How Do You Build Your Blaster?

I'm a complete blaster noob. I make maybe one a year, play it til SOs, then delete it because I just can't get into it. I never know how to slot blasters, and playing mainly melee toons, I really get tired of getting my butt kicked every five seconds.

So, how do you build your blasters? Got any tips for a blaster noob? I'd eventually like to get around to most of the powersets. My highest blaster was a 33 Archery/Mental. Right now, I'm trying an Archery/Ice for something different (trying to get a nice thematic toon going).

Anyways, any help is appreciated!

If you like controllers or just a different experience than a lot of blasters, try an ice/energy or ice/ice blaster. You have arguably better single-target controls (3 stacking holds w/ice+ice or stacking holds + stun & power boost w/ice+energy) and great single-target damage which becomes pretty good AOE damage if you can maximize the effectiveness of Blizzard. Any way, it's very survivable when soloing (holding a boss is no big deal) and can contribute significantly when on a team (good single-target damage for AVs, helps with control of AVs (if you have the right team) and moderately good AoE damage). It's still a blaster in that if you slack off you can get your butt handed to you but you have a lot of control options.

Personally I work with Mids first before I actually start a toon. I usually go for Range Cap Hover blaster style as I find it the most effective. If I cannot reach that goal then I try for Smash and Lethal Defense cap as I did with my DP Dark Blaster. With my DP Dark I picked up Spring attack for the knockdown effect, so basically I am springing into a group firing off soul drain for a damage buff and then first off all my AOE's.

End result you need some type of goal to work towards otherwise what your looking to do with a set might not be possible when you finally try to do it because it just does not lend itself to what you want to have.

I use difficulty settings as my measuring stick. I personally believe if you can obtain 2/8 setting success then you have a excellent toon for grouping because each new player will increase your difficulty by 1 point. Of course if I can obtain 4/8 that is even better because I am an army of one then.

Further I understand SOs are good enough but if your not looking at what you can obtain with IO sets then you might be missing out on something really good sometimes. IOs do make TONS of difference.

Since you play mostly melee toons maybe try playing a blaster that benefits from being in melee range? Try a Fire/Fire blaster. Blasters are designed to be played at a distance but a few can be played at melee successfully with the right build. Build your defense for smashing and lethal (and melee when feasible) and go from there. /Mental is good to ease into melee type blaster because of drain psyche's ability to replenish your endurance and your health. I slot mine with 5 touch of the nictus enhancements (exclude the proc) and one endurance IO. I can run into a mob and fire off drain psyche then stand there and administer my AoE's, PBAoE's, Melee attacks and seldom worry about dying. As a blaster you'll have a few ranged attacks to pelt down any enemies that ran away from your initial attack. I am currently playing as a fire/fire blaster with 45% S/L defense and 30+% melee defense. So i can literally pop a couple oranges, run into a mob (launching Aim or Build up), Fire Sword Circle, Rain of Fire, Fire Ball and most things are darn near DEfeAteD at that point.

When you're building a melee character, you live and die by the build.
When you're building a Blaster, you live and die by the playstyle.

Whatever you play, my suggestion, when you get to your mid-20s or similar, is to do some lab experiments in a hazard zone. Like any experiment, safety equipment is crucial.

1. Get a bunch of medium Lucks (or small ones if you have to.)
2. Go to Hazard Zone.
3. Find a group you think you could take on, if it wasn't for the death problem. (with Fire Blasters, that's generally like "eight even-con minions and a couple lieutenants".)
4. Put on your safety equipment (four small Lucks, two mediums, or two small and a medium.)
5. Choose what seems like the right amount of Build Up and Aim, set up your AOE's, and fire them off.
6. Eliminate the survivors, figuring out what worked and what didn't.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 with different level enemies, different buffs, until you're comfortable with your damage output and how to apply it fast and hard. Remember your safety equipment!
8. Once you are comfortable doing this in lab conditions.... try it without the purples.

For me, find a good tank who is a tank first dps second or find a defender who is sonic or Force Field. Blasters are team players.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone. My blaster is up to 20 today, and he's easily the most fun blaster I've had to date. He's not exactly the toughest, but he's survived a lot better than most of my blasters. Definitely having a lot of fun with him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshman Since you play mostly melee toons maybe try playing a blaster that benefits from being in melee range?

I've tried that before, and all it's gotten me is frustrated. Rush in, die. Rush in, die. Rinse and repeat. Though it is a nice change-up to hang out in the back and take some baddies out from a distance... my only complaint is when I have hesitant tanks/brutes on the team.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Your best mitigator is probably Ice Patch. You can use it by running into a spawn and casting it, so everything starts falling down while you shoot at it, or you can cast it so its between the critters and you and shoot them from range while they can't get to you directly.

I've noticed that the direct approach tends to get my butt handed to me without someone else handling some aggro. Haven't had much experience with the pulling approach, but I think it'd be pretty effective as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainguy Personally I work with Mids first before I actually start a toon. Further I understand SOs are good enough but if your not looking at what you can obtain with IO sets then you might be missing out on something really good sometimes. IOs do make TONS of difference.

Sometimes I do that, but I've found that if I get a Mids build going, I hardly ever get the toon going long enough to see to that build. And perhaps another issue is that I don't want to IO out a toon until mid-to-late 40s. I usually slot 35 Invention IOs but not sets until I have a build made and respec at 50. Not the best method, but that's how I work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fulmens When you're building a melee character, you live and die by the build. When you're building a Blaster, you live and die by the playstyle.

I'll have to agree with that wholeheartedly. I'll definitely have to experiment as well. Nice suggestion.

Got another question for you guys: what's a good way to get ranged defense built up for a hoverblaster? I was messing around in Mids and only got to the mid-30s. I feel like I'm gonna have to sacrifice a lot just to get it, though. I'd even be happy with getting to 32.5%, but even that seems pretty tough to get to.

It's not that important to get him anywhere near the softcap at this point, but he's at the level that I'd like to get an idea of where he's going so I can start IOing out. Thanks!

Damage. With such high base damage, those small % buffs from set bonuses add up to something scary, even just getting Assault will make a noticeable effect.

I slot for survivability.

Damage can be capped fairly easily, if you're able to be in the thick of it, a nice fulcrum shift will finish you off. Plus... potentially strong melee attacks!

I find that when I pick up enough attacks, they're all strong enough that I don't really need to kill myself shooting for perma hasten. * That said, when I'm satisfied with the defense, I do shoot for recharge. LOTG +recharge in applicable powers should be assumed for (almost) anything, I feel.



Though, granted, with the addition of so many AoE shields, it's not unusual to have enough resistance or defense to survive at range and still have a high damage output. To each their own, though I've not known a straight up damage blaster who hasn't died from time to time!

Universlaly go for Energy Manip:

Boost Range - very handy in target selection.
Conserve Power - always useful for that little "breathing room".
Power Boost - Useful for the boost to stuns in EM and can help primary.
Bone Smasher - Fast-animating, hits for decent damage.

Generally take highest damage/highest range attacks and slot with 2-3 damage, some accuracy and some end redux/recharge.
Snipes can be taken or left on shelf...if I'm power-hungry I leave them.

Like taking Stealth on all my builds and PFF in the epic for a panic button.

IOwise I always build to hit HP cap (1606), for +Damage and +Recovery.
Like to add as much +Range as I can too, from PvP IOs or wherever I can find it.

Think my Fire/MM Blaster has close to 35% global damage.
Generally subscribe to the "Best defense is a good offense, but buy shares in Personal Force Field if that doesn't work out" philosophy.

I don't hover blast and I don't shy away from melee.

I build for soft-capped range def with resist shield for layered mitigation. Alternatively one of these days I may try soft-capped s/l and range def, but I will never build for s/l soft-cap alone as too many mezzes will go right through that vector and you might just as well toss those expensive kinetic combat sets down the drain.

After survivability is addressed I chase recharge bonuses. HP and DAM bonuses are a bonus and I'll fit them in when convenient, of the two HP is slightly more important to me especially if I can make a effort to reach the HP cap.

Then I go to town and melt/punch stuff in the face.

I don't pretend to be a blaster master (I only leveled 3 in my three years on CoH) but I can attest that /Ice and /Mental can be beasts in mid-to-melee range. The key is getting there, and personally, I tend to mix Ranged defense (Thunderstrikes are your best bet there) and Stealth - specifically Stealth IOs.

With those, getting safely in the midst of most mobs is a snap, and once there, you can either

A ) unleash Ice Patch - and Freezing Touch on a Lt - while Chilling Embrace and/or Frozen Aura mitigate the couple attacks they could get off, then jump back and Shiver them from above (turns the cone into an AoE, very useful trick to master as a Blaster), at which point they are all but helpless, or

B ) unleash Psychic Schockwave and Drain Psyche, then mop up the remains with Mental Probe and TK thrust while WoC gives you some breathing room (admitedly WoC is far less reliable mitigation than Chilling Embrace, so use with caution) then jump up and P-Scream at their heads (the cone-to-AoE trick again). Anything that survives that probably deserves to punch me. :-p

All this only with the powers of your secondaries. Add to it what your primary can provide in terms of point-blank damage or control and you can do wonders. My Psy/Mental Blaster adds Tornado for soft control and his PBAoE nuke as needed, and my Ice/Ice enjoys litterally raining all over their parade.

As has been very wisely said above, it's less your build than your playstyle that makes or breaks your Blaster. They are definitely harder to play well than most other ATs.

[EDIT] if you can find a way to fit it in your build, Spring Attack is a boon to that type of gameplay, getting you in the mob much easier and more safely. Don't worry about the damage, it's all about the knockdown and the teleport range.