Scrapper and Blaster What am I doing Wrong?

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, WuTang said:

Ok I've stated before that I prefer a side of tank with my DPS, but I tried rolling a scrapper and blaster and had to set the missions to -1 or I was toast. Surely it's me...and my in their face fighting style. Or is it just that early days are tougher on pure DPS?

 

Consider a Tanker along your Sentinel. Both are easier ATs than pure damage. Both will also kill slower but you're freer when not worried about dying as much. Unlike other games a Tanker has nothing complicated to its name or leaderships demands and all that's required is jumping into the fray first.

 

If you stick in the low levels a lot a Brute is better than a Scrapper, but by level 20-ish they are about similar, and fully geared the Scrapper pulls ahead. But I'd not chase pure damage just yet until more comfortable.

 

Synergies are not as important with all the power from IOs but when not using them synergies can matter. Things like Ice Melee with its Ice Patch making mobs flop while you're beating them up, Dark Melee with its (small) heal, Fire Armor with the damage boost so that you're killing faster so mobs don't have as much time to strike back, Dark Armor is in need of a tune up but has a massive heal on a very short cooldown but who consumes a staggering amount of endurance, but Dark Melee has a power that recovers Endurance. Power sets like Claws, Axe, Stone Melee, or War Mace where knockdowns are abundant so mobs are flopping, etc.

 

Pure damage is easier when you have a better handle of the game and more money to build their defenses. Not impossible though, you can certainly play the game straight up with a Blaster and Scrapper and just take it easy.

 

 

Some tips are the use and abuse of inspirations. Always carry Lucks with you, eat a few if in trouble, buy more between missions. Always leave one row free to eat the ones that drop from killing mobs and keep using those instead of saving them for a rainy day. Once you start killing many mobs at once that row of inspirations keeps refilling and you keep eating them and you get stronger which makes you kill faster so more inspirations are dropping and you're eating those and becoming stronger so you....

 

For example my first row (F1) is for heals. The second row (F2) is for those disposable inspirations dropped from mobs. Third and fourth are for Lucks, and the fifth is two blues, one orange, one ressurect and one CC clear. So as I play I keep pressing F2.

 

If you have enough money buy a teleporter from the P2W vendor and you can buy inspirations from a nurse NPC between missions. If you want to save money just log off in Pocket D and next time you log on you'll have the teleporter.

 

Generic IOs are fine to start the game but start selling your merits and start buying stuff from the AH. It'll be expensive, but you can use it, then sell it back later, or send it to your next alt. The newbie guide in my signature has tips on money making (stick to selling Merits if you don't want to mess with the market because it's a valid approach and how I do it too) and other stuff like how to make a Supergroup base where you can store your IOs for your next alt.

 

Remember that even if you spend 10-50 millions on stuff it's fine because your next alt can use that gear and it too will make 10-50 million and buy a few more bits and bobs and the NEXT alt now has a bunch of nice stuff. So it's not a waste to buy things, nothing you can buy is 'soulbound'.

[Water]

Took me a long, long time to git gud on a blaster, learnin n learnin...

 

Like many have said, it is a combination of learning the AT and what the game throws at us. Learning what I can use to mitigate that with slotting. Now I run a kitted out blaster with maybe a little room for improvement. But that's the game to me, I don't want it all 'nao', I want the experience of having, well, the experience. I've had 20 years out of this game and I fully intend to carry on learning. It isn't a game where I get to the top and that's it the game is done. The game isn't done. I'll never be fully conversant with the whole game but I've learned enough to get by. Your journey is just starting out, enjoy the falls for without them the highs are just inclines.

 

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

It's not my fault my friend...when our affliction flares up we gotta build another one.

I rolled up the Corruptor.  I have a concept, an outfit, and a detailed plan worthy of a LOTR epic.  I blame you

[Frostbiter]

A Blaster has a...steep learning curve. I hesitate to call it steep because it's a short trip to the floor. You will die. A lot. You have to fight dirty. The only rules of engagement are kill or be killed. Several tactics I've learned over they years are:

 

Enemy have nasty abilities? Hit them first, before they hit you. Don't forget to use any sleeps, holds, stuns, etc of your own to control the fight.

Hit them from out of reach. Hover blasting is a time honored tradition.

Run away and hit them as they catch up. Otherwise known as repositioning. Too many mobs? Aggro them and run away. Make them come to you. It'll stagger them out and leave them easier to deal with. Make sure you are running away from enemies and not into more of them.

Just run away. There is no shame in coming back more prepared.

And as has been mentioned, load up on inspirations. Don't hoard them, pop them like candy.

[TheOtherTed]

5 hours ago, WuTang said:

My Scrapper is claws/regen. I know, I know but ya know....Wolverine and all.

My Blaster is dark/dark, I was going for the whole dark magi thing.

Just to completely contradict what I said before, if you scrap, you need to learn to love Scrapperlock.  You're Kor from DS9's "Once More Unto the Breach," Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, Spock mixing matter and antimatter by hand at the end of "Wrath of Khan."  Probably someone from the MCU as well, but, frankly, I stopped caring long ago.

 

The point is, you are simultaneously expendable, and the only one who can keep misfortune at bay so that your friends can have a fighting chance.  At some point in your Scrapper career, hopefully earlier than later, you will need to accept that you will not, you CANNNOT, walk away from a fight.  Trust to those random crits to pull you out of the fire, but stay in the fire until they do.  And if they don't, it's probably just desserts for something you did in a past life, so, you know, that's on you.

 

As for Blasters, the secret is to master the fine art of "the pull."  This game is unique among MMOs in another way, i.e., a group of mobs won't necessarily insta-aggro on you just because you tagged one target.  The aggro calculations are more complicated here, which means you could potentially peel groups like onions once you learn a bit of finesse.  Remember that distance is your first defense, and you can wheedle more out of that defense by lining up a target, then jumping backwards and immediately hitting an attack.  Hopefully the momentum of your jump will take you out of the "broadcast" range of the non-targeted mobs, who will just stand there and wonder why you're ballet dancing.  Your target, however, will lope towards you to ask what ballet troupe you're in and where you're performing, at which point you can unload your full arsenal, without distraction, on your fellow lover of the lively arts.

 

As for a dark/dark blaster specifically, -ToHit is your second defense, and it's a good one.  If you find yourself overwhelmed in the heat of battle, spread the love among your enemies, then pick one target at a time to whittle down.  If it's still a little warm for you, consider a blapper-friendly secondary set; Electricity or Energy Manipulation, Martial Combat (everyone's personal favorite), Ninja Training, probably others that I can't personally vouch for because I haven't played them.

 

In all cases, enjoy your defeats as much as your victories.  You'll have plenty of both.

[Techwright]

4 hours ago, Frostbiter said:

A Blaster has a...steep learning curve.

 

 

With respect, that may be an individual thing.  I took to blasting like a duck to water.   In exchange however, I have a harder time with other archetypes like masterminds and titan weapons. While I love melee, I have learned that I'm just not mentally tuned to stalker.  Yet I've teamed with some amazing players wielding these skills.  In time, each will find their strengths.

[Clave Dark 5]

13 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:

I've always been partial to playing Support/Crowd Control so when I play on the few melee'rs that I do have, it takes me a while to shift out of timid-mode when approaching mobs.

After bouncing back and forth between the two types a few times, and also starting as one but becoming the other late in the leveling curve (that's Doms for you), I just generally play stupid on any toon these days and rush in.  I just leveled a Dom with Def in the low 20s playing this way.  I died a bunch, sure.  Big deal, sometimes it paid off!

[Cheli]

18 hours ago, WuTang said:

I wouldn't say I didn't have fun... I mean the dying part sucked a bit, but I learned to keep my speed on and just how much HP would get me away alive fairly quickly.

It's just I've been only really building brutes (my comfort zone) and with them I can run +1/2 with bosses.

My Scrapper is claws/regen. I know, I know but ya know....Wolverine and all.

My Blaster is dark/dark, I was going for the whole dark magi thing.

Both are slotted with (still new don't know the lingo) generic crafted enhancements and both are around level 20. But this is also how my Brutes were at that level and I survived. 

I know it's me. I've never been great at DPS in any game unless someone is there to soak up the damage for me. Just was looking for tips...and I've gotten some. Thanks everyone!

 

Regen isn't a very beginner- or low-level-friendly defense set. It relies 100% on +recharge, particularly global recharge bonuses, something you get basically nothing of until you're near max level, running hasten and slotting IO sets. 

 

At very high-end and with a lot of game knowledge regen is absolutely indestructible, but you're going to struggle. Try a different armor set with less click powers and more resistance/defense toggles. At low-level and with less game knowledge it's much better to be able to just tank damage on a melee character than try to play super-reactively. 

 

A blaster - or any other squishy-type ATs really - are going to be a rude awakening if you're coming from a different type of game, especially at mid-high level and especially against certain enemy groups that smash you constantly with mez effects. As a blaster you have no defenses at all unless you take pool powers. No mez protection, no damage reduction from armor or w/e that even the 'squishiest' of squishy characters in other games get. You will be taking full-on 100% damage right to the face. Pool powers might help, and you can get around some of this with clever use of the meagre CC your secondary set usually provides (though dark doesn't have a whole lot outside of the standardized t1 immo). Once you get a grasp on that fact and fill your tray with insps you can get around, but you're still going to be having trouble tackling stuff, especially against mez-happy enemy groups, until you're higher level. Blaster definitely takes more general knowledge, or just playing with a team, to get the hang of.

Edited February 6 by Cheli

[skoryy]

22 hours ago, WuTang said:

Ok I've stated before that I prefer a side of tank with my DPS, but I tried rolling a scrapper and blaster and had to set the missions to -1 or I was toast. Surely it's me...and my in their face fighting style. Or is it just that early days are tougher on pure DPS?

 

You're going to pick up all the debt badges on a blaster, regardless, its the nature of being the glass cannon of glass cannons.  Though I can offer up some tips for the early blaster game:

• You're not a tanker or a brute who can just roll through picking fights.  You'll need to approach each group tactically.  Experience will teach you which targets are the most annoying - not necessarily the one that cons the toughest - and you'll want to prioritize how you take them down.
• Mr. Build Up and Mr. Snipe aren't just your friends, they're your best friends.  Snipes can hit from outside aggro range and they hit hard.  Pick that annoying target, hit build up and snipe, wait a couple seconds, and watch them evaporate without even knowing you were ever there.  You can even do a really good number on lieutenants with them too.
• Your secondary is going to give you some melee attacks.  I wouldn't prioritize slotting them before your ranged attacks, I wouldn't even recommend using them unless as a last resort, or you're in a good group, or you've reached late into the game enough to rack up enough defenses and IOs to begin your proper life as a blapper.
• (Late and end game as a blapper is maybe the most fun this game can offer.  Just insane amounts of damage and chaos.  Its glorious.  Highly recommended.)
• Your mezzes are nice and your starter immobilize can even do decent damage.  Use the immob frequently to keep the brawlers from putting an axe in your face.

 

[Doc_Scorpion]

1 hour ago, Cheli said:

Regen isn't a very beginner- or low-level-friendly defense set. It relies 100% on +recharge, particularly global recharge bonuses, something you get basically nothing of until you're near max level, running hasten and slotting IO sets. 

 

At very high-end and with a lot of game knowledge regen is absolutely indestructible, but you're going to struggle.

My kat/regen scrapper didn't start slotting recharge (or much +def or +res) until he was in his thirties, and he does just fine.  He still doesn't have Hasten and still does just fine.  What he also doesn't do is run missions much above base difficulty.  (Which is heresy here on Homecoming, but I do it regardless.)

Without throwing inf at it, Regen requires that you think and play more like a blaster than a tank.

[ZekeStenzland]

As I understand it, the devs did a fix for regen to make it better. It’s called Will Power. You might find it more to your liking. 
 

Also, regen on sentinels is mechanically a bit different than on melees. You might find that works better for you if you’re okay with a ranged AT. 
 

Mild disagreement on skipping blaster melee powers until later. While range is a good defense, there will be times when range is not possible: most cave missions and many office and warehouse maps won’t easily permit it. Your melee attacks tend to be better than your ranged attacks, so having one good hard hitter when stuck in melee range is helpful. 
 

Also, don’t skimp on slotting your T1 and T2 attacks. While they’re not generally as good as your other attacks you can still use them just fine while held/stunned/asleep. It’s not unusual for me to finish a fight and still have to wait for a hold or sleep to wear off. 

[WuTang]

On 2/5/2024 at 2:52 PM, Sovera said:

 

Consider a Tanker along your Sentinel. Both are easier ATs than pure damage. Both will also kill slower but you're freer when not worried about dying as much. Unlike other games a Tanker has nothing complicated to its name or leaderships demands and all that's required is jumping into the fray first.

 

If you stick in the low levels a lot a Brute is better than a Scrapper, but by level 20-ish they are about similar, and fully geared the Scrapper pulls ahead. But I'd not chase pure damage just yet until more comfortable.

 

Synergies are not as important with all the power from IOs but when not using them synergies can matter. Things like Ice Melee with its Ice Patch making mobs flop while you're beating them up, Dark Melee with its (small) heal, Fire Armor with the damage boost so that you're killing faster so mobs don't have as much time to strike back, Dark Armor is in need of a tune up but has a massive heal on a very short cooldown but who consumes a staggering amount of endurance, but Dark Melee has a power that recovers Endurance. Power sets like Claws, Axe, Stone Melee, or War Mace where knockdowns are abundant so mobs are flopping, etc.

 

Pure damage is easier when you have a better handle of the game and more money to build their defenses. Not impossible though, you can certainly play the game straight up with a Blaster and Scrapper and just take it easy.

 

 

Some tips are the use and abuse of inspirations. Always carry Lucks with you, eat a few if in trouble, buy more between missions. Always leave one row free to eat the ones that drop from killing mobs and keep using those instead of saving them for a rainy day. Once you start killing many mobs at once that row of inspirations keeps refilling and you keep eating them and you get stronger which makes you kill faster so more inspirations are dropping and you're eating those and becoming stronger so you....

 

For example my first row (F1) is for heals. The second row (F2) is for those disposable inspirations dropped from mobs. Third and fourth are for Lucks, and the fifth is two blues, one orange, one ressurect and one CC clear. So as I play I keep pressing F2.

 

If you have enough money buy a teleporter from the P2W vendor and you can buy inspirations from a nurse NPC between missions. If you want to save money just log off in Pocket D and next time you log on you'll have the teleporter.

 

Generic IOs are fine to start the game but start selling your merits and start buying stuff from the AH. It'll be expensive, but you can use it, then sell it back later, or send it to your next alt. The newbie guide in my signature has tips on money making (stick to selling Merits if you don't want to mess with the market because it's a valid approach and how I do it too) and other stuff like how to make a Supergroup base where you can store your IOs for your next alt.

 

Remember that even if you spend 10-50 millions on stuff it's fine because your next alt can use that gear and it too will make 10-50 million and buy a few more bits and bobs and the NEXT alt now has a bunch of nice stuff. So it's not a waste to buy things, nothing you can buy is 'soulbound'.

Solid advice! Thanks

[WuTang]

On 2/5/2024 at 4:33 PM, Snarky said:

I rolled up the Corruptor.  I have a concept, an outfit, and a detailed plan worthy of a LOTR epic.  I blame you

See you at the next meeting....

[WuTang]

On 2/5/2024 at 5:10 PM, Frostbiter said:

A Blaster has a...steep learning curve. I hesitate to call it steep because it's a short trip to the floor. You will die. A lot. You have to fight dirty. The only rules of engagement are kill or be killed. Several tactics I've learned over they years are:

 

Enemy have nasty abilities? Hit them first, before they hit you. Don't forget to use any sleeps, holds, stuns, etc of your own to control the fight.

Hit them from out of reach. Hover blasting is a time honored tradition.

Run away and hit them as they catch up. Otherwise known as repositioning. Too many mobs? Aggro them and run away. Make them come to you. It'll stagger them out and leave them easier to deal with. Make sure you are running away from enemies and not into more of them.

Just run away. There is no shame in coming back more prepared.

And as has been mentioned, load up on inspirations. Don't hoard them, pop them like candy.

Yeah it's the tank in me. I don't always monitor my health bar. In other games I'm always the tank or off tank and am used to AOE nukes and god-like survivability. 1v1 tanks are slow but 1v10, that's where I shined. Pure DPS, or squishies, I liked their flavor, rogues, mages, or druid kitty but I'd inevitably, eat dirt.

 

That's one of the things that I really like about CoH, you can get any flavor with any AT. I've made like 4 Brutes so far and they all play and feel different...and I like them all in different ways. Because one flies, one jumps, one teleports, and the other speeds around jumping his butt off. One is dark, then there's the energy one...y'all know what I'm talking about...and the defenses are just as different and unique...again preaching to the choir...sorry. Feel like that new guy that's just realizing he's been missing out and trying to tell y'all vets how good the thing is that y'all have been doing for years.

 

I flipped my tactics on my dark/dark blaster and embraced the blapper, it worked for the few runs, but I also boosted my snipe so it hits the ones I hate the most real good.

I think my scrapper needs a reroll. Regen just...I ain't feel'n it.

 

Oh also rolled a Stalker. Yeah....jury is still out.