Question About Blasters

[WuTang]

Yesterday I played behind a Tanker and so was able to jump in the fray and that was good fun but I kept getting mezzed hard. I worked in Mids for a bit with an Ele/Ele/Ele but I couldn't find a way to get decent protection. Is that just the life of a blaster? I was reading @Snarkypost about Fire/Fire and his strategy of running in stealthed, AOE nuke, and run out; that the best I can hope for? I want to sort of run and gun. I'm not married to the electric build, just already had the guy made so that's what I went with. I was originally going hover blaster with him but then I'd already taken melee powers so I figured what the heck and it was good fun.  LOL...now I think about it Snark's strat is sort of run n' gun.

But still how can I get the status protections up?

[tidge]

Early-career advice is to keep Break Free inspirations on hand.

 

Many Blasters use the Sorcery pool to eventually get Rune of Protection, there are a handful of other powers that act like Break Frees. There is the Clarion Destiny choice for Incarnates.

 

Blasters can use either/both of their T1/T2 primary attacks while mezzed. Because respecs are so plentiful, it isn't a terrible idea to take both of them early in a career... and then drop one of them for the "final" build.

[Nemu]

Awareness (both mob target priority and situational awareness), jousting, inspiration use, proactive mitigation and knowing how to use your toolkit, high defense. stuff like rune of protection and clarion. dealing with mez is not just for blasters but all squishies. You have to spot or create opportunities for you to go into melee, and once you are done what you need to do in melee, you need to get out of melee.

 

It takes game knowledge and skill first and foremost, in addition to builds, to be successful as a melee blaster.

 

Here's a tip - if you are going into melee open the fight with force of thunder(with a knockdown proc), then either short circuit followed up with powersink or alternatively thunder strike(also with a knockdown proc). Hop out of melee range and pew pew after you do that, when the powers recharge, hop back in and repeat.

 

When you get good you don't need to hide behind tanks, when you are at the state of play where you can play super aggressively and be the first one to dive into a +4/8 spawn and still kick ass, and when you can do this even without a softcapped defense build or rune of protection, then you have graduated CoH and you can play any other AT (except kheldians and masterminds) well.

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Yesterday I played behind a Tanker and so was able to jump in the fray and that was good fun but I kept getting mezzed hard. I worked in Mids for a bit with an Ele/Ele/Ele but I couldn't find a way to get decent protection. Is that just the life of a blaster? I was reading @Snarkypost about Fire/Fire and his strategy of running in stealthed, AOE nuke, and run out; that the best I can hope for? I want to sort of run and gun. I'm not married to the electric build, just already had the guy made so that's what I went with. I was originally going hover blaster with him but then I'd already taken melee powers so I figured what the heck and it was good fun.  LOL...now I think about it Snark's strat is sort of run n' gun.

But still how can I get the status protections up?

On that Fire^3 (the build I posted yesterday) I carry 2-4 break frees, depending on content being run.  A strategy i have is always having about 100 medium to large insp stored in AH.  Then in 5-10 bids another 10-20 med purple, 10 break free, 30-60 reds bought.  this allows me to hit my auction macro AH       /macro AH AH      to create.  In-between missions I use this to replenish my tray

 

Here is my Elect Temp Blaster.  THis plays at range.  All at range.  Enemies are much less fierce at range.  It has 52%+ ranged defense.  Heck, it has 75% S/L resist!  It has THREE 3!!! powers to become invulnerable or nearly so.  Force of Nature, Personal Force Field, and my favorite, Phase Shift.  Phase Shift will allow you to zip through the worst 4 star map with impunity.  Be fast, the 30 sec clock is running.  

Blaster - Electrical Blast - Temporal Manipulation tank 4.0.mxd

[WuTang]

Can someone also explain Melee and Range Def, please? I understand how Def and Res work, but with Melee and Ranged, if I'm being targeted with a ranged Fire attack does both my range and fire def come into play, same for Melee? 

[Snarky]

23 minutes ago, WuTang said:

Can someone also explain Melee and Range Def, please? I understand how Def and Res work, but with Melee and Ranged, if I'm being targeted with a ranged Fire attack does both my range and fire def come into play, same for Melee? 

Both.  An attack is (usually) typed 2 ways. By positional and damage type.  AoE, Ranged, Melee.   Fire, Toxic, Dark etc.   The game looks at both and gives the character the better of the two. Then calculates the hit.  
 

So with my little 52% ranged def Blaster (45% is “softcap”) there is a 95% chance of a miss from normal enemies.  He is never in melee and AoE almost always has a shorter range than ranged attacks.  If he hangs in the 60-100 ft ranged area he is pretty covered.  Even though he has crap “damage type” defenses.  

 

A common tactic for Tanks and Brutes (non farm) is to softcap Smash/Lethal SL since a LOT of damage has a SL component…and therefore is checked versus their high SL defense.  

[Thraxen]

I put the ATO in the t1 blast power. The one with chance for mez protection. Use it all the time when leveling. And can spam it even while mezzed. Usually chance slotting to t2 attack one 50 respec final build. 

[Ukase]

So, I play blasters more than anything. And approaches to the blaster life can and do vary from player to player, and even from character to character. 

Consider the ice/ice blaster: 
Freeze Ray
Bitter Freeze Ray
Freezing Touch

With 3 holds, being proactive pays dividends. Hold them before they hold you. Experience and the HC wiki can tell you which mobs have holds/mez/stuns/sleeps if you don't know already. 

With a fire blaster, this simply isn't an option. It's an entirely different mind-set. Kill quickly or be killed quickly. 

The electric blaster has a tesla cage. The animation is a bit longer, but the net result is certainly cooler looking. You can try to drain their endurance, if that's your thing, but draining the hitpoints works faster, in my opinion. 

Some folks prefer to avoid melee when playing a blaster because, simply put, it's safer. When fighting freaks, those tank bosses can drop a sledge hammer/fist on your noggin and have you seeing tweety birds, figuratively. Maybe literally, too. When teamed with a tank, they seldom do this, as the tank gets most of the attention. Still damage is an effective distraction from a tank's inherent taunt aura. And if you're on a large team, that means more mobs. And sometimes a tank doesn't/can't/won't taunt to save your skin. 

Getting mezzed - sure, we can say use a macro to make a break free if you need one, or carry them around - or ask your teammate for one, but really the best solution that doesn't cost you influence from buying an amplifier is to raise your ranged defense, as most holds and sleeps are coming from range. Also, consider the Atomic secondary: 

 

 

The sustain for the the */atomic blaster is bananas. 
 

Now, unfortunately, there's no way to raise this from mere resistance to protection. But, it does seem to reduce the time my blaster is held. So...maybe ice/atomic would be a nifty way to go, eh? No Frozen touch, cuz that's an ice secondary golden hold, but the freeze ray is super fast. Bitter Freeze Ray is longer, but it's a great opener, at least, when solo. When teamed, you'd likely only use it under certain conditions. 

I guess what I'm saying is - there is no such thing, outside of a defensive amplifier from the START vendor (or from hero/villain packs), or a teammate's buff, to protect you from getting mezzed. 

The key is to know ahead of time when the odds of getting mezzed are more likely. You keep your health bar under close scrutiny; avoid melee when you're not at 90-100% health. And most of the time, if you get mezzed, it's helpful to your teammates to say ZZZZ in team chat. That usually gets you some clarity or something like that. 

And, if all else fails, then use a break free. You should have a dozen stashed in AH, and pick a couple out of the stash at the beginning of each mission. 
 

[UltraAlt]

7 hours ago, WuTang said:

But still how can I get the status protections up?

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Defiant_Barrage:_Recharge/Chance_for_%2BStatus_Protection (Unique)

This enhancement adds a chance to boost your status protection against hold, disorient, sleep, immobilize, confuse, and fear effects for a short time. This effect will trigger approximately 3 times per minute. Its minimum proc chance is 9.5%, and its maximum is 90%.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter's_Gift (unique)

Two enhancements increases Fire and Cold Resistance by 3.75%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Immobilize effects on you by 6.25%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Hold effects on you by 6.25%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Stun effects on you by 6.25%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Sleep effects on you by 6.25%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Fear effects on you by 6.25%.

Two enhancements reduces the duration of Confuse effects on you by 6.25%.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Impervious_Skin:_Status_Resistance/Regeneration (not unique)

This enhancement grants a global 7.5% reduction in status effect duration, which may be stacked up to five times to provide a maximum reduction of 37.5%.

This enhancement grants a 25% regeneration rate bonus for 120 seconds. When used in a click power, the effect is granted every time the power is used. When used in a toggle power, the effect persists until 120 seconds after the toggle power is deactivated. When used in an auto power, the effect is always active. This regeneration rate bonus is unique and non-stacking.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Leaping#Acrobatics

While this power is active, you are very nimble and Acrobatic. You can avoid most Knockback effects and are resistant to Hold effects. You must be at least level 14 and have two other Leaping Powers before selecting Acrobatics.

[UltraAlt]

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Can someone also explain Melee and Range Def, please? I understand how Def and Res work, but with Melee and Ranged, if I'm being targeted with a ranged Fire attack does both my range and fire def come into play, same for Melee? 

 

Well, it sort of says what it is.

 

Melee defense only defends against melee attacks (oddly enough, some attacks that seem to be melee are actually ranged attacks)

 

Ranged defense only defends against ranged attacks.

 

FX based defenses say to Fire, energy, etc. Only defend against that damage type (not regulated by being ranged or melee).

 

If an attack is a ranged fire attack, both ranged defense and defense vs fire would stack.

Same for melee.

 

You can get defense vs AoEs as well. I'm unsure if that stacks with ranged and melee, but it would stack with say defense vs fire.

[Snarky]

2 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Well, it sort of says what it is.

 

Melee defense only defends against melee attacks (oddly enough, some attacks that seem to be melee are actually ranged attacks)

 

Ranged defense only defends against ranged attacks.

 

FX based defenses say to Fire, energy, etc. Only defend against that damage type (not regulated by being ranged or melee).

 

If an attack is a ranged fire attack, both ranged defense and defense vs fire would stack.

Same for melee.

 

You can get defense vs AoEs as well. I'm unsure if that stacks with ranged and melee, but it would stack with say defense vs fire.

the typed defenses stack with positional defense???

[PeregrineFalcon]

4 minutes ago, Snarky said:

the typed defenses stack with positional defense???

Wait, what?!? No! That's not how it works.

 

Look, let's say a Hellion shoots a Firebolt (Ranged, Fire) at you. It will check your Ranged Defense and your Fire Defense. It will then roll to hit against whichever of your Defense numbers is higher, determine if a hit or miss, and if it hit check your Damage Resistance.

 

Positional (Melee, Ranged, AoE) Defense and Typed (Smashing, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, Toxic, Psionic) Defense do not stack.

[Nemu]

Defense never stacked across different tags, an attack only checks for the highest defense you have against its respective tags. That's one piece of conventional wisdom that I believe without questioning.

Edited March 26 by Nemu

[Flat Line]

I've been running an Electric/Electric build and find it very good for actively defending itself. 

They're are a lot of powers you can slot for knockdown. You also get frequent stuns and energy drains for free. 

 

I find it feels a little like playing a dominator with a lot more damage. Knockdown is a great form of control.

 

My other/first blaster is Energy/Energy maxed out with flight and ranged defence. He works very well, has good survivability and damage. But, it's a more borring playstyle... 

 

With IOs pretty much any build can work with a little tinkering on mids. There's always a way to keep a blaster alive and thriving nowadays. 

[WuTang]

So, if a Brute or Scrapper focuses on melee def and a Blaster (or other ranged hero) stacks ranged then it sounds like that is better than shooting for a multitude of type defenses. I know naturally that you'll get some of all with the sets, but am I right in my thinking? Melee/Range > Fire/Psy/Cold/...etc

Is it possible to get good defenses in both Range and Melee on the same toon?

I retooled a Brute last night after @Snarkyreply and managed to get his melee def up to 50% and that's when it hit me... That melee/range def max sounds like a better goal.

Edited March 27 by WuTang

[Marshal_General]

14 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Wait, what?!? No! That's not how it works.

 

Look, let's say a Hellion shoots a Firebolt (Ranged, Fire) at you. It will check your Ranged Defense and your Fire Defense. It will then roll to hit against whichever of your Defense numbers is higher, determine if a hit or miss, and if it hit check your Damage Resistance.

 

Positional (Melee, Ranged, AoE) Defense and Typed (Smashing, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, Toxic, Psionic) Defense do not stack.

The truth is that it will check which one is highest and then roll 1.25 to hit! 😱

[WuTang]

19 hours ago, Snarky said:

On that Fire^3 (the build I posted yesterday) I carry 2-4 break frees, depending on content being run.  A strategy i have is always having about 100 medium to large insp stored in AH.  Then in 5-10 bids another 10-20 med purple, 10 break free, 30-60 reds bought.  this allows me to hit my auction macro AH       /macro AH AH      to create.  In-between missions I use this to replenish my tray

 

Here is my Elect Temp Blaster.  THis plays at range.  All at range.  Enemies are much less fierce at range.  It has 52%+ ranged defense.  Heck, it has 75% S/L resist!  It has THREE 3!!! powers to become invulnerable or nearly so.  Force of Nature, Personal Force Field, and my favorite, Phase Shift.  Phase Shift will allow you to zip through the worst 4 star map with impunity.  Be fast, the 30 sec clock is running.  

Blaster - Electrical Blast - Temporal Manipulation tank 4.0.mxd 4.79 kB · 5 downloads

Can Phase Shift be used as a get-out-of-jail free card? Can you be mezzed and use it or be used after you run in and nuke a mob? Does it take you out of combat? I've never even looked into it, but I've got ideas now about using it, provided I understand it correctly. I like the Concealment pool. I particularly like Infiltration; it's got such a good "hunter" feel to it. Also, that build looks great! I'm going to use it.  🙂 Thanks!

[UltraAlt]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Can Phase Shift be used as a get-out-of-jail free card?

 

Phase shift is better used in advance.

 

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Can you be mezzed and use it or be used after you run in and nuke a mob?

 

I can't remember if it has interrupt time or not at this point (it has been nerfed a couple of times), but you can't use it when you are mezed.

I alway carry one column of resist effects insps on squishies.

 

I'm thinking if you are able to nuke everyone in a mob, you will probably have enough time to get into phase shift if you click it immediately.

That being said, I've never tried it.

 

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Does it take you out of combat?

 

Other characters the are phase shifted can attack you. (at least as far as I know, but it has never happened to me)

You are invulnerable to attacks from non-phase shifted characters.

 

I only ever used phase shift on a katana/super reflexes scrapper that I had before the sunset.

When I used phase shift, I used it along with invisibility (which is no longer part of the concealment pool) to stealth to the end of missions. 

Back then, phase shift lasted much longer as well.

I don't have an characters on Homecoming with Phase Shift yet.

 

"Although this power is a toggle, you cannot remain Phase Shifted for more than 30 seconds, even if you still have Endurance." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Concealment#Phase_Shift

Enough time to get away, but not enough time to stealth with it to the end of a mission in one shot.

 

 

Edited March 27 by UltraAlt

[UltraAlt]

16 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

Well, it sort of says what it is.

 

After I read what the others had said, I tracked this down on the wiki

 

"Defense Tags and Stacking

 

Defense bonuses carry tags as well, to specify what styles of attack they work against. Each Defense bonus applies only versus attacks whose tags match one or more of its own. There is one additional type of Defense bonus called Base Defense, or DEF(Defense), which applies against all attacks regardless of tagging.

Every time an attack is made against a target, the game checks the target's total Defense bonus against each of the attack's tags separately. Once the game has those separate totals, it uses only the best one in its calculations that determine whether the attack hits. The important result of this rule is that, for any given attack, Defense buffs only stack when they all have one of that attack's tags in common. However, for attacks that have multiple damage types (e.g., Cold and Smashing), only the defense for the damage type which makes up the majority of the power's damage used in the calculations.

 

Example: Deflection Shield gives a Defense bonus against Melee Attacks, Smashing Attacks, and Lethal Attacks. Glacial Armor gives a Defense bonus against Energy Attacks and Negative Energy Attacks. A Tanker with both these buffs is ambushed by a nasty Council Vampyri who tries to hit her with Siphon Life. That power is tagged as a Negative Energy Attack and a Melee Attack. Our Tanker will only be protected by one of her two Defense buffs. Lucky for her, it will be whichever is larger." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Defense

 

 

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

So, if a Brute or Scrapper focuses on melee def and a Blaster (or other ranged hero) stacks ranged then it sounds like that is better than shooting for a multitude of type defenses. I know naturally that you'll get some of all with the sets, but am I right in my thinking? Melee/Range > Fire/Psy/Cold/...etc

Is it possible to get good defenses in both Range and Melee on the same toon?

I retooled a Brute last night after @Snarkyreply and managed to get his melee def up to 50% and that's when it hit me... That melee/range def max sounds like a better goal.

With a melee toon it depends largely on what native (if any) defense it has.  Then there are oddballs like resistance armor sets.  Little to no defense and no defense debuff resistance.  On a Dark Armor i build for near perfect resistance and ignore defenses. Then use non suppressed stealth, fear aura, stun aura to create a “faux defense”. The strategy for what to build is as varied as the player and AT/Primary/Secondary.  Some Blappers build S/L defenses.  For the same reason melee does. A lot of attacks in CoH have a S/L component and therefore will check vs this.  My Fire/Fire Blaster did not ignore defenses but did not prioritize them in the build. Instead building for MORE upfront damage.  When stuff is dead your defense is near perfect.  Also, his combat Rez makes that playstyle highly forgiving. 

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Can Phase Shift be used as a get-out-of-jail free card? Can you be mezzed and use it or be used after you run in and nuke a mob? Does it take you out of combat? I've never even looked into it, but I've got ideas now about using it, provided I understand it correctly. I like the Concealment pool. I particularly like Infiltration; it's got such a good "hunter" feel to it. Also, that build looks great! I'm going to use it.  🙂 Thanks!

Phase Shift and powers like it are oddball CoH.  It is a normal power and to use it you must be free from mez.  Although if immob you can hit it. In phase shift only others also phase shifted can attack you.  Very very very rare.  I cannot recall this ever happening.  It is the ultimate “get out of jail free” card however.  Enemies that see through stealth (rikti, rularuu, nemesis, etc) will see a stealther and flatten it. But a phase shift (while still visible) will ignore their attacks.  Until your 30 sec timer runs out.  It is best used in this mode to barrel through really tough maps as fast as possible. Keep in mind at the end of 30 secs you may have agro. Be ready to come out swinging… or in the case of my elec Blaster maybe Nuke and use ANOTHER type of invulnerability power lol.  

[Onlyasandwich]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

others also phase shifted can attack you.

I didn't actually realize this! Interesting.

 

Does this mean I can dance with Carnie bosses when they try to get all sneaky? 

 

Perhaps Ascendant Archons and their annoying shield. It looks like theirs is an invuln rather than a phase shift though. Maybe the game treats it the same. Both are flagged as "untouchable" in City of Data. 

 

Also get to show Diabolique who's boss!

[Snarky]

13 minutes ago, Onlyasandwich said:

I didn't actually realize this! Interesting.

 

Does this mean I can dance with Carnie bosses when they try to get all sneaky? 

 

Perhaps Ascendant Archons and their annoying shield. It looks like theirs is an invuln rather than a phase shift though. Maybe the game treats it the same. Both are flagged as "untouchable" in City of Data. 

 

Also get to show Diabolique who's boss!

i *think this is true.  Also, is someone uses an AoE phase shift power you can phase in and attack them.  Not sure how wise that is.  The carnie bosses phase in/out and not sure if it is the same mechanic.

[twozerofoxtrot]

@WuTang one thing I do on some of my Blasters is pick up Personal Force Field from Force Mastery at level 35.

 

I use it as an emergency button, and while it won't help you if you're already mezzed it can be handy to power on when you notice you're taking fire from mobs that typically mez. It lets you get away pretty easily. 

 

It's also a nice tool for zooming to the end of a mission or for escorting an NPC out without having to fight any mobs (other than those guarding the Escort). Just walk out with everything flailing against your shield. PFF has no timer, and the recharge is pretty fast at a default of 30 seconds.

 

1 slot with LOTG, and pick up Temp Invul as a resist armor.

[Ukase]

On 3/27/2024 at 6:14 AM, WuTang said:

Can Phase Shift be used as a get-out-of-jail free card? Can you be mezzed and use it or be used after you run in and nuke a mob? Does it take you out of combat? I've never even looked into it, but I've got ideas now about using it, provided I understand it correctly. I like the Concealment pool. I particularly like Infiltration; it's got such a good "hunter" feel to it. Also, that build looks great! I'm going to use it.  🙂 Thanks!

About phase shift. It only lasts 30 seconds. It only takes 1/2 a second to cast, and another 1/2 second to activate. A lot can happen in the interval of time post-nuke and pre-phase shift. 
The worst thing that can happen is you get clobbered. It may be worth trying in certain scenarios. 

Usually, a nuke kills everything except maybe the boss when you're facing even-conned mobs. Facing +2 or +3, some of that may depend on slotting, external damage buffs like Assault, etc. But, against +4s, well, you may not get all of them and just do half damage. While your phase shifted for another 29 seconds...all you can do is run away or hope your teammates have a solution. 

I have a clear memory of being back on live around issue 3 or 4. I used phase shift to avoid some CoT. They just camped at me until the toggle dropped. But I can't recall if the toggle dropped because of some 30 second timer, or if I ran out of endurance. Now, the end use is only 18/s. Hardly worth noticing as toggles go, but after a nuke, it could be an issue for some characters struggling with endurance. 

Let us know how that goes. Sounds interesting.