Assault Rilfe / Tactical Arrow / Force Mastery - Want feedback after a lot of itterations

[SenTheFortress]

I'll link my original post about this combination in case you want the full background/previous variants: 

 

The important bit is the last comment I made: 

•  

"After lots of experimentation, I came up with this build.

 

Dropping a few attacks and switched to Force Mastery (this has a much better res power and two convenient mules within the pool and still works for flavor as these can be tech related).

 

Adding another toggle means more END consumption, so I tried to ease Temp Invul in by slotting for a little more END. If it's still end hungry I have the option to drop a proc or two from Flamethrower or Glue Arrow to pick up some END set bonuses or further reduce Temp Invul's end drain. 

 

Might be too end hungry with EM and TI active, but we'll see with testing. 

 

Just wanted to post this here if anyone looks back at this post in the future. "

 

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Just wanted some feedback about this build I reconstructed. It's based on Icesphere's AR/TA/AM from the google drive (posted here). 

 

It's been converted to use Flight over Leaping and taking Force Mastery over Arsenal Mastery. This lets me pick up convenient mules like PFF and FoN. I think it trades a tiny bit of damage output and slightly more END drain, in exchange for better buffers to survive rough situations. Just wanted to see if what I've done is viable, or if someone can point out some improvements to make.  Thanks! 

 

 

ICESPHERE's Blaster (Assault Rifle - Tactical Arrow - Arsenal Mastery)(1).mbd

Scouty - Blaster - AR - TA - FM.mbd

Edited July 26 by SenTheFortress
Small change in Scouty build

[atletikus]

Cooked up the following based on your Icesphere alt for generally better powers while also gaining global recharge and defences. More endurance hungry though, so not sure how that will play out lacking truly high level experience.

Some thoughts:

 

Glue Arrow: Found the proc rate underwhelming personally when I tested it a few years ago (caveat possible recent changes), Blasters generally kill or die too fast to get good use of it . You might want to consider Ice Arrow as a proc "boss killer", the AoE damage potential in Assault Rifle/Tactical Arrows is outstanding.

 

Upshot: You'll want this up as often as possible and available early too.

Flash Arrow: Meh power. Discarded and added its -ToHit benefit in ESD Arrow for a "2-for-1". 

 

Flamethrower: The exclusion is questionable. Great AoE.

 

Flight instead of Jumping: With Evasive Maneuvers, you're fast, agile and can position supremely well - great for any ranged Blaster.

 

Leadership instead of Concealment: More power variety instead of unabashed LotG mule powers.

 

Weave vs Maneuvers: 6-slotting either will give slightly better defenses or endurance drain.

 

Arsenal Mastery: Kept it since it probably fits thematically and is "cheap" slots/endurance-wise. Properly slotted Surveillance will help with hard targets.

 

ICESPHERE's Blaster (Assault Rifle - Tactical Arrow - Arsenal Mastery)_v2.mbd

Edited Sunday at 07:29 AM by atletikus

[SenTheFortress]

On 7/27/2025 at 1:29 AM, atletikus said:

Cooked up the following based on your Icesphere alt for generally better powers while also gaining global recharge and defences. More endurance hungry though, so not sure how that will play out lacking truly high level experience.

Some thoughts:

 

Glue Arrow: Found the proc rate underwhelming personally when I tested it a few years ago (caveat possible recent changes), Blasters generally kill or die too fast to get good use of it . You might want to consider Ice Arrow as a proc "boss killer", the AoE damage potential in Assault Rifle/Tactical Arrows is outstanding.

 

Upshot: You'll want this up as often as possible and available early too.

Flash Arrow: Meh power. Discarded and added its -ToHit benefit in ESD Arrow for a "2-for-1". 

 

Flamethrower: The exclusion is questionable. Great AoE.

 

Flight instead of Jumping: With Evasive Maneuvers, you're fast, agile and can position supremely well - great for any ranged Blaster.

 

Leadership instead of Concealment: More power variety instead of unabashed LotG mule powers.

 

Weave vs Maneuvers: 6-slotting either will give slightly better defenses or endurance drain.

 

Arsenal Mastery: Kept it since it probably fits thematically and is "cheap" slots/endurance-wise. Properly slotted Surveillance will help with hard targets.

 

ICESPHERE's Blaster (Assault Rifle - Tactical Arrow - Arsenal Mastery)_v2.mbd 45.92 kB · 5 downloads

 

 

Cool build, I do have some questions to ask regarding it. 

 

You said excluding flamethrower is questionable, but I use it it in my build. You don't use it in yours, did you mean Ignite instead? Part of the big discussion on my previous post was Flamethrower is really good and should be used.

 

You say Glue arrow is "meh" but you still include it in your build. Was it intended to have Ice Arrow slot here? I might be inexperienced compared to most, but Glue Arrow has been the absolute best attack in my arsenal, Less kitting, keeps them clumped up for AoE effects for my self and my team. Especially when exemplaring down (which I do very frequently). 

 

Do you think Force Mastery is not worth using? Temp invul is much better than Body Armor if you have end to spare. Personal Forcefield seems like a good "oh shit button", I've heard some of the squisher archetypes like having something like this at times. Is the extra bump for your Team using Leadership and Surveillance worth losing some personal survivability? Or do you think it is more a preference thing? The END drain is pretty similar, so I'm not concerned with that. 

 

Thanks for taking the time, I might try this one out of the test server at some point. 

 

 

 

[atletikus]

As I already mention, I used your attached Icesphere build as the basis for my tinkering, so the power choices apart from Flash Arrow (which is meh) are yours. I would have built it somewhat differently with free hands 🙂

 

Glue Arrow is a good enough power, I just question its use as a damage dealing proc power for a Blaster. I certainly was underwhelmed. I see it more as light control that shines when used in conjunction with Oil Slick Arrow.

 

Quote

Do you think Force Mastery is not worth using? Temp invul is much better than Body Armor if you have end to spare. Personal Forcefield seems like a good "oh shit button", I've heard some of the squisher archetypes like having something like this at times. Is the extra bump for your Team using Leadership and Surveillance worth losing some personal survivability? Or do you think it is more a preference thing? The END drain is pretty similar, so I'm not concerned with that. 

 

I think it's slept upon with Fire and Mace Mastery being very much meta sets, with Arsenal being a bit of a RP-set. Body Armor is buffed to provide resistance towards several other damage types, which makes it a decent choice IMO. I think of Personal Forcefield as more of a LotG mule. Ethereal Shift which can be bought for cheap from the START vendor pretty much fills the role of a purely defensive "oh crap button". Force of Nature is great for those harder combats though.

I tend to prioritize personal survivability when building my Blasters, often aiming for soft-capped ranged defenses. While this sacrifices raw damage potential, staying alive and able to consistently deal damage outweighs the benefit of a glass cannon that frequently faceplant as far as I'm concerned.

Wanted to add a couple of my builds to give you an idea, but that functionality is presently bugged and not working for me.

 

Edited 14 hours ago by atletikus

[Nemu]

There’s only one accepted way to build ar/ta. It’s been scientifically proven.

 

 

[SenTheFortress]

9 hours ago, atletikus said:

As I already mention, I used your attached Icesphere build as the basis for my tinkering, so the power choices apart from Flash Arrow (which is meh) are yours. I would have built it somewhat differently with free hands 🙂

 

Glue Arrow is a good enough power, I just question its use as a damage dealing proc power for a Blaster. I certainly was underwhelmed. I see it more as light control that shines when used in conjunction with Oil Slick Arrow.

 

 

I think it's slept upon with Fire and Mace Mastery being very much meta sets, with Arsenal being a bit of a RP-set. Body Armor is buffed to provide resistance towards several other damage types, which makes it a decent choice IMO. I think of Personal Forcefield as more of a LotG mule. Ethereal Shift which can be bought for cheap from the START vendor pretty much fills the role of a purely defensive "oh crap button". Force of Nature is great for those harder combats though.

I tend to prioritize personal survivability when building my Blasters, often aiming for soft-capped ranged defenses. While this sacrifices raw damage potential, staying alive and able to consistently deal damage outweighs the benefit of a glass cannon that frequently faceplant as far as I'm concerned.

Wanted to add a couple of my builds to give you an idea, but that functionality is presently bugged and not working for me.

 

 

> As I already mention, I used your attached Icesphere build as the basis for my tinkering, so the power choices apart from Flash Arrow (which is meh) are yours.

 

This doesn't make sense, they are Icesphere's choices, not mine. You could have ran as wild as you wanted with it. Throw it away and do something completely different if you want! If you think there is a more viable way to build it, I'm 100% open to it.  My "choices" are just copying other people. I don't know how to build characters with nuance yet (been playing for 3 months).

 

In regards to Arsenal Mastery... Oh, you know what MIDS says Body Armor only gives S/L res, I was undervaluing it for sure over Temp Invul. They have pros and cons, TI isn't just "better" in almost every way. Thanks for pointing that out, I probably never would have noticed. 

 

I'll consider Ethereal shift, thanks for mentioning. 

 

Right on, I try to plan around having at least 32.5% to hit the softcap w/ a small purple when you need it. 

 

I think i'll reconsider using Arsenal Mastery since it's better for flavor. 

 

That "Rambo" build is cool, but I want to fly. Maybe I can borrow ideas from it at least. Thanks for all your help. 

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by SenTheFortress
added some context

[Nemu]

2 hours ago, SenTheFortress said:

That "Rambo" build is cool, but I want to fly. Maybe I can borrow ideas from it at least. Thanks for all your help. 

Do you NEED fly as an actual power pick or can you just buy the temp jet pack powers to fly?

[SenTheFortress]

20 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Do you NEED fly as an actual power pick or can you just buy the temp jet pack powers to fly?

 

It depends, this build does want some mules for LotG, hover and evasive maneuvers from the flight pool help provide this. If you exclude fly, you lose EM, so then you need 2 more powers to slot LotG and idk if the alternatives are all that great. You get 1 extra power, but when I look at a lot of these blaster builds you're working with/only accounting for 1 or 2 slots the Fly power was using. You basically have to start from scratch to account for this (not great for a nooby like me), or pick something that can be useful with 1 slot. 

 

Also tldr: I wanna GO FAST and needed to justify it in some way (mostly incompetence).