After spending more time in mids I came up with this ridiculously expensive yet seemingly awesome build:
Gone are kinetic combat, enter the purps
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I'm afraid that if you feel Energy blast is a substandard set and blasters are a substandard AT that no amount of money you throw at a build will change that...
I mean, I'd help ya out but...
You crapped all over my favorite AT and powerset in your 1st sentence so...
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
Talsor Tech - Talsorian Guard
Keep Calm & Chive On!
I'm sorry that I offended you. But I did speak the truth and can back it up with all sorts of empirical, anecdotal and logical evidence.
Blasters are a broken archetype in terms of parity with other classes, does that make them broken in general? Well Kinda, but does it make them not fun? Not always. The fact that I want to play an energy blaster should speak to that fact. I'm just going into it with realistic expectations. With my goal set not to be the best but to be the best I can be.
I wouldn't call Blasters substandard. They are the hardest hitting AT in the game in general (a few specific combos outdamage them, but no other AT can match them on average) but they pay for that by being rather squishy. They're really more of a team based AT... get a tank and some debuffs and adding a Blaster will boost a team more than adding just about anything else, not counting all-Corruptor or Defender teams that make anything else look weak. And with a high end build they aren't even that squishy... some Blaster builds can solo on +2/x8 or so which isn't bad at all.
As far as Energy Blast being substandard, it's not. It actually is pretty much the standard... right smack in the middle for AoE damage, ST damage, and mitigation. As long as you can avoid getting too annoying with the KB (don't target through the tank and spam Power Push, for instance 
) it's a good all around set, and /Mental is a great set to pair with it since it adds more AoE and also some survivability.
As fas as the builds go, I would not recommend purple sets on Blasters except for in holds and sleeps or such unless you plan to exemp a lot... I'd rather slot Thunderstrike than Apocalypse because ranged defense is better than recharge on a Blaster, unless it's a dedicated teaming build. Likewise, Obliteration or Eradication beat out Armageddon because they offer defense, and Ragnarok is only a tiny bit better than Positron's as far as the bonuses go... certainly not worth the inf. I find that 50-60% global recharge is plenty on most Blasters and you can usually get that from LotGs and non-purple sets. What's really important is decent Ranged defense (most mezzes are ranged) and high S/L defense for an up close type Blaster or very high Ranged and decent AoE (if possible) for a pure ranged build.
Personally, I'd go with something like this:
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Hoarfrost is actually of limited use to Blasters because they cap their HP at +33% and you can get 20% from accolades. Hibernate can be nice, and so can Acrobatics... either one would be a decent choice at 49. Flash Freeze could be a decent purple set mule but World of Confusion is better for that and Snow Storm works with one slot, which is important if you're already burning five on World of Cheap Purple Set Mule. Oh, and don't listen to the Explosive Blast haters... it's a perfectly decent targeted AoE as long as you are careful with the knockback. (Don't use it standing in the middle of a spawn unless you want to scatter them in all directions, do use it when things have a wall behind them.) Oh, and I took Aid Self over Hasten because Aid Self is a huge downtime reduction and a handy mid-fight heal as long as you duck out of sight or have high defense. It might be worth having Hasten for more Drain Psyche uptime, but don't give up defense for purples to try for perma-DP. No amount of regen helps if you get flattened in two seconds by a large alpha strike, but high defense does. With high defense a 60% uptime on DP should be fine... you'll burn some health while it's down then get it back once you fire it again.| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1369;662;1324;HEX;| |78DA6593DB6E12511486F78669292D14286D696929D0525A81D2124D3CC4D868AD4| |7D0C6265EA93881099D840C046862EF7C002FD4A88DF1EC2B787A177D06B597265A| |71B1FE4DA91992EEAFF3EFB5FF7FCD9A99C2BDF31E21EEAF0AE95DABEACD66F11CA| |D2DA3E1DA2C99865532844B0831A5C4E20DDDAA18E5ECBA65342A3B289DEBEE6D6E| |D7EBB5462B5B30AC965E2D1674CBAC6F57F59659B30297AD2DA3417AB6FB8F77A35| |6AB5269D92C9996E1E1ABBCA1D74DAB82AD0B6665AB4557BEEE56D96834B7CC7A60| |BD6E96B26BB56A99123AB93B13D4E03CFD1D17DD5FBB4FBC22E484E335F086A1BD0| |5DE31FADF331EF54E091166E904AD52194918F5C368004603301A84D1208C4ED2EA| |C429CDF981A5998FC02746EC33F085718AD63E15D287100F423C081946C83042FC0| |889D0D370A96E5D09969ED0EA56B96EE4FA913B82DC11E48E22F734AD4328770CBD| |70081114B1978C789A0BC6C9DF2B51E01D957C749FAE2262FC17E329AD3EE5E0834| |3FC3F87283904544781ABEC3097070AC03546E23AE3191506A5E4490451103E4B58| |10E18B8CE94B8CD44347676FE9014352C8989AC4189E9B93A490924221D9E955236| |952DDCCE4187B4FFB193341C699CEDBAD7A9DC2F412985E02D34B627A494C6F9727| |80A716B9C58D1CB90DDC61A48AC05D464E67AC527D549D8AFE6629F987B1B00FFC0| |5DAB0EABC473911A0DE6755EFB3E87D09BD2FA1F7E7EAC5EFD8CEC33683A3CB705F| |86FB32DC7370AF50C5A29AD2629CEFCA2429AD92D248CA202983A410B592C51999F| |D0AB76F8C09DA59C151B102B769EDD017D5A69F886BDD2FAADD4ED976576C4ACEA6| |1CB529C76C4ADEA66C68071FB290ACB8FD071F69FBFB20EDCAC3BB3F7B8A9437F9C| |EC7AFF0BBF7C356BBD7531C7217B3780CC4780CFF00C67AED58| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
You could also drop a slot from Super Jump and put a Gladiator's Armor defense IO in Tough if you want to drop a ton of inf for a little more defense. I wouldn't bother slotting Tough for actual enhancement value though... it's so weak on Blasters I never bother actually turning it on.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Hey guys. I have always held much love for the sheer graphical beauty that is energy. But it always seemed like a bad idea to pick a substandard set of a substandard archetype.
However, now that I have a competent farming brute and thus a large amount of inf to burn, I want my energy blaster!
My goal here is build the best energy blaster I can. I define best as the most efficient balance of versatility and sheer power.
Looking at energy blast weaknesses, it looks like that lack of AE damage is the most serious, so fire and ment my two secondary choices. I really don't fire that much so I'm leaning to ment. Ment also has the awesome DP and PSW. I also like the flavor possibilities of energy/ment. After saying that, if there is a another secondary with powerful synergies with energy, I'd love to hear it.
As far as an EPP/PPP. I like Ice. It's S/L def is equal to scorp shield but lacks the energy from what I can tell. Hoarfrost seems awesome. hibernate also seems useful. Flash freeze looks like it can also be a great lead in to get DP off safely.
This is a build I came up with, I think there are probably a lot of little things wrong with it but I also think its on the right track.
first some notes:
I will admit to putting kinetic crashes in my single target blasts, and although I'm not sure about this, it seems like a good idea as if I'm chain single target blasting something, I don't want to it hit me back and kinetic crash has some awesome set bonuses and are dirt cheap. I also did not take the really bad KB AE power -> explosive blast nor slot any KB in energy torrent as it's KB lvl is nearly a KD and I certainly wouldn't want to screw that up. So the end result I'm hoping for is to have the peudo-hold effect that is constant knockback in my single target attack chain thus gaining the advantage of energy blast in general while patching up my AE attack chain with the team friendly ment AE's.
I also tried my best to patch up the blasters defense with weave/tough/acrobatics/etc. I would certainly like more advice on how to be even more tough.
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Any advice or criticism is welcome.
Thanks!