Novacat

AR's one of the least enjoyable combinations with Devices. Smash/Lethal, and cones (two short and not too wide, one long and really narrow) that don't catch all that much if you don't immediately leap far back to compensate for "I just put down something on your foot". Now you have neither Aim nor Build-Up. Beam Rifle's a better pairing. Devices can help plug its AoE hole rather well, it has more (and highly damaging unlike beanbag) disorients to work with your Taser. You've already put your explosives down once the fight starts, so you can focus on disintegrate mechanics a bit more than if you were blapping Electrical won't be getting any help whatsoever for its endurance draining - so Devices won't do you all that great in there Water Blast on the other hand - you're already up close, and what if you had a timebomb AND tripmines AND whirlpool AND water burst AND Geyser AND a seriously wide and high powered cone unlike buckshot? Surely that's not nearly enough AoE for you but that's what epic pools are for.

I didn't 20 it - is its absorb as noisy as Temporal's Sustain?

Might not be a bad idea. I could only contribute info for stuff I've played extensively enough however - so mostly blasts.

While it's not quite a build-up, Ninja's stealth offers a very light permanent +dmg buff, and ramps it up to a total of +50% on your first attack each 30s. So it's not quite lacking a +dmg power, but like Martial it's not a click and while available more often it's also less reliable for timing its re-use in longer fights

On paper it's got an impressive combination of melee and control - most notable are the Radius 15 Thorn Burst and Vines, with a decent early attack in Skewer. I'm no fan of the looks personally, but in terms of effectiveness it should pair quite viciously with hold-based sets such as Ice, Electric, as well as some of the Epic and Patron options (Leviathan's got two more holds, and area immobilize types can slot another hold as a proc-chance IO). The absorb's perfectly fine and hey - toxic res.

Made a Beam/Devices Blaster. Been running around to get a feel for the current changes. Slow Snipe The range increasing Defiance buff from a slow snipe is a wonderful thing. Helps QoL on follow-ups immensely (I don't have to leap forward as much to overcharge for example) It's so... smoothing to the start of my fights that I find myself wondering if the full damage boost is even truly necessary anymore. If anything DOES need nerfing, maybe ratcheting down to base 4.0 scale from 4.5 given it's easier to fire more stuff at long range will be acceptable Either way, LOVE IT Engaged / Disengaged Snipe Timer Not as bad as I thought 10s would be. 15s was definitely put a crimp in one's rhythm, but 10s... not as bad. Still a bit long, would rather 8s I think... but I could live with 10. I can live with it. Fast Snipe Getting the range back solves it really. With Slow's boon to range I don't even feel the quick-snipe needs to be as easily obtained even. Can't complain, I guess. Toxic Web Grenade Feels more in line with newer starters like Electric Net Arrow. Still brutal on recharge, feels decent enough Speaking of Electric Net - I do believe its endurance cost is too low for the range and activation time combination - 5.2 instead of 7.8 seems to be for the weaker, cruddier starters lacking in power and/or range, which that one definitely is not. Taser I'll have to remember to keep this off Auto because now that it's actually being taken it'll screw up my jumping in and laying mines before they know I'm there. 20ft energy punch: taken. Time Bomb SOLD. I'm running low on power slots here. 5s is just long enough to put down a tripmine or build-up+start that inferno... with a little interrupt recharge on the mine... maybe both? I'm just sayin.

The skipping I believe was because of bad execution. The snipes pre-i24 were slow, expensive, unusable once in combat most of the time unless severely slotted for interrupt and even if fully slotted for damage weren't certain to kill even an orange minion depending on your damage type and their resistances. And woe be to you if it bloody missed on top of that. NPCs weren't players: They didn't spend five seconds trying to spot that Crey - they immediately knew who and where you were. You had all the drawbacks, none of the range, and none of the advantages. "Range is your defense" my shiny metal ... Only natural so many would refuse to use it then.

Not really surprised. 1) Some things you can tell right away from the patch notes - playing/testing them just lets you refine the bad feeling into better words is all. This was the case for the range change - I thought "oh shit" but it took a minute of trying it to see "oh, this is counter-intuitive". 2) Some folks will complain about anything that might improve an AT they don't play just like all the scrappers saying "learn 2 play" back in the old Blaster forums. To me this seems alright: You can either slot it 2-5 pieces like a normal snipe set, or give up on the interrupt, slot in fast snipe and probably just 2pc this one with 3-4pc of another set. It'll take testing numberwise later (too bad it ain't on pines) to figure out what one wants to do with it but I find most of my planned builds have multiple broken sets all over the damn place anyways. First part good. Second part we'll have to see after work - maybe the range being good again will make up for it kinda like having to wait for it, shinobi style? 15s without range was definitely getting frustrating at around the 5s mark the first time around so will check after work. Devices changes seem good overall but one thing I would note: The lack of Build-Up is actually a lot worse due to the IO and Incarnate system than it was back in the day of single-origins. Reason is, it's damn near impossible in endgame not to have a TON of +accuracy everywhere on all of our attacks. The damage buff becomes the real treat there. Maybe the recharge part'll make up for that however.

"100 yard range". I WISH... Seems to me a straightforward solution would be "knockback to knockup".

All regen-type sustains give +225% half of which is enhanceable, and all those that give +recovery (energize is a massive end discount instead) grant +50%. That's basically universal across the class. Ninja gets to keep the stealth. It gives you a very slight damage boost and lets you also open with an extra 43% or so for 50% total, every 30s IIRC. Hell of an overcharge, that. Tactical Arrow doesn't get +Hit but instead +Acc so it won't give you instasnipe, but it also gets a +recharge power and Gymnastics (mild travel buff and 1.75% defense for slotting globals in). Temporal Manipulation has a pretty powerful Absorb form sustain and Time Lord is as awesome as its name should be, but it uh... drove me nuts. Temporal healing is very visible, and noisy too.

While I don't disagree with wanting to improve the snipes a bit, it's the execution I believe folks are having trouble with. Well that's why it's being *tested* right? The slow snipe with higher damage out of combat part, that's pretty cool. The extensive fast-snipe changes though seem to be where people are having a hiccup. For me it's the range loss more than anything: It's a powerful attack for its animation but my snipe is gone and it doesn't come back until long after a battle ends. And if I put in a certain IO for snipes it wouldn't be improved - it would be gone forever! Here would be my alternative method - not sure if it would be doable the way I describe it though: - If you've made an attack or taken damage in the last 2 seconds, your snipe's in combat mode. That's it. - Combat Mode: Interrupt Time 1s, with a flat 0.05s removed from the final post-enhancement timer per 1% ToHit. Base Damage scale Standard, Range 120ft - Out of Combat: Interrupt Time 2.5s with a flat 0.1s removed from the final value per 1% ToHit. Base Damage scale 4.25, Range 160ft - Momentary clicks such as Aim and Build-Up grant only 1/2 of their to-hit value to interrupt-removal - Targeting Drone: adds half its To-Hit as a damage % bonus to Snipes - The Fast Snipes IO reduces final Interrupt time by 0.5s and adds some other fun bonus to round it out. Maybe chance of going unnoticed, or a chance of Splorching through the first target for partial damage into a second unlucky bastard?

After some testing: Fast Snipe's range loss is counterintuitive and annoying. You can't just turn and hit a runner anymore, it's out of range of your snipe too. The slow snipe's extra damage is certainly impressive. LRM still isn't 'a snipe' and so is entirely unaffected by any of these changes. It takes an annoyingly long time for combat to become non-combat, so after you kill everything you're standing around for what, ten seconds or so, before you can just snipe something. Your range was reduced too so it's not just about getting the high damage. Overall I think the range loss and combat timer are just too frustrating for the extra damage the slow mode gives - would gladly give up a bit of the extra damage multiplier or the interrupt-reduction (3s to 2s that was done) in exchange for eliminating those two peeves.

A few questions just to be absolutely clear: 1) By Epic Pool Snipes, do you mean Munitions' LRM? It's currently not capable of slotting Snipe sets (it's a targeted AoE) nor of going 'fast'. 2) This 80ft limitation, does this mean that even any time you shorten your snipe (such as this new fast-snipe IO) your snipe's range drops and can no longer target beyond this? Edit: Other than that I would point out to those who might have missed it that fast snipes in general are having their value to a Blaster's DPS lowered a bit with an extra 3s base recharge. This might help compare to sets like Ice. Also Massive buff to Beam Rifle: Auto-Spread from Lancer Shot is going to be a gamechanger.

You'll enjoy Piercing Beam as soon as you get it (and a tiny bit of practice to learn the "cone" in battle). Take Lancer Shot, increase the damage bonus on Disintegrating ones, lose the stun, gain a bit of -res, and hit three targets in a line. Absolutely glorious.

Blasters survive on two factors: First their damage, and second, their light controls or debuffs (depends on the sets) That said, when things go wrong, you are the party canary. No one can simultaneously build as much aggro and be as incapable of handling heavy return fire. No one faceplants like blaster. Get used to it. Wear it with pride. Complain occasionally. You've certainly seen this in groups: The tanker JUST jumped into a spawn of oranges when someone does a little self-buff and immediately after gets this big glowing charge up on the tip of his beam rifle - or leaps in right behind the tank and releases a giant dome of flame. Two seconds into the fight and half the minions got one-shot, the Lts ain't looking all that hot and you're not sure but you think they're wandering like stunned, and the boss just changed targets with a vengeance unless it was already taunted properly. All I described was... Build-Up plus a Nuke. This may soon be you. Soft Control All blaster sets have some form of debuff or control usually baked into attacks. Get used to them. Pair'em for magnitude like anyone else would. You're no Controller or Dominator, but "not shooting you right now" is second best after "they're dead" and helps you make them the latter. These vary by set, so read'em, and think of what will mix with what nicely. Melee You've of course noticed some melee powers especially in the secondary. Many hit like a truck and come with a nasty mez or debuff too. Quite a few enemies (not the ones with "Swordsman" in their name obviously) do much less damage if you're in their face, but it's also that these are often powers that can kill a minion on the spot and stun an Lt out of the fight for ten seconds. They can take some getting used to, but don't think they're completely out of the question - things like running up to us more often than we'd like. Those minor heals/drains They will help, but, like your Sustain (the main +regen or absorb and endurance aid in every set) it's more about not being chipped to death (well, what anyone else calls being chipped you call a quarter of your health bar shearing off). It's 'an edge' not 'an Empathy'. Your sustain is critical: Field Operative for example doesn't just cloak and give you 1.75% defense: It's roughly 4 and a half Healths (half of which is enhanceable), and 2 Staminas. +225% Regen and +50% Recovery. Some pitfalls: You'll notice that most of your +def and +res options are pathetic compared to damn near anybody else. Field Operative gives you a mighty ... 1.75% defense. Never make the mistake of overslotting for some extra 0.2% Def or Res when those slots could go into your blasts. And if anything's going to be over-ED'd it has to be your damage. Don't ignore your first two blasts and (depending what it is) your first secondary either slotwise: These are literally your mez protection in that while you're mezzed they're still usable. BLASTERS GET MEZZED LIKE NO ONE ELSE. Even if you only take one of the two blasts (maybe because you've got a good starter in the secondary like electric net arrow) don't forget to slot them up. Pools Consider Fighting. Tough and Weave are pretty much the best source of Defense and Smash/Lethal resist available to a blaster as most things will offer lower numbers still. Maneuvers gets lower numbers than other ATs but is STILL one of the highest defense% a Blaster can obtain in one power and honestly you MAY have plenty of endurance to spare thanks to your Sustains. Hover or Combat Jumping are things you can't go wrong picking one of Choose your Ancillary or Patron pool most carefully in accordance with what you've already had and like using: Many of their offerings can either plug a hole in your ability to control/debuff, or help round out an attack chain (especially if you love cones as it turns out). Or you could get a second (though it slots as targeted AoE) non-instant snipe from Munitions, or Rise of the Phoenix to get back up in murderous blaster style when you faceplant too. Summons are universally handy as well so nothing wrong going that route either. Finally Never not take your Sustain, your Build-Up if you have one (sometimes they're named a bit different like Chronos or Upshot) and your Nuke. What others call "attrition" battles you call "dead in five seconds". Kill them. Kill everything, and make sure anything that isn't dead will be stunned and blinded on its ass until you get to them. Scorched earth.

You'll notice if you look at the combat logs, a tick of toxic damage gets added, dealt by "your offensive adaptation". So there's the 25% damage bonus as seen in the combat attributes, and that tick which seems to go entirely unmentioned anywhere in the power or data views. But it's there:

If you're still toggle-heavy it's worth two-slotting Stamina still: Say for example you're running Targeting Drone, Tough+Weave, Maneuvers+Leadership, Hover, and your ancillary defense is a toggle. When to slot globals is simpler than it may seem at first: The answer is "Where you can fit them". They're globals, so they're not tied to enhancing a single power - they just generally need it to either be an auto, toggle, or something you click at least once every two minutes. The only real question is "Can I fit this one here, or would I benefit more eating up the slot elsewhere?" Let's take Shield Wall's Teleport and All resist global. If I can fit it into something like weave at 14 that's good. Weave's a bit endurance-thirsty and it's my best defense toggle until I'm late 50s with a Hybrid slot though, so if I'm short on slots, I get more defense from Weave than I do from putting +Defense in any other of my powers. If I want to 5pc-bonus Shield Wall Weave's a great choice what with the cost reductions, but otherwise, maybe I could just put it all on its own in Field Operative or even Combat Jump. Auto powers can be the easiest for this. When I look at Body Armor, I see something just begging me to 4-slot it with two 2pc combos. Like say Unbreakable Guard's +MaxHP (and the resist mod) and Gladiator Armor's +Def (and the resist mod). Endurance Discount, Recharge speed mean nothing to it anyways. For procs themselves it partly depends. They're all standardized to a per-minute model as of i24: You have 100% chance if Recharge Time + Activation Time = "60*AreaFactor / PPM". So, a single target power, with a slot that promises 2 PPM, will have 100% per time you click the button if its total recharge+activation are 30s or more. Area is 1 + 0.15 x radius if it's a ball (targeted AoEs, point-blanks, nukes...) though so if it's radius 15 that same 2PPM would need a 97.5s total recharge+activation to guarantee the proc. Cones are based on their angle and radius so if you want the precise math use https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Procs_Per_Minute It'll all even out, so it's not necessarily bad to have something on your tier 1 blast or anything, but when you're looking for absolute reliability, that's how you ensure what'll go where.

Sustains are absolutely slottable. Depending on which particular one you have your particular desires may change a little, though. At its base, if you have a +Absorb or Regen and +Recovery model, you want at least one Heal/Absorb and two EndMod IOs in there. Basically, enough to just start touching the green (in mids/pines) level of early ED. By the time you have a Muscular Total Radial Revamp slotted on you'll have reached an active 110%+ Recovery bonus. I strongly recommend fitting a second health related IO in there though - either an actual heal/absorb mod or if you'd rather, something like Numina's or Panacea's specials. In practice the regen really does help make a difference; even the smallest hit takes a good sized chunk out of a Blaster after all. After that it depends: Eagle Eye has nothing else to really put in there, but Touch of the Beyond actually may want to complete set combos on its way there by doing something like Endmod, Endmod/Acc, Endmod/Recharge, Heal/Recharge, Heal/Endurance ... or whatever. You get the idea. Martial Combat's particularly big here; you may want to slot part of something like Touch of the Nictus or Pacing of the Turtle and I could easily see someone six-slotting Reaction Time or Field Operative, whereas most others four slots is probably perfect.

As Gun Powder states: You do not not-take Field Operative if you are /Devices. It is important to the point of "pick a different set entirely, but not Ninja since it also has such a cloak" if you really MUST be able to watch your costume while in or approaching combat conditions, since far as I know there's no way to cancel out that effect without also turning the power off. The defense is not really worth slotting for numerically in any focused fashion but it does open up the ability to stick a defense IO global in there, two-piece with that +def at most. Might get you up to like 2.3% or so. It also won't crash if you run low, having no endurance cost. More wouldn't be all that good since the recharge and endurance parts on IO sets will not really do anything for it at all, and there's a more important part to your Sustain: Overall sustains are better slotted with heal/absorb and end-mod: It's a more powerful source of +Regen than Health is even if only half of it's enhanceable, so it's not a bad deal at all to - even if you don't bring it to ED levels - stick two heals and endmod's worth in there. If you'd otherwise want to three-slot health and stamina, ratchet both back down to 2 and put the slots in your sustain.

You're AoE heavy, don't have a snipe. Single target is not your forte but you've got some knockdown and can twin-fire your Water Jet (it's a bit on the weak side otherwise but it's good for finishing a pair of slivered Lts or bosses real fast). On the other hand your cone's one of the strongest available. So, you're not building for purples, you're building for big fat packs of +0s or later on +1s. Water Burst: Has -speed, so it's not a bad idea if you've got a spare slot to stick a Pacing of the Turtle's -recharge chance in there to help your defenses and/or group. Don't turn the KD into KB, but it's otherwise a "standard" targeted "ball" type. Make it hurt more. Whirlpool: Has immense total damage (think Rain of Fire) and -speed for an area attack. You want to keep things in here (water burst's knockdown can help there) to make them suffer as much as possible. -Recharge can be nice to stack on ther etoo but that Frozen set's immobilize proc - and other procs - can help keep things in there and suffering. Tidal Forces: It's your Aim but also reloads your 3 tidal charges so you take this obviously. Dehydrate: This is basically a slower-casting Tier 2 blast that heals you a bit. Not much, and not enough IMO to slot heavily for more healing or use its 3-tidal version most of the time, but some ticks is some ticks and does help make a difference especially with the support of your Sustain. Water Jet: Tier 1.5 blast. It's really a middle-ground between Aqua Bolt and Hydro Blast, but a bit slower charging and higher end cost. If at 3 tidal however it refreshes immediately after the animation finishes as well as having cast a little faster. Gives it a bit of versatility though it's not cheap. Slot it as any other straightforward murder blast. Steam Spray: A better stronger Fire Breath. Give it some extra range because it's got a base 40, so consider sets like Positron and Detonation to extend it and make it hammer things like you deserve. Better than Hydro-blasting the whole damn group in one package. Geyser: Your nuke. Not one of the strongest since it's ranged, but it's ranged and supplements its chance of Stun with knock-up and the usual -def that so many of your water powers get. One of those things where you can stick Superior Blaster's Wrath or other goodies in. As any other long recharge it's well suited to procs and a powerful opener to max the damage on. Sorry if that's a bit general, but there's no secondary listed to know what you're matching in there.

Temporal has decent absorb-based defense and of course Time Lord, and will give you another AoE stun to stack on there. It also offers a great melee PBAoE if you're into those (it's not as big a radius as a Nuke though keep in mind). Tactical Arrow offers an additional DoT AoE (Glue Arrow), multiple self buffs (it also offers a +recharge) and ESD arrow. Its starter is also full range T1 instead of 50 or 60ft (but with higher base accuracy), so you could use it instead of taking both your starter Primaries as a second Tier 1 attack. Energy Manip would give you Range and Power Boosts, additional stuns, and the discount from Energize may prove a bit better than the increased recovery in other sets due to all the AoEs you're spending on. I hear Plant's amazing but I know nothing of it myself to be honest.

One note; Water Burst is KD not KB, which is even better. And yes, Water is probably the most AoE friendly set. Whirlpool and Burst are great, Geyser's ranged instead of a point-blank, Spray's not bad either. Water jet's not particularly powerful, but it's one of my favorite ways of spending 3 tidal, as its double-tap format is quite nice after the initial AoEs leave mostly just regular bosses.

For a bit more info: The Regen version Sustains usually result in +225% Regen and +50% Recovery. Only half of it is enhanceable. You'll note however that Health and Stamina are 40% and 25% base apiece. Even un-enhanced, this transforms a 240s time to total recovery from 1hp to 100% into 74 seconds. Or if you want a more stark comparison: A Regen Scrapper with Fast Healing, Quick Recovery, and Integration toggled on is at +225% Regen and +30% Recovery ... And paying 0.26/second endurance to keep Integration running while -whether toggle or clicky - your Sustain costs no blue-juice. You may feel it a bit of an unrefined band-aid for everything to be stuffed into one power like this because that's probably exactly what it was (a 'step 1' to tide'em over while things got reviewed) but it's worth living with it: never NOT take your sustain as soon as possible. Edit: to Gun Powder: It costs you no energy. End Mods are fine (it enhances AS much as does Stamina, it just gets a freebie extra 25% on top). It also does well with heals as it gives more regen than Health does. But it's also a no-endcost Defense% toggle, which means you can also fit something here like Shieldwall's global unique. Don't go out of your way to desperately turn that 1.75% into 2.5%, instead take advantage of the health, endurance and maybe a defense special that'll let you keep endurance/def values better on a different power. There's no recharge or endurance cost to speak of really (it'll drop when you die, that's about it) so it's a bit of a loss to put those two things in.

For pulling purple groups around corners or opening up on things with about 1.75 nukes (barring Inferno, 3/4 of a blaster Nuke is roughly what a trip mine's worth so you put it down and click the other one) which tends to just end a spawn, Trip Mines are pretty sweet stuff. They're not too too slow to put down but it does limit them to soloing quietly and slowly or those times when your group needs to take a few moments to prepare for a battle. Ideally of course, some form of stealth plus smoke grenades or flash arrows are used so that you can step straight into the very middle of your victims and lay it directly at their feet to catch the lot of them. Time bomb's more often been the odd-one out due to the timer. In some ways it would be better if enemies COULD see and blow it up, since then you could just set it in the middle of them and let them stupid their own life away right then and there.

Yes perhaps I should have been a little bit more clear that it's not just Field Operative: Pretty much all sustains have no Endurance cost, toggle or otherwise, they just give you stuff. They also don't get detoggled easily - I've yet to see one go down from anything other than being dead - so it's really just a matter of remembering to click it back online after you pop a 'wake. And you were going to do that anyways because by the time you've turned on all the other toggles you may have you might be nearly full from having turned on that one first. Also apparently lost in my editing of the layout was this recommendation: If you have a snipe, and are going to 2-slot your Build-up (whatever your particular set's variant is named): consider one of your IOs to include To-Hit-Buff and not only Recharge. It doesn't take much to clear the insta-snipe level at all, it's just not quite there by default.