Blaster Strategy Question?

I tend to play a bit like a "Blapper" sometimes using my secondary for some Melee but generally I stand back and let loose from the outside. My question is -

My main toon is an Energy Blaster which as we all know allows the use of the knockback effect with certain powers.

Would it be a wise strategy to wade into the middle of a group of enemies, use secondary for Melee, be a little tankerish to generate some aggro to get the, all gathered around and then use Nova to send them all flying away with awesome knockback?

Is the blaster up for something like this or is it not a good idea to generate that much heat?

What about with a team during a TF or DFB etc...

You might survive... but probably not. Blasters get aggro quick and unless you've got some defensive buffs to soft cap you in either positional (probably just ranged for blasters) or S/L you are going to face plant pretty quickly.

Also the term tankerish doesn't work so well with blasters, without the defense, resistance or HP it is hard to be tankerish.

But I don't want to completely discourage. Try things out, see what works for you. As long as you aren't driving your team mates completely nuts or face planting ever 10 seconds it might be alright. General rule though, an AT was designed to do certain things, and unless you've got a lot of experience or know what you are doing, forcing an AT into another role is pretty difficult.

So it's probably a better idea in a solo situation if you have attracted enough aggro and find yourself surrounded, use the Nova to get them all off you so you can get some range and properly blast away.

You can do what you are wanting to do with a blaster.

Caveat:

It takes lots of practice.

My Energy/Energy/Force is built around using mainly using melee attacks. I've slotted my primary powers FOR knockback and I use them for mitigation.

I run a total of about 7% defense on that blapper and I depend in knockback for damage mitigation.

Other useful strategies:

Go for all the accolade powers that you can get. I use Geas of the Kind Ones and Eye of the Magus as if they were powers from my power set.

Task Force Commander, Portal Jockey, and Freedom Phalanx Reserve all in crease your maximum hit points. You will notice a marked increase in survival once you have these Accolades. The Atlas Medallion is also nice to have for the extra endurance.

I recommend that an Energy/Energy blapper that is not built around defense take the Force Mastery Epic Power pool.

Force of Nature is very nice when you need to hang in melee.
Personal Force Field is nice to use when you get too much aggro and need to turtle up for a few seconds to use Aid Self or if you want the mobs to gather around you safely while you are triggering Aim and Build up. It's also a very nice power to use post Nova. If you use a single catch a breath you get enough endurance to run PFF until you start recovering from the post nuke endurance crash.

I also recommend the concealment pool. Stealth is nice to have as early as level 6 and Phase Shift gives you a rescue power at level 20 (long before you have access to PFF in the Force Epic). It's nice to have both PFF and Phase Shift if one is recharging or locked out the other is usually ready to go if you have both.

Don't overlook Temp powers and Super Group Base empowerments.

Cryonite armor and the Wedding Band are very nice temp powers.

Super Group Base empowerments can give you increased endurance recovery, increased global recharge, and knockback protection especially early in the game when those things are most troublesome to new blasters.

Final tip.

Always keep a column of break frees in your inspiration tray. If you run out stop and buy more or combine other inspirations into break frees. Other than a team mate, that is your only reliable source of mez mitigation prior to becoming an incarnate, as no blaster power set (primary, secondary, or epic) give you any tools to mitigate mez.

If you plan to do something "special", always take a purple Insp and a breakfree first. Nothing spoils the big moment of you jumping into a massive crowd only to fall asleep. And then being chopped up soon after.

A Blaster should never be "gathering aggro". No matter how well built you are, attacks will get through, and your survival stats just won't be high enough to keep you upright for long.

If you want to do something similar to what you suggested in the OP, your best bet it to either let a tank, brute or scrapper do the gathering for you, since they can handle the risk far better, or to sneak in while stealthed and unload AoE destruction by surprise, and kill them before they can get off more than a few attacks. You'll probably want to slot for some defense if you go the latter route.

I use some ranged attacks on one or two mobs then hit Pff. wait to draw them in and Then boom goes the dynamite.

If im on a team Ill do same thing but eat some reds to make sure no stragglers.

KB pisses of a lot of people in this game so I try to be accomidating on my main.

I usually play my fire/psy now but My energy energy is my old main and currently the only badger i have.

I suggest getting as much def as you can. I think im sitting around 17-18% with stealth, combat jumping, steadfast, resist(pvpio)3%. and bonuses,

I used to figure the half-life of a blaster in melee range was four seconds. I think that's still about right. Jump in, hit one or two attacks, jump out.

There's also a blaster mini-guide in my sig that may be useful.

EDIT: It's post #10 in that thread. IT's an old thread and suffers from link rot, so the link in post 1 doesn't work.