New to the game. Blaster question...

I just signed up for the game and while I am waiting for it to finish downloading I have been looking over the different types. Blasters look appealing to me but I was wondering if it has a steep learning curve where I would be better off starting with a different type? Also, which combos do people suggest for a new player.

Any info would be great, thank you.

Welcome to the game! My first character was also a Blaster (Fire/Fire, the most defenseless one of all) and I died a lot, but death in this game doesn't really have any notable penalties and I had a blast.

Blasters start off easy and become hard. In the low levels they're hugely powerful, and you'll cruise along smoothly around maybe level 30-35 or so, where most bosses can 2-3 shot you in melee, and mezzes (stuns, holds, sleeps and other things that prevent you from acting) become more prevalent.

Scrappers are the default suggestion for new players. They're opposite - melee sets take longer to get their heavy-hitting attacks and they're not a whole lot tougher than Blasters early on, but are generally safer once their defenses mature, and they get powers that protect them from mezzes.

But the game isn't very hard and I would say to just go with whatever archetype you feel like playing, except maybe Tankers (because you will be expected to lead and take point, and they kind of mature slowly).

First, welcome to the game and enjoy your stay!

Now Blasters can indeed be very powerful but they do tend to get much more difficult to play as you level up; while you'll be able to kill things pretty quickly you can't survive the enemy attacks as easily. From level 1 until the mid-teens a Blaster can be pretty much easy mode... you have enough damage to kill mobs before they can kill you. As you progress the enemies get tougher, hit harder and start having "mez" attacks; things like holds, sleeps, stuns, immobilizes and the like that pin you in place and severely limit what you can do. A mez'd blaster can very quickly turn into a dead blaster.

All of that can be dealt with, but it takes practice... when I first started playing back in 2005 my first character was a Fire/Energy Manipulation blaster. I got him to about level 21 and got so sick of constantly getting killed that I deleted him and didn't play another Blaster for a couple of years. Well, when I finally gave the AT another try, this time with an Archery/Energy blaster I found it to be a lot of fun and didn't have much problem with getting killed... but I was a much more experienced player the second time around.

So go ahead and give it a try, but just be aware that there are problems you'll need to learn to overcome in your future.

As others have already said, welcome to the game!

Okay, blasters. Glass cannon.

They put out phenomenal damage. But you need to remember, while they have some melee-range attacks that are hugely powerful, they are NOT melee characters. They simply don't have the defenses or resistances that a melee character (like a scrapper or tank) would.

So while you're levelling, raw damage output is your friend.
Also, do NOT forget to invest in some accuracy for your attacks. You could be doing enough damage with an attack to melt your enemy down into slag, but if you miss....

With a blaster, you need to be aware of the ranges at which your attacks will hit and start assaults on enemies from there (and try to maintain those ranges when possible). The reason why blaster melee attacks are as powerful as they are is because if you have enemies in that range, you're already in deep doo doo.

One of the standard tricks for survivability is to take Hover from the Flight pool early on. This allows you to get up and out of melee range from opponents and STAY there. This will force enemies back on lower-damage, lower accuracy ranged attacks. Meaning you'll usually survive if a couple of them hit you.

One other thing to note. The blaster inherent. Defiance.
Essentially it allows you to continue attacking even when mezzed. Note works only with single-target, non-snipe attacks. So if you get mezzed you aren't ENTIRELY boned.

If you want to get up in people's faces, I'd suggest either a scrapper or a tank. If you're looking to simply output a lot of damage and beat the living snot out of your opponents, go with the scrapper. Tanks, while hugely survivable, are NOT damage-oriented. Their main function is to draw as much fire from enemies as they can and survive it. Their damage output beyond that is more in the nature of an afterthought.

Okay, I'd keep going, but right now I have to bail for work. Again, welcome to the game. Now go break your foot off in someone's backside!

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Blasters start out very, very easy to play.

At some point they get a lot tougher (25-35 depending who you ask.)

Details in my miniguide (internal links broken), in sig.

Welcome! My first character was an ice/ice blaster. Since others already hit the major points I will say one thing. When you play a blaster you quickly learn what is and what isn't a safe range away from an enemy. This is invaluable knowledge(especially if you decide to take a jaunt in the Hollows. Which I highly reccomend sometime, just be careful.) Have fun!

Blasters take some practice, in particular learning which enemies to prioritize (such as ones that can hold or stun you) and how to avoid pulling too much aggro on teams. They're also hugely fun to play. Just remember a few handy tips:

- You will faceplant. A Blaster that never dies is a Blaster that's spending all his time fighting greens and blues. It takes time to learn the ropes as a Blaster, and even the most experienced still eat pavement from time to time. It's the price you pay for having such high damage... even if you do everything right you'll occasionally hit a string of bad luck and die. At least you will if you're fighting anything challenging.

- Missed attacks don't do any damage. Be sure to slot enough accuracy before worrying about anything else. Your base chance to hit starts very high (around 90%) but drops a little each level until it's only 75% at level 20+. Your chance to hit also drops against higher level targets. That means your first few levels you'll usually hit but as you get into the teens you'll want to slot more accuracy... I go with two dual origin accuracy enhancements per attack in the teens and then one or two single origin accuracies at 22. Before level 12 just slot whatever enhancements you happen to get as drops... training origin enhancements are too weak to really bother with buying them. The important thing is that if you can't hit your target consistently you're probably going to lose, because Blasters can't take a lot of hits so they need to end a fight quickly.

- Once you are hitting consistently, hit hard. Slot plenty of damage enhancements but only after slotting accuracy. In general, more than three single origin or six dual origin enhancements of the same type is the point where you no longer get any significant boost from adding more. Since you can't have more than six enhancements in a power that means you really only have to worry about the limits when you get to SOs (single origin enhancements). The general rule of thumb is never put more than three of any single type of SO in the same power. I find 1 accuracy, 1 endurance, 1 recharge, and 3 damage a good mix for most attacks once I get SOs, and 2 accuracy and the rest damage good with DOs.

- Use the market. It's a good idea to get a basic feel for what things cost at Wentworth's and learn about invention origin enhancements (the intro mission at the university and paragonwiki.com are good starting points). But even if you don't want to fool with that, sell any salvage you get at Wentworths and also sell any recipes that have bids out. If you don't know what it's worth, drag it into your market tray and click the "more" button to see the last 5 bids. Prices do vary wildly so you can't always trust those numbers to be typical (in fact they rarely are), but the important thing is that you can see how many bids are out for that item. My advice for a beginner: until you learn a bit about the market, sell any salvage and any recipe with at least one open bid for 1 influence and sell anything with no open bids to a vendor instead of on the market. You'll get the highest standing bid (provided it's at least as high as your sell price) regardless of what sell price you put in, so selling at 1 inf means you'll get an instant sale. Note that you'll lose out on a lot of influence doing it that way, but you'll still make a ton more than you would selling to vendors so it's a good start until you learn what you're doing. You should have no problem affording dual origin or single origin enhancements just by selling your salvage for 1 inf each... and once you actually learn a bit about the market and IOs you'll be able to make even more.

(Also, when you do vendor an enhancement, sell it to a vendor that sells that type. They pay more. For instance, a science / tech dual origin enhancement sells for more in a Science or Tech shop than a Natural, Mutant, or Magic shop. Some people don't bother any more since the influence values are so small compared to what you get on the market but I personally hate losing money.)

- This game has a great community, so don't hesitate to ask questions in game or on the forums.

Welcome to the game.

I'll echo what others have said and add a few additional points...

Look at the side effects of the various power sets, experiment and decide if that set would be consistent with how you'd like to play. For example, ice blast can slow down your opponent's movement and recharge rate, which reduces their offensive output and makes it easier for you to run away if necessary. Conversely, energy blast knocks back your enemies, which helps keep baddies out of melee range, but this must be used carefully when you're coordinating with a team. Some power sets have multiple effects (i.e most sonic attacks reduce enemy damage resistance but the set also has a sleep power) Look at information about the sets and try out what interests you. There's no substitute for experience.

Along the same lines, think about the synergies between power sets. How well do they work together? Do they reinforce each other or does one power set fill a hole in the other? For example, fire blast is a high-damage power set that provides little else in the way of mitigation. Therefore, you might want to choose a secondary that provides additional capabilities. (i.e. ice for slowing opponents, devices for various controls, buffs and debuffs, etc.)

Read the various guides and forum posts to find out more about the power sets you're considering. Just remember that everybody's goals and play style are different. Some people team while others solo. Views on power sets (and powers w/i the set) are also completely subjective, so consider other opinions but make up your own mind.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but it's not. By playing and experimenting, you'll find the power set combo (or combos) that really meshes with your play style and personality. You'll also gain experience with the game mechanics and learn more about the strengths & weaknesses of the various villains you'll face. When it all comes together, you've got yourself a kick*** blaster.

Good luck.

One other quick word about the various Blaster sets... each has its advantages and drawbacks but they can all be fun. However, some do play a lot differently than others so don't give up on Blasters as a whole if you don't like the first one or two you make. My own opinions of the various sets:

Archery: Fast attacks, good area affect damage, but only average DPS and a heavily resisted damage type. Not much control or mitigation (you do get one stun and an AoE with a chance for knockback), but overall a good set for AoE capability with decent single target damage.

Assault Rifle: I've not played this one much, but it has some nice AoEs and a moderate amount of knockback, plus a stun. It's kind of like Archery, but with more cones and more fire.

Electrical Blast: I've never liked this set. The damage is rather low (for a Blaster) and it doesn't have a lot of AoEs. It does have a ranged nuke and it can provide decent mitigation through endurance drain (especially when paired with Electricity Manipulation) but it's kind of a "love it or hate it" set.

Energy Blast: Pretty much middle of the road in both single target and AoE damage, with relatively slow attacks that all have at least a chance of knockback. If you want to send stuff flying this is your best choice... it doesn't excel at anything but it also doesn't really suck at anything, so it's not a bad place to start.

Fire Blast: This set is pure damage. No mitigation, no secondary effects, just the highest burst damage, highest sustained DPS, highest AoE damage... and highest faceplant rate. If you want to blow stuff up good and don't mind a steady diet of pavement go for it. Just remember that when you hit this hard it's not a question of if you draw too much aggro and die, but rather how often. I'd suggest pairing it with a high mitigation secondary like Ice if you want to solo since Fire really shines against large groups and you can't really solo those without good mitigation (or an expensive IO build).

Ice Blast: Pretty much the opposite of Fire. Minimal AoE capability but massive amounts of control and good single target damage. This is the safest solo choice but also the least beneficial on large teams since you don't have the AoE damage other Blasters have. On the other hand, you can easily kill bosses that other Blasters struggle with thanks to having two ranged holds to stack on them.

Psychic Blast: If you're considering this set and play with the sound on, make one and fire off your starter attack a few times. Now imagine that noise and others similar to it pretty much nonstop. If that's fine with you (or you don't play with sound on) go for it, but be aware that some people really hate Psy's sound effects. As for the powers themselves, Psy is a single target heavy set with lots of -recharge debuffs, so you slow down enemy attacks much like Ice does. Psionic damage is not resisted often, but things that do resist it tend to resist it heavily so stuff like robots will be a pain.

Radiation Blast: I've not tried this one yet (it's the newest Blaster primary), but it seems to be similar to Energy Blast only with -defense instead of knockback. That means you won't have any real mitigation but the more you hit things the easier it will be to keep hitting them. The attacks also look very cool. There's a nice IO (Achilles' Heel proc) for -defense powers that has a chance to apply a -resist effect that goes great in this set, but you probably won't be able to afford them if you're just starting out.

Sonic Attack: Remember what I said about the sound effects on Psy? It goes double for this set. As long as you like the sounds or don't have them on, you get a great single target focused set that has stacking -resist debuffs. That means the more you shoot something, the more damage your attacks do to it... since with good slotting you'll be at the 95% cap on to hit chance most of the time I find this a lot more useful than Rad's defense debuffs (except in the early levels but those go by fast). You also get a huge cone Sleep attack that can incapacitate a whole spawn and let you fight them one at a time, so it's a good solo set.



Electricity Manipulation: This secondary has great melee damage and decent AoE capability, plus endurance drain. Pair it with Electric Blast and you can actually keep enemies drained of endurance, which limits ther ability to attack you. Pair it with a higher damage primary and you can use the melee to really boost total DPS. It doesn't offer much mitigation though unless you go the endurance drain route.

Energy Manipulation: This is a fun secondary. You get good melee attacks that can stun, plus several handy self buffs. It's a great choice for a pure ranged Blaster since you get Build Up early, can use Boost Range later on to attack from even farther away, and your required starter attack knocks the target flying so you can use it to swat away anything that gets too close. It's also a good "blapper" (melee Blaster) set since the melee attacks are quite good and the fact that they stun helps you stay alive.

Fire Manipulation: Yep, you guessed it... damage, damage, and more damage. Heavy single target damage, multiple AoEs, and an endurance boost power... no mitigation whatsoever but no other secondary has more AoE power. Nothing in the game does as much AoE damage as a Fire/Fire Blaster (or as much single target for that matter). Also, nothing in the game faceplants as often.

Devices: This set is a real oddball. In the interests of full disclosure, I really don't like it much at all. You get a bunch of assorted buffs and oddball powers, but little in the way of direct attacks. If you're patient you can kill almost anything by spending 2-3 minutes piling up Trip Mines and then leading the enemy to them, but I'm not that patient. If you like the idea of using stealth, planting bombs, and never missing (you get a nice to hit buff power) at the cost of spending significantly more time per mission then by all means go for it.

Ice Manipulation: Not a lot of damage, but plenty of control. /Ice really boosts your survivability and helps you survive to use high damage sets like Fire. Also, Ice/Ice Blasters have more control than most Controllers... you'll be at the bottom of the chart for damage output (which for a Blaster means you still outdamage most other ATs ) but you'll be packing an insane amount of holds and slows that will make you extremely hard to kill.

Mental Manipulation: Lots of AoE damage (actually more AoE powers than /Fire, but they're not as strong as /Fire's), some single target damage, a moderate amount of mitigation, and a truly powerful recovery/regeneration boost. High recharge IO builds can get truly nasty by keeping Drain Psyche up most of the time, but for lower cost builds it'll be a part time boost. It's still a great power though, and Mental is overall probably the best secondary if you don't have a specific reason to pick one of the others.

Welcome to CoX!

My take on blasters is that they are definately better with more experience. When I first started playing I made an Elec/Elec blaster and although I loved him in the early levels I struggled a bit when I hit the 20's and ended up giving up.

Then later on I rolled another blaster after about 6 months experience and enjoyed him all the way to 50. Once I reached 50 however I stopped liking him so he got canned.

Recently I have rolled my third blaster and although he is only level 20 at the moment I expect he will keep his appeal at 50 because with my now 18 months experience I know how to play much better. That and I finally found a power set combo that I love!

Good luck to you whatever you decide to play!

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