how are blasters supposed to solo?

[Groundworm]

I returned to CoH a couple of weeks ago after having not played for 3 years. After trying a number of my old characters, I decided to start anew to relearn the game. So I made a bio/axe tanker and I've been enjoying him.

 

Now that I understand more, I tried my old level 40 fire/rad blaster. Took him into a mission at +0/4 and... he dies with every group. Literally. He's got tough, weave, and maneuvers but the moment a mob gets to him, it's all over. The mission I tried was an Oranbega map, so close quarters fighting (in the narrow passages) is unavoidable. This is about the opposite of fun, and I'm not sure what to do.

[PeregrineFalcon]

It's difficult to solo with a Blaster, or with any character that doesn't have mez protection really. There are some things that you could try:

 

1) Turn your difficulty down. +0/x4 is literally "content for 4 or more players." Not all characters can solo content meant for 4+ characters.

2) Form or join a team. Blasters, like most ATs, do better on a team.

3) Play a Sentinel. A Sentinel is a new AT. Basically it has a blast powerset (slightly less damage than a Blaster) and an armor powerset (slightly weaker than a Scrapper).

[UltraAlt]

25 minutes ago, Groundworm said:

Took him into a mission at +0/4 and... he dies with every group.

 

Just a comment, but maybe you have the mob size set too high for your character and/or the tactics you are using.

 

26 minutes ago, Groundworm said:

I'm not sure what to do.

 

Try +0/1 and see how that goes -or- maybe -1/3 if you are really trying to Dynasty Warrior it.

 

Honestly, I tend to run +2/2 well before a character is level 40, but I'm not trying to steamroll the content.

 

30 minutes ago, Groundworm said:

The mission I tried was an Oranbega map, so close quarters fighting (in the narrow passages) is unavoidable.

 

Rolling back and complete fall backs are always an option.

You don't need to just stand there and get slaughtered ... unless you think that is fun.

[KaizenSoze]

First you're dealing the page 7 CoT, which are noticeably nastier than before. Keep an eye out for the Earthquake and Tar Patch indicators. If you see one, move immediately out of range.

 

Do you have your Rad debuffs slotted? That will help. Holds can break mob toggles.

 

I know it's close quarters, but hit and run works, or at least hit and break line of sight. Force the mobs to come into your debuff aura range. Find ways to get them clumped up for your Fire aoes. Figure out which mobs are causing you the most issues.

 

Also, some combos solo better than others. My elec/ice blaster can solo just about anything. End drain and slows are very useful. 

[biostem]

1 hour ago, Groundworm said:

he dies with every group

This is why Sentinels have become my go-to AT;  I like the ranged attacks, and the armor secondaries allow me to solo much more easily.  As a blaster, you'll need to take advantage of the element of surprise and perhaps grab a stealth power or IO, so you can pick and choose what battles you want to initiate.  You'll also need a high degree of situational awareness so you can identify and take out any particularly problematic enemies first...

Edited April 30 by biostem

[MonteCarla]

Blasters survive using active defence, ie mezzes or just straight out damage.

Fire Blast is rough for this solo, you can aggro a big group without reducing the incoming damage at all - no knockback, end drain or -To Hit or anything before they fall.

You do have a hold in Atomic (Positron Cell), but it's single target.

 

Try lowering the group size, like people have said. Even try +2/x1 instead, a held lieutenant is doing nothing to you, even if you take a bit longer to defeat them.

 

And at the START vendor, pick up Plasmatic Taser and Stun Grenade to help you deal with double groups via knockback and stun while you're levelling.

The free Nemesis staff is good for this too.

 

You can work towards solid defences numbers, but it takes time. Tough (with 2 unique IOs for +Defence), Weave (slotted) and Manouvers (slotted) give you just 15% defence or so. This is a good start, but you'll really want to pile on the set bonuses to boost this. Thunderstrike x6 and Artillery x6 in your attacks is a good cheapish start to doing this.

 

Make sure you've got your sustain power (Metabolic Acceleration) - your aim should be to survive any fight a bit beaten up, and then recover very quickly between groups.

Open but holding the toughest target (eg a Lt.), defeat the others while keeping the Lt. held, and then finish them off.

[Novacat]

The grand majority of blaster defenses come from IO sets.

The changes in/after the fall of the original live game, were that minor chipping damage no longer fatally accumulates in ways it never did for anybody else, that firing off your attacks no longer wrecks your endurance more than those with many times your defenses, the first two blasts and that first immobilize in your primary and secondary always working while you're mezzed, massively buffed snipes, and crashless nukes.

 

Blaster survivability until you're covered in endgame bits, is a mix of positioning (often the other word for that is running, especially around corners), damage, and control. You gotta be able to hit for that though, as your offensive output, not some stacked shields and resists, is your first line of defense. Dead things don't hurt you. Aim + Ionize + Inferno SHOULD equal a dead spawn. A single elite boss will not be happy if you start at over 150ft and use the temporary range buff to keep firing after that Blazing Bolt before they can even get started with you.

In your case, things getting close should have serious issues hitting you through your Beta Decay, if you've slotted it up a bit.

 

But if they're shooting before you inferno, that's less fun (there's ranged nukes on other sets, but Inferno makes up for that if you can get there) and makes you think of stealth. Even a little stealth goes a LONG way with a blaster; there's nothing we love more than being the one to dictate when and how the fight begins. /Devices for example has their cloak as their sustain (their version of your Metabolic Acceleration has no +recharge or speed but gives defense and stealth), which with pre-emptive non-aggroing smoke grenades lets them walk into the enemy's face and leisurely plant tripmines under their feet. Literally.

 

I will echo some of the suggestions that you try a Sentinel; while they lose a bit of range they're far more of an intermediate step - a "ranged scrapper" with defense sets you already know well (they've their own variants but you probably remember more about them than I've ever learned) while still offering a taste and glimpse of the front-loading, area-loving soft-control screwjobs that are at the core of the blaster game. No snipe, somewhat smaller target caps, and the nukes are a fair bit weaker but recharge a lot faster.

 

OR try a more defensively capable combo. Dark Blasts don't have a 'ball' (more cones) but EVERYTHING in there debuffs to-hit. Ice slows in every way, carries powerful holds (and most epic pools have one more hold to stack with this), and while it has no snipe does offer about as much AoE as Fire did. 

[Haijinx]

Melee attacks murder them before they murder you. 

 

Still they can't survive stuff scrappers, brutes, stalkers and Sents can - they are damage specialists not generalists like those others. 

[Nemu]

4 hours ago, Groundworm said:

I returned to CoH a couple of weeks ago after having not played for 3 years. After trying a number of my old characters, I decided to start anew to relearn the game. So I made a bio/axe tanker and I've been enjoying him.

 

Now that I understand more, I tried my old level 40 fire/rad blaster. Took him into a mission at +0/4 and... he dies with every group. Literally. He's got tough, weave, and maneuvers but the moment a mob gets to him, it's all over. The mission I tried was an Oranbega map, so close quarters fighting (in the narrow passages) is unavoidable. This is about the opposite of fun, and I'm not sure what to do.

 

In the second video I show how to pull +4 trolls set for a team of 8 at level 20.

 

If you want to learn how to play blasters and how to build them. I can teach you.

[Snarky]

10 hours ago, Groundworm said:

I returned to CoH a couple of weeks ago after having not played for 3 years. After trying a number of my old characters, I decided to start anew to relearn the game. So I made a bio/axe tanker and I've been enjoying him.

 

Now that I understand more, I tried my old level 40 fire/rad blaster. Took him into a mission at +0/4 and... he dies with every group. Literally. He's got tough, weave, and maneuvers but the moment a mob gets to him, it's all over. The mission I tried was an Oranbega map, so close quarters fighting (in the narrow passages) is unavoidable. This is about the opposite of fun, and I'm not sure what to do.

So, I have been running a LOT of Blaster the last year.  And each one I build has LESS defense.  I never take tough or weave.  I do take manuevers, and slap the two 3% Def I/Os in the epic armor. That is it. I used to build for ranged defense.  With a Dark Blaster you can throw a Mag 4 stun on a group as you go on to nuke. But mag 2 is fine.  
 

Now let me BLOW YOUR MIND.  I run a Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster with NO damage mitigation except maneuvers and the two +3% Def I/Os.  He is impatient, and LOVES to get to a fresh spawn first.  He loves to aim, build up, swoop and Nuke.  If there is another spawn near he will  incarnate nuke them (fire, ranged) and if there is a third spawn nearby he will throw 2 fire rains on them.  Doesnt he get attacked?  Funnily enough, when you light people on fire, even if they survive they are often distracted.  Even video game people.  Oh, since I did not build for defense…. I built for DAMAGE.  And Alpha is max DAMAGE, and interface is +Fire DAMAGE.  Do you smell that?  It is the smell of victory.  Smells a lot like burning Freakshow Tank i know.  
 

His tactics (?!?) never change.  I will eat a medium purple before facing off against a Vicky robot heavy spawn in incarnate trials. And Barrier is a great Destiny for this playstyle as well. 
 

Ever hear of Jackie Chan.  Frustrated him to work with Hollywood. He knew tricks like using wooden crates to, at the last second, stop himself from being crushed between a car and a dumpster.  Gave himself just enough time to jump out of the way. But the camera did not catch it. That is how you play a Blaster.  You know what the outcome is before you ever jump into a spawn.  If you are in doubt, probably need another wooden crate…

[Zect]

In no particular order:

• Insps
• +defense IO set bonuses (usually +range, every set can softcap ranged now that they added Artillery)
• dps harder (you should be wiping +0's trivially with nukes, at least)
• controls/debuffs: most sets have some controls although I think blaster 2ndary mezzes are usually trash, fire epic has bonfire which you can abuse with a KB2KD although I think it is also overrated
• Turn down the difficulty level
• reroll as sentinel if you can't do any of the above. Sentinel damage scalar is now 1.100.

Take your pick. I really think taking a blaster through the non-AE game and soloing a variety of enemy groups on the way to 50 is the best coh education one can have: it teaches you to use every resource and think about every situation you encounter.

Edited May 1 by Zect

[Neiska]

One thing I found that help my ranged ATs is flying/hover. Most things (especially at low level) don't have a full ranged attack chain, so even just hovering out of reach drastically reduces the number of attacks they get against you. Not all enemies mind you, but many.

[Sovera]

13 hours ago, Groundworm said:

I returned to CoH a couple of weeks ago after having not played for 3 years. After trying a number of my old characters, I decided to start anew to relearn the game. So I made a bio/axe tanker and I've been enjoying him.

 

Now that I understand more, I tried my old level 40 fire/rad blaster. Took him into a mission at +0/4 and... he dies with every group. Literally. He's got tough, weave, and maneuvers but the moment a mob gets to him, it's all over. The mission I tried was an Oranbega map, so close quarters fighting (in the narrow passages) is unavoidable. This is about the opposite of fun, and I'm not sure what to do.

 

I see a lot of advice in this thread, good advice at that (fighting while using Hover being top most IMO), but a failure of mentioning the number one way of how Blasters survive: Aim (with a Gaussian proc) + Build-up + last power in your primary. If everything is dead nothing is left alive to hurt you. At +0x4 in particular nothing should be close to hurting you after that combo.

 

For this you do want good recharge and preferably a ranged nuke but if using a PbAoE nuke then slot in a stealth IO so mobs don't notice you until you're on top of them. The nuke + AoE is usually so powerful that everything is dead without the need for Aim + Build-up so you can try saving them for the next group when your nuke is still recharging and then just Aim + BU + regular AoEs.

 

 

Post your build so we can have a look at and point out improvements. Just having Weave and Tough and Manuvers won't help much without further shoring from IOs.

[Uun]

Fire Blast has no mitigation or secondary effects. You might do better with a set like Ice, which has slows and holds, or Dark, which has -tohit, knockback, hold and a heal.

[RelativeQuanta]

If you have some money to burn, you can buy defensive IOs.  They stack up pretty fast.  I have a blaster that did exactly this.  Most of the defensive stuff can be pretty cheep.

 

Here's a data chunk for a lvl 40 build with a bunch of defensive IOs you can play with.  I intentionally only picked yellow sets (except for the snipe, but I don't think it would be too expensive).  You're not softcapped or anything, but it should be extremely noticeable over normal IOs. 

 

 

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

[Bionic_Flea]

Quote

how are blasters supposed to solo?

 

In my experience, there are two basic ways:

 

1) Carefully -- Pull, stay at range, strafe, use defensive inspirations and temp powers.

 

2) With reckless abandon! -- Load up on red inspirations, Aim+Build up and blow your enemies to smithereens before they know you are even there.

[MoonSheep]

“why isn’t my blaster a scrapper?”

[PeregrineFalcon]

5 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

“why isn’t my blaster a scrapper?”

Why would you make fun of a new person who's asking for advice?

 

Man, I love how the people on this forum will speed-hammer the report button because "Falcon Man is a big meanie, he hurt my fee-fees, wah!" But then you'll go out of your way to make fun of a new person who's asking for help. WTF is wrong with you?!?

[MoonSheep]

11 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Why would you make fun of a new person who's asking for advice?

 

Man, I love how the people on this forum will speed-hammer the report button because "Falcon Man is a big meanie, he hurt my fee-fees, wah!" But then you'll go out of your way to make fun of a new person who's asking for help. WTF is wrong with you?!?

 

it’s a common meta in the HC era, people want every AT to be a scrapper and build every AT in the same way and then get disappointed they didn’t click “Scrapper” when they chose their AT when making the alt

 

blasters have high damage and low defences, always been that way. the best defense is a great offense

 

 

[Snarky]

I had the same issue when I tried a Fire Fire Blaster many years past.  What has changed?  I now know the mobs really well.  I know which ones I can Nuke, and which ones will turn around and hit me with brass knuckles spelling N0L0V3  

 

If you do not have the terrain and the mobs memorized it is a lot harder to pull Blaster magic.

[Groundworm]

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice. I will lower the difficulty- I'm sure I was biting off more than I could incinerate. As has been pointed out, I only very generally know the differences between each mob and what they're capable of, so I've pretty much been treating them all the same while trying to learn from what happens when I rush in to nuke them.

 

I know a lot of defense depends on IOs and IO sets... of which I know absolutely nothing. I've never had a level 50 character, and my total influence is about 20 million. I don't even know what sets I should be looking for, what powers to slot them in, or if I can even afford anything I need/want.

[MoonSheep]

4 hours ago, Groundworm said:

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice. I will lower the difficulty- I'm sure I was biting off more than I could incinerate. As has been pointed out, I only very generally know the differences between each mob and what they're capable of, so I've pretty much been treating them all the same while trying to learn from what happens when I rush in to nuke them.

 

I know a lot of defense depends on IOs and IO sets... of which I know absolutely nothing. I've never had a level 50 character, and my total influence is about 20 million. I don't even know what sets I should be looking for, what powers to slot them in, or if I can even afford anything I need/want.

 

you’ll pick up IOs etc in time. i’d say you’re actually in a lucky position to be enjoying the game without needing to put everything on max settings and require expensive builds yet

 

the IO system is complex, i’d say start with one power and a good set and then branch out

 

if you need any influence along the way give me or anyone on here a shout, everyone’s happy to help

[Snarky]

6 hours ago, Groundworm said:

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice. I will lower the difficulty- I'm sure I was biting off more than I could incinerate. As has been pointed out, I only very generally know the differences between each mob and what they're capable of, so I've pretty much been treating them all the same while trying to learn from what happens when I rush in to nuke them.

 

I know a lot of defense depends on IOs and IO sets... of which I know absolutely nothing. I've never had a level 50 character, and my total influence is about 20 million. I don't even know what sets I should be looking for, what powers to slot them in, or if I can even afford anything I need/want.

I am not sure if Yomo is still doing a giveaway. If so he is going to take a day or three to reply. But i would try. In game send an email ti @Yomo and let him know you need funds.  He was giving 100 million ti anyone that asks. 
 

I was assuming, as, un, I assume mist if us were, that you were using sets.  With a mostly non set build you are going to encounter a ton of problems.  There is a silver lining. If you love Bkasters and keep playing them it gets better. You are on the hard end of the learning curve right now.  The things you learn on a Blaster no other archetype learns how to do.  Apply sheer force to the problem.  

[Novacat]

10 hours ago, Groundworm said:

 I only very generally know the differences between each mob and what they're capable of

This was very common back on live for those who played the melee ATs. It took so much to mez a tanker that for many enemy groups there was nothing to learn; some mobs just sometimes used a different animation that often hurts much less.

 

To Blasters with virtually no mez protection (when any), however, knockdown early enough in a fight was dangerous (everyone gets 1-2 seconds of bashing you where they aren't dead), and a lowly Warriors Crusher getting their disorient off would likely be fatal. Those lessons were carved in the hard way. It also kept caltrops around corners so very popular.

[Sovera]

10 hours ago, Groundworm said:

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice. I will lower the difficulty- I'm sure I was biting off more than I could incinerate. As has been pointed out, I only very generally know the differences between each mob and what they're capable of, so I've pretty much been treating them all the same while trying to learn from what happens when I rush in to nuke them.

 

I know a lot of defense depends on IOs and IO sets... of which I know absolutely nothing. I've never had a level 50 character, and my total influence is about 20 million. I don't even know what sets I should be looking for, what powers to slot them in, or if I can even afford anything I need/want.

 

 

The newbie guide in my signature has some tips if you're not aware of selling merits. It includes the link to the essential Mids, which is the program we use to make builds.

 

Once  you have Mids you can import the builds posted in these forums because otherwise they are just a bunch of gibberish.