Defiance for Blasters

de-fi-ance (dĭ-fíəns) - n. 1. The act or an example of defying; bold resistance to an opposing force or authority. 2. Intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude; readiness to contend or resist. 3. A new auto-power given to all City of Heroes Blasters in Issue 5.

Defiance emulates the comic-book feel of “when all the chips are down, you dig down deep and find a hidden reserve of power, enabling you to triumph over adversity.” With the release of Issue 5: Forest of Dread, Blasters will have this hidden reserve as an auto-power that kicks in when their health drops into the danger zone. This will be most advantageous to heroes of the Archetype, who Cryptic developers found were most often defeated when they had almost eliminated all of their foes.

So how will it work? When a Blaster’s health drops below 40%, they will begin to see an increase in their damage output. A small increase at first, but the lower their health gets, the bigger the increase will become. This will significantly help Blasters who constantly find themselves on the losing end of battles against superior numbers. Now, the increase in damage output will level the playing field and give them the edge they have been wanting for quite some time.

Of course, in order to get this edge, damage must be taken. This means that a player risks accumulating debt in order to get their damage buff. The reward is worth it though, since the chart below demonstrates just how much of a bonus to base damage a player will see when their health is low:

=>50% Health: +18% damage buff
< 40% Health: +35% damage buff
< 30% Health:   +70% damage buff
< 20% Health:   +140% damage buff
< 10% Health:   +280% damage buff
<  5% Health:    +400% (this is the damage cap for Blasters as of Issue 5)

As you can see above, the lower a Blaster’s Health gets, the more defiant he becomes. He shows true “bold resistance to an opposing force” by putting a world of hurt on his enemies. Low Health Blasters definitely have a “readiness to contend” as they are able to take on more powerful foes.

The gameplay for this is both simple and complex. A solo Blaster will find that by keeping his health in the Defiance range, he will become more powerful and defeat foes more quickly, but he must manage his aggro very well. Getting multiple attackers on him can spell certain doom for a Defying Blaster. A good solo Blaster will carry lots of small Health inspirations for emergency situations where it looks like he is about to be defeated. These will increase Health enough so that he won’t get defeated, but not so much that he won’t have to “work” at getting back into Defiance range.

A grouped Blaster can use Defiance even more effectively. If you have a healing Defender in your group, you should ask him/her not to heal you unless you are in imminent danger of being defeated. Stay out of range of the Area Heals once you are in Defiance range to ensure your damage buff stays around. Once you are in Defiance range, you should use defensive Inspirations (or defense buffs from other players) to manage your Health loss to a reasonable rate.

You should also work with your Tanker to coordinate aggro. You may wish to enter a battle first to take a load of damage, then have a Tanker come in and taunt (or punch-voke) enemies off of you once you are in Defiance range. These tactics make battles a tad more complicated, but some groups will find that the added damage of the Blaster’s Defiance to be worth the effort.

Defiance for Blasters

Contents

Defiance for Blasters