining down at the high end.
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Hear what you're saying, but is it just me or do high level blasters tend to be respeccing in defence and stuff, trying to avoid aggro from no more than 2 mobs?
Just not fun for me, regardless of the status effects raining down at the high end.
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At least in my case, no. I respecced into Force Mastery for two reasons - one was that it was my original character concept anyway that the suit of powered armour in question should have force fields. The other, from a gameplay POV, was that added resistances allow me to survive the attention of multiple enemies and take them on, not avoid them. It's just that these days I find TB, SC, Lightning Field, Ball Lightning all used for damage to be a far more effective way of taking out those multiple enemies than draining their End.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
Yep, I have actually tried Lightning Clap. I tried several different builds on test before ending up with the one I have now. The knockback annoyed me a bit but it still seemed like a useful power and it was touch and go between that and Stealth. I like that the animation is reasonably short.
Anyway, I'm on Union so I might take you up your offer. Is your global handle Tundra?
I almost always solo'd on rugged.
Being single target I found managing big mobs a pain. I preferred to cut through missions faster with fewer mobs and pick up the bonuses at the end. Though with my blaster I resented soloing, always preferring big teams.
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Yep, I have actually tried Lightning Clap. I tried several different builds on test before ending up with the one I have now. The knockback annoyed me a bit but it still seemed like a useful power and it was touch and go between that and Stealth. I like that the animation is reasonably short.
Anyway, I'm on Union so I might take you up your offer. Is your global handle Tundra?
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Yes, you'll find me @Tundra. I won't be online tonight, but should be tomorrow evening.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
I've pretty much solo'd my AR/Dev blaster to L45 (he was about L35-ish when ED came in) I have found it tough at times even on heroic. I've more or less stopped playing him now as I can't handle the Praetorian AV's even though they're 'only' EB's against a loner. There seems to be no way for him to progress any further as a solo and I'm not really keen to start teaming with him at such a late stage in the game.
Up till the Praetorians, it was caltrops/trip mines (loads of them) plus auto-turret - hit and run all the way. I'd consider trip mines to be THE most important part of his current build, IMO he'd be virtually unplayable without them, unless I maybe respec'd him into something entirely different. Snipe and fall back to corner/door ambushes is the name of my game, Flamethrower/Full Auto/M30 grenade and Buckshot AoE's as they round the corner bunched up and slowed by caltrops. Ignite is handy for keeping mobs at bay too. 3 recharge SO's in caltrops so I can use them twice per fight - once to cover my trip mines, and again on the corner I fall back to to defend.
No proper holds available in my build, just web grenade for immobilisation. 2 +acc SO's, 2 +recharge and 2 +hold duration means I can get most bosses immobilised pretty quickly and for long enough to incinerate them where they stand with Ignite. Light 'em up, run away, watch them burn. I'm told it's not an auto-hit attack, but it certainly appears to work like one. With 3 +damage and 2 +recharge SO's it has never failed to waste any boss with a maximum of four shots, and it one-shots most minions up to +1. Expect it to be nerfed soon then...
Even before the Praetorians he was a very slow character to play. Failure to carefully pick the right ground to fight on and thoroughly prepare it with mines and caltrops would usually result in a trip to the ICU. As would any attempt to stand and front it out aggressively rather than play defensively - AR just doesn't seem to have the damage output for head-on confrontations, and slow firing animations across the board only make it worse. It takes my four best shots consecutively, including snipe, to drop just one Malta Sapper - only he can easily fire twice, totally depleting my endurance in the time I can get off three shots... mines it is then. Spending too long trading shots in the open usually results in death by loss of hit points, or worse, and even with plenty of break frees (a must at all times regardless) being mez'd in full view - once that happens it's usually time for some hospital food. Incidentally, I've noticed that regular break frees do NOT work for me at all against a mez from an orange+ mob (seven perma-mez deaths in ten minutes in one carnie mission alone, and nearly as pitiful a showing against Malta Gunslingers) So, heroic only from then on.
I don't have either of the AR/Dev mez's (Beanbag/Tazer) Apparently the smart money is on taking both and slotting them heavily for +acc/+disorient duration, but then I've never claimed to be smart. Tried beanbag slotted as recommended but respec'd it out as it rarely worked for me. Never even bothered trying Tazer as a result. Anyway, I can't fit them into my preferred build (even with no travel power, which frees up a couple of power picks)
As my build (and the way I'm used to playing it) is almost totally focused on defensive/mining tactics it's probably as team-unfriendly as you can get. Until I can get used to the idea of rebuilding him differently, I suspect this is one solo that won't be getting to L50 any time soon, if ever.
i can comfortably solo on invincible, i have a stupid amount of ways of going about things being AR/DEV/MUN and no body armour neither, i love my beanbag, my cryo freeze ray, my sleep grenade, my turret, my timebomb, my trip mines...but i will admit some enemies take a serious amount of damage to put down and can be a challenge ie paragon protectors.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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i can comfortably solo on invincible, i have a stupid amount of ways of going about things being AR/DEV/MUN and no body armour neither, i love my beanbag, my cryo freeze ray, my sleep grenade, my turret, my timebomb, my trip mines...but i will admit some enemies take a serious amount of damage to put down and can be a challenge ie paragon protectors.
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Colour me impressed. I'd consider Invincible to be tantamount to suicide for my AR/Dev. Mezzers will get me every time. Guess I suck.
Oddly though, I don't consider PP's to be anything more that a minor inconvenience, I love beating up on those creeps. Method one - I just pull them into eight or so closely laid trip mines. The damage from those virtually one shots them, or at least, they take so much damage so fast that the suckers have virtually no chance of hitting MoG or Unstoppable. Failing that, I just let them go MoG or Unstoppable, set my egg timer and leg it via the nearest lift/exit door. Roll a gicarette, maybe put the kettle on, and just before the egg timer counts down, sneak back cloaked just in time for MoG/Unstoppable to drop. Fish in a barrel - one shot is usually all it takes.
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i can comfortably solo on invincible, i have a stupid amount of ways of going about things being AR/DEV/MUN and no body armour neither, i love my beanbag, my cryo freeze ray, my sleep grenade, my turret, my timebomb, my trip mines...but i will admit some enemies take a serious amount of damage to put down and can be a challenge ie paragon protectors.
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Colour me impressed. I'd consider Invincible to be tantamount to suicide for my AR/Dev. Mezzers will get me every time. Guess I suck.
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Me too. Guess I'm just hopeless at this game. Can solo my MM on the toughest setting (forget what it is over on CoV now) but soloing my AR/Dev blaster is just so boring and unrewarding (not to mention suicidal) now that I've just given up on her. Luckily I got her to 50 just before ED hit so there's no real reason to keep on with it.
hello, i'm just level 32 (AR/DEV)but playing so far in invinc or unyielding in solo. It was harder and harder, since i fight the freak and the crey's , i have hard time. Freak boss were already hard to kill, very resistant to lethal dmgs, but i found my first unkillable one with Crey protectors. force field + high lethal mitig + cryo gun + lot hps were too much for me. i wait for my respec to see if i can find strats to kill them.
May be, improving the def reduc of burst can help to hit melee mobs, but atm i find our class very unbalanced with all this lethal defense/resistance everywhere.
I'd be interested to hear what strategies you all use to solo with your lvl35+ blasters and what difficulty you're on. I've had my blaster, which used to be a decent soloist, practically on the shelf since before ED, and I have a hard time making it work for me now. It seems that whatever I do, a lot of running, backing down, being mezzed and using Defiance is involved.