The most current, powerful leveling Blaster?

I am sorry to make one of these threads, but as I've come back to this great game, one of the archtypes I have to admit (embarrassingly) that I've never got past 30 is a Blaster.

I want to do a concept blaster up, and have him work well alone, but be a good contributor in a team.

The reason I'm posting this is I really know little about how to answer my own question, and as I've admitted, I've failed even getting past 30 with any blaster I've made.

Closest? Fire/fire. I had a guy that always got invited to teams... but his debt load (this is years ago) was massive.

Funnest? Tie Elec/Elec. I always loved "Electro" but the first version didn't do much. The second version was built for END drain, but made him terrible on his own.... I now have a 3rd version (Krackle) and he's fizzled out at like... level 10.

The other funnest? Arrows/Devices. Looks cool, but is it just me or is he slow?

I really hate to put up a post like this, but considering how little success I've had with blasters, I'd appreciate the thoughts of those of you that have hit 50 with a blaster or two.

The best answer to this is subject to other conditions. “Good contributor” is tough to define as well. Against tough mobs, I think the best blaster would be one that can survive the agro he creates...So that would generally mean focusing on single target style and +def inventions. (Again, if you’re on a team that is facing tough-hard-hitting mobs)

Against easier mobs, or if you have lots of protection in the form of buffs/debuffs/tanker, then an AOE blaster would generally be a “better contributor” than a ST oriented blaster.

Based on this high-level view, a ST blaster will generally be better for a team as he will bring more to the table when the team really NEEDS it.(i.e. kills single tough mobs faster rather than lots of easy mobs faster.)

Debt is generally meaningless these days. Off the top of my head, I’d say two average missions will clear off max debt. If you want a 50 blaster, I’d just finish off that 50 fire/fire you got.

Generally, AR/Dev would be considered the “Weakest” team blaster…likely the slowest soloing blaster…But can still do some things that other blasters can’t.

I think Sonic/Energy is a nice combo for self-sufficiency and team contribution. It's a good single target set with -Res debuffs on all attacks in primary. Has plenty of control with Sirens Call, and can stack stuns for boss control.

Thanks John.

Unfortunately I became so frustrated with my fire/fire... I deleted him... he was about 28 at the time. lol

The effects.. visually, I loved, the AoE's were fun but man did I pay for them.

I just can't seem to get anything done with my AR/Dev blaster....

I've just fired up my 20 archer/dev blaster... we'll see how it goes. I made him when Archery came out... so I'll be rusty.

Fire/fire was fun, but if I recall.... as you say, he needed a lot of support to stay alive, but he did great mob damage.

Define what you mean by "most current, powerful leveling blaster". That's just too vague for me.

Any blaster with sufficient AoEs will do well in teams. So you can almost answer: any/any. Some blasters do better solo than others.

The power gamers have gravitated to Arch/MM and Fire/MM. Archery/MM because you have a crashless nuke supported by endurance recovery/regen in drain psyche. Fire/MM because of the sheer amount of AoE and single target you can dish out coupled with MM. Suffice it to say, both types will be sporting lots of recharge and might be soft capped as well. Both can also farm hence their popularity.

However, just because others have success with a build doesn't necessarily mean that you'll like it. In my experience, liking a character and how it plays has a lot more to do with getting it to 50 than being one variant of the flavors of the month. It's why I constantly delete archery characters even though I know they are superior to assault rifle ones. It's why I prefer playing my Rad/MM over my Fire/MM.

Bottom line: find something you enjoy playing and make it work. Even the fire/fire you mentioned can be toughened up quite a bit in today's IO environment.

Well, level 30 is about the level when you really have to think strategically instead of just rushing in "guns ablazing". You have to learn to recognize the most dangerous target (to you if solo, or to the team, then secondarily to you if teaming) and take it out first. That's why JohnX was talking about ST playstyle vs. AoE playstyle.

Generally on higher level teams, there is a controller who has locked down the majority of the minions, so your AoEs can blast the minions - or, probably a better strategy, you can move on to those not locked down, especially pesky mezzing Lts or Bosses. If you learn to recognize them first and take them down fast, the controllers and defenders on the team will love you - a dead mezzer can't mez the controller or defender, preventing those lovely buffs/debuffs/immobs, etc.

I agree that AR/Dev isn't a very good teaming blaster if you really want the benefit of using your secondary - it's pretty situational and teams rarely want to wait while you set stuff up. OTOH, AR has some nice cones & AoEs, especially the "nuke" Full Auto.

The "safest" blaster is probably something with Ice as a primary or secondary (or even an Ice/Ice blaster) because of the Holds & Slows. My favorite of this type is the Fire/Ice blaster - lay down an Ice Patch, back up to lure them onto it, then let loose with Rain of Fire and Fireball - fun times!

If you liked the look of your Fire/Fire, maybe consider the Fire/Ice as a fun way to level up. Especially now that you can color stuff to coordinate (somewhat, though ice colors are pale).

Well basically you are asking for a FoTM blaster and because the months change all the time the FoTM changes all the time.

I dont think you should look for an FoTM build. Find something thats fun that you enjoy playing. That will allow to level quickly because you will play it more. There are many blaster combos that will suffice and I dont think any one is better than the other.

Blasters I have at 50

Nrg/Nrg
Fire/Mental
Arch/Devices
Elec/Elec
Rad/Mental
AR/Nrg

All fun.. all can solo and team..

Blasters are my fav AT but soloing a blaster - it's either a labor of love or just plain labor. Your first thoughts are always 'how do I stay alive' and as a leftover you can attack once in a while.

Like other 'farmers' there is usually a focus on making a build for a specific type of enemy. Those builds are not always the most useful on teams.

On teams almost always the AOE's make each group take half the time to defeat. Of course using ST attacks on bosses helps but there are almost always scrappers doing that too.

If you were faceplanting on teams a lot due to AOE's, you just have to learn when to use them. Some tanks/teams can make nice organized groups that you can clobber without taking a hit from 10 enemies. Other teams are a mess and you learn to just stay with ST in those situations. Any blaster can survive nicely on a team if you know how to stay out of trouble - although the healers would beg to differ .

You seemed to not like Fire/ but it has the best combination of strong ST and AOE attacks. On a team you can make a big contribution and not even use your secondary. You could then pick a secondary for mitigation when soloing, /Ice and /Devices being popular.

I don't know if I helped or just made things more confusing. I've read about some amazing mega-purple blaster builds for farming but it's easier to go the Fire/Kin or Scrapper route for that.

Hope you find something that works for you.

AR/Energy......Energy helps bolster AR's weak ST damage, and AR's cones are huge when you hit Boost Range. Can you say BR + BU + Aim + Flamethrower + Full Auto chain?

Yikes - I don't know where I got the farming idea! I guess I turned 'solo' into 'farming' between the time I read the post and wrote my reply. I would have taken my Ginko but I can't remember where I left it.

Sorry folks, I didn't mean for my original post to come off as a 'I want to power level' request.

Basically, as some of you figured out, I'm talking about a blaster that can handle himself, but has some contributing factor to teams. But most importantly, from the more experienced blaster, I was hoping to find out which sets are going to... 'empower' me the most throughout the levels without making it too much of a grind.

I'm probably only on an hour a day so it makes joining a real group difficult. (Most seem fairly barren these days anyway). So pug'ing and soloing is about all I do.

I fired up my elec/elec, my energy/energy, and my archery/dev.... I got back in the mode of pulling, and separating groups that have too large an alpha... I still found it extremely frustrating.

I logged my scrapper back on, finished a story arch and got 15 merits, a very rare recipe, and wondered... why does it have to be like this between these two archtypes? I know I shouldn't ask.....

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure this out, but now I'm thinking of just sticking with ONE of the blasters I have in the low numbers because to be quite honest, I'm really burned out on doing the levels 1-20. (I created and/or ran about 10 characters from 0-10 or 0-15).

There's only so much of that 0-19 content you can take without wanting to stab your eye out with a monitor or something.

So here's the new question:

Of these Blasters, which do you think gives the average player the best combination for the following criteria (in order):
+ Soloing
+ Leveling Capability
+ Team Friendly
+ Potent in most levels of the game (0-50)

-I realize there are other choices I have to make myself, like what looks cool? Feels funnest, etc.

Here is what I have:
LVL 20: Archery/Devices (seems pretty good actually, but I had a bad death run with him)
LVL 10: Elec/Elec (Elec is one of the 'fun' sets to me, but seems behind the rest?)
LVL 12: Energy/Energy (probably one of my favourite concepts, but the sound of that energy blast is driving me nuts! Plus I hear everyone hates knockback on blasters? But if it's the big vote getter, I'll try it)
LVL 21: Assault Rifle/Devices (this guy dies a lot and seems to take a long time to kill anything)

I know I'm forgetting something... Right now I'm really, really wishing I hadn't deleted my level 28 fire/fire. I really liked the look/sound/feel of fire. The AOE's were 'fun' but what a debt magnet. Again, I have no doubt I'm a big part of that. lol That being said, posters like Aragain are tempting me to roll my 3rd one.

Thanks for looking and your advice is much appreciated.

Just a quick thought...

I am creating a new blaster (against my earlier post's ideas) and I never tried radiation blast. No one really said anything about that one.... any thoughts?

No one has said much about Radiation Blast because it is still very new to blasters, and people are still getting a feel for it's strengths and weaknesses.

I like Sonic/Devices. Safe soloer, and solid teammate, though your secondary will be more or less ignored on teams. Sonic/Energy is a good choice as well.

I have an Energy/Energy Blaster that I have leveled up to 32 in a short amount of time and it has been a ton of fun the whole time!

I always see posts about Melee and others hate knockback, etc. I think this is all predicated on the usage of your Blaster (which also seemed to be the case with your Fire Blasters). You don't just go around spamming the crap out of Energy Torrent or some other attack that scatters the mobs all over the place, and you don't just go around spamming Fireball, Fire Breath or Rain of Fire. It's all situational and you have to learn to play your character.

The inherent knockback in the Energy set is a good and bad. I love the mitigation part of it, if a mob is picking itself off the ground it isn't attacking you or your team (which helps soloing). But some teams can really have a problem with it, in these cases I run in and do what has been the most fun with this Blaster so far---BLAPPING!! I love hitting a mob with Bone Smasher and atomizing them (and I haven't even gotten to Total Focus yet 8)

Anyways, good luck on your Blaster quest and have fun!

I have 4 blasters so far.

Sonic/NRG. Good to great soloer. Killer single target damage with controlls. Not as satisifing as a teaming hero, seeing as how he's mainly single target. Sure, he tears up AV's, (thanks to the -res) but the rest of the time you'll be taking pop shots at the bosses while the other blastes are mowing down the masses.

Ice/Ice/Cold. Good all arounder. Good soloer, great control, very useful secondary effect, and some decent to ok AoE. Not an AoE mechaine. But, better then Sonic/Nrg.

Fire/Ice/Elec. This, right here, is prolly my most well rounded blaster. Fire, brings massive damage both single and AoE, making teaming fun. Ice brings geart control, for soloing. Elec give a little extra AoE, another hold, and shields for defence. This one, can solo nearly as well as the Sonic/Nrg, but can unload AoE damage with the best of them, and still pack a major single target punch for AV's. I LOVE this build.

Elec/Elec/Elec. So far... my least FAV. The damage... isn't really great. Weak single target... weak aoe... good control. Love the nuke... love it ALOT. (its what's keep me from just scraping this guy) Hoping to see improvements when I get my /Elec epic. *shrug* I'll finish this guy out of stubberness, and love for it's nuke.

I'd recommend the Fire/Ice/Elec. It was my most fun. And very effective.

fire/elec is where its at for blasters yo. or elec/mental. that is a fun one too.

For the most current (and thus the most power because P=I*V), I would think the obvious choice is elec/elec.

Okay... I just rolled a fire/Ice.... first time for that combo.

I went with an outcast/CoT/Magic kind of theme. It works. We'll see how far I get with this guy!

Thanks again.

Like you, I had difficulty leveling a blaster, I think I probably started the same road as you as I know I had a fire/fire in the mid 20's I deleted. The bulk of my stable of heroes are all scrappers and tanks, so leveling and solo'ing was easy with them. I couldn't say the same for my tries at blasting.

Then I found myself an active supergroup and some regular teams, joined in on the AE craze while it was hot and really learned the fun of grouping. Then I became a floating weapons platform of doom! Let the group do what they do best and then it really opens up your gameplay to do what Blasters do best, and thats dish out some pain. As a hover bot I'd fly or hover above the group, give ground team a second to establish themselves, then...Yea, I can say it as a Arch/Energy blaster... Boost Range + Build up + Aim + Rain of Arrows = death. Add to that I managed to softcap my ranged defenses, this made it to where anyone who I managed to aggro whould try to blast me out of the sky, but never hit me. Fun times, throw in some hasten/SS with my hover/fly, some stealth and the munitions mastery and I'm a well rounded bringer of the rain.

Long story short, find yourself a group. I consider myself a lone wolf and would be content to solo every night, but IMO thats best left to scrappers and brutes. With the new super-sidekicking grouping is easier now than ever.