Blaster Benefits - Leadership vs. Fighting?

[Vulpoid]

Based solely on taking Tactics and Maneuvers vs.  Tough and Weave... Which combo would you pick?

Ignore teaming for the moment. Best utility for a solo Blaster.

Most Blasters have an Aim or Build Up, so I was questioning the need for Tactics.

HOWEVER... Most builds I look at go Leadership over Fighting.  Is it just the teaming benefit?

Is Maneuvers that much better than Weave on a Blaster?

What am I missing?

Thanks for any feedback!

[Dark Dove]

Tough and Weave and Maneuvers and Tactics should be used to fill gaps in your build, there isn't really a one size fits all answer. Some builds use all of these powers.

 

Tough enhanced will give you enough S/L resist to survive an extra hit or two, as well as the ability to slot very important global IO's (Gladiators +Def/Teleport and Steadfast Protection: Res/Def, less important the +max HP global from UG) and Weave's base defense is stronger than Maneuvers.  The buy in is forcing an additional power pick in Boxing or Kick to unlock the powers.  Tough's ability to slot resistance sets and weave's higher defense makes fighting a more valuable pool for some builds than leadership.  Getting 6% defense from global IO's in tough and 5% defense from Weave is a good start on getting to a softcap.

 

Maneuvers is the weakest of the four powers. Lower defense than Weave, similar endurance cost. Tactics is very good for a blaster using a Snipe power and for blasters that don't get one of the Aim or Build Up powers (like Dual Pistols, which can benefit from having tactics because of this). It can also get your accuracy into acceptable levels for +4 content if your set bonuses don't do that already. Importantly, Maneuvers and Tactics gives you an inroad to Vengeance, which gives you two places to put Luck of the Gambler Increased Global Recharge IO's, and is often the motivation for picking these powers when they seem less optimal; 7.5% global recharge x2 is a big incentive, tacked on to +tohit and +def. The other power pool options for getting LOTG spots are often less incentivized (stealth powers) when you can take powers that actively help you blast and survive during fights better. Yes, stealth can do that too, and it's an option.

 

Without a specific build, you can't really claim best utility for a solo blaster.  Every powerset combination has different needs, and even within those powerset combinations there are different builds that again have different needs. They really are all so different that no one answer will do.

[Scarlet Shocker]

to a certain extent your playstyle will determine your preference, I imagine.

 

If you solo and kite lots you'll need different tactics than if you're blapping in teams, so a lot of this will boil down to you and your own choices. Personally I tend not to solo blasters because I'm not that masochistic, but even if I blap I tend to take Manoeuvres, even with aim and build up because hitting is what is important and it's very difficult to cap Blaster defence in my experience, so a bit of +Def is welcome but not my goal, but not missing, so ensuring that every HP of damage counts is really important.

 

I've taken both on the same character and that often makes me regret not taking other powers but again, personal preference. As I've often remarked, there are as many different ways to play this game as there are players multiplied by ATs times the square of powers taken.

 

If you really want to test it for yourself, my advice would be to create two builds, slot them with SOs, and then run comparisons and see which you prefer. That's inexpensive and will give you a good baseline comparison.

[Harlequin565]

They're two different styles of powers and I agree with the above comments. It's very difficult to say it's generally "better" because of the myriad of combos you could encounter.

 

Generally on a blaster, I'll take Tough as a mule for the two +Def IOs. I don't switch it on because if I need +Res I'm in trouble. I'm generally building for damage and recharge (kill it before it kills you), so the +Res from Tough is just an end hog. I'll then take Weave and slot it. If I can spare, I go 4 LoTGs in there for the +Acc set bonus.

 

Manoevers and Tactics are very much an "if I have space" choice and will mostly pick the above Tough/Weave combo first. I also try and pick up Assault though for the +Damage, and Vengeance can be a nice LoTG mule as well as being useful with just one slot (same for Assault).

[tidge]

My recommendation comes down to:

 

Does your build allow for the +Def /+Res Global Mules (and others) without Tough and Weave?

 

IMO: No slotting other than leveraging the Globals is going to offer as much 'bang for the slots'. I frequently don't even remember to toggle on powers like Tough. As a practical matter, once you start down the Mule path in Resistance and Defense sets, you will probably lean into other mules as well: +MaxHP, Scaling %Resist, Luck of the Gambler +Recharge.

 

There are several different ways to work them into a build using other power pools (plus Epic/Patron), so Tough + Weave wouldn't even have to be your 'go to'.

 

On Blasters, Maneuvers has one (strong) thing going for it: If you keep it toggled on, you can slot it with the Kismet +Accuracy (really +ToHit) which will boost the damage of your (fast) Snipe, assuming that you aren't always sitting at +22% ToHit. It works for Stalkers and Scrappers too, but they get access to Snipes much later in their builds and Stalkers can slot that piece in Hide from their default secondary T1 power.