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Official Description: "The Blaster is an offensive juggernaught. This hero can deal a ton of damage from a distance. But the Blaster must be careful, because he's somewhat fragile compared to other heroes. The Blaster can't stand toe to toe with most opponents at melee for long. His best defense is a great offense!"
Primary: Ranged
Secondary: Support
Hit Points: Low
Damage: High
Icon: Explosion - The Blaster is capable of explosive force, taking out whole crowds with a single blast.
Inherent:
Defiance - Blasters' earliest abiltities come so naturally to them, that they are accessable even in states that normally prevent them from using their powers, such as being Held, Slept or Stunned. Additionally, each time the Blaster attacks with a primary or secondary power, they gain a stacking damage bonus for the next 7.5 seconds. The amount of the damage bonus is dependent on the exact power used, with single target abilities generally giving the largest bonus. Self Special
The Blaster has the following Power Sets to choose from:
The Blaster is probably the archetype that most people think of when they imagine a superhero. And they seem very similar -- they all wield massive power at a distance. In fact, the different Power Sets available are slightly different, and call for different strategies. You could call these strategies different "subarchetypes" determined by the Power Sets that can be selected by the Blaster player. The following link will take you to a page which details the different options that are available for those looking for an idea, or who just want more info about their favorite Blaster type.
Tips for playing the Blaster:
While solo:
DON'T BE AFRAID TO RUN!!! The Blaster is about hit and run, if that seems "unheroic" or "cowardly" to you, just think of it as a strategic retreat. Find a quiet place far enough away that you know the bad guys won't follow, and rest and recuperate.
A Blaster absolutely must stay out of hand to hand range. This means learning to "kite", or fire while moving. You will stop for a few seconds while you make an attack, so make sure you're far enough away that the target won't catch up with you. Running sideways ("strafing") while circling the target can help enourmously.
Another Blaster trick that it is important to learn is "pulling", or using your attacks to draw foes away from their buddies. The secret of pulling is to duck out of sight, so the villain you just shot has to come looking for you. If you just stand there, he will pull out his own ranged weapon and shoot at you, possibly alerting his allies, so if you're used to pulling in other MMORPGs, remember that you have to hide. And don't use your most powerful attacks, if you kill the foe with your first shot, his allies will be immediately alerted. Instead, use a weak attack, just enough to alert the villain, but not do so much damage to him that his friends decide you are a major threat.
The more confined the space you are in, the more danger you are in. Blasters love wide open spaces. If you get caught up in something while trying to avoid an attacker, he'll more than likely make it into hand to hand range.
Be VERY cautious when using melee attacks. Especially at high levels, closing with an opponent to use a melee attack can be suicidal. Instead, use melee as a DEFENSE. If someone gets too close, pound on him and then get away. Remember, you may have envisioned your character as a trained commando with martial arts skills, but a Tanker will still splatter you with one punch.
Don't be fooled by the Secondary Set name "Support". Those powers are not mean to support a team, they are meant to support your Primary. The purpose of the Blaster's Secondary powers are to complement his ranged attacks and get him out of trouble when things get dangerous. Don't expect your roots or slows to be useful for crowd control. They are DEFENSIVE abilities, use them that way, to stop foes that get too close.
It's easy to overestimate the power of a new attack at high level, and get killed testing it out. Remember that you have to put an Enhancement or two on a power, once you get to level 15 or more, before it can really compete with your existing attacks.
Area of effect attacks are nice for doing lots of damage to a group of targets, but you've also called all those targets down on you. Area of effect attacks should be used to END a battle, not start one. Wait until you have the group down to a manageable level, then drop the explosions on them.
Remember, each opponent in a group is one more attack aimed at you. Don't split up your fire, concentrate on one target at a time. If you can eliminate one or two in a group quickly, even if that gives their friends a chance to get close to you, that's one or two less attacks that the group has to use on you. If possible, use Sniper attacks to eliminate a target before the others even know what hit them. (But be careful not to use Sniper attacks if the group is too large, see the advice above on pulling)
Definance has become a nice power, particularly while you are solo and cannot rely on teammates to keep from being chain stunned. Your ability to use the powers you chose at level 1, plus the second Primary attack if you selected it, gives you a good chance to finish off a mezzer that just won't let you go. On the other hand, if you haven't finished off his friends yet, they will likely finish you off instead. The damage portion of Defiance is nice, but as with the old version, it is best to just ignore it, and consider it a nice bonus.
While on a team:
In a group, it is important to remember that your ranged attacks draw a lot of attention, and so you need to use them wisely. If you start firing before the Tanker has a chance to run in and aggro the enemies, they will fire at you. So give the Tanker and other melee fighters time to establish a good hand to hand battle, and then begin dropping AoE attacks on them. You should try and clear out the minions first, so they don't distract the meleers and put them at risk.
Another reason you should attack the minions first is that Bosses and Lieutenants will tell their cronies to attack you if they see you shooting at them. In game terms, attacking the Boss draws "aggro" from his Minions, as well as the Boss. So shooting at the Boss makes it harder for the Tanker to keep aggro. Start hitting the Boss too hard, and they will all ignore the Tanker and charge at you.
If there is no Tanker on your team, look for opportunities to pull and split up your targets. Use your more powerful attacks to draw groups of foes into an ambush by your team. Again, the secret of pulling is to duck out of sight, so the villains have to come to you. If you have a Defender on your team that can boost your defenses, you can almost melee as well as a Scrapper, but be careful not to let yourself be overwhelmed. Rely on your solo tactics, stay at range and try and pick off one target at a time.
If you are in a small group, or have to rely on a Scrapper to do the tanking, keep a close eye on your ally and use your attacks to try and keep his foes from attacking him for too long. Don't draw aggro from other bad guys watching the fight, concentrate on taking out the enemies he has chosen to attack as quickly as possible. It may help to target your ally so you can "assist" him by attacking the target that he has targeted, instead of picking one of your own. Use your secondary abilities if you can, to stun or disorient targets if you have that capability. And be on the alert for if your ally has to retreat because he has taken too much damage. The foes he was fighting may turn on you, and you may have to hold or stun them, or try and keep them distracted, until he can recover.
It can help to understand the mechanisms of how some melee fighters' defenses work. For instance, if you are a Blaster that has the ability to do knockback, you may think that knocking villains away from your ally will help him. Lots of Tanker Defenses get stronger the more foes he has in melee with him, however, and so knocking foes away may make him MORE likely to be hit. You can also knock a foe out of the Tanker's taunt range, which will cause him to come at you. In such a case, you would want to circle around your target to knock him INTO the Tanker, or hit him with an Immobilize power first so when you hit him with a knockback, he will be held in place. And be especially wary of area of effect knockback powers that hit multiple foes.
You should also understand a bit about how Defenders use their powers. Many Defender powers, such as Dispersion Bubble or Healing Aura, require you to stick close to the Defender. Others have to be cast off of an ENEMY, so you have to be close to that foe to get the effect. In come cases, a Defender may not be able to heal you, because you are out of melee range with a foe. So don't rely on heals unless you know the Defender has that capability. Instead, try and learn what capabilities he does have. You are usually safer near a Defender than running off on your own, so don't panic. If you get in trouble, just try to keep moving until an ally can draw the attacker off of you.
Again, Defiance is somewhat better on a team, as if you get stunned you generally have something to do until your allies can free you. Still, it is not as helpful as it is solo.
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