Blappers

I know that /Nrg & /Elec are the kings for blapping but how would the rest rank after those two?

Looking to make another blaster but I don't want to use Elec or Nrg.

Thanks in advance!

Hm... that's kinda like saying "I really want to make spaghetti, but I don't want to use noodles or sauce. What do you recommend?"

Honestly, after those two, the drop-off is precipitous. I suppose Devices is probably the worst, but the others aren't a whole lot better, and anything you choose won't be very blappery.

If you really want to deal a crap ton of damage in melee range, go Rad/Fire.

Sure, Energy and Electric have some good single target melee attacks.

But /Fire has Combustion, Fire Sword Circle, Hot Feet, Blazing Aura, and Burn.

Rad has Irradiate, which is a PBAoE attack with about the same radius as Combustion, but activates much faster.

You can single target blap with Energy and Electric, but only Fire lets you AoE blap.

Disclaimer: Fire Manipulation will deal obscene amounts of damage in melee range, but it adds almost nothing to your survivability. If you choose to play one solo, expect to die frequently until you get your timing down.

I think I'm going to try that out. Rad/Fire sounds fun.

Yeah, I know the thought of a Blapper w/o Nrg or Elec sounds crazy but I've got EM & ELM on other characters and just do not want to play them again.

/Fire or /Ice were what I had been considering.

I had a Fire/Fire Blaster a while back and I did like all the AoE but it was a bit hard to manage with all the aggro.

Anyone have any opinions on Rad/Ice?

Anything but devices can do. I just wish /ice had greater ice sword or ice sword circle, or both.

I agree with a lot that has been said too.
I have a 50 Nrg/Nrg/Pyre Mastery Blaster and the melee is pretty nice
It would even be nicer if I slotted better for it....
but it will someday
I have a 50 Fire/Fire/Pyre Mastery Blaster also and the fire-swords, fire-breath, combustion etc does fine too :-) (Bonfire helps me a LOT when soloing an inside map)
But I have to admit..... a Rad/Fire sounds intriguing to try

Might have to try Rad/Fire ...

The Elec/Fire I have puts out a huge amount of pbaoe damage (planned build has 5 of 7 pbaoe attacks in it). It's also very timing critical/squishy solo so far but almost any teammates around (even ones not prone to holding/drawing aggro) and stuff just dies. This is mid-20's and on all SO's/generic IO's so far. Looking at the build the new Consume with its +recovery appears to be a godsend for sustainable endurance.

Rad Blast would seem to have similar amounts of aoe goodness.

Rad/fire

yes yes a thousand times YES!

I have one of these around 27, and the aoe blapping style is pure devastation. If you have a tank or a brute to herd mobs for you, it's downright beautiful to see all the orange numbers fly. So suicidal with it I'm actually gonna try to stack even blazing aura, hot feet, and burn on top of the aoe's in /fire and the two in rad. You can count nuetron bomb if mobs bunch around you after all.

By far it's the most reckless blaster I've ever played too, so yeah watch your timing, but when you can cut loose boy can you ever. So if you want to stay away from eng or fire give this combo a try.

I would strongly encourage anyone playing /Fire manip to skip Blazing Aura. Possibly after you get a bunch of IOs slotted (especially the +recovery/end procs), it may be worth adding, but even then it is doubtful. It costs too much end for such a small radius and smallish damage ticks.

I do have this power on two of my /Fire manip blasters. I am constantly trying to find a better replacement, but so far for my playstyle, BA still works OK. On the level 50 that is fully IOd (including a bunch of purples) I still have modest end issues, but it is manageable. On the level 40 slotted with commons and SOs, I am barely able to function unless I have a teammate that can make the end bar problem better or unless I turn BA or HF off. HF is the better power, so BA is the one I shut off.

Thanks Strato

I suspected as much when looking at mids. Running either Hot Feet or Blazing Aura was something you could IO into, but not both. And having seen how you use Hot Feet to considerable effect, Blazing Aura was the one I threw on the woodpile as well.

I'll echo the others on Rad/Fire. I started a traditional blapper with nrg/nrg but haven't gotten him past 14, my Fire/Rad is 33 or so and lots of fun. He can really crank out the orange numbers but very much a glass cannon, a melee range glass cannon. Solo I turn down enemy level so I can kill quick. Much safer teamed, but even then I have to be careful when I sidle up to the tank to use my PBAOEs.

So far for AOE I have Irradiate, FSC, and Neutron Bomb, plus Electron Haze, but I don't use that one as much. I mostly use haze on the way into the spawn. Oh, and Atomic Blast of course. I skipped Combustion as the 3s cast time turned me off. I tried it for a level or two early on, but dropped it pretty quickly. Eventually I'll have Hot Feet and Burn as well. I'm also planning to take the Fire epic for theme and of course Rise of the Phoenix to turn my inevitable deaths into a chance for more AOE.

I like to alternate Aim and Build Up to keep the damage rolling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StratoNexus I would strongly encourage anyone playing /Fire manip to skip Blazing Aura. Possibly after you get a bunch of IOs slotted (especially the +recovery/end procs), it may be worth adding, but even then it is doubtful. It costs too much end for such a small radius and smallish damage ticks. I do have this power on two of my /Fire manip blasters. I am constantly trying to find a better replacement, but so far for my playstyle, BA still works OK. On the level 50 that is fully IOd (including a bunch of purples) I still have modest end issues, but it is manageable. On the level 40 slotted with commons and SOs, I am barely able to function unless I have a teammate that can make the end bar problem better or unless I turn BA or HF off. HF is the better power, so BA is the one I shut off.

When I planned my build in Mids I decided to do this. I skipped Blazing Aura due to the ridiculous end cost and small AOE. All of my other AOEs are 10 to 20' radius. I figure Hot Feet alone with it's 20' radius is enough on top of my other AOEs. Things tend to die pretty fast as is.

Hey guys.

So I rolled a Rad/Fire and a DP/Fire last night.

Honestly, /Fire is definitely what I want, next to Nrg & Elec, its the most 'blappery' but more of an AoE base which I don't mind.

I'm a bit torn though, not sure which I should stick with.

They're both tons of fun and I'm just totally in love with X-Ray Eyes (coolest looking attack) and the damage was a lot more than I had expected. I also like the flashiness of DP.

My Blaster is Electric/Fire, and while I wouldn't call her a Blapper, she is very much built around Fire Sword. It can do significant damage, and Fire Sword Circle is quite powerful as well.

Personally, I would guess the biggest advantage Energy and Electric have over Fire as a Blapper secondary is that they don't have as much of an AoE focus. Fire, I would guess, tends to draw a lot more aggro. OTOH, if you can handle it, the AoEs will do more damage if you have more targets to damage. So it's probably a non-traditional Blapper strategy, but it outta work.

Though the OP has already made his choice, I'll still add my two-cents since no one else has said this so far:

I'm gonna recommend Elec/Fire as an alternative to Rad/Fire (I've got both in the 20s). W/ elec/ you'll get your hard control power (Telsa) a bit earlier than for rad (CB), you can drain bosses easily thanks to -recovery, and there aren't any cones so you don't have to worry as much about positioning.

Hmms I sorta like the Ice/Fire combination myself, nice high damage single target, good mitigation with FR, and even ice storm helps out.