Assault Rifle/Devices - Any good?

[NiX]

I rarely see any blasters sporting AR's and/or Devices. Is there something wrong with them or is it just something people don't pick often?

[Alluvian]

Gadgets are very good.  That I know.  Assault rifle can be abit finicky.  You have to know what moves make you put your gun away and avoid them in fight.  When you use a new gun there is a gun draw animation that will slow you down.

I have not played it myself so I cannot really comment.  Hasten is always good for blasters though (speed pool, you can get at 6 if you want).  Hover is also good though.

[Morfiend]

I rarely see any blasters sporting AR's and/or Devices. Is there something wrong with them or is it just something people don't pick often?

I love it. It might not be the most powerful Blaster, but even with Hasten, I hardly ever have problems with END. I wrote more in the character template thread.

When PVP comes, I think my template will rule.

[kaid]

I would strongly recommend getting hasten at 6. Assult rifle is a pretty good set I was just a bit annoyed at the recharge time on the early powers. Grabbing hasten would make this alot nicer.

The power sets pretty solid it has a nice mix of aoe, single target and specaility use powers. The m30 grenade is sweet big aoe +knockdown. They have also sped up a bunch of the weapon animations so the set is alot faster to use than before and all weapon draw power sets have bonus accuracy.

Some blaster sets are great for mass minion moshing some are great for burning bosses butts and assult is somewhere in the middle with a more rounded mix of aoe and single target stuff.

Kaid

[Morfiend]

I took hasten at 6, and Hover at 8, so hopefully at 12 I can get sniper shot, and 14 Fly, then 16 Super Speed.

I am also excited about the cloaking (for PVP, when it comes).

[eldaec]

This guy says assault rifles are pretty damn cool. (Redcoat: assault/energy blaster on prime)

At least as cool as they can be after two days in beta.

They seem to have good accuracy, and hardly use any end, but I don't think I keep up on damage with the energy and fire guys. /shrug

He's still probably the favourite to become my main (with gravity/radiation controller or claws/dark scrapper close behind).

People I group with keep asking me if I have M60 grenade yet - so if nothing else, I guess there's one attack everyone is going to ooh and ahh at when you use ;)

[Shurijo]

I've been playing AR/Devices for a while (leveled up a couple to 10+, main is lv 17 (unbumped)). I really like them. I think its a good solo and group set of skills.

AR has a bonus of accuracy (compare to other blasters, which are dmg, hold, etc.). I think devs stated that it gets a +5% acc due to animation times.

I've put all dmg enhancers in my primary power slots and use Targeting drone to increase my acc (puts all my acc in one spot that covers all my powers, so I can use DO/SOs dmg in my powers for max damage). Caltrops work incredibly well. I don't have Caltrops with my Lv17, but I took it with my lower chars and its a must have for soloing villian groups. I've been able to solo a mob (10) of lv 8/9 skulls in Perez Park, as a Lv 8, using Caltrops, M30, Burst, Slug. I put Slow enhancers in my Caltrops slots.

There is also the Cloaking device, which provides a Stealth power without movement restrictions. Web nade is also great for holding single targets (I put acc enhancers in there).

Buckshot is the only one of the primary powers that I'm not thrilled about. Its a good power to have for another shot, when others are recharging, but I try not to do knockback when I'm grouped (so the scrappers/tankers don't need to chase). Other shots like Sniper and Slug, do knockdown, so the melee front line doesn't need to chase the target.

Sniper shot. This is the best power that I've used. I have 3 DO dmg (15) and 1 SO (20) dmg and I use Targeting Drone for acc (15). I can nearly single shot an even con mob (some even lv mobs that have weakness to lethal, I can single shot, others leave about 1 shot worth of hp left). This is great for taking a big hit down as a first shot/opening round of shots. I use this on the primary target to weaken it enough for the melee guys to finish (or my M30 to finish).

I plan on taking the Fitness powers (hurdle, HP, End) to cover my weakness (low HP and End drains) and Leadership (Maneuvers, Assualt, Tactics - Def, Dmg, Acc) to provide a little more group powers.

[UnSub]

AW are pretty good (at least up to lvl 16). Sniper Rifle is a must have, but you may find yourself having to choose between single target (Slug, Burst) or aoe (M30 Grenade, Shotgun) attacks. The aoe's are a lot of fun, but draw aggro like nothing else (not good for a Blaster) but the single target attacks can leave you a bit stranded against multiple opponents.

Oh, I was AW / Devices with Fighting and Jumping. I'll be recreating this character in release with only minor changes.

[MrHat]

Shurijo,

I see that you will take fitness on release. How much do they really add?

[Shurijo]

Shurijo,

I see that you will take fitness on release. How much do they really add?

Honestly, I have no idea. I took a few other power pool powers on my main, so I missed out on the Fitness. After talking with some bumped blasters, they enlightened me to work on improving my weakness rather than add another attack/group power. I plan on putting a few (3-4) slots into HP and END recovery (Fitness powers). None of the fitness powers use Endurance, so its not an additional drain like other powers. We (Blasters) need to save our Endurance for combat. So having a faster and greater end recovery seems like the logical choice for me.

I have hurdle on one of my lower (newer) AR/Devices and I like it. Its a lot like Combat Jump (which I have on main). Hurdle doesn't use End and its always on, but it doesn't have a Def bonus. I only took it to open up the HP and END recovery powers.

Of course, I'm giving up traveling powers. I plan on leeching off of group-teleport and teleport-other (group flight, etc.) Supergroup members for transportation. I'm focused on being the guy with the big gun that just worries about blowing stuff up and allow other members to have the travel powers.

[Daydreamer]

Ditto what Shurijo said for my Tanker.  I have too many powers I need to funciton more than one dimensionally (Hammers for solo damage, Flurry, Hasten and the Fitness pool for groupability etc.) to get transport powers until at least my mid twenties.  And it seems they add a versatility to the abilities of Blasters and Defenders to do their jobs that, as a melee player, they don't do for me.

[eldaec]

A lot of people have sung the praises of caltrops here and elsewhere.

I'm Assault/Energy so I don't get them - but I'm not sure why simply taking hover isn't a better solution? Presumably the point of caltrops is to keep people out of melee? In which case, is hover not equally effective but with the benefit of providing other utility and your pre-req for flight?

[Alluvian]

Far more than just keep them out of melee, keep them clustered and prepped for the second and third wave of AOE damage.  I am seriously considering gadgets for my fire blaster and the prime reason is caltrops (and the aiming drone).  Anytime my targets can't get out of a cluster they are sitting ducks.

As an energy blaster you don't have very much aoe so not very useful to you.  But fire blaster is almost exclusively aoe damage.

[UnSub]

Caltrops are dot snares and absolute magic in the right hands. They can act as boss killers (but doing damage as well as keeping them away from you) and keep melee fighters away from ranged heroes, who generally don't live through many close range attacks.

[Shurijo]

Plus its great to solo in indoor missions, because the range/spread of the caltrops is pretty close to the width of a hallway. Using them outside, you have to be careful, because mobs can go around the position of the caltrops. They can't go around them in the indoor missions.

[Righ]

I've done a fair amount with AR blasting, though I'm big on Energy since I like knockdown. Hover has an additional benefit other than staying out of melee and crappy flying - it's a low cost way to get added defense. I often hover at ground level so that I can stay in melee (for my knockback punches) and be a little harder to hit. I reckon Eldaec's chap would be pretty handy with hover. The other reason I'm not big on devices is that you lose Build Up. Build Up/Sniper Shot is an awesome combo to open with on tougher foes.