Sturdiest blaster?

[Shocktacular]

I'm determined to play one of each AT to 50, and blasters are the AT that I never really "got".  They're just... squishy.  I'm more used to armored ATs (Brutes are probably my favorite, although my ill/dark controller is pretty awesome, too).  I know I probably need to do more with IOs, but I figured I'd ask here anyway:  What's the sturdiest blaster combo?  I'm looking for something solo-able (I tend to play at odd hours) that can take down x8 mobs by lvl 50 without guzzling insps all the time (a few would be okay, but half the tray... no).  Needs to be reasonably good at surviving the whole way from 1 to 50.
Thanks!

Edited October 12, 2020 by Shocktacular

[Carnifax]

Of my blasters I'd say my Water/Temporal/Ice. Capped s/l/nrg and ranged. A constantly replenishing Absorb shield. Self heal blast as part of my attack chain and Hoarfrost for +HP.

 

Quite AoE focused, single target damage isn't amazing but will happily jump a +4x8 spawn with a 35 second uber-nuke.

[Krazie Ivan]

with the changes/nerfs coming to Arch/TA, i'm not sure what might be the best for ranged ...but i'm pretty confident Water/Atomic is the most durable melee blapper.

[Nemu]

Everyone can soft cap so I'm not even going to bother talking about that. Soft cap defense make all ATs sturdier.

 

Sturdy in the blaster sense is a mix of kill speed and survival. Dead things don't fight back. Survival is important but don't gimp yourself in the damage department with blasters.

 

I'll always champion fire/elec. It's got kill speed, it's got blazing fast and hard hitting ST, it's got AoE, and it's got a mix of crowd control tools to help you punch stuff in the face and look good doing it. It has utility powers that are useful as well (i.e using powersink to drain Hamidon during LGTF or to recover from getting hit by a sapper). You can do all of that and still have softcap S/L/Ranged defense, and still be very exemplar friendly.

[Onlyasandwich]

3 hours ago, Krazie Ivan said:

with the changes/nerfs coming to Arch/TA, i'm not sure what might be the best for ranged ...but i'm pretty confident Water/Atomic is the most durable melee blapper.

What is in board to nerf these sets?

Edited October 12, 2020 by Onlyasandwich

[Carnifax]

57 minutes ago, Onlyasandwich said:

What is in board to nerf these sets?

Probably just EMP Arrow. Its recharge is way lower than other AoE holds.

 

But overperforming sets are on notice and Tac Arrow was one mentioned (conversely Trick Arrow is getting buffed)

[Onlyasandwich]

Got it. I thought you were inferring nerfs to archery, which would definitely surprise me!

[Shocktacular]

8 hours ago, Krazie Ivan said:

 ...but i'm pretty confident Water/Atomic is the most durable melee blapper.

Yeah, I think maybe a blapper is really what I want, since I tend to play in melee a lot already.

[Ejlertson]

8 hours ago, Krazie Ivan said:

with the changes/nerfs coming to Arch/TA, 

Nerfs 😢

I'm running and levelling a Arch/TA at the moment and hearing of a nerf is saf 

[carroto]

Blasters just never clicked for me for a long time.  I was always trying to play them as blappers and they were too squishy for me.  Maybe it's a "L2P" situation, but the reward for being in melee just wasn't there.  I'm sure they can be amazing fully IO'ed at 50, but I play my toons up the old-fashioned way, and being in melee just had mobs eating my face.

 

The thing that turned it around for me and led to me liking Blasters was trying the hover-sniper style.  Blasters do it better than any other AT and it plays great from a low level.  Any IOs you can put in the build for defense help of course, but you don't have to be soft-capped to have strong solo ability.

 

Also I don't like some of the build compromises that have to be made to reach the defense soft-cap to multiple damage types and/or positions.  With a hover-Blaster you can usually do great with just ranged defense.  That plus the sustain does quite well in most situations.

 

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of great secondaries for hover-Blasters.  /TA is far and away the best, but I like /Rad as well.

[Max Firepower]

I love blapping, and for a solo toon, either something like Ice/Atomic (Blaster who loves some control) or a Beam/Fire/Ice with Nrg secondary is tough to beat.  My up and coming Beam/Nrg Blaster is one of the few I can remember running solo at +2/x2 in the late teens.  Not sure if he could run a +x/x8 without a big investment solo, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

[Chelsea Rorec]

I thought i had made some sturdy blasters untill i made a elec/elec with 75% S/L resist and capped ranged def and was stunned.

I'll just leave this here.

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!

elec elec blaster: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Electrical Blast
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lightning Bolt -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(48)
Level 1: Electric Fence -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Charged Brawl -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Dam%(19), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 4: Ball Lightning -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Dam/End(7), Artl-Dam/Rech(7), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(9), Artl-End/Rech/Rng(19), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(46)
Level 6: Lightning Field -- PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/End(A), PwrTrns-Dam/Acc/End(42), PwrTrns-+Heal(42), Arm-Dam%(50)
Level 8: Fly -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 10: Havoc Punch -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(11), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Dam%(37)
Level 12: Short Circuit -- PreOptmz-Acc/Rech(A), PreOptmz-EndMod/End(13), PreOptmz-EndMod/Rech(13), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/End(17), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/Rech(17), PreOptmz-EndMod/End/Rech(50)
Level 14: Aim -- GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(A)
Level 16: Build Up -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 18: Combat Jumping -- Krm-ResKB(A)
Level 20: Force of Thunder -- TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(A), FrcFdb-Rechg%(21), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(21), ThfofEss-Acc/EndRdx/Heal(27), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/Rech(40)
Level 22: Zapp -- ExcCnt-Acc/Dmg(A), ExcCnt-Dmg/EndRdx(23), ExcCnt-Dmg/ActRdx(23), ExcCnt-Dmg/Rng(25), ExcCnt-Dmg/Rchg(25), ExcCnt-Stun%(34)
Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(27), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(43), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(46), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Ags-ResDam(50)
Level 28: Thunder Strike -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(29), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(37)
Level 30: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(31), Rct-Def/Rchg(31), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(48)
Level 32: Thunderous Blast -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Dam/End(33), Artl-Dam/Rech(33), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(33), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(34), Artl-End/Rech/Rng(34)
Level 35: Power Sink -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Shocking Grasp -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mk'Bit-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- Ags-ResDam(A), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(45), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(45), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Afterburner -- 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 -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(43), PwrTrns-+Heal(43)
Level 50: Musculature Total Core Revamp
Level 50: Preemptive Total Core Conversion
Level 50: Assault Total Core Graft
Level 50: Barrier Total Core Invocation
------------

 

 

 

[Krazie Ivan]

1 hour ago, Chelsea Rorec said:

I thought i had made some sturdy blasters untill i made a elec/elec with 75% S/L resist and capped ranged def and was stunned.

I'll just leave this here.

heh, nice - good to see someone else work around ScorpShield.
imagine blapping with ~softcap SLENFC Def, ~35% positional, -6% ToHit to all targets within 15ft, full Mez protection & 65-75% SLEFC Res 4min out of every 4.5min. plus -KB, & more of your own KD mitigation.
;D

[Shred Monkey]

Soft-capped to Ranged, Smash/lethal, etc blasters are pretty well documented as making entire ATs feel worthless.  But that's endgame stuff.  For an interesting level-up check check out water/martial for a weird synergy of slows and AoE knocks plus a heal and an absorb shield.  Slot for ranged defense wherever you can. Somewhere around level 25-30 you'll find yourself just running around grinning and calling out, "I'm winning!... I don't know how this is happening, but I just keep winning!"

[ClawsandEffect]

My DP/Martial was a blast to play from 1-50. 

 

I had to be more cautious at lower levels and leverage Jaunt a lot to get me out of trouble, but post 50 he rocks just as hard as any of my melee characters. 

[KelsoKajek]

I have fun with my Sonic/Dark. She's not soft-capped (although she does lean on Ritual of Protection), but Sonic and Dark both include stuns and sleeps to take mobs off the board, temporarily.

 

Typical attack chain is Aim > Dark Pit (stun) + TP into middle of crowd > Soul Drain  (dmg boost) > Dreadful Wail (another stun stack, to stymie bosses) > Kill kill kill everything that's still standing. The Soul Drain lasts 30 seconds, and when it's running full power Death Shroud helps the mop up really well. If other enemies are attacking from range, there's Siren's Song to put them out.

 

I took the Soul Mastery power pool for Oppressive Gloom, I use that and Screech when I'm dealing with a boss,

 

I'm still learning how to use it (still taking plenty of dirt naps) but it's a lot of fun, and a pretty cheap build, all things considered.