AR/Devices Advice Request

[Snarky]

I am putting together my first "serious" AR and was hoping for some insight into some folks who have run this.  Into the ground.  Literally, for a Blaster lol.

 

I am going for and have achieved softcap range, and will be attempting to stay the farthest back of any character engaged with targets.  Not always easy I know.  Which is why I am asking fort help.

 

I am running out of power choices and way short on slots.  Chasing ranged defense is ...you know lol.  Still, I am not unhappy with the build.

 

What are some skippable powers?  I am specifically looking at Ignite, Trip Mine, Time Bomb and Gun Drone.  Are any of these true Gold, other than very situationally?

 

Caltrops....great power.  But...useful at 50...in iTrials?

 

I will be using munitions for Epic.  I really want that LRM lol

 

Thanks for the input.

 

 

 

 

[Novacat]

Munitions really deserves the kind of treatment /Devices itself got. Also we absolutely need IDF Heavy Trooper packs/attacks as a "weapon" option (you'd probably have to forego most backpacks to avoid some serious clipping ... or make good use of it perhaps instead) for this or AR, or at least the council rocket launcher for the LRM.

 

As for what's skippable...

 

Caltrops: It's always useful. But it does lose quite a bit of value if you fly a lot (hover blasting with no blapping in particular) since then what you'd rather have is a stack of tripmines right under your 20ft+ altitude. You know; that spot all the idiots gather under to try and reach you should you drop down... But for ground-focus it's an amazing companion to trip-mines especially for the old "around a corner" minefield trick.

 

Ignite: Skip this one if the very thought of a 4s cast time angers you. Its total damage is higher than most nukes but it can be very clunky to use - try it out and if you like it (it's certainly nasty and consider a knockdown chance in there like the ragnarok set parts so runners are more likely to be floorers). Of course, right after you put a KB>KD'd time-bomb under a blinded EB's feet, that cast time and area suddenly aren't so bad are they...

 

Trip Mine: Skip this one first if you have no intention to set up often, like if you spend a lot of time on faster teams. Time Bomb will be a better situational go-to as it's simply far more powerful. But they're pretty handy things to have if you do have the time to play with them.

 

Time Bomb: If you do plenty of soloing and setting up for fights, Trip Mines make easier kill zones and recharge a lot faster. If you have to pick between the two, It's the one to skip between the two in such a case.

 

Gun Drone: It's not great. But it's also not bad. If you're skipping the bombs because "always on the run", you'll be taking this instead. It'll do its job and in teams it won't die as often. Good amount of recharge can bring duration above recharge time, so you'll have it with you far more often than say some summoned spiderlings. It'll be there, attracting some attention and taking potshots at your foes for a bit more than you'd have done alone.

 

I don't know your particular playstyle but you do, so hopefully that helps narrow things down.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Novacat
to boldly bold where no bold has bold before

[Snarky]

Thanks.  This is a Task Force and Incarnate toon.  So, (please?) ROFLSTOMP tactics.  When things go bad I think I will just turn on sprint w/ stealth proc and see if the melees can figure it out lol

 

I will use Caltrops and Ignite for a while.  Prob drop 'trops in late game respect.  Now I am curious about ignite.  That much damage?  hmmm.  I would have thought time bomb would be the skippable one on fast teams over trip mine., because trying to get the thing to go off at the right time.  hmmm.  I may try both , then respect out of one  

 

I appreciate the insight.  and yes munitions is clunky.  But going for ranged nuke madness and hiding behind the melees lol

[r0y]

I made a concept AR/Dev blaster (Bronko Nagurski) and he's very fun to solo and team with.  I love /dev, and never really did AR, so I made one a while back.

 

It isn't as button-mashing as most blasters, as one has to have a strategy to get the most out of AR.  Ignite is awesome, but you need to use it mainly on locked down mobs, as the fear is gnarly.  Trip Mine is used OFTEN, I'd like to slot it more, but my build is trying to get as close to S/L/E defense soft-cap as possible (42.8%/42.8%/37.7% currently, w/o incarnate stuff).  Trip Mine, on a blaster, is NON-INTERRUPTABLE.  This is good and bad:  bad when you accidentally hit it, or change your mind, etc.  Good because it's nice boom to fill in any gaps in your attack chain, etc.  I use it most on my Fire/Dev blaster (which is amazing).

 

Here is Bronko's current build, mostly on the cheap, as I was only doing a concept toon (I did drop Munitions, it's trash.  Period.)

 

Spoiler

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1492&c=707&a=1414&f=HEX&dc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

 

Good luck and have fun with AR/Dev!

-r0y

[Intrinsic]

On 2/22/2020 at 10:14 AM, Snarky said:

Caltrops....great power.  But...useful at 50...in iTrials?

 

Caltrops and Trip Mine are great for BAF runs.  Use them on the pathways or at the doors during the prison break stage.  You can also mine the Warworks spawn point during the final stage to kill them quickly and get the Strong & Pretty badge.

 

Ignite can be useful on BAF at the doors during the prison break stage.  I still recommend skipping it though; the activation time is too long IMO.

 

I'm not a fan of Time Bomb.  The timer makes it tricky to use effectively.  That plus the long recharge timer made it an easy power for me to skip.

[Doomguide2005]

I also used caltrops on my AR/Dev.  A Ragnarok KD can be fun.  While leveling I often used a range (nice being able to throw beyond your shoelaces) and/or slow enhancement.  Impeded Swiftness-chance for Smashing is another fun one.  

[Novacat]

The trick to the time bomb timer (do remember it's shorter now) is Trip Mine. Or at least a slow snipe or timing a BU+Aim+Nuke sequence.

It does hit just as hard as a PBAoE Tier 9 after all (well a little more but given the damage types) and now you've just hit with two of them.

[r0y]

On 2/27/2020 at 2:41 AM, Novacat said:

The trick to the time bomb timer (do remember it's shorter now) is Trip Mine. Or at least a slow snipe or timing a BU+Aim+Nuke sequence.

It does hit just as hard as a PBAoE Tier 9 after all (well a little more but given the damage types) and now you've just hit with two of them.

While I get the concept, both powers have almost a 3-second activation, which means that in 6 seconds, you'll have "almost" 2 nukes.  Add in an aim and/or buildup, and you're adding another 2.5 or so seconds (just over 1s each, plus arcanatime); that's two really decent nukes (do trip mine and time bomb increase damage based on aim/bu?) in about 8+ seconds.

 

Now, I don't know about you, but in iTrials or large teams, 8 seconds is WAAAAY too long, as the entire mob is evaporated within the first 2-3 seconds, and only a couple boss-level stragglers remain, if any.  Just ask any melee toon that has Total Focus, Thunderstrike how often their mob is dead before the über-long activating hit finishes going off.

 

For solo, I can see it as fun and thematic / practical.  In teams, I skip at least time bomb.  Trip Mine is a great filler to followup a fireball (in my Fire/Dev's case) in between Inferno+Fireball.  It works decently on him.

Edited February 28, 2020 by r0y