Help choosing a combo to learn how to blap / joust

[Unclemarty]

I don't have much experience with blasters in general and the ones I have made have mainly been hover blasters. But lurking around on the forms I've seen a number of posts & guides on a playstyle of "blapping" or "jousting" (I'm not sure if these terms are interchangeable). Basically, it seems to be moving in and out of melee range to hit hard with melee attacks but avoid enemy attacks by quickly moving out of range.

 

I'd like to experiment and learn this playstyle but I need some help choosing the right sets.  I'll describe in the following scenario on how I'd like to approach and take down mobs.

• I'd like to lead with a pbaoe nuke and quickly move to range. Then, at range, I'd like to fire off some ranged aoe and cones. By this point I'd like to finish the remaining bosses with single target melee and maybe a high dpa singe target ranged attack.
• I'd like to be able to play solo at higher difficulty options. I'm not expecting a smooth ride at 4x8 though.
• I do not want to hang out in melee for extended periods. I do not want to use long animating pbaoe that are not like a T9 nuke. I want to be able to move fluidly in and out of melee
• I do not want my sustain power to be reliant on enemies nearby.
• Ideally I'd like some CC synergy between powers so that a boss can be controlled (I'm not sure if this is possible on a blaster)
• I'd consider using a power to soften up mobs before jumping in with the T9 nuke (such an bonfire).
• This build would primarily be for solo
• Enhancement cost is not an issue

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Procellus]

I don't know if it's good any more but during live Sonic/EM was a good solo blaster. Sleep a group, Total Focus everyone straight to jail.

[Bellicose]

Well, I've never seen it in the wild (so to speak), but on paper, Sonic/Energy does fulfil your criteria.

 

PBAoE Nuke: Dreadful Wail 
Ranged AoEs and Cone: Howl, Shockwave, Siren's Song
Single Target Melee: Energy Punch, Bone Smasher, Total Focus
High DPA Single Target Ranged: Screech
With the right Pool Powers and APP and good slotting you can handle +4/x8, and the fluidity in and out of melee
Sustain Power: Energize (easy to perma)
CC Synergy: Multiple Stun powers in each set
Softening up mobs pre-nuke: Siren's Song (damage + sleep)

[Nemu]

Kinda defeats the purpose of leaning in on jousting when you can sleep the whole group and pick stuff off.

 

Dark/Earth

 

The most difficult things to jump joust are PBAoEs that require you to be on the ground. If you can jump joust tremors you can joust anything. Dark blast with its cones force you to be mobile and force you out of your comfort zone. But on the other hand abyssal gaze + seismic can help hold bosses.

 

 

[Frozen Burn]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:14 PM, Unclemarty said:

I don't have much experience with blasters in general and the ones I have made have mainly been hover blasters. But lurking around on the forms I've seen a number of posts & guides on a playstyle of "blapping" or "jousting" (I'm not sure if these terms are interchangeable). Basically, it seems to be moving in and out of melee range to hit hard with melee attacks but avoid enemy attacks by quickly moving out of range.

 

I'd like to experiment and learn this playstyle but I need some help choosing the right sets.  I'll describe in the following scenario on how I'd like to approach and take down mobs.

• I'd like to lead with a pbaoe nuke and quickly move to range. Then, at range, I'd like to fire off some ranged aoe and cones. By this point I'd like to finish the remaining bosses with single target melee and maybe a high dpa singe target ranged attack.
• I'd like to be able to play solo at higher difficulty options. I'm not expecting a smooth ride at 4x8 though.
• I do not want to hang out in melee for extended periods. I do not want to use long animating pbaoe that are not like a T9 nuke. I want to be able to move fluidly in and out of melee
• I do not want my sustain power to be reliant on enemies nearby.
• Ideally I'd like some CC synergy between powers so that a boss can be controlled (I'm not sure if this is possible on a blaster)
• I'd consider using a power to soften up mobs before jumping in with the T9 nuke (such an bonfire).
• This build would primarily be for solo
• Enhancement cost is not an issue

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

 

Your secondary power pick is what determines your "blap-worthiness" or not.  So, look for secondaries that have the melee powers you want.  Most will have a non-nuke PBAOE... do not poo-poo them - they are generally quite good and worth taking and slotting.  Don't shy away from your crowd control powers either - they help with survivability. 

 

Some of the better sets for blapping are:  /EM, /Fire, /Martial, /Ninja, /Earth, /Atomic, /Temporal, /Elec. 

 

Avoid:  /Tactical Arrow and /Devices.  

 

[tidge]

IMO, the most important powers for "Blapping" ("Jousting" is IMO from another era of the game when characters could expect to have base 0% defenses (*1) across almost all content) are:

• The powers in the secondary (as mentioned by @Frozen Burn)
• A "teleport into/out of combat power"

For the latter, I prefer Combat Teleport, but other powers can do in a pinch (if toggled on), like Speed of Sound, Mystic Flight... The three macros/bins I try to have on "Blappers" are (shown for Combat Teleport, pick your own macro image to flavor):

 

/bind shift+lbutton "powexec_name Combat Teleport"

 

This is a mousebind used to help move me around maps/rooms... often when I am 'stuck' somewhere or just want to get around some sort of obstacle/geometry.

 

/macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_Seedbuff"    "BAMF" "powexec_location target Combat Teleport"

 

This is used to appear adjacent to a target, for melee or PBAoE.

 

/macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_seedblood"   "Back" "powexec_location Back:25 Combat Teleport"

 

This is used to move back from a cluster, usually to cast a cone attack.

 

My Blapping is to usually open with (ranged) AoE, and then directly engage clumps of survivors and/or hard targets. I don't rely on single-target controls for Blapping. Of the Blasters with which I have played a LOT of (a wide variety of content) I can offer these opinions on the secondaries:

 

Atomic: The "Blappiest" of the ones I've played, all powers in the secondary taken except for Electron Shackles and Positron Cell.

Fire: Something of a classic, but I have this character built less like a Blapper and play it more like it can wade in when necessary.

Time: As used on my character, this is NOT a Blapper. I like the secondary, but it feels (to me) much less Blappy.

 

(*1) Re; Jousting. Not only is it easy to get IOs that boost global defenses, but the game has a large number of available "boosts", especially for low level characters. IMO the actual content (and debt limits!) make it less likely that a no-extra-defenses character is going to be stuck with something like a "Hunt dozens of +3 level baddies in a Hazard Zone" mission. Mid and late game solo players are likely to face single enemies that simply will not melt to a couple of button clicks, but I always associate 'jousting' as a survival mechanism for taking on large, +level spawns without defenses.

Edited September 29, 2023 by tidge
adjusted "base defense" number to avoid confusion with "even level minion chance ToHit"

[Uun]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

For the latter, I prefer Combat Teleport, but other powers can do in a pinch (if toggled on), like Speed of Sound, Mystic Flight.

For those unaware, Martial Combat has Burst of Speed, a self-teleport (+ AoE attack) that can be used 3 times before it needs to recharge.

[tidge]

7 minutes ago, Uun said:

For those unaware, Martial Combat has Burst of Speed, a self-teleport (+ AoE attack) that can be used 3 times before it needs to recharge.

 

I have a /Martial Combat Blaster, but I haven't played it very much (it was fun for what I was doing, at low levels).

 

[Without_Pause]

Ice/temp. End of Time is a fast acting PBAoE. Time Stop is yet another hold to be added with the holds Ice brings. You get +Recharge and there's nothing you need from being around mobs. 

[LollipopDreams]

I kind of have to throw in another vote for /Martial Combat for blapping. Nothing says 'kicking them right in the face' like kicking them right in the face.

[Ringo]

If you're going to mostly solo, why not Energy Blast?  Hop in, Nova, hop out and hunt the survivors.  Martial Combat has the movement powers, or Atomic/Fire/Energy can bring the pain

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Another issue to consider is how to avoid or resist mezzes; without a plan for managing mezzes they can quickly and at times frequently put a damper on efforts to blap, and also cause some difficulties for jousting.

 

As part of that planning you'll probably want to consider the level range in which you'd like to blap and joust. For example, if you consistently prefer level 50 content then you can pick clarion as the destiny incarnate, find a way to minimize problems with knockback, and you're probably OK stopping there. If you're rich and don't mind spending quite a bit of money on amplifiers at the P2W vendor then that's another solution that's available. If you'd like to blap / joust while leveling to 50 or to exemp down fairly often after reaching fifty then you may end up preferring certain blaster secondaries over others, at least for your first blapping / jousting character.

A few ideas about managing mezzes as a blaster ...

 

Potentially valuable anti-mez options outside of blaster secondaries that can be accessed while leveling include combat jumping (immobilize protection) and acrobatics (strong knock protection and hold protection of 2 points (that can be boosted to 3.57 with power boost from energy manipulation). Both acrobatics and combat jumping are in the "leaping" power pool. Rune of protection in the sorcery power pool is also available as early as level 20, which can be used as a break free when mezzed. You'll need to take two other sorcery pool powers before rune of protection can be selected. Rune of protection can be used as a substitute for a "break free" inspiration. On that note, break free inspirations are also available and probably should be carried when possible. At the incarnate level clarion destiny and melee core hybrid can be taken to increase protection against mezzes. Finally, the unique IO in the "(superior) defiant barrage" blaster set provides resistance to mezzes, which also helps.

When looking across all the blaster secondaries, martial combat and energy manipulation offer particularly useful protection against mezzes. Energy manipulation only directly protects against stun through the "energize" power. But, energize can be paired with combat jumping, acrobatics, and power boost to enhance protection against multiple challenging mezzes. Energize can be made perma, with enough recharge. But, you end up with no sleep protection this way. Also, energize needs to be cast proactively because while your character is mezzed you cannot cast energize. 

 

In contrast, inner will in martial combat protects against a wide variety of mezzes, including sleep. But, inner will has a default recharge time of 180 seconds and only 30 seconds of uptime after it has been activated. So, you'd probably want rune of protection, break free inspirations, and/or some other solution for managing mezzes during downtime for inner will. 

In the end you can only reduce the frequency with which your blaster gets mezzed, and not bring it to a complete stop. But a substantial reduction in time spent mezzed still leads to better blapping and jousting. 

GL with your character, however you decide to move forward.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by EnjoyTheJourney

[Biff Pow]

On 9/28/2023 at 10:51 AM, Procellus said:

I don't know if it's good any more but during live Sonic/EM was a good solo blaster. Sleep a group, Total Focus everyone straight to jail.

 

Can confirm this is a great combo. Sleep the whole group (and it's auto-hit, there's no mess), hit the Boss with Screech and the EM attacks and they're too stunned to fight back.

[SwitchFade]

OP, your described playatule is not really blapping, it's just what a normal blaster is...

 

Which is use ranged and melee.

 

Blapping is... run into melee and stay there, regardless of powers. You attempt to pick a set that has more pbaoe and melee focused powers, but regardless, blapping is, go in.... stay in.

 

If you want to be extremely melee focused... water/fire, water/elec, fire/fire....

[High_Beam]

Look.  I am not an expert but here is what I have run (no farm):

 

50 DP/MC Blaster - Di DI Guns - Still play a lot because super fun - Blapper/Ranger

50 DP/Rad Blaster - Runeslinger - Still Play A Lot - Primary Badge Hunter - Ranger/Blapper

50 DP/Nin Blaster - Two Gun Trixie - Still Play to work incarnates up - Blapper

50 DP/Inv Sentinel - Trinity Six - Just dinged 50 - Blapper

50 DP/Kin Corruptor - Boom Boom Britta - Recently dinged 50 working incarnates. Blapper/Ranger

38 Time/DP Defender - Mender Oakley - Stopped playing - Face Planter

 

Now DP is not the most damage delivering though there are many ways to push those numbers up.  But I feel DP is one of the best powers to learn Blapping with because you are indeed forces to rely on your secondaries more and there are a few bonuses to using them in close.  Want to Joust (target, run, jump over and activate then land away) but with DP that's not the main technique I use.  Here is my attack chain in the Blasters, and Sentinel (regardless of Secondary).  My definitions:  A Blapper/Ranger is one who leads with melee then backs out to range, a Ranger/Blapper is one who relies on range but is able to mix it up in melee.  A Blapper is melee and more melee

 

All defenses on.  Target biggest enemy.  Drop into Mob (burst of speed, combat teleport or just jump in) - Hail of Bullets, always lead with hail of bullets because you get a temp buff to positional Defense when its activated which means survivors may not successfully hit back, then Melee PBAoE (if you have it), then big single target strike, then jump out (or BoS or CT if you didn't burn the three shots) then Empty Clips (Cone) and Bullet Rain (AoE) with Procs in them.  Usually not much left and from there you can range all day long or ways the short time for the lead chain to recharge (which really doesn't take long) and do it again.  As for Boss Lock, Switching to Ice Rounds gives you a Mag 3 Hold with Suppressive Fire, delivers sizable damage and if you have your recharge working well, can stack to lock a Boss relatively quick.  DP/Kin Corr is more crazy fast and dangerous Blapper because you jump in, Fulcrum Shift then run the attack chain above so you can take a few hits.  Sentinel is less fun (but still fun) because you are just soft tanking and not Blapping (IMO)

 

A lot of people don't like running the same power set and I am actually one of those except DP because I get so much different play from that same Primary.  But I think MC is best for what you are looking for WRT Blapping.  You get in you mix it up and you jump out and shoot the joint up further.

 

MC is glorious for Blapping because of all of the mitigation tools and the sneaky damage dealing bonuses.  Take Burst of Speed, its like Combat Teleport in that its a short shot that you can use to flash into the middle of a mob but also delivers a "slam" of damage to your enemy (yes you take a little but its tiny really) but the best part is, you can actually bump a second time and still save the third shot to get out but why.  Macro bind the location placement to the target and you can three tap the hits in seconds, then Hail, then  Dragon's Tail to knock them off their feet then use Eagle's Claw on the target and then press and hold your backwards movement key while the animation is going which allows you to actually flip back coming out of the attack animation without needing the BoS and you've cleared the mob (You'll quickly learn the timing).  Then cone and AoE.  Plus with Reaction time running you are getting recovery and absorption while tagging the mob you jumped into with -Rech and -Slow.  Then there's Inner Will that can act as a Heal but also it an instant MEZ clear power like Rune of Protection.  And there's Throw Sand.  Not as useful as it used to be when you could slot Accurate ToHit Debuffs in there and slot Cloud Senses Negative Energy Damage in it but still useful.

 

Obviously other primaries are well suited due to similarity.  Dark Blast would probably be awesome because of the ToHit Debuff coming from the Alpha, though its cones are slow casters.  Sonic has the disorient component which is a survivor mitigation tool after the alpha.  Fire doesn't offer any post alpha mitigation and the rest are more full range types or just too damn slow on the other powers (Rad, Psychic)

 

Ninja Training has similar Mechanics but no BoS so you would use Combat Teleport to get that same effect but no damage on the bump.  Shinobi has a Defense component and a stealth component and a chance to Critical which I don't bank on.  The Click regen/recovery is okay.  The Placate power is useful if your sequence doesnt take enough out.  Blinding Powder is better than Throw Sand from MC because it confuses minions.  But Lotus Drops vs Dragon's Tail is equal. However Golden Dragonfly is godly!  Glorious damage numbers.  But IMO Ninja Training really is suited more towards full on in the melee play and you stipulated in and out mix.

[Doomguide2005]

I started on and my main ever since i3 is and was a scrapper.  So way back when I first started trying blasters well I tended to get my glass cannon smashed in melee.  Until, on my 3rd or 4th try, I rolled a Fire/Energy.  Now she was more "blapper" than jouster but I did learn to joust with her as well (Hello Longbow Wardens) as foes/bosses got tougher in later levels.  The pure raw damage of Fire Blast meant no way other than learning to kill, be killed or joust.  No sleeps, no holds, no mez or KB outside the rather random stuns and KB of my melee attacks to help survive.  Nothing but my melee secondary and learning how to move lay between me and floor tasting.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Doomguide2005

[Unclemarty]

On 9/30/2023 at 4:12 AM, EnjoyTheJourney said:

Another issue to consider is how to avoid or resist mezzes; without a plan for managing mezzes they can quickly and at times frequently put a damper on efforts to blap, and also cause some difficulties for jousting.

 

As part of that planning you'll probably want to consider the level range in which you'd like to blap and joust. For example, if you consistently prefer level 50 content then you can pick clarion as the destiny incarnate, find a way to minimize problems with knockback, and you're probably OK stopping there. If you're rich and don't mind spending quite a bit of money on amplifiers at the P2W vendor then that's another solution that's available. If you'd like to blap / joust while leveling to 50 or to exemp down fairly often after reaching fifty then you may end up preferring certain blaster secondaries over others, at least for your first blapping / jousting character.

A few ideas about managing mezzes as a blaster ...

 

Potentially valuable anti-mez options outside of blaster secondaries that can be accessed while leveling include combat jumping (immobilize protection) and acrobatics (strong knock protection and hold protection of 2 points (that can be boosted to 3.57 with power boost from energy manipulation). Both acrobatics and combat jumping are in the "leaping" power pool. Rune of protection in the sorcery power pool is also available as early as level 20, which can be used as a break free when mezzed. You'll need to take two other sorcery pool powers before rune of protection can be selected. Rune of protection can be used as a substitute for a "break free" inspiration. On that note, break free inspirations are also available and probably should be carried when possible. At the incarnate level clarion destiny and melee core hybrid can be taken to increase protection against mezzes. Finally, the unique IO in the "(superior) defiant barrage" blaster set provides resistance to mezzes, which also helps.

When looking across all the blaster secondaries, martial combat and energy manipulation offer particularly useful protection against mezzes. Energy manipulation only directly protects against stun through the "energize" power. But, energize can be paired with combat jumping, acrobatics, and power boost to enhance protection against multiple challenging mezzes. Energize can be made perma, with enough recharge. But, you end up with no sleep protection this way. Also, energize needs to be cast proactively because while your character is mezzed you cannot cast energize. 

 

In contrast, inner will in martial combat protects against a wide variety of mezzes, including sleep. But, inner will has a default recharge time of 180 seconds and only 30 seconds of uptime after it has been activated. So, you'd probably want rune of protection, break free inspirations, and/or some other solution for managing mezzes during downtime for inner will. 

In the end you can only reduce the frequency with which your blaster gets mezzed, and not bring it to a complete stop. But a substantial reduction in time spent mezzed still leads to better blapping and jousting. 

GL with your character, however you decide to move forward.

 

 

This is a great writeup and consideration about mezzes. Ideally, I'd like to avoid leaning on clarion to give myself flexible options for the destiny slot when I hit 50. I'm probably going to take rune of protection but will need some additional mez coverage somewhere. Speaking of sorcery, is arcane bolt worth taking and slottting on a blaster, even if I only activate it when its ready to cirt?

 

On 10/2/2023 at 1:52 PM, High_Beam said:

Look.  I am not an expert but here is what I have run (no farm):

 

50 DP/MC Blaster - Di DI Guns - Still play a lot because super fun - Blapper/Ranger

50 DP/Rad Blaster - Runeslinger - Still Play A Lot - Primary Badge Hunter - Ranger/Blapper

50 DP/Nin Blaster - Two Gun Trixie - Still Play to work incarnates up - Blapper

50 DP/Inv Sentinel - Trinity Six - Just dinged 50 - Blapper

50 DP/Kin Corruptor - Boom Boom Britta - Recently dinged 50 working incarnates. Blapper/Ranger

38 Time/DP Defender - Mender Oakley - Stopped playing - Face Planter

 

Now DP is not the most damage delivering though there are many ways to push those numbers up.  But I feel DP is one of the best powers to learn Blapping with because you are indeed forces to rely on your secondaries more and there are a few bonuses to using them in close.  Want to Joust (target, run, jump over and activate then land away) but with DP that's not the main technique I use.  Here is my attack chain in the Blasters, and Sentinel (regardless of Secondary).  My definitions:  A Blapper/Ranger is one who leads with melee then backs out to range, a Ranger/Blapper is one who relies on range but is able to mix it up in melee.  A Blapper is melee and more melee

 

All defenses on.  Target biggest enemy.  Drop into Mob (burst of speed, combat teleport or just jump in) - Hail of Bullets, always lead with hail of bullets because you get a temp buff to positional Defense when its activated which means survivors may not successfully hit back, then Melee PBAoE (if you have it), then big single target strike, then jump out (or BoS or CT if you didn't burn the three shots) then Empty Clips (Cone) and Bullet Rain (AoE) with Procs in them.  Usually not much left and from there you can range all day long or ways the short time for the lead chain to recharge (which really doesn't take long) and do it again.  As for Boss Lock, Switching to Ice Rounds gives you a Mag 3 Hold with Suppressive Fire, delivers sizable damage and if you have your recharge working well, can stack to lock a Boss relatively quick.  DP/Kin Corr is more crazy fast and dangerous Blapper because you jump in, Fulcrum Shift then run the attack chain above so you can take a few hits.  Sentinel is less fun (but still fun) because you are just soft tanking and not Blapping (IMO)

 

A lot of people don't like running the same power set and I am actually one of those except DP because I get so much different play from that same Primary.  But I think MC is best for what you are looking for WRT Blapping.  You get in you mix it up and you jump out and shoot the joint up further.

 

MC is glorious for Blapping because of all of the mitigation tools and the sneaky damage dealing bonuses.  Take Burst of Speed, its like Combat Teleport in that its a short shot that you can use to flash into the middle of a mob but also delivers a "slam" of damage to your enemy (yes you take a little but its tiny really) but the best part is, you can actually bump a second time and still save the third shot to get out but why.  Macro bind the location placement to the target and you can three tap the hits in seconds, then Hail, then  Dragon's Tail to knock them off their feet then use Eagle's Claw on the target and then press and hold your backwards movement key while the animation is going which allows you to actually flip back coming out of the attack animation without needing the BoS and you've cleared the mob (You'll quickly learn the timing).  Then cone and AoE.  Plus with Reaction time running you are getting recovery and absorption while tagging the mob you jumped into with -Rech and -Slow.  Then there's Inner Will that can act as a Heal but also it an instant MEZ clear power like Rune of Protection.  And there's Throw Sand.  Not as useful as it used to be when you could slot Accurate ToHit Debuffs in there and slot Cloud Senses Negative Energy Damage in it but still useful.

 

Obviously other primaries are well suited due to similarity.  Dark Blast would probably be awesome because of the ToHit Debuff coming from the Alpha, though its cones are slow casters.  Sonic has the disorient component which is a survivor mitigation tool after the alpha.  Fire doesn't offer any post alpha mitigation and the rest are more full range types or just too damn slow on the other powers (Rad, Psychic)

 

Ninja Training has similar Mechanics but no BoS so you would use Combat Teleport to get that same effect but no damage on the bump.  Shinobi has a Defense component and a stealth component and a chance to Critical which I don't bank on.  The Click regen/recovery is okay.  The Placate power is useful if your sequence doesnt take enough out.  Blinding Powder is better than Throw Sand from MC because it confuses minions.  But Lotus Drops vs Dragon's Tail is equal. However Golden Dragonfly is godly!  Glorious damage numbers.  But IMO Ninja Training really is suited more towards full on in the melee play and you stipulated in and out mix.

 

Thanks for this advice on DP and MC. I'm debating between fire and DP for primaries. It seems like fire would do more damage but DP has more utility with cc?

Also comparing the T9 powers.. would hail of bullets or inferno be up every spawn? 

 

For Martial combat, does burst of speed work like spring attack from the leaping pool? Also does reaction time need enemies around for the absorb to trigger? Trying to figure out the differences between martial and ninja.

 

Seems like blaster has a lot more to consider when developing a build compared to other AT..

Edited October 4, 2023 by Unclemarty

[High_Beam]

7 hours ago, Unclemarty said:

Thanks for this advice on DP and MC. I'm debating between fire and DP for primaries. It seems like fire would do more damage but DP has more utility with cc?

Also comparing the T9 powers.. would hail of bullets or inferno be up every spawn? 

 

For Martial combat, does burst of speed work like spring attack from the leaping pool? Also does reaction time need enemies around for the absorb to trigger? Trying to figure out the differences between martial and ninja.

First Burst of Speed.  No.  It is like a flash teleport (no flash though just lines) that drops you in the center of the target ring you assign.  I use a macro that allows me to make a targeted enemy the center of the ring, that's how I can fire the three quick bumps of damage.  You never leave the ground.  I never really pay attention to the Absorb function on reaction time to be honest, for me its the Recovery bonus and the -Rech impact on enemies which btw will draw aggro so beware but it is a must have power (IMO).  But I don't think its dependent of the mobs around you because I don't see numerics or stacks in the icons.

 

As for money metal Hail of Bullets, for me its always up at every spawn and sometimes twice depending on the team composition (i.e. not enough damage dealers).  Now I run a Fire/Fire Sentinel and Inferno is also up at every spawn so its a push with regards to that.  From a pure Damage standpoint, fire is more damage (and less resisted damage type) but Inferno doesn't give you any sort of enemy survivor mitigation option like HoB (or some of the other T9 Blasters like Sonic or Dark).  Then again dead enemies is the best form of mitigation.  The question there would be the fit thematically for you.

[Uun]

3 hours ago, High_Beam said:

Now I run a Fire/Fire Sentinel and Inferno is also up at every spawn so its a push with regards to that. 

Sentinel version of Inferno has a shorter recharge (105s) than the blaster version (145s).

 

11 hours ago, Unclemarty said:

Also comparing the T9 powers.. would hail of bullets or inferno be up every spawn? 

Hail of Bullets has a 105 second recharge while Inferno has a 145 second recharge. With enough recharge you might get Inferno up every spawn, but it's certainly easier with HoB. That said, the difference in damage is HUGE. HoB with incendiary ammo has base damage of 238 while Inferno has base damage of 410 (both including the DoT).

[High_Beam]

Good information @Uun.  

[SwitchFade]

On 10/3/2023 at 8:58 PM, Unclemarty said:

 

This is a great writeup and consideration about mezzes. Ideally, I'd like to avoid leaning on clarion to give myself flexible options for the destiny slot when I hit 50. I'm probably going to take rune of protection but will need some additional mez coverage somewhere. Speaking of sorcery, is arcane bolt worth taking and slottting on a blaster, even if I only activate it when its ready to cirt?

 

 

Thanks for this advice on DP and MC. I'm debating between fire and DP for primaries. It seems like fire would do more damage but DP has more utility with cc?

Also comparing the T9 powers.. would hail of bullets or inferno be up every spawn? 

 

For Martial combat, does burst of speed work like spring attack from the leaping pool? Also does reaction time need enemies around for the absorb to trigger? Trying to figure out the differences between martial and ninja.

 

Seems like blaster has a lot more to consider when developing a build compared to other AT..

If you want the most damage, fire/fire.

 

If you want next best and more mitigation, water/fire or water/elec

 

I've done DP/mc, as well as the three I listed... dp/mc is fun but nowhere near the others.

 

For reference I also pushed DP/mental/fire to it's max (bonfire saves you) and this also can't keep up with water/ or fire/

 

I love DP, but if you're talking dumping out gobs of damage on everyone and their dog, it's fire.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Attached is a build for a water / energy / mu blaster that can function just fine as a blapper / jouster. Survivability tools for this build are quite good overall, despite not being softcapped. That's helpful while you're in the earlier stages of learning how to blap because your blaster will kiss dirt less often with good survivability tools. Also, while Mu Mastery can reasonably be swapped into something else and some will recommend that, give it a whirl with mu mastery before swapping. The armor is quite good and the extra AOE animates quickly, has good DPA, recharges reasonably quickly, offers an AOE immobilize, and is really helpful when paired with water burst for defeating large spawns when the nuke is recharging. 

 

This build has 50% resistance to movement and recharge debuffs. That's not to be underestimated in how it helps your blaster to be more effective. 

FWIW I took barrier core destiny incarnate and assault radial hybrid for this build, in addition to the incarnates listed for the build. 

Good luck with your blapper / jouster, however you decide to move forward.

 

PS: Water blast has a well deserved reputation set as a low single target damage set, which usually isn't ideal for blapping. But, this particular build has solid single target DPS because of the two hard hitting blaps from energy manipulation and two heavily procc'd up water blast single target attacks.  

Summoner of Waves - Blaster (Water Blast - Energy Manipulation - Mu Mastery).mbd Summoner of Waves - Water NRG Mu blaster.pdf

Edited October 5, 2023 by EnjoyTheJourney