Dual Pistols vs Assault Rifle and secondaries

I usually play scrappers but I wanted to try out something with a bit of range, so looking at making a weapons based (personal preference for this character) blaster, so either AR or DP. I wanted to stay away from blapper type build so I was thinking of devices as a secondary, given it's more defensive focus and lack of melee attacks although it does lack build-up. Is build-up very important for a blaster? Certainly open to suggestions of alternate secondaries, although this character concept fits better with a more technological/device based set.

How do these sets perform, I kind of like the swap ammo concept of DP, gives a bit more flexibility against a variety of foes, but the powers in AR seem to destroy DP damage wise. I don't really want to be putting out weaksauce damage.

The other option is to go Dp or AR with /traps corruptor. How would that option stack up?

Thoughts?

Having played both AR and DP corruptors, I can say with confidence that DP is the superior set. DP has a complete single target attack chain, an excellent resistance debuff power in piercing shots in lieu of the snipe, and higher target caps for their high tier AOE powers than AR. The flexibility of swap ammo is also nice on teams, though when your'e soloing, you'll rarely if ever move off of incendiary.

Also, DP just feels more engaging and thematically consistent. With my AR/Traps character, my highest DPS move vs. single targets was to immobilize my target and spray ignite at their feet. Effective, sure, but really kind of unsatisfying compared to the fast barrage of pistol fire you can chain together with DP.

On the Traps/Devices front, I will definitely recommend a traps corruptor over a devices blaster. You'll spend a bit more time gunning stuff down, but /Traps is a monster set, able to solo with ease, offering fantastic buffs to your team and crippling debuffs to your enemies. Match it up with Mace Mastery and you'll have a character which can easily reach the Smashing/Lethal soft cap, immobilize entire spawns with Web Envelope and gun them down. A devices blaster has more raw offensive output, but not nearly as much survivability or team benefit.

Having I a AR Dev blaster ( 50 with incarnates ), Traps AR defender ( 50 with incarnates ) and a DP Traps ( level 36 ). I think Traps falls in a bit better with DP because DP is short range attacks and PBAOE and Traps has many PBAOE attacks.

I think Adeon last few sentences expressed very well the issues between Traps and Device. To me Device is for someone who wants a thematic build that Traps cannot cover for them. The only reason I have a 50 AR Device is because its 7 years old and thing were different then.

You dont have to be /Devices to escape the blapper side of things. I went DP/NRG and only took the powers that enhance the primary. Other secondaries do offer control too so there are always powers that compliment without forcing anyone into blapping. I have nothing against /Devices. I've had one even with "Time Bomb" for literally 6 years called New Dawn. Gorgeous build.

A weapons-based technological Blaster who likes to stay at range? Try Archery/Energy. You can make Boost Range permanent easily, giving you very impressive range (especially with Archery, which is already one of the best long range sets). You can also grab one or two melee attacks for when things get close, since /Energy is easy to incorporate into a tech style character (several of the glove options make nice powered gauntlets).

If you definitely want a gun of some sort rather than a bow, I'd try AR/Energy and play it the same way. Rain of Arrows is a lot better than Full Auto but the other AR powers add up to some pretty impressive AoE, though at the cost of ST damage.

i have a mid 40's DP/Nrg blaster and the Nrg works very nicely , with some good CC / mitigation Nrg powers and the power boost making the DP effects even better, i like the slow effects from the ice ammo, as i tend to play a very moble blaster. I did try the dev/traps route, but found it made a more static toon, which wasnt the style i was after. The DP animation demand movement IMHO.

I too can vouch for DP/EM, great combo. Easily my most productive character on the prisoner escape phase and then the final adds of BAF, and also one of my best on Lambda. Hail one spawn, Ion the next, regular AoE the next, Hail the next, and so on in that way until the rare table pops up. As Rock says, pistols' animations are incredibly compatible with the combat jumping jousting method of combat and that is truer than ever at 50. There you can back it up with some set-based defense and really go nuts. I try to be the first one to each spawn on Lambda and it works very well.

I would imagine that DP/Traps would be a "better" combination in terms of killing AVs and what have you, but you lose the extreme mobility of the blaster version and that would drive me crazy.

This is how things stack up IMO (and I've raised them all to 50)

DP: Probably best, you're gonna be a lot closer to the enemies, but your powers don't feel clunky (buckshot, m30) or slow (flamethrower) or useless (ignite)

AR: Has it's pros, Full Auto is a sweet power, the activation (Click to damage) is instant and it's range is extremely long, also, it looks awesome. Burst is solid and the snipe is probably the most usable of all the snipes (and it's entirely possible that's purely for aesthetic reasons), I've never even looked at it's stats, because I don't care when it looks so right Ultimately Flamethrower ,ignite both make this set lag, coupled with the largely lethal (heavily resisted) damage. Archery easily has the damage to combat these resistances... AR, not so much. Flamethrower really should be the reason this set doesn't have Aim, it has such 'potential' but you will hardly ever see this do anywhere near the damage it should due to the slow tick long duration issues, ignite simply doesnt have the radius or the damage to be worthwhile.

As for /devices, it's a decent set but NOT WITH AR or DP. Lacking both Aim and Buildup will make you kick yourself in the end.

/NRG gives AR some incredible cone range, BU->FA combo, Boosted teleport (if you want it) and some sweet ST damage. This combo specifically makes AR competitive.
Many secondaries work well with DP, I'd suggest /fire, /mm, or /ice for extra melee range damage/survivability.

One last thing Soldiers of Arachnos get a far chunkier more refined Assault rifle experience, their burst/heavy burst feels sooo good, and all their defenses/debuffs and other powers work far better than your standard AR will. (with exception perhaps of AR/nrg).


*P.S. I am just adding emphasis to this, unless you are very dedicated to your concept, choosing /devices on either of these primaries will very likely end in regret.

I used to hate Devices, but I've come around to it. Caltrops are glorious. Devices offers the best stealth option by far with Smoke Grenade & Cloaking Device. Trip Mine is all brands of good. Plus, you get a pet to draw aggro and throw some more DPS around (consider it a Build Up alternative). Targeting Drone is helpful (+ToHit, +Perception) and can slot nice set bonuses.

The only power I really don't like is Taser. Web Grenade is a nice immob, but without damage so... meh. Time Bomb seems like it could be good on occasion, though those occasions might be few and far between.

No Aim with DP is enough for a lot of people to disregard the set. No Build Up with Devices is enough for a lot of people to disregard that set. Put them together and you're not likely to find a lot of support from those people.

A small note to consider is the range of webnade, which goes from 70' in /Traps to 40' in /Devices, consider that if you truly want range. It's also something to consider that webnade causes re-draw, which really sucks on DP/, not so much on AR/.

But really, it's more a question of playstyle. Do you prefer Scrappers/Brutes or Stalkers, meaning do you prefer to jump right in or wait for stealth and assassinate your targets? It's a pretty good analogy between /Traps and /Devices, the first with much better survivability (and mez prot) due to the little forcefield following you around, the second capable of toebombing from stealth for a mini AoE Assassin Strike.

If it's about performance, consider the limitations of stealth in this game, and all the little stupid things that make it fail, like ambushes, Rikti Drones, caltrops, etc. Late game almost all large groups of enemies have some sort of anti-stealth mechanism, meaning your main advantage in /Devices is moot. But /Traps +def and mez protection? From 1-53 you'll feel much more solid and useful, with no real weaknesses to speak off.

I have an Archery/Energy blaster (first 50!) that I adore...it plays completely different than my DP/Devices, for reasons outlined above not worth repeating.

I will say that the DP/Devices isn't nearly as weak as some would make it out to be (with the lack of Aim or Build-Up) if played tactically. I usually drop gun drone around a corner (defiance boost) stealth into a mob, drop trip mine (which also gives you a nice damage boost via defiance...at this point you should be near 70-80% +DMG) then hit HoB. You have the mitigation of the bomb explosion, nice up front dmg as well as all those extra ticks from the nuke. I solo on +1x8 with mine, and that combo + the cone attack for the bosses is usually enough to wipe the entire mob with the incendiary rounds, and of course the drone helps. An occasional ST hit is needed for higher con enemies, obviously.

AR just got a big boost, namely you can pick that gigantic Vanguard rifle in the Character Creation screen now. Giant rifles FTW.