Wintervoid

I have an old Beast/Kin, and it was a buzzsaw once you get FS. Kin is light on survivability, but the damage is legit. I paired with Beast so I could cap Damage AND defense on my pets, but I have always been curious how Kin would be on other sets.

I have this combo, and it is quite fun. I agree with oedipus_tex that DP is not used/needed for the drain. I also agree that it is somewhat low damage. But with Shockwave, it does okay w/ AoE. The combo is very tanky though. Throw down sleep, jump in the middle and kill everything around you. Shockwave may wake them up for a few seconds, but they generally use that time to rush you....which means tighter packed AoEs. Pretty soon, they are drained anyway, and they just gather around you helplessly to die. I went with /mind so I could soft cap most positions because I didn't feel like I needed anymore drain then Conductive Aura.

Conductive Aura is the answer imo. That basically means that you are a Dom or Controller in Electric Control. Add in the pets draining a bit, and that is about all you need. You can add Electric fences and/or Jolt but they are mainly unnecessary vs anything short of an EB. End Drain becomes something that just 'happens' when you wade into a fight. You can focus your active play on other aspects such as damage, control or support while also providing passive soft control after 7-10 seconds.

First off, thanks to everyone for the feedback. Coyote, that was my mindset. Thanks for confirming it. As far as AoE defense, I actually didn't try for AoE, it just kind of happened. Actually, i started just with Ranged, and with the Winter sets I noticed that most of my type defense was nearing cap (besides S/L and Psi) so I decided to see if I could cap them (Settled on capping with Alpha slot.....figure I will have Alpha by the time I have all the Purples anyway....) AoE ended up near cap as well, so was pretty easy to just adjust a bit. Psi is handled by Indomitable will...but not perma like Link Minds/Hasten/Domination. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something before I sunk a billion into getting it purpled out. So far at 44 it has been fun and seems reasonably powerful. Great solo and decent on teams...except when I was teamed with some Vet Level Incarnates. I felt a bit weak then :P

So I am working on my Elec/Psi Dom, and I think I have the build down (Not in front of me, so mainly numbers will be from memory) I started just building for Capped Ranged, but I ended up Capped Ranged, AoE and all positionals but Smashing Lethal. From memory, S/L is around 35% and Melee is 35ish as well. Resists are 45-50% in S/L and a small amount in toxic, although I would say that is my real vulnerable point. My question is how important is S/L defense. I see most say to focus to cap it, but in order to do that I would lose quite a bit to cap it, ans as is, my worst scenario (besides toxic) is Melee S/L which I should only take about 7-8% damage anyway between Defense and resists. Everything else should be capped. Am I missing something here? And reason I should focus instead on S/L? As is, I can sacrifice any more recharge for defense and stay perma hastened. I focused on Ranged defense because as an Elec/ anything short of an EB in Melee is End Drained pretty quickly and becomes a non issue. Most damage seems to hit from uncontrolled mobs outside of 10'. So, will I regret not maxing out S/L to max out the rest?

Oh, Capping with Fortify is a bit of a pain, and I can see where many would not want to deal with the micro managing. I like the frantic playstyle, but it is as safe as Beasts paired with a defense set. Nothing wrong with Beasts/FF if you enjoy it, and it is superior from a defensive point of view. I do miss +def for the mastermind toon as well as Mez protection for all, I am just addicted to the damage. I am pretty sure Crits go beyond damage cap, so that is still a bonus of Fortify. As far as lack of stacks of call, it really become irrelevant for a Beast/Kin. 10 stacks gets you 20% extra damage. With Fulcrum Shift you will be around 200%-300% during normal times anyway, so an extra 20% is not as large of a loss as it would be with other other sets. Now, being 220% instead of 200% is good, but not nearly as good at 200% damage and capped defenses.

IMO, I think that in +def sets, Beats loses out to Bots, Thugs and Ninja. The reason is that all of those are higher base damage, and you will be able to cap each anyway. Where I think that Bots shine is in a set that is lacking defense due strictly to Fortify the Pack. Power Boosted Fortify will allow Beasts to self cap with 4 Stacks of Call. That opens up primaries that normally do not add much defense. IMO, that is why Beast/Kin works so well. Fortify makes up the defense hole in Kin, and Kin makes up for the damage hole in Beasts. It still is not as safe as a regular defense Build, but it will put out more damage. Don't get me wrong, Beast/FF is completely viable, and you will probably have quite a few less faceplants with it then relying on Fortify to cap you. My only point is that I think that Fortify is the selling point of Beasts, and a defense set reduces the value of fortify.

I am guessing they will also go in the Spirit in Necro as well.

In addition to what you are planning, I took Subdue. I passed on TK and Lance. I also passed on Scream because I tend to be in the middle of combat and with enough recharge, Shockwave is enough. I do solo a lot, so I may change my mind on Scream with a different primary (Electric) or if I were just looking to add AoE damage to a team. If I remember correctly, Subdue and Mental blast are basically the same attack with different secondary attacks. I might think of dropping one, but that leaves you with Dart and one other ranged blast and Dart is not great DPA.

IMO, you want defense and recharge in Fortify. At base, with 0 stacks of Call, you have 5% defense. Slotted it is just under 8%. Slotted with Power Boost it is about 11%. With 4 stacks of Call, you are at 9% Def, or just over 14% with slotting, and over 20% with PB as well. Add 20% to: 10% I/Os 10%-12.5% for innate defense depending on pet. 4% Manuevers And you are at 44-46.5% plus a bit without even touching your secondary. Make it perma, and the only time you will not be at cap will be the time it takes to build 4 stacks of call. Of course, if you have a +def secondary or you don't want Mace for your Patron, Fortify loses much of it's luster

If you are on Indomitable you have the name I was going to take for the same pairing. Since I pretty much only play redside, I had to go with Cold Steal. As far as the pairing, it is good...but so...so.....boring. I actually play on +1/3-4, and on basic missions I attack a spawn and then open up my Kindle to read for the few minutes to clear the spawn. I gave up at 30, and I am sure if I ever make it to 32 it will go a bit quicker.....but this is the reason I never played Bots/FF...not enough for me to contribute during the fight. On live I played Bots/TA and I remember it fondly, although it was nowhere near as safe or powerful.

I have not had Accuracy issues with /Kin. Transfusion will occasionally miss, but I spam so much that it is mainly to top off, or maybe I will lose a wolf in most circumstances. Transference is also a top off in most cases, or I can pop a blue if needed. Speed Boost is not critical, just nice to have. And as for Fulcrum shift, I generally don't sweat it too much if I only hit 7 of 8 in the group. As far as control, I have not had a huge issue with control on my pets, even though I generally don't ID all of them. Control needs to hit to affect them, and even without fortify, they sitting at 25ish defense. I will say that I do not normally play as a tankermind, and control on me can be an issue for my survivalbility. I have KB protection I/Os as well as Rune of Protection. Not great for prolonged encounters, but doable. As I have said before, this is not a top tier combo, but it sure is fun. I have been playing tons of alts, but this is the toon I go back to when I want to shred things.

I love /Earth. I have it paired with Electric/ and it is working very well. Just hit 26.....and I have found that at least solo, I am not using the chain confuse power at all. I am opening with Sleep, charge in, do a chain of single target attacks on a Boss/Lt while the end drains from all the mobs, then I let loose with an AoE. Most the mobs just run closer then go back to sleep. It feels pretty powerful being in the center of 5-10 mobs being able to AoE with impunity (mostly) and there is very little they can retaliate with because they are either asleep or end drained. This combo NEEDS to be in the center of as many mobs as it can fit.

Roll a Protector Bot. Heals and Shields.

I only have a Mid 30's Fortuna, so my input may be off. First, strictly looking at DPA, it seems like Dart Burst is the way to go. I believe base recharge is 8 seconds, so with some decent Recharge that can be your only AoE and you still can almost spam it. Of course, I do lose some time with a quick backstep out of combat, but I still think it is better then Spin. Second, Aid Self definitely seems worth it.