Body Mastery: Blaster Secondary

My attempt at a Martial Arts style Secondary for Blaster. My comments and thoughts below. Every single animation is already in the game, with the toggles easily getting basic animations.

1) Cobra Strike
*Same as Powerpush, replace KB with Mag 3 Stun*

2) Storm Kick
*Same as Scrappers*

3) Crane Kick
*Same as Scrappers*

4) Focus Chi
*Same as Build Up*

5) Dragon's Tail
*Same as Scrappers*

6) Quick Reflexes
*Same as Scrappers*

7) Trained Body
Toggle - End: .325/second
Melee/Range/AOE Defense (5 - 7.5%), with Defense Debuff Resistance

8) Focused Mind
Toggle - End: .325/second
Psi (22.5%), Sleep, Stun, Confuse & Fear Protection (Mag 6-9), +Perception

9) Eagle's Claw
*Same as Stalkers*


Okay, thoughts on it...

The attacks, I don't see as being particularly over powered for Blasters. So, I figure those shouldn't be a problem.

Quickness:

Utility power, some added speed and the slow resist. Nothing over powered really.

Trained Body:

Now this is where I figure I might see some "OMG! WHAT?!" But it has the end cost of Weave, and only provides Positional Defense. So, there wouldn't be any stacking with Defense Epic shields, as they're all Typed Defense. One could possibly argue easier to softcap Ranged Defense, but then, that's already happening (and not hard with ranged sets imo). Defense Debuff Resistance could go easy enough. I just figure someone would say "Defense is useless without the Debuff Resistance"

What I wasn't sure was on the amount of defense. 5 - 7.5% sounds about right. 2 - 3.5% Just sounds to low to be worth the End Cost. I based the END Cost off of Weave, and as a secondary power, I figure it should give better returns.

Focused Mind. Crabs (VEATS) get better Mag Protection and Mez Protection, so I think this would work out okay. Plus, I purposely left out Hold, Immobilize and KB Protection, all of which can be obtained through the SJ pool, so no stacking would be possible.

Not to mention, there's Defiance.

I can see some saying "I'll only take the Tier 1, 6, 7, and 8, and work IO set bonuses around everything and make the uber!" Well...doesn't that happen pretty much with the other Secondaries?

Really, only Trained Body gave me a worry, because I'd see people defense stacking, but then I figure, people would find it easier to go the S/L Route, with the Epic shields giving more of a return.

Maybe want to change Trained Body and Focused Mind around on the Tiers (or put Eagle's Claw earlier and those two later), if the thought is, a Defense Toggle would be that powerful. Defense is nice, and I've had a Ranged Softcapped Blaster, but I didn't think it made the Blaster as tough as a Scrapper or even a Stalker, so I don't think the Defense Toggle makes for any OPedness.

Compared to the other secondaries...

Fire grants more damage period.

Energy will still have it's attractiveness with Energy Damage, a massive get away from me power, CP for End Management, Boost Range and Power Boost as well, have their benefits.

Electricity has Energy Damage, Power Sink, and some nice attacks.

Ice has it's benefits of slows, ice patch, AOE sleep (which is useful for solo).

Mental just adds more solid damage with the love of Drain Psyche.

Devices...well...I'd argue most think Devices is overshadowed by all the other Secondaries.

Thoughts/Comments?

Body Mastery is the name of an EPP.

Perhaps this should be called "Chi Manipulation" to put it in line with the other Blaster secondary sets.

Overall it looks OK, but I doubt mez protection would be allowed. I think this is probably more plausible:

1. Thunder Kick
2. Storm Kick
3. "Old" Cobra Strike (100% stun chance, minor damage)
4. Focus Chi
5. Crane Kick
6. Some sort of endurance buffing power
7. High Pain Tolerance
8. "Trained Body"
9. Dragon's Tail

You are both forgetting something.

The Devs do not see Manipulation sets as melee powers. They are supposed to be a set of powers that (a) give the Blaster some additional options, when enemies get too close, and (b) help the Blaster get back out of melee distance.

Mental Manipulation is more of their 'Ideal Manipulation Set.' They certainly aren't going to create another melee heavy set.

So... the question is... how would you create a 'Martial Arts' based manipulation set for Blasters, when you can only use 2, maybe 3 of the Martial Arts attacks? (And one of those has to be Dragon's Tail.)

Also, I really, REALLY doubt that Blasters are going to get a Hard Control for their Tier 1 power in a manipulation set. Immobilize, KB, maybe a Sleep or Fear at best, and those are iffy.

If you can create a set in line with the Devs' current "No more Blapper sets" attitude, then more power to you. I personally don't know how you would do it, without losing the core of what you want.

I like it , I like it!

Well, the devs have done it in the past with energy, fire manipulation, etc...
They should do it again for something really worth it to fill a hole in the blaster secondaries for natural non tech based characters.
A 5 melee kicks, an auto-buff power, caltrops, build up, a stealth power and done.
Would be perfect for dual pistols and archery, would look kickass and is needed.
Give this to us NAO

Eh, I'm a little uneasy about the defensive powers, especially Quickness, but at this point I'd rather see a "natural non-tech" secondary for Blasters than anything else for that same archetype...

Also, inb4Saist!

I've posted this idea in numerous other topics, so this is a copy and paste of what I think is a plausible idea.

Body Manipulation

1. Front Kick (A 300 "This is SPARTA" animation (which exists already) with a high KB effect like that of Power Thrust from Energy Manipulation. Possible alternate animation would be the palm thrust animation of Cobra Strike from Martial Arts.)
2. Storm Kick
3. Dragon's Tail (Much weaker than MA's version, but with an accuracy bonus to ensure the Knockdown)
4. Weakness Exploitation - Click, Ranged Targeted AoE: You analyze and aim for your enemies' weak spots. Each enemy that is hit suffers a -Recovery, -Regen debuff for 20 seconds. This power does not aggro. (Recharge is about the same as Build Up).
5. Focus Chi (a.k.a. Build Up)
6. Adrenaline Rush - Toggle: PBAoE, Foe -DMG, Self +End, Self+Recharge. Borrowing from the idea of Willpower, as you are surrounded by more enemies, your body kicks into overdrive, causing you to take less damage from attacks and increasing your body's ability to continuously attack.
7. Smoke Screen - PBAoE -Acc, -Perception, Self +Special: After activation, each enemy successfully damaged afterward will be confused (Mag. 2, 10 second duration). **This power uses the Smokebomb costume change emote animation, combined with the smoke effect of Smoke Grenade from Devices. Then for the next 10 seconds, each foe you cause damage to is hit with an unstackable Mag 2 Confuse.**
8. War Cry (possibly need a better name) - PBAoE, Foe Fear: You let loose a bellow of power and determination. Surrounding enemies will be intimidated by your tenacity. (Stronger enemies will have a higher resistance).
9. Crane Kick - High DMG, Foe Disorient, Foe Knockback.

A few new powers in there, some of which could probably use some tweaking, but all of them can utilize existing animations. I tried to keep it different enough from devices, without making it too melee heavy. If you'll note, I more-or-less follow the skeleton of Mental Manipulation (which has been noted to be the ideal Manipulation set so far).

Maybe put in Repel from Kinetics or Repulsing Torrent from Kinetic Melee? If we're going to have Focus Chi, a couple of more chi-based effects wouldn't be that jarring, right? Blasters get Repulsion Field from Force Fields in one of their epic pools, but I don't think it would be that out there to give them an AoE low effect knockback power in the secondary that lets them get out of melee fast.

And how about powers from Ninjutsu? Smoke Flash, the PBAoE placate would work well to get out of melee, even if Blasters don't get the extra damage out of hide.