Power Pools and DEF for Blasters?

[Greenbone]

Welp. Nobody answered my other post about Water/TA, but the reason I had the concept is because I wanted to slant Ranged AOE, which requires safety. I was playing with Mid's to see what I could possibly get in terms of DEF (because I'd rather not get hit at all as a Blaster), so I loaded up Hover, Stealth, Maneuvers, Evasive Maneuvers, Weave, Gymnastics (from my secondary) and Vengeance with 3 SO DEF enhancements. The numbers come out to 69.1% DEF across all but Toxic (52.7%). Once you toss in Personal Force Field from Force Mastery, that number jumps to 121.6% for a quick escape.

 

So in your experience, is that good enough? As mentioned in my previous post, my favorite experience in the game was my BS/SR Scrapper, and I fell in love with DEF.

 

But change my mind if I'm wrong. Better to build for RES (even with lower health)? Should I NOT try to be a safe hover blaster and go with the common wisdom to invest in the AT's strengths and just hit harder through all the deaths? 🙂 Other advice I may not be thinking of? Thank you!

[FupDup]

Vengeance won't be active all the time unless you've got teammates dying all the time, so your real values will generally be lower than that. Evasive Manuevers won't give any defense when you're actively in combat either, and Stealth loses most of its defense in combat (but does keep a little at least). Turn those off in Mids first to see what your "true" defenses are. 

 

And 69.1% is just plain excessive. Even incarnate content has a softcap at 58.75% (standard content is just 45%, which is what most people would shoot for). Reallocating some of that defense into resistance would help you survive more because enemy hit chance will never go below 5% and they have streakbreakers to get through eventually. And you don't have any DDR as a Blaster, so debuffs will also cripple those defenses. Many would argue going for a more offensive approach entirely (kill/mezz them before they kill you) for Blasters. 

 

Or honestly just play a Sentinel if you want to focus entirely on survival as a ranged toon. Super Reflexes would get you up to either softcap with ease and give you a ton of DDR plus an Absorb clicky. Or go Ninjutsu armor for some sneaky shenanigans but less DDR (but still more than a Blaster can get, which is none). 

Edited September 24, 2023 by FupDup

[Greenbone]

Thank you. What's DDR?

[FupDup]

23 minutes ago, Greenbone said:

Thank you. What's DDR?

Defense Debuff Reduction. It means that when you get hit by defense debuffs, they have a lesser effect (more DDR = better). Most defense based armor sets come with varying degrees of it, but characters without an armor set generally won't get any. 

[Wimbochismo]

As @FupDup mentioned - most people for general content are only going to bother getting around 45 defense because there's always a 5% chance of a hit getting through past that.

 

They also mentioned that Stealth and Evasive are suppressed in combat. In Mids, go to: Options, Configuration, Effects & Maths, under Suppression mark Attacked. Excluding Vengeance, this will give a more realistic idea of defense levels when considering something like Stealth.

 

After 45 ranged defense, it's easier for Blaster's to get their resistances up. The goal is to not take a huge hit or get 1 shot when the 5% gets through. The most common dmg type is smash/lethal which is easily gained with Tough and/or a resist Epic shield that also has exotic resistances. After that if you're going for a tanky character I suppose hp etc.

 

In the sliding scale of your build goals, power sets, defenses, damage and the recharge to maintain it - it may be difficult to hit 45 defense and 50+ s/l/etc res. For Blaster's I'd be more willing to give up 5 of defense for enough recharge to make a smooth attack chain.

[MonteCarla]

I've made Blasters with 45% Ranged Defence early-on, on a modest-ish budget.

 

6%    - Tough (Steadfast IO and Gladiator's Armor IO)

5.5% - Weave (slotted)

2%    - Hover or Combat Jumping (1 slot)

3.5% - Manouvres (slotted)
 

 

That's 17%, you need another 28% from set bonuses. Maybe go with:

3.75% - full set of ThunderStrike (x3)

2.5%   - 5 piece Sting of the Manticore (x1)

3.75% - full set of Mako's Bite (x2)

4%      - full set of Artillery (x2)

 

(Gymnastics adds another 2% or so)

 

The Blaster IO sets will also help if you've got enough money for them. You'll lose some opportunities for Recharge bonuses or other goodies.

On more expensive builds I've been able to cap Defence to Ranged and Melee (Touch of Death, Unbreakable Guard and Obliteration) while taking a Resistance epic armor.

[tidge]

IMO: Personal Force Field is worth little more than as a mule for a Defense IO; this is because of the 5% chance enemies will always have to hit you. Also... you can't do much useful while it is toggled on. Force Mastery isn't a terrible choice of an epic Blaster pool for mule powers, although if taking it I would plan to toggle on Temp Invulnerability.

 

If the goal is to be an "AoE Blaster" (*1) and stay only at range, you want the global IO pieces and set bonuses rather than grabbing every possible pool power with a toggle. I don't always use the Fighting Pool (--/Tough/Weave) because I don't like burning a power pick on a melee attack I an unlikely to slot or use, but mileage varies. The one choice I almost always make is to 6-slot the Reactive Defenses set in some defensive toggle (and occasionally a click; e.g. Link Minds / Mind Link) because (a) Scaling Damage Resistance is a great global piece and (b) the 5 and 6-slot set bonuses a great for button mashing.

 

(*1) I haven't found too many DPS characters that actually work best at only range. Sometimes this is because of available power choices, sometimes it is because of critter AI. Of the Blaster primaries I've played, I would say a cone-oriented Dark/--- Blaster may be what you want. Much of the set is DoT, but the reduction in enemy ToHit will be sort of like boosting your Defenses. The Dark nuke is a PBAoE of course.

[Greenbone]

2 hours ago, tidge said:

(*1) I haven't found too many DPS characters that actually work best at only range. Sometimes this is because of available power choices, sometimes it is because of critter AI. Of the Blaster primaries I've played, I would say a cone-oriented Dark/--- Blaster may be what you want. Much of the set is DoT, but the reduction in enemy ToHit will be sort of like boosting your Defenses. The Dark nuke is a PBAoE of course.

 

Thank you. I've played Dark/ blasters and was looking for a new style. I can see how having no melee and limited ST options could be a problem. Early game I'm hoping the combo of Air Superiority, Ghost Slaying Axe, or whatever, might plug the hole. And that mid game, I will be slotted enough to use one of the ranged attacks. Looking closely at my post, it was really more about team utility - staying at range and cleaning up while the Scrap/Tank/Brute/Stalker is in the face of the guys most likely to take me out. Maybe a playstyle more like (my favorite) a Controller? I appreciate the thoughts.

[Shred Monkey]

I aim for 45% across as much as possible.  Although, just recently I started expirementing with only Ranged defense, but upping it to 60+ for incarnate content.  I'm finding this is an extremely strong option.  My standard test is the new Cimerora content turned up to 54x8, which even my tanks struggle with and can't complete the last mission, if they even get there.  My Seismic/Martial blaster is currently my best toon for this content, completing all but the last fight before dieing when I had a bunch of Mino EB's spawn on me at once when I wasn't ready for it.

 

I should add, that I chose this combo for all the knockdowns and that nasty AoE slow toggle, which allows me to kite and stay at ranged while putting out excellent ST and AoE damage extremely effectively.  This combined with keeping ranged attacks floored in hit chance is what's working better than anything else I've tried.

 

TL:DR... you can get away with 45% to ranged and stop there if you're not going into melee.  Beyond that is for extreme cases only.

 

 

[Story Archer]

I don't run Blappers, only Blasters, so I tend to keep my guys back and often in the air. The vast majority of the time this means I only take Ranged attacks with a smattering of AoE which means I can focus my defenses there. So let's start with the basics:

 

+1.75% Hover or Combat Jumping (unslotted for Defense as I usually put the Kismet +ToHit unique IO there)

+3% Steadfast IO (usually in Tough)

+3% Gladiator's IO (usually in Tough)

+3.5% Maneuvers (slotted)

+5.5% Weave (slotted)

 

That gets us to 17.75% Global.

 

Then I always try to six slot the Gaussian's Fire Control IO set into Tactics. You're taking Maneuvers anyway, and with Tactics slotted this way you not only get +2.5% global defense and the ToHit buff (as do your teammates) but you also get a nice little damage boost from the Build-Up proc. A must-get for Blasters imo.

 

+2.5% Gaussian's Fire Control (6-slotted into Tactics)

 

That gets us to 19.25% Global.

 

It's reasonable to think that you'll probably have three single-target attack powers and two AoE attack powers plus your nuke. Your two AoE attack powers (like Fireball or Energy Torrent) gets a full set of Annihilation for +3.75% AoE Defense each while your three of your single-target powers (Like Blaze or Power Burst) get a full set of Thunderstrike for +3.75% Ranged Defense each. What you do with your nuke can vary widely, but I've gotten consistently good mileage out of six-slotting Eradication for 3.13% AoE defense and 1.56% Ranged defense.

 

That brings our totals to right at 30% AoE Defense and 32% Ranged Defense. Consider this sort of your baseline. There are a number of other ways to add to these totals (I'll list a few down below), but which you take advantage of will depend largely on your particular build and style of play. I deliberately mentioned fairly common IO sets that weren't ridiculously expensive and don't require you to be at level 50 to take advantage of, but there are definitely ways to get both defenses into the low 40's if that's your goal. Keep in mind there will be trade-offs in some cases (potentially higher Global Recharge and other things) and that if you're teaming that you're likely to get at least a couple of global defensive buffs from your allies, so don't obsess over completely maxxing out your defenses unless you plan on soloing a lot. The closer you get to that damage cap the more diminishing your returns can be.

 

Favored Ranged Defense IO sets:

Blaster's Wrath (Blaster-only set)

Defiant Barrage (Blaster-only set)

Numina's Convalescence (best used with whichever sustain ability you have)

Preemptive Optimization (best used with whichever sustain ability you have)

Artillery

Mako's Bite (melee set)

 

Favored AoE Defense IO sets:

Aegis (Resist Damage set)

Extreme Measures (for Snipes, also boosts Melee Defense)

 

Favored sets for both:

Lockdown (a Hold set; grants +2.5% AoE Defense AND 3.75% Ranged Defense - my Fire/Atomic Blaster has three full sets of these and the defense they provide carries him)

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Story Archer

[Nemu]

6 hours ago, Story Archer said:

+2.5% Gaussian's Fire Control (6-slotted into Tactics)

I'd rather slot this into aim or build up for more consistent BU proc and better recharge on said powers. The BU proc won't trigger consistently in tactics although your chances do go up if you are on a team. Still, I'd like to have control over when the thing procs so I can take full advantage of it. Tactics gets an end reducer or best case scenario a cyto-hami O.

 

30% ranged/AoE defense works as a good baseline for pure range blasters. But it can also be a good baseline for blasters that don't completely ignore their secondary and go into melee from time to time when the opportunity presents itself. However I find the investment in AoE defense for most combos really takes away from the ability to make a build with respectable offensive output by taking away the opportunity to build for recharge/other offensive bonuses or slotting.

 

Which is why powers that slow are really good for building up AoE defense because ice mistral's set is amazing and slept on. My Ice/TA takes full advantage of that set and the build has real synergy across the board with how each of the set bonuses in that set work together towards my game plan (recharge, slow resist, procs, and enough acc bonuses to skimp on acc slotting in powers so I can fit those procs in.)

 

 

[SwitchFade]

Bonfire is a blasters beat friend.

 

There are many ways to mitigate damage.