Advice on Solo Blaster

Aid Self also gives a healthy stun resistance. If you're going up against an enemy that can stun, it can help to pop off an Aid Self just before the fight.

Woah woah woah, what? You know Boost Range does the same thing for AR's 3 cones, and allows you to RoA from such a distance that there's no alpha strike retaliation?

/Energy probably does the least for Fire/ of the sets mentioned, but I really like /Energy with AR, Archery, and Energy/. As long as there's cones involved, Boost Range is just amazing. BR+Blaze/Fire Breath would probably be good for one with a ranged defense cap though.

Though that is a good point about Power Boost. There's not a lot of Blaster AoE mezzes, so it's a good match up when possible.

I agree that Fire/Ice is a ton of fun. Ice Patch + RoA are an awesome way to increase a small team's survivability if there's no controller/dominator around doing the same sort of thing.

I'm certainly aware of the effects of Boost Range - but its hardly justification to get an entire power set. I've never used /Energy with my AR/ and I've never missed it, especially considering its a level 35 get. If I'm playing an AoE heavy blaster, I'll be on teams big enough that I'm not taking the alpha I assure you. Every other secondary offers those primaries more IMO, with the possible exception of devices.

Just to clarify where I'm coming from though - I'm a 75 month sufferer of altitis with no end in sight. I've leveled literally hundreds of characters into the 30's but only have a handful of 50's and only 2 of those IO'd out. The point being that how a toon might play once it gets its epics or once it gets enough IO sets for the defense cap, etc just doesn't factor into my estimation of it. I judge a toon on how it plays out the box, how effective it is with generic IO's and how much fun it is to play levels 1-40 every bit as much as what it might be capable of 41-50.

I can understand those circumstances. I do not have a bad case of altitis, but I do that thing where I run to 50 then start over. So my IO consideration usually centers around how powerful they can become between 27 and 35. Every third character or so, I do simple frankenslotting/cheap sets/common IOs though, so set bonuses are not always a consideration for me.

I agree 110% about not planning a character around epics because of my tendency to stop shortly after I get them.

My point wasn't to take /Energy just for that one power, it's just that (with the exception of Power Boost on the AoE mez) it suits any cone heavy set the same as it does Sonic/. I find /Energy to be one of the most versatile secondaries, because the tier 1 is KB instead of immo (awesome mitigation if you use it properly), it can be used well for blapper builds, OR it can supplement a purely ranged build very nicely. I very much enjoy AR/Energy, Archery/Energy, and Energy/Energy.

Again, that's a very good point about Power Boost. Since they removed the +KB from it (it's been ages, I know) it hasn't had nearly the use it did for most primaries. It's still awesome in the PB+BU+Aim chain, because it will add another +40% ToHit. Likewise, with Leadership pool (besides Assault), the Medicine pool, etc it can be put to good use.

All of that considered, I think the AoE Sleep might be the coolest way to use it, if not the most effective.

Anyway, we're well off topic. I appreciate the constructive discussion.