Story Archer

I can understand that mindset under normal circumstances, but single-target we'll usually be piling on 3-5 -Res buffs at least, so including that should far outstrip what Fire or Ice would do. I think you're correct on the AoE front, but then having those stackable built-in mezzes will probably pay much bigger dividends than a bit more damage would.

Interesting. Since this is intended to be exclusively for duoing, I'm curious what you would suggest? We figure the -Res is the only way to get past the damage cap restriction and with three AoE's - two of which also offer mitigation through KB and Sleep, it seems to cover all of our bases.

I'm trying to figure out exactly how to build them - the only stipulation is that they be identical with the plan being that one of us is usually targeting through the other. We're thinking that more or less staying at the damage cap + the -Res from Sonic + Scourge should melt mobs pretty effectively. Thoughts/Questions: With FC up pretty much perpetually, I'm trying to figure out how much value other damage boosts will actually have; we're not planning on taking specifically Assault/Aim (not planning on taking either) and we were planning on respec'ing out of Siphon Power once FC came online. Is Siphon Speed worth taking for the debuff benefit against hard targets, considering that we'll be keeping Speed Boost up on one another? Without it we're at about +160% Recharge with Hasten. Or would Transference be better, to try and drain down tough targets? That extra final slot is still up in the air. Mobs will get Shockwave -> Howl -> Siren's Song from each of us (Shockwave will have the KB to KD IO). Single targets will get Screech -> Shriek -> Scream-> Shriek, with the thought that Screech's stackable Disorients should help with hard targets. Preliminary slotting (3 purple sets) has us over the Defensive soft-cap for Ranged & AoE, a little over 33% for Melee. We're also at the cap for S/L Resistance with everything else hovering around 25%. Planning right now on going Soul Mastery for Epic - Power Boost is nice, Dark Embrace gives some exotic damage resistance and I was thinking it might actually be worthwhile summoning a pet, given double Tactics/Maneuvers and Fulcrum Shift - plus, I like the set bonuses from Blood Mandate. Numbers are a little harder to work out in Mids because we're reliant on each other's boosts, but from a cursory glance, does this sound like the best plan for the duo? We were on the fence between this and Sonic/Rad, since we figured paired Choking Clouds would be pretty strong once everyone had been hit with Siren's Song, but this way we can keep everything out in front of us. Not accounted for in the numbers shown below are +4.15% Defense, +15.75% ToHit, +50% Recharge, +71% Recovery, +18.75% S/L Resist from my partners Maneuvers, Tactics, Speed Boost and Increased Density, respectively.

The thing is, I'm not a Blapper at all, I'm not taking any of the melee attacks from either set. Positronic Cell does pretty decent damage too and it is a ranged attack, which gives me something to pair with Char for stackable fun. Since my newest build also six-slots Radioactive Cloud, I'll definitely take Beta Decay.

But only if one or more foes are within 15', right? I work hard at staying at range... still, my newest build features a six-slotted Radioactive Cloud, so I imagine Beta Decay would start to come in useful then. I'll definitely look at it, since I'm not happy with Bonfire in the build. What do you think, just single-slot it with a -RES proc?

This mostly theory for me at this point, as I haven't played a Blaster to L50 yet. It may well be that with proper positioning and team buffs I wouldn't need a fraction of the defense I'm building here. If it plays out like that then I'll definitely reconsider and look at going proc-heavy, but I end up playing solo so often that I can't help but skew towards self-reliance a bit more.

Where would you suggest I put them? Honestly, I don't have a lot of experience with procs. The build seems pretty tight - almost every set requires 6 slots or the defenses start collapsing...

Alright, this is what I think I'm going to go with. A couple more purps than I'd normally have, but it's got my Ranged / AoE Defenses up to 45% / 42%, my universal recharge up to 70% before Haste and has all of the Hold control I mentioned before. No Rune of Protection here, but I do get Hover back, which is just too valuable a tool for ranged Blasters.

I think you still have to take either T1 or T2 at 1st level regardless. I'm actually really enjoying what I'm getting out of /Atomic. As I said, most of the powers I would take for the build are functionally identical anyway and the difference makers seem to work better on /Atomic for me. You're right, I definitely prefer a dedicated ranged Blaster. I went back at things and I'm trying something a little radical. I dropped Fire Breath, leaving me only a fast-recharging Fireball for AoE whenever I'm not nuking with Inferno. However, that has allowed me to take and six slot Positron Cell, Radioactive Cloud AND Char, giving me a host of Hold options to really stack up the control when I need to. I've got my Ranged / AoE Defense up to 45% / 40% AND this build is going the Sorcery route, letting me take Rune of Protection for a nice +20% Resist All/Mez Resist whenever I think I'm going to need it. I'm still a little on the fence about that last part, trying to decide if I'm better off with that or Hover or CJ instead.

Yeah, that's Wintered out for sure. I noticed that you had Vengeance checked on it, though - those bonuses would really only apply after ally has died, so I'm not sure you can rely on those benefits all the time. Once you toggle that off, my build actually has better Defenses, Resistances and Regeneration, so its worth considering. I made a few additional changes - I pulled the second slot and the IO's out of Ionize and Aim - they only got me 4% in damage bonuses and 3 seconds faster recharge. I dropped them into Weave and Maneuvers to get me to 4-slotted Luck of the Gambler, adding another 18% Accuracy. I'd love to plan for more purple sets - like Superior Defiant Barrage in Blaze - but I simply have too many alts and no supporting SG to speak of, so I have to assume that I'm always going to be operating on a budget.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. My thoughts on the two powers mentioned: I should get a pretty strong boost in accuracy from sets and powers like Tactics or Aim, so I figured I could get away with single-slotting it. My intent was to only use it in the rare instance I find myself getting surrounded (as if from an ambush or a tank wipe). Slots are at a premium in the build and Bonfire's 3 second activation time just kind of turned me off. I'll admit though, now you've got me reconsidering six-slotting Char and using those slots on Radioactive Cloud instead. I actually at one time had Beta Decay in, single-slotted just as you said with the -Res proc, but then I realized that I would basically get no benefit from either the +Recharge or the -Res unless one or more foes were within 15' of me. I'm not a Blapper, and since my playstyle is better suited to staying back and attacking at a distance, it seemed like a waste of a power slot and an unnecessary endurance drain. I've got pretty good +Recharge as it is.

Close to it, yeah. I'm fairly experienced with /Ice but I've never played /Atomic. I'm probably only going to take five powers from whichever Secondary set and three of them are essentially copies of one another (Chillblain/Electron Shackles, Build-Up/Ionize and Freezing Touch/Positron Cell). The fourth would be either Ice Patch or Radioactive Cloud which aren't the same power but I'd be using them in the same way. That leaves Frigid Protection vs. Metabolic Acceleration as the deciding factor here. I love the larger radius of Frigid Protection (30' VS. 15') but the Regeneration, Mez Resistance and Recharge benefit provided by Metabolic Acceleration seems to make it the clear winner. Am I reading that right? I'm already leaning towards /Atomic due to play-style, I like that it's hold is ranged rather than melee and I think the Gamma Burst interaction is kinda cool (makes my single-target Immob a little more useful). I don't like that I have to wait 10 extra levels to get MA over FP, but in the grand scheme of things that's not that big of a deal.

Which is better?

I appreciate the reply. I tend to lean more towards less controllery options like Blasters, scrappers and Brutes, and I love a good Defender, but I'm really fascinated with this particular power combination (Plant/Fire Dominator). On the Controller side, Seeds of Confusion has got to be the best power out there - AoE, prevents them from attacking you and tends to cluster them together for AoE attacks plus you get it so early and can use it so often. With that as my base, I just use Strangler (+Vines when necessary) to lock down particularly tough foes and that's it - everything else is glorious fire damage. Toss in Carrion Creepers to just wreck havoc and it doesn't really matter if you have the pet or not. Plus I've found it surprisingly easy to beef up this guy's defenses without having to depend solely on purple IO sets. This is probably the only Dominator I'm ever going to play, but I plan on playing the hell out of him 🙂

How about The Shodaw? 😛

Here's what I'm kind of working on at the moment (Fire/Atomic/Fire). It gives me two stackable ranged Holds with potential for higher Mag, focused almost purely on staying at range and gives me positional defense of 25% Melee / 35% AoE / 45% Range with nice S/L Resistance and 515% regen. It only uses 1 purple set (Superior Blaster's Wrath). EDIT: I've swapped out Bonfire @44 for a single-slotted Radioactive Cloud because that seemed like the better '@h s#!t' button due to its quick animation time. The duration isn't long, but it's long enough for me to get somewhere safe. [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] (Is that the best way to share the data chunk? I haven't had much luck figuring out how best to import Mids)

So, quick breakdown of playstyle and what I'm trying to accomplish: I prefer to remain at range as much as possible (little to no Blapping), try to group but end up soloing at least a quarter of the time and my build priorities are, in order: 1) damage, 2) soft-capping ranged defense (if possible) and 3) having a pair of single-target holds I can stack on bosses when needed. I'm also not in a situation where funds are unlimited and generally assume that I have to work primarily with non-purple IO sets, though I might be able to sneak one or two in there. In the final build I plan on taking all of the Fire powers except Flares and possibly Rain of Fire. I'm fairly experienced with /Ice but I've never played /Atomic. Since I will probably end up with four powers from either Secondary set with three of them essentially being copies of one another (Chillblain/Electron Shackles, Build-Up/Ionize and Freezing Touch/Positron Cell), so Frigid Protection vs. Metabolic Acceleration has to be the deciding factor here, I think. I love the larger radius of Frigid Protection (30' VS. 15') but the Regeneration, Mez Resistance and Recharge benefit provided by Metabolic Acceleration seems to make it the clear winner. Am I reading this right? TIA for any insight.

I'm planning out a Will/DM Tanker and I'm looking at three different places that I can slot these two procs (Stamina, Quick Recovery and Physical Perfection). They aren't unique so it seems to me to be a pretty effective way to load up on free healing and endurance. Don't know how much I'll need it with everything else going on but it seems like a pretty good use of the slots. Technically I've never actually played with multiples of these two before - is this going to work the way I think it's going to work? Any reason why I shouldn't do this?

I've had a lot of trouble finding any kind of guide or power breakdown myself - just new or is the power set unpopular for some reason?

Gotcha. Good advice, thanks. How have people slotted this in the past - with anything at all? (asking whoever might be reading)

lol - I'm not entirely sure if this is an endorsement or a warning... are wider toggles poorer options for procs?

So I'm working on my Fire/Cold/Fire build and I'm trying to decide the best way of slotting up Frigid Protection - 30' is a big aura to take advantage of. Initially I was just going to go with an EndMod and the Chance to Stun from Energy Manipulator and use the slots elsewhere, but now I'm wondering if trying to proc it out might be the better way to go. Something like this: Frigid Protection Impeded Swiftness - Chance for Smashing damage Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold damage Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Energy damage Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun And possibly even Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance Performance Shifter - Chance for +Endurance Am I putting too much attention on this power or is it something that I REALLY need to be taking advantage of? How have you guys slotted it, and how high of a priority should I be placing on it - say, over slotting Bonfire? TIA.

That's the way I'll go, then. Thanks for the advice!

So your advice would be to keep (and slot) Flares and Fire Blast? I actually feel a little better about that due to Defiance (I tend to play more 1-50 than post-50), I just hated wasting a power slot. Selecting and slotting Spirit Ward the way you suggest would seem to keep it from being a total waste, even if it pushes Rune back from L20 to L24.

Good evening, my friends. I'm putting together a Fire/Ice/Fire Blaster and I intend to take the Sorcery Pool - I like Flying, I think Rune of Protection is a great power for a Blaster and the magic theme fits the character well. Of course, that means that I need to take an additional Sorcery power which means in all likelihood Arcane Bolt. Since I'm probably taking it anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and use it in place of Flares or Fire Blast as far as devoting enhancement slots to and using in my attack chain (with the other, Blaze and Blazing Bolt). According to MIDS it deals more damage than either of the other two, but of course its recharge is (a little) longer and the activation time is cumbersome to say the least. So, do I take Arcane Bolt and forget about it, or do I save a power slot by replacing Flares or Fire Blast with it?