Hjarki

Once you brush off all the dust, they still work for us just like they did for our ancestors.

No, but it's fairly easy to build. Seismic's recharge reduction on all powers coupled with Time's ability to cap defenses trivially means you don't need any particularly difficult build constraints.

It really depends on what you mean by 'solo'. Most of the game is simply grinding xp/inf. While no Corruptor is particularly good at this (compared to melee AT or even Blasters), there are certainly builds that are better than others. Techniques like */Time + Soul Drain or */Kinetics would tend to fall into this category. The other part of the game is what might be termed 'achievement' - you're trying to beat difficult enemies, normally AV/GM. Here, the debuff-centric sets tend to be the best for the simple reason that they're better at keeping you alive and can leverage the power of abilities like -regen.

Dark has a decent diversity of abilities. However, the main reasons I don't like the set much: Lack of any truly top notch abilities. There are certain abilities like Fulcrum Shift or Tornado that can carry an entire power set. Dark really doesn't have anything like that. Dark is painfully slow. You'd be forgiving if you check your watch waiting for the abilities to animate. Almost everything Dark does takes a lot longer than comparable abilities in other sets.

I disagree. Conventional Repel just isn't all that useful. If you want to maintain range, options like flight and Immobilize already work just fine. Repel, on the other hand, has a tendency to scatter mobs - and there's rarely ever a good result that comes from scattering mobs. Negative Repel, on the other hand, concentrates mobs. When it is attached an ability - like Singularity - that can place the center of the effect somewhere other than the player, it accomplishes everything normal Repel would ordinarily accomplish. Drawing mobs into a central point is incredibly useful - it's part of the reason you want a tank in your group - in a way that pushing them away from a central point is not.

I tend to straight slot Preemptive Optimization for 3.75% recharge and 3.75% Ranged Def. Drain Psyche is mainly a -regen power, so I don't care all that much about boosting it.

It would be a power just as much as any sort of toggle damage aura is.

When the set was being developed, I suggested the set would be far more fluid and 'fun' if Storm Cell were simply a large radius PBAoE toggle. I still hold that view - if you could just zip around, certain that everyone in your vicinity was in the Storm Cell, it would be a far more effective/enjoyable spec to play.

In general, protective debuffs are weaker than protective buffs because you need to hit with them. So if you're relying on that -hit to keep you alive there are many times when it will just fail you. The purple patch also cuts into such debuffs, meaning that they'll be running at 65% effectiveness (+4 w/alpha level shift). However, what really cripples them is the way they fail utterly against AV/GM. At the top end, they'll be reduced by a further 87%. This effectively renders them worthless at the very moment you need them the most. The same sort of calculus applies to control effects. Your ability to lock down an entire crowd is great. Then you apply that purple patch and it's still decent. Then you face that AV/GM and it fails utterly. There's also the larger issue of "who exactly are you helping?". Being able to lock down an entire crowd really isn't all that helpful when your team (except you) is already tough enough to wade into them. That being said, not everything is +4/x8 TF with an AV/GM at the end. If you just want to do a natural leveling progression and aren't worried too much about 'end game' (whatever that is in CoH), then you should do fine.

This is a non-editable version of the spreadsheet I use to play around with various sets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSXnW5bbWLXeZUblluSb5E8jo79coHN3AYqVxtgDYdkOox6T6-cR1HbkgNnOtVP7yWM_g6Fivg5iAWL/pubhtml?gid=1339529025&single=true The 'uses' column is the rotation. While it doesn't describe the order, it describes how many times you use the power in the rotation. The green box indicates the dps of the entire rotation. I omit a fair number of mechanics: Dual Pistols is fixed to Fire Ammo Beam Rifle Disintegrate is ignored Storm Blast's Storm Cell is ignored Sonic Blast's -resist is ignored Seismic's mechanics are mostly ignored and the assumption is that you're only using Stalagmite when it's enhanced. So if we look at Fire Blast, I'm claiming that 2 Flares, 1 Fireball, 1 Blaze, 1 Blazing Blast creates a decent rotation if you limit yourself to 300% (or so) recharge. Due to the flexibility of Fire's rotation, it actually has a much higher ceiling as you permit more recharge and throw in melee attacks. For example, a rotation of Fire Blast, Cremate, Blaze, Blazing Bolt is around 85 dps (before enhancements/procs). However, remember this is just a quick and dirty tool for myself, so it relies a lot on knowledge I have that isn't expressed by the spreadsheet.

Electric would be right around Cold for much the same reason: lack of a decent backup to its primary attack.

There are a lot of nuances to this. If I've got the rotations right, the pre-enhancement/proc ST dps of the various sets should look something like so: Fire Blast: 72.54 Psychic Blast: 70.42 Seismic Blast: 70.36 Storm Blast: 70.07 Archery: 69.95 Assault Rifle: 68.30 Water Blast: 66.54 Dark Blast: 65.08 Dual Pistols: 64.96 Cold: 63.68 Sonic Blast: 61.65 Radiation Blast: 60.53 Energy Blast: 59.32 Beam Rifle: 56.75 It's entirely possible that there are better rotations than the ones I used although it's unlikely that I got the rotations for the top end of the list wrong. These rotations also don't include melee attacks from epic/patron pools. I've got a spreadsheet I use to play with these numbers, but apparently Google Sheets doesn't allow anonymous sharing of such documents.

I mentioned two specific controls - Screech + Oppressive Gloom and Siren's Song. Oppressive Gloom works just fine even on +4 - the scaling doesn't decrease the duration below the activation time. Screech less so. Screech has a 5.96s duration, which is barely enough to cover +0 at the cyclic rate you'll be using it. So you're left with three options: Boost the Disorient duration via enhancements. This is problematic because Blaster's Wrath (full set) is the almost default slotting for the power due to its exceptional recharge and proc. Boost the Disorient duration via Incarnates. While Resilient doesn't work particularly well, Spiritual is actually a strong choice in many cases since it will often add more damage than Musculature (due to the recharge reduction). Deal with the fact that your coverage isn't 100%. Bear in mind we're not talking about building for 0% Defense/0% Resist on the premise that our status effects will render us immune to all harm. Even 80% coverage on a Disorient is still a significant reduction in damage. Siren's Song has a duration more than sufficient to perma-Sleep a mob even at +4. However, Sleep isn't very useful in teams and covering an entire spawn with Siren's Song can be tricky. So it's mostly useful solo and as a conventional ranged AE rather than a Dominator-style City of Statues. I agree that most AE controls are mostly pointless. I'd extend this to most AE anything in secondary. Blaster defenses simply don't get good enough to wander into a crowd and blast them all without killing any of them and survive. It's one thing to clear the room with Inferno and leave a few stray bosses - but conventional secondary AE is just going to get you killed in non-trivial content. Couple this with the fact that most secondary AE isn't really any better than what you have in primary for Blast sets, there's little reason to take it. So, in my mind, Blapping is primarily about augmenting single target damage - replacing low damage ranged attacks with high damage melee ones in your rotation. However, the only time you're using those attacks is either when you've either controlled/eliminated all those minions or when you reach that final AV/GM. In the former case, being able to go one-on-one with a Boss with little risk of harm is a significant advantage - and one that traditional SLER approaches don't really offer. In the latter case, there really isn't anything you can do but bring someone to tank the AV/GM or fight it entirely at range. Additional Note: Oppressive Gloom is actually a pretty decent way to ensure you get the mano-on-mano fight I was discussing above since Stupefy is such a strong slotting. While ordinarily this is a massive pain due to the KB proc, the proc chance on a single target (the one you care about) is relatively low and the combination of Stun/KB tends to keep the riff-raff off your back. It still needs to be augmented with defenses/resists, but the total damage reduction is significant. However, Oppressive Gloom only really helps if you got a Stun you're working in conjunction with in primary/secondary. Additional Note #2: You mentioned Fire/Electric. One of the reasons Electric is such a strong choice for Blapping is Shocking Grasp and its attendant Hold. While you're not going to get the guaranteed sort of stacking with Sonic/X/Soul, you're still minimizing the incoming damage with status effects.

Psi isn't a particularly strong Blapper primary since it's single target controls are lacking, Psi Darts is probably the best Cone Blasters receive and the entire set is built around long range. Likewise, Atomic has relatively weak melee attacks so it's not ideal for Blapping. In general, what I look for with a 'Blapper' is the ability to control/neutralize the target I'm melee'ing. For example, consider Sonic/Ninja/Soul. You've got Screech with a Mag 3 Disorient and Oppressive Gloom to bring it above Mag 4 so most of your targets can't fight back. You've got Sting of the Wasp and Golden Dragonfly - both excellent attacks - and you can slot a purple proc into both (Golden Dragonfly's AF is trivial). While the Cone-centric nature of Sonic's AE is problematic, you can use AE Sleep to neutralize foes and pick apart the spawn one by one if your ultimate isn't available.

Not taking the three personal attacks in primary is going to cost you a ton of damage. Virtually all Mercenary attacks against a target add 33% for each of Burst, Slug and M30 Grenade you've hit the target with in the past 30 seconds. So you'll literally be doing half the damage you should without those attacks against a single target.

Your goals and your power selections are at odds with one another. */Devices has no melee attacks so you're not Blapping, no matter what your intent may be. Even if you were using another secondary, Energy is horrible for Blapping since you're constantly knocking your opponents out of range. You also don't need Hasten for Energy Blast (or, frankly, for Devices). The standard rotation - Blast/Burst/Sniper - runs at sub-300% recharge. If you want to play a SLER Blapper, you need to pick other power sets. If you want to play Energy/Devices, your overall approach needs some tweaking (different power picks/slotting, etc.)

When you're running a task force, you're limited to powers you obtained at or before the task force's maximum level (similar restrictions exist for exemplar'ing). So normally you want to prioritize the abilities you really need at low levels. In many cases, a Tanker running Posi 1 will have a crippled ST rotation and often no AE at all. In terms of endurance, there's only so much you can do. For sets like Invulnerability, you'll normally want to add some endurance reduction into your toggles. You'll take the uniques like Performance Shifter, Miracle and Panacea in Stamina/Health (Numina's also goes there but it won't work at Posi 1 levels).

As I noted, PBAoE on a Blaster is... questionable. It's one thing to use a PBAoE and annihilate every minion (and perhaps even the lieutenants) in a spawn in an eyeblink. It's quite another to stand in the middle of a large crowd mildly wounding them over time. Probably the only Assault set PBAoE I think is really worth it is would be Burst of Speed - because it's basically a second ultimate (especially with procs). You can Aim/Gaussian's, triple tap it, and do enormous amounts of damage in a big burst. It's still riskier than something like Inferno, but it will clear out the room. You also have to consider that most PBAoE from Assault sets just isn't very good. Atom Smasher, at +200% recharge, deals 8.22 dps against 10 targets within 10 yards. Water Burst at the same recharge would deal 9.62 dps against 16 targets within 15 yards - and does so from across the room. Now, if your expectation is that you'll always have the perfect Tanker taking the aggro, be backed up by Defenders buffing you, or never leave the fire farm (or similarly content where it's easy to build comprehensive defenses), then feel free to invest in those PBAoE. But for general content? Leaping into that crowd is a glorified form of suicide. Single target is different: Many of the melee attacks are legitimately quite a bit stronger than the ranged attacks they replace in your rotation. It's a lot easier for a Tanker to control a single target than a crowd. Against non-AV/GM, you can use Disorients/Holds/debuffs to ensure your single target isn't fighting back. It's also worth noting that fighting large spawns without a taunt can be a major nuisance, especially with small radius attacks.

Not very well. Energy Blast is a middle-of-the-road damage set and if you're planning to enter melee, you have to slather Knockback reduction all over the place in your powers so you're not constantly chasing enemies everywhere. Atomic has its virtues, but high impact melee damage isn't one of them. Also, generally Blapping works well for ST damage and not so much for AE effects. Blasters simply don't get the kind of defenses that can withstand being attacked by large crowds. Normally you can expect to soft-cap Renged or maybe Smashing/Lethal/Energy/Ranged, but without status protection. As a result, most of the best Blapper builds I see (those designed for play rather than fire farms or pylon tests) are 'hybrid' builds that can operate completely at range but can also close on a single target to deal more damage if it's safe enough - and they often make it 'safe enough' with stacking Holds/Disorients. For example, consider something like Sonic/Ninja/Soul. You can happily blast away from range, or briefly dip into melee for your ultimate. But if you do decide to square off against that one enemy where you want maximum damage, you can bring Sting of the Wasp and Golden Dragonfly into play (with the two purple procs they have) while keeping bosses constantly disoriented with Screech + Oppressive Gloom.

You might consider Psi as your epic pool for the status protection clickie. Fire Control generally wants to be in the middle of things (and on the ground) for Hot Feet. This makes almost any status effect a death sentence as it shuts down all those toggles protecting you.

I could certainly make one - but it wouldn't be a fully tested build but more of a proof-of-concept build. I know you can cap S/L/E/R/A on such a build, especially given how you can slot your attacks sub-optimally (using sets like Ice Mistral's Torment and Cloud Senses).

For the toggle regen/recovery powers, I almost always slot them either Preemptive Optimization (3.75% Ranged Def, 3.75% recharge) or Numina's Convalescence (3.75% Ranged Def, saves me a slot where I'd otherwise put the proc). I'm rarely concerned with augmenting Slow. It's nice enough when it helps, but it is so heavily resisted in any sort of difficult content that you might as well not even have bothered. Unless I'm getting a benefit like Ice Mistral's Torment, it's just not worth it.

Defenders are different in some key ways: Procs are better than damage. Defenders are one of the only AT for which the damage scale is so low that slotting a 3.5 ppm proc will yield more damage than a purple Damage enhancement. This gives a significant advantage to sets that can deeply slot procs over those that cannot. Certain primary abilities tend to be more potent than your ST rotation. A good first pass approximation of the value of -regen on an AV/GM (which is really what we're mainly talking about with ST damage) is that you get 1 implied dps for every 10% -regen. So Benumb can be approximated as generating 50 dps - which is about what a Defender's entire ST damage with conventional slotting would do. Defenders may or may not have fillers for their rotation. Kinetics is notorious for how 'busy' it is. The upshot of this is that you lose significant parts of your ST rotation due to the need to be activating powers in primary. On the other hand, a primary like Thermal rarely does much besides nuke in most fights. In general, you shouldn't approach your Blast set in terms of "how can I do the mostest damage?" because, well, you can't. You can certainly optimize the damage you deal but you'll never be competitive with other AT. Rather, you should be thinking about how the Blast set supports your secondary and how it supports the team.

I tend to classify the damage types as follows: Smashing, Lethal, Energy. These are all high damage (want to heavily resist) and very common (want a high defense against). Fire, Toxic. This are high damage, often environmental but not particularly common. So you primarily want to resist this rather than defend against it. Cold, Dark, Psionic. These are low damage and not particularly common. They also come with crippling debuffs so you primarily want to defend against them. If you can't build decent Defense against them, you can pair minor amounts of resist with massive amounts of Slow/Recharge/Hit debuff resistance. So if I'm in a situation where I don't have particularly good Psionic Defense, I worry less about slotting all those Psi Resist uniques than I do piling on 100% (or nearly so) slow/recharge resistance.

Because single target tanking is when you'd need the ATO proc. Against large crowds, each individual hit is relatively small so your health slowly diminishes to the point where your resists are capped. In terms of using it in AE, I suppose you can simply swap the two ATO sets if it's really that big a concern (especially given that Skysplitter comes with a resist buff of its own that's generally better than the ATO). However, putting both ATOs into AE attacks means two things: You're skipping Armageddon, one of the best sets in the game, as well as the ability to buff the defense of Guarded Spin. You need to come up with another melee set when you've already used the only good one for a positional defense-based character. To Hit buffs are normally not much of an issue since you're so far over soft-cap and can push Melee Defense to obscene levels.