Archery VS Fire Blast?

I am trying to decide between the two and am getting a little stumped. I want to build a toe bomber that has high DPS and can solo fairly quick, using devices as my secondary to stealth into mobs, trip mine and follow with AoEs to finish off most of the lower class types. Which set would be the ideal primary for this play style though? I want to maximize my DPS, and I hear fire is higher than archery in that, but by how much exactly?

I'm unclear if you chose Devices because you think toe bombing is a fast method of soloing or if you like Devices and the tactics flowed from that. Because toe bombing certainly works but it's slow.

If your primary goal is fast soloing, I'd steer clear of Devices. Go with Energy or Elec. Those both have very hard hitting melee attacks. For stealth, get Super Speed plus a Celerity Stealth IO. I have a Fire/EM that uses that combo when soloing to do things like stun Rikti Mentalists before they can mez me.

Between Archery and Fire, I prefer Fire. Archery's Rain of Arrows is a fantastic mini-nuke but I tire of the long animation. One of the draws of Fire for me is how fast the attacks are. Fire damage is also less resisted than Lethal but that concern might be overblown.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Archery blaster (especially once I got RoA!) but now that I have an Arch/MM at 50 and a Fire/EM at 50, I play the Fire much more often. But it's mainly due to play style, not that I feel the Arch character is gimped in any way.

Thanks for the info, this question is a bit off topic but here goes anyway.

Do IOs such as the Chance for Buildup go per activation of an ability, or a chance for each target hit? Such as cone attacks or AoEs.

I also have both a fire and an archery blaster. Both are very powerful in the end, but the playstyles are a bit different.

The main difference to me was the road to that "end". The archery was a complete gimp until level 32. Felt very weak, and the road to RoA was basically a tedious grind. Of course that all changed once I got RoA.

Meanwhile, the fire was a powerhouse all the way from the beginning.

In the end it doesn't matter, but while you're leveling up it sure does.

Edit: Oh yeah, I would definitely stay away from devices unless it's a pure concept thing. When it comes to actual usefulness, it's pretty much the undisputed worst blaster secondary.

I love my fire/fire blaster. Running head first into a group, popping fire ball, burn, then fss. On farms, I pop rain of fire first then continue those three with bu/aim and blaze on some bosses. As the other poster said fire comes fast and early where arch is a tad later.I know rain of arrows is an awsome pwr and on teams I love seeing the dmg come up but those 25 sec or so while it is down I am still able to maintain the high dmg with the other great fire aoe's

Fire goes with toe bombing better than Archery does from a gameplay standpoint, though Archery is a better fit with Devices for a "normal human" concept. Rain of Arrows is a fantastic attack but it's slow... you have 3-4 seconds before the rain goes off. It's a great opening attack (it even works without line of sight since it's location targeted) but if you have already aggroed the enemies with a mine you don't want to stand there for several seconds. Fire, on the other hand, can follow up with an immediate Fireball and then jump back for a Fire Breath.

Some of the other Devices powers like Caltrops do work well with Archery since they help keep enemies away and Archery is a long range set. But Trip Mines don't mesh as well. Though if your concept involves appearing in the middle of a group of enemies and blasting them, you might consider Fire/Mental or Fire/Fire with Stealth + Super Speed (or a stealth IO) or even Teleport (teleport in and unleash the AoEs). Psychic Shockwave + Fireball or FSC + Fireball are nasty, and /Fire even gives you Burn and Combustion for additional PBAoE goodness.

Off topic...but I have a DP/Devices toon that I *love*.....It's not as powerful as my Arch/EM or Fire/MM ......but wow it's fun stealthing in the middle of a mob, dropping trip-mine (and getting that 30% dmg boost from defiance too) then hitting Hail of Bullets. HoB gives you a nice defense boost, with that chance for knockdown.....and it immediately starts animating so it hits the foes as they go slinging back from trip mine's explosion.

Out of what you mentioned, I would go with Fire over Archery....and I love me some RoA but the animation is too long to use the "toe-bomb" technique you'd like to employ. Just like DP, Fire is ready to let the AoE rip as soon as the kaboom.

I LOVE my Arch/Dev blaster and enjoyed playing it from level 1 (as well as my Fire/Fire blaster). And I have even toe-bombed on occassion. But if you want toe-bombing to be your main playstyle, then go with Fire Blast. Fire Blast has slightly faster cast times and very few foes resist fire (while there are more that resist lethal).

I also suggest you pick up some Pool Powers to help your survivability in melee range. Ones to consider: Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, Acrobatics, and/or etc. Shields from the APP sets will be critical too.

Stirring the pot

You know Traps has both bombs also and its very possible to obtain full positional defense cap. Which means you don't have to only stealth toe bomb, you can just walk in and toe bomb or even better drop a trip mine and fire off ROA and wait for mobs to come in at you. Those that charge you are dead.

Or yet another trick

You lay trip mine BEHIND YOU several feet as not to be activated. Fire off ROA at one group.. Fire off Explosive shot at another group. 2 groups aggroed some or many at least close to dead.. You wait for them to come in, your defense capped so no worries. Now slowly walk back to the trip mine and kill them all. Any stragglers can be killed with Explosive shot which has already recharged or fist full of arrows.

Oh wait you want to see if this is really possible to build!!! By all means I just happen to have that build in my back pocket.

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