Breakdown of Blaster i24 Performance

People who talk big about stuff they don't have a grasp on aggravate me.

But I'm not angry....or rather I'm "internet angry", which is to actual anger what O'Douls is to Everclear.

Plant is the reason why Doms can claim to compete with Archery's AOE. Not sure why you mentioned Fire since it lags behind Archery... Plant/Psi probably beats Fire/Ment in terms of AOE output. Creepers are beastly, Dom's Psychic Shockwave does more base damage than Blaster's PS, and their immob can be made into a pretty epic attack. The only Dom counter to ROA is Seeds of Confusion and confusion damage is why they can compete with the high end Arch Blaster clearing speeds, imo- Plus there's Sleet like Reppu has mentioned. Plant/Psi could probably beat out Fire/Ment without suffering from a noticeable decrease in reward rates due to confusion, but Archery will beat out Plant in terms of enemies defeated per rewards earned every time imo.

I haven't tested this personally but I'll be able to soon- I rolled a Plant/Psi this morning and it's currently a little before lvl 30. I just need to get his leveling finished up so I can slot the build out, do trials for a couple of days and start my testing.

Sorry, I feel like you've only latched on to some impression of what you think I'm saying, disliked the vague idea you formed, and then gone on to assume that I'm uneducated, using the fact that I don't have a high end Dom as the backbone to your POV. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me, shrug.

Didn't think I would need to highlight this

So you have basically confirmed what my thought was, you are farming customized enemies in the A.E.. That isn't a criticism just an observation about your build and it's capabilities. It is what it is. If you like I can give you a mission that will shred your build in the A.E. all either does is make a statement about the nature of A.E.


Anyway you need to take the soloing 54x8 carnies with a blaster claim up with arcanavile the last time someone made the claim his/her response was derision at the possibility. I have no doubt that a fully incarnated blaster can manage this I just don't see the point of the claim. It is only relevant in regard to the amount of effort it takes to prepare a blaster to do this. When you can build other ATs that do the same things at 1/5th the effort and don't have to take special effort to accomplish these tasks it just points to a problem if both are meant to have similar jobs

Edit: Just saw the president Uruguay disputes your claim I would listen he also invented monopoly pricing.

Farming in and of itself means customized enemies in the AE, lol. I didn't make a specific map for my Blaster, or use a specific map for Blasters at all- I use a standard high rating s/l cave farm.
Did you just say "you can't do it" and "it doesn't matter if you can do it" at the same time? Wow, I can understand the need to cover your *** around here, but that's just silly man. And yeah, sure poor people can do the same thing on Brutes- That is, stomp large spawns efficiently. Granted. I have two unpurpled Brutes meant for recreational spawn stomping. But those poor people Brutes can't solo GM's on the same build without pets, temps or inspirations. So it makes sense to me. I can beat the game on one character, and it's a fun and engaging build with an active playstyle. This makes me happy, and it makes it worth the investment.

no I said

I believe you are wrong about the poor brutes/scrappers soloing gms. As things stand tanks can solo GMs and at about the same speed your blaster does.


Edit: Out of curiosity have you tried a pylon challenge, no temps no insps no incarnates with that build ? That would provide a nice baseline of build strength against the histroical data available

I do think in general they are a bit short, based on my Fire/Earth Dom and my Mind/Fire Dom. But it isn't by a lot. In most cases, you have to figure in the pets, and I notice the difference in kill speed when I forget the imps (of course my Mind doesn't get normal pets). Plus some sets get modest help from their AoE immobs (Fire and Plant).

Is Flashfire, Sleet, Hot Feet, Mud Pots, Imps, Fire Cages, Tremor, and Fissure in ~12 seconds effective? Yes. Is it more damaging than my AoE centric blasters? I don't think so, but it certainly is close.

The only speed reference that you have is my Blaster vs. whats-his-name, the guy that's ridiculously hard to kill for everyone and extremely resistant to lethal damage. Giant rock fellow on Monster Island. (Arcanaville said those would be the hardest to solo and doubted that I could do it, so that's the one I posted videos of.) Pretty sure no tank is about to stomp him without temps, pets or inspirations. My Blaster did though. I do not think any melee AT could solo him without any outside +dmg, pets or temp powers. And I can earn rewards and PL as fast as they do too. On the same build that stomps monsters they can't stomp without cheating.

And obviously my Blaster has Incarnate stuff. Are you trying to imply that having Incarnates is a bad thing? Why even mention it? Everyone should have Incarnates at this point.

There were some examples posted to the tanker boards just after bruising got added to tanks.

So there is a consistent point of comparison. If you need to take the incarnate abilities to accomplish these things its not an accurate comparison to compare to something that isn't

lolok. I'd love to see a Tank solo the GM's my Blaster can solo. Without temporary powers, pets, or inspirations. I've seen Tanks boasting about "soloing" GM's with Lore pets. I'm sure lots of Tanks have "soloed" GM's with envenomed daggers. But that really doesn't count.

Sounds like you're just clinging to the past, man. Incarnate powers are an assumed standard for high end builds in the modern game. I routinely build around Agility on very tight, slot consuming builds with rigorous goals. I calculate my potential damage output with the right Interface before I even make a character. If I come up with something that's hurting for recovery, but I like the build, I just plan to take Ageless. Using end game powers for high end builds isn't a bad thing- It's the direction the game is advancing in. The only exception for this is Lore, but that's just a personal thing that I have a problem with. I don't like Lore at all. It just feels cheap to me.

Why doesn't that count? If it's for your own level of acceptance, that's fine. But why doesn't that count?

Temporary Powers take all of literally 2 seconds to have on your character. They can also be considered permanent due to their large supply.

You're using Incarnate Powers when you solo, so why are Lore pets not allowed?

The problem is: These ATs can't solo these things because you, and a few others, put artificial limiters on them to prevent it.

Sorry, but nothing in the game, nor anything anyone says, is preventing me from chucking my daggers at a GM and soloing them. Or using my Lore Pets if I reall ywant a laugh.

Every AT CAN solo GMs.

Just because you say it doesn't count, doesn't mean it doesn't count.

Aww, *cloud of smoke* Reppu is back to argue with me. I kinda missed you, I'm not gonna lie. This guy is dull. Anyways.

The problem here is that we've already had this argument before- You consider temporary powers to be just as much a part of a build as IO's since both are purchased the same way, etc. I don't agree with that philosophy- I think IO's are a part of a build, etc. You bring up Incarnates, I say that Incarnates are earned through gameplay and are a part of a character, you say temporary powers like Daggers are earned with 100 inf. You say Lore should count too, and I go into a fit of internal psychosis because Lore exists in the first place. C'mon Reppu, this is all familiar territory.

I earn IOs by doing one, or more, of the following:

1) Getting the Recipe Drop.
2) Buying the recipe with Influence I earned.

I get Temporary Powers by doing one, or more, of the following:

1) Getting the Recipe Drop.
2) Buying the recipe with Influence I earned.

I get Incarnate Powers by doing the following:

1) Grindgrindgrindgrindgrind.


Again, you do not have the capacity to say what can and can't be used in a given scenario. If you believe if I walk up to a GM on my Stalkers, throw a Dagger at it, and that invalidates the solo?

I'll be dancing on it's corpse and shrugging afterwards.

IOs and Temporary Powers from Invention Recipes are acquired from the same manner. To the very last detail. They both also function to improve your character in a way that goes beyond the power choices you can make.

They, literally, do the same thing. If you say one no longer applies, the other should NOT apply either. Do not cherry pick when two things do the exact same thing.

And it's arguably better, against anything that doesn't die to a stiff breeze. I know people have mentioned scatter in this thread, but I believe it's been under-emphasized at least in recent postings. My IOed-to-the-gills Fire/Mental Blaster is capable of fantastic offense, but if she's facing anything that doesn't die in the first two or three hits, the spawn scatters to the four winds. If she's got teammate with a taunt aura or some sort of consistent AoE control, then yeah, the Blaster'll do more damage than my Mind/Fire Dominator.

But solo? The Dominator kills at roughly the same speed, much more safely. And yes, the Blaster has Drain Psyche; no, even when I play directly to Drain Psyche's strengths, DP still isn't nearly as good (from a safety standpoint) in practice as Domination-powered Mind Control effects.

And Mind Control isn't even a particularly good primary for leveraging AoE damage. Fire Control kicks Mind Control's shapely backside. Hell, if all you care about is leveraging AoE damage, any Dom Primary with an AoE immobilize can give you Blaster-comparable (solo) kill speeds without much trouble.

The only tangible advantage the Blaster has is that the Dom loses a lot of its damage potential when I exemplar. (Blaze, Fireball, and Rain of Fire are all level 35+ abilities.) Oh, and if I need a regeneration debuff for some reason (can't imagine why I'd need one in the post-Lore era, but whatever), the Blaster obviously has an edge.

Now all of that said, it's not my intent to argue that Blasters should be given Dominator-style perks, or that they should have their damage boosted by the 100+% it'd likely take before the holistic comparison even becomes close -- but I would like to see Drain Psyche revisited in I-24; the power is both too weak and too strong, and ideally I'd like to see the Blaster AT get a little more on the offensive side than the proposed Snipe changes, as I understand them.

In any case, it's nice to come back after a long break to find that Arbiter Hawk is (finally) looking into Blaster balance.

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

I am sure if you define the challenge in a narrow enough way you will have the result you want

That's fine but you need to realize that there are plenty of builds out there that have outdone yours and done so without incarnate abilities for crutches.

C'mon now. Even you know how silly that is. Tom Cruise could call you glib, and he'd be right, that's how silly you're being. You really think that purpling out a build, buying LOTG's, Glad Armors, FOTG procs, etc. is akin to buying temporary powers? That's just silliness, and you know it.
See, this is subjective argument, so there's really no right or wrong. I get Incarnate powers by playing the only fun and modernized end game content in the game, personally. I'm sorry that's grindy to you.
It's a valid duo- You and your Envenomed Daggers duoed the GM. It's still an accomplishment, not many 2 man teams can duo a GM. My TW/FA can't solo a GM, but if my buddy on his Mental Blaster will keep hitting Drain Psyche and not attacking, I can DPS it down pretty efficiently. Does that mean I soloed it? No, that means me and my pal duoed it, but he used debuffs instead of me using temp powers. You must just not have a friend with a regen debuff, so you bring an artificial friend with you, realize that it's a product of your schizophrenia, and claim the end results to yourself! Bam.

So, a Temporary Power is equal to another character doing the same thing? That is such a stretch of false logic.

You couldn't solo GMs with out your IOs: Fact.

I couldn't solo GMs with out my Envenomed Daggers on Melee ATs not Night Widows: Fact.

They are functionally the same thing. You are claiming Envenomed Daggers do not count because they are not a part of your core AT kit.

IOs are the SAME THING. They are outside boosts that are not applicable to any single power of your AT. They are outside benefits. They are not from YOUR character, but from a source OUTSIDE of your character.

I am sorry, but if you use IOs to solo GMs, it is just like using a Temporary Power. They are the exact same thing. There is absolutely no difference. They are outside sources of power that can be used to leverage an advantage that otherwise would not exist.

Otherwise, why does everyone not start with IOs? Why are they not on the same strength, SO vs. IO?

Because one type of enhancement only improves powers to their actual balance point (SOs).

The other type gives you artificial bonuses not inherent to your AT (IOs).

Just like Temporary Powers. They are one in the same.

So, in essence: You are duoing GMs with your IOs. If you wish to prove me wrong, do it on an SO Only build.

Silly old guard good ol' boy logic. IO's are a part of a character. Temporary powers are temporary for a reason, because no one is meant to have them all the time. They don't work on trials for a reason. My perma Drain psyche God Mode works all the time. Because it's part of my godly character. Temps are not part of character builds. My IO's are part of my build.

Just for the record, I need to edit. My Blaster isn't even my main. My main is my Warshade. He can pretty much do everything that my Blaster can do, with more comfortable survivability, but he can't solo GM's. With Envenomed Daggers he could, sure, but that wouldn't count, because he does not have 'Daggerz' as a power choice, and none of his Incarnates debuff regen. I have come to terms that my main cannot solo GM's without cheating. I'm glad I have another character who can, without sacrificing high end AOE like most GM killers do by default. If I can content myself with the fact that using temps to solo monsters is cheating, considering my main can't do it and I've accepted that, I don't get why other people can't do the same thing. Shrug. Maybe you guys just need to roll some Mental builds.

Is that a useful metric? If I can kill ten +0 bosses in the time it takes somebody else to kill one +2 boss, then I'm progressing much faster in the game, even though his +2 boss is worth more rewards.

That's a kind of petty example imo, +4 should really be assumed by default. Everyone farms and PL's on +4 for a reason, because high end builds earn the most rewards over time on the highest settings. Obviously if you ever want to drop farm you should set it to -1x8, but ticket farming is still more profitable than drop farming, so there's really no logical reason to play below +4. If you'd earn more rewards at a lower setting than 54x8, your build is not up to snuff. You if anyone should know that though, but I know you also like to play the happy community member game so I can understand your digression.

You duo GM's with envenomed daggers.

And you 'duo' GMs with IOs.

Call it what you like, but since you're in the minority of thinking Temporary Powers are equal to another player, you really shouldn't make such statements as absolutes.

No, seriously. You're trying to make other people believe (Hint: This is what a debate does) that Envenomed Dagger is equal to any Support AT.

That says a lot.

PS: Power Pools are not part of your core AT, as they are optional and not an absolute. As such, if you use Hasten, you are Duoing a GM with Hasten.

Per your own logic, as this is not a power of your AT, but a power of another pool. But like Temporary Powers are of the Temporary Power Pool, and are optional, Power Pool Powers are not inherent powers.

Well if you're hell bent on using that as a metric, you actually trio GM's with daggers and IO's. lul. We both have the same advantage there, for arguments sake, let's have them cancel each other out and say that you and your temps duo GM's and I solo them.
I just don't see the difference between you using Daggers and say, if I had a friend come and not attack at all, but keep his regen debuff up on the target. Do you really think that'd be soloing on my part, if I bring another person along to debuff regen? Because that's exactly what daggers do.

This is clearly such a petty nitpick that I shouldn't even respond to it, but 2/10 for making me reply. Everyone has access to power pools, anyone can integrate into THEIR CHARACTER BUILD. They're not cheating if they're part of a build. Jeez. They're freaking power choices. You're fishing way too hard.