How Does Beam/ Stack Up?

[VV]

So, after leveling an Elec/ blaster to 50 only to learn that it is an underperforming set, before I roll a new blaster, I am making a reality check for Beam/. Is it a decent set? I'm thinking of combining it with /Temp for a kind of a time-cop theme. Any powers that are must-have or must-skip?

Edited October 17, 2019 by VV

[Frostweaver]

Yes, go over to the guides and adds section of the forums, and download the 'sounds add-on' to change the Beam rifle sound effects from their horribly loud musical electric fart sound to something more pew-pew and tolerable.

 

Temporal has a lot to offer BR, but range synergy is not one of those things. temporal is amazing at melee ranges, and is top-tier blapper along with cold, MA, and darkness, while BR/ is almost pure long-range.

Best secondaries for BR (IMO) are /TA, /nrg, devices, ninja, and Plant, because they still work reliably at cone range.

[VV]

Ah cool. I do like the looks of /Dev. I was taking /Temp for the extra recharge bonus. Between Chronos and Time Lord, it's a nice little extra.

[Lamb Chop]

Can't say enough how much I love my Beam/Tac Arrow. Sounds clunky at first, but it's a really efficient set with a great smattering of tools that are useful from range. It's also nice that it provides a not insignificant layer of defense with Gymnastics and flash arrow, and a great passive that screams TAKE ME. 

 

My biggest complaint about blaster secondaries is typically that many of the powers are skippable, but that's not a problem here.

[Frostweaver]

beam, water, ar, and archery/ta are all extremely synergistic. It's hard to explain unless you have actually played them.

[Hyperstrike]

 

[VV]

Hmmm, okay, I think you guys convinced me to go Beam/TA, instead of Beam/Temp. TA seems to do everything Temp does, but better, and more. The only thing it seems to lack is the -Regen, but I guess I'll be okay without it.

 

[FUBARczar]

  On 10/20/2019 at 6:45 PM, VV said:

Hmmm, okay, I think you guys convinced me to go Beam/TA, instead of Beam/Temp. TA seems to do everything Temp does, but better, and more. The only thing it seems to lack is the -Regen, but I guess I'll be okay without it.

 

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yeah that's a solid choice, just remember to use no redraw in the power customization.  The other best sets to pair with beam IMHO is Plant and Devices.

[VV]

Well, my Beam/TA is level 22, now and so far it rocks. I like how TA is all ranged and self-buffs. None of that melee carp. Flash Arrow seems a bit like cheating.  I'm glad you guys convinced me to take it. Beam is great so far, too.

[Frostweaver]

flash arrow IS a bit like cheating, especially if you grab concealment or dump a stealth IO in sprint. It's not as speedy to stealth missions as pure concealment/stealth IO, but you can stand only a few feet away and grab a clickie without aggro, which is pretty nice.

Also the -to-hit really helps your team, AND you can slot penetrating Ray with experienced marksman: fast snipe, and then slot flash arrow with siphon insight chance to hit to make that 1.5 second snipe do slow snipe damage. Not terribly cost efficient, but it lets you dump more ST attacks into your aim/upshot timer... It could add an extra 300-500 damage to your initial 'Kill the boss' chain, and potentially dump another couple of hundred in AOE's around that boss.

[VV]

Reporting back! Beam/TA is 50 and pretty well tricked out and she rooooooooooocks. Highly recommended.

[Leogunner]

  On 11/16/2019 at 9:14 PM, VV said:

Reporting back! Beam/TA is 50 and pretty well tricked out and she rooooooooooocks. Highly recommended.

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Well you did miss out on the GM killing prominence of Beam/Temp but it's okay.  Not everyone can be monster assassins.

[VV]

  On 11/17/2019 at 5:07 AM, Leogunner said:

Well you did miss out on the GM killing prominence of Beam/Temp but it's okay.  Not everyone can be monster assassins.

Expand  

That's funny, /Temp was my other choice. /TA mainly won out because of it's lack of melee power. Explain to me why /Temp is better, I need to be convinced!

[Leogunner]

  On 11/17/2019 at 7:55 PM, VV said:

That's funny, /Temp was my other choice. /TA mainly won out because of it's lack of melee power. Explain to me why /Temp is better, I need to be convinced!

Expand  

That's the thread I was reading not too long after starting my Beam/temp.  Since, I've gotten him to level 44 and he's sitting at around 20% def to ranged and a chunk of +rech from sets.  I had planned to proc out some of the powers but got side-tracked by other projects.  Considering I only have 3 lvl 50s, it's pretty standard to get my characters in the 35-45 range before taking a break and trying something else.

[Shred Monkey]

  On 11/17/2019 at 8:10 PM, Leogunner said:

That's the thread I was reading not too long after starting my Beam/temp.  Since, I've gotten him to level 44 and he's sitting at around 20% def to ranged and a chunk of +rech from sets.  I had planned to proc out some of the powers but got side-tracked by other projects.  Considering I only have 3 lvl 50s, it's pretty standard to get my characters in the 35-45 range before taking a break and trying something else.

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For some reason I expected that thread to talk about using a Beam/Temp blaster to crush GMs solo.  I'm a little disappointed.  

 

 

[VV]

  On 11/21/2019 at 3:36 PM, Shred Monkey said:

For some reason I expected that thread to talk about using a Beam/Temp blaster to crush GMs solo.  I'm a little disappointed.  

 

 

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That was debunked in the other thread. That being said, Beam/Temp is a good set.

[Kanil]

so, i posted a thing in the plyon damage thread showing beam rifle's potential for damage for those more curious about a demonstration of it.

 

so far i've only solo'd jack in irons and adamastor because i can't ever find the other gms but it's been pretty easy cruising. the inherent -regen in beam rifle definitely adds up vs. that GM health - it's about equivalent to tossing an envenomed dagger in yoru string.

 

it is a br/temp build but i'm honestly not sure how much the secondary comes into play for GM hunting specifically.

the /temp part of it seems.. i dunno- it's probably good in teams (if nobody has or can use an envenomed dagger) but the amount that time stop and time wall add in terms of -regen is like... it's about the same as the degen part of single shot with 3x the animation time. so the /time component isn't really necessary at all for the gm meltathon.

 

the big part of BR is how you can really feel the lack of aoes though, and that's where i think things really help out because end of time is a comedically good pbaoe.

 

after having a generally top-end dual pistol and assault rifle char, beam rifle is a very nice change of pace because those two powersets are so middling in comparison.

 

  On 11/15/2019 at 8:12 PM, Kanil said:

so, here's a vid for beam rifle/temporal manipulation with a 2:32 time. in multiple attempts it usually averages that 2:35~ range, with the far extreme slow end being like 2:45~ and the fast end being 2:20~. i put the tildes there because i measured using the recovery on ageless, which i'd pop immediately. so maybe a bit slower than that since it's a real rough estimate.

 

since there's no established BR attack chain it took me a bit to try and figure out what was 'optimal', and i'm pretty sure i still haven't reached it yet. generally going between disintegrate->lancer shot->sniper ray->penetrating shot as a starter and then doing the same chain sans disintegrate twice seems to be ideal since that's how much you can do the chain and still get the full disintegration bonuses before needing to re-apply the attack.

 

on top of that, managing aim and build up so they are constantly active on top of each other rather than stacking both at once seems to produce substantial effects as well- doing the same string while applying both instead of juggling the two would shoot up my times to around the 2:50-3:10~ marker.

generally any 'lesser' attack string would do the same too. i'm surprised adding 'charged shot'  to the end of the loop there pushed the times that high too given the additional -75% regen it has (and the force feedback proc i have on it shortening the bu/aim timing) but i guess that's the nature of those attacks.

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2019 by Kanil

[HelenCarnate]

If you are really wanting to stack the -Regen with Beam you have 3 options and Temp is the worst of the 3. 

 

Mental has the best debuff (-250%) with the down side being a to hit roll needed every 30 seconds and requires you to get into melee range and also requires a ton of global recharge in addition to having recharge slotted.  Not a terrible down side but if that is your only -regen, you can really tell against GMs and AVs when that misses. Also unless you have defense to melee or typed for whatever the AV/GM is tossing at you, getting hit with a melee attack from them can hurt a lot. 

 

Next is Plant with half that debuff (112.5%) tied to a toggle.  As long as you have endurance you can keep that debuff on.  The down side is that it is a bit of an end hog at 0.52 per second as a base.  I normally run either Hover or Combat Jumping, Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, Tactics (for snipe sets), and Epic/Patron Shield.  Now add another toggle that is mainly used in long fights and that could end up draining some builds. 

 

The least effective is Temporal.  2 separate attacks have only -50% regen each and take away from time that you can be using other attacks.  The other thread listed the numbers but basically if you are solo against GM/AV targets, you are better off not using those debuffs as the cast time for those attacks lowers your DPS more than you gain from the -regen.  In a group with everyone else doing damage then it can be decent, but not solo.  This is not to imply that Temporal is bad.  You get a free slot to throw Gladiators Armor +3% defense unique on top of 20% recharge with Time Lord for one.  Also if you make it sturdy enough to hang in melee range, Aging Touch is a great fast animating high DPA attack that can be included in your attack chain.  It is just not the best to use for -regen.

 

My personal favorite would be Beam/Plant.  Mainly because getting Drain Psyche perma is a pain without cutting out defenses or damage and the endurance drain from an extra toggle is fairly easy to manage.

[Shred Monkey]

I got my Beam/Devices up to 50 over Thanksgiving Break and flushed out his build.  No lore pet yet and I haven't used my Hybrid Incarnate power yet, but I'm already soloing GM's and TFs.  So far I've done Babbage, Jurassik, and Deathsurge solo.  I had Kraken to 50% before some others showed up to help finish.   I've also solo'd an ITF and an Apex TF (bring purples for Battle Maiden, she has +tohit).  I also solo'd a Winterlord and I've done some DE monsters just to see if I could.

 

While leveling up my final attack chain was available about level 27 when I got into the level 30 IOs, so it was pretty smooth sailing from there.  I even solo'd Manticore TF and Numina TF while still in my 30s and I did all the Portal Jockey AV's solo before hitting level 47.

 

I really agonized over the secondary I chose for a long time, but I chose devices just because everything fell together a little better than the other sets.  Not having -regen in my secondary hasn't been an issue.  And I really like the "always on" bonuses from targeting drone when I'm doing a prolonged fight.  In the end, I don't think the secondary is all that important as Beam Rifle alone is enough to push you over the top on a GM's regen.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Shred Monkey
reworded some parts

[Shred Monkey]

Update on my Beam/Devices.  I solo'd Lusca this morning.   The tenticles were easy... not much harder than an AV.  But the head took more DPS/regen then I could produce with my rifle alone.  I would gain ground for a few of Lusca's health ticks and then lose it back.  So I know it was right at the break-even point.  I popped my ravager incarnate pet and moved around the head so I was tanking and the pet was safe behind it and we finished it off.  

[Lockpick]

  On 12/4/2019 at 5:35 PM, Shred Monkey said:

Update on my Beam/Devices.  I solo'd Lusca this morning.   The tenticles were easy... not much harder than an AV.  But the head took more DPS/regen then I could produce with my rifle alone.  I would gain ground for a few of Lusca's health ticks and then lose it back.  So I know it was right at the break-even point.  I popped my ravager incarnate pet and moved around the head so I was tanking and the pet was safe behind it and we finished it off.  

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Would you be willing to share your build?

[VV]

Remember to carry some Envenomed Daggers for those high high regen GMs

[Lockpick]

I solo'ed my first TF (Moonfire) and AV (Arakhn) today.  My BR/Devices Blaster was level 30.  I am trying to come up with an end game build, so was hoping some of the pros in this thread would provide feedback.  Also, looking for help on the best single target attack chain.

 

I was trying to build for ranged and S/L defense and high recharge.  My build has gone through numerous revamps and I am sure it will go through more as I level.  I am not a fan of Hover and would prefer Combat Jumping, but needed Fly and Afterburner to add ranged defense.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

War Beam: Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Devices
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Single Shot -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 1: Toxic Web Grenade -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(37), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 2: Charged Shot -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 6: Disintegrate -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 8: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 10: Targeting Drone -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A)
Level 12: Lancer Shot -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(25)
Level 14: Aim -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 16: Smoke Grenade -- ToHitDeb-I(A)
Level 18: Penetrating Ray -- Apc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Apc-Acc/Rchg(19), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Apc-Dam%(23), FrcFdb-Rechg%(43)
Level 20: Field Operative -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(27), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(43), LucoftheG-Def(43)
Level 22: Kick -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(36), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(42), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 24: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(46), UnbGrd-Max HP%(50)
Level 26: Piercing Beam -- Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(31), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Rgn-Knock%(34)
Level 28: Trip Mine -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Arm-Acc/Rchg(29), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Arm-Dam%(34), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46)
Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(37), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(39)
Level 32: Overcharge -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(33), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(36)
Level 35: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(39), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(42)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(39)
Level 41: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45), Ksm-ToHit+(46), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(48), Rct-ResDam%(50)
Level 44: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(45)
Level 47: Afterburner -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Prv-Absorb%(45), Pnc-Heal/+End(48)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface
Level 1: Quick Form
Level 50: Tsoo Core Superior Ally
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Void Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon
------------

 

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[Shred Monkey]

  On 12/4/2019 at 5:35 PM, Shred Monkey said:

Update on my Beam/Devices.  I solo'd Lusca this morning.   The tenticles were easy... not much harder than an AV.  But the head took more DPS/regen then I could produce with my rifle alone.  I would gain ground for a few of Lusca's health ticks and then lose it back.  So I know it was right at the break-even point.  I popped my ravager incarnate pet and moved around the head so I was tanking and the pet was safe behind it and we finished it off.  

Expand  

At this point it's just me feeding my ego, but I'll post my current progress here in case anyone is interested.  After getting Caleb and Scrapyard yesterday, I've now solo'd all the GM's (except Paladin).  I've solo'd ITF, Market Crash, Tin Mage and Apex.  I solo'd the full DA arc on +4 w/AVs, (the last battle was much easier on a ranged toon than on a melee toon... almost disappointingly so).  MsLTF and LRTF will be next on my list.  

 

The only thing that I've tried and failed to compete is Siege AV at level 54.  I can overcome his regen, but he has a heal that kicks in around 25% health that recharges fast enough that I can't get him down before it triggers again.  It's really, close... but I've not beaten him yet.  

 

Earlier in this thread I pointed out that I expected the Beam/Time Giant killer thread would be about someone crushing GMs with a Beam/Time blaster.   The truth is, the reason I expected that was because I was already convinced it was possible and was in the process of building this toon to prove it.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Shred Monkey