Pros and Cons about Blapper?

I am thinking about making a Blapper, possibly Elec/Elec, but I'd like to know the pros and cons about this esteemed style. Given less survival power of a regular Scrapper, how do Blappers survive, aside from killing enemies very quickly

You've posted this in the Scrapper forum, but Blapper usually refers to a blaster who plays like a scrapper, meaning a lot of melee. Are you talking about an elec/elec scrapper, or an elec/elec blaster? I'm not sure what a blapper style/build for a scrapper would even be.

Edit: I didn't notice that this was in the Scrappers Forum. The below reply is entirely about Elec/Elec Blasters! Hope that's what you meant!


Oh, Elec/Elec is fantabulous!

Now, I'm not strictly a blapper, so I'm not sure if that is your intention. I feel like abandoning any one aspect of an Elec/Elec (or any blaster, for that matter) is doing yourself a disservice...
Of course, your regular ranged attacks can be used in up close melee too.

First off... a direct answer to your question on what else do you do to survive besides killing your enemies quickly is... You kill them quicker! Hehe, but also, pop GREENS and PURPLES as needed (greens are my very special personal friend).

As an Elec/Elec specifically, there are other great things for blapping (at various levels).
Eventually, you can remove all the endurance from your enemies with Power Sink and Short Circuit. Then wipe them out by zapping and bapping them.

Using the holds is a major boon to survival. Tesla Cage comes pretty early and is great. The best is when we get the second hold (Shocking Grasp) and then we can lock down a Boss with the two holds, siphon everyone's endurance and beat them all up with our punches, Ball Of Lightning and whatever else we feel like using.

So, I see Elec/Elec as the great Blaptroller! Some may call what I do blapping, since I do most of it in the middle of all of my enemies. I just see it as playing an Elec/Elec!

Once you get high enough for Epics, Shocking Bolt is fantastic as you have three holds to lock things down (it's nice to have a backup in case one of the first two miss against a tough Boss opponent and/or multiple enemies you want to lock down before pummeling them).

Positioning can be key. Hopping in and out of the fray is important. You have to remember that you ARE a blaster, so there are times you'll need to back off and avoid some of the melee attacks/damage, then either wait around a corner and let them come to you or charge back in to dish some more damage to them. Again, the holds and the endurance drains are wonderful saviors for survival when dishing it out isn't doing it quickly enough... AND some well timed Green Inspirations will extend your health just long enough to win the battle. Popping three or four purple defense inspirations will also make most of your enemies miss you for the duration. I don't tend to do that unless it is very special circmstances, but I'm a bit weird!

Here's a big thing that some players may not be comfortable:
It is okay to not have FULL HEALTH! Learn to love the battles that end with you having a sliver of red Health when the last of your enemies drops!
That is one of the great thrills for me. Time your green inspiration use well and don't panic! Blapping isn't for the faint of heart! (this mindset also makes Tanks an absolute breeze, hehe)

If you are teaming and the aggro management is going well (tanks and/or controllers locking things down) then it is pretty simple to just pile on the damage (Lightning Field helps too... and Voltaic Sentinel is also some more damage for you).

I tend to enjoy soloing with this character, so it's a little trickier.

I do all of this without any IO sets for extra defense or anything. All just standard IOs and using my noggin and the powers the makers gave me!

I hope some of what I said may have been a bit helpful (I'm not much of a numbers guy and just sort of wing things most of the time, so I don't tend to offer strategy help!) and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Oops, my mistake, this was meant to be in a Blaster forum Can a mod move this away?

Pros: You'll do a lot of damage

Cons: You'll die a lot

The Pros are the same as any blaster with bonus damage in the form of melee. You won't die any more than any other blaster, IF you pick smart targets. If you have one punch and you fight a boss close, you deserve to die. If you see that same boss when you have thunderstrike, havoc punch and charged brawl, and multiple holds, you should do fine. On my elec/elec blaster I usually jump in with Tesla cage, shocking grasp, and then whatever I feel like. Before double holding, I would use thunderstrike to hopefully knock them down first, take a hit, and then start laying into them. Either way, I think using the strong secondary melee is much more effective than just pure blasting.

The con of this setup, if there was one, is that it promotes wrecklessness. I take on pretty much every battle now, knowing that I will take out at least 4-5 of them, before they will even get the chance to take me out. And even then, the odds are in my favor. Elec/Elec is effective at endurance drain and also you have an unending source of blue in powersink. It takes careless use of this power to run out. When you start noticing what you can do, you take certain situations for granted. For instance Malta gunslingers. Everyone fears sappers, but the holds from gunslingers will be your downfall. You have forgotten about sappers long ago and jump in head first, only to be shot in the back and held forever. Things like that would be a con. But I don't see anything different from just blasting.

Pros: You'll have absurd damage output. Things that get close to you will be obliterated. You'll have a massive kill count, and get exp very quickly.

Cons: The rapid exp gain will be offset by having to level through exp debt a lot of the time. You'll be absolutely shredded at earlier levels if you aren't careful. Once you get into your epic pools and can get some decent defensive powers you'll be fine, but at early levels you should consider getting some temporary powers and use inspirations to protect yourself from instant death. But you'll still spend a lot of time using Wake Up, waiting off the stun, and Rest.

Personally, if I wanted to go with a melee meat grinder, I'd use a spines/fire or spines/elec scrapper. Multiple damage auras, lots of AoE, you can take a reasonable beating... overall better suited to being in close quarters with dozens of hostiles. But to each his own, being able to obliterate a spawn in under five seconds has it's appeal.