Which Blaster Ancillary/Epic Pool?

[Tanked King Leo]

First of all, I know in that my own playstyle and preferences will effect how each pool feels to my game. However, I have no experience with a Blaster beyond SOs and about lvl 30 back in live and i need some help deciding. I have a Dark/Tac. Arrow Blaster that is proving to be a ton of fun and I plan to make it my next 50. So please share your picks for Ancillary/Epic powers and why. I look forward to the discussion and the debate. Thanks Everyone!

[Uun]

On my Dark/TA I went with Electrical Mastery in order to pick up Static Discharge for a 3rd cone attack. Charged Armor is also a decent S/L/E resist armor. [You can also get Static Discharge in Mu Mastery, however, the Mu version has a 32s recharge vs. 12s for the Electrical version.]

 

Another epic set I like is Flame Mastery, which gives you Bonfire, Fire Shield, Melt Armor and Rise of the Phoenix.

[tidge]

When I have 'enough' attacks on Blasters, I usually look to either:

 

Flame Mastery, for the reasons @Uun mentions.

Force Mastery, for the Defense and Resistance mules.

 

I often skip the Fighting pool if the Primary/Secondary is offering me a LOT of what I want form those choices such that I wouldn't have a chance to pick Tough/Weave before I could pick the Epic powers.

[arcane]

Flame Mastery is probably the best because of Char.

[lemming]

I seem to do Flame Mastery (bonfire/char), Munitions (concepts usually), and Scorpion.  A smattering of others with some concepts.

[Frozen Burn]

For me, it's all on the toon concept.  

 

For Dark/TA... I'd go with Soul (more Dark Blast powers), Mace (for the Scorpion Shield), Force (for PFF, Temp Invuln, & Force of Nature), or even Munitions (yes, I said it!) even though it's probably the worst of the blaster epics - LRM is just fun! (but you have to devote power picks to get it - Body Armor can be a mule for IO specials, though).

 

The other sets are great and some of my favs, but again, for concept reasons... I'd go with any of the 4 I mentioned above.

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Frozen Burn
Found a typo - filthy things.

[Thraxen]

I like the one with personal force field. Good oh shit button and a lotg mule. 

[SwitchFade]

Concept? Dark.

 

Utility? Flame. Why? Bonfire. This single power slotted properly will transform how you play and unlock a new level of fun.

[Tanked King Leo]

You guys are literally listing all the reasons that make it hard to choose. I love it. I guess I will just keep playing and make my decision by the seat of my pants. Thanks guys!

[Doomguide2005]

For what it's worth your alternate builds aren't required to have the same epics or pool powers.  Only your primary and secondary has to be the same (but the individual powers of the set can differ).

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Munitions Mastery gets a bad press, but it fits a lot of my Blaster concepts, and I find everything except Sleep Grenade useful. Surveillance is really handy not just as a debuff, but as a target designator for teams (when you want to encourage a bit of the ol' Scrapperlock, anyway), Body Armour's good for parking your +Def IOs for no -END if your Secondary hasn't allowed for it and you don't want the Fighting pool, Cryo is a handy Hold, and LRM is a very decent ranged nuke.

 

I don't like Sleep Grenade - it's relatively weak compared to the resistances enemies have at that level. And I have much more fun ways of annoying whole heaps of enemies in the rest of my arsenal.