FUBARczar

I don't get it, if you are a hover Blaster and already have 50 def to range, why are you using Scorp Shield. You'd be much better off using a resist shield.

Beam Rifle and Temporal Manipulation are both great but are sub-optimal together. Because Beam works better stacking beam attacks, is better at distance rather than melee range, which is where Temporal likes to be. If AVs/GMs are you goal then Beam/Plant is much better for this. Spore Cloud is a toggle that offers over twice the -regen as End of Time. As a toggle, once applied, it doesn't cut into DPS. Spore Cloud also offers -tohit and -dmg debuffs. Temporal Manip. pairs better with sets like Fire, Radiation, Dual Pistols, Ice, Energy, and Psychic.

Ranking Blaster Secondaries: Ranking secondaries is harder because depending on the primary set, a Secondary set could be either awkward or have great synergy. For instance AR/Mental is awkward because it's bread and butter attacks are cones (therefore AR likes to be at distance not in melee) whereas Mental likes melee b/c the sustain power is PBAoE. So most sets don't match well with AR, but Energy synergizes well with it's boost range extending the reach of AR's cone attacks. That said, I think there is more parity between secondary sets compared to the primaries. There are basically three types of Secondary sets depending on its sustain mechanic: Absorb Shield, Regeneration Toggle and Other/Click. As a general guideline the Absorb shields are the best kind of sustain mechanism for blasters, with the toggles second for ease of use and effectiveness. Lastly, the Other sets have to be monitored, and clicked on which generally wastes DPS, may not be "On" when you need it, etc. Absorb Shields: Ice; Martial; Plant; and Temporal Regeneration Toggle: Atomic; Devices; Ninja; and Tactical Arrow... and Fire (a Heal Over Time toggle) Other: Darkness; Electricity; Energy; and Mental The rankings below are NOT hard/set rankings b/c it really depends on the primary and what type of blaster you want (Blapper; Blastroller; etc.) but I will attempt to rank anyway!!! Also, as before, even Tier 4 can be effective, fun and does not mean that they are bad. 1st tier: Plant (Plant is on top for several reasons but mostly b/c of Spore Cloud (a targeted debuff toggle that does -regen; -tohit; and -dmg). It has an absorption shield. Toxins is a strong Build Up replacement which adds another damage type (toxic). And it's suitable for any type of Blaster.) 1.5 tier: Devices; Tactical Arrow; 2nd tier: Atomic; Temporal; Ninja; Ice; Martial 3rd tier: Fire; Electricity; Energy 4th tier: Darkness; Mental (mental and darkness may be the weakest and strongest because they are feast-or-famine sets depending on targets, and enough recharge to make Soul Drain or Drain Psyche perma.) Organizing Secondary sets by type (sets may appear more than once): Blapper: Temporal; Atomic; Plant; Mental; Ice; Martial; Fire; Electricity; Darkness; Devices; Blastroller: Plant; Tactical Arrow; Ninja; Electricity; Ice; Energy; Darkness Debuffer: Plant; Temporal; Mental; Ninja; Atomic Hoverblaster: Plant; Tactical Arrow; Devices; Ninja; Energy; Martial; hopefully this is either helpful or at least gives food for thought...

Sonic/Mental would be interesting DA is one of the best, and BS with parry makes it stronger defensively even if doesn't provide the most synergy for DA.

sure I'll do that, later today

not only that but also, adds AoE w/o hurting ST damage, so it's win win.

Well with beam/temp I decided for myself that they are both great sets, but are not the best of friends. This is because Beam likes to attack from a distance and Temporal shines best in melee range. And Beam also works best by taking most of the attacks to take advantage of the various debuffs and the Disintegrate mechanic. That said I favored the beam powers and just stuck to the core Temporal ones like Chronos, Temporal Healing and Time Lord. Personally, I turned it into a hover blaster, which is why I created the Beam/Dev (for thematic reasons and IMO synergizes better) and Beam/TA which it probably the best pairing for Beam.

Having leveled and played most powersets and many different powerset combinations I decided to put together this little ditty... FYI here are a list of Blasters I have Played to 50 on Live or HC: Fire/Energy; Fire/Atomic; Fire/Mental; Fire/Martial; Water/Plant; Water/Temp; Beam/TA; Beam/Dev; Beam/Temp; Ice/TA; Ice/Plant; Ice/Ice; DP/Dark; Dark/Plant; Dark/Ninja; Sonic/Mental; Elec/Elec; Psy/Martial; Psy/Dev, Psy/Ninja, Ice/Ninja, Fire/Stone Firstly, ranking the Blast sets according to several factors such as ST and AoE damage, debuff, control, etc. 1st tier: Fire Blast 2nd tier: Beam Rifle; Water Blast; Ice Blast; 3rd tier: Energy Blast; Rad Blast; Archery; 4th tier: Dark Blast; Psychic Blast; Electric Blast; Dual Pistols 5th tier: Assault Rifle; Sonic Blast Best combos by Blaster category (and I tried to do this without repeating sets under each category, offering a variety of solid choices under each category that also maintain good synergy.) Blapper: Fire Blast/Temporal --> high damage, quick animations, -regen debuff, absorb shield, etc. Honorable mentions: Rad/Atomic; Ice/Martial; Most Thematic: Fire Blast/Fire &/or Electrical Blast/Electricity Blastroller: Ice/Tactical Arrow --> Holds, -Speed, -recharge, -tohit, Honorable mentions: Dark Blast/Ninja; Ice Blast/Plant; Energy Blast/Energy Most Thematic: Electrical Blast/Electricity Debuffer: Beam Rifle/Plant --> -Regen, -Resist, -Defense, -Damage, -ToHit Honorable mentions: Dual Pistols/Temporal; Sonic Blast/Mental; Most Thematic: none perfectly fit the bill, but perhaps Dual Pistols or Beam Rifle /Ninja Hoverblaster: Fire/Plant - Lays down the damage ST and AoE, -regen, -tohit, -dmg Honorable mentions: Beam Rifle/Devices ; Archery/Tactical Arrow; Most Thematic: Water Blast/Plant Worst Combos: Sonic/Dark and AR/Mental

just by people who don't know how to pair the right primaries, or build resist sets properly. IMO Resist sets on high-end builds are better then Defense sets.

I have had / have a large number of Stalkers on live and HC. As for primaries optimized for Stalkers, idk if there are any optimized, but there are some that may be better version on Stalkers than Scrappers for comparison's sake. Better: Electrical, Kinetic, and Savage Better depending on preferences: Dark, Ice, Fire, and Staff Missing something but still really strong: Psi, Street Justice, and Radiation

Here's a look at an SJ/SR w/o waste like slotting boxing, gives you a heal, and more...

completely different powersets, but may give ideas, this is a build I used to Duo a Master +4/8 ITF with no inspirations in about 45 mins. It's similar in that it is not a flier and reaches S/L/E/N soft caps. BTW it's Beam/TA

Here's one to take a look at, it's a hover-blaster with 47 def to range and has resist shields so 60 S/L and 42 E. It has better recharge and more +dmg, w/o doing anything crazy imo (like 5 slotting boxing with a Winter set plus 4 slots in brawl, to me it's such a waste.)

Fire and Ice are the most Blapper happy b/c of the quick casting times imo.

Personally I think Water/Time is not a great combo, but both are great sets. Here's why... Water likes to use a lot of the water blast powers and is better for it, whereas Temporal also likes more Temporal powers and is one of the best blapper sets and you skip Aging Touch and are kinda going for Range defense. IMO something like Water/Plant pair together much better.

Just checked with EV and Letifera ran " [Master ITF]EV: actually it was 5-man diversified ATs and he was the Dom that did 25ish mins". That said I would love to run with you to see if we could get a 4man Dom team under 30!!! EV also said " [Master ITF]EV: i think if u have 3 more uber Doms teamed with him, u can break 30m" That would be awesome

but I'd also love to run with you sometime, hope to see you in Cimerora. Happy Hunting

this one above was with the enemies constantly buffed. And currently the times are 4man man Brute 26 mins, 4man Blaster and 4man Corruptor 29mins (+4/8 no deaths/temps/inspirations). And the reason why I back Fire/Psi is b/c it has better sustainability (Drain Psyche) and has a nice -regen debuff for AVs, also Mind Probe and TK have better DPA than every Energy Assault attack, and PSW > Whirling Hands. PSW does more damage with a shorter casting time, and adds -rech along with a similar stun. For melee I would take Rad, b4 Energy, and probably a number of others as well.

I run with the two best Fire/Psi/Mace - This is still the best for melee style Dominating thanks to the power of Drain Psyche, plus adds some debuffing for AVs with -250 regen. In fact I ran a 4-man +4/8 Master ITF w/ no inspirations, all range (1 Dom, 1 Blast, 1 Def, 1 Con) in ~32mins. (oh yeah and the enemies were buffed) and Mind/Fire/Fire - This one I play at range, hover-blasting. Fire shoots fast and hard and Mind has powerful controls. Also don't have to worry about my pets surviving, b/c my enemies are my pets.

If I were wanting the best Brute I'd narrow my selection down to... /Bio, /Dark, /Fire and /Rad and then select a Primary that has synergy

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believe me I am miffed about it. But I have run several +4/8 ITFs and have dropped toggles b/c of end. The only other set I ever go low on is Shield, but nearly to the same extent. And Invuln's -def cascade seems to happen more quickly. I solo'd the first two missions of ITF on +4/8 on my Rad/Shield as a test w/o dying. The Invuln has not been able to do that so thus far. I am hoping that as I finish off adding +5 enhancers on anything enhancing endurance reduction and finish the accolades the endurance issue will come under control. as for psi I have a second all-around build

yeah I have a fully IOd StJ/Invuln Stalker and it is not as survivable as my /Fire, /Shield, /Bio, /Rad stalkers at anything. And don't even get me started on how much of an end hog it is. It's like it's broken. Seriously, I could never recommend Invuln. Perhaps on a Tank with Energy Mastery or Destiny Hybrid Ageless it's good. in case you were wondering what I am playing. This is exactly how it is currently spec'd

Rad is just as easy as Spines. You'll see more Spines (in AE) simply because people go with what they know and perception (of course it's still great for farming). But you'll still see more Rad with people playing content.

having built, played and retired many. To help you narrow yours or anyone's choices I would suggest one of the following Bio, DA, Elec, or Rad. For offense pick your poison.