Am I Judging Blasters Unfairly?

I've lost count of the number of alts I have. And a great number of these are blasters of all flavors. I love laying waste in either AOE or ST style. But I've run into what I consider is a serious problem - and that's the survivability of blasters at higher levels. As a result of this, I haven't been able to level a blaster past 36, and at 36 I'm having a real hard time staying alive.

At high levels, my damage remains respectable, as long as the villain group doesn't resist it too much, but I see controllers, scrappers and tanks owning the battlefield while I play pick-off artist from a distance. And if I attract any attention - pow, I'm dead. Some may argue that this is a good reason to play team "roles" better on higher level teams, but come on. I've played every other AT and the blaster feels by far the most fragile.

My first 50 was a Dominator, so I'm don't feel I'm tactically insufficient or don't know when to retreat. So have you experienced the same? Have any tips and tricks?

I'm hoping one of my current alts Lil Fren, my AR/Dev blaster will change the bad taste in my mouth. So far, at level 33 and now with Full Auto, she's proving to be the most survivable of my many blasters by far. Unfairly so. The controllery aspect is my lifesaver. But no other secondary (no, not even /ice) seems to offer /Dev's safety. And to be fair, I haven't tried /Mind.

Thanks for your insights. I really do like blasters. I really do.

Blasters do tend to have a rough time the higher they go as enemy HP and resists (DMG and Mez) outpace their damage output a bit. At those levels, Blasters tend to live up to their "glass cannon" nickname.

All I can say is keep at it. It took me forever to get a 50 Blaster, but I'm pretty happy I did.

Another option as well would be to find a primary that can supply enough mitigation as well. AR isn't exactly the greatest on that aspect. Ice/ and even Energy/ (for the KB) are both pretty survivable on their own.

Still waiting for his Official BackAlleyBrawler No-Prize

The Epic powers from 41+ really help a Blaster

I too was in the same boat as you until I made my Fire/Nrg Blaster. I have pulled lead on numerous ITFs making sure to jump into/attack every mob first just to keep the team moving. I went with the Force epic. PFF is an awesome power that can save you from all kinds of bad situations and Force of Nature gets you crazy high resistance(capped to smsh/lethal stacked with Temp Invul) to all damage except Psi. PFF gives you resistance and def to all.

My first and only blaster to 50 is a Fire/Fire/Fire, it's been a real lesson in how not to die. Well, up until Rise of the Phoenix, which has been a lesson in where to die. Blasters are a long road to 50, you'll definitely learn a lot about enemy AI leveling one.

Blasters peak early when it comes to damage. You're hitting the wall when the mobs catch up with their ability to resist or do nasty things to you. At the same, most of the other ATs are also starting to peak. It only seems like you're getting weaker; basically, things are balancing out.

The trick is to start learning a new set of tactics to help you compensate. Knowing which mobs are the most dangerous to you and taking them out first will help you survive, for example. Sometimes, it's not the boss killing you so much as the mezzing lieut. Learning how to break LoS, learning how to use inspys to best effect, and improving your situational awareness are all things that will help you last longer.

Tactical thinking really becomes your best friend when you hit your late 30s.

Yeah, there are several posts mentioning the use of Inspirations, but to me (and only IMHO), any AT that requires the use of Inspirations, well.... nuff said. Too bad, really, as blasting is just so darn fun to have to be constantly peaking around corners, retreating, converting inspirations and using self rezzes. As said, too, at high levels the damage isn't so hot either - so I feel more like a wimpy wow character who can only take on one boar it's own level.

I don't know the percentages of time I spent solo and with teams with my 50 energy/energy blaster; but, when I did solo, I was able to complete missions even at higher levels.
I soloed a good number of Croatoa, Rikti Warzone, Carnie, etc. missions.


One of my tactics was to single target and always have room to fall back.
Another is to take the med pool. Being able to heal yourself is great. The self heal even as a minor temporary "clear mind" like component that can be a life saver.
Force Mastery gives you a Personal Force Field that is definitely a life saver. If you are having problems with your blaster past 40, definitely take Force Master and the bubble at level 41.

Yep, an energy/energy blaster, and I was never kicked from a team for having attack powers that all had Knockback.
It's not a matter of what powers you have; it is a matter of learning your powers and using them wisely (aka in a way to augment their effectiveness).

Blasters can be a challenge, but once you get the hang of it, it solos or teams as well as any other character.

I've logged hundreds (thousands?) of hours on various blasters and so the instincts that I use for self survival come really naturally. Some things I use almost all the time:

* Mitigation tools - use em! That means if you have holds, stuns, sleeps, area denial powers (caltrops, ice patch) or even slows, you open with them. This will mean that in a typical 3 mob spawn, 1 or more will be out of commission, leaving you with a significantly less risky situation. Caltrops and ice patch can keep stuff at range, letting you avoid high damage melee attacks.

* Learn how to pull. If you don't have mitigation in your power sets, knowing how to thin mobs, and essentially reduce a 3 mob spawn mob to 2 is a crucial skill. By doing this, you just cut your risk by a third. The best way to pull is to fire off a low damage attack and quickly move out of the line of sight. Pulling with a high damaging snipe or an AoE is not the way it's done, and can/will bring the entire group.

* Killing them is the best mitigation. If your primary and secondary has aim and build up, slot them up with 3 recharge SOs/IOs as soon as possible. Aim and/or build up will allow you to 2-3 shot any minion, reducing the threat of a 3 mob spawn by another third. Using the examples from above, you can pull one mob, mez (hold/stun, etc.) another and then quickly kill the last. In many fights solo, I take zero damage.

* Use inspirations. A couple of purples and a breakfree before a boss fight generally make such fights trivial. I generally don't use inspirations unless I'm faced with a difficult situation (such as when 2 or more spawn points or packed densely together or if the boss is one of the tougher mob types and is +2 or stronger).

* In groups, play with an awareness of what your teammates can do. As a blaster, it's not often to your benefit to be the alpha striker in a large spawn. Some blasters can get away with it (my ice/ice that has capped ranged defense can open with shiver and ice storm pretty safely), but until you've invested a lot in your build, it's often better to wait for the tank to gain aggro, the defender/controller to apply debuffs, for the controller to apply an AoE hold. Just giving your teammates a few seconds to do what they can do can mean a significant difference in survival for you.

Even scrappers, tanks, and brutes need to use inspires. It's not wrong to use them. Not every AT can run in the middle or jump in front of a spawn, say "boo" and walk away while the spawn goes to the Zig.

You won't feel like your not doing enough damage when you get your nuke!

I find that taking Air Superiority and making it an auto power does a great deal for contributing to any squishies survivability. It is a must buy unless I have Nrg as a secondary.

Hasten is a must for getting a respectable chain of attacks off as well.

I soloed an Ice/Nrg Blaster to level 50 with little problem.

Pulls, Slows, Knockdown are all part of blaster stratagey. A blaster will review a mob, make a stratagey and slice them down in a specific order. A scrapper salaivates jumps in and mashes buttons till no one is left standing. I play both, both have their appeal. If you want a fun one to play, play claws on the scrapper side, they have both in close and ranged attacks making it a blastastic scrapper.

To the OP,

It took me playing and leveling many different ATs to fully get the hang of Blasting. My First 50 in the game was a Fire x3 Blaster real long road there not much mitigation. but it is only through playing that you learn little things, like how sometimes if a enemy has a melee weapon out and then you immob them and go ranged it may take them a little while before they pull out their ranged weapon or do the ranged attack. Also ranged attacks tend to deal less damage than the melee ones. The best feature added to the game was IOs now my Fire x3 Blaps with ease having high melee and ranged defense with a decent AoE, but pales in comparison to my Fire/Dev who over softcaps ranged and AoE and hardley gets touched and can easily stay at range. Did an ITF with him and after the rest of the team wiped he was no longer blapping he was blanking, it was definitely one of those moments.

Main thing I would say is try to come up with a decent tactic or two and if that doesn't work use IOs.

I love the challenge of using a Blaster in a large team.

I think I have 5 Blasters at 50 and I've taken aid self on all of them, plus PFF on 3 of them.

I find that this helps to allow your Blaster to stay on its feet for the duration of each fight and deal out massive damage.

Knowing when to come into melee range, and more importantly when not to, is crucial as well. I tend to pop in and out of melee, which keeps the mobs guessing what I'm going to do next.

Oddly enough, I've always found that Blasting gets to be a lot easier in the 40's. Part of this will be due to the epic pool powers, but it's more likely down to the fact that other AT's are fully kitted out to do what they do best by that time - which takes a lot of heat off of the Blasters.

My aim is to have a full set of Blasters at 50, although I'm in no particular hurry to do so right now

Yeah, please don't take my message as an indication of laziness, or per my original post, not knowing tactics. I also don't want to just come across as whining. I wouldn't have so many blasters if I didn't love them. They are my second favorite AT (behind Dominators). So yeah, I'm a bit crazy.

The input I'm really seeking, I guess, is (a) am I just imagining things, or do they get significantly harder in the late game to play while every other AT is getting easier, and (b) what tips do you have for late game play with blasters to make them more survivable?

Great discussion so far, and lots of tactics I know about. It's not my preferred method of play, as mentioned, but I really am trying to figure out how to make them work.

I don't think playing a blaster at high levels is hard ...

I had problems when I was 16 and my blaster was 14, I was a noob trying to kill everyone by myself with aoe ... aggro, slash, slash ... dead ^^

Playing at high levels is just patience : wait for the scrapp or tank or blanker to jump in a mob and then spam your powers try to focus on fools that try to reach melee with you and you should be alive at the end.

Rise of the Phoenix is also a huge asset because you can die whenever you want and rez almost all the time (recharge time is okay really)

Try to manage your aggro and that's it

I love my ice/ice/fire blaster. The ice set is sort of a blaster/controller hybrid. Comes with 2 holds, a few immobs and two slows. It doesn't do "the" most damage of all blaster sets, but it's definitely not the weakest set.

I found it difficult to level at first because it was my first blaster, but once I learned how to play him properly, doing the Ouro badges was a relative breeze. I have 4 Blasters at 50 now, and another one on it's way.

I rely heavily on my holds, so I took the two ice holds, plus Char from the fire set. Throw in Shiver on top of that and you can hold an EB in no time flat.

ACTIVE defenses, rather than the Passive defenses that other ATs have, are the difference. (Active defense is described previously in the thread - terrain, pulling, mobility, minor control powers, running away...) This is in exchange for big damage.