Blasters & Hover

[Bojutsu]

Hi. I tend to take Hover for my Blasters. Going up is the best way to get out, and stay out, of melee range, plus you get a small defense bonus.  Also, the speed at which you move is perfect for combat and easy to control. 

I am working on a build for one of my Blasters, and I'm looking to drop a power so I can pick up another power.

I was thinking of dropping either Stealth or Hover. The defense bonus from Stealth is much better than the defense bonus from Hover, so I thought I could drop Hover and just use my flight travel power (Mystic Flight) during combat.

What do you think about this? Is the air control, proper speed and extra defense worth keeping Hover, or do you think I'll be fine using Mystic Flight? I hope I could get used to the speed and controls of using flight for combat instead of Hover.

Thanks for responses.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Bojutsu

[Zepp]

Make sure that you use configuration to select attacked in Mid's. The in-combat defense bonuses are identical. You can slot the Stealth proc to get some stealth in your build if you choose that path...

 

That being said, I have a lot of toons that use Hover+Evasive Maneuvers as my main movement (no combat suppression and nice and zippy!). I tend to pair that with TP to have super-fast movement across zones... but it costs a lot of slots...

[Doomguide2005]

     Agree with @Zepp always be careful of what's toggled on in Mids and under what conditions the values are applying.  Stealth and the various Concealment powers are a common 'trip you up' spot as their value in and out of combat can be significantly different.  Force Feedback proc is another that commonly trips folks up.  I've gotten snagged by Afterburner making me think my defenses while attacking were a much better than they would have been.  Generally I try to turn off anything that won't apply at all times under all circumstances.  Then turn things on and off to see how that effects my numbers.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Doomguide2005
Typos

[Bojutsu]

Thanks for that information.

 

Let's forget about the defense bonuses for now.

 

Is Hover very important for air blasting, or would Mystic Flight be fine? I imagine the controls would be annoying for air combat/air blasting. Too fast of a movement speed and lack of air control.

I may drop Stealth instead of Hover. Stealth isn't really necessary for this character, but it would be nice. 

Thanks again.

[PLVRIZR]

33 minutes ago, Bojutsu said:

I may drop Stealth instead of Hover. Stealth isn't really necessary for this character, but it would be nice. 

 

As @Zepp said, add the Freebird +stealth unique in Hover, and have the best of both worlds.  You do have to be hovering, to gain the stealth (and it drops in combat), but you can put the Celerity +stealth unique (mutually exclusive with Freebird, so pick one) in Sprint, if you would rather run through maps, stealthily.

[Bojutsu]

ok cool, thanks PLVRIZR, Zepp, and Doomguide2005

Edited June 8, 2022 by Bojutsu

[Outrider_01]

7 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

     Agree with @Zepp always be careful of what's toggled on in Mids and under what conditions the values are applying.  Stealth and the various Concealment powers are a common 'trip you up' spot as their value in and out of combat can be significantly different.  Force Feedback proc is another that commonly trips folks up.  I've gotten snagged by Afterburner making me think my defenses while attacking were a much better than they would have been.  Generally I try to turn off anything that won't apply at all times under all circumstances.  Then turn things on and off to see how that effects my numbers.

Go to mids Options -> Configuration -> Effects&Maths tab - Right side there is a box "Suppression" where you can set what causes values like Stealth to default when attacking.  Now you can't trip up your build for suppression toggles, Force Feedback individual powers would be easy click and fix.

[Doomguide2005]

@Outrider_01Thanks, owing to computer issues I can't use Mids and haven't been able to for a while.  Couldn't recall if settings could be made to account for such things or not (been a couple years at this point😪).

[Zepp]

1 hour ago, Outrider_01 said:

Go to mids Options -> Configuration -> Effects&Maths tab - Right side there is a box "Suppression" where you can set what causes values like Stealth to default when attacking.  Now you can't trip up your build for suppression toggles, Force Feedback individual powers would be easy click and fix.

Thank you, I should have been more specific about what I meant by "use configuration" but, sometimes I am busy, post a placeholder post that I plan to edit later, and forget...

[Shred Monkey]

On 6/8/2022 at 2:16 PM, Bojutsu said:

Is Hover very important for air blasting, or would Mystic Flight be fine?

 

What makes hover important isn't the air control, or the defense.  It's the low endurance cost compared to running a travel power.  If you have the spare endurance to run mystic flight all the time, then you'll be ok, but that's probably endurance you should be using to run something else.  As others have mentioned, if the choice is stealth vs hover: it's pretty clear to keep hover because everything stealth gives can be easily replaced, but with hover you get to keep flying.

[Nemu]

On 6/8/2022 at 3:16 PM, Bojutsu said:

Hover very important for air blasting

No, if you only need to stay in the air and not be mobile then you don't need hover. I've used the P2W temp fly powers for higher difficulty encounters when I absolutely need to be off the ground. Hover is cheap on endurance and much more desirable if you wish to move around the battlefield with more precise control, at the same time I would always take evasive maneuvers for added mobility, immob protection and -fly resistance. However most hover blasters I see are not the mobile type since they have no reason to move/position due to not having melee attacks. In my experience, those types of blasters that skip their entire secondary also don't burn through end as much as a rabid melee blaster that uses all their tools, so the cost of sustaining mystic flight/fly is much more manageable on those builds.

 

TL;DR if you are of the mindset that blaster is all about keeping at range and pew pew pew in one spot then any form of flight will do. If you take advantage of your melee stuff and you want to constantly move around for better positioning/use melee attacks ditch hover, grab combat jumping, and use a P2W jetpack if you really need to stay off the ground for those rare occasions where it actually makes sense to do so.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Nemu

[Chelsea Rorec]

A lot of blaster sets have a always on endurance power and with those sets i tend to take fly and combat jumping and ignore hover.

CJ stops the floating of fly making it act a bit like hover but with less drift when you release the button.

Plus it's def and immob.

So if your set can support it then try it.

It better movement than hover with the same defence and immob protection thrown in.

[Snarky]

With Blaster sustains I generally just run fly constantly 

[Shred Monkey]

I want to add one more thing to this discussion.  I've played hover blasters.  I had one solo pretty much everything that can be solo'd in the game a few years ago.  It's ridiculously powerful to be above and out of so much potential incoming damage.  However, my latest favorite toon is my seismic/martial blaster who actually has to stay on the ground for several of his powers and their effects to work.  I used all ranged attacks, but hover-blasting is not an option.  I still stay out of melee by doing this back pedal "stick-and-move" dance.  It's skill-based power instead of build-based (although Reaction Time slotted fto enhance it's slowed movement is quite helpful).  I still handle 54x8 Arachnos, Longbow, Carnies and PPD.  But instead of floating above it and watching them run around like ants trying to get to me, I run around the ground weaving around and between them, staying just one step ahead until they run out of hp.  I find this adds more excitement and enjoyment to the game.  I still have ridiculous power... but, imho, it's a lot more fun.