atletikus

Martial brings fun into blapping! Unlike some say here; the set isn't actually weak for single target damage...it's actually one of the strongest. Ki Push (the most fun), Storm Kick (fast recharging and reliable DPS), and Eagle's Claw (arguably the best high tier melee attack through all of blapper-dom), all come with assured mitigation through repel+knockback/down and stun. Coupled with the slowing effects of your large aura, it makes /martial blappers almost as capable as /ice leveraging superior levels of hurt up close. This is a case where practical damage output is more consistent with theoretical damage output than other sets. Also, unlike some others say; I was not all that impressed with the AoE capability. I believe you need to go balls deep to make the most of the scrapper route where and grab both Burst of Speed and Dragon's Tail, which both chain nicely together, but are not stellar damage-wise with and with small radii. Reach For The Limit is an auto-power Build-Up alternative that gives you about +15% ToHit and 37% Damage for about 15 seconds. The chance of it triggering is somewhere around 5% per single target, but seemed to trigger more consistently with AoE. This feeds you with a sense of urgency to chase that buff and to keep fighting while the buff is active...which synergizes really well with the Blaster inherent who also works in a similar way. It promotes a kind of fast and furious brutish play-style. This feels like a strength, that is also a weakness as you can't spike your damage quite as high as most other sets...like alpha AoE on large groups you want defeated yesterday. But for single hard targets, the sets dual offensive/defensive nature, makes this much less of an issue. Expensive IO-builds with high global recharge are likely better served with a standard Build-Up though, then again high global recharge also allows you to keep blasting which lets you benefit more from the Reach For The Limit proc. As they say; your mileage may vary, but I would *STRONGLY* recommend *NOT* to combo /martial with a primary set that lacks an Aim power. Especially since the Gaussian's proc now almost guarantees triggering in slow recharging click-powers. It may not be the absolutely best set purely looking at the numbers; but it manages to combine both offense and defense in an addictive and viable mix. If fun is your focus, then you can't go wrong with /martial!

Seen a few unofficial variants, but yous the best one so far. Much appreciated +1 :)

I'm on the EU server from Norway, and I'm getting frequent and long times of lag spikes with excessive rubberbanding - turning the game somewhere between unpleasant and unplayable. I played on the old servers back in the day, and though rubberbanding was an issue, it was nowhere as bad as it is now, and it has become worse recently.

As a veteran Blaster (played almost exclusively Blasters for years back in the day), I'm a YUUUGE fan. Sniper powers were never even in the meta at the start of the game, and over the years the game sped up and the sniper powers lingered. And this is objectively a better change than the current where you needed a very specific build (unless Targeting Drone) to leverage viable snipes...as opposed to worries about your pimped out build becoming too stale. Additionally, it adds a needed boost to power sets like Dark/ and Electricity/ who lacks a hard-hitting ranged option.

It's awesome. I loved Shiver too on mine. Suddenly Fire has all the mitigation in the world. End-game though, such tactics are not meta - especially if you build for soft capped defenses. I almost felt I lost a child having to spec out of Ice Patch when my Fire/Ice "grew up".

One important note is that the devs obviously didn't want Sentinels to step too much on Blasters toes, so the AoE capabilities of Sentinels are significantly reduced compared to that of other ATs with blast sets. Maximum target is down from 10 to 6 for non-nuke cones and from 16 to 10 for most standard AoEs. In my opinion Sentinels is a strong AT, much less risky and somewhat less rewarding than a blaster, and geared more towards soloing.

Or you could do like most people who want to negate most of this issue; simply position yourself better. The game has 3D and you can jump, hover or change angle. Anyway, yours is a fringe case compared to the conflicts that I'm addressing. But really, this is besides the point as I suggested turning the knockback into knockdown, but to keep the rooting. From today's patch notes; the devs have done exactly what I requested as the main issue, but for two ATs who combined have far less such conflicting powers and far less need of KB as a mitigating tool than Blasters. Time for the change to come the way of Blasters.

+1 :)

Old player, new archetype. Does the inherent -resistance debuff of the two first tier attacks stack with itself and each other like the -res of ie. sonic? Also, do other players benefit from the debuff or only the Sentinel?

Nice effort! Could do with showing damage per activation numbers by default as was customary in Mid's rather than DPS. Similarly, pop-up should be on by default. Also, the cast time of blast powers tier one and two used to be standardized to 1 and 1.67 secs respectively, Pine's consistently shows a longer activation time, why is that?

Name me an instance you want the KB protection? I can't think of any, or at least those instances would be few and far between compared to the times you would want your target to fall flat on its ass. Devices use the immobilization for the amazing -RECH which floors the damage output as much or more than immobilization anyway. No, it's not fine. Only Fire/ and Ice/ primaries do not have knockback powers (but even they have access to KB through Nemesis staff and such) and there are a great deal of power set combinations which these powers are at direct odds with one another. Since you have no choice in picking the tier one secondary, this needlessly limits your choices unless you're not concerned about such conflicts.

A bold statement that immediately revealed to me your only experience is with /Fire blasters! /Fire is afforded an OP immobilization that offers +50% DMG over all others. If anything, while other immobilizations would need a little love, Ring of Fire should be brought in line with the others. Compare the damage of Arctic and Pyre immobilizations of the newer Brute ancillary pools. Fire is offered +10% dmg for lack of any mitigation, which is where it should be (IO builds can substantially lessen the need for any mitigation through powers anyway). How is Subdual or Penumbral Grasp anywhere near very good damage? 1.67 sec cast time for 62 dmg over 9.2 secs is weak-sauce. I would argue Atomic is also viable due to it's quicker 4.7 sec DoT (but would benefit from removing the KB prot). I suggest you try to see outside your own limited experience.

You're right about the poor mans hold. I don't think it's important to consider the reasons though considering the fact Blasters were allowed to be debt collectors extraordinaire for years before they finally took steps to rectify their design decisions (albeit neglecting touching on the old immobilization). There is a reason why the newer secondaries /Dark and /Mental immobilization both do not have the KB protection; both primary counterparts offer KB powers, so it was easy for the devs to foresee the conflicting powers. I can't simply conceive of a way any Blaster at all would want to give the enemy KB protection; Blasters live or die by damage and active mitigation such as KB. It's simply sloppy work and the meta has long since left it behind.

Blaster primary sets tend to pay a heavy price in terms of damage output, if it has notable mitigation or utility outside the norm. Ice/ is an exception to this, if you can deal with lack of decent AoE (unless you pair it with /Mental). Sonic/ offers , but your damage output will suffer. Fire is king for damage and overwhelming damage is a defense on its own. As for secondary sets; /Devices is good for soloing, but lack Build-Up +DMG power and have slow power that hurts the rapid nature of teamplay. Temporal is a solid choice, but offers little mitigation outside the single target tier one slow/-rech. I would advice you to look at by order of defensiveness: /Ice, /Devices, /Tactical, /Martial or even /Mental if you're worried about fragility. Just be aware that in the end game, you can overcome most defensive short-comings by the right IO enhancement builds. My old Fire/Ice was fantastic to level up and had the best of two worlds with great single and AoE damage as well as good mitigation, but when fully pimped out, there were significantly less need for mitigation. As for supplementary power pools: I would recommend Leaping; Combat Jumping, Super Jump and even Athletics (KB+hold protection). Great mobility and a little status effect protection that goes a long way. If you pick a primary set with a snipe, I would recommend Leadership: Tactics, slot this so you have 16% ToHit minimum, then get yourself a Kismet: +6% Accuracy (is really ToHit). When you have +22% ToHit, snipe powers can be cast without the 3 sec interruption animation, making the power much more viable (albeit endurance hungry). Ultimately I would say, the sets are decently balanced (with Tactical Arrow being overtuned quite a bit IMO), so play something that you fit a character concept rather than focus on being the best meta build if you can. I've seen this regurgitated a few times and based on my mid-level experience, /Temporal secondary does little to change an AT that's best know for its amazing face-planting power. The set is nice (except the melee attacks which ties /Ice for worst), but doesn't offer anything other sets can't and is far from OP as you suggest. It has nothing on /Tactical, which really is a bit OP (as far as rather flaccid Blaster secondaries go).

The proposed change is primarily just to remove the KB protection compartment of the immobilization (or make it so that all knockback become knockdown instead) as it's basically a buff to the enemy and is really counter to what you want as a Blaster. Think a hybrid between Electron Shackles and Subdual that does the same but allows you to further mitigate damage by combining immobilization and knockbacks. Your powers wouldn't be at odds with each others. The other suggestion would reverse the focus of the power from immobilization to damage. Damage would be the primary effect with immobilization as a secondary effect. Damage would be the same (probably with a tweak to /Fire as it's breaking the mold), but twice as fast, immobilization would be either twice as short or even reduced to match the DoT time from about 17 secs to 5 secs.

I've had a blast with Blasters for the high-risk high-reward aspect, even though it may not as strong an AT as others. The AT got some much needed love, but I felt the changes neglected to address a problem with most of the tier one powers of the old secondary power sets (though the new sets tier one tends to be much better). These are the powers you *have* to take, yet are often so weak - they are unused or under-slotted. Primarily, remove the annoying knockback/up protection *buff to enemies* of all the immobilizations similar to /Dark, /Mental, and /Ninja as this negate the knockback you want and rely on as a very squishy blaster. EDIT: To sum up my second post; this could preferably be changed from knockback to knockdown. Secondarily, double the speed of the DoT to about 5 secs (similar to Electron Shackles of /Atomic), but reduce the immobilization duration to the same amount. Balance as needed (/Fire). This would give Blasters a power that is both a viable tool for damage AND mitigation and would make the sets who currently don't enjoy decent tier one powers a little more attractive. There are several powers who need a little love to be brought into the new meta, but that's for another time.

Didn't know button mashing constituted "playing the game". I feel so enlightened! I have too wanted a second (and third) auto_exec command ever since playing an /Energy Blaster who had to constantly refresh Boost Range, mash Power Boost, Aim and Build Up, while wanting Power Thrust to auto-fire in the face of big baddies coming too close, in addition to the usual suspect Hasten and a plethora of attacks all while jumping back and forth like crazy. This suggestion would be a great boon to people, like myself, who has finger rigidity issues...if you may allow us to play your game.

Umbral Torrent is a 2-for-1 replacement of Nightfall and Torrent and is one of the very best non-ultimate cone attacks in the game. However, Dark/ is still light (pardon the pun) on both AoE and ST damage to gain to pay for that utility. Dark/Dark/Soul can effectively become a mini-controller, with AoE immobilization and stacking stuns with Dark Pit and Oppressive Gloom. Then Soul Drain and Transference in the middle of large spawns. :)

There is little synergy between the first pairing as Beam Rifle is a set best used at a distance while Atomic is a set best used for melee where you can leverage the +recharge of Beta Decay. Temporal offers a slow power that will let you easier keep distance, has a better (faster) pbAoE attack which fills the weakness in BR better, and offers synergy between stun powers in both sets. With Atomic you will need Positron Cell+Radioactive Cloud to leverage holds vs bosses, but PC is significantly worse DMG than Lancer Shot. Ultimately though, I think Atomic is a stronger set if in larger teams with little concerns over the ultimate blaster power of faceplanting, this will allow Beta Decay alone to outshine anything Temporal has on offer.

The effect itself is +15% ToHit and 37% DMG with a 15 sec duration. As for the chance of it triggering, I would say about 5% per ST attack. Albeit AoE definitely seem to trigger it *slightly* more, suggesting there may be a number of target hit compartment involved also.

I knew I should have added a caveat about not having heard about the game's revival before yesterday, that I wasn't complaining as much as making an observation....and that I'm still burned out on having built a wiki pretty much singlehanded on another game, but would gladly help if I get hooked again on this game. Think this now covers all the bases. Thanks for the info everyone. Better equipped now not to step on anyone's toes haha.

Thank you. Just the kind of feedback I was hoping for. Higher level characters, even blasters, tend to run several toggles which makes a complete endurance drain too much of a hassle to make nukes worthwhile. If a game relies on detective work and perseverance to uncover pretty basic build planning, then it's doing it wrong. Beyond that, it is the case of too basic info given. The hero planners (Mid's previously and Pine's now), got most of the details down, but still too lacking. Guess I'm a little surprised a game who seem to have a surprisingly decent playerbase, doesn't have a wiki that matches it. This seems only to work on the powers you have, so won't do for planning. Nice tip though.

Thanks! I've seen that site before, but since it was so outdated I felt I couldn't trust even the little info there. But I'll go ahead and assume full nukes still deplete endurance - which makes them less than ideal. Guess it's back to being some kind of Archer again :)

Veteran CoH player here. I wanted to rekindle my love-affair with Blasters, but can find shockingly little info about powers in-game and outside. Best source of info so far is the flawed Pine's Hero Designer found here: https://mega.nz/?fbclid=IwAR0AlGyVbfejioQvgB8E28izGncWrrkMZR712eOxw-mg-tGWGMQu6VlYXg8#!qFEFTCLQ!XkqDAVafa_48bl7xYa0WFkqGNBVDXApSnpm6Keie3e8\ Is the a web page with up-to-date info, or a better planner? If not, how are the full nukes treated these days? Do they still drain you of all endurance and impose recovery debuffs?