Nemu

Staff/Regen with whirlwind is the only regen brute you need to play. Staff makes regen 100x better, whirlwind makes staff 10000x better, together that's 1000000x more better. The numbers do not lie!

The other aspect of what makes a good build to me is balance. Offensively that means a good mix of single target and area attacks. It also means that when I design my goals I'm not purely focused on my one goal at the abandonment of everything else. Sure I can design a one attack Empath with the medicine pool with softcap defenses to all positions to support the team (cuz I can't healz if I is dead amirite?) However, when I evaluate my goals, I also want to be able to contribute by actually killing stuff, because there is a balance. Also, dead things don't fight back, and you don't get xp for just staying alive. That to me means at the very least 3 single target attacks so I can have a decent rotation just so I have some capacity to solo. I'd also like to have 2-3 AoE attacks in my toolbox as well so I can kill fodder quickly. Bosses may be the most dangerous mobs in a pack but the added damage/debuffs from fodder matters, and it pays to kill them quickly. Power pick progression also matters to me a lot, I try to have 3-4 attacks by level 30 so I have some semblance of an attack chain. Finally understand your toolkit and playstyle, the same powersets can be built and played very differently depending on AT and what you pair it with. On defenders Venomous gas is a power to build around and it favors you debuffing stuff by existing next to them. This means I'm less thrilled about cones in my arsenal because that means I have to move/reposition to maximize my cone coverage. I don't have that issue on masterminds, so I can approach that build differently. Here's my Poison DP defender, the game plan is to exist next to mobs but you'll notice I don't have softcap melee/AoE defense, only high range defense. Defensively I have hail of bullets, poison trap and for lols world of confusion in addition to VG that can deal with stuff trying to melee me. The high range defense + weaken can deal with mobs outside of my zone of interaction that are all too happy to shoot at me. Offensively poison trap pulls double duty as mitigation and damage via proc bombs, and thus the build also has a focus on recharge via set bonuses + FF procs to make sure that and hail of bullets can be up quickly to take out fodder. Procced out dominate acts as a hard hitter that rounds out my single target rotation. I shy away from cones of any type because I know my game plan is to stay next to mobs, call me lazy but I made a conscious decision to stick with pbaoe/targetted AoEs for my AoE options. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1893;804;1608;HEX;| |78DA7594494C53511486FFD7F7DA0A94A1B6CC20F320436D19424C548C025104D36| |8E24AACCFF28026A56D7890485CBB57A27129BA320E1BC7B5712B2BE34A37C6011C| |001334D185D69377DE95DB923669FADDFF9C7BA6DE7BC72F0E79565E8E1D8652743| |4AE9B6664C898321293C69CFB74346624A206E853744C9F9B8D1BA6591FD61393BA| |9B24BFF08B1C59989A0A8493313399A8F92F9ED213D3C6646068418F47C231733E1| |937911F4E26E381D329C398F4583866E8A95862BAD05A8CC4A667E669552C4C14C6| |9C89A5FCC3A95834103617A333B168645C37E78DB9C50AAA2040DF742BE44F5A059| |E3B009F060D2E5AD46A68C30A29210DDDA82297501E4225999B34E08E66B9787097| |A108F7181A705FC003060A0845DAED54F0DE616572E083808F0C1A3E31B8B0CAE0C| |11A43130D5195C2282ADE729D5D78C350462ECEED54698713A58A6571E10FAC281D| |A8562DE52F0DC22DF93ADD5863CB2E7C16F085211F5F057C53EDD1AC33F4D168F2A| |4306995BA2D900414A05CB152375275859245294427CFB748403F452BDE1E56DA59| |8CCBDC5A09829A0DBD0CBBD12FE01DD752865506853279A5309A1757D8B70357357| |B664B02AE3184709DC14BBB7D529DAA4F4CD18F0DD5864D91728B41A54DA572DBA5| |3844BF9A0A8D2CE572B87211AE0223AA0DA30C5538C1E0A42956CA67A612071DB6C| |B20BBD45BC7C1820D3E21F5B804FBE8CD7286019A67B51CA61A0F79530D1E0978CC| |B0074F043C15F08CC1472DD4CACDD5A29F9B73519D75B2A50E036C79455B1BE5D48| |D38CE1D342124C02EB309C39CA8195D7C079B7180C3ECA70E5AE413D1224E44AB75| |B72CE811D0C7D0869B0296195E53D876F94F68C70F4EB9173F05FC12F09BC141CD7| |54A2DD0A2872D5B1E7A4DE4CB13C059AE6A1F26049C131071D807ECBC009DC14F73| |0DCA0982E2689CA4B2215FAB1A2DF309B2C4741A633B75958387B5CC678716D68EF| |57CD2950CBD9B8FCDC64E4B3B5B36B32C0E050DE21F3BA3D8376B94A04DC3F72C5F| |E21BE23D5D62E8C8D14C30871ECAA1F7E6D0FB72E87925994F687AD047F5C8630E5| |3F121D963225BD0B3850BD9C2B2979E4459B8952DDCCE165E746415F60F0769F8E2| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| There are layers of synergy with this build, and it's hard to see them if one's metric for builds is simply 45% defense and 75% resists which frankly is overkill for all but the hardest encounters. The irony with those hard mode encounters is that you are actually better off leveraging team buffs/barrier than your personal defense for survival, which means you can dump those set bonuses/slots towards debuff/buff/recharge/procs/damage rather than waste them on survival. I think of all my defenders I've ever only done the 45%/75% thing on my traps fender, and that was because it was so easy to do it without going out of my way and sacrificing balance to achieve those numbers. So I'm not saying don't chase those numbers, I'm saying don't go out of your way chasing them and sacrifice balance in the process. Here's my Necro/Poison MM. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1760;770;1540;HEX;| |78DA7594CB4F135114C6BFE94C29A5A5504B799667455E5AC1BD4244170825559EB| |A21635B60B49D362D18F93374E3BF4078E852B7C677A22BF76A8C46E46944635C98| |7A9833375C6A84107EF39D7BCEF9CE99DB466F5FF0BE793D3200A57230A5E7F3335| |13DBF90CCA50D33E11AD51716737A4A05E01B36D22D31DD4CE8F97943375D24850E| |4FCE8C2DA6D31933329A8CE73269DD8C2F554BC1F38BB3B39158C6C8674C7863994| |C2A3292D4B3863957663D8C6593C94485D013C91C75C8FAADE721F3969137AE1B29| |63612974316BC42352D9A81E4FDA6E976AC94F07FD2D3B21FF14E8715203FA34383| |021E0272CD0F0F520EB00061CA4B851824187159AD3FE29B3A35A111F3618C2F8CA| |701A9B02B6046C33CC5319857E451987827AEEDD84C7D42970006FB96535AD54550| |E5BAA2A828A1529C11F121A351A7098EB9EC23EC30A19734A498A13358A7536845A| |06833CB8A4513417361C56A4145EAE528A4FAC94E18B80CF0CABD4C02D35D0DC58E| |6351EC38A8055862AAC09586758A36C8F94EDF4609C235E4C0B78C79D7C78CF5089| |0F023E3284C97FB934023D34B0733F452AE4A55588A575A0524080A11B550C6D94E| |49797E6470FBF957A01293217908E208033AAE5E53E8D1494470A628A27A9C65501| |2FD95D2D5E0878A6DA0D9E32DCA4A335F25E6BF09B23C7F18BE104B6351B761822D| |862784026EA647B7594664502345B831C69402B473294DA284FDD28866D12B04E65| |9BE5D99AF1832F670BBE0BD817B0C7D08AE7AA0DAF186E50A73679B636B89DF66C1| |E015EA73D5BB9D3BED23E864754A45D9EA05DBC5293EA76CAF63A91E64817861C36| |ECF295E9A20F93FDD6CF3A6CE867E521FDEB91EDF520C6474EE28A803101E30EDBD| |E04838F161C91ED4584BD2A8AF4CAB7B45744A245DF2685D08120BF0BE08E662FF1| |2EC348518E95572820A6C999A42BACEF941D2D29CEEFFE47DF2BD269BA56D5BE659| |36CBB179714EBFBF15BD1593AB7C92E43E26A86C5650DE31E2FEA49F7D10F6DE132| |55E993AA14A68A85E962E15AB170AEBB6893FD247864618084A02CFC05CBFBEAC8| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| It's built and played a lot differently than the Poison/DP. On paper it has even less survival and I imagine a lot of people won't call it a good build. But I can keep up with a +4/8 team , provide damage and support, also drop poison trap in melee range without face planting. There are a few reasons for this: 1 - teams have buffs and ways to split/share aggro 2 - I know how to play my build and use all the tools available to me (that includes the tried and true defense/resist set bonuses) despite the squish factor. Certainly 45% def + 75% resist builds can cover for deficiencies in both 1 and 2. But once you master 2, a world of new build possibilities open up and that's when you can explore off the beaten path, and there are some interesting and fun builds down those other paths.

I didn't have any issues opening that old link but here is the data chunk | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1802;739;1478;HEX;| |78DA75945B4F135110C7FFDBDD72AFB416E40E022258A052F503182F240A4D08788| |B51EBA66CE8264DDBB425910FE0BB224894AB6F5E5F8DEFBE6AD4E89BBEF8010413| |1FBCA0A9C3CE8E9ED27493B3FB3B733973CECCEC89DE3855F7FAD5F87168BE93493| |3978B9DA077DECA564567F366DE4EA7B0F354D2687735B1493335634D87277273F1| |841D67875E514ECD6632E96C3E1CB5527933198B9A293B339B74560A9C4925AC2CC| |9C3023513E974323C95B1ACE93A07C72D3363A7667CCE64D49E49E469562FAA692B| |9B4BD89996D3193B1E968051336ED16B87E79A699BFD342651F414BCF4328088010| |F34010F83015DC060A88097E1F6AE6568B4C2D19CA38FA6680C0D373D8EE6003EEB| |2EACB26D3F36041E30F4523A75C55BD3F191BDABF089E13CC9BD8A89C78B15D2047| |776B7CA10C123B6BDE016E8DF662AF1D070977BCC5083270C7BF154E019C33E72AD| |D69448D568D45CA73F24E830D089363ED3459AD7AA916AF1868F5487B702EF18F6E| |03D831F1F187A28924F89A4F93028B62E2CD2A75ECD4C3D96F9B47E39FF259207D4| |DA0624F5FBA17B1DE886215021F0C270ABF29CE12EF906FF17B1E00DE23B6B1AF04| |3E027432B7E196E846D81DF0CF3E4DBA866A411B7DCBC625EE00E43331604161934| |CA4893DA604D28D0039DE42D6AA65AD0A439A568C5112E0515196D8A89DE26656BC| |7A8EEC259864E8C3104C8A943AD75873875C2CF104103C36532E852F3DC85FBBC4A| |08CB0CC35861388C5581358175866D3FD0A3EEB34742F6625377614BE01BC33DB2E| |C53B3DA8715CED841AC09AC0B6C18F27B312C91CB80BAF3015CE10E3984AB02D704| |621EF750D7054C8605F21D54971994FE1A92FE1A8257C06DB461540A54310429E76| |1B59661E9E488F47603998CA86D302239EA368A2E9A42A1DD28B9929C8E192F239F| |308A2F2A9A38F22F3524D78AE4C3FC0B6E966A0658B355AAE9E67A7D2DD52C7112C| |742C5472B84CA6C74A48C3C52467EB48CFC581979B5BFF8CE2DBC0CED12FC0577AF| |F375| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

I've seen your water/poison build and here's my take on your question, and this doesn't apply to just defenders but all builds. This is not about min/maxing, not at first, but it will involve min/maxing, all within the proper context. A good build starts with understanding and defining your game plan. Your game plan is heavily influenced by the powersets you choose, your understanding of the game, and your personal preferences and playstyle. Take poison for example, if you avoid melee and don't take full advantage of ven gas and to a lesser extent, a fully procced out poison trap, would that be a good build? That depends on your definition of "good." It can be a viable build, but that's a really low bar, a lot of builds are viable. Are you getting the most out of poison and playing to its strengths? Most assuredly not. A good build knows its game plan, and exploits synergies with powers to help execute that game plan. It also knows its weaknesses and finds ways to remediate the weaknesses that have the biggest impact. Take your poison/water. Poison does heavy lifting in melee range late game with VG, a heavily procced poison trap has synergy with that game plan (-res debuffs is the only way to increase proc damage and VG does just that), survival is supplemented by the knockdowns in water blast, and the lack of a heal is remediated by dehydrate. If you consider mez effects super important to address then Rune of protection offers some relief. This is the puzzle you have to put together, and we haven't even gotten to slotting. On slotting there's one thing that separates truly good builds apart from merely viable builds - Focus. A smattering of regen bonuses here and some recharge bonuses over there sprinkled with some S/L resist bonuses with a dash of movement speed bonuses, etc... makes a viable build. If you want a good build, learn to ignore the distractions and FOCUS. Your focus comes from understanding the game plan, what you need to do to make that happen, and what holes to patch. You can't do everything, so narrow down your goals to those most important to letting your build do the thing you want it to do. Conventional wisdom is just that - conventional. Its general knowledge people pass around to make themselves look smart and knowledgeable. Those that don't question these from time to time and look at the actual numbers can forever stick to making viable builds. For example, the majority of people I encounter stick numinas/miracles and all the other recovery procs in health in every build. Some builds don't need that extra recovery and those slots are wasted. A lot of people believe softcap defense is the end all be all to survival and will swear by 45% defense and at least 75% S/L resist in every build. If you understood your game plan and the powers in your toolkit you might think out of the box every once in a while. I can get into the nitty gritty about slot economy and optimization but lets just stop here first. Here are some examples of designing a build with a game plan and building it with focus.

It's got a mix of layered mitigation, Ablative carapace will put in work. Here's my take on Bio survival:

If you read any of my posts you'd know I don't avoid melee, but I'm smart about when I engage melee. Beta Decay works on melee ATs because those guys are too dumb to move and they have the survival aspect covered to play dumb that way. On a Blaster, one mez is all it takes to nullify all the benefit of these auras, 2 - 3 hits is all it takes to face plant the blaster. Maybe it's me but I joust the shit out of my melee stuff. So by my playstyle, beta decay is not a must pick at the level it's available compared to say another actual melee attack. It's a nice bonus when it gives me a boost but by no means a boost I depend on and will go out of my way to put myself in danger for. 12% recharge with one foe in range isn't bad, but it's also not something I consider game changing. Granted that buff can go up to 35% with 10 foes in range, but at examplared levels where you S/L/M defense is in the teens and you have 10+ mobs close to you, I'd be very hesitant to stay in that range for very long unless I have good support. In addition energy blast is full of force feedback proc opportunities which further dilutes the impact of the recharge boost that beta decay offers. Assuming an fully slotted exemplared build you can already have two fairly reliable AoE FF proc triggers in torrent and explosive by level 22, more triggers if you really go all in on the ST attacks too, so is beta decay really going to make THAT much of a difference?

I'd drop beta decay as a late game pick, consider that you want to exemplar and be effective, how survivable are you going to be standing close to mobs to reap the full benefit of beta decay at those levels you exemplar at? This and sonic disruption and other toggles that encourage you to stand still in melee range are trap powers, they look great for people that play melee ATs, but you are playing a blaster. As for being effective exemping and how that relates to builds, that's just another set of goals that you have to define for the build. What's your metric of success? Mine is that any of my builds should be defensively sound by level 30, for those with scorpion shield I'd like to at least have respectable range defense (softcap for many of my builds) prior to level 35 when I pick up the shield.. The last patch gave blasters even more offensive potential early - mid game by offering the nuke as early as level 26 and you should absolutely embrace it because nukes are fun. If you are going to take hover then you should try to fit evasive maneuvers early in the build. This is what my outline would look like up to level 30 for a more exemp friendly build. If I dropped the flight requirement I would have fit in more melee powers but compromises had to be made to fit that pool in. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Technology Blaster Primary Power Set: Energy Blast Secondary Power Set: Atomic Manipulation Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Hero Profile: Level 1: Power Blast -- Empty(A) Level 1: Negatron Slam -- Empty(A) Level 2: Energy Torrent -- Empty(A) Level 4: Fly -- Empty(A) Level 6: Power Burst -- Empty(A) Level 8: Sniper Blast -- Empty(A) Level 10: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A) Level 12: Aim -- Empty(A) Level 14: Hover -- Empty(A) Level 16: Hasten -- Empty(A) Level 18: Evasive Maneuvers -- Empty(A) Level 20: Metabolic Acceleration -- Empty(A) Level 22: Explosive Blast -- Empty(A) Level 24: Kick -- Empty(A) Level 26: Nova -- Empty(A) Level 28: Tough -- Empty(A) Level 30: Weave -- Empty(A) Level 32: [Empty] Level 35: [Empty] Level 38: [Empty] Level 41: [Empty] Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Stamina -- Empty(A) Level 4: Afterburner Level 49: Quick Form ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;850;335;670;HEX;| |78DA85D25F6B82501400F0EB34224D42A25AB81EDAC3607B903DD636B6B1D65E561| |0B5F790BC98205E2983F9F5F6BC7D94FDF906EEE8B171846407AEDCF3BBC7ABD7E3| |F4F5B1FEF13EB967923EF2EDED76F900D7886FD417BE5A07C2176ECCD2A8C230F3B| |5E5DC0E5CEE58E3806FDC18EF38DBAF2D766128369135B71DCF8E3C112CA776E085| |3B3F4B983613C2B79E7CCF5D47F56C3EE176E805AE9A258B907347C79AB404168C7| |1E8ADAC91F01DD8297D447C0CEFD28731608548D201C106E7877D081389BA84AEC1| |E164EA32FA152415EA15F4EBFC7BFC7915BD0D58A35E43BF8144A3AEA1D7A05EA7A| |EA39F8237A837D0DF2E1833A81BF9FE70DE26F526FA2D242DEA2DF423D8BF43BD83| |7E0749977A175D867A53226EA22BE03DEA3DF4E4FF38510EB7A8AF147A94249392C| |29972B8979F6A71837DFD77897F95F84F89B376F15F499EA12997147E01201CEA5B| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

@Itashu Of course, I can't stop you or anyone from copying any builds posted. What's more important to me is that you understand why I did what I did. Not everyone will read all of what I post along with the build but my hope is that those that do will gain better insight that help them construct cohesive builds with a cohesive game plan.

@Itashu 30ish defense is good enough if you know your build/game mechanics well and know what you are doing. Aside from the "every build must have numina/miracle/xxx" and the general playbase' blind obedience to that mantra, I have a few other comments on your build. Survival is a combination of hard stats like def/resist, how you play, and how you use your toolkit. On hard stats like def/resist, there are powers that you should invest slots in and those that yield very little ROI. Take stealth for example, 5 slots for the S/L resist in your build. But what's all that extra enhancement in defense netting you numbers wise? Stealth has 1.75% base defense, meanwhile weave has 3.5% base. If you are going to over-enhance a power wouldn't it be wiser to pump those slots/enhancements into weave to squeeze out more defense since it has a higher base value? I propose that you take a look at the other options in your toolkit. Starting with the idea that you can stun/knockdown mobs while you do your thing. Dead things don't fight back, and mobs that don't get a chance to hurt you is just as good as mobs that miss/do less damage against you. You have Tremor that does KD, you can leverage the KD synergy by using IOs in other powers like the Ragnorok kd proc in ball lightning and the Avalanche kd proc in short circuit or even the Overwhelming force KD proc to string together an AoE volley that can KD mobs. Lean into this and slot Tremor for damage and you can have a AoE chain with decent mitigation that can kill stuff and keep them on their backs. Short circuit also drains endurance and if slotted for end drain, two applications should bottom out most mobs if not outright kill them. This way you have some layered mitigation through KD -> end drain and then your hard stats. Take a look at this build: This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Blaster Primary Power Set: Electrical Blast Secondary Power Set: Earth Manipulation Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Lightning Bolt (A) Apocalypse - Damage (3) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (3) Apocalypse - Recharge/Accuracy (5) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (5) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 1: Heavy Mallet Hamidon Origin:Nucleolus Exposure (47) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative) (48) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 2: Ball Lightning (A) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (27) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (29) Ragnarok - Recharge/Accuracy (29) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (31) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown Level 4: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (7) Kismet - Accuracy +6% Level 6: Short Circuit (A) Power Transfer - Damage/EndMod (13) Power Transfer - EndMod (13) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge (15) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (15) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (17) Superior Avalanche - Recharge/Chance for Knockdown Level 8: Charge Up (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 10: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (11) Recharge Reduction IO Level 12: Zapp (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage (37) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance (39) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range (39) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (39) Sting of the Manticore - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 14: Super Speed (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance (37) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) (49) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 16: Tremor (A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage (17) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (19) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (19) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (25) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 18: Kick (A) Empty Level 20: Mud Bath (A) Preemptive Optimization - Accuracy/Recharge (21) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Endurance (21) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Recharge (23) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Accuracy/Endurance (23) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge (25) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Endurance/Recharge Level 22: Tough (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (31) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (50) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Level 24: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (31) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (33) Shield Wall - Defense (33) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 26: Thunderous Blast (A) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage (34) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge (36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (37) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage Level 28: Fracture (A) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge (42) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge/Accuracy (42) Absolute Amazement - Recharge/Accuracy (43) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Endurance (43) Absolute Amazement - Chance for ToHit Debuff Level 30: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (33) Reactive Defenses - Defense (34) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (34) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 32: Seismic Smash (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (40) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold (40) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (40) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (42) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (48) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 35: Charged Armor (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (43) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (49) Reactive Armor - Resistance Level 38: Beryl Crystals (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 41: Voltaic Sentinel (A) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage (45) Superior Defiant Barrage - Damage/RechargeTime (45) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (45) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (46) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (46) Superior Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status Level 44: Build Up (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 47: Tactics (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 49: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Brawl | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1745;756;1512;HEX;| |78DA75945B4F135110C7672F552954C47287022D22D0E25240302698181512A5552| |2896FA659DB4DD9A46937A524FA017C35D1684C14511FFD1CBE6AD4E89B7E03438B| |12A378C93A7B66074F4BDCA4DDDFCE9C99FF9C993D9BBE79A1E5F5ABD4595042E70| |BE6DA5AE61CFE57AC72206DE6ED2C78D741FC0DFAE6CC55B398B772C642C1CA56CA| |76D62C50408CFD2BEB8E532A578C05B35C59CDA4CDA2EDAC17CC8A5D2A42CB72A95| |4305296E9D8C57C503CAC3896950B095CB4F3AB1574B4F2AA9C555E5BB59DAE05C7| |CE1A9C3EBD8E393DBAD58D558DE26FD22B5101BE5C1D60420598D24105836192408| |724C314C1E738C897177D57179E13708FC08079F4E81A42C6D3D451F23645273D69| |595B8119F2F4C249827E98659823188053049DD8584D8A5634E85084E700FC41430| |4ABC45B402A2F10801DAFAA2668816D863BAA80C3709AE119557E049E134C8B29EE| |49B9F8F0826A88610D4D720D4D90009125C83083B7667993CDF00644F031784B701| |CDE31BC67F840308C022169076A083EAA7EF427EE629F26A08AC368FDD74F37D00A| |1BBC934D82A330AFFA7086A01BAAAAE8552F4F4545C93649121F5CBCA086E9C3D24| |60261F84E59DBE107C32E4127FC64F8A5FB3ABF09344CDF21A5513B605AF327FB4D| |132D9B825DB2E8B8B64B5AAB75F188076091960CC125862582395CD923B7A1071E9| |1270A8F09866183E109C3A6E6B7F529C117DC6E9F3CB73E58A2068D438A214D1087| |CB0C5708DAB0F2885C79842B1F822A575363D821F88A9283F2EB3A08F7A969A3F08| |0618CDED25188138C43822427E1228137BD98AC1D134D8C78E50D28FE118C1224C5| |4A846DD41E91A73E82758974B3781B93E73E86C759782640615019343EFE3A43806| |00B0512B240824E880E61EC95217B0C966E474F52F624B98B51BDFEB3E5F6EBF55F| |2261C4B736B5DFAE519B967539037A148AD80AD6A7E64CD5FFD86B0D76CC1EA5791| |E822D866B54F6F6FE1C0FFD7398109EDCDE8696E2F57B775FC6EB3F056E2A8C9172| |0F96830D86EB8D06B3D170A3D1F0172DD7E267| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| The game plan is to leverage the KD procs to augment survival. Aside from the game plan, take a look at the power pick progression. This build allows you to be effective every step of the leveling journey as well as when you exemp. You have your defense numbers by level 30 as opposed to level 44 in your build when you pick up combat jumping. Speaking of combat jumping, mobility is key for builds like these so combat jumping is taken early. Super Speed + stealth proc in sprint gives you full invis against most mobs and that's very useful for blasters to approach undetected for the alpha strike. My outlook is that you don't have go out of your way to chase hard stats, especially resist on a blaster. Killing stuff fast is far more effective and enjoyable.

Mudbath with miracle proc = end recovery = 4.56/s Mudbath with the miracle proc swapped out for a level 50 EndMod IO. End Recovery = 4.64/s Blindly following what everyone says are things you need to slot in EVERY build is something I'd really like to eradicate from the minds of aspiring build makers. As for fundamental blaster tips that might also give you some insight into blaster survival. I posted a lot of long winded stuff on that topic. Here's one to get you started:

Couldn't have said this better. I'd like to drill into this a bit more. First I absolutely encourage people to explore other ways to build their characters. This game is so forgiving that there are a lot of possibilities for viable, off-meta builds and people can still be effective and have fun with them. But I believe intent is an important starting point for constructing a build. Before we define our build goals, I think it's important to understand WHY those builds goals are important and worth building toward. So this is not a critique of your build, but rather a cross-examination of the intent that led to your decision to focus on these build goals. Obviously there's a lot of emphasis placed on melee range survival in this build. What led you to that? Is the thought process "Martial leans heavily into melee and I want to make a build that allows me to survive in that range for me to take advantage of those powers" or "I specifically want to forego my ranged powers and only take melee powers whenever possible to make a true melee blaster" Those two thought processes are very different starting points for a build. If your build is inspired by the latter then absolutely the build succeeds in what it sets out to do. However, if your starting point is the former then you've left a lot on the table evidenced by the omission of the snipe, your T3 blast and explosive blast. Consider the following scenario: You are fighting mobs with autohit PBAOE auras like envoy of shadows, nosferatu or the nictus AV in ITF. Your defenses does nothing, and S/L resists also doesn't help you survive against neg energy damage. You have no reliable self heal. Let's say the team is also light on healing support. What do you do? get a few licks in and then spam your T1/torrent until your health ticks back up? I suppose that could work, but you could also have a more streamlined ranged chain if you took those ranged attacks as well. Perhaps your counter would be "but I have to take the melee/pbaoe attacks to slot touch of death/obliteration which gives me melee defense, there are no range/target aoe sets that give melee defense, so it is difficut to fit those powers in and dedicate slots to them" So let's examine the importance of melee defense. You have no taunt aura, if anything reaction time will mess with mob AI and make them run away from you from time to time. Most melee attacks have a 7" range. So how many mobs realistically can you bunch up in melee range to have melee defense really work for you? On teams if you are standing next to the tank, I would imagine that gauntlet would have most mobs attacking the tank, so then what are you getting hit with that makes melee defense so paramount to build towards? Have you also considered how you'd manage mobs outside of melee range that are all too happy just to shoot at you, and a lot of those attacks have -def too. What about the other tools in your toolkit? How often do you knock mobs on their backs with your KB attacks? is it enough to chain KD mobs in melee range so you can do your thing? How fast do you kill? Dead mobs don't fight back, how long on average does mobs last in melee range against you and does that justify what you poured into melee defense? Ultimately what is the ROI you are getting on your investment into melee defense? Again, not a critique on your build. The build is fine, you obviously know how to stack set bonuses and you optimized according to the goals you set for the build. I just like to uncover the "WHY" behind setting those specific goals.

That's cool, I'm glad your build works for you. I just want to share how I see optimization and building with your requirements in mind.

Thanks for catching that. I remember one of the mez provided -kb on my grav/psi dom. So @BazookaTwo, instead of crushing field -> propel do Gravity distortion -> propel. That will save you a slot on propel.

@BazookaTwoYou are going to want some kb-kd in singularity and wormhole. Propel doesn't need it, it's mostly single target and by the time you propel something you can crushing field the target first to disable KB for a few seconds, as you want containment damage when you use propel in the first place. Wormhole is an opener, your opening sequence is not going to be crushing field first then wormhole, so kb-kd is essential here. The whole point of enflame on singularity is to have Sing suck mobs up and burn them down, without the kb-kd mobs will bounce right off and you won't be able to maximize the potential of enflame. You also don't need to 6 proc the ST hold on every single controller build. Gravity has propel, and it eases the need to get more DPS out of your controls by stuffing procs in them. Storm also has damage but matures mid-late game. So you can shift those slots elsewhere if you are looking at the big picture. All in all you can use more force feedback procs and not in gale because it's not going proc very consistently in that power and also you don't have any investment in gale for ACC or kb-kd. There are the powers that FF will trigger consistently in - wormhole, tornado, lightning storm, and water spout. I'd replace Gale with O2 boost now that you can take the Tier 2 on character creation. It provides immunity to stun and sleep to teammates and is a much more useful power on teams. If you want more survival put a preventive medicine absorb proc in spirit ward. You are not going to be actually using that toggle too often and the proc triggers passively even if you aren't using the power. Steamy mist can also take resist enhancements if you care to bump up your resists more. Most people do it because it covers a lot of damage types. I would happily rip the 3 sunk sluts into hurricane for a paltry 5% global recharge and allocate those slots to tornado, lightning storm and water spout for more consistent FF proc triggers. Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture. Are you going to use bile spray or is having the power for concept reasons (and never using it) enough? Storm thrives on chaos where containment has a minimum impact, bile spray needs containment to do more damage. Dimensional shift is often misused and a very situational power. If you care more about recharge then it's better off to get an LOTG mule/utility like hover or Maneuvers. You also don't have high psi defense, you have elusive mind turned on. The build I created for you adheres to your build requirements and power preferences. It's more cohesive and stacks up relevant stats more efficiently. Look at the bonuses to ranged and AoE defense, slow resistance, recharge, etc.... It's slightly cheaper and doesn't rely on full purple sets to accomplish these goals. It also doesn't lag behind in the recovery department and sports decent end reduction in key powers you want to spam. The 4 FF recharge procs will bump up that 78% global recharge bonus significantly which means you can spam more freezing rains/tornadoes etc which is what makes storm powerful. Take a look at that build, there is a method behind the madness. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them.

Yes, in my travels I picked up that skill too. Now I know how to make friends and when to hold my tongue. @biostemmaybe change the title of the thread to "IthinkIcanhelpyoubebetteratthisitis" A title does say a lot and set the tone for the conversation.

Any time I see powers that slow I think ice mistral's torment. I also find the pure range defense doesn't cover some ranged AoEs, and I've been supplementing ranged defense with AoE defense on strictly ranged builds. Here's a different take from all the builds I've seen posted based on your original requirements. 30% def to ranged and AoE. 4 FF proc triggers. With all the def debuffs you don't really need tactics to hit stuff unless you get blinded, hurricane can be used to kiss mobs to further neuter their to-hit and range or you can just pop a luck and get 60 seconds of godmode. Even without excessive winter IOs the build has 60% slow resist. Endurance management on toggles with only the crucial ones turned on is good and the more endurance intensive spammy powers such as freezing rain, tornado and lightning storm all have a decent amount of end redux. You probably still want to keep p2w recovery serums ready though, storm is just that much of a hog especially when those FF procs start kicking in. I took muscalature but you can take cardiac and if you do you'll probably not have any end issues. I don't see the point of bile spray and would have taken hibernate instead but it's your concept. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Don't sleep on Ice Mistral's torment people!: Level 50 Magic Controller Primary Power Set: Gravity Control Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Crush (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (3) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (3) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (5) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (7) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (7) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 1: O2 Boost Hamidon Origin:Golgi Exposure Level 2: Gravity Distortion (A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration (9) Superior Will of the Controller - Control Duration/Recharge (15) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge (17) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance (17) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge (19) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage Level 4: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (5) Kismet - Accuracy +6% Level 6: Propel (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage (45) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (45) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 8: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (9) Recharge Reduction IO Level 10: Steamy Mist (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (11) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (11) Shield Wall - Defense (13) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (13) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance Level 12: Mystic Flight (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance (47) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range Level 14: Spirit Ward (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb Level 16: Freezing Rain (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (19) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (43) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (45) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (46) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (46) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 18: Crushing Field (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (21) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (39) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (39) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (40) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (48) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 20: Enflame (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance (21) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 22: Wormhole (A) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge/Accuracy (23) Absolute Amazement - Recharge/Accuracy (23) Superior Overpowering Presence - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/RechargeTime (25) Superior Overpowering Presence - RechargeTime/Energy Font (25) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 24: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (34) Reactive Defenses - Defense (36) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 26: Singularity (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge (27) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance (42) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (43) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown Level 28: Tornado (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage (29) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance (29) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (34) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 30: Lightning Storm (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge (31) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/RechargeTime (31) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (31) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (33) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (33) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 32: Hurricane (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 35: Water Spout (A) Artillery - Damage/Endurance (36) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (37) Artillery - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (37) Artillery - Endurance/Recharge/Range (37) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown (39) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 38: Gravity Distortion Field (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold (40) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge (40) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold (42) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold Level 41: Shark Skin Hamidon Origin:Ribosome Exposure Level 44: Bile Spray (A) Accuracy IO Level 47: Tactics (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 49: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Containment Level 1: Sprint | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1765;787;1574;HEX;| |78DA6554CD4F1351109FED6E292DE5B3F22520DB0A2D0814D08B27630435629B903| |4F1669AB52CB049BBDB6C172267E56814917832D18B0AE851FF0ABD6934EAC570E6| |4389070FA64E7776E4B96CF236BF37F39BDFCC7BF3DECBDE9E8EBE7F97B90852CB5| |451AB54F25396E9D856B1A8DBC1ACB6601400BFD169CB4C396AA5A8EB65D532D56B| |055DCD1A15C7D68AA98AEA587649371DB5AC5BE5A21E0F6140E2488505D3576D6DD| |9705678DE2F502E2DCDCFA773359D7C6EA954B24CC35C80E8AC8551195D2BE32CE2| |4E72655D9F237BCEB20BBABDD2CCA439DDAE2C1A65F572D928A4A7AD92616AA897C| |FE8CB86E62C6A663EAB551C0CE8C2EA9238EE49F8AB0DFAAA4180308E4905021061| |D040408128813A6864D04440F3C9E0388F2324C37DB44A6202099ECB6E4C3DBC20D| |0042F09B4C026832D026DB04DA003B75316642419DA25AFAA3F68E853E001CE8302| |25108427E05246E12983670412281712E5423052F384B12A0F14D01D160B0F73C60| |85C915D4A04660844E13A951985DFBCA65FE45A1F046800A1AA06F81A702969F846| |601CBE1058436EE3D1365671B24B7273686C168B69E636B5719BCE709B46B94D63D| |CA6316ED31A4AB48A32AD2C738265922C93649914CB8CB3CC06D61913772F066F14| |4FE62D8147E86E1796126C870C2DB203B20C7A89DB55EB1E811D0227619538ADD8A| |74E2193DCC94D88C31E6DCD69D8677048600319DD4290D20DFB014FF7078161380C| |78BBF69381977B01237BC4CA7BE08028BD1CDDCBD12A47C7E1BBEC01AFF24554E89| |304993E784D094EC126832D06DB8AA7F78A8127A3A342BF707C7012A7F379071326| |C43A13A004BD8D381770290350479601A867E0AD32C909D6516150DCE141F81070E| |F530A3E32F84460183E1358C5DC43E2551B72BBE452CED2464CC0057A00EEE27C44| |7C1A46B00D2E2586CD4D8B6B4BD3DAF018A16742F44C70DB6B4706E0BF87A68A9F7| |B82447B35739C28D38A6715F1A9428F4412BB91636FD81895B3EFF3A04E5CF66ED6| |0CDA53B5CB7C830ADC3BAE32442A073E0FC2C7FC003CA48655FF7DB3489E14C8D59| |B7E83E637DCF21B32319FE12F7C29F029| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Feedback is a gift, being able to take constructive feedback is a skill. It's hard to stomach sometimes but at the end of the day total dismissal of any feedback is not a sign of growth, not just in game but also in RL. For example when I start a new job I shadow more seasons colleagues and eventually I take lead on some projects with them shadowing me. They give me feedback, sometimes solicited, sometimes not. I take some of those feedback into heart and I can discuss other feedback with open dialogue if I feel that I have a counter to their point. If I harbored the "don't you dare to assume you know me and tell me what to do" attitude I wouldn't have a job. I know this is a video game, but it doesn't mean that there's no room to exercise that bit of emotionally intelligent human interaction just because you don't know who's on the other keyboard. Is it really THAT difficult to respond with unsolicited advice whether good or bad with "thank you for that insight, I'll look into it!" Worst case scenario the advice is ignored, best case scenario maybe you've learned something that can help team play or even up your own enjoyment of the game.

1 - Not every mission in every story arc is a kill all. so there is a lot of benefit to being stealthy and being able to zip to the end objective for certain missions. For that reason it's important to have some form of total invisibility, my go to is super speed + steal IO in sprint. This idea of getting some form of total invis is not just a blaster tip, this is a general build tip for any AT. 2 - Top end survival will depend on some catalyzed IOs that you can only do at level 50 along with the inclusion of epic/patron pools. You are planning to make it to 50 right? When you say you are not planning high end content do you mean just not going bonkers with 4* ITFs and the like, because even the top end of top end survival builds still need support for that, Also many ditch the personal defense focus in favor of enhancing their primary role whether it's doing damage or playing support for that level of difficulty. 3 - Melee phobia is a real thing and a lot of player never get past the idea that blasters are a ranged AT. Blasters are a damage AT, period. You need to learn the tricks of the trade to enjoy success as a blaster. This is what people should focus on more rather than builds, so I'm going to start here before I get to what a build designed for this type of playstyle can look like. I'm going to paste some comment I had posted in the past on blaster fundamentals and what I view as the cornerstones of blaster survival: The forums are full of builds but rarely do posters dedicate time to teaching people how to play. No one talks about the benefits and importance of the following: Movement - When to move and where to move (i.e don't stand in behind a tank that's in front of an AV/GM and wonder why you are taking so much damage from the mob's cones, don't stand right next to the dark servants that master illusionists summon and wonder why all of a sudden you can't hit anything, etc...) Target priority - DE emanators, Tsoo sorcerers, sappers bosses in general, etc... Don't take down minions and other trash fodder because they are the first thing that you tabbed onto, take the time to pick out the proper threat because letting those stay alive (i.e. most bosses) increases the odds of them killing you. There are a lot of things playing melee ATs lets you ignore, playing a blaster will be rude awakening for you if you carry that mindset forward with this AT. You also need to understand your build and how that impacts your targeting priorities. What's more dangerous in a carnie pack, a dark ring mistress or a master illusionist against a blaster with softcap defenses? I would imagine a lot would say the master illusionist because it mezzes and summons pets. I would take out the dark ring mistress first. I only need 1 breakfree against the mezzes, but if the DRM hits me with her killer debuff it's game over. Now I need breakfrees and extra defense inspirations just to stay alive, and it goes down hill from there. That's a chance you do not want to take, the longer you let the DRM live, the more likely she's going to debuff you. Line of sight - if you wade into one of those underground missions with resistance and the mob placement is all spread out and your idea of engaging is to hover in the open and trade blows, you are probably not going to have a good time playing a blaster. Breaking line of sight will give you a window to pop inspirations/recover. Against factions such as the resistance it's also beneficial to use LOS to bunch them up so that you can kill them quicker with AoEs instead of shooting them one by one. As a blaster, fighting large packs of resistance one by one while they are spread out will kill you. Always be aware of where you are and where you can duck behind if you need a breather. Inspirations and what to prioritize - purples and breakfrees, combine them on your downtime on the way to the next group and most importantly, use them. This is especially important during leveling when you haven't accumulated enough IO bonuses towards defense. On defense, it is not the end all be all when it comes to survival for some builds, least of which Smashing/Lethal defense for blasters, even if S/L remains the most common damage type. Range defense is superior to S/L defense and melee defense for melee heavy builds. Why you ask? Because when you have the means to kill/control mobs in your face, then what you really need to worry about are the stuff shooting at you with nasty debuffs and such from range. Also, you can always use movement to take advantage of range defense - mobs don't care if you are 10 ft away or 50 ft away, if they can't melee you, they are either chasing you or shooting you. Mobility is the most important, the most underrated and the most underappreciated tool in your arsenal. Some people can't tear themselves away from hover/flight but I feel that if you really want to succeed as a melee blaster you need to be mobile. I see a lot of hover blasters die because they don't value movement and the ability to be mobile and shrug off immobilize/-fly/slows which causes them to get stuck in the middle of mobs/patch debuff(especially -fly and slow) and they can't move out quickly. Which means combat jumping is an important part of the blaster toolkit as it allows you to ignore immobilization, if you can't move, chances are defeat isn't too far behind. Here are some videos I made to highlight some blaster tips: Now on the combo you selected and approaching building it, spotting synergies, what key powers that you typically want and what the build's gimmic is, as well as any vulnerabilities that you might want to address. This build kind of revolves around soul drain, as most /Dark builds do, because it gives you a damage buff that scales with mob size, so you want to be able to fire this off as often as you can every or every other pack to sustain the buff. So you'll really want to emphasize on high recharge because it'll be really really hard to get perma-soul drain without heavy investment into recharge bonuses. Synergy - energy blast does KB but that also means it can take a lot of force feedback procs, which helps with recharge. Anti-synergy - if you want to cram force feedback procs in, and I'll also pay the KB tax on the AoE powers, then I have to give up set bonuses that provide defense because most of those require the full set slotted. Synergy - but having less defense is not necessarily a deal breaker, it's not the end all be all metric for survival. Knock back/knock down is also a form of mitigation, and energy blast does plenty of that, spamming torrent + explosive blast can keep a lot of things on their butts which you shoot/punch them. Synergy - Touch of beyond also carries a to-hit debuff, so even if I had less defense I can still debuff the biggest baddest target enough so that what defenses I have can work for me. Vulnerabilities - no mez protection. I can take combat jumping to nullify immob, I can slot some kb prot IOs, I can build for high enough defense to dodge mezzes in the first place, and lastly, I'll insp combine break frees and keep some handy. Vulnerabilities - since the build relies on high recharge for soul drain then any slow/-rech will neuter the game plan. Slows are also debilitating for blasters because a slow/immobile blaster will be a dead blaster. I can address this by slotting winter IOs to build up slow resistance. This forms the basis of my goals with the build - emphasis on recharge assisted by force feedback procs. decent defense, decent slow resistance, kb and immob protection, and a way to become invisible to most mobs so I can stealth missions. You never told me your budget, so I'm going to start off with the high end build which doesn't use any purple sets, but does use a handful of winter IOs and all the blaster superior ATOs. If you have a budget, then it would be a good idea to articulate that when you ask for builds. The devil is in the details. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Blaster Primary Power Set: Energy Blast Secondary Power Set: Darkness Manipulation Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Power Blast (A) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage (3) Superior Defiant Barrage - Damage/RechargeTime (5) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (7) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (3) Superior Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status Level 1: Smite (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage (40) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance (42) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (42) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (42) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold Level 2: Energy Torrent (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage (7) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (9) Bombardment - Damage (9) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage (11) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown (11) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 4: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (13) Kismet - Accuracy +6% Level 6: Power Burst (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage (47) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (47) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (48) Superior Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge Level 8: Sniper Blast (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage (15) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance (15) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range (17) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (17) Sting of the Manticore - Chance of Damage(Toxic) (46) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 10: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (13) Recharge Reduction IO Level 12: Aim (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up (34) Rectified Reticle - To Hit Buff/Recharge (36) Rectified Reticle - Increased Perception Level 14: Super Speed (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) (36) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance (49) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 16: Soul Drain (A) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage (19) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge (19) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (21) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (21) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage Level 18: Kick (A) Empty Level 20: Touch of the Beyond (A) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff (39) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff (39) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff/Endurance/Recharge (40) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (40) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage Level 22: Explosive Blast (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (23) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance (23) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage (25) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff (27) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown (27) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 24: Tough (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (25) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (37) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (37) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (37) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 26: Nova (A) Eradication - Damage/Recharge (29) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (29) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage (31) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (31) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (31) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 28: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (33) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (33) Shield Wall - Defense (33) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 30: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (34) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (34) Reactive Defenses - Defense (45) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 32: Midnight Grasp (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage (43) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance (43) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge (43) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (45) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 35: Scorpion Shield (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 38: Tactics (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 41: Victory Rush (A) Endurance Modification IO Level 44: Dark Consumption (A) Preemptive Optimization - Accuracy/Recharge Level 47: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 49: Super Jump (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance (49) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Sprint | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1687;739;1478;HEX;| |78DA6594494F535114C7FF6FA8C850015BC632954110A45657A2468D020B6913221| |F80BCC0B35448DB94A2F201DCABD19828E8CE38EED4B8D7A5468DEE74A3A898A860| |A2468D21F5F49E77F4626FF25E7FEF9EE97FEF3969FCE460C5E347B10330FC87669| |CD9D9F183F4CEB9595FDC492427505825F484BCEDF1234E2AE14E4686526E3631CF| |CE5D621B9BCB64D2D95C64D0C94EA75CCA157752C9CCDC8C934BA653A8184DA7672| |231D7C924538932F5319671DD49BFC2E164622A47864AF19A74B3B353C94CC35026| |3911910A7167C2A55781E7EB4956273DBB0A1A0DC8CAFBE865033B6C98301808193| |6C0921D5B7C7C0CD9E0FA34B47B9A2DDD38C3B0156705CE099C671850C1C63F1106| |EE48C97B0C1BB12660FA149461C9F6E094A9A096EEDAD24418166A0C65A9C01A6D3| |4DBD84D3F3E5DA70FD7384B0437046E326CC72D81DB0C7B0AFD34349D25780265D9| |84A702CF18AAF05CE00543BFE86C279DA5BACE52F4155C4A49A7077BE9A75CBB11B| |31CD739388C0582808D0E2C7A40E9FC5A3AD38F57ECDB81970C51842C0573D4A74A| |FC3D42DE57898B6CD98C4B020B0C412C0A5CB6BC7C57184C2A59ADC9A38F3C2D1CA| |7F4017D9A025832D5C56FC15B817702EF19BAB12CF081611FC5D6E8F35083FBDC81| |5ADC157863A99BAAC7326B6A947968947BB648659DAEA64E7D52817AECE4A04EFC1| |2F826F0DDF2BAFE93613FC536E85D6FC047D6D9844F022B0C2D183095AC16BCE6E8| |165163939A90A6C60AC974B66198CFD286C302231C5D4D41CD7A50B30485B16A79B| |0C2B00D5F19E6A90BADFAB95B719447B0170981298124BCE86302D30CBFAB80767D| |4CDBA5763F8286D21920795D9A0BBA488E72B9DA0BF4E8961E3A94B29C20757DBAA| |50F3FB87141CA1681668948C13AB2447529D17F93EDCD7A930D7DE50B4F6124C3F6| |FA7FA67CACD8D1E214A3B6EE491683537C2E5B9F829E7E3ECB6AB125CC3D5829B6F| |470CC9762CB05AE3F427716D5EAE71FD0865FDF502B16206FFD440FFF8FFB0385B8| |DE08| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| I assume you know how to look at stat in MIDS. High defense to me means anything above 40% ish, 45% is the defense softcap for normal content which means mobs hit you 5% of the time. 40% is good enough when you use your KB mitigation and touch of fear on really dangerous targets. You won't have the benefit of the catalyzed ATOS during leveling so your range defense will be in the 30s range which is still good enough. pop one luck and you'll have mini-god mode range defense softcap for a minute. The build will exemp well for lower level content and as you can see it has all its toys by level 35. The attack are designed to hit +4s with maximum hit chance which is 95% with tactics, and even more so if you can keep soul drain up. Soul drain is not perma but the force feedback procs can get it very close, and those procs will also speed up hasten's recharge as well. Finally, 80% slow resistance so that hard work I invested into force feedback procs and recharge bonuses are not nullified when I get hit with slows. If you have questions I encourage you to ask them. I'm happy to help.

Your request is a bit vague, asking questions like that is bound to get you a ton of answers that may or may not hit the mark on what you really want. Help us help you by giving us a bit more info on what you are looking to do: Is this a concept build or are you just looking for the most OP Energy/Dark build possible? What are you looking to achieve with the build, what are the top 3 things that are most important? Are there any specific powers that bind you to the concept (i.e it needs to be able to teleport, it needs to fly, etc...) Playstyle preferences - melee vs ranged or hybrid. I can tell you /Dark is a melee heavy secondary and if you want to stay at range you are missing out on a lot of what makes /dark attractive. If you are new, I encourage you to ask "how do I play a blaster well" first before diving into builds. Builds are not a replacement for skill or game knowledge and they supplement your playstyle. If I gave you what I deem to be the optimal energy/dark build that thrives on smashing face in melee range and you prefer hover blasting at range (whether for concept or if that's your comfort zone), or you take the build as is and wade into melee without the game knowledge and skills to help you understand how to survive in melee, then you are not going to have as smooth time playing that build.

It's not a stupidly high damage pairing but you can leverage containment via aria of stasis before using confounding chant. You can also treat impassioned serenade as a damage power first. It's tempting to slot with coercive confusion for the recharge + range defense bonus but that set can go into Reverberant. The pet is not uber damaging nor is it game changingly useful, and I tend to use the confuse more on single targets so having the pet proc contagious confusion while I focus on damage makes sense to me. Anytime you have a power that slows you should be looking at whether ice mistral's torment would be good fit. That set has a lot offer this build because the combo dictates a ranged playstyle and thus you only need ranged +aoe defense and don't have to worry about melee defense especially if you fly. You can round out the defenses by taking indomitable will to give you high psi defense and mez protection. Keeping that and the dark buffs up require a bit of recharge and ice mistrals provides recharge, SLOW RESISTANCE, aoe defense AND +HP. Slow resistance is important for Dark because key buff powers are on long timers and all recharge and no slow resist means you will get neutered by mobs that apply -rech. I treat my symph/dark as a debuffer that happens to have some controls. It features high recharge (good chance to perma hasten and all buff with Psi nado FF procs), softcap Range/aoe/psi defenses, 90% slow resistance, and makes use of a niche but fantastic IO set. The last slot is up to you. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Fortississimo: Level 49 Magic Controller Primary Power Set: Symphony Control Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Hymn of Dissonance Hamidon Origin:Endoplasm Exposure (43) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage (48) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 1: Twilight Grasp (A) Touch of the Nictus - Healing/Absorb/Recharge (40) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing/Absorb (40) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Healing/Absorb (40) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge Level 2: Aria of Stasis (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (3) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (3) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (5) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (7) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (7) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 4: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (5) Kismet - Accuracy +6% (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) Level 6: Impassioned Serenade (A) Apocalypse - Damage (9) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (9) Apocalypse - Recharge/Accuracy (11) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (37) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge Level 8: Darkest Night (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 10: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (11) Recharge Reduction IO Level 12: Enfeebling Lullaby (A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration (13) Superior Will of the Controller - Control Duration/Recharge (13) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge (15) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance (15) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge (19) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage Level 14: Tar Patch (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (19) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (36) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (36) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (36) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (37) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 16: Shadow Fall (A) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (17) Shield Wall - Defense (17) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (33) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist (34) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance (42) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 18: Confounding Chant (A) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (37) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (39) Ragnarok - Recharge/Accuracy (39) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (39) Ragnarok - Damage Level 20: Fade Hamidon Origin:Ribosome Exposure (45) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Level 22: Howling Twilight (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow (23) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Recharge (23) Ice Mistral's Torment - Damage/Slow (34) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (34) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (49) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage Level 24: Soul Absorption (A) Synapse's Shock - EndMod (25) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Rechage (25) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Recharge (31) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (31) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Increased Run Speed Level 26: Reverberant (A) Coercive Persuasion - Confused (27) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge (27) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge/Accuracy (29) Coercive Persuasion - Recharge/Accuracy (29) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance (31) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion Level 28: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 30: Maneuvers (A) Reactive Defenses - Defense (33) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (33) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 32: Dark Servant (A) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb (42) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance (42) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance/Recharge Level 35: Tactics (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 38: Indomitable Will (A) Recharge Reduction IO (45) Recharge Reduction IO Level 41: Mind Over Body (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (47) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance Level 44: Psionic Tornado (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage (46) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (46) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance (47) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 47: Fly (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 49: Evasive Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 1: Containment Level 1: Brawl | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1637;731;1462;HEX;| |78DA6594594F135114C7FFD3995ABBB1B6050484525028A50B2A2F6E0848A2D2848| |457151B686162699B4E4DEC07F033F80D5C5FD50FE0F2A689FAEC837B8C0B98A80F| |3E98F1740E472E76029DDF9C73EE59FE73E766AFCE059E3D5D9886D6365BCC59D6F| |26CB954AB968BC57CD59DCDAD992BA02B385FAED64CCB6AFC6D943D6489ED84C98A| |E4527DA3B25E2ED5C510556266AE140AC9B95CF572294F354E150A66C9ACD511582| |CD3C2857CAE6296D67CCEC352259F5FF53B385F34D7D66BAD12B39AAF5AEB662574| |BA62AE24172DB35C325796B339AB96AFD6BBA9A741FA3F3A4E3F1AE4B25DC014DD0| |D1D719CA1878C8114320CAFBB76C7EA4048773C07111688086435078E51014D59E4| |D6E0753B1E177C027E060301863D080AB4304448445DED534758DB5EF4870CFD8D3| |E5F719FC7A9A41B3BB1861B09F6EC455220C5E0439A6118130C6F694A8F52091E44| |E17886A807AFE2D1BC68A897F152966D384977BF3AAD1F375890006E0ADC6268C16| |D813B0C1DB8CBF0867A08AA6982225A87881613D162225A4C441B16D1DE539A5635| |4D2BE675A7CF369C1538C7250791614B142986314CB26B9A866A57D218ED3824A21| |D66388023025302930C1FA8894EB5894E797321272B550A39010471FCE492719CA0| |588F8E047EB3E51DA509AB69C2224944248988245191242A92A445928F94A64BFBB| |78B6DA30B9F0DC7D38D2F025F19F6E39BC016C30C29D1A336D183F33CE53E5C10B8| |C8D08765814BAEED3439062F6DA45E758BF58A24EDE4E9573FB17E6CF2DB18C496C| |00F5624218B3ED14C03CA7E770DE009F73B8647028F193AA9C0905A7A4876F773CA| |3AA2EEEE11D9D40981171432AA7E84A30D2D1BDF5E525E5C0ABF185ED26D7CE7B4B| |0F571DCE31626F040E03E4312D758183F75975426A1875E4EF7300EA4D5BED3323D| |55572FDBEEFBCFE0186D1B0BCD769DCB2E1AEAB9461E8D577CF3ED3EF01AE7388BB| |5D9EC1965CF56B327CA237C6FF65CE7FAB473778D6DFF05C8ACC611| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Yeah that's MY JOB! The inner circles gives me powahs!

Well, there are some scenarios where it makes sense to let people know "the better way to play it." Like spotting a melee player that skipped their mez protection. I've run into those before. I don't think I'll get a whole lot of resistance from the "play however you want to play" crowd suggesting that player might want to pick up the mez shield/click. I also think the lack of resistance comes from the fact that a lot more people understand melee AT better than other ATs and it's imprinted in their minds that there is a right way to build the AT when it comes to mez protection. Unfortunately, the extent of their knowledge with this game stops with melee ATs. Shift the scenario to a defender with clear mind not buffing squishies who also provide the team with important buff/debuffs/damage and you'll get a lot of people screaming "don't tell me how to play!" when you merely suggest that they can CM the squishies instead of the TANK. I have a critical eye towards people that play support, and a lot of those players don't have the mindset or the knowledge to play support. Fortunately IOs have given every build the possibility to be self sufficient, so in this meta I don't sweat it. I even let 1 attack aura rockers be. Can you imagine back in the days? The "anti healzors" camp would be all up in arms,

My good man have you heard the gospel of SPIN and thine savior which is a Staff/Regen Brute with WHIRLWIND? Nothing is cooler than that! Whirlwind saves 🙏👼🛐

A bit late to the party but someone asked the same thing a while ago: Once you set your goals and begin plotting a build in MIDS it then becomes a game of slot efficiency and optimization. In that thread I linked a build exercise for another poster, perhaps that will give you insight into overall principals regarding planning and optimizing builds. Identifying holes you need to plug for your builds is an important part of the build making process. Here is an example: This one goes against the defense softcap meta and looks at what elements help with bio armor survival, and plots a course with that goal in mind and explores synergies with the tool kit and how they impact each other. The takeaway here is that not every build needs to be built around defense to survive. My goal with builds often address survival, but what if that is not the primary goal? There are other goals that you can set for yourself and the reward is to "let the build do its thing" Here are some examples of that: This build focuses on dropping patches and taking advantage of an unconventional IO set for a very specific blaster primary for desirable set bonuses conducive to proc bombing a few choice powers. (pro-tip: powers with heavy proc slotting lack ACC, recharge, and endurance reduction, those are all things to consider when building out your set bonuses/plotting out your power picks) Here is a silly but fun build with a wacky goal: This one turns a scrapper into a hover blaster (and it's also very survivable). Once again, I looked at synergies when plotting out the build. Another thing that I see a lot of people that post builds overlook - power pick progression. There are a lot builds out there created just for level 50 without a care to how it performs at lower exemped levels. If you care about that and you see a build with only 2 or 3 attacks by level 30 then that's a red flag. In 99% of these cases there is absolutely no reason to build that way and you can squeeze in enough primary/secondary power picks AND pool picks to ensure a smoother leveling/exemping experience. For example, most of my defense focused blasters will have high 40s range defense when exemped for level 30 content so they can tankmage/speed TFs when needed. I plot my power picks with purpose to allow for that and have a fully viable attack rotation. It does take some knowledge of the game and powersets to get to this level of understanding synergies and critical holes for a build but this game is not sooooo deep that the learning curve is incredibly complex. We all had to start as newbies asking questions on why people do X instead of Y. If you are interested in honing your builds then that inquisitive mindset is good practice as you examine the builds posted on the forums. When in doubt, ask questions, tag me and I'll be happy to chime in.

You should learn how to play a blaster first. Any blaster build can do enough damage to solo, and our combo suggestions and builds, no matter how good they are, will not going to help you appreciate the nuances of playing a blaster. Defense softcap helps with survival, but it's not the end all be all factor that determines survival, a lot of that comes from skill, making use of the tools in your toolkit, and understanding of the game. This AT takes more finesse to play and if you are coming from a brute/tank/scrapper mindset you will need to make adjustments even if your game plan is to ignore your most of the powers in the secondary and keep at range. The forums are full of builds but rarely do posters dedicate time to teaching people how to play. No one talks about the benefits and importance of the following: Movement - When to move and where to move (i.e don't stand in behind a tank that's in front of an AV/GM and wonder why you are taking so much damage from the mob's cones, don't stand right next to the dark servants that master illusionists summon and wonder why all of a sudden you can't hit anything, etc...) Target priority - DE emanators, Tsoo sorcerers, sappers bosses in general, etc... Don't take down minions and other trash fodder because they are the first thing that you tabbed onto, take the time to pick out the proper threat because letting those stay alive (i.e. most bosses) increases the odds of them killing you. There are a lot of things playing melee ATs lets you ignore, playing a blaster will be rude awakening for you if you carry that mindset forward with this AT. Line of sight - if you wade into one of those underground missions with resistance and the mob placement is all spread out and your idea of engaging is to hover in the open and trade blows, you are probably not going to have a good time playing a blaster. Inspirations and what to prioritize - purples and breakfrees, combine them on your downtime on the way to the next group and most importantly, use them. Here's one bit of general advice I can give you on solo builds. Having some form of total invisibility (super speed + stealtth IO, Stealth + stealth IO, etc...) will help a lot for any solo character. I was like you once, people told me that blasters are a ranged AT a long time ago and I blindly followed that philosophy when I started, then I started to learn how to play the game. When I learned to joust it changed my fundamental understanding of the game and my playstyle. When I learned about defense softcap my game play leveled up as I took advantage of defense inspirations. When IOs were introduced my builds leveled up again. So now I don't see blasters as a "ranged AT" and there's nothing traditional about playing a "ranged" blaster, that's just how new/inexperienced players perceive the AT. Blasters are a damage AT, and those people that have learned to play the AT will maximize their blaster's effectiveness by making use of all the tools in their kit and supplement that with their skill and knowledge of the game. On combos conducive to a smoother leveling experience, look for synergies between the primary and secondary for stacking mezzes. For example, Rad blast has Cosmic Burst which is a bread and butter attack with a guaranteed mag 3 stun, if you pair that up with a secondary that also has stuns then you have a way to lock down bosses or two problem targets. Taser from devices is one such candidate for synergy. You can just as well do the same thing with holds, Dark blast has Abyssal Gaze which is also a bread and butter attack or Ice blast with freeze ray, and plenty more blaster secondaries have ranged mag 2 holds to allow you to quickly build enough stacks to hold a boss. P.S. If you want to learn more about jousting start with these videos