APP/Patron for Dark/Dark Blaster?

'Kay!

First off, I have a Dark/Dark blaster. It's like a controller with big teeth, and I'm happy with it in huge, gigantic piles of ways. This is not a thread that I would like to go off-track onto a critique of Dark Blast's Nightfall/Torrent c-c-c-combo. That's been done to death.

Also, I kind of like Umbral Torrent. It's handy for piling enemies together and leaving them on the ground while my blaster hops in and uses Soul Drain and Shadow Maul.

Yes, I -also- took Shadow Maul. I know the animation is long. It's also one of the better damaging powers in the set, and I can wipe out whole groups with it when I Umbral Torrent/Immob them into a corner.

I'm just saying, repeatedly and all over the place, that I'd prefer we not get into how disappointed you are with Dark Blast. There are other threads for that. They'll love to have you.

Now.

Currently, I'm using Electrical Mastery on my Dark/Dark Blaster in order to access the second hold. This is a system that works well in the short term for a number of reasons (most of them involving holds and their application to enemies who I want to not move or act for a while), but I'm thinking that a -lot- can be done with other APP/Patron sets.

PARTICULARLY Patron sets.

Mace Mastery gives you smashing/lethal/energy defense, and popping enemies in their smug, craggy NPC faces with attacks that debuff their -ToHit (likely due to blinding them with awesome) will only make that Defense MORE effective. Also, you can make use of Mace Mastery's Immobilize to lock enemies down and prevent the knockback from Umbral Torrent while retaining the sweet, sweet AoE damage and -ToHit. A friend likened 1% of -ToHit to 1% defense to everything in the game. I don't know if this is true, but this seems like a nice way to round out an awesome (-what- did I just say? GO TO YOUR ROOM IF YOU DISAGREE!) and innovative (now I'm just adding descriptors to start trouble) new blaster combination. Also, you can -still- stack holds by taking web cocoon, and Spiderlings are a nice little firing squad that you can also use to take alphas if you get invisibility.

Err, that looks confusing. Bullet points!

Mace Mastery for a Dark/Dark Blaster:
-Scorpion shield benefits greatly from -ToHit, effectively raising defense in most situations.
-Web Envelope as a primary immobilize will prevent the knockback from Umbral torrent.
-Stacking Abyssal Gaze with Web Cocoon for holding bosses.
-Spiderlings.
The second Patron that I see working is Soul Mastery, which you themesters are surely considering. Why, you ask? TWO more dark cones to play with for more damage, one being an immobilize, is a sweet deal. Also, you get a nice chunk of resistance from Dark Embrace and a sweet-looking hold for stacking with Abyssal Gaze. MOST IMPORTANTLY, however, is Oppressive Gloom. Its teensy mag 1 stun seems like a joke until you realize that it can stack with the silly-looking mag 2 AoE stun in Darkness Manipulation. In other words, you're able to get your blapper on by walking into a group of enemies who will be suffering from ToHit depravation and a MAG 3 PBAoE STUN! Soul Drain doesn't look scary anymore, does it? If you turn off bosses and run solo, you'll be able to stun almost everything you'll encounter into with that.

Bullets for what a Dark/Dark Blaster would get out of Soul Mastery:
-Additional Negative Energy cones and -ToHit (recharge slotting a priority)
-Combining Oppressive Gloom with Dak Pit for a Mag 3 Stun in melee range
-Resistance from Dark Embrace
-Additional Immobilize that, sadly, doesn't block knockdown for those who loath it.
-Stacking Soul Storm with Abyssal Gaze for holding bosses, or as simply being able to hold two different enemies at once.

My question to you, the person reading this at work, is simple: What have I missed, which would you choose, and do you have any suggestions for alternative APP/Patron selection?

Did they change the blaster Opp Gloom? i always thought it was mag 2, making the Pit/gloom combo a mag 4 and able to stun bosses.
That being said, i have planned to go soul from the start.

Soul Mastery for Blasters if pretty damn phenomenal, considering you end up with 4 cones total, 2 of which are immobilzations (which means you can even keep bosses at a distance). Of the 2 PPPs you listed, I would go with that.

Of the APPs, I am a big fan of Cold Mastery. Snow Storm keeps things from running away, Frozen Armor is a decent defensive toggle, and Hibernate is my favorite panic button in the game. Flame Mastery isn't bad either with Rise of the Phoenix.

All things considered, Soul Mastery probably meshes the best.

Okay, well as far as Mace Mastery goes, I'm actually fairly happy. I threw in a few sets to boost recharge (only 25%, since this isn't a lv 50 build), as well as the Force Feedback: Recharge proc for Umbral Torrent. Previously, I'd been running at +0/x3 and having some trouble. Now I'm pretty easily able to run +0/x4 missions. Soul Drain is amazing, and with only 22% s/l defense I'm finding this build to be fairly survivable. I won't lie and say that I'm able to easily skip Drain Life in my attack chain at all times, but I'm still fairly happy with Scorpion Shield.

I went with Dark/Dark/Soul myself, having Darkpit+OpGloom stun bosses is good times and the TT+ST+NF aoe stack up is great.
*my build*
http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...E81C01350C0410

Yes, get Soul mastery. It fits with dark and is also awesome.