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Looking for ideas on a "tanky" blaster


r0adkill76
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I reloaded the game after around 2 years off, my friends stopped playing and as a result I lost my buddy who made all the builds.

 

I am looking for something that is tough enough for my slow "old man" reflexes. 

 

Ideas? besides play a Sentinel and accept doing 50% less damage.  (my sentinel dies too) 

 

thank you for any help you might have, I want to get into the game again, but I have to find a toon I love to keep playing, you know how it is. 

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Hey welcome back! Sounds like it's time to make new friends then.

 

Few questions:

 

1) Will you mostly be soloing, teaming, or a mix of both?

2) Are you comfortable stepping into melee range or would you much rather kill things from a distance?

3) Any restrictions in terms of primaries/secondaries or even pool powers?

 

 

Edited by Crowcus Pocus

Warning: This post may contain an opinion.

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2 hours ago, Crowcus Pocus said:

1) Will you mostly be soloing, teaming, or a mix of both?

2) Are you comfortable stepping into melee range or would you much rather kill things from a distance?

3) Any restrictions in terms of primaries/secondaries or even pool powers?

 

1.  Both

2.  If I can step in and not die, sure. 

3.  None that I know of...

 

I currently have two blasters (and more baby ones, I have a zillion level 2-10s)

. Ice/Fire its so complicated to play.

. Fire/Rad its slightly less complicated but man waiting for Atom Smasher animation, I could go up to the liquor store and still be in the air after I made my drink. 

. The rest are under 25-ish, not sure what kind, but several. 

 

The big problem is, the game has changed, and I have no clue how to build, my buddy I used to play with made all our builds...

 

"He makes the weapons, I use them.." -Blade

 

 

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I also found blasters too squishy to play most of the time, but I was determined to find one that I could play to 50. 

Dual Pistols / Martial Combat was the winning combination for me:

  • It has a teleport power to get you into and out of melee quickly
  • It has a slow power to keep enemies from running up on you and smashing you that also gives you some absorb and +recovery
  • You can Swap Ammo to whatever your foes are weakest against to do more damage, or to add other effects including holds or -dmg
  • There are stun effects in both powersets, which stack
  • Ki Push (aka "super yeet") is a good "get out of my face" power and VERY fun to use
  • It has a "get out of mez free" power that you can also use to heal yourself when below half health and it enhances your own mez effects

 

Overall, she was still squishier than I'm used to, but still pretty fun.  Plus, lots of cool animations!

 

Edited by Shocktacular
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Ice/Tactical Arrow with Flame Mastery for bonfire + fire armor will suit players with "old man reflexes." You can always stay at range and you have slows and holds to keep stuff at range. The entire Tactical Arrow kit supports range play, unlike most blaster secondaries that favor melee. Build for range defense and you can hover blast to your heart's desire. This combo will give you a large margin for error.

 

You need more than old man reflexes to step into melee range and be effective. Mobility is key for survival. I wouldn't advise those recommendations that push you towards combinations that lean that direction.

 

Having said that you can absolutely be tanky as a melee blaster. Those blasters have way more style.

Liberty, Torchbearer, Excelsior, Everlasting

Jezebel Delias

Level 50 Fire/Elec/Mace Blaster

 

I am the Inner Circle!

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You're certainly going to get a wide variety of suggestions for builds but going back to your initial "tanky" quandary that without a doubt goes to Ice manipulation. It's got the best sustain for merely surviving. Slow/-recharge so enemies attack less often, check. -Dmg so you can survive longer, check. 30 ft radius so you don't even have to be melee, even better. It also is an Absorb which just works better than any of the sets that have +regen from their sustain. Take a Primary with a heal; water, dark, stone(not as reliable as the previous 2 sets) and you're looking at "tanky" blaster. Not to mention that ice manipulation has Ice Patch for some CC and you're looking at a blaster that can run in and stand still in a mob without a care in the world.

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On 2/27/2023 at 5:20 PM, r0adkill76 said:

I am looking for something that is tough enough for my slow "old man" reflexes. 

Consider an ice/earth blaster - you'll have a ton of controls and other tools to keep you standing, plus some extra acc and perception, not to mention a nice HoT and some solid damage.  Throw the stealth power and perhaps stack it with a stealth IO, and you'll be golden!

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On 2/27/2023 at 4:20 PM, r0adkill76 said:

I reloaded the game after around 2 years off, my friends stopped playing and as a result I lost my buddy who made all the builds.

 

I am looking for something that is tough enough for my slow "old man" reflexes. 

 

Ideas? besides play a Sentinel and accept doing 50% less damage.  (my sentinel dies too) 

 

thank you for any help you might have, I want to get into the game again, but I have to find a toon I love to keep playing, you know how it is. 

How comfortable are you with IOs?

 

If you're decently comfy, I'd recommend building for softcapped(45%) ranged or melee def. Some will say you don't need it because teams, but well...sometimes folks just wanna get on an punch some capes in the face er uh arrest some folks I guess😛

 

This should make you fairly tanky. Also grabbing one of the melee hybrids(radial if you literally want a taunt aura :P) will help immensely. It worked for my Ice/Fire who ended up tanking a +2 reich and AVs, with two brutes trying to peel aggro. This sounds like hyperbole, I guarantee you it is not(Melee hybrid came in handy here!).

 

Good luck on your journey to prove to folks that no, blasters do not taste floor anymore 😄

-Stick to need to know info only on the forums(how-to's, inf making guides, maybe a generalist run down of your chosen AT)

-Interact in at least a neutral manner. You don't have to like the folks here, but avoid being personal

-Try and focus your time in-game. In-game folks are generally better to deal with and get real-time answers from than forums.

 

 

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Ice/Ice/Ice.  Slows, slows, more slows, ice patch if they do get close, three holds, and can easily soft cap s/l.  

 

Sentinels got buffed recently but they still don't do great damage.  They are the obvious solution though if you want a tanky blaster.  It depends on if tanky means just being able to survive or hold aggro though.  Sentinels don't get held which I love but the aoes don't hit as many or as hard which I don't like.  I have about as many toons of both.  Way more scrappers than either combined though.  Maybe a scrapper?  May I suggest spines/something?  Or claws/something?  They have ranged options if that is your preference.  Could easily make an all ranged scrapper with either of those and pool/ancillary powers. 

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On 2/27/2023 at 10:18 PM, Shocktacular said:

I also found blasters too squishy to play most of the time, but I was determined to find one that I could play to 50. 

Dual Pistols / Marital Combat was the winning combination for me:

I can totally second this, the first one I ran up to 50 on Homecoming was a DP/MC (Di Di Guns) and it was a blast, especially once I embraced the Blapper that had been hiding in me.

Girls of Nukem High - Excelsior - Tempus Fabulous, Flattery, Jennifer Chilly, Betty Beatdown, Kitty Conflag

Babes of War - Excelsior - Di Di Guns, Krystala, Tideway, Runeslinger, Munitions Mistress, Operative Violet, Boom Boom Britta

 

Several alts and of course my original from live on Freedom, OG High Beam (someone else has her non OG name)

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On 2/27/2023 at 7:18 PM, Shocktacular said:

 Marital Combat

🤣

I imagine that could be rather deadly

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Global: @Valnara1; Discord Handle: @Valnara#0620

I primarily play on Everlasting, but you may occasionally find me on Indom. 🙂

Notable Characters: Apocolyptica - Demons/Storm MM; Lurking Monster - Human-Form WS; Environmentabot - Bots/Nature MM; Miss Fade - Ill/Traps Controller; Sister Apocalypse - Beast/Dark MM; Dr. Elaina Wrath - Plant/Rad Controller (Join the House of Wrath, and spread the word of science!); Ruff Ruff Boom - AR/Devices Blaster

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Depending on how you slot your blasters, you can make any of them tanky. Sometimes it's possible to chase M/R defenses, but every once in a blue moon you'll have a blaster chasing a wide spectrum of typed defenses and getting to that 45% mark. Sure it might not be incarnate or hard mode soft caps, but when your enemies only have a 5% chance to hit you, yeah you're pretty tanky.

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On 2/27/2023 at 5:20 PM, r0adkill76 said:

I reloaded the game after around 2 years off, my friends stopped playing and as a result I lost my buddy who made all the builds.

 

I am looking for something that is tough enough for my slow "old man" reflexes. 

 

Ideas? besides play a Sentinel and accept doing 50% less damage.  (my sentinel dies too) 

 

thank you for any help you might have, I want to get into the game again, but I have to find a toon I love to keep playing, you know how it is. 

Sentinels doing 50 % less damage, ummm FYI after the last update and 15 % damage buff, rethink that you might.

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