Advice on Solo Blaster

Hiya folks,

I'm looking to make a blaster just to solo to the top, I want something with nice dps and some survivability. I was thinking of Energy/Energy to keep the mobs away, what do you all think?

Nrg/Nrg works great for solo work. Another one to consider is Sonic/Nrg, which has some additional control stuff, like the cone sleep, which work really well for a solo blaster.

Thanks for the response, I tried Sonic before, but I found the sound to irritating.

My first toon when I started playing two years ago was an Energy/Devices. The Knockback provides some good mitigation along with Caltrops. If you plan on exclusively soloing, then Trip Mines are your best friend. Take some time, setup a dozen Trip Mines, throw done some Caltrops, pull an enemy, and bye-bye bad guy - even EBs and AVs.

That combo is pretty unfriendly for teams but I still pull him out for the Wednesday Hami runs on Guardian.

Best of luck to you!

I am soloinng with and Energy/Energy blaster he can serve most stuff

Ice/dev

with 2 holds + heavy ST damage + all the tricks devices can pull it's almost impossible to stop solo. At epic levels if you take munitions that's a 3rd hold to ensure any boss will spend all his time perma held. Get enough set bonuses from entropic chaos and other recharge boosts and it's almost the return of perma hasten as well. Not to mention two gun drones at once for a few seconds.

AR/Eng or now DP/Eng (force epic)

Lethal isn't flashy but pair it with blapping and build up super early and it's hard to stop, the fact both primaries have a stun you can buff with power boost helps a ton too. That and boost range + full auto or flamethrower, well I cackle with glee every time put it that way. DP seems knockdown tastic the way the energy primary is, much makes life a lot easier, and you have power thrust to play with too. Also once you get the force pool and pop force of nature the fun just goes up another notch, my AR/ENG pre inventions soloed a +1 fake nemesis and a +1 warhulk at once that way, and could stand toe to toe with most any AV going to town on them.

Really, you can make a lot of sets work very well solo. You can do it with just SOs, but getting a decent chunk of defense really makes it nice for all of mine (the Defiance change way back when helped as well, though I was soloing effectively back then).

But if you want suggestions, Energy/Energy is ridiculously fun solo and on teams, and I find mine whomping through things with little difficulty. It's got good AOE and ST damage, and great mitigation. The Kb really does help survivability as well: this guy was a lot more solid in the teens and twenties than my E^3 Blaster (I'm sure they'd both be good now that things are slotted up well for both). And I like my E^3 Blaster as well.

Archery/Devices was also nice for soloing and teaming. Heck, Assault Rifle is as well. As I said at the start, most sets solo well.

Side note about aid self, this is long term gaming, but with the PFF from the epic force pool + power boost from /eng, you have a bubble to hide in and the heal is super boosted which is a huge help.

Also if you use it as a pre combat buff it helps to resist stuns, which everything from tsoo to de to frigging malta stun grenades all can pull to give a solo blaster fits.

Disagree on saying caltrops is the only good power. Though I will agree that time bomb to this day sucks, and taser is eh and easily passed up, but the rest?

Web grenade packs a hefty minus recharge on top of root/slow -50% if you believe Mids

Smoke grenade may have been nerfed to heck and back, but like flash arrow it makes pulling infinitely easier, and still has a nice -acc.

Cloak is all of the concealment pool minus the speed reductions, and lets you set up devices tricks however you want, or position yourself better for aoe's and cones.

Target Drone is tactics in a can without taking leadership pools, and helps if you like IO sets that lack much of an acc bonus.

Trip mine? Never mind the fact you can just lay them and forget about them for a defiance bonus, but if you want real hilarity just walk up to mobs cloaked, and toe bomb by planting a mine on top of them, then fire off your aoes as it explodes, then retreat behind caltrops and keep going to town on anything still standing.

And Gun drone? It's been buffed enough to be welcome on any build for the extra damage, or a distraction you can use to soak an Alpha as you walk up cloaked.

What devices has going for it is an ability to handle virtually any situation in some way shape or form, and is a lot more then the overly cliched field of trip mines. Granted it's not as flashy as EM or elec in terms of huge melee hits, or the slows in ice, or the aoetasticness of fire. But it can get the job done, and I'd say it's only second to EM in terms of solo only builds. (I'm a blapper at heart, always will be) Maybe third if you want to argue for /ice, but having never played that set i can't offer an opinion on it.

My main Starflier is Energy/Energy, so I'll have to vote that as well. Great single target damage for punching holes in whatever happens to get in your way. I picked up hover and aid self, and she's been kicking a lot of *** since. +2/+2 seems to work well for solo difficulty.

One really nice thing is the tier one power from Energy Manipulation. Mezzed? Knock him across the room when he comes to finish you up close.

And Nova is definitely a crowd pleaser when it wipes out a great big mob and blows 'em all over hell's creation.

I'm also a /devices fan for the same reasons that others have said.

In addition, it's especially good for taking out troublesome enemies when paired with Teleport Foe. Just lay out a bunch of Trip Mines, cover with Caltrops and teleport baddies into the kill zone. It's a great way to thin out the herd before engaging in direct combat.

Granted, it's time consuming. But it's also effective in neutering some of the most dreaded non-Bosses (i.e. Malta Sappers & Gunslingers, Carnie Illusionists) in the game. If you favor a sneaky, calculating play style, then /devices will suit your needs very well.

I have a AR/Device blaster... in the low 40s if I remember correctly. Didn't much care for her in the teens and early 20s, but now use her alot in certain task-forces. Solo, I run around with cloak/SS on... find a mob, lay down some mines then run up and plant a timebomb. Back to mines (at least 3), caltrop them, then lay one more back somewhat (for a fall back position) and as time bomb goes off I open up with auto-fire.

Time wise, I can get out 12 mines before they start cooking off due to duration (so in two mins I can lay 12 mines). So yes, there is some set-up time with device but due to that I can take on larger mobs.

I now enjoy playing my ar/device blaster as much as my fire/fire blaster. But then, I'm the nut that on a respec tf, I like to trip mine the hell out of the reactor core for the whole 30 mins.