Too many powers/abilities and how to manage as a Blaster

[ajchvy]

I'm looking for some advice on how to manage the amount of powers I'm getting at higher levels as a Blaster, but I expect this is an issue with all classes. I'm not a min-maxer, and really just playing casually with some IRL friends as we haven't played the game in almost 20 years.

 

I'm currently level 32, looking up the leveling chart I will be getting 6 more total powers, and already have 15 powers that are used in a fight to some degree, with maybe 6-8 being used constantly while the others are situational or buffs of some kind. Ancillary powers can add up to 5 more, and I'm essentially out of space on my original 3 bars now and have long been out of easy hotkeys.

 

Any advice on how to manage this? Having played CoH back in the day and only played modern MMOs recently I'm overwhelmed with the power selection and I don't remember what I did years ago.

 

Thanks

[Biff Pow]

I have a powerbar on the side of my screen for toggles and situational stuff like the O-portal, that helps clear space on the main bars.

 

As for what powers to take, I think all you can do is play the character and see what you use and don't use. My Energy/Energy Blaster had a LOT of clicking, but I found almost anything besides an attack was a waste of time. So I dropped Boost Power, kept Boost Range but it's situational, dropped Aim from my powerbar (it's just a mule for the +Perception IO). and put Energize on auto. Build Up is the only boost I use regularly.

 

But that's just me and that character. Every powerset combo is different and you kind of have to figure out what works for you through trial and respec.

[ShimmerDoll]

I use a razer naga with the 12 buttons on the side, and there is a corsair version of the mouse that does the same, it makes playing MMOs or arpgs a lot easier. I still have a few situational powers bound to the keyboard and that's how I played on live too.  I even use the naga competitive fps games.

[Greycat]

On 11/11/2024 at 4:23 PM, Biff Pow said:

I have a powerbar on the side of my screen for toggles and situational stuff like the O-portal, that helps clear space on the main bars.

 

 

This really does help.

 

I tend to have the three power bars, and three ancillary "boxes" to the side. One has all the various teleport and travel type temp powers shifted over to it (slightly sparser, now, without things like the Wentworths/Black market TP,) one has sort of "misc powers" (temps, pets, that sort of thing that aren't primary,) and one often carries toggles and the non-Judgement Incarnate powers.

 

Other than that, there's going to be a mix of pick and choose as well as  placement and organization. Keep the stuff you constantly use close at hand - say, stack your blasts right on the first row if you're going to open with them, but the nuke can be off on the side, the melee stuff on the next row (where you just have to hold down alt and the nubmer to access them, and any toggles that just get turned on (stealth, the shield you'll get in the anc. power pool, etc) above that, for instance, since you probably won't have to interact with them as much (I tend to put travel powers up there too.)

 

But.. yeah. That works for me, try it and see if it works for you - you'll just have to fiddle around til something clicks for you.

[kelika2]

too many attacks?  drop some in a respec.  im doing a petless crab with melee abilities and found out that the single shot and suppression slow things down for myself so i dumped them

have hasten and a permahasten build?  might be too much.  IO for ranged defense or something

 

/bind key powexecname "power name" to free up some crap.  i use z c and v for travel powers, tilde for stuff like energize

[Zect]

General blaster loadout, any powerset, any playstyle, any build goals:

 

Always take:

• 3 single target attacks
  • Mids > windows > power graphs > sort by Damage/anim and take the 3 highest.
  • If your primary has a snipe (power that takes snipe sets like Manticore), the snipe will always be one of these 3 because of quick mode.
  • Some sets can justify taking 4 (BR).
• At least 1 aoe attack
  • Pick the best one. If you have a choice, Taoes are favored over cones due to the higher target cap.
• The nuke (9th power)
• Aim and build up, if your sets have them. Take both if both are available.
• The sustain power from the 2ndary
  • This is the power that gives recovery and a regen/hot/absorb, available at level 20 on most sets.
• The dps support power from the 2ndary
  • This power can be a damage aura (/fire, /elec), self-buff (/earth's +acc, /time's +rech) or foe debuff (/sonic's -res, /plant's -regen). /mind uniquely combines this with the sustain power.

Nice to have:

• Melee attacks from the 2ndary. They can increase dps when it is safe to melee by replacing weaker ranged attacks, and they increase the range of IO sets you have access to (set diversity). Some of them are really good (seismic smash).
• Single-target immob from the 2ndary, to stop AV's from running.
• 1 more aoe attack, primary or 2ndary, but usually not more than 3 aoes in total excluding set mules
• Your epic mitigation power, either +def or +res.
• Leadership - all 5 powers are worthwhile in their own way. It's a strong pick on blasters despite weak scalar values, since it mules lotgs and allows you to convert blasters' excess recovery and power choices into dps. Vengeance offers wipe prevention which is something blasters usually don't get.
• Haste - sets whose nuke is crashless (base rech <145s) can consider skipping it. Most of the best attack chains still require haste.
• CJ/hover/fighting - mitigation and lotg mules.

Not recommended:

• Aoe mezzes from the 2ndary - shit mag and duration.
• medicine pool - kill or be killed, you have no time for the tricorder.

You will see effective blaster builds that deviate from this framework, depending on build goals and threat environment (4* optimized builds will not have fighting for example), but in general this build plan will go anywhere and do anything.

Edited Sunday at 09:36 AM by Zect

[Octogoat]

If you want to be blasty with less powers try crabblaster, huntsman, or sentinel. They're more toggly but you still get your blasty fix.

[Maelwys]

I'll generally have my attacks on tray #1, toggles on tray #2 and clicky buffs and summons on tray #3.

Certain characters will end up with more attacks and less toggles, so there can sometimes be a little overlap on tray #2 by level 50+incarnates... but the powers that I actually use most often (attacks and maybe a heal) always live on the first tray and are bound to both my keyboard number row and my dual shock joypad buttons.

Everything else lives on the higher numbered trays, of which I'll usually only have tray 9 open constantly (vertical) with the various fast travel and teleportation buttons on it as well as a few more situational clicky powers (Secondary Mutation, Barrier Destiny, etc).

 

Things like the Ouroboros portal and Mystic Fortune get bound directly to keys (e.g. O and M) and I make good use of my Numpad buttons (typically Numpad0 is a heal, the / * buttons are buffs/patch powers, Call to Justice  and Assault Hybrid are - +, Lore Pet summoning is Numpad9, etc. and Numpad 1-8 are for teammate targeting).

 

I generally play with my left hand on my joypad and my right hand flicks between mouse, keyboard and joypad. It might be a little unusual for MMORPGs, but I've always preferred controlling the movement of any on screen characters with a Joypad - and the mouse is a hold over from the old "circle strafing" FPS days.

Left shoulder buttons handle Jumping and activating my main Travel Power. Left Analogue stick is for movement, with its button typically enabling either flight or superspeed/athletic run. DPad is for targeting and Combat Teleport, although I'll usually have a few of its buttons pulling double duty (eg DPad "Up" eats any inspirations in column #5 and triggers a Self Heal if they're all out, Dpad "down" targets the closest enemy and also activates Hasten).

Right Analogue stick is looking around and interacting. The remaining eight buttons activate my main clicks - usually buttons 1-6 are attacks and the right shoulder buttons end up being Targeted or Positional AoEs.

Mouse is for fine movement and a few extra clicky powers (especially Taunt on melee toons).

Keyboard covers the rest, with the aforementioned Numpad binds seeing by far the most use.