AR/?

I was hoping to get a little advice to see what secondary would go well with an AR primary.

I'm in the mood for another alt and wanted to give AR a spin but really have no idea what to pair it with or what would be good.

Any input or advice would be appreciated.

I've only tried Dark but to me it seems they fit together perfectly. Everything in Dark works at range, which is where you need to be to line up AR's cone AoEs. You don't need to duck into melee range for a heal or buff as you would with Kin. I've heard people like Storm as well, collecting spawns into a corner and then AoE slaughtering them. Rad, I am sure, works pretty well too so long as you aren't using Choking Cloud.

Only actual downside I've seen so far with my AR/Dark on teams is if there's a Kin. Very difficult to get into Fulcrum Shift range since I am usually not in the thick of things. I can see why AR/Kin's love that, but I don't know if I could deal with the reduced survivability. My AR/Dark with +def from IOs is *very* tough. Great at avoiding mezzes and indeed entire alpha-strikes after leading off with Fearsome Stare (and if necessary stacking on Darkest Night and summoning Fluffy into the middle of the spawn... if it really looks that bad). Dodges as well as my ninja stalker and heals faster. Fantastic vs. ambush lines if Tar Patch is up. Drop it, fade back, let them pile up into it then step in with Stare. Slaughter.

I can't remember who is was, but a while back someone posted a really sweet vid of a AR/Kin they did a respec on that looked great in action. Me personally I am a sucker for my AR/Dark.

Lots of secondaries would work.

Rad - self heal, self buff, and the big 3 rad debuffs. Enervation field + your cones will do good damage.

Storm - a great secondary to keep stuff away from you at range. Also freezing rain + your attacks.

Dark - already mentioned. Good solid choice. Lots of controls as well + a good pet.

Cold - plays a bit like storm but with more slows and other debuffs. Sleet + your attacks.

If you're seeing a pattern here, I'd recommend a secondary that have -res and other debuffs. They help a lot more since AR doesn't get the benefit of aim.

but it became a sweet ride after Fulcrum Shift ^_^ positioning cones isn't that hard either

best part of hover blasting :3

I didn't have hover...I went with a 'concept' toon, and basically made her as fast as I could. Hasten, SS, other SS, attacks actually got +recharge slotted into them...and no IOs when I was leveling her, so no mez protection/resist/etc, and she still has no KB protection.

For many, many levels, Beanbag was my bestest friend. Oh Beanbag, my love for you shall ne'er wane.

AR/Cold has both Sleet and Heat Loss, so you can have a nice 60% resistance debuff every 2-3 packs and a 30% resistance debuff all the time. Also, Snowstorm + Sleet + Immobilize + Ignite is pretty much a boss killer while solo - they won't have enough recharge to do anything about you incinerating them. There's also stacking AOE -res + Flamethrower + Full Auto. This is probably the most team-friendly AOE damage-y goodness.

AR/Storm is everything that's good and bad about knocking stuff all over the map, possibly in a semi-controlled manner with Hurricane. Nice resist debuffs, nice defense against melee, but difficult to set up and you'll have to redraw if you use 02.

AR/Rad has defense and resist debuffs, but they're anchored which can cause some frustration - especially on fast-moving teams. EM Pulse is niiiiice. AM is also niiiiiice. Being able to heal yourself is good as well, but causes redraw and may cause positioning issues if you're asked to heal the tank - the tiny cone width on full auto makes it hard to hit more than a couple targets at point blank. Being able to use Slug and Buckshot to move your anchor around helps this set more than the others.

I have an AR/Sonic and it`s a blast so far (lvl40)

I took AR/Rad to 50 and it was an absolute blast. Rad Debuffs + Choking Cloud + Ignite = Mobs that melt like warm butter.

AR/Kin here. It's a lot of fun.

Ignite really needs a hold or immob due to the AI fear it generates. Even a good slow won't keep them in it the whole duration as it has a very small effect radius.

It's not really double redraw. I don't think redraw times have been removed from the cast times of epics the way they have for other powersets, so BS's Web Envelope is 2s to cast whether the mace is out already or not. Mako's School of Sharks is about the same cast time.

You do incur the redraw penalty for pulling out your rifle again afterwards though with BS. I still prefer his set on corruptors because of the defense shield. Given most corruptors lack any personal mez protection, avoiding hits is the next best thing.

My personal experience with Ignite was that in most cases it just took too long to set up and it was time I felt could be better spent just using my normal attacks. It was an amazing power when it didn't require lots of slots on my AR/Traps, but with the massive recharge nerf it got it became a shadow of it's former self.

Against immobile foes, the thorn tree, the ITF computer, AVs that don't flee, it's great. Solo it's good. On teams... just stick to your secondary powers and your regular AoEs will be more than enough.

Its animation time is WAY too long...in a set full of long animation times. To me, using it all the time reduced my fun.

Ignite does about 6.7 scalar damage over 10 seconds. Looking at that in terms of just the cast time in an attack chain, it's VERY good damage against a single target and fairly insane vs. multiples if you can manage it. Of course, those are very big "ifs" and require immobile foes so in the long run I don't think it's nearly as useful as the single-target heavy hitters that other sets have.

I'd happily give up M30 and Ignite for Aim and a Blazing Arrow clone. And while I'm making wishes, they can make Flamethrower a shorter, heavier DoT like Breath of Fire.