Ice/Electric for blapping?

[Cutter]

Hello blasters! I'm dusting myself off after several months away, and figured starting a new dude was the best way to avoid falling back into a rut. I don't play blasters much, which seems like it should be another point in the "will this hold my interest?" checklist. Oh and also my Mids exploded so I am flying blind. I've leveled up to 42 on the back of the mapserver event, taking powers more or less as they come and worrying about rebuilding later. I do plan to exemp/Ouro down to run through low-level content so I need to be mindful of that. Finally, no real budget concerns to speak of.

 

That preamble out of the way... how do I build this? Up to this point it feels like I have way too many powers and not nearly enough slots. I don't think that enhancing the build as-is will result in a satisfying experience. Or does it really matter now, since I'm likely pushing to 50 & filling in slots at the end before I start to actually play, making the "when I get slots" thing a moot point?

 

(or should I bite the bullet & reroll post-mapserver and play this guy up the "regular" way?)

 

From a quick search it seems like I've skipped the most obvious/consensus skippable powers in my primary and secondary, which means I'm now at a place where I need to start making the hard choices. I'd like to make room for Tough/Weave somewhere in here. Also picked Cold Mastery because I haven't run a patron arc, but I believe the general wisdom is to go redside to grab Scorpion Shield? Or, for blapping, is it better to go deep into Cold all the way to Hibernate?

 

Many thanks in advance for advice and recommendations!

 

 

[Nemu]

You skipped force of thunder, tell me, in your own words. why.

[Cutter]

59 minutes ago, Nemu said:

You skipped force of thunder, tell me, in your own words. why.

I'm naturally averse to powers with a low base accuracy, low mag/low duration effect, and high recharge. And on a damage AT, doing none doesn't feel like a plus either.

 

All that said, if I've overlooked some obvious synergy or benefit, I'm happy to be steered right. Again, I built as I went along during very rapid leveling, so most of the picks and skips were based on quick, surface level evaluations.

[SeraphimKensai]

12 minutes ago, Cutter said:

I'm naturally averse to powers with a low base accuracy, low mag/low duration effect, and high recharge. And on a damage AT, doing none doesn't feel like a plus either.

 

All that said, if I've overlooked some obvious synergy or benefit, I'm happy to be steered right. Again, I built as I went along during very rapid leveling, so most of the picks and skips were based on quick, surface level evaluations.

I think @Nemuis thinking that Force of Thunder's opportunity to be converted into a knockdown that stuns non boss level critters is a perfect way to keep them in position for when you use Blizzard and Ice Storm. Then again I could be wrong.

 

in regards to your original post, I would uninstall and reinstall mids and ensuring that it's working then plan a build in it. You power leveled your character via Mapserver to 42, how you finish it's leveling path is ultimately up to you.

 

scorpion shield is useful if and only if your building for S/L/E. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of cold mastery on a blaster myself but Frozen Armor is comparable but gives res to fire/cold instead of energy def.

if I were personally making an ice/elec blaster, I'd go flame mastery for a kb to kd bonfire, fire shield, and melt armor. I'd use IO bonuses and likely build for typed defenses.

 

but as I said it's ultimately up to you. Good luck.

[Cutter]

22 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I think @Nemuis thinking that Force of Thunder's opportunity to be converted into a knockdown that stuns non boss level critters is a perfect way to keep them in position for when you use Blizzard and Ice Storm. Then again I could be wrong.

 

in regards to your original post, I would uninstall and reinstall mids and ensuring that it's working then plan a build in it. You power leveled your character via Mapserver to 42, how you finish it's leveling path is ultimately up to you.

 

scorpion shield is useful if and only if your building for S/L/E. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of cold mastery on a blaster myself but Frozen Armor is comparable but gives res to fire/cold instead of energy def.

if I were personally making an ice/elec blaster, I'd go flame mastery for a kb to kd bonfire, fire shield, and melt armor. I'd use IO bonuses and likely build for typed defenses.

 

but as I said it's ultimately up to you. Good luck.

Yeah that would make sense.

 

As far as the build goes, my struggle isn't so much the making, but the deciding what gets left on the floor. Like I don't know if I need both T1/T2 blasts, or both of the punches, to have solid rotations. And how to decide on the extras (like FoT) that don't fit into a damage role. That evaluation isn't one of my strong suits. And yeah full responsibility for the PL on this guy.

 

I hadn't considered a resist-based epic armour. Something else to think about.

[SeraphimKensai]

Honestly with how HC reduced the level requirements for powers, I think you could probably reasonably skip ice bolt if necessary and use ice blast, bitter freeze ray, and bitter ice blast as a single target rotation assuming you build enough recharge for them.

 

There's 3 punches. Charged brawl, which you'll likely take because it's better value than a single target imob. Havoc punch has decent DPA, and you want a blapper so it's useful for a boss in your face, and Thunderstrike is an AoE with a 50% chance of a mag 3 disorient (which the mag stacks with Force of Thunder).

[Cutter]

Thankful for all the respecs we get!

[Nemu]

2 hours ago, Cutter said:

I'm naturally averse to powers with a low base accuracy, low mag/low duration effect, and high recharge. And on a damage AT, doing none doesn't feel like a plus either.

 

All that said, if I've overlooked some obvious synergy or benefit, I'm happy to be steered right. Again, I built as I went along during very rapid leveling, so most of the picks and skips were based on quick, surface level evaluations.

It's easy to overlook synergy if you evaluate each power in a vacuum.

 

Consider what you are trying to accomplish which is to be a melee blaster (requiring the ability to survive in melee range).

Consider your offensive toolkit, which includes rains that force mobs to run (thus a need to keep them in the rain).

 

Your ability to rotate knockdowns with thunderstrike and force of thunder can help you solve for both of those objectives.

 

 

[ClawsandEffect]

Don't forget that the T1 and T2 blasts can be used while mezzed, as well as the T1 of the secondary. 

 

I have had a number of times where being able to keep using all 3 powers has been the difference between surviving with a sliver of health and a faceplant. Especially if the secondary is Martial and its repel power.