Are Blappers Still a Thing?

[BlazinBrazen]

So I just happened to be on YouTube and did a double take when I saw COH 2109.  I AM SO GLAD TO BE BACK! Anyhoo, I saw Sentinels but I haven't yet understood how they work, which brings me back to the old days of Blappers. Are Blappers still a thing? I used to have a 50 Fire Blast/Energy Blapper...was looking to roll something different, yet effective. Any suggestions?

[HelenCarnate]

Blappers are a thing but they tend to eat the floor until they can get some defense with IO sets. Atomic is a good secondary for being in melee range as it gets a recharge bonus that increases with more mobs in melee range. Also a pbaoe hold and some decent albeit slow melee aoe and single target attacks. 

[BlazinBrazen]

I will take a look at it...sounds interesting.

[Eva Destruction]

Blappers are absolutely a thing, and with the new Sustain abilities, plus the availability of ATOs and Winter IOs, and Incarnate abilities, they are a thing that doesn't have to live in constant fear of faceplanting.  They're the new Scrappers, but with nukes.

[Crysis]

I was a Fire/Energy blaster on Live and learned to love the blapper style of play.  It was better when kiting was a thing but you can still do that to some extent now.  SS in and Total Focus the Boss and be out of range as animation finished was so fun.

 

Take a hard look at /Martial Combat.  I blipped at least a couple times per spawn.  Perfect follow up to your quick charge crashless nukes.  

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

You do understand blapping was a derogatory term applied to pretty much all blasters that didnt cower behind others right?  Most blaster sets have some pbaoe or close ranged attacks. Even with the new change to snipe hanging back and spamming it really isnt going to let a blaster do their optimal work.

 

The respectable term is a blanker. as in point blanker. A blaster that between the best form of defense which is killing everything, and the right mix of tricks is near impossible to kill is not a blapper they are a blanker.

 

My preferred 2ndary for such is mental. Just too much good stuff in it for a close quarters mass killer. Many people underestimate its various soft CC effects as a way to reduce incoming aggro. However ninja and martial 2ndary are pretty viable and survivable and Time is likely the only real rival to Mental next to tactical arrow which is atm SO GOOD as to be the definition of too OP.

 

However for a recent returnee looking for something new and nearly unstoppable a archery/T arrow toon pretty much is ungimpable.

[Hyperstrike]

Essentially any Blast-type toon who can accumulate enough mitigation (be it Defense or Resistance) is a Blapper.
Pretty much any super-high-end build is essentially a Blapper.

[Mercurias]

I love my Dual Pistols/Martial Blaster for getting up in the faces of enemies. It's got a good amount of sustain, solid damage, and a whole lot of really ridiculously fun animations. It probably isn't the top tier on the pure numbers meter, but it's among the most fun characters I've ever played. 

[Chuckers]

On 8/22/2019 at 12:06 PM, HelenCarnate said:

Blappers are a thing but they tend to eat the floor until they can get some defense with IO sets. Atomic is a good secondary for being in melee range as it gets a recharge bonus that increases with more mobs in melee range. Also a pbaoe hold and some decent albeit slow melee aoe and single target attacks. 

I was going to mention Atomic. I have a water/atomic blaster and there are times I do feel a bit blapperish.. I don't play that way, but with the holds and close up powers, I feel a little more survivable at close range. 

[Heraclea]

I would say that my electric/electric blaster is a blapper.  She's also a blast-fender; her best move is to stealth in and unload all her PBAoEs and drain the mobs' endurance. 

[Cidri]

I love to have some blapper attacks on my blaster, but use them selectively. After unloading the AoE, blapping might get the boss down faster. Or if some mob manages to get close to me, its nice to have a quick and powerful put down.

 

Generally, I take only 1 or 2 blapper attacks, with high damage and short animation times. Not all blaster secondaries even have blapper attacks, looking at you Ninjutsu (better to just blast) and Devices (tough Devices will get one in taser soon).

[BlazinBrazen]

On 8/22/2019 at 7:41 PM, Eva Destruction said:

Blappers are absolutely a thing, and with the new Sustain abilities, plus the availability of ATOs and Winter IOs, and Incarnate abilities, they are a thing that doesn't have to live in constant fear of faceplanting.  They're the new Scrappers, but with nukes.

I have so much to reread and catch up on. ATO's, Winter IO's and Incarnate abilities....I may reroll my fire energy blaster...🤔

[WumpusRat]

On 8/23/2019 at 7:03 AM, Bentley Berkeley said:

You do understand blapping was a derogatory term applied to pretty much all blasters that didnt cower behind others right?  Most blaster sets have some pbaoe or close ranged attacks. Even with the new change to snipe hanging back and spamming it really isnt going to let a blaster do their optimal work.

 

The respectable term is a blanker. as in point blanker. A blaster that between the best form of defense which is killing everything, and the right mix of tricks is near impossible to kill is not a blapper they are a blanker.

 

I called them blappers because they were blaster-scrappers. Blapper. I thought that's what the term meant.

[MunkiLord]

2 hours ago, WumpusRat said:

I called them blappers because they were blaster-scrappers. Blapper. I thought that's what the term meant.

That is what the term means.

[Call Me Awesome]

On 8/24/2019 at 5:08 PM, BlazinBrazen said:

I have so much to reread and catch up on. ATO's, Winter IO's and Incarnate abilities....I may reroll my fire energy blaster...🤔

It's a great combination, mine is sitting at ~40% ranged defense and somewhere in the 20% range for other positions.  Perma-boost range helps Breath of Fire a bunch and you can stay back out of range if you like, or you can fly overhead and rain hell on the mobs without fear of retaliation.  Of course I didn't build for blapping, with the sniper changes I may rethink it and drop the Leadership toggles for some melee attacks.  Right now I have Bone Smasher and Power Thrust for when the party gets too close and did not grab Total Focus.  Fly in, Nuke, Bone Smasher/Power Thrust a boss, fly out and unload on anything left from overhead.

[DocRadio]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 7:03 AM, Bentley Berkeley said:

You do understand blapping was a derogatory term applied to pretty much all blasters that didnt cower behind others right?  Most blaster sets have some pbaoe or close ranged attacks. Even with the new change to snipe hanging back and spamming it really isnt going to let a blaster do their optimal work.

 

The respectable term is a blanker. as in point blanker. A blaster that between the best form of defense which is killing everything, and the right mix of tricks is near impossible to kill is not a blapper they are a blanker.

 

My preferred 2ndary for such is mental. Just too much good stuff in it for a close quarters mass killer. Many people underestimate its various soft CC effects as a way to reduce incoming aggro. However ninja and martial 2ndary are pretty viable and survivable and Time is likely the only real rival to Mental next to tactical arrow which is atm SO GOOD as to be the definition of too OP.

 

However for a recent returnee looking for something new and nearly unstoppable a archery/T arrow toon pretty much is ungimpable.

I've never seen that term used in a derogatory manner. To me It just meant blasters who would enter melee range for extra damage from time to time. Me I personally liked the term "BlapTroller". A blaster who would use holds on the enemy then close in for a round of devastating melee attacks. My Triple Elec blaster excelled at that. Especially since you got 3 holds and 3 heavy hitting melee attacks, in addition to endurance drain. I could neuter bosses with that build, long before IO set bonuses became a thing.

[HelenCarnate]

Or how about Rad/Plant/Fire?  Up to 2 single target and 2 AoE holds, 2 debuffs that cover def, regen, to hit, resist and damage, and extra control w/ KB to KD in Bonfire, plenty of melee range attacks as well as ranged.  Blapolluptor?

[Keilis]

I pretty much only heard "blapper" used as a derogatory term back in the *early* days, like right after ED happened.  By Issue 6 or so, blapwhatever was just the term for being in melee as a Blaster, and on those rare times when I heard it used with some resentment, it was from players who disliked the idea of Blasters in melee on sheer principle.

 

These days, blasting from range is stronger than it's been since ED.  T1 and T2 blasts are usable while mezzed, so they're much more valuable than before.  People are more sensitive to damage per animation second, as opposed to damage per activation, so powers like Total Focus and Thunder Strike aren't quite the darlings they once were.  With IOs and serious theorycrafting came a focus on solo survivability (Blasters generally favor Ranged Def for this), so high-risk playstyles like blapping are further disfavored, and then there's Incarnate content, where it's even riskier.  Even just this week, the snipe changes have further strengthened our ranged toolkits.  That said, while my AR/EM's AR ST performance feels way better now, I'm still gonna Bonesmasher any fool who gets in my face.

 

So, I feel like the good blaps are still good powers, and things like Elec/ and /Fire are still going to play in the melee scrum, but there's a lot of value these days in fighting at range, too.

[Murcielago]

[Eva Destruction]

On 8/29/2019 at 9:49 PM, Keilis said:

These days, blasting from range is stronger than it's been since ED.  T1 and T2 blasts are usable while mezzed, so they're much more valuable than before.  People are more sensitive to damage per animation second, as opposed to damage per activation, so powers like Total Focus and Thunder Strike aren't quite the darlings they once were.  With IOs and serious theorycrafting came a focus on solo survivability (Blasters generally favor Ranged Def for this), so high-risk playstyles like blapping are further disfavored, and then there's Incarnate content, where it's even riskier.  Even just this week, the snipe changes have further strengthened our ranged toolkits.  That said, while my AR/EM's AR ST performance feels way better now, I'm still gonna Bonesmasher any fool who gets in my face.

 

So, I feel like the good blaps are still good powers, and things like Elec/ and /Fire are still going to play in the melee scrum, but there's a lot of value these days in fighting at range, too.

For a lot of builds, going for S/L/E defense is easier than ranged/AoE, because Scorpion Shield gets you a good chunk of the way there.  At which point it doesn't matter if you're in melee or at range.

 

You picked a primary with a lot of cones and a secondary that can boost the size of those cones, so the ranged playstyle is better suited to your character.  I don't think anyone is disparaging Blasters who prefer to stay at range.  I love my Blapper, but I just rolled an Archery/Dev with zero melee attacks.  There's more than one way to skin a cat, or to annihilate a bunch of time-travelling alien Nazis in our case.

[Keilis]

I suppose my post could use more-explicit context.  Mostly I wanted to contradict Bentley Berkeley, but I was also summing up, in response to the original post, my take on how things have changed since blapping was the hot new thing.  As a very broad summary, it left things out, since as going for typed Defense instead of positional.  It is, of course, totes valid.  My post was intended as "here's the deal with blapping", not "here's the one true way to play a Blaster, which I've arrived at with one Blaster built one way".

 

I mentioned just one of my Blasters, my AR/EM, as an example of ranged vs. melee attacks, not Ranged Defense.  I chose him because when I think "Blapper", Bonesmasher is the first thing that comes to mind, and following the snipe changes, I recently reflected on how I don't lean on Bonesmasher nearly as much as I did ten years ago.  For this particular character, I didn't build for solo survivability.  My current-but-not-final planned build doesn't go for significant Defense at all, ending up with 10-20%, but if I were to build for Defense, I think I might go for S/L over Ranged due to not wanting to slot full Thunderstrikes in my attacks.  Anyway, options for annihilating Nazis do indeed abound, and I hope this thread helps illustrate the wealth of options available to BlazinBrazen, whether they recreate their Fire/Energy or go with something else.

[DocRadio]

I haven't really leveled blasters up in this new environment. My highest blaster is a RAD/Atomic blaster at level 28. I'm not sure if I'm going to build her for survivability or not. Given the recharge bonus in her secondary I'm leaning towards going heavy recharge bonus and relying on her holds and crowd control abilities to keep me upright. I'm not really worried that I'll be gimped through most of the main game because like I said before, control heavy blasters with high damage work. I do worry about the post 50 game though. Specifically incarnate content.

 

I'm also leveling a beam/dev blaster. I'll probably go for ranged defense on her because she has zero blappage and relies on staying at range via caltrops as is. Might as well just add to my ability to abuse that mechanic.

Edited September 3, 2019 by DocRadio

[FUBARczar]

On 8/23/2019 at 5:03 PM, Bentley Berkeley said:

You do understand blapping was a derogatory term applied to pretty much all blasters that didnt cower behind others right? 

@Bentley Berkeley uh, no...Blapping is a Blaster in Scrapper range (ie melee).  BLAster + scraPPER = BLAPPER

 

Quote

Essentially any Blast-type toon who can accumulate enough mitigation (be it Defense or Resistance) is a Blapper.
Pretty much any super-high-end build is essentially a Blapper.

@Hyperstrike - that's inaccurate see above.  if a blaster is not hanging out in melee range more often than not, then it is not a blapper.

 

*edit

Quote

I pretty much only heard "blapper" used as a derogatory term back in the *early* days, like right after ED happened. 

@Keilis that's interesting, that people inferred the term blapper to be negative, rather than merely descriptive.  I always found "blapper" to be a neutral term, separate from one's opinion of it.

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by FUBARczar

[Frostweaver]

I agree, I don't think it was ever inferred negatively. It was like Tankermind, or blastroller.... simply referring to a build/playstyle which was, while often more dangerous, just as often very effective.

Now, terms like 'blastermind', and 'scraptroller' were very clearly derogatory, because they referred to playstyles which basically sacrificed playability for theme.

Some pre-oi builds, such as energy/energy, were simply vastly more effective when played in melee range or hovering slightly above it. nrg/nrg was often considered a blapper by default. Playing it as a pure ranged blaster was considered to be detrimental to a team. (It might still be?)

Edited September 10, 2019 by Frostweaver

[Eva Destruction]

Probably less so now since the big attack has had its range increased from the pre-IO days, and insta-snipe is a thing, so you can actually kill things at range instead of just scattering them everywhere,.  The nuke is still a PBAoE though, and now that you can use it whenever it's up it's still not optimal to play entirely at range.