Newbie Blaster Questions and info.

[Dimensional Warrior]

Hey everyone i have never made a blaster before and know very little about the archtype. my desire is to make a toon that has tremendous damage. I don't mind if it is a bit of a glass cannon. i don't plan on doing any solo work. I just wanted something that can stay at range in a team and obliterate anything it targets. with that in mind i read thru these forums and came up with a fire/plant which i think suits me. i do want to keep it a flyer. I made this in mids with damage buff, accuracy, and recharge in mind so i could pound away. Any thoughts from the blaster community?

DW fire.plant - Blaster (Fire Blast).mxd

[SeraphimKensai]

I would strongly suggest that when making a build for anything aside of a Domi or an Illusion controller that you first and foremost focus on defense and get that as close to the magical softcap of 45% then aim for extras like damage, +HP, recharge.

 

For Domi's and Illusion controller focus recharge until permadom and perma PA, then defense.

 

You'll get significantly more mileage out of any room, blaster included if you're still able to blast because you're magically only hit 1/20 times your attacked.

 

For blasters the damage bonuses are largely dwarfed due to defiance and aim/buildup. So you'll already be doing a ton of damage.

 

Goodluck.

[Six-Six]

If you're not so concerned about def and res (and the blaster's nemesis... mez) which is fine if you'll be running with teams, then it is very possible to up your damage. Usually the game is a balancing act between damage output vs defenses vs end consumption... not to mention recharge, mobility, secondary effects, etc. you simply can't have all 3 maxed out with the limited slots you have. now if you take one out of the equation, then reaching damage max at a very manageable recovery rate is quite doable. 

As for the build, I don't have MIDS so I can't view the file. It won't be much good anyway, since I doubt if I can give any useful advice. I will mention you might want to spread out a couple of Bombardment IOs: 2pc set bonus will extend your range, so it works for the type of blaster I think you're gunning for. While you're at it, do take a moment to study the diff set bonuses of various pieces as set bonuses do add up and enhance your toon. That said, sometimes a plain dmg enhancement is sometimes better than an IO from a set. I don't really have much experience with Hami-O's but I hear those rock too.

Also, don't be blinded by purples. Yes they're great, but also expensive. There are uncommon and rare IOs that are sometimes just as good or better than purples for a specific purpose.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Six Six

[Dimensional Warrior]

awesome thanks for the input guys. i will def give it some more thought.

[Saikochoro]

Note: I’m not able to view your build at the moment so you may already be taking the below into consideration. 
 

While I do tend to go for a couple defense softcaps it’s is not an absolute must have.  Especially once you get into incarnates and get barrier. Not to mention all of the buffs that you get from the team.  Most people run with maneuvers so with that alone a lot of your defense shortcomings will be solved. 

 

That said, if you have a large budget and build with mids you can achieve softcap pretty handily for S/L if you pick up scorpion shield, weave, and depending on the build maneuvers. If I can fit it into my build, I like to skip the leadership pool entirely (and thus maneuvers) and pick up the sorcery pool instead for rune of protection. Rune give a decent bonus to resists and provides mez protection and has a 50% uptime with a good build. 
 

To maximize damage, your first priority should be to push recharge. I shoot to have perma hasten. Having good recharge will help to maximize your damage by having a tighter chain of your highest DPA attacks.  Then if you can fit them in put in a proc or two on your attacks. 
 

To summarize: if you are shooting for damage and will be teaming for the most part:

- you can shoot for 32.5% defense on S/L and/ranged defense, whichever is easiest for you. I find s/l to be easiest because of scorpion shield. This will cover a lot of the attacks coming your way.  You can also shoot for 40% and then have the barrier incarnate cover the last 5%. The +def global IOs work wonders as well (gladiator armor and steadfast protection). 
- if you can, pick up rune of protection. It is an amazing power. 
- Try to reach perma hasten. This usually will require several purple sets so can get really expensive. If you have the budget, use the superior ATO sets and a couple other purple sets like Apocalypse. Usually if I get to about 155-160% global recharge (including hasten) and two slot hasten with lvl 50 recharge IOs (one should be boosted) you will only be a few seconds shy of perma hasten. 
- Try to fit in 1 or 2 damage procs into your attacks. For example, I usually put 5 a lot apocalypse, including the proc, into blazing bolt. Then I also put in the toxic damage proc from gladiators javelin. Unfortunately, the ranged powers with no secondary effects (I.e fire) have limited proc choices. You are basically limited to apocalypse (only 1 allowed) and gladiators javelin. 

 

If you are open to other powerset combos: ice / tactical arrow is an amazing hover blaster. Just for consideration.