GhostDawg

Yes, compatible with both launchers. I'm running 11 now. It's fine.

Cool thing about elude... the speed boost. You see that icon flash, you run like hell. Nothing will catch you before it drops. The End boost is nice too. And I normally pop unleash potential right before it drops anyways. I can keep fighting if I have blues, or if the destiny power that refills endurance is up.

Sell you on it? Not even going to try. That being said... I use them. It depends on the powerset and any tools it might have to mitigate the crash. Also, depends on what incarnates you take. Take Electric Armor's tier 9. Jacks your END and lowers your health. But it has an EMP effect that stuns mobs when it drops. And Electric Armor can re-fill your END, and has a single power that will reduce your endurance costs while healing you. Top that off with say barrier to shield you while you recover, and the only hard part is re-toggling your powers. Hell I even use unstoppable in a pinch. Like engaging with mobs that can drop your toggles via endurance drain. Unstoppable gives you added endurance and resistance that doesn't require toggles. And once again I pair it with barrier right before it drops if I'm in a bad situation. Honestly I used those powers even back in the day before Incarnates because the blaster in me like's skirting the edge. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment. And of course, you don't actually NEED any of the tier 9's. You can skip them and be fine if you build right. Most people do. But barrier just makes them too damned attractive for me to bypass.

Switching to sentinel didn't solve your problem. You still abandoned your blaster at level 46. A few more levels and you could have had perma-clarion. A respec could have given you Rune of Protection. Knowing your enemy and leveraging lucks when needed is often a better solution than break frees because they cut incoming damage. I love sentinels for the same reasons you do, but I didn't give up on blasters. In fact I probably have more blasters than any other archetype in my roster. 2 in the veteran levels. One relies on clarion, and the other has so much ranged defense that I rarely worry about mez protection. And she's /Martial, and that set has a built in break free. Mez is annoying in the early game, but as your build matures it's just not that big a deal. Still having issues with it at level 46? That's kind of a you thing.

I tried to love tankers for the longest time, but never could find a build that held my interest for long. Don't get me wrong SS was always my favorite melee set, but I used it on brutes. Then along comes Elec/Elec/Mu. Decent AoE potential, a solid taunt aura, resistance to drain effects and good PSI protection too. The build let me experience and come to love high level tankers, and I'm starting to experiment with other builds again. So yeah, I highly recommend */elec because it just doesn't have the holes or negatives of other sets. It can laugh off sappers, master illusionists, and the awakened. Plus it has built in +recharge, and endurance management tools. elec/* is an interesting set. I like SS and EM more but lightning rod is fun and hits like a mini-nuke. My only real complaint with it is that it feels gimpy until the 40's range. After that it's kind of a monster. I think I'll do something weird next. Pair SS with Elec. Could be interesting. I'll likely miss the AoE, but I do love rage.

The more I use martial the more I love it. It really does pair well with just about any primary. So far I've used it with both Ice and DP to great effect.

Martial. Good synergy and the animations just look great together.

It would be one that I haven't built yet. Fire/Atomic.

That's a loaded question. I'm a long time blaster. I could likely make any build work. For me blasting is more about mentality than powerset. Basically dispense with the idea of being a ranged combatant. That's for Sentinels. Think of blasters as rat bastards. Saboteurs capable of doing massive damage as long as they can get in and out of combat upright. It's a game of figuring the odds, knowing when to retreat, and knowing when you can survive ridiculous odds. You can't afford to make many mistakes, so situational awareness is a must. You have to know your opponents, use the environment and their AI against them. Know your own strengths, and don't be afraid to get close if it nets you an opportunity to do massive damage. Stealth is your friend. All my blasters use at least some stealth, and with some I aim for complete invisibility. It let's you survey the battlefield before engagement. All that being said, my first blaster on live was FIRE/FIRE. And that for a noob was a huge mistake. I didn't know the game well, didn't understand blasters, and suffered mightily because that build has very little in the way of mitigation. Not a big deal for a pro... but to a noob? The face plants were numerous. The good news is YOU don't have that limitation. You've been playing the game so you're not going in blind. Being a squishy is going to be a bit of a shock to you, but you'll likely adapt. I'm going to suggest ICE/Energy Manip. And while there are better builds out there this combo gives you the ability to lock down enemies and then take them apart with high damaging melee attacks. Given your melee focused background I think you'll like the synergy. Good luck.

Overall a good set. Neutrino Bolt: Fast activation and recharge. Never liked it. Its damage is meh. X-Ray Beam: Functionally and aesthetically pleasing. Irradiate: Solid PBAOE with good damage that can tank the defenses of targets. Electron Haze: Not a fan. Its slow animation and questionable damage never did it for me. But now that you can change KB to KD it's likely worth it. Aim: Is aim baby. Proton Volley: Might just be my favorite snipe. Cosmic Burst: Who doesn't love a high damaging stun? Neutron Bomb: Hate it. Slow, with sucky damage. That being said I tend to take it to supplement my AoE potential. Though I may switch this to electron haze at some point. Atomic Blast: Great nuke. As an added bonus to its ludicrous AoE damage you get a mass hold. I have a vet level Rad/Atomic blaster and there are some nice synergies with that combo. Is Radiation Blast the best? Nah, but it's far from the worst. The damage is pure energy which bypasses a lot of in-game mob resistance. It doesn't have an annoying amount of KB and it has AIM a good snipe, and a sprinkling of control .

Never mind. I didn't know you could utilize light form when using squid or crab. Is that a recent change? A squid with heavy resists and status protection could be sizzzzzzick.

Is there any point to maintaining the other forms?

LOL. As a matter of fact the AT clicks with me fine after they blunted that arbitrary limitation. Good thing someone with the ability to make changes saw how stupid it was in the first place.

The payoff wasn't worth the challenge.

Just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean I don't get it. Having a moderately powered AT balanced with a LOL you lose mechanic hurt it overall.