Advice on playing an Assault Rifle/Devices blaster

I have my first Assault Rifle/Devices blaster and I really like it. Its a lot of fun and matches my concept perfect.

Im up to lvl 29 with him and Im wondering about the best attack chains to use.
My primary powers are:
Burst, Slug, Buckshot, M30 Grenade, Flamethrower, and Ignite.

My secondary powers are:
Web grenade, caltroops, targeting drone, Cloaking device, Trip mine.

My pools are just the leaping and fitness pools.

So when I go into a mob I never know the right way to fight. Do I throw down caltroops first, then hit them with Ignite and M30 grenade to scatter them?
Or should I hit them with Flamethrower then Caltroops? I know theres a good combo out there somewhere but im not sure where.

what works for you?

AR/Dev has many powers that are situation-specific, so there's no one ideal attack chain. It depends on who you're fighting, how many of them there are, what weaponry they're using, and if you're solo or part of a group. It also depends on how you're slotted -- Slug slotted for range and recharge chains nicely with Sniper Rifle if you can stay at extreme range.

When fighting solo, there are three things I always do:
1) Run Cloaking Device full-time -- it lets me pick the fights, and prepare the battlefield in advance.
2) Run Targeting Drone full-time -- it gives me capped hit chances with a minimum of slotting for accuracy.
3) Drop a trip mine if I'm facing anything moderately tough -- it means the first real attack has a 26% damage boost, and you've got emergency mitigation if anything gets away from you.

As an example, against the Devouring Earth types who imitate trees, I'd open with Ignite followed by Flamethrower, followed by watching them burn up -- in the time it takes them to uproot themselves, the two attacks do more than enough damage.

On the other hand, against a group of melee fighters, I'd throw down caltrops in front of me, open the attack with Flamethrower (a great deal of damage over time, but it takes plenty of time), then use M30, Buckshot, and Slug to juggle them away from me, hitting them with Burst or Flamethrower whenever I don't need to juggle.

Against a Nemesis sniper, I'll open with Sniper Rifle -- I've got a longer range, and snipers don't move -- take out the minions with whatever powers are appropriate, and finish off the sniper at my leisure. (This is assuming I'm on a map that gives me the range I need. If not, I'll focus on the sniper with whatever powers give me the most damage fast.)

When fighting in a group, M30 is for emergency knockback only -- Full Auto and Flamethrower do more damage, and they don't knock anyone away from the tank.

Learn your weapons, learn what they do, and figure out what works best.

this is my way of palying my beloved AR/DEV (though u will need Full auto too)
1) Solo
throw caltrops between u and the mob, throw a smoke grenade, start your chain attack : flamethrower+full auto+slug +burst+grenade+buckshot (the first two are a must, and u must take good position. the last two are in the end so u can repell the ones that passed the caltrops. some slow procs for the caltrops r great). If u pop up a red insp before, noone will stay alive to pass the caltrops. If there is a boss in the mob spread some trip mines before.
2)Team
be patient, let the mellees take some agrro, position urself and when the mob group is tight spread ur chain attack as above. if mobs surround u, throw caltrops, or have a trip mine in ur feet.
i don't use ignite, though some praise it (especially corruptors).
Super speed is way handy, because combined with cloakin device , gives u great PVE stealth

(soory for my english, not my primary language)

Like others have said, it depends on what you're fighting against, and what their capabilities are.

For solo fighting, with your cloaking device on you should always line up to maximize your cone attacks, and throw trops down first. The one thats the closest to you will try to melee you, so you webnade and ignite him, then forget him. You're taking more damage than necessary without Bean bag, it can take out that one lieut that always hurts the worse if he gets to you.

An AR/Dev has plenty of mitigation tools to keep from getting hurt too bad in melee, and thats where I always play mine. After the initial cone attacks land, if they aren't dead they're coming for you, so taser one, webnade another, bean bag a third, then slug and burst them to death. I only use the cones right at the start. In a team setting, use what ever powers recharged, but be mindful about your knockback. On good teams you may just be firing Flamethrower and Full Auto ad naseum.

So would it be more advisable then to go ahead and take Bean Bag/Smoke Grenade - two powers I'd thought of skipping - over a combo like Aid Other/Aid Self?

(guessing now that the answer is 'yes'...haven't needed the Medicine pool on other toons so I guess AR/Dev needn't be different)

Thanks. Definitely leaning toward taking both Smoke Bomb and Bean Bag now. If I kill fast enough I'll be fine! (was the mantra on my Fire/Fire) Aid Other would probably have been a waste anyway as I plan on mostly soloing.

Well, i have in my build aid other/aid self. it comes way handy. When i loose a lot of health in teams, i click Personal Force Field (epic) and i heal myself (one of the small number of things that u can do while u r on PFF).
On the other hand, i don't have beanbug or ignite.
One more thing that i find important in AR/DEV is recharge. With good IO set bonuses and hasten, u can have Full auto available in every mob, and this combined with your flamethrower, means great AOE spam without knockback,

Some nice tips here for someone who just got thier BR/DEV to 9th. Now I can plan my power selection to suit my play style. Thanks to everyone.

Many have stated some common points.. I am just going to post reminders.

1. Caltrops between you and the enemy. But not close enough to the enemy that you effect them. You will need to learn the range and eventually if your into IO's you will be able to drop double Caltrops for extra protection.

2. Open up your attacks with Cones or AOE's that do not cause Knockback. Leave those powers for the end of your attack chain.

3. When high enough and solo drop a trip mine at your feet for that extra protection and KB of mobs that come near you.

4. You can use Ignite on yourself to get mobs away from you.

5. Web Grenade is just not for holding, but big also has a - Recharge which is big.

6. You do not need to slot Web Grenade or Caltrops up too high to make them effective.

7. You should not be playing AR / Dev if your looking to be the DPS king. It's more like the Tortoise and the Hare. You are more about steady reliable DPS with powers that hardly miss.

8. AR / Dev has many negative connotations with other players because of many of these over embellished stories of lacking any major DPS. Thus you could get asked to pick up another toon or get passed over for another spec when looking for a group. 8 out of 10 times a group would rather have my Archer EM over my AR / Dev. I always make sure I tell a group what alts I have when I am looking for a group and I am on my AR / Dev because of those issues.

With targeting drone, what would folks recommend in regards to +ACC enhancements in the attack powers (slug, buckshot, etc)?

Also, it sounds as though I should take smoke grenade. I wasn't impressed with Flash Arrow on my TA/A Def so I passed on smoke grenade figuring it to be more of the same. People keep talking it up though.

At lvl 37, I have all of my primary powers and am missing taser, smoke grenade and gun drone from my secondary (also have fitness through stamina and Heal other/self from medicine). Not sure if I'll take gun drone yet. Also I'm not too impressed with ignite. It's served some situational uses but aside from dropping it on my feet to scare the melees away, I never use it much. Is there another method of attacking with it beyond webbing the guy down and setting him on fire?

Before Ignite was "nerfed" it was my go-to power, especially after I got my epic powers.

Freeze Ray + Ignite = dead anything in total safety

Before that, it would be Web Grenade + Beanbag + Ignite

It really got to be kind of boring when combined with Sleep Grenade because Ignite was so fast I could kill everything in a typical spawn before the last one woke up. My solo build really only used a few powers, all based around setting up ignite: Sleep Grenade, Beanbag, Taser, Web Grenade, Ignite, Slug, Cloaking Device, Targeting Drone. I never needed anything else.

Although I hated it at the time, I really do think that ignite needed to be nerfed. The amount of damage I could do to an AV was ridiculous, just chaining Ignite and one other power (Web Grenade for debuffs or Slug for damage).