The Modern Blaster

After noticing in-game that many have never been made aware of the changes and capabilities of Blasters in the i24+ timeline, I thought it might be a good idea to put together a little information package.

So what has changed since the days as the "most under-performing Archetype under all possible metrics"? What reason might one have to take old AT for a spin? Is Offensive Juggernaut no longer sarcastic? As it turns out, more or less.

Offense

The modern blaster has had a few slight increases, most notably to Snipes and Nukes

Snipes lose their entire interruptible portion of the cast time if you have 22% or more To-Hit. This is indicated by a yellow border around the power itself. Not only would that make it more usable in actual combat, it flat out shortens the casting time to make a powerful attack that hits nearly as hard as your Tier 3 with a faster animation. Energy's Sniper Blast then deals just a bit less base than Power Burst while casting slightly faster than Power Blast - and the range has not been shortened in the least!

Nukes were standardized and had their crashes removed. The top ends of their damage has been substantially lowered, but they deal it much more reliably (old nukes could have 10+ attack rolls per target leading to depressing RNG screwjobs), more often (recharge time on most has been lowered) and without screwing your recovery and mana-bar. This was sorely needed as their old versions had become completely obsoleted by Incarnate Judgements - and now instead they're something to 'alternate' between to wipe out spawns. Other team-members have one judgement, but while it may not hit 40 targets like the other one, you start off with two.

Another change for quality-of-life is the Tier 3: Most blaster primaries had the quick light attack, the medium medium attack, and the slow heavy attack. Like Snap Shot < Aimed Shot < Blazing Arrow, or Power Bolt < Power Blast <Power Burst. Problem is, that third one had a 40ft range "because screw-you that's why". They're all 80ft base now

Defenses

Yeah no. Still squishy. The majority of blaster defense and resistance values come from Power, Epic/Patron and IO sets. You can Weave and Maneuvers your way with IO sets helping along to maybe the low teens in everything except Smashing/Lethal resistance (that one you can easily get into the mid 20s or higher) before that Hybrid-slot Incarnate "Support" core, but that's still gonna take some toggling

Sustain

Well now here's where things do get a bit different survival-wise. One of the big changes was the implementation of the "sustain" series of powers. Every set has, by at the latest level 20 (Frigid Protection's at 10 and Energize is at 16 but most it's the level 20 itself) some sort of health and endurance aid. Very significant at that.

On average, if it gives +Recovery and +Regen, you're looking at +225% Regeneration and +50% Recovery. Contrast that to a base of 40% Regen and 25% Recovery for Health and Stamina. Now the Sustains DO only let you enhance half of that bonus but that's still way ahead AND a second set of powers to run against ED limits. Others instead of +Regen offer a measure of Absorb, which you still want to slot with heals because heal/absorb's combined now anyways. This lets you shrug off a good amount albeit without as much recovery from what goes through.

Plus each has its own effects. Tactical Arrow's Eagle Eye gives +Perception and +Accuracy. Devices Field Operative no longer drains endurance but gives it instead while cloaking you. Old functionalities were improved or kept as-is, not lost. Psychic retained Drain Psyche as its model by the way, so while many Sustains are toggles, some Sustains are clicks which give their bonuses for a minute or so.

What this means is that while you're still going down like a minion from focused fire, blasters now have far greater capability to keep their blue bar up in longer fights and will recover far more effectively from the occasional AoE or chip-damage crossing their way in bigger battles even if the defender's not paying attention to you specifically. It also means whatever level it's available at is more or less locked-in as far as choices go, because that's way too much stuff in just one pick to skip for very long. When soloing in particular, those 2-3 whites that hit you only three times out of ten will now be facing off against a regen% reminiscent of Regeneration the powerset (just the % though, not the other defenses)

Overall

No getting around it: You're still picking a dedicated squishy. Purple Elite Bosses can still crumple you like wet paper if you don't (or can't) pop inspirations like a crack addict.

But, you can now truly say you deal decent damage (with improved snipes and nukes) for the whole fight (thanks to basically triple-stamina) and what minor outbursts by enemies that you get caught in while playing with a team; things which used to be dire faceplant threats - are now something you can recover from fairly quickly and even sometimes tough out a little. Blapping is still a good idea - better than ever even if you're built for it - and some of the new sets like Atomic offer some very nice self-buffs and even mild mez-resistance. Fancy a self-toggle that's practically a copy of Accelerate Metabolism, anyone?

Sustain toggles in general have zero END cost, not just Devices/Field Operative.

Thanks, Novacat, that kind of translating numbers into player-level significance is very welcome!

Yes perhaps I should have been a little bit more clear that it's not just Field Operative: Pretty much all sustains have no Endurance cost, toggle or otherwise, they just give you stuff. They also don't get detoggled easily - I've yet to see one go down from anything other than being dead - so it's really just a matter of remembering to click it back online after you pop a 'wake.

And you were going to do that anyways because by the time you've turned on all the other toggles you may have you might be nearly full from having turned on that one first.

Also apparently lost in my editing of the layout was this recommendation: If you have a snipe, and are going to 2-slot your Build-up (whatever your particular set's variant is named): consider one of your IOs to include To-Hit-Buff and not only Recharge. It doesn't take much to clear the insta-snipe level at all, it's just not quite there by default.

They also don't get detoggled easily - I've yet to see one go down from anything other than being dead...

I'm fairly certain that was a change to toggles in general (I forget exactly when, though).  If you get mezzed, the toggle stays on, but it might not apply it's benefits during that time.

I'm almost feeling the allure of blasting again. My first character was a blaster and while I did eventually kinda leave him by the wayside, I did always want to try some other set combination than NRG/NRG. So maybe soon enough.

They also don't get detoggled easily - I've yet to see one go down from anything other than being dead...

 

I'm fairly certain that was a change to toggles in general (I forget exactly when, though).  If you get mezzed, the toggle stays on, but it might not apply it's benefits during that time.

Defensive toggles stay on but their effects are suppressed, while offensive toggles (afaik damage auras and debuffs) drop.

I'll admit I've been loving the changes on my AR/Dev Blaster. Sniper Rifle is actually more powerful than most T3 blasts (at least it is according to Pines, I keep forgetting to check in game) and Targeting Drone means fast-snipe is no problem (and means Sniper Rifle does even more damage since they never removed that synergy). I always loved AR for the AoE damage but now I actually have a decent single target attack chain (with decent soft control to boot), so more having to use Buckshot to fill in for single target damage.