Low DPS blasters

[Diantane]

There are so many. Sonic Attack leads the way.

 

Shriek - light damage

Scream - light

Howl - light

Shockwave - Minor

Shout - High

Sirens Song - Minor

Screech - Minor

Dreadful Wail - Extreme

 

You have to wallow through horrible attacks just to get to 32?

 

Most of Blaster attack sets are just a little better. The best of the bunch was definitely Beam Rifle.

 

Single Shot - Light

Charged shot - High

Cutting Beam - Light

Disintegrate - High (also buffs the other attacks)

Lancer Shot - Superior

Penetrating Ray - Extreme

Piercing Beam - Superior

Overcharge - Extreme

 

After playing Fire (my first blaster) and then seeing the amazing attacks of Beam Rifle, I quickly created one. It was so powerful it could kill a purple before they got to me. After that, I had no interest of playing a different “weak” blaster.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Diantane

[Gulbasaur]

Sonic as a set was likely designed for defenders (and corruptors in beta - reskinned versions are used by the Goldbrickers) - it came out as a pair with the support set. It's secretly a support set in the same way that storm summoning is secretly a control/DPS set and time manipulation is secretly a tanking set. It's one of those "yeah, but" sets.

 

It's held back even more by the lack of IO opportunities; its debuff gimmick is -Res, which doesn't have as many slotting options as something like -ToHit or -Def so it's also a casualty of the Power Creep Wars.

 

It's certainly one I'd like to see given a revamp (maybe some more soft control?), or at least some better proc opportunities, alongside Kheldians, whose niche of "ranged tank" has been filled out by anyone with enough inf to pay for the privelege.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Gulbasaur

[Maelwys]

Generally the thing to look for in attacks is not whether the game lists their damage as "minor" or "superior" or "extreme", but their DPA (Damage Per Animation). That's because it doesn't matter much if an attack does 1000 damage if it takes several seconds to animate.

You can work DPA out in game if you turn on the 'detailed information' section of each power, but mids has a straightforward mode toggle for it.

 

Traditionally Fire Blast is actually considered top of the leaderboards - its main attacks are decently damaging and animate in under 1.5 seconds, so it can put out a LOT of damage in a short period of time by chaining those attacks back to back. Ice Blast is a close second. Both of those powersets also deal a type of damage that is more rarely resisted in PVE than something like Assault Rifle's Lethal.

 

However once you start adding Proc enhancements, powersets like Ice Blast get much better (lots of its attacks can slot multiple chance for damage, chance for -res, etc procs; and it has more "worthwhile" attacks to cycle so doesn't suffer from dropping recharge slotting) but Fire Blast stays largely the same. Fire is still brilliant these days for AoE damage, but it's become lacking a little bit for Single Target damage.

 

Sonic Blast's gimmick is the -resistance debuff in each of its attacks. Traditionally it was seen as more of a team-friendly powerset since that -res secondary effect raises the damage output of your entire team. However it's DPA is very poor (and it doesn't proc well) so you're usually still better off with a different powerset.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Maelwys

[Haijinx]

I thought bio sents were moar better than blasters.   I am having trouble keeping up.

[Carnifax]

I'm now awaiting the follow-up "Beam is terrible because the AoE is bad" thread. 

 

3 hours ago, Maelwys said:

 

Sonic Blast's gimmick is the -resistance debuff in each of its attacks. Traditionally it was seen as more of a team-friendly powerset since that -res secondary effect raises the damage output of your entire team. However it's DPA is very poor (and it doesn't proc well) so you're usually still better off with a different powerset.

This. It's a relatively bad match-up for Blasters because the -res debuff numbers aren't great on Blasters. 

 

On a defender adding 20% to your teams FINAL (pre-resistence calculations) damage numbers per blast is pretty excellent. 

[Erratic1]

42 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

I thought bio sents were moar better than blasters.   I am having trouble keeping up.

 

Believe Bio still does less damage, though of course they have built in status protection and better defense/resistance.

[Erratic1]

33 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

This. It's a relatively bad match-up for Blasters because the -res debuff numbers aren't great on Blasters. 

 

On a defender adding 20% to your teams FINAL (pre-resistence calculations) damage numbers per blast is pretty excellent. 

 

The Blaster's job though isn't to (de)buff, so what it  gets is bonus to its primary function, dealing damage, which it will do better than the Defender...and that before you consider the Defender will likely be taking some time out of their damage dealing schedule to do little things like buff and heal.

[Erratic1]

16 hours ago, Diantane said:

You have to wallow through horrible attacks just to get to 32?

 

Shriek, Scream, Howl, Shockwave, and Shout are all available by level 8 and  form the backbone of dealing damage with the set. You should (a) know by level 8 if those are going to be sufficient for your primary damage dealing and (b) probably not rely on the longest recharge power of the set as your primary damage tool.

[Sovera]

Oh hello there Dian.

[Carnifax]

11 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

The Blaster's job though isn't to (de)buff, so what it  gets is bonus to its primary function, dealing damage, which it will do better than the Defender...and that before you consider the Defender will likely be taking some time out of their damage dealing schedule to do little things like buff and heal.

 

Yes, I know. Which is why a set designed as more of a debuffer (like Sonic) will feel a little weak. Although personally it's the animations which make me feel bad for Sonic. The tier 1 has a really annoying little delay at the end which is no end of irksome. 

[Aurora_Girl]

Y'all need to quit providing the following to the kinds of posters who participate in this foolishness: logic, hard math, easily observable data, and thoughtful advice.

 

At this point I'm less concerned with continuing to try to address the obvious difficulty understanding how the game works, and way more interested in learning why that difficulty exists.

[Erratic1]

18 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

 

Yes, I know. Which is why a set designed as more of a debuffer (like Sonic) will feel a little weak. Although personally it's the animations which make me feel bad for Sonic. The tier 1 has a really annoying little delay at the end which is no end of irksome. 

 

The thing that becomes grating is the repeated foghorn sounds of the set...and yet my current blaster project is Sonic/TA.

[Erratic1]

5 minutes ago, Aurora_Girl said:

Y'all need to quit providing the following to the kinds of posters who participate in this foolishness: logic, hard math, easily observable data, and thoughtful advice.

 

Not sure if you're from the US, and if so, if you're familiar with the fast food franchise Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppe. Their fish dishes are usually served with a bed of crumbly batter pieces which result from disassociated batter coming loose or falling into the fryer. Urban legend is that anything can be used as the nucleus of what will become a crispy crumble.

 

While I will not go into some of the things that are claimed to have served as a nucleus, perhaps it is best to think of Diantane's posts as the equivalent--something which might be boiled away by subsequent posts but which leaves behind a crispy, crumbly discussion which people like.

[Aurora_Girl]

1 minute ago, Erratic1 said:

 

Not sure if you're from the US, and if so, if you're familiar with the fast food franchise Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppe. Their fish dishes are usually served with a bed of crumbly batter pieces which result from disassociated batter coming loose or falling into the fryer. Urban legend is that anything can be used as the nucleus of what will become a crispy crumble.

 

While I will not go into some of the things that are claimed to have served as a nucleus, perhaps it is best to think of Diantane's posts as the equivalent--something which might be boiled away by subsequent posts but which leaves behind a crispy, crumbly discussion which people like.

 

This is actually kinda brilliant. The nucleus is...unappealing, but inadvertently can provide nomms. I can dig.

[Apparition]

2 hours ago, Haijinx said:

I thought bio sents were moar better than blasters.   I am having trouble keeping up.

 

 

Only for people who won't learn how to play Blasters.

[arcane]

Ok dian not so fast I’m gonna first need to see evidence that you read replies this time

Edited November 1, 2021 by arcane

[InvaderStych]

38 minutes ago, arcane said:

Ok dian not so fast I’m gonna first need to see evidence that you read replies this time

 

Don't hold your breath. 😄

 

1 hour ago, Erratic1 said:

Not sure if you're from the US, and if so, if you're familiar with the fast food franchise Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppe. Their fish dishes are usually served with a bed of crumbly batter pieces which result from disassociated batter coming loose or falling into the fryer. Urban legend is that anything can be used as the nucleus of what will become a crispy crumble.

 

I can dig it.  Honestly, the HC Forums Official Tradition should be to reply to threads that the OP never bothers to read anyway with food related diversions.

 

19 hours ago, Diantane said:

After playing Fire (my first blaster) and then seeing the amazing attacks of Beam Rifle, I quickly created one. It was so powerful it could kill a purple before they got to me. After that, I had no interest of playing a different “weak” blaster.

 

 

[DarknessEternal]

It's straight trolling to claim Beam Rifle does more damage than Fire.

[aethereal]

42 minutes ago, DarknessEternal said:

It's straight trolling to claim Beam Rifle does more damage than Fire.

 

In fairness, the game's own descriptions of powers are often pretty deceptive.  Sure, we who spend a lot of time thinking about the game and discussing it on fora understand that animation time is a huge deal in terms of DPS, but someone who sits down and plays it could surely be forgiven for thinking that the numbers and descriptions that the game itself front-and-centers are the important ones.

[Without_Pause]

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

Oh hello there Dian.

Since I have them on ignore, this thread now makes more sense. 

[Haijinx]

1 hour ago, DarknessEternal said:

It's straight trolling to claim Beam Rifle does more damage than Fire.

 

It might in a very specific set of circumstances. 

 

Basically, on single targets that die too fast for Fire's DOTs to enter in to the equation.   

 

Course Fire is better at all other times. 

[Haijinx]

35 minutes ago, aethereal said:

 

In fairness, the game's own descriptions of powers are often pretty deceptive.  Sure, we who spend a lot of time thinking about the game and discussing it on fora understand that animation time is a huge deal in terms of DPS, but someone who sits down and plays it could surely be forgiven for thinking that the numbers and descriptions that the game itself front-and-centers are the important ones.

 

Never read the instructions! 

[Without_Pause]

10 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

It's held back even more by the lack of IO opportunities; its debuff gimmick is -Res, which doesn't have as many slotting options as something like -ToHit or -Def so it's also a casualty of the Power Creep Wars.

Ranged and Ranged AoE attacks get a decent amount of proc options, even -res for Ranged AoE. Add in two attacks getting ATOs unless you put them in your secondary and you might not need as many as one think or it being that big of a deal.

 

Beam absolutely does wonders on hard targets such as AVs, but there's zero chance it competes with Fire when it comes to AoEs. Beam's AoEs get good if you get the trigger to go off and that's less likely for teams which move quick.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Without_Pause

[The_Warpact]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

Since I have them on ignore, this thread now makes more sense. 

Right there with you. 

 

I don't believe in feeding them.

Just pointing and laughing. 

[Erratic1]

23 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Ranged and Ranged AoE attacks get a decent amount of proc options, even -res for Ranged AoE. Add in two attacks getting ATOs unless you put them in your secondary and you might not need as many as one think or it being that big of a deal.

 

I didn't think you could put ATOs in secondary powers.