I'd suggest playing to 20 before making any real plans if you've never, ever, played a blaster before. I'd also suggest trying a few different primaries too. I've taken AR, Fire, Ice, Energy, and Electric to 20+. I can't stand the sound of sonic 
so I'll not be doing that.
You'll build for recharge, either primarily or as your secondary consideration. I don't know much about MM so I can't touch on what kind of bonuses you'll get from that but there's always plenty of ENFC defense to go around. I also load on acc bonuses and always take my tough and ancillary shield.
Depends on what you want. Blasters are very diverse. Ice gets very controllery and Energy doesn't get, but is, a blapper.
As for tactics, don't take the alpha, obviously. And if you're new, try doing ST through a melee toon. If you have a good tank, or some controllers locking down stuff, rip the world open with AoE.
Oh, and Fire/ rocks.
Heh well pretty much every blaster I've teamed with lately is a Fire/ so I know that's one set I don't wanna play much.
And I've played defenders and controllers so I know what it's like to play a squishy to some degree, though I realize neither of them have to use as much active defense as blasters.
I've really broken it down to two options for my build, either take Maneuvers and Tactics and Ice Shield and build for S/L defense or take Boxing and Tough along with a different RES based shield. I am leaning toward the S/L defense but I am not sure how much that defense will really matter when I am faced with those extremely prevalent -def debuffs in the late game.
EDIT: Also, if I went with the resist route, I would probably also drop a few set mule powers that only provided defense set bonuses and pick up the medicine pool.
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Yeah, you pretty much got it. Build for as much recharge as possible - if you want something to shoot for, build for perma drain psyche - and then some s/l defense. You don't need to cap s/l defense since with perma dp you'll be essentially a regen blaster everytime you fire it off. You just need enough to give your regen a bit of help - I think aiming for around 30 or 35% would be plenty, maybe get a little bit of ranged defense if you can squeeze it in.
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Originally Posted by Colossal
Hey all I've never really played a Blaster before despite my 2+ years with the game and could only find 1 guide on the sets I wanna play- Rad/MM. I pretty much understand the power choices I'll be taking, all of my cones and AoEs as that is what attracted me to the combination in the first place. But I am not sure what to build for with set bonuses, obviously recharge is important for maximum carnage and pretty easy to slot with Posi's, but what else should I be building for, I will probably be going in and out of melee range with all the close and PBAoEs so should I be going for S/L defenses or just ranged or melee defense? Really have no clue when it comes to this stuff with Blasters. Thanks for your time!
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Rough guide to blasters in my sig, starting at post #10. Cutting and pasting for your specific question:
Quote:
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WHAT CAN I DO TO SURVIVE? * There are builds that, at high levels, can rummage together respectable levels of defense. This doesn't help in the first 40 levels, though. I wouldn't rely on it. * You Are Not Iron Man. You're more like James Bond. Sneak in, sneak out, run if you have to and always try to leave impressive explosions behind you, because if they shoot you, you will die. There are individual bosses in the 35+ game who can hit you for around 80% of your entire health bar with one shot. Don't let them. |
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
For your sets (Rad/MM) throwing in some S/L def using the Ice Ancillary wouldn't be a bad idea. It will help give you some breathing room when popping in for some pbaoe. Infact you may want to think about using SS/+Stealth IO later in the game as well so you can set up in the middle of a group before starting to blast away. Drop in, fire off the aoe's and single target for clean up on survivors.
My rad/mm is at lvl 40 at the moment. My plan was to take the 3 ranged AOE/Cones in my early build since I would be very squishee. Once I get my Ice armor I will create my second build to be more melee oriented with the 2 pboae's and the 1 ranged AOE. I will be skipping the cones because 5 AOE's seems like a bit too much. If you are teaming or soloing +2's or higher then a 4th AOE may work for you but for anything less 3 AOE's will clear out all the minions.
While drain psyche has been helpful in lower levels it will be more of an endurance recovery tool than a life saving tool. I rarely die from minions nickel and diming me to death. In those situations and in the time it takes drain psyche to really add on some hit points, you could have popped multiple inspirations or simply run away. Normally if I die it is because I angered a boss like whatever those werewolf bosses are called and they 2 shot me. In those situations drain psyche won't be very much help. I can see getting much more use out of drain psyche once I get some defense/resistance to slow the incoming damage.
I haven't found the build to be too bad endurance wise so I think building for defense and then recharge would be good.
Well for soloing purposes it will be nice to have Electron Haze to knock enemies of off me and out of melee range but I wouldn't use it much on teams anyways seeing as the KB is generally frowned upon. Also the cones are a little small and on teams where baddies aren't always bunched up so I do plan on taking all 5 of my AoEs.
And without hasten, which I don't plan on fitting into an already tight build, I don't see me being able to perma drain psyche but I will be able to get it to about 20 second downtime fairly cheaply so i'll just have to be careful when it drops I guess.
My first serious baster was also a Rad/MM. Fortunately there was a good amount of interest in Rad/MM and several threads about that combo at that time, back around the first of the year. I had only been playing 3 months and needed all the help I could get. I also wanted all the AOE's and after a lot of study, elected to go for the s/l soft cap.
I love this toon.
Cascading def failure does occur but you learn to pre-pop a purple when facing romans etc., or just have a quick hand for the purple insp column. Zevatron was a great learning experience for me and I have about 30 versions of his build altogether. This is what i play now. It will be very easy to sub in the 3 non-defense purple sets when I can finally get them.
You would not think the 8 foot range boost in Cosmic Burst would be that important but it really seems to smooth out play. The twin Achilles' Heel just seem to work better when it is AV/Boss time. This build skips a travel power and is slow. The jump pack from Good vs Evil stacks with the Raptor Pack (also Hover and Ninja Run) to really help longer travel. I like having the snipe for the excellent set bonuses, pulling, and to simply back shoot runners. If you want a real travel power that is what I would cut.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.707
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Zevatron V15-1Final Level-up optimized: Level 50 Technology Blaster
Primary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:33(5), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:33(7), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(11), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:33(15), Achilles-ResDeb%:11(15)
Level 1: Subdual -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg:20(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg:20(40), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx:20(43), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob:20(43), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob:20(45), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng:20(46)
Level 2: X-Ray Beam -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:33(3), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:33(3), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(5), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:33(9), Achilles-ResDeb%:11(17)
Level 4: Irradiate -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:33(17), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:33(34), Oblit-Dmg:33(42), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:33(42), Oblit-%Dam:33(42)
Level 6: Hover -- Ksmt-ToHit+:30(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(7), Winter-ResSlow:10(50)
Level 8: Electron Haze -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:33(9), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:33(31), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:33(36), Posi-Dmg/Rng:33(37)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:33(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:33(34), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:33(36), Posi-Dmg/Rng:33(36)
Level 12: Proton Volley -- Mantic-Acc/Dmg:47(A), Mantic-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg:47(13), Mantic-Acc/ActRdx/Rng:47(13), Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:47(31), Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx:47(34)
Level 14: Swift -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:33(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:20(21)
Level 18: Cosmic Burst -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:33(19), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:33(19), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:33(23), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:33(25), HO:Centri(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%:21(A), P'Shift-EndMod:33(21)
Level 22: Concentration -- Rec'dRet-ToHit:20(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg:20(23), RechRdx-I:45(37)
Level 24: Drain Psyche -- Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg:33(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal:33(27), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:33(27), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:33(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:33(48)
Level 26: Neutron Bomb -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:33(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:33(29), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:33(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:33(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng:33(33)
Level 28: Aim -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg:20(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn:10(31), RechRdx-I:45(37)
Level 30: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:20(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:20(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:20(50), KntkC'bat-Knock%:20(50)
Level 32: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:10(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB:10(33)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:47(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:47(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:47(39), Oblit-Dmg:47(39), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:47(40), Oblit-%Dam:47(40)
Level 41: Flash Freeze -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A), LkGmblr-Def:47(45), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:47(45)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:25(A)
Level 49: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:20(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:20(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:20(46), KntkC'bat-Knock%:20(48)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:15(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 2: Ninja Run
Code:
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Hey all I've never really played a Blaster before despite my 2+ years with the game and could only find 1 guide on the sets I wanna play- Rad/MM. I pretty much understand the power choices I'll be taking, all of my cones and AoEs as that is what attracted me to the combination in the first place. But I am not sure what to build for with set bonuses, obviously recharge is important for maximum carnage and pretty easy to slot with Posi's, but what else should I be building for, I will probably be going in and out of melee range with all the close and PBAoEs so should I be going for S/L defenses or just ranged or melee defense? Really have no clue when it comes to this stuff with Blasters. Thanks for your time!