Blaster build idea against popular opinion

[PhillyPhil26]

Hey guys just sharing this here since it relates to my blaster.

So I have a ice/ice/cold blaster that 

I've shared on the forums but have had no luck on receiving build suggestions.

He had

28% S/L defense and Range defense

30% S/L resistance and 54% cold and 40% fire resistance Which isn't great but was what I came out with for a build with no purple sets and none of the AT sets.

 

I decided to "go against popular opinion maybe" and make him cold focused since he is a ice powered superhero.

By popular opinion i would say  that for blasters  the popular opinion is to soft-cap positional defenses or at least range and then use hover to stay out of melee range.

Maybe not for all powersets or builds, but I think for most blasters since we are "squishy" thats kinda recommended.

 

So I decided to try something new and changed his sets now to the tune of

75% Cold resistance (soft cap)

52% fire resistance

32% S/L resistance

and then

 25% S/L defense

19% F/C defense.

 

I think this is against popular opinion because I don't believe most people build blasters to soft-cap type damage types instead of positionals.

 

I made this while even after reading some other posts that mention more enemies in the game do S/L damage then F/C Damage.

What I did after respeccing him  was ran a duo fire farm with a fire farmer as my teammate on +4x8 settings.

And the reason i'm sharing this is I gotta say I found it to be a lot of fun!!!!

He would rush in then I would go right in after him and be able to survive the first hits and help take em down!

Was a nice change from just staying at range in hover mode.

 

With the Cold soft-cap build i do carry purples to buff my defense and if your rushing in then it is risky but at same time that makes it kinda fun!

I would rush in, use ice slick so people start slipping! then i use aim+build up, frost breath which has a -damage resistance debuff proc and then ice storm and blizzard.

If the guy pulled too many groups and people attack me then i just hibernate til aggro is gone and my health is back up!

Gives more purpose to hibernate which is kinda fun for me at least.

 

Thought i'd share this because I found this very fun even if it is maybe not the "best" way to build a blaster.

And if playing non fire or cold enemies then I can just play more defensively and wait for the tanks and then blast at range again! 🙂
At least thats my plan, haven't tested him yet other this this duo farm experience.

[Garrickwest]

Apologize ahead of time for how lengthy it is lol

[Parabola]

I tend to build my ranged blasters focusing just on ranged def and my blappers with s/l and ranged. This works out because the melee attacks allow you to slot s/l defence much more easily. The problem with relying on res of any description on a blaster is mez and debuffs. Without defence to avoid attacks (particularly ranged def as a lot of mez is attached to ranged attacks) you will eat an awful lot of status effects which will end up getting you killed even if you can brush off the initial damage.

 

It is pretty easy and cheap to build for ranged def. Thunderstrike in your single target ranged attacks, artillery in your taoes and makos bite in melee attacks (if not chasing s/l as well). The ato sets do provide a healthy chunk too alongside other juicy bonuses but they aren't required to build for ranged def. In general I find ranged blasters among the cheapest builds I make, winters and purples are not go to sets when all you want is ranged def.

 

Having said all of which you don't have to chase defence at all. If you are going to team all the time and are careful with aggro then it's not so vital. The other route is heavy control and that can work too. I'm thinking of trying to put together a water/cold/fire blapper that is likely to not have much defence but will rely on debuffs and control to stay alive. It might well not work but it looks like fun!

[Hjarki]

Due to the existence of Winter sets and typed defenses in Epic/Patron, soft-capping typed defenses is common for Blapper builds. However, such builds rarely function well until you've got level 50 slotting (they retain many of their advantages while exemplar'd but leveling them up in the first place can be painful).

 

The builds you see focused purely on Ranged/AoE defense are ones built purely for range because it's easier to get comprehensive positional defenses when you can subtract one from consideration (Melee) than it is to get comprehensive typed defenses when you have to take them all.

 

I do think you'll find the defenses you listed inadequate for most content. Cold is one of the least common damage types and is almost always accompanied by Smashing. Fire is useful... for fire farming. Outside of AE fire farms, it's not actually all that common. S/L is not only by far the most common damage type, but large numbers of non-S/L attacks are hindered by S/L defense because they include S/L components.

 

[tricon]

7 hours ago, PhillyPhil26 said:

Hey guys just sharing this here since it relates to my blaster.

So I have a ice/ice/cold blaster that 

I've shared on the forums but have had no luck on receiving build suggestions.

He had

28% S/L defense and Range defense

30% S/L resistance and 54% cold and 40% fire resistance Which isn't great but was what I came out with for a build with no purple sets and none of the AT sets.

 

I decided to "go against popular opinion maybe" and make him cold focused since he is a ice powered superhero.

By popular opinion i would say  that for blasters  the popular opinion is to soft-cap positional defenses or at least range and then use hover to stay out of melee range.

Maybe not for all powersets or builds, but I think for most blasters since we are "squishy" thats kinda recommended.

 

So I decided to try something new and changed his sets now to the tune of

75% Cold resistance (soft cap)

52% fire resistance

32% S/L resistance

and then

 25% S/L defense

19% F/C defense.

 

I think this is against popular opinion because I don't believe most people build blasters to soft-cap type damage types instead of positionals.

 

I made this while even after reading some other posts that mention more enemies in the game do S/L damage then F/C Damage.

What I did after respeccing him  was ran a duo fire farm with a fire farmer as my teammate on +4x8 settings.

And the reason i'm sharing this is I gotta say I found it to be a lot of fun!!!!

He would rush in then I would go right in after him and be able to survive the first hits and help take em down!

Was a nice change from just staying at range in hover mode.

 

With the Cold soft-cap build i do carry purples to buff my defense and if your rushing in then it is risky but at same time that makes it kinda fun!

I would rush in, use ice slick so people start slipping! then i use aim+build up, frost breath which has a -damage resistance debuff proc and then ice storm and blizzard.

If the guy pulled too many groups and people attack me then i just hibernate til aggro is gone and my health is back up!

Gives more purpose to hibernate which is kinda fun for me at least.

 

Thought i'd share this because I found this very fun even if it is maybe not the "best" way to build a blaster.

And if playing non fire or cold enemies then I can just play more defensively and wait for the tanks and then blast at range again! 🙂
At least thats my plan, haven't tested him yet other this this duo farm experience.

 

You are at the soft cap against the least used damage type ingame at a whooping 1.51%. 

 

 

That said, of course you can build a blaster that can run +4/x8 without hover or as an example even fighting pool, simple because we have so many tools at our hands at the incarnate lvl that we can fix many underlaying issues or make other points much stronger. I have 2 lvl 50 blaster and I dislike hover, even on the old servers. So I can unterstand if somebody don't want to use it.

 

You have access to a combo of Unleash Potential + Melee Radial Hybrid for defense problems or Rune of Protection  + Melee Core Hybrid for resist issues. Heck you could add Bonfire from The Epic Flame Mastery and add a knockback to knockdown IO use it as another dmg tool with a defense side. So many options.

 

My last Blaster is a Dual Pistols/Martial Combat and I live in melee range. But I have build it, to run from solo farms to DA incarnate content at +4/x8 without getting a headache. DP is not even close to the strongest blaster primary nor is MC in the same league as Electric for close combat but the combination and having access to +45 s/l/e with a melee core and barrier as backup is enough to surf through the content.

 

So if you build is enjoyable for ya, then cool. You certainly don't need to run top 3 build to go through all the content or we would stick all to the same old.

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by tricon

[MTeague]

5 hours ago, tricon said:

So if you build is enjoyable for ya, then cool. You certainly don't need to run top 3 build to go through all the content or we would stick all to the same old.

Absolutely.  I've had a great deal of fun playing my AR/Martial Kombat Blaster. 

No Aim, No Build up.  Many would refuse the combo right there.  But it works for me.

She's only lvl 20.  Has a fair number of attuned IO's but is by no means fully kitted out.  No meaningful defense numbers of any kind. 

 

But, so far has been quite enjoyable to solo.  Sniper Shot will do about half-health damage to boss AND knock it on it's butt, then either Burst of Speed or Jaunt to teleport next to it, Storm Kick as it stands up (generally knocks it right back down again) then Ki Push to hold / repel it for a few seconds, and Slug, Burst, are often enough to finish it off.   

 

If I have a big pile of minions to deal with then, then burst and duck around a corner.  as they get close Burst of Speed, Dragon Tail, Burst of Speed, Jaunt away, turn and Flamethrower them down. 

 

Very fun run-and-gun feel to the character.  Not the strategic archer / tac arrow style, but more of a charge Guns-A-Blazin' and don't stop till you're the only one standing.

Should be even more fun now that I just picked up Reaction Time.

Edited May 26, 2020 by MTeague

[Garrickwest]

Ya man i have a archery/ martial kombat that im finding to be really fun as well!

 

Its nice to not focus on having to be invincible on my build hehe

[Garrickwest]

14 hours ago, tricon said:

 

You are at the soft cap against the least used damage type ingame at a whooping 1.51%. 

 

 

 

 

So if you build is enjoyable for ya, then cool. You certainly don't need to run top 3 build to go through all the content or we would stick all to the same old.

 

 

Ya ice may be the least used. I just like the "idea" that im ice character so cold shouldnt really hurt me. And i like the idea that even with no fire armor that  being ice superhero, fire doesnt hurt me much as well. But ya thats why i said this build against popular opinion hehe.