Seeking advice for melee-focused blaster. Radiation/Dark

Metatheory · April 25, 2020

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for some tips and tricks related to building blasters who can survive in melee range and make good use of AoE and Melee attacks. I enjoy playing power set combinations that I don't see around the city too often and I like the visuals of these two sets.

My priorities are:

Have fun 🙂 which on a blaster can include glorious death!
Stay alive long enough to boost myself and then unleash my AoE attacks, melee anything which survived
Move on to the next mob without too much down time

I'm not obsessing over solo +4/x8 or anything but +2/x6-8 should be realistic. I team most of the time anyway because I enjoy the interaction.

Budget is not too much of an issue.

Before posting my build I will share some of the the thought process. None of these decisions are 'fixed' I would welcome to hear alternative thoughts!

I've built for positional +Def rather than typed.
I have slotted Soul Drain and Dark Consumption as attacks and expect to use them often. Perma-SD would be lovely but feels hard to achieve while also getting enough +Def in the build. When SD is down I'll probably hang back and blast from range for a bit.
I omitted Electron Haze because in practice I find it difficult to target at close range and lose the benefits of the cone. In actual play I have rarely seen the the KB fire. Instead I have selected Death Shroud and slotted for Acc/End Redux and procs. I consider this part of my my commitment to staying in close as much as possible, otherwise this pick is probably not worth it.
I have absolutely no idea how to slot Touch of Beyond! Right now it has a single Power Transfer proc in it, and should hit often enough.
Stealth is primarily just to squeeze in another LotG +Rchg.
Cold Mastery is very much for flavor... although a Self Heal/+HP could be useful and Snow Storm has potential to increase close in survivability, these are in no way non-negotiable. But most likely the powers in these positions should be things which don't require slot investment.
Because of the positional +Def I haven't taken an epic shield.
I did consider Cross Punch as another close range AoE but could not find the slots. I also wasn't sure whether the synergy with Boxing/Kick affects the single target power, Cross Punch, or both.

Well, thanks for reading this far! The build is in this here Spoiler:

Spoiler

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!

Rad/Dark: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Secondary Power Set: Darkness Manipulation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: X-Ray Beam

(A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
(9) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
(9) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
(46) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(48) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(50) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 1: Penumbral Grasp

(A) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/ToHit Debuff

Level 2: Irradiate

(A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage
(3) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance
(3) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(5) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(5) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 4: Combat Jumping

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
(7) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 6: Death Shroud

(A) Superior Avalanche - Recharge/Chance for Knockdown
(48) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff
(48) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
(50) Multi-Strike - Accuracy/Endurance

Level 8: Aim

(A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

Level 10: Smite

(A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
(11) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
(11) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
(13) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(13) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(15) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 12: Proton Volley

(A) Extreme Measures - Accuracy/Damage
(15) Extreme Measures - Damage/Endurance
(17) Extreme Measures - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range
(17) Extreme Measures - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge
(19) Extreme Measures - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(19) Extreme Measures - Accuracy/Range/Recharge

Level 14: Hasten

(A) Recharge Reduction IO
(25) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 16: Soul Drain

(A) Obliteration - Damage
(21) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
(21) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
(23) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(23) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(25) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage

Level 18: Cosmic Burst

(A) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage
(27) Superior Defiant Barrage - Damage/RechargeTime
(27) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
(37) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(37) Superior Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
(39) Superior Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status

Level 20: Touch of the Beyond

(A) Power Transfer - Chance to Heal Self

Level 22: Super Jump

(A) Springfoot - Jumping

Level 24: Boxing

(A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage

Level 26: Neutron Bomb

(A) Artillery - Accuracy/Damage
(39) Artillery - Damage/Endurance
(39) Artillery - Damage/Recharge
(40) Artillery - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(40) Artillery - Accuracy/Recharge/Range
(40) Artillery - Endurance/Recharge/Range

Level 28: Dark Consumption

(A) Obliteration - Damage
(29) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
(29) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
(31) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(31) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(31) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage

Level 30: Tough

(A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
(33) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
(33) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance
(33) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance
(34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime
(34) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP

Level 32: Atomic Blast

(A) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage
(34) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge
(36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
(36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(36) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(37) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage

Level 35: Dark Pit

(A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance
(46) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge

Level 38: Midnight Grasp

(A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
(43) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
(45) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
(45) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(45) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
(46) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 41: Weave

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
(42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
(42) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
(42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
(43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
(43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

Level 44: Snow Storm

(A) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge
(50) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 47: Hoarfrost

(A) Healing IO

Level 49: Stealth

(A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Defiance

Level 1: Quick Form
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift

(A) Empty

Spoiler

Level 2: Health

(A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
(7) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance

Spoiler

Level 2: Hurdle

(A) Empty

Spoiler

Level 2: Stamina

(A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

Spoiler

------------

Edit: Sorry for slightly messy export... at least there is a clicky-link!

Edited April 25, 2020 by Metatheory
Didn't know what I was doing with Mids :-/

Bopper · April 25, 2020

41 minutes ago, Metatheory said:

I did consider Cross Punch as another close range AoE but could not find the slots. I also wasn't sure whether the synergy with Boxing/Kick affects the single target power, Cross Punch, or both.

They all affect each other. If you have two out of the three, the two you have will both be 15% stronger. If you have all three, all three will be 30% stronger. And that is a 30% strength to your base, damage, not a 30% damage boost. What's the difference?

Let's say you have 100% damage enhancement and your base damage is 100. Then your enhanced damage is 100*(100% + 100%) = 200.

If Synergy simply added another 30% damage enhancement, then the new enhanced damage would be 100*(100% + 100% + 30%) = 230.

However, with Synergy your base damage increases by 30%, so what your actual enhanced damage is 100*1.30 * (100% + 100%) = 130*2 = 260.

Coyote · April 25, 2020

4 hours ago, Metatheory said:

I omitted Electron Haze because in practice I find it difficult to target at close range and lose the benefits of the cone. In actual play I have rarely seen the the KB fire.

I think the proper way to use Electron Haze on a melee-oriented Blaster would be to have Combat Jumping, and jump up from the middle of the melee-range fight. At the top of the jump, activate it. Although the animation will run through to the landing, it will fire down from above, making it useful for PBAoE fights. And its main benefit is getting to put a Force Feedback in there for a good amount of proc activations.

Metatheory · April 25, 2020

15 minutes ago, Coyote said:

I think the proper way to use Electron Haze on a melee-oriented Blaster would be to have Combat Jumping, and jump up from the middle of the melee-range fight. At the top of the jump, activate it. Although the animation will run through to the landing, it will fire down from above, making it useful for PBAoE fights. And its main benefit is getting to put a Force Feedback in there for a good amount of proc activations.

Good suggestion, thx. I do have combat jumping and I still have this power on my leveling build so I will experiment in actual play. Previously I was hopping backawards and then jumping back in again - I hadn't thought to just jump up. The Force Feedback idea is appreciated.

4 hours ago, Bopper said:

They all affect each other. If you have two out of the three, the two you have will both be 15% stronger. If you have all three, all three will be 30% stronger. And that is a 30% strength to your base, damage, not a 30% damage boost.

Good info, thx. I will ponder whether or not I can find the two picks and the slots for this to make it worth it.

I actually found one other thread on this topic, so I will link it here for anyone who is interested.

Banana Man · April 25, 2020

I'd be slotting for max instant snipe damage (should be insanely easy with perma soul drain), and I'd put the achilles heel -res in my snipe. Rad snipe in particular is good for this, because the -res will actually take effect on the first dot tick, meaning the next 3 will do 20% more damage. I know you said you weren't planning on perma soul drain, but I feel like it's worth it and pretty achievable, especially with things like ageless in the mix.

Smite, rad snipe, and midnight grasp would probably be my single target bread and butter. Definitely be taking and slotting the damage aura for free dps.

AoE wise, irradiate is one of the best in the game, but everything else you have access too is pretty... bad. Realistically with soul drain being up every 30 seconds, and you having a massive damage bonus always... I think soul drain and irradiate, with your damage aura should be enough AoE. You'll have your nuke too. Pretty much all the other AoEs have really bad damage for the cast times. Shadow maul was changed recently right? I'm not familiar with those changes, maybe that's useful now?

/dark's main issue is that touch of the beyond is really clunky. I feel like in both /dark and /elec, the sustain power should just be merged with the damage aura, kind of like /fire.

kelika2 · April 26, 2020

Radiation/Fire/Flame Blaster

1.) Thematic. No one is going to argue with a radiation colored fire sword/other abilities

2.) Very 'melee' based. Irradiate+combustion+blazing aura is going to be your nuts and balls. Fire Sword Circle is in a league of its own

3.) Ring of Fire (secondary tier1) does more damage than Neuron Bolt.. as long as a few ticks get out. bosses and such

4.) Burn and Hot Feet are 100% optional. Burn being highly debateable but in late game CoH things die pretty quick and its radius is rather small compared to your other stuff. and hot feet is just too expensive end wise for what ya get. Also both are like hats on hats.

Heres how it works:

Combustion is a rather long dot, cast this first. Irradiate is a short but fast ticking dot that stacks amazingly well with Combustion and Blazing Aura. Oh right, Blazing Aura. Slot it 3 acc/dmg hamis, 2 healing, 1 end. This way, 3 dots are always ticking and 3 dots are always on. Ring of Fire added on to a boss and things literally melt.

Fire Sword Circle is a beast of its own and I use when the others are on cooldown.

Atomic Blast is another melee based thing and just great

Skip these in radi/fire/flame)

Neutrino Bolt

Electron Haze (ranged, cone, awkward to use when most your other stuff is PBAoE)

Neutron Bomb (longass cooldown and really really bad damage)

-

Fire sword is up to you. I use it becuase its a green sword made of fire

Consume (redundant with numina/miracle/blazing aura) and insps

and burn/hotfeet already talked about

-

char (too long cd, and chances to stack with others too rare)

melt armor (too long cd, blaster numbers bleh)

Also slap an Overwhelming Force: KB to KD in Rise of the Phoenix. Turns it into a gigantic burn patch. Literally Nuke after animation to make them regret defeating you

Edited April 26, 2020 by kelika2
blaster

Metatheory · April 26, 2020

On 4/25/2020 at 5:36 PM, Banana Man said:

I'd be slotting for max instant snipe damage (should be insanely easy with perma soul drain), and I'd put the achilles heel -res in my snipe. Rad snipe in particular is good for this, because the -res will actually take effect on the first dot tick, meaning the next 3 will do 20% more damage. I know you said you weren't planning on perma soul drain, but I feel like it's worth it and pretty achievable, especially with things like ageless in the mix.

Yeah, you are right I think, once incarnates are factored in then perma-Soul Drain should be pretty simple to obtain actually.

13 hours ago, kelika2 said:

Radiation/Fire/Flame Blaster

1.) Thematic. No one is going to argue with a radiation colored fire sword/other abilities

Nice post, thanks! I've been playing this toon for a while now so I can't switch to Fire, but you are probably right, it might be even more crunchy at melee range than Dark! I think it's good that there are some alternative suggestions for visitors to the thread who are just looking for some melee-blaster ideas.

Alright, so based on the feedback I have actually made a few tweaks to by concept.

The main change is I have removed Neutron Bomb. I ran with it for a few levels and the damage is pretty underwhelming. As people have noted, Irradiate is far more heavy hitting and actual play certainly bore that out. I didn't find the animation too horrible though, I actually enjoyed having one which you don't see that often 🙂
I considered running with Cross Punch instead, although according to Mids at least Neutron Bomb does more damage than Cross with only Punch offering synergy.
But I decided to actually go with Spring Attack instead. It's another AoE, sure, but more interestingly gives us a lot of mobility for setting up the start of the fight, and also brings another form of soft control to add to the Stun and Slow already in the build.
There are also some slotting tweaks as well, in particular I like the idea of slotting the -Res proc, and found two good places for it, in both my snipe and Irradiate. This meant slightly less slots available for X-Ray Beam, but that's fine. If Soul Drain hits three opponents, which is usually pretty straight forward, then level 50 Proton Volley hits for around 1000 damage before any proc effects.
I think the main issue now is that this feels like it will be somewhat of a late bloomer, basically because a lot of the slots won't be available until the late 40s. So until then the Melee Def total will be a touch on the low side as most of the bonuses require 6-slotted powers, eventually reaching around 42% in combat (where Stealth loses half of its value).

Here's the tweaked build, though! (If I can get it right this time....)

Spoiler

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!

Rad-Dark: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Secondary Power Set: Darkness Manipulation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: X-Ray Beam -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Dvs-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dvs-Hold%(46), Dvs-Acc/Dmg(48)
Level 1: Penumbral Grasp -- SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(A)
Level 2: Irradiate -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), AchHee-ResDeb%(50)
Level 4: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(7)
Level 6: Death Shroud -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(48), Arm-Dam%(48), Mlt-Acc/EndRdx(50)
Level 8: Aim -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 10: Smite -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(11), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(11), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), TchofDth-Dam%(15)
Level 12: Proton Volley -- StnoftheM-Dam%(A), StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(15), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(17), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(19), AchHee-ResDeb%(19)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 16: Soul Drain -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(21), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(21), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Obl-%Dam(25)
Level 18: Cosmic Burst -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(27), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(39)
Level 20: Touch of the Beyond -- PwrTrns-+Heal(A)
Level 22: Super Jump -- Spr-Jump(A)
Level 24: Boxing -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A)
Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(39), UnbGrd-ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(40), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40), UnbGrd-Max HP%(40)
Level 28: Dark Consumption -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(29), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(29), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Obl-%Dam(31)
Level 30: Spring Attack -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(33), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(33), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Obl-%Dam(34)
Level 32: Atomic Blast -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(34), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(37)
Level 35: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(42), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(42), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43), LucoftheG-Def(43), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(46)
Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- TchofDth-Acc/Dmg(A), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx(43), TchofDth-Dmg/Rchg(45), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), TchofDth-Dam%(46)
Level 41: Dark Pit -- Stp-Acc/EndRdx(A), Stp-Acc/Stun/Rchg(42)
Level 44: Snow Storm -- PcnoftheT--Rchg%(A), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 47: Hoarfrost -- Heal-I(A)
Level 49: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Quick Form
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 -- UnbLea-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(7)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
------------

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Seeking advice for melee-focused blaster. Radiation/Dark

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