AR/Dev

Hi there,

Can someone tell me how AR/Dev does solo from 1-50? I'm looking to try it out and most of my play time will be solo, thanks!

Gumby's got some good advice. I'd like to add some.

You can't stack Stealth and Cloak, and Invisibility is useless, so I'd suggest picking up a +stealth IO and drop it in Sprint. Cloak is better than Stealth and doesn't waste a pool, so get it. The IO and Cloak stack and you can time bomb and lay trip mines at the feet of the enemy.

I usually skip Sniper Rifle and Ignite, but if I was pure solo, I would take them both. Though bear in mind that dropping one common Range IO into Slug makes it have the range [within a few %] of Sniper. Ignite and Caltrops would allow you to dish the hurt when pulling around corners.

People might tell you good things about beanbag and taser stacking. Uh, I've never used them.

Even though I suggest a stealth setup that doesn't require Super Speed, take it. Backing up is your friend. As is Combat Jumping with Hurdle.

Flame Thrower looks like it's not doing good damage. It's got DOT. It's good. Spam it, Buckshot, and Full auto. You'll need endred enh. A bucket full.

I'd go for Recharge when slotting IO sets. You tend to pick up some regen doing that too. Just because Entropics stop at 35 doesn't make them ghetto. Unfortunately Posi and Entropics both give the 6.25 so don't go over 5.

Another nice thing about Entropics is the heal proc.

Force Feedback has a chance of recharge. Don't fret because it's knockback. Heck, you might want to slot some knockback for mitigation. I think I would, that and range, if I was going to solo. That'd require frankenslotting possibly.

I know a lot of people really dig the Thunderstrike. But I'll preach Entropics and Posi until the cows come home. Devistation, which I'm not too fond of, will give you 12% regen for two.

I'd also do some teaming to do bank mish's to get the rez. Log in WW to get the tp.

And, you probably already know this, if you're ghosting a mission and you fall down the stairs and stub your toe, 10 second. Wait ten before moving on or they'll see you.

And make your character pure white and keep sprint on all the time, it looks cool with the Stealth IO.

My first character was an AR/Dev and I solo'd most of the way from 1-50. The one pieve of advice I'd add to what other's have said is Trip Mine and Defiance. Trip Mine has a nice definance boost and if you place one right before attacking it gives you a damage boost on your first few attacks and a bit of close in defense for dealing with nasty melee enemeis (Rikti LTs in particular).

Also regarding difficulty settings AR/Dev is an AoE monster. Once you hit the mid 30s you'll find that your best bet XP-wise is to increase the spawn sizes but turn off bosses and keep it at +0.

AR/Dev to 50.

You have two 'modes' when you're an AR/Dev; solo and team.

Solo, play it like Solid Snake. You are sneaking around using your cloak and a stealth IO proc, picking and choosing what fights to take on. Doing corner pulls into tripmine traps, or for maximum fun, Teleport Foe-ing a particularly troublesome LT or minion onto a pile of mines for an instagank. Web grenade + Ignite to melt an enemy down to nothing. Sniper rifle from cloak after dropping a mine for cloak's damage boost and the mine's defiance boost. Hell, I'd even take Gun Drone, for a little backup damage in the 40s because, hey, why not?

However, this is a very SLOW playstyle. It's tactical, because like Batman, the more time you have to set up your battlefield and draw the enemy into your pit of doom, the more deadly you will be. Mines take forever to prepare, GunDrone certainly is not a speedy power, etc.

Teamwise, it's the exact opposite -- you will be moving fast and have no time to drop mines or set up elaborate doom-pits. Instead, you are now the Master of Cones. Slot Buckshot and Flamethrower for range, and combine with Full Auto. Hose down an entire corridor of enemies for fun and profit, then Slug/Burst any stragglers until you can repeat your cone trifecta. If you and your team don't mind the knockback (many do, though) you can even take M30 grenade, but be aware the splash of enemies flying every which way will ruin your followup cones.

However, this is a very MITIGATION LACKING playstyle. If you gun down everything in sight with AOE after AOE, expect them to be unhappy with you, and that cloaking device ain't gonna save your skin. Caltrops will help, but they also draw MORE aggro to you, so don't drop them under the tank's feet. That's why I recommend teams before you consider cutting loose with AOEs on large clusters of bad guys.

If you want something middle of the road, which offers Murder and Mitigation and a natural/gadget theme? Traps/AR defender. Shoot from safety. Yes, you have less damage, you won't be a blastery death machine, but it offers a good balance. Traps is basically everything Devices should've been, jettisoning the cruft in favor of some amazing stuff.

I can tell you how I solo:
I run at (-1/x3) for mob level/team size. I used to have bosses deactivated but have since allowed them into my missions -- they're not as scary as they used to be now that I'm comfortable with my character and have some defense.

Go near mass of minions (not too close), toss out a handful of caltrops between you and them (careful not to aggro) and plant a trip mine. With the defiance bonus from the mine, unload Full Auto and Flamethrower. That eliminated most or all of the minions and left the Lt's wounded to be picked off. As they rush you, they get bogged on the 'trops and any who make it over get blown up by the mine. Rinse and repeat.

Bosses I usually open with a snipe alpha strike just to get a dent into them before using the Full Auto/Flamethrower routine.

Edit: Nemesis is a nice change of pace for this since their snipers see through the Cloaking Device and prevent you from setting up the caltrops/mine. Always an adventure with them

I started a AR/Dev guy during the double exp weekend. Thanks to a random old school farm hit 21 in less than 3 hours. I am now lost in this build lol. I normally run brutes. I got a 50 Blaster, Fire/Mental/Fire. The playstyle could not be more different. My Fire blaster is a straightforward machine of death. Spam buttons, choice is AoE or ST. This guy I have to consider everything before each shot, my position, spawns position, teammates position. I plan to 50 this guy, but not sure when. I was a little discouraged when I soloed him at 21. But I will give him to mid 30s based on what i read here. Really really want full auto lol.