City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Several Questions

Adeon Hawkwood

By Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-12-02 24:58 in Blasters

 

Posted

I have had my Blaster for quite some time, but now that she has unlocked her Incarnate stuff i really wanna get her as "uber" as possible. So I have a few questions. To whit...

1. I know there is a Defense and Resist Dam. cap for blasters. Do the incarnate abilities that "ignore" diminishing returns in some way raise that cap? Or, is that cap final and absolute? i.e. if I hit the cap with powers and regular IO sets, is it silly to make the Incarnates stuff anyway?

2. I read the Defense Guide for blasters in the guide section, but am still confused as to how to hit that cap. What is the quickest way (without purples) for a blaster to hit the Def and/or Resist Dam cap? I am sure there are several "ways" but what are a few?

3. Related to #2, Getting mezzed is a common thing for Blasters (as anybody who has leveled one can tell you) but what is the best way to avoid the attacks alltogether? I see several ways, through IO sets, to shorten the mezz (sleep, fear, etc) duration, but how can I max my defense to not get hit with them in the first place?

Thanks in advance for all your suggstions. I have never been a min/maxer "numbers" kinda person, but with the Incarnates out now I find I really wanna get the most I can out of the character. And since she has more than a few respecs, I can redo her anytime.

And if it helps or is needed, she is a Arch/EM with the Concealment (stealth and invis), Fly (Air Sup., Fly), Leadership (Man. and Tact.), Speed (hasten), and Force Mastery (Repuls. Field, Temp. Invul., FoN) pools.

Thanks again.

Le Blanc 50 Dark/Dark Scrap
High Huntress 50 Archery/NRG Blast
And a goatload of others. On a goatload of servers.
Official Rickroller of Hero Con 1

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Blanc View Post
1. I know there is a Defense and Resist Dam. cap for blasters. Do the incarnate abilities that "ignore" diminishing returns in some way raise that cap? Or, is that cap final and absolute? i.e. if I hit the cap with powers and regular IO sets, is it silly to make the Incarnates stuff anyway?
The actual hard caps for these values are pretty much irrelevant since a blaster can't hit them solo (it's 75% resistance and 175% defense). In general with Defense the goal is 45% since that is the point where most enemies will have the lowest possible chance to hit you (the "soft cap").

Incarnate boosts do not affect the hard cap but instead partially ignore the ED cap on powers. In the case of defense and resistance on Blasters this is of only moderate utility since they don't actually have many powers that buff this. As an example, assume you have a Blaster with Temp Invulnerability and Tough. These two powers give a total of 31.5% S/L resist un-enhanced. With ED capped enhancement you would get 49.14% S/L resistance. Now assume you add a Paragon Cardiac Boost (which haven't been released yet but bypass the most ED), that would take you up to about 53.65% S/L resistance. So about 4% resistance, it's moderately useful but in general the Alpha Slot won't really help Blasters much defensively. The main benefit of the Alpha Slot is enhancing powers that you have a lot of and that aren't quite at the ED cap.


Quote:
2. I read the Defense Guide for blasters in the guide section, but am still confused as to how to hit that cap. What is the quickest way (without purples) for a blaster to hit the Def and/or Resist Dam cap? I am sure there are several "ways" but what are a few?
Hitting the resistance cap is pretty much impossible for a Blaster. Hitting the Defense cap is mostly based on IOs. Most Blasters go for either Ranged defense (especially popular with Hoverblasters and Blasters with more defensive secondaries) or Smashing and Lethal Defense (popular with Blappers). Most Blasters start by picking up some pool powers that provide a little defense (not a huge amount each but nice if you stack them): Combat Jumping, Hover, Maneuvers and Stealth are all popular additionally Weave that is also very useful if you've got room. If you're focusing on S/L then you should select either Cold or Mu for your Epic pool since those provide a S/L Defense shield.

After that it's a matter of building up defense through IO slotting. Most builds start with a Steadfast Protection +3% defense IO and then go for useful sets with the desired bonus. Ranged defense blasters start with sets like Tunderstrike, Trap of the Hunter, Executioner's Contract and Blessing of the Zephyr depending on their powers. S/L Defense Blasters go for things like Kinetic Combat (the reason it's popular with Blappers), Obliteration, Reactive Armor, and Enfeebled Operation. At this point it becomes a question of priorities, ideally you want 45% to your chosen defense, the question is what are you willing to sacrifice to get there?

Here's a list of IO sets and their bonuses:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/IO_Sets#Melee_Damage

Quote:
3. Related to #2, Getting mezzed is a common thing for Blasters (as anybody who has leveled one can tell you) but what is the best way to avoid the attacks alltogether? I see several ways, through IO sets, to shorten the mezz (sleep, fear, etc) duration, but how can I max my defense to not get hit with them in the first place?
Mez resistance is pretty much useless. Taking Acrobatics allows you to avoid some Holds which is useful. Other than that stacking defense is the best option. In general Ranged defense is better than S/L defense for avoiding the really long mezzes but it's not perfect.