My First Blaster... Tips?

[pauljima]

Hey, all! I've only relatively recently discovered Homecoming and am THRILLED CoX is back! I've never played blue-side as I got into the game when CoV was first released and loved the concept... so once Going Rogue happened, I planned to explore blue side, but it never really happened.

 

So! This is the first Blaster (Water/Ice) I've ever rolled and I'm loving it so much more than Corruptors so far! But I don't exactly know how to build for a Blaster. I've heard it said they are glass cannons, but I've seen some Blasters do amazing things in-game and survive a helluva lot more.

 

When I plan my builds out, I TRY to keep it at least somewhat affordable (usually meaning no Purple IOs) and don't include any Incarnate stuff (until I get there). I typically try to soft-cap or perma-***... but seeing as I've never used a Blaster before, I'm wondering if I'm spreading myself too thin. Here's a build I just came up with that soft-caps Ranged defenses since I plan to Hover and pew-pew... Is this a good build? Will I enjoy it? Or should I really try to go hard in damage output?

 

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Thanks in advance!

 

Also... I didn't know what server to pick, so I chose "Indomitable"... but I now see in the forums, it's listed as "Unofficial PvP" server. I never PvP in CoX... should I change servers to Exelscior? If so, is it possible to move my characters across servers 'cause I've already put in a good chunk of time, hah.

Edited May 24, 2020 by pauljima

[Force Redux]

Yes, you can easily move characters at the character select screen. Welcome back hero! 🙂

[Carnifax]

I don't know Ice well but on Water Blast Dehydrate >>> Hydro Blast. Damage is equivilent but Dehydrate will constantly be healing you as well. 

 

Whirlpool is a targetted AOE Damage patch. You should slot it as such. Procs AREN'T good in it. There's a new Targeted AOE Damage Set, Artillery which is essentially a Targeted version of Thunderstrike giving a decent Ranged Defense set bonus. Very useful for getting to softcap.

 

Also for any "placeable" power there's a slash command which gives you better control of how to place them : powexec_location. You can use to to make a macro so you can cast Whirlpool on top of a target like : 

 

/macro WP "powexec_location target Whirlpool"

 

The other new targetted AOE set is Bombardment. This gives a recharge set bonus (not quite as much as Posi's Blast) but the enhancement values are better balanced (you don't end up way overslotted for damage and underslotted for recharge). There's a "No purples" Water/Time in my sig which may be useful for you. 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Carnifax

[pauljima]

8 hours ago, Force Redux said:

Yes, you can easily move characters at the character select screen. Welcome back hero! 🙂

Thanks! It’s great to be back! 😃

[pauljima]

7 hours ago, Carnifax said:

I don't know Ice well but on Water Blast Dehydrate >>> Hydro Blast. Damage is equivilent but Dehydrate will constantly be healing you as well. 

 

Whirlpool is a targetted AOE Damage patch. You should slot it as such. Procs AREN'T good in it. There's a new Targeted AOE Damage Set, Artillery which is essentially a Targeted version of Thunderstrike giving a decent Ranged Defense set bonus. Very useful for getting to softcap.

 

Also for any "placeable" power there's a slash command which gives you better control of how to place them : powexec_location. You can use to to make a macro so you can cast Whirlpool on top of a target like : 

 

/macro WP "powexec_location target Whirlpool"

 

The other new targetted AOE set is Bombardment. This gives a recharge set bonus (not quite as much as Posi's Blast) but the enhancement values are better balanced (you don't end up way overslotted for damage and underslotted for recharge). There's a "No purples" Water/Time in my sig which may be useful for you. 

Thanks for the macro, very useful! I’ll definitely check out the new IOs. So should I IO for soft cap defense? Or go for damage? What kind of numbers should I be aiming for if not soft cap def (recharge, dam, acc, etc)?

 

I’ve seen some water damage on Mid’s that’s literally triple mine on YT... the guy had more damage output on Geyser than Water Jet. Thoughts?

[Carnifax]

Geyser gets extra base damage from addtional Tidal Power, so Build Up + Tidal Forces (either also with the Chance For Build-up) and your build will be doing over 1000 damage with Geyser according to Mids. So maybe that's the difference, you're viewing his with 3 stacks of Tidal (remember Tidal Forces gives you 3 stacks of Tidal Power). 

 

You can't really build for Damage Bonuses, they are so small in the grand scheme of things they aren't really worth chasing. You can slot individual powers with procs but I think your slotting for Geyser is good overall. Probably better than mine and mine flattens +4 spawns, minions die immediately, DoT finishes off Lieuts, and the bosses are half dead (usually I lob in a Water Burst to make sure of the lieuts and catch bosses, and then single target attacks).

 

I chased Ranged Softcap (and NRG / Neg almost as a side effect of that). Somewhere in the 30s Smashing / Lethal, because I like defense epic shields and then recharge, recharge, recharge. More recharge means quicker Geysers and AOEs so it's the best way to do "moar damage" over time. 

[pauljima]

Gotcha. I didn’t know what those blank IOs on Mid’s Reborn were... new IO sets are a great idea. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how she pans out. Thanks for the input!

 

I’m also thinking what I saw on YT included incarnate abilities to show maximum everything... another reason I like to see things at base rather than fully buffed; only toggles, no build ups, no incarnate.