Ice / TA Blaster

[Xhi]

Hey guys,

 

     I'm giving a crack at a blaster I would like to try. I'm really fond of the Tactical Arrow powerset as I have a similar set in TA I really enjoy playing on a defender. I know that they are a bit different between the two but the debuffing aspect is what pulls me to this set. I'm choosing Ice cause the damage potential and the proc options and such and the ST damage it can provide. I'm not married to the primary though, I just haven't ever built a Ice anything yet and have heard good things about it.  Below is a build I made and I'm not that great at building them as I'm lost with what sets to use for what benefit etc. Please critique this and give me pointers to look for and work towards. I chased Ranged Defense and that was about it. I'm looking to be ranged and a pseudo debuffer/ST damage dealer for higher end content ultimately. Thank you for your input and help.

 

 

Blaster (Ice Blast - Tactical Arrow).mbd

[Uun]

• Glue Arrow does 2 things - it has -speed/-recharge/-fly which is autohit and a tiny amount of damage which has a tohit check. The damage isn't worth enhancing, but it allows you to slot Ranged AoE %dmg procs. If you're going to slot procs, I would go for damage, not knockdown, and I would devote slots to that. Otherwise I would just slot a slow or recharge in the base slot.
• Slot Electrified Net Arrow with a Ranged Damage set, not Immobilize.
• Slot Freeze Ray with a Ranged Damage set, not Hold. It's one of the highest DPA attacks in the set.
• If you're going to take Ice Storm, devote slots to it and slot for damage. It's a poor choice for procs.
• Eagle Eye doesn't need more than 1-2 slots. I would redeploy those slots to Ice Storm and/or Oil Slick Arrow. 
• Slot Bitter Freeze Ray with a Ranged Damage set or skip it entirely. It doesn't have great DPA and you already have 2 holds.
• Slotting Gymnastics for run speed isn't worth it. It can be a mule for one of the +def uniques.
• If you're going to take ESD Arrow, it needs accuracy (it has an accuracy penalty). Slotting the +2 mag proc is a waste, since the hold is only applied to machines.
• Add slots to Oil Slick Arrow and slot for damage.
• If you intend to run Maneuvers or Scorpion Shield, they need end reduction.
• You don't need ANY of the knockback protection procs. Gymnastics provides mag 9 kb protection. That gives you 4 slots to place elsewhere.
• You can pick up a few slots from Health and Stamina. Blaster sustain powers (in this case Eagle Eye) negate the need for a lot of the +recovery uniques.

[Nemu]

There's no need to take scorpion shield if you are just shooting from range. See this post for rationale and general approach to making builds:
 

 

In general it's better to slot attacks as attacks and not for their secondary effect (the exception is when an attack does very little damage like tesla cage from Blaster Electric Blast or archery stunning shot). I generally also skip stuff like ESD arrow from blaster secondaries, too long a recharge for too short a duration and no damage. Those generally give terrible ROI for slots invested.

 

Lean into strengths of the AT which is kill stuff before you get killed. As for the combo itself, I wrote up a cheap build for it. It's not softcapped, but a single luck and put you close.