Force Redux

The sets are both rather thematic, but I don't think they necessarily synergize well together. Sonic Blast relies on a cone for regular AOE other than its PBAOE nuke. /Sonic wants to be in range. The AoE is a bit weak, and the secondary doesn't do too much to help you stay alive. I really feel the Disruption Aura should offer a -Damage to nearby foes, too. The hold mechanic is a bit unreliable. I think its a servicable secondary, but would probably pair better with something else more Blappery than Sonic Blast. That said, they aren't terrible, just not optimal, and they will work if you get the rythm. I have combat teleport with binds to jump into my target in melee then back out again for cones and ranged. It improves what is rather mediocre pairing into 'fairly good'. But you have to dip into teleport. Personally I enjoy the character, despite this.

I'm fairly new to blasters, and this was the first I tried. I then leveled up three others, two to incarnate (my favorite being Beam/Devices), and now I'm coming back to Sonic/Sonic. As far as I can see, this has to be a Blapper build, getting into melee for the PBAOE and ST melee attacks, and then dancing back for the cones. I took Combat teleport and did some binds to make it easy to zip and out. Yet, I hesitate to put up a build just yet. I'm still trying to build up to capped Range/S/L and I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with Mace to do so (I prefer resist epic armors), but not seeing much choice - even with Tough/Weave, I'll need that S/L/E from Scorpion Shield. Would love to see some ideas too from the Blaster experts, too.

I'm just going to add that Trick Arrow/Dark Blast defender is ridiculously good solo (as well as on teams). And the goodness starts off right away at low level. Also strong nods to Time/Pistol and Pain/Ice.

Happy New Year to all 🥳🎉🙂

Scrapper regen needs the Sentinel treatment.

Yes, indeed

Voted. Lotta games I loved on that list, specifically EQ, EQ2, DAoC. But none are my City.

Use GoTo command. Your pets won't run farther than 20' from the center. Huge quality of life change for MMs... 🙂

The heals in Dark and Time have a large radius, easily big enough for you to stand outside melee comfortably and still heal meleeing pets easily.

Conversely, I enjoy blowing them up 😁

If you like Defense shields, go Cold. Offers so much more than FF and you can rock +4/x8.

Dark, every day, all day. Desdemona knows the deal. But as mentioned above, Thermal, Nature and Time are solid. Cold is also primo.

Well I have a Beam/Device hover Blaster. But I also toe bomb and get in the mix, too. I could post a build based on my own if you tell me a bit about what your planned build includes...

Yeah, Devices really does check a lot of the boxes!

Yes, true, the extra range buff from Penetrating Shot is very helpful for long range mayhem!

Combat TP is one of the most fun things I've encountered in MMOs besides flying. If I could fit it in on every character, I would. Hell, I was just having fun watching our team's scrapper 'BAMF'ing around the battle field, kicking things. Eye candy!

HI Brasilgringo. I've played Water Blast extensively on Defender and Sentinel, but not on Blaster. That said, comparing them across ATs, I'd say Beam Rifle has stronger ST than Water. Cutting Beam is a decent fairly wide cone. I like it even better with some +range from set bonuses and enhancers. I have it with -Res proc as well, to help with team damage. I use it constantly, it us up often and plays nicely with being ranged. Piercing Beam hits very hard. its the narrow 5 degree cone. In large groups with full teams, you are guaranteed to hit 2-3 at least until the mobs spread out. I was dubious about it, but I took it and would not respec out of it. It also has a nifty -Res, so even good on hard Single Targets. Overcharge is the nuke all ranged characters love. Good range, hits hard, big enough area and comes with a nice stun. Also has -Def so you could slot more -Resist IOs, but I use mine for the ranged bonus with 6 slots to soft cap. Beam (rightfully so) is not an AOE king, it is mostly 'meh'. But with single target at level 51 i'm getting over 900 points of damage with my snipe. I could probably get higher. To me that's good. /shrug. Certainly when I'm taking down Bosses and EBs I seem to do so very quickly. The -Regeneration in Disintigrate is also helpful. Disintegrate is supposed to add to AoE but its random and I just count it as 'extra' gravy on top of the set. I see the single target energy dots more than i see the disintegate spreading, but I enjoy when it does happen. Devices adds nicely to the AOE through Caltrops (to a lesser extent) and Trip Mine (all the time). Trip Mine is big damage and I toe bomb frequently to up my AOE and I never feel lacking as a result. This plays well with either diving into a new group of enemies first to lay it down, or by letting pet AI have the mobs come to you for a nice explosive greeting when they try to pummel you in melee. Beam has become one of my favorite blast sets, not just on Sentinels and Defenders, but now on Blasters, where it shines, even without the Sent chain-AOE.

I don't worry too much about making Disintigration happen, but it does and often and I really love those big orange letters floating above heads! Fist pump moment!

Happy to hear that Martial really clicked for you. Ki Push is hilarious! (so is /Sonic's T1). Devices hits that same spot, offers me some permutations to gameplay that chagnge from solo to group. I can do set up, toe bomb, stealth, get up close and keep at range, with a few neat tricks.

Yes, I agree Six-Six, having the ability to do *something* even while mezzed, if a HUGE perk. Helps you feel engaged. Yes, my stealth-blaster is Awesome Sauce, kind of like a ranged stalker. I squee every time I use my Snipe and get like 900+ damage and knock them off their feet! Very visceral! 😁

Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Blaster appreciation post (meandering thoughts not at all related to mechanics or builds) Back when dinosaurs walked the earth (before Issue 3), I tried my hand at a Fire/Fire hover blaster named Sun King. About the time I got to Perez Park, I parked it and never came back to it. It never jived with me. The tradeoff for damage vs. frailty was too much, and I wasn't willing to give it a try. During Live I settled on Scrappers, Tankers and Masterminds with a side-helping of Controller. (clearly Issue 24 was kind to Blasters, since my experiment...) On HC, I've mostly been spending my time on anything with a support set: Masterminds, Defenders and Controllers, chiefly. But I had never once touched a Blaster since those many years ago. I tried Sentinels, but I found their damage uninspiring (fun, but uninspiring). I have several Tankers, and a few Stalkers, but in general I hate jockeying for position on teams to get to mobs. I like range. Range is good. However, I always stood on the high DPS sidelines, never ready to trade off the comfort of control and buffs/debuffs for the raw BOOM! power. Then I ran last week with a Beam/Sonic Manipulation blaster and I really liked the /sonic visuals. I'm a sucker for visuals. Yes, the ring-aura was all it took to get me to try an AT I'd avoided for over 16 years. So I rolled up a Sonic/Sonic. I knew it wasn't the most optimal pairing, but I liked the theme and also the idea that I could do DPS and also help force multiply the team. Visually, it worked well, and in play, it was blappy with combat teleport binds helping me get back in and out for cones vs pbaoes. However, I lacked a certain something and I parked it at 41. So I did some research, and rolled up a Ice/Martial, which I felt was a much better Blapper, and had some built-in safety in the Marital Arts secondary. Style points for my Sub-Zero martial artist knockoff. Got to 44 and realized I still wasn't sold on Blapping just yet. Lots of work trying to softcap R/S/L even with Cold Epic (I could respec into Fighting to achieve it, though). This one went on the shelf, but its a good combo, I will likely return to it later. But for now, I thought, what about mostly ranged? More research. Third Blaster. Beam/Devices. "CLICK". Right from the start. The visuals. The solid ST damage, the utility of Devices. It all fell together. In short order, with some TFs, Radios, an AE farm, MSR and a few solo missions, I had this character, Android Assassin, up to Alpha T3. Now, one of my top favorite characters (competing with TA/Dark Defender, Demons/Dark MM and Plant/Nature Controller). How did I miss this AT before? I was so dead-set against Blasters, but I've been convinced! I'm eyeballing other combos (Ice/Plant I see you over there).... So, big thanks to all those who posted info in these forums that I poured through to come up with good choices. New blaster, happy blaster! TLDR: I got over my comfort zone and decided to invest in a pure damage AT.

Yes they can be clicked while mezzed

I'm beyond impressed! 😳😁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

As an alternative, hover and combat teleport address immobility and quick positioning, especially with binds! 🙂

Willpower is a solid low-maintanance set that performs admirably with little attention. Build for some extra Defense and fire away.