Short answer:
Yes, viable.
Long-winded answer:
Running a no defense blaster requires more skill, aggro management, and acceptance of risk. You'll learn that tagging a spawn first is a good way to die (you really shouldn't do that anyway, if the team actually has a member devoted to managing aggro). You'll learn to manage aggro: Target through an aggro magnet. Target through a controller, lay waste to anything locked down. Shoot the stuff that's debuffed (not the anchors!). Baddies after you? Position so they have to pass through a taunt aura to get to you. Use LoS. You'll learn to excercise restraint. Sometimes it's safe to unload your AoEs, and sometimes it really isn't (for example, when the tank is over his aggro cap). You'll gain a more intimate knowledge of which baddies are dangerous to squishies, due to being far more vulnerable to mezzes and other effects. protip: it's not just sappers. You'll have to learn the hard way which gambles are worth it, and which are likely to end badly. "Jousting" is a skill you'll acquire. You'll learn which baddies are susceptible to your other mitigation tools, and which are not. You'll learn to scream at your monitor when teammates do stupid crap. All in all, I think playing a low-defense blaster is one of the best ways to learn how the game works.
On the downside, you lose the ability to take initiative. "Hey guys, the boss we need to kill is over this way. No, no, in the room we just left. Ah, I'll just kill it myself... oops. Small yellow?" You become a bit more dependent on the team in general. Which may or may not be a bad thing. If you play with a regular group, it's easier to adapt to each others' play styles. A pug full of scrappers will "lol" at you when you faceplant every mob because no one is picking up the bosses/mezzers. At which point, you adjust your playstyle accordingly: bosses no longer die first, kill minions and try no to draw to much attention to yourself. Nope, it's not optimal, but it'll keep you upright. Also, a boss that hasn't been aggro'd seems to head straight for the blaster (that, or the guy who just AS'd his lt.).
Gameplay being what it is, I'd consider stealth a priority for survival on this type of blaster build, especially late game (I'm looking at you, Lambda trial).
re: end consumption. /mm can get way with quite a bit if you've got a fast recharging DP. On a single target, it improves recovery quite a bit. On a target-capped pull, you'll gain enough recovery to power through a nuke crash (but will still need to reset your toggles).
I have been running a fire/fire blaster with a recharge intensive build since I9. He is a beast in both the AoE and Single target damage. I love playing him and when things go pear shaped i have Rise of the Phoenix up in under 2 mins. Here is the build i am running.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Mighty Lornac: Level 50 Mutation Blaster
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Fire Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Flares
- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (3) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (5) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
- (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Recharge
- (7) Trap of the Hunter - Endurance/Immobilize
- (9) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Endurance
- (9) Trap of the Hunter - Immobilize/Accuracy
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (11) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (11) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (13) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (13) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (15) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (21) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (21) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (23) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (29) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (25) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (25) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (27) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (27) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (23) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (29) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (31) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
- (A) Obliteration - Damage
- (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
- (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (33) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
- (34) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
- (34) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (34) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
- (36) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge
- (36) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)
- (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (36) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (37) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (39) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (39) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (39) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (40) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (40) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (42) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage
- (42) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance
- (42) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range
- (43) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge
- (43) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (A) Obliteration - Damage
- (43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
- (45) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
- (45) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (45) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
- (46) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (46) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
- (46) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
- (48) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
- (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
- (48) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
- (48) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (50) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
- (50) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
- (A) Damage Increase IO
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Pyronic Partial Core Judgement
Level 50: Warworks Partial Core Improved Ally
Level 50: Rebirth Radial Invocation
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
------------
Level 1: Brawl
- (A) Empty
Level 1: Sprint
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Swift
- (A) Empty
- (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (15) Miracle - +Recovery
- (17) Healing IO
- (A) Empty
- (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
- (17) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
- (19) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
Code:
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Mighty Lornac lvl 50 Fire/fire/Flame Blaster
jarlxaz Lvl 50 Claws/regen Scrapper
Beware the Bowtie lvl 50 Dual blades/willpower brute
Static Guardian lvl 50 FF/Elec Defender
and a few others
Has any of you focus on using Devastation rather than Thunderstrike?
Devastation doesn't give +defense but it has 3% damage and very good +health and has a hold proc.
It seems to me that Devastation is better for pvper than pver?
How easy it is to hit Blaster's HP cap?
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jibikao
Has any of you focus on using Devastation rather than Thunderstrike?
Devastation doesn't give +defense but it has 3% damage and very good +health and has a hold proc. It seems to me that Devastation is better for pvper than pver? How easy it is to hit Blaster's HP cap? |
With accolades and a few hp set bonuses fairly easy.
Personally I enjoy range defense on my En/En, and s/l on my son/fire
Infinity
Dissent - lvl 50 (+3) Energy/Energy/Force Blaster
Firescream - lvl 50 (+1) Sonic/Fire/Mace Blaster
It's not hard to cap a blaster's hit points. Base HP is 1205 and you can hit 1446 with accolades. IIrc blaster HP cap is something like 1600.
As far as a no defense build Dark/Mental isn't going to fit the bill. Psi Scream's animation is too long and Umbral Torrent doesn't recharge fast enough to keep the mobs KB'd.
It takes about 500 damage to wipe out even con minions. With ED capped damage slotting Aim > Concentration > T_T > Umbral will do 428 damage in a bit over 2 1/2 seconds. To hit that magic 500 number you would need an additional damage buff of about 60% (2 medium red insps) which I don't believe you can accomplish with set bonuses + Assault.
With ED capped damage slotting Aim > Concentration > T_T > Psi Scream > Umbral will do 663 damage in a bit over 5 1/4 seconds. Since you will be at range 40 to start this chain you'll suffer the alpha attack and the first and possibly the second melee attack from bosses and any lieuts and minions you missed with T_T before the minions are dead.
The other problems you'll run into is that the cone width and ranges are all different. If you open with Umbral for the mitigation the spawn will have been knocked out of the range of T_T and Psi Scream.
You are also limited to a target cap of 10 mobs with cone powers. That's going to be some where in the range of a 4 player spawn.
-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
I threw this dark/mm together in Mids'. I can't say that I'd play it, but the build itself makes me giggle. +61.5% dmg bonuses including assault. Put this one in the 'stupid build tricks' category, but amusingly it doesn't look unplayable... just really squishy lol.
Code:
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1459;695;1390;HEX;| |78DA6594D94F135114C6EFD0A9D096D296B2EF652B5B4B1BD798A889A2464313226| |F2ED4C14E60603A3369A70A8F3EB83D0A08F1C50705041F8CD1E85FE3BFE0F2E2F2| |62C6D3391F683293B6BFF6BBF77EE73BB73337B73255FFF6F2FD73420A5FD095723| |97F9E3E6DB55497ABD88AAD9986A02B386F1A95725FA1B890A8A59FED9893BFA618| |0B6A213DA5949679DDC0C1C86CC5B2CC929DCEA986ADE8F99C6268564567C3D08C6| |9EAE94BBAB6B06807DDEFB396AA1622EED7695529A8A5F2A266C5DCDF578CBB5A59| |9BD774CD5E6DBC68697768A15254C9B15A67B58DE20CD15B6B12B81C59A46A84C8C| |AE2489A5937096698C12CF3A9385CE3130F2421BA65D1F59839FC90997CC45CA359| |12FCA5EB84A42C6AE6C01BCCC15BE09270FD03B4573E779123F99A25571BF8235CB| |F65CAEB879F7F87F3D4EF82AF990D7BE03EB39FFC6AE1573BCE35A260238D05784C| |0412AC15A946886BF843E823FA81BD1AD16F13FA6D7AC26C7BCFE31BB42A8C7CE1E| |33E571B3CC11C3EC94C9E628E7DE27ACF0811AC89A0A716F4D4829EFAD053629B69| |50C61832C67E21DB6FCCD965DFC42BE6C036B8C3DC24C4DD7FC5F1C7C33ECEDFC0E| |C898051665F0CC47EE954B799EB8AE60ED642B487ADD05A3F730693E6B5235F3B72| |7420470772742167F223AF99C41E6F91DCC9FF89DCA9B0D6739B397C93393AC79CC| |833D7ABB707D793BA57488BD3FEDE635A94A517597A75AE395A040DE698C9CC224B| |F61D738FDAEF876FFF0FE4FCC97C8E67A8EA3B04DF8933C8759A99826F0A7552A8B| |B4FBE23B8EF46CE12649F7843DA38F6713CC3F3E2B4B769DCBBE917A8FF92B9447D| |65902D73901B7BF82548CF1DFC25872EF1ED7FE5AAE43E715F3DB3BEFF5364698DB| |DE475700BE7C306CE834D66977C781ED0ABEA92900F1E7BC719F38C663C4AD6A31C| |F528C73CCAB44799910F4F1BF41388D259C28AF317B63CED76| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
A lot of thoughtful answers. Thanks. Stuck at 39 right now, but still loving the concept/character. For me the only thing I do not like is the closing to melee for Drain Psyche, but it is so worth it. Also, I am learning 1 mob is enough to really help, and if there really are tons of enemies I just try to get over to the brute or tank before cutting loose with it. I'm playing an SO'd build right now, and am indeed using many of the agro management tricks mentioned. I hang back and watch the action. When things go south I almost always start unloading rather than running (my Doms favorite backup plan) and surprisingly the success rate is high. The heal in Dark is wicked nice. The cones are different sizes, so yeah thats awkward. I have used Range modifiers to change the lengths to bettter match, but if/when I/O'd that will go away I think. I am using stealth pool, and want that in my final build. Also using TP (Teammate, enemy, LR) Pretty sure I want those as well. Teammate for TFs, enemy for laughs (and stuck mobs ), and the LR TP is sure nice blueside. I dont have regular TP cause I never liked it. In missions its rarely useful (especially with stealth) and for travel its annoying. Also, have hover, and thats a keeper. For map crawling I have rocket board and 1-3 temp travels at any one time.
It's late, I'll open up the builds tomorrow, thanks for posting them. I have to start thinking in terms of incarnate powers as well.
Quote:
I did that with my Archer. S/L Defense is capped, and this time I didn't worry about Ranged. Those bonus Holds may not last long, but they're going off all the time.
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Originally Posted by Jibikao
Has any of you focus on using Devastation rather than Thunderstrike?
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'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'
'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.
'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice.
Quote:
Isnt that the basic of a blaster anyway? Squishy but insane on damage output?|
Originally Posted by EJI
I threw this dark/mm together in Mids'. I can't say that I'd play it, but the build itself makes me giggle. +61.5% dmg bonuses including assault. Put this one in the 'stupid build tricks' category, but amusingly it doesn't look unplayable... just really squishy lol.
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Non of my blasters have anything of defense whatsoever, purely focused on a continues stream of mayhem. Still i hardly die on any given trial, i just hide and seek when a mob comes after me or pop some of my tricks from /ice.
If i need defense that badly, i pop a few purples and off we go.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
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I have a level 50 Energy/Energy Blaster built for speed. Tons of recharge, but when shooting*, the only defense he has is Hover's default, and sometimes the blue wisp combat vet pet. (*He does have Personal Force Field to turtle up in emergencies.)
Soloing he does fine as long as I play him intelligently and aggressively (and don't pick high "number of players" difficulty settings). In groups, he also does fine, but bear in mind I am not using my AoEs so much in group play (because I'm Energy and they do AoE knockback.) Another Blaster type that has less mitigation than Energy and more AoE aggro-grabbing on teams might not fare as well; I don't know for sure.
I do use the heck out of Heal Self though.
My reasoning is that I already have a high-level FF/Energy Defender, who uses the same powerset (Energy Blast) but is vastly easier to build for defense, AND had decent status protection. It seemed to me that building both of them for defense was sort of repeating myself, so the Blaster went a different (and exciting) route.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
The thing is, you practically have to try to end up with no defense bonuses if you're bothering with sets at all. Lornac's build is workable I'm sure but it forsakes slotting the sixth pieces of obliteration and sting of the manticore, for instance, simply to avoid getting the defense bonuses from what I can gather. Almost any blaster combination will get some defense just from slotting sets that play to its strengths.
So yeah, if you want to explicitly avoid defense that's an option, and I guess I can see how a concept could call for it. Another option is to just pick up some defense where it's convenient. You don't have to try to softcap, just having ten-ish percent defense to a position or three will be a substantial improvement to your overall survivability over time. Like if you have tough, body armor or temporary invulnerability, why not use one of the slots for a steadfast? They're easy to get and have a huge impact on your build for just one slot, including the default slot if you don't plan to run the toggle.
It's not that not having defense makes a blaster unplayable, as blasters are perfectly playable with SOs which offer no bonuses at all. If you're going to use IOs, though, why not make use of one of the strongest, most easily attainable bonuses?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
The thing is, you practically have to try to end up with no defense bonuses if you're bothering with sets at all. Lornac's build is workable I'm sure but it forsakes slotting the sixth pieces of obliteration and sting of the manticore, for instance, simply to avoid getting the defense bonuses from what I can gather. Almost any blaster combination will get some defense just from slotting sets that play to its strengths.
So yeah, if you want to explicitly avoid defense that's an option, and I guess I can see how a concept could call for it. Another option is to just pick up some defense where it's convenient. You don't have to try to softcap, just having ten-ish percent defense to a position or three will be a substantial improvement to your overall survivability over time. Like if you have tough, body armor or temporary invulnerability, why not use one of the slots for a steadfast? They're easy to get and have a huge impact on your build for just one slot, including the default slot if you don't plan to run the toggle. It's not that not having defense makes a blaster unplayable, as blasters are perfectly playable with SOs which offer no bonuses at all. If you're going to use IOs, though, why not make use of one of the strongest, most easily attainable bonuses? |
Oh, no. Yeah, no. What i meant was is it possible to play through the big task forces and itrials without attempting to build a softcap. I throw a Glad Proc 3% and any other efficient tricks I can get onto the thing. I was just wondering if throwing 5 purple sets and a ton of other recharge sets onto the thing, then taking the Alpha Damage would even be playable. But sure, I will not try to avoid defense.
For just about anyone in the game the only way to build for more dmg is getting +rech (procs as well) for the most part you can build for a nice chunk of +rech (50 or more) and still get a very nice amount of def.
So u either get crap def and get slightly more +rech and a few more procs. Or you get a nice amount of +rech as well as +def.
Imo, is applies for almost everyone in the game. A few exceptions do exist tho (ill/ trollers and all doms want +rech before anything)
"I have ridden the mighty moon worm!"
-Al Gore
Fiery Aura is only good for farming, I'm cereal
@Caucasiafro
Quote:
My main sits at @32 ranged def and it made a world of difference, it really cut down on the alpha from mobs. I went for recharge formost.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Oh, no. Yeah, no. What i meant was is it possible to play through the big task forces and itrials without attempting to build a softcap. I throw a Glad Proc 3% and any other efficient tricks I can get onto the thing. I was just wondering if throwing 5 purple sets and a ton of other recharge sets onto the thing, then taking the Alpha Damage would even be playable. But sure, I will not try to avoid defense.
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Softcap is nice but not needed if you specifically don't want to go for it and I do fine in trials and tfs.
Infinity
Dissent - lvl 50 (+3) Energy/Energy/Force Blaster
Firescream - lvl 50 (+1) Sonic/Fire/Mace Blaster
Quote:
Yes, I'm thinking a blend is probably the wisest thing. With the tier 4 damage Alpha slot I will be pushing great numbers. I will throw at least one or two purple sets, just cause I love them. Then maybe slap some defense on here and there if it fits well. Take hasten so Drain psyche pops up more often. I need to start working on a mids build myself. Still trying to decide if I like this guy, and I am thinking I do. So very tired of grinding on Brutes, and never quite doing the damage I wanted to do. Concept is huge for me, and I have one I really like. Wish flame worked for me, but it just doesnt.
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Originally Posted by Dissention
My main sits at @32 ranged def and it made a world of difference, it really cut down on the alpha from mobs. I went for recharge formost.
Softcap is nice but not needed if you specifically don't want to go for it and I do fine in trials and tfs. |
Quote:
Eh, I used Decimation, Crushing Impact, some purple sets, and LOTGs in mule powers like Personal Force Field and Stealth. I have +98% global recharge using pretty standard sets, and not a single point of defense bonus among them (although I do tend to run Hover when fighting). It's not as automatic as you imply.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
The thing is, you practically have to try to end up with no defense bonuses if you're bothering with sets at all. Lornac's build is workable I'm sure but it forsakes slotting the sixth pieces of obliteration and sting of the manticore, for instance, simply to avoid getting the defense bonuses from what I can gather. Almost any blaster combination will get some defense just from slotting sets that play to its strengths.
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If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
It is viable, and I would actually recommend it for a new player, since it will teach skills (situational awareness, insp management, resourcefulness, tolerance for frustration) that will let you turn softcapped builds into complete monsters later on. But it won't ever be as powerful as a balanced build that combines both high defense and recharge.
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Mmmm, my first thought is that Life Drain with enough recharge is up very often and Dark already has tohit debuff (which is similar to having defense), so I was thinking I should push my HP higher, which makes Life Drain better because I have higher HP to heal back. Having more HP is like having more Resistance-to-all. |
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
It's not hard to cap a blaster's hit points. Base HP is 1205 and you can hit 1446 with accolades. IIrc blaster HP cap is something like 1600.
As far as a no defense build Dark/Mental isn't going to fit the bill. Psi Scream's animation is too long and Umbral Torrent doesn't recharge fast enough to keep the mobs KB'd. |
I think I am going for a mix because I don't think soft-cap range is necessary for Dark (since you already have tohit debuffs) and I want to have better damage (maybe with procs) and higher HP. Not sure if I am dedicated enough to get accolades at this point.
Right now I am stuck at Epic/Patron choice. I see the great benefit in either Ice or Mace for S/L defense but I also love Charged Armor's shield because defense means nothing if you die in one hit (no time for Life Drain to work) and energy resistance is probably 3rd most common type in the game behind S/L.
What's you guy's thoughts on Patron/Epic? (I am going to take both Tough/Weave)
PS: I also think that I am going to drop one of the cones later. Yes, at lvl 28, 3 cones are nice since I have no set bonuses and they are not fully slotted but once I have sets and decent recharge, I really don't need to cycle 3 cones. I like Torrent the best so far but it's one that's most hated on a large team. Torrent and TT just don't seem to mesh well. I like to start the fight with aoe knock back. I take way less damage that way. Scream is good when the mobs have little resistance to Psi (Mu, Ghosts, etc) and it has good -recharge debuff. I am not going to take Shockwave. I looked at the numbers and it just doesn't look impressive at all. Oh my, what did they do to Shockwave? My memory of P. Shockwave is still stuck at pre-nerf stage. LOL Shockwave's damage is not nice and I need to be in pbaoe. With 3 cones, I really don't see the need to run in for pbaoe. I'll only do that for Drained Psyche.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
If you aren't going to go for accolades then Cold Mastery may be your best choice.
You get your HP boost (a single heal SO exceeds the blaster HP cap without accolades) with Hoarfrost.
You get your S/L defense (and some resistance to exotic damage types) from frozen armor.
You get Hibernate as a rescue power.
Later on if you decide that you like the toon enough to get accolades you can switch Epics (or even go red side and pick up a PPP instead)
-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
Pardon me, a blaster of over 4500 hours to speak up on the topic of to soft cap defense, or not.
Short answer? Softcap defense is hugely overrated on some blasters, underrated on others. Depends on your playstyle and teaming tendencies.
I say, don't be a slave to numbers. Pick the powers that suit your style of play. If you notice that you have to wait after throwing a few attacks, build for a touch more recharge. If using two attacks doesn't defeat an even con or +1 minion, try get a little damage bonus.
Only you know what your play conditions are. If you're on a trial, I don't think defense is anything that you need to worry about. All those Destiny powers going off, you should be capped at resistance and defence almost the whole time.
When you're solo, you can control the action - accept for ambushes - and every blaster set has some sort of damage mitigation. For energy blasters, it's knockback, for ice it's ice patch and freeze ray.(and shiver, and chilling embrace, etc)
This is why I never bothered with softcap for my ice blaster. I can slow them down almost to a crawl, except on the Incarnate trials, because they're +2.
Now, I honestly think, that if I ever finish looking and remembering all the details, if I can keep my current attack chain and recharge speed, I wouldn't mind the extra defense. But, I'm not a whiz at mids' by any stretch, so looking up all those bonuses takes me some time - and choosing between defense or regen bonus, well, that's a tough decision for me.
Is an extra 3% defense worth a gazillion inf? (or 30 Alignment merits) Are the toggles of tough and weave worth the drain on endurance? I'd rather faceplant from having too much aggro than faceplant because i didn't have any endurance. ( I would assume the steadfast proc is a no-brainer acquisition, provided folks are VIP/invention licensed and have actually heard of it.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
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I don't think it's possible for soft-capped DEF to be hugely overrated on an AT that is designed to be a glass cannon. Somewhat overrated, maybe, depending on the context.|
Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Pardon me, a blaster of over 4500 hours to speak up on the topic of to soft cap defense, or not.
Short answer? Softcap defense is hugely overrated on some blasters, underrated on others. Depends on your playstyle and teaming tendencies. |
There are definitely good ways and bad ways to approach IO set bonuses, but that's true of every AT. In the general case, I think it's fair to say that Blasters benefit far more from the IO DEF bonuses that are available than they do from the +damage bonuses available. Recharge is a stickier issue, but it is possible to stack a good amount of recharge on top of soft-capped DEF.
Then again, unless you really stretch, you're not realistically going to soft-cap to more than one position or two types (Smash/Lethal, or if you take Scorpion Shield, Smash/Lethal/Energy). I've drawn up builds that soft-cap to ranged/Smash/Lethal/Energy, but let's just say it's difficult to do. So anyway, if you're looking for a magic survivability bullet, you're not going to find it in IO sets. At a minimum, you probably need a host of IO DEF bonuses and Clarion Destiny to ensure that large portions of your DEF aren't randomly turned off before you begin to feel like a true juggernaut.
In that sense, you're right: a high-DEF Blaster build can encourage a kind of brittle over-confidence. You'll find yourself flying through missions you wouldn't have dreamt of completing before, but you'll also find yourself getting pwned mercilessly at times. Setting your difficulty slider up in response to the former case can lead to brutal (hilarious) disappointment in the latter case. If you want to learn how best to play a Blaster in the worst-case scenario, it probably is better not to build for DEF. But if you want a build that will perform better, all other considerations being equal, then it's almost certainly better to build for DEF.
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Now, I honestly think, that if I ever finish looking and remembering all the details, if I can keep my current attack chain and recharge speed, I wouldn't mind the extra defense. But, I'm not a whiz at mids' by any stretch, so looking up all those bonuses takes me some time - and choosing between defense or regen bonus, well, that's a tough decision for me. Is an extra 3% defense worth a gazillion inf? (or 30 Alignment merits) Are the toggles of tough and weave worth the drain on endurance? I'd rather faceplant from having too much aggro than faceplant because i didn't have any endurance. ( I would assume the steadfast proc is a no-brainer acquisition, provided folks are VIP/invention licensed and have actually heard of it. |
Blapper builds are a harder sell, IMO. You can pretty easily cap Smash/Lethal DEF and stack gobs of +recharge, but personally I find Smash/Lethal DEF inadequate by itself.
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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I have been "shopping for a blaster" and hope that I am zeroing in on my choice. Right now Dark/mental is in first for me.
I am now starting to think about builds for him. I saw a high defense build in the current dark/MM thread, its pretty nice. It looks at first glance like an end hog, but not sure. But I got to thinking, maybe I shouldnt build for defense, but just moah damage....
Has anyone run a lot of Blasters at 50, and is that a viable choice, or just silly? If it becomes my main I will be lots and lots of taskforces at 50, Itrials, etc. Or should I really at least softcap to range to shake 90% of the crap that will come my way? When i ran my softcap tank, it was like night and day between a decent build and softcap. i would never have a main Tank not softcapped now, and most of my Brute strategies are softcap ones. But, with Blasters, just being able to lay out the pain, is that a build strategy used for late game play?