Well the first thing to decide is if you want this to be a team or solo freindly build.
Ultimately, the golden rule of thumb is that in biggish teams, AoE dominated play. This is especially true at higher levels and in big teams with a tank. The only exception would be fighting Arch-Villians (at least, most of them), but this probably accounts for less than 1% of game play.
Fire blasters are kings of AoE. Nothing wipes out enemies faster. In Issue 11, with new defiance buff, you will truly be the glass cannon that blasters are meant to be. Non Spines scrappers will be lucky to reach 1/2 of your damage output in ideal circumstances. Ive seen some blaster heavy teams when they struggle to reach the mob before the kinetics boosted blasters have finished the mob. So whilst scrappers are great solo and seem so much better at early levels, by level 30+ they can only sit back and quietly weep at how much more damage you do 
revenge will be yours!!!
BUt anyway, back to your question.
If you are building for solid team AoE, then make freinds with lots of tanks, and go all out for it!
Fire Blast AoE are fire breath, fireball, and rain of fire. All are good, but Rain of Fire I would get later. It causes scatter. This is not a problem if you have slows or immobilises in the team, and is not a problem if you are killing things so quickly they die before running out of the rain (the later will occur in fast powerful teams late on).
Aim is almost a "must have" aswell.
At the moment, practically all fire blast powers are good, and you cant go wrong with any of them.
Then you want to choose your secondary. Fire secondary is the most offensive, Ice is the most controllery/protective, Energy is the most single target damage with some stuns abd boosts in, Electric is a mixed bag of everything, and Devices is a totally different kettle of fish altogether.
For a dedicated team PvE toon, Fire secondary would be great. Fire Sword Circle and Combustion are great AoE attacks. Burn and Hot Feet, in the right team at the right time, also add major AoE damage.
Whatever your secondary, make sure you get build up. Another staple blaster power.
The best is the one you like playing, simple as that.
Fire isnt my thing, i prefer a bit more control, specialy for solo runs it makes it somewhat easier.
Most sets work very good in PvE, some rely heavy on ST and holds, others rely on great drain or prepare&tactics.
The only secondairy i wouldnt suggest, /ice. Although i have 2 lvl 50's with /ice, the 'tricks' in the set are not enough to compensate the strenght of the other secondairy.
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Elec/Elec!
Ball Lightening and Short Circuit are excellent for AoE damage in the teens (and later on).
With a good tank you can just stand next to them and go mental.
Add in Lightening Field and Energy Drain (Later on) you can do massive damage, and floor the enemies end so they can't hit back.
It's also good for solo play with decent damage and holds.
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The only secondairy i wouldnt suggest, /ice. Although i have 2 lvl 50's with /ice, the 'tricks' in the set are not enough to compensate the strenght of the other secondairy.
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I'd contest the "Ice" point slightly.
Whilst it's true that Ice is a bit naff for damage output compared to the likes of /Fire, /NRG or /Elec... it makes up for it in survivability. Ice Patch alone can mean the difference between being able to solo something, and faceplanting. "Shiver" is almost as good. I'd say /Ice is slightly more team friendly than /Devices.
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If you are building for solid team AoE, then make freinds with lots of tanks, and go all out for it!
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Watch out for WillPower Tankers though. There's something wrong with their Taunt Aura at the moment, and AoEing is a death sentence for a Fire Blaster on a team with a Tanker that can't reliably hold aggro.
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Whatever your secondary, make sure you get build up. Another staple blaster power.
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/Dev doesn't get Build Up... 
Loved my Ice/Fire and am thinking of making an Elec/Fire. A nice primary with good tricks and a secondary that does damage works well for me.
But then I'm loving my Archery/Devices too. Which gives me a secondary with some nice tricks and a primary that really doesn't do anything but damage (all be it not a lot)
I prefer characters that have at least one set that involves thought on how to use well. Fire/Fire may preform well but it seems too much like button mashing to me. I've been told that's what blasters are but I dont have to believe that
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
I agree with Cynic.
Blasters are very tactical, especially if they've got a "trick".
Elec, for example, is great. Do you end drain, or damage? Should you try and hold the boss, or the minions.
The new Defiance has made any attack chain more and more tactical...(Although it's nearly always open with snipe)
Elec/Fire is THE AoE build, Ice/Energy is best Single Target and good for control.
Elec has Short Circuit, Ball Lightning, and Thunderous Strike
(I count Voltaic Sentinel as ST attack, seeing as it fires out single target bolts)
Fire has Fire Breath, Fire Ball, Rain of Fire, and Inferno.
If im not mistaken, Fire is THE AoE set, not elec?
Cones and Rains aren't as good as PBAoEs and TAoEs for extreme AoEness.
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Elec has Short Circuit, Ball Lightning, and Thunderous Strike
(I count Voltaic Sentinel as ST attack, seeing as it fires out single target bolts)
Fire has Fire Breath, Fire Ball, Rain of Fire, and Inferno.
If im not mistaken, Fire is THE AoE set, not elec?
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Basicly it has higher damage output, but only if u can position yourself perfectly on fire breath -> fire ball. Basicly Elec all u need is to run in and target the most middle mob:
Short->ball->combuston->fire sword circle->repeat.
So PbAoE based, elec wins. AoE damage wise, fire still can win.
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I beg to differ. Firebreath can normally hit most of mob, and Rain can easily hit entire mob for whopping damage providing you have the right team (i.e. slows, immobs). I dont have anyproblem hitting most of a mob on my Fire/Dark corruptor. And im not a skilled player.
You could also say Assault Rifle has a Target AoE (M30 Grenade), 2 Cones (Flamethrower, Buckshot), and Ignite (awesome AoE if you have the control to use it). Its just the KB effect of Grenade and Buckshot alongside Ignites "run away" effect that make it difficult to use. But ultimately, in an immob heavy team, AR is the best AoE of all.
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But ultimately, in an immob heavy team, AR is the best AoE of all.
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In an Immob-heavy team Blazing Aura + Hot Feet + FSC + Burn wouldn't leave much behind anyway.
When you factor in Aggro control and the ability to lock the mob in place, there comes a point where it becomes better to have AoEs (ranged or Point-Blank) rather than cones... simply because with a /Fire secondary you will do far more damage in the middle of the mob than on the outskirts of that mob lining up your cones.
For that reason, I'd actually rather have an Archery/Fire, a Fire/Fire or an Elec/Fire than an AR/Fire. Or to a certain extent, even Ice/Fire (Ice Storm and Blizzard). Or a Spines/Dark, but that goes without saying...
Aim+ BU+ FSC + Combustion kills most evens and +1s anyway.
And yeah according to herostats I get a stupid amount of my damage from Ice Storm even with the above combo its my biggest hitting attack. The plus side of Ice Storm is that the fear affect is overcome by taunt aura's
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Short Circuit, Ball Lightening, Lightening Field (this is a secondary)
Never mind build up and aim, I can kill minions with that and end drain everything else in about 5 seconds.
Build Up+Aim only enhances the damage,
If you've opened with a snipe...
But it's personal preference. :P
I know that in the last issue they gave a big boost of damage to the Archery set before Defiance 2.0 came out. How does new Archery compare to the other primaries?
I ask because I've got an Archey/Ice and even just the basic attacks are enough to one-two shot a Lit when build-up or Aim is rolling. And a boss? Usually 3, unless he's purple or something.
I think I bring this up because my strategy when being PVE is NOT aggro'ing the entire planet until someone else has at least some of the mobs attention. Massive single target damage (Blazing Arrow, Aimed Shot +BU/AIM) is enough for me, as my secondary is pretty good at keeping other enemies off my back. Ice Patch/Chilling Embrace/Shiver...all these things let me stay the [censored] out of combat unless I want to be.
God, I'm pimping my build. I just think that the Fire blasters can be a different kind of beast...I've teamed with them and if the Fireball-Rain of Fire-Firebreath combo doesn't finish off the guys before they get that retaliation attack of doom, you're going to be eating carpet fairly regularly. Seen it happen a LOT. Then again, if you're solo, you're most likely going to have to deal with that aggro anyway. But, being solo, it'll be a lot fewer enemies firing at you. Food for thought.
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But ultimately, in an immob heavy team, AR is the best AoE of all.
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In an Immob-heavy team Blazing Aura + Hot Feet + FSC + Burn wouldn't leave much behind anyway.
When you factor in Aggro control and the ability to lock the mob in place, there comes a point where it becomes better to have AoEs (ranged or Point-Blank) rather than cones... simply because with a /Fire secondary you will do far more damage in the middle of the mob than on the outskirts of that mob lining up your cones.
For that reason, I'd actually rather have an Archery/Fire, a Fire/Fire or an Elec/Fire than an AR/Fire. Or to a certain extent, even Ice/Fire (Ice Storm and Blizzard). Or a Spines/Dark, but that goes without saying...
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With defiance 2.0 AR and archery have a tremendous increase of output. Full Auto after a snipe/BU can whipe out faster then the /fire combo, added you can do it easely from range. (archery with the 2 long cast followed by RoA, thats alot of ouch)
They all can do nice AoE's, it comes down to your own preference of powers or weapon. I dont like fire as it lacks mezz abilities, wich i like to have.
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(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
My archers improved a fair bit, but its still a bit behind most powerset IMO. Of course once I get RoA then it will be lovely and well worth the wait........ but then I fall outside of the BP hunting range. Its like a double edged sword
Edit:
Am sort of with Syn on the fire issue. I wouldn't want fire/fire, but if my secondary had mez then I'd be fine with the fire primary
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Fire/Fire is orgasmic
I am just thinking of rollin my first blaster but i want to make it for PVE . This mite sound like a stupid question but what are the best PVE build that a blaster can have in your views...... Thanks!
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