Good combo for purely ranged blasting?

I really don't dig blapping. The run in, run out thing is a bit annoying; I like to be downwind from the fight, pumping red hot death at the enemy.

That in mind, for PVE (team or solo, hopefully both, but hey) what combo of primary and secondary would the good at bringing the pain from afar?

The only experience I have with blasting so far is AR/Dev (which is great for AOE on teams, even if it's not a potent murderer) and Elec/MM (again, mass AOE murder on teams, but weak ST and solo). Both good ranged fighters but I'd like to try something new.

Archery comes to mind. Very Range oriented.

for secondaries, you kind of have to decide based on your concept.

Since you already have done Devices, maybe that would be one you would skip, but its defintely a thematic and synergistic fit for an "at-range" style.

Elec/Energy/Flame

Electric Blast
-Standard two full range blasts
-Pet with full range blast instead of short range blast
-Sniper attack
-Ranged nuke
-Hold to keep things away from you

Energy Manipulation
-Power Thrust gets rid of nearby enemies
-Boost Range
-Power Boost to increase duration of holds

Flame Mastery
-Char adds a third blast, lower damage than typical third blasts, but full range, and a hold
-Bonfire to keep enemies in a corner or hallway
-Rise of the Phoenix for when you die. You are a blaster, after all.


Of course, it never hurts to take the melee attacks on a blaster. They typically do more damage than the blasts do.

I would *not* suggest an elec/ blaster as Roderic is. The ST damage is just not going to be there without the ability to use blaps to back it up. Char is not a blast, and it comes in the 40s anyway. The OP mentions that he has an elec/MM and notes the poor ST damage. My vote would be for fire/ or arch/ primary with /devices, /ice, or /MM secondary.

Fire is, simply put, the highest damage primary. Since forgoing the melee attacks means that the primary has to do most or all the damaging, fire/ is a good choice for that. Archery doesn't have the ST oomph of fire (although it's still no slouch), but has probably almost as good AoE thanks to RoA, and its tier 3 blast has the full 80 foot range if that is important to you.

If your secondary isn't for ST damage, then it ought to help keep you alive and support your ranged abilities. Devices doesn't do much on teams, but solo it has a fair amount of utility. Mines and caltrops prevent mobs from closing to melee, targeting drone allows freer slotting options, and stacking minefields can really put a dent in tough foes. No buildup, though, and effectively no team utility. Ice has a lot of mitigation for a blaster secondary - ice patch can be both a barrier for melee foes and a form of mitigation as they fall down, and shiver is a slow with a gigantic area, strong effect, and quick recharge. It also has build up, a hold, and a sleep (albeit those last two are melee). MM has the extra cone damage, a 'get away from me' KB power, build up, and then some melee range stuff, the only one of which would probably be important to you being drain psyche.

If you're looking for a ranged blaster, I'd look first at combinations of those. Honorable mentions might also include ice/ and /em - ice has holds, and /em has some self-buffs and another 'get away from me' KB power.

Energy also makes a good primary for a ranged blaster in my experience. While not as damaging as Fire/, all that knockback makes it more likely that the enemy will stay at range.

IMO Energy/Energy. Airhammer has at least two damage/range HO's in every attack and uses Boost Range and Power Push constanty to keep foes at range. You could even go a lil crazy and slot Repulsion Field to keep foes out of melee but that might get a lil expensive end wise.

Power Push is the real gem though.. Push em back.. knock em down..shoot em.. rinse and repeat.

Arch/Energy.

You have lots of decent AoE (Fistfull, Explosive, RoA) and good single target (Snap, Aimed, Blazing). Boost range gives you even more range. A high recharge build is awesome for teams and a soft capped to ranged defense build is great for soloing.

Anything /ice is great for keeping baddies at range. Ice Patch, Chillblain and especially Shiver which, with a 12 second recharge (controller version is 20s, maybe even 30s) can be thrown out every spawn to keep counter attacking to a minimum. AND /Ice has Build-up, which makes using the quick recharge nukes (AR, Arch, Pistols) even MORE satisfying. I have lvl 50 Arch/Ice, AR/Ice, Fire/Ice and a young lvl 6 Pistols/Ice and think that /Ice is hugely under-rated.

Both Archery/Energy and Energy/Energy are good for this.

Put me in for the archery/energy camp as well. Archery is has some of the best overall range of any set, and has no powers that you need to really close in for. Boost range makes this even better.

The fact that it also has a crashless 'nuke' that can be shot off from 143 feet after boost range is gravy. (Snipe attacks are a 150 ft range.) Oh, speaking of snipes...do you like pulling with them? Or just sniping in general? Because you can get 239 feet on that, and that's before you throw any extra range in. With extra range, I can pop off enemies at the edge of visibility.

Good times...

*edit*...snipes with fully enhanced range and boost range up can get around 320 feet for their range. Which is a ways.

I vouch for AR/EM. AR has 3 cone attacks so Boost Range is even more powerful. Namely, cone width is proportional to their range, so if you boost the range the width at the end gets larger and you can hit more mobs. And one of those cones is a crashless nuke.

One of the selling points for /EM is Boost Range, and I get it, but I do also respectfully suggest the use of dam/range HOs and IOs can substitute nicely in gaining a satisfying boost from the base ranges. Of course, HOs are for endgame builds, but you can get Dam/Range IOs pretty early and they are noticeable and may satisfy the "moar range pls" desire.

I kinda play with your mentality too, and as everyone else has said, /Energy is the way to go for ranged blasting...however I would pick Fire/ over Arch/ anyday, but I am a bit biased...

Energy/Mental/ (Any)

Chazz, you are not alone in knowing that /ice is killer. Shiver is just ridiculous and should be nerfed [shhh].

fire/ice ftw

I would recommend, if you have, or are thinking of, the preorder of Going Rogue, to do either dual pistols/energy or dual pistols/mental mastery.

I was disappointed that it cost about $35 USD, but the breath of fresh air for the blaster AT is worth it. I am running a DP/MM blaster; the concept is a gun-toting telekinetic/telepathic assassin. She is at level 10 right now, and she is a blast.

The only downside I see is that because the DP powerset has the ability to change its secondary effect, it will require its users to memorize or at least be familiar with NPC resists. This price is a small one in my opinion.

RoA can be a bit annoying on a fast team, but then on a fast team do you really need it? The really nice thing about it is that it can be up every spawn and by alternating Aim and Build Up before using it you can pretty much clear every minion in every group before that group gets to shoot at you. Then finish off the lts and bosses and any minions that got missed and repeat the whole process with the next spawn. Since it's a location targeted attack you can even fire it around corners or over obstacles that block line of sight, making it the safest opening attack a Blaster gets.

The other thing Archery has going for it is Fistful of Arrows, which has a higher base range than most cones. Add a bit of range enhancement and Boost Range and you'll be hitting a lot of enemies while still staying well out of melee range.

I'd be careful with Energy/ . There's some anti-knockback sentiment that can cause you grief. However, it is required for 'Atlas Park Golf'.

(APG - Teleport a Hellion to the top of a building, Power Push and see how far they flew.)

But I'm semi biased. I've had a lot of success with Ice/ . The nuke is positional so you can drop and run, but it has a crash. So you need to run.

Lop in two holds in the primary set and you've got some competent mitigation.

After my experience with Ice/ I did some looking around and noted some details in other sets. One, AR is a great set. Lots of cones, some mixed element types. A crash-less nuke. Archery is also pretty solid with a crash-less nuke and a snipe.

I just got a 50 Fire/Mental/Fire Blaster. Tons of damage, although playing this build semi blapper is the most efficient because of the end/health boost from the PBAoE attack from Mental. I chose Fire as the primary, because of damage, and was not disappointed. The sheer volume of pain that this guy puts out is stupid. Part of it is PBAoE, so teams with good tanks (meaning taunting ones), and shielder/buffer/healers are required. But that is what I built this guy for, TFs that are made up of good teammates. And for the inevitable faceplant Rise of the Pheonix is sweet.

I am now leveling a AR/DEV to 50, just for a themed toon. I was surprised how much damage the AR puts out. There are a few drawbacks. The knockback, while not as horrid as Energy, is still something to be aware of. It can be useful to have a KB in some attacks though. You have to play the AR very tactically. Constantly shifting position and retargeting to lay down the most effective cones. If you are willing to do that you have a damage dealer that is excellent. The range is not super long, because flamethrower, a primary attack cone, has a shortish range. However, ST damage is darned long range. I plan to go with munitions mastery to finish this guy out, part of the theme, and I hear the missile is a nice long range power.