how good is AR really and what 2ndary?

pretty much what the title says, but i never really have gotten a AR past like lvl 20, but that was like few years back lol. Is AR good these days? how i slot em for team/solo? only for pve, and what powers can wait, and which ones i need ASAP, ill pick my own pool powers, but i dunno 100% what i need and dont need for AR, but for any secondary i will know what be good, i just dont know which one to go with

AR is one of the best AoE damage sets with Archery and Fire being the other solid contenders. It's primary weakness is the lack of single target damage. The fact that lethal is more heavily resisted does hurt a bit but not to much at high level.

Good secondaries:
Energy Manipulation is the perennial favorite. The powerful melee attacks help to counteract the lack of single target damage and boost range is awesome since AR has three cone attacks.

Mental Manipulation is the other popular one since it provides you with another useful cone attack increasing your AoE damage even more and of course Drain Psyche is nice for keeping health and endurance up.

As for the other secondaries, Fire and Electricity have PBAoEs which don't really mesh well with AR's cone attacks. Ice has some popularity for survivability but doesn't do a lot for your damage and AR gets ok survivability though knockback anyway. Devices is... well it's Devices, enough said.


As for AR itself here's my take on the powers:

Burst/Slug: You're basic single target attacks, you'll probably want to take and use both of them although you could possibly skip one if you are taking and using single target melee powers.

Buckshot & M30 Grenade: The first two AoEs. They both do the same damage and have knockback. You definitely want one of them and I recommend taking both if you can. Of the two I consider Buckshot to be better since it has a shorter recharge and lower endurance costs plus it shares the same cone shape as Flamethrower allowing you to use both without moving.

Beanbag: A standard issue blaster single target stun attack. If it suits your play style then take it else you can pass.

Sniper Rifle: Pretty standard blaster snipe attack, you either love it or hate it. This can sort of be used as a pseduo 3rd St blast since AR lacks that but the activation time makes this problematic even with interrupt reduction

Flamethrower: Your second cone. Does very good damage although the activation time is annoying. In any case, take this you'll be using it alot. Slot it for endurance reduction though, the base cost is 23.92.

Ignite: This is basically AR's 3rd single target attack. It does very good damage but since it's a patch power you pretty much have to root the enemy first. It also suffers from a 4 second cast time. Some people like it, but personally I've never been able to warm to it.

Full Auto: The crown jewel of the set. This power is what really makes AR awesome it does more damage than most blaster snipe powers and it does it in a cone. You'll want to slot it for Damage and as much Recharge as possible so that you can use it frequently.

AR has not really improved much. The one tweak to it has been a little bit of additional damage to Sniper Rifle when combined with Targetting Drone, but you have to be AR/Dev, and it's a small amount of damage, not even 1/9 of the base damage. Ignite also got an increase in recharge time or something, I can't really remember.

I guess the best thing is that outside of that, it hasn't gotten any WORSE.

As for builds, I'm not really the best person to go to for that, so I'll let someone else answer.

I myself have an AR/psy and love him, he was the first blaster i was ever able to get to 50. I took every power in my primary, except for ignite. I love the snipe b/c I can one shot a lot of baddies. Beanbag is also very useful for soloing when handling multiple baddies and AR has my favorite tier 9 blaster power. For the most part, full auto and flamethrower will kill most mobs no problem, or leave very few left standing. The extra survivability from drain psyche and the fear power also help. However, I will say that because of the mostly smashing and lethal damage in AR, the going can be rough against baddies that are very resistant (fighting Malta Robot bosses are the worst). Definitely give it a try, and if you don't love it by the time you get full auto, maybe it just is not the set for you.

It is funny how no matter how long the game is out, AR still is lacking the DPS issues, but many still get the itch to use it because its just fun using that gun.

I wish they would just add something in that would allow for a dps increase to AR but only with certain secondaries. This way AR Nrg wouldn't be so crazy over the top. Basically something similar they did with sniper and Target Drone.

Well, from personal Experiance, from a none min/Maxed stand point.AR/ works best with Devices.The strength of the AR/Dev combonation is the Accuracy.

AR its self gets a enherant Acc Bonus, and adding it to Targeting Drones +toHit Buff, you rarly miss.If you place rarly ever missing anything vs other blaster sets, that without the full use of Build Up, can miss quite a bit, making AR/ even out with those sets, if not trump them.(Its horrible when you fire on a +2 to +4 mob when your BU or Aim isnt recharged, and miss most the mob with that Fireball.)

Not to say other Blaster Sets cant just buy into the Leadership Pool to grab up the +Accuracy power(never take it, so I forget the name), a /Devicer just doesnt need the help with aiming at all.More hits, makes for enemies dying just as fast anyhow, and possibly even more so with the amount of Cones and AoEs AR/ delivers anyhow, largly thanks to its Accuracy.

From personally playing a AR/Dev upto level 50 in the past, I can honestly say, that if you cant dish out the damage on that build, then something is seriously wrong with how your playing it, or its just not the Blaster type for you.

Its not uncommon to Drop a Minion with a Sniper Bullet, or damn near kill a Lt., and jumping right behind that tanker, and unloading Flamethrower, Full Auto, M-30 Grenade should really make a horrible mess of the mob in the first place.If most things wont drop from that combonation of Fire Power, then you need another Blaster!

Not to mention with Devices played and used properly, your rather safe from a distance compaired to other Blasters, that take a chance jumping into the mix and asking to take it right in the face.

Catrops are your friend!

I will say, that in Solo play, its rather easy to face down +2/8 man missions w/bosses, and it doesnt take as long as youd think.Setting up a nasty feild of mines, and if your good enough, a propperly placed Time Bomb does wonders.

Speaking of which.....I did say Catrops are your Friend right?Theres a BIG reason for that!

Catrops, with max Slow and Recharge, double stacked, can keep a mob that just ran onto them there just long enough to Full Auto them, and watch them fly away after the Time Bomb goes off!TEE HEE!

Then again, im one of the Wack Jobs that learned how to time that.

Anyhow, im getting off Target here.Devices is for that Blaster who wants to surprise his enemies, and not miss when he fires off a Cone agenst those +4 baddies in team missions.From personal Experiance, I can honestly say that there where times I was damn near the only person who could hit the baddies in +4 Missions in a 8 man team involving the Shawmen, and Tiki Masked Giants.(The name of those guys slips my mind, havnt fought them in a long time.)

The Tanker was Taunting, grabbing Agro, and i would fire away, slowly and surely, they died, but from watching the action, and other players, my hits rarely missed.

So what im standing by is /Dev for a AR/ Blaster, because you never know when you need that accuracy.

I disagree. Now don't get me wrong I love my AR/Dev but I don't think it's a particularly strong pairing. The ToHit buff from Targeting drone is nice but there are plenty of other options available for this sort of thing (a Kismet IO is cheap and provides a third of the benefit from targeting drone for a single slot) and of course if you start IO'ing the blaster at all you'll have accuracy bonuses out the wazoo (Thunderstrike and Positron's Blast are probably the most popular blaster sets and both have an accuracy bonus).

Outside of Targeting Drone the other Devices powers are almost entirely solo oriented so while a Devices Blaster is powerful solo they are somewhat lacking in group play. Other secondaries provide a similar level of utility in solo play and add a lot more to a group.

I find that most players who find AR damage disappointing are AR/Devs, because of the lack of Buildup. Yes, it really does make a giant difference in gameplay experience. Ice is an exceptional pairing, because it packs more mitigation into two powers (Shiver and Ice Patch) than most of the other secondaries (the whole sets). Does it fail to add much damage? Sure, but this is essentially a moot point as AR has a basically seamless AoE chain (especially if the Electric mastery APP is selected) on it's own, with Hasten running, and Ignite is ridiculously effective vs. immob'd enemies and any AV or fixed object, even given the long animation time. The synergy of ignite with Ice Patch is a thing to behold. A final point is that Chillblain is arguably the best teir 1 secondary attack in the blaster AT, with its capacity of being used even when mezzed, while putting stacks of -rech on whatever enemy managed to mezz you.

All this said, I prefer to play my AR/Ice (My Cold Dead Hands) and my other blasters primarily in teams, just for the pleasure of watching fountains of damage numbers emerge from the large groups that spawn. I find soloing with blasters to be a little tedious, as I have a strong preference for scrappers when soloing content.

I run with a "theme" supergroup on Champion: The TechKnights. (Identical power-armor, all AR/Dev.) Our Motto: Got Problems? No worries--We Brought Bullets!

As you might expect, we like AR, and think AR/Dev rocks.

Our experience supports this, as we are currently running a group in the 45-50 range and tearing up everything we meet. Those grindy "Defeat all" missions are quickly completed in a continuous hail of bullets, "click the glowie" or "find the hostage" missions are push-overs, Elite Bosses and Arch Villians can't hit us and just melt. That annoying 10-minute timed mission? Done in less than four. Shadow Hunter? Couldn't touch us. Anti-Matter & Synapse? Fell right down. Two Kronos Titans? Took a while, but that was fun!

Generally, we approach a problem in one of two ways: Run-and-Gun or Ambush.

Run-and-Gun is: a brace of Smoke Grenades, followed by one Trip Mine (in case we need to fall back), Caltrops on "our side" of the Trip Mine (Bad GuysTrip MineCaltropsUs), and then Full Auto. At lower levels, open with Snipe, M30, etc. A touch of clean up, and you're ready to move on. If you slot Full Auto for Recharge, there's a fair chance it will be up just in time for the next group.

Ambush is: Smoke (keep it coming), Trip Mines (until the first one down cooks off), Time Bomb, (wait for it) then Full Auto. At lower levels, we use Caltrops instead of Trip Mines to stop them from rushing us, and Buckshot/M30 to knock them down.

In general, there are two major approaches to AR/Dev:

"I would like to hurt those folks, way over there, a lot."

Pretty much walk up the AR list, taking everything you can. Don't skip Beanbag--the ability to make one (or more) of your opponents take a number and wait for their helping of bullets is most excellent. I agree with Adeon WRT the love/hate relationship with Snipe. I tend to slot mine with END reduction, Interrupt reduction, Recharge reduction, and then use it every chance I get. Several of the "damage intensive" TechKnights have Snipe but don't get much chance to use it. If anything gets close to you, Ignite stacks nicely with Caltrops and Web Grenade. Flamethrower--meh. Up to you.

For this approach, there is very little "required" from the Devices side. I wouldn't skip Targeting Drone (I hate missing) and Cloaking Device (I like stealth). If you're focusing on Damage, Gun Drone is a nice "cherry on top."

"I'll wait over here while you blow up."

This is much more Devices heavy, and requires more attention to set-up and tactics. Unlike the other build, you can't just walk up the Devices list. You'll need to pick some of the AR powers first; Burst or Slug, and Buckshot or M30. Slotting Buckshot or M30 for Knockback or Recharge instead of Damage will help keep the Bad Guys disorganized. Take Full Auto when you can. It will make you smile every time you use it.

This approach calls for a liberal use of Smoke, Caltrops, Taser/Beanbag, and Trip Mine. You will frequently want to stand right in the middle of your own Caltrops; you can see the Bad Guys get close, start taking damage, then back up. If you slot Caltrops for Slow, they'll be stuck "dithering" just that much longer. The more you can keep them confused and dithering, the easier it is for you to knock them down. If the Boss is bothering you, hit them with Beanbag/Taser while you Smoke/Caltrop/Shoot the Minions. If your Smoke is enough to keep them from hitting you, put down Trip Mines when they turn to flee the Caltrops--they'll be back in a second and trigger the Mine.

If you have the patience, Smoke a group of Bad Guys and start setting Trip Mines. One at the edge of the group, two steps back and another, two steps back and another, etc. Maybe two at each spot, depending on how big the group is. (Yes, slot for Recharge, not Damage! ) Work your way from the edge of the group back to the nearest choke point or corner. Hit them with the M30, and watch them charge down your Gauntlet of Pain(tm).

Just go with AR/EM. Boost Range is awesomesauce with AR's cones, and EM delivers some nice melee attacks to boost the relatively weak single-target damage of AR. Assuming you're not getting into melee range too much, the only real redraw you'll have with an AR/EM will be Build Up and Boost Range. Something like AR/Mental would get a bit more redraw as you'd be using Subdual, Psi Scream, Drain Psyche, and PSW a bit more (though it should be noted that the PBAoE nature of DP and PSW don't exactly mesh with AR's ranged cones).

I'm not normally one to choose powers based on how "good" they are, but I would go with AR/EM. EM is a solid secondary for any character and can easily fit any concept (like with my Rad/EM blaster, EM was just "radiation melee".)

So long as it has Build Up in the Secondary, it doesnt matter.
Built Up + Full Auto = dead stuff. No questions asked. The fact you can then layer on Flamer, M30 nade and buckshot if that doesnt work makes it a killer.

My advice would be to leavel Flamethrower until AFTER Stamina, though. And, for the love of god, get Stamina at 20. You'll be neutering yourself if you dont.

Personally I use AR/Ice (old concept that took a while to juggle) and that works well for locking things down and then gunning them down (Ice patch+ Ignite, Shiver + Any Cone, etc)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Long ago in a land far away someone took the time to get some AR / Dev VS AR /** numbers.

The basic out come I recall and again this is over year ago maybe even 2 years, was that BU+Accuracy Insp. was pretty much on top of the charts DPS wise. Add in the Increased range and you where killing mobs without getting hit back at all. IO's really can bring down the recharge rate of Build Up along with the Hasten power.

As someone mentioned in a thread down below regarding this issue. Your pretty much getting Build Up back up every 30 seconds. Which is pretty much just enough time to go to the next mob.

Since both Archer and Assault Rifle are lethal damage. I can say that EM with Build UP and Boost Range can be really massive when you drop all those AOEs from such a long range. But if your running some crazy AE mission and have about 5 or 6 bosses in that bunch. You will be in some trouble. The GREAT thing about Device as a secondary is you have different sorts of crowd control. As was mentioned, Caltrops and Web. I also use Ignite on myself which will cause mobs to run off. I might take 1 or 2 hits but they eventually run off. Ignite cycles so fast I can pretty much spam it. But in a group I am not going to peel that much aggro off. I am more helping out other blasters who have pulled aggro.

But as was mentioned, I hardly EVER miss. AR paired with Device is more of a stead stream of good DPS.

Nutshell it never hurts a team to fill a slot with a steady stream of constant DPS and a bit of extra crowd control. Again that is assuming the Player understands what his powers do or what effects they cause. BUT that is a different thread.

Techknights on Champion Server.. Nice.. I might have to a transfer.

Just for some perspective here are some comparison numbers. I used ARCH and FIRE as the alternative sets.

If you take a look at the comparison of fire blast/flares or aimed shot/snap shot you can clearly see the handicap AR has in any single target situation. AR needs much more recharge to get its chain flowing and even then needs much more end to run it. Even if you can manage it you miss the third really hard hitting attack the others have.

If you want to go AR I'd recommend /MM as the secondary. It has a nicely shaped cone that fits in well with the others without going nutso about the range and gives you one more type of damage. It also has a long range immobilize that has good damage which will help your single target chain and will let you leverage ignite.

AR/EM is very strong for reasons already mentioned upthread.

Boost Range is the critical power; it makes your cones twice as long and therefore twice as wide at their bases, which allows you to use them from a much safer distance (valuable considering the animation times and DoT effects of Flamethrower and Full Auto) and reliably hit 10 targets each time you use them.

And the melee attacks are very good for ST damage, which fills in AR's lack of ST damage.

Also /EM gets Build Up very early, which goes a long way toward making you forget you'll never have Aim.

And I didn't see it mentioned upthread, but Beanbag also stacks with Total Focus and (half the time) Bonesmasher to stun bosses. This can be very useful.

The glaring weakness of AR/EM is that it has nothing to leverage Ignite. No immob, no ice slick, no caltrops, nothing. Ignite will be nearly useless in an AR/EM build until you maybe take an APP hold (which you may or may not want). This is kind of too bad; Ignite is a very good power.

So: a bunch of very good synergies and one major weakness.

Boost Range trumps everything else though, and until you've played AR both with and without it, it's difficult to really appreciate how much standoff capability and area coverage the power gives you.

Take /EM for Build Up at level 4, get Boost Range, all 3 cones, and make sure you take Beanbag, Total Focus, Bonesmasher, and the 2 ST blasts, and you'll have a very formidable blaster.