Don't forget that Alpha Cardiac will also increase your range.
Your problem with your build will be surviving long enough to utilize all those cones.
A suggestion along that line would be to switch to Mace mastery. Yes I know there are no additional cones but using hover and Web Envelope (a base range 80, AoE immob) along with Scoprion sheild can solve your problem.
Web Envelope applies a -fly, a -jump, and an Immob to the targets keeping them where you want them. If you use Hover this can, in theory, keep them where you want them and potentially out of their range while still in yours.
Slotting your secondary powers with Kinetic Combats can boost your S/L defense to reasonable levels. This combined with all the extra range should solve the survival problem.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Your plan sounds brilliant, but...
My big issue with my stalled level 42 AR/Dev blaster is that she needs a team to do well. She targets through a melee character, or any toon who has aggro, but her kb side effects are very un-melee-friendly. I feel impolite using her.
What you're planning should be built just because it sounds like it would be brilliant.
I'm playing a fire/ice blaster now. I would trade inferno for a fire-full-auto in a heartbeat. Full Auto is so damn sweet.
I love using extended cones on my En/En, but I chose the Elec APP instead of one of the PPPs. Yes, Leviathan has 2 cones, but Static Discharge has a 12s base recharge, which I have down to 4.4s, same as ET. Very easy to do BU > ET > SD > Aim > ET > SD pretty much non-stop, all from a 70 range. Maybe the PPP cones synch up better w/AR's cones, but for En's ET, Static Discharge is about perfect.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
Thanks for the responses and advice!
At the moment, I'm having enough trouble leveling, let alone getting up to Boost Range; I'm teaming when I can, but soloing is sloooooow-going. I can't wait to play around with the cones and the PPPs, but it might be a while before I get there! (And a 4.4s recharging cone sounds like awesome sauce, Dave.)
I've been Hover-blasting mostly, trying to negate my KB with walls or shooting straight down. So far, no one has complained about it. But solo, it's my only mitigation and I let fly!
I also imagine that when I do get up to all the cones, I would be alternating between sets. BU > Full Auto > Nightfall and BU > Soul Tentacles (oooh, maybe with Ignite!)> Flamethrower.
So, thanks again, folks. I'll keep updating as I level.
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Scorpion Shield is the only reason to go with Mace over Soul for a cones build. Soul Tentacles is functionally the same as Tenebrous Tentacles. As long as you aren't applying any KB they will stay right where they are. |
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
A suggestion along that line would be to switch to Mace mastery. Yes I know there are no additional cones but using hover and Web Envelope (a base range 80, AoE immob) along with Scoprion sheild can solve your problem. |
So, if the OP wants to lead with Soul Tentacles instead, they can lock them down and shred them with the rest of the AoEs.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Last time I checked Soul Tentacles was base range 40 and Web Envelope was base range 80. Adding range to Web Envelope by using /EM's Boost Range, Alpha Cardiac, and/or range enhancements has the potential to keep mobs completely out of retaliation range while still within your potential attack range. Soul does not give this opportunity.
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Scorpion Shield is the only reason to go with Mace over Soul for a cones build. Soul Tentacles is functionally the same as Tenebrous Tentacles. As long as you aren't applying any KB they will stay right where they are.
So, if the OP wants to lead with Soul Tentacles instead, they can lock them down and shred them with the rest of the AoEs. |
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Just to feed back to OP: I don't post much but I do have an AR/Nrg/Soul.
It's a fun build, I alternate between using build up + full auto and tentacles/nightfall/flamethrower/buckshot to tear up spawns at a reasonable pace, although I built the character purely for recharge because I love spamming full auto 
With that comes the caveat: all your aoe dmg is dot and your single target ranged burst is poor due to no third ranged single target attack. Makes teaming with a couple of shield scrappers an excercise in corpse blasting which is not super fun.
The other issue is lack of control and armours making you super squishy - its hard to build enough recharge to capitalise on full auto while building ranged def, and building s/l def without an epic def shield is somewhat 'meh'. I use oppressive gloom and the stuns in the melee attacks to mitigate incoming damage, but it is very easy to go from healthy to dead in a blink if you misjudge a situation. An archetypal squishy vengbait blaster :P
I have the most fun on this character in slow shardy TFs where you can hang behind a tanker and unload nonstop.
Sounds like a great way to sell ice cream.
Hey there, Board Gurus!
I'm a long time Defender and Controller player, trying my hand at Blasters again (after finding them even squishier than my TA/A Defender). I started a AR/EM (lowbie at 10 right now) and I stumbled across the Master of Cones build, which for some reason got me ridiculously excited--especially with Soul Mastery and Leviathan Mastery, each offering two more cones, but I haven't found much written on the subject in the forums.
With a range enhancement in each cone and perma Boost Range, an AR/EM/Soul boasts of:
Full Auto at 148ft
Nightfall at 111ft
Soul Tentacles at 74ft
Flame Thrower at 74ft
Buckshot at 74ft
Leviathan's cones are even longer (but one has longer recharge) with:
Bile Spray at 111ft
School of Sharks at 92ft
So I'm imagining: Build Up > Full Auto > Night Fall > Soul Tentacles > Flame Thrower > Buckshot > Ignite, and cleaning up with M30 Grenade and the ST attacks.
I'm used to using buff/debuff and crowd control as damage mitigation, and a build like this has little to none (single target Beanbag, Stun, Total Focus, and most posted late builds I've seen use Force Mastery for the Bubble or Munitions with Body Armor and Surveillance), and I'm finding it hard to level without a team.
So, I'm looking for those who have a toon like this and I'm asking: Am I crazy to build in this direction? Will the payoff be worth it? Or is it too much AOE and a long lonely road?