Onlyasandwich

Thank you all kindly for the feedback! I appreciate your time in reviewing the build. A question for @Koopak Do you have Vigor Core toggled on here? I have Mids set to base 48 tohit in order to reflect +3's (so +4's shifted), and am comfortably over cap on hit chance on GPB (113%). No other temporary buffs are active - this is just with Vigor, 6% tohit from Kismet, and 9% global acc from IO bonuses. FotG is great for longer engagements, but I generally prefer up the up front punch of a damage proc. It's true that my hard targets will notice the difference, but I am a little biased against -res procs, though it is mostly a matter of taste. I do have my achilles in Arctic of course - it just feels right to double down on the baseline -res of the power. Some decisions are just based on subjective fun! Although the faster cycles on my steroids would be nice, I'm not inclined to go Spiritual on a proc heavy build, as it will tank my proc chances across the board. The feedback regarding Insight is quite welcome! I see so many people saying basically to ignore it, but it's nice to know there is a measurable payoff if I pay a bit of attention. I'm not worried about -recharge at all, as my slow resist is at 95% 😄 @InvaderStych's point regarding Mental Strike is well-taken too. It looks like Mids goes ahead and incorporates Intuition damage into the readout, with no option to toggle it off as with other mechanics. How annoying! Very much agreed with @Troo here - I think softcap, particularly on melee ATs that attract a lot of attention, can quickly go to waste without strong DDR to back it up. Not denying the power of softcap of course, but I think using other tools for survival here will be both fun and suit overall build goals better.

Edit - Updated build. Hello Brutonia! Brutes are a class that I have not given nearly enough love, and Regen is a set that I have literally only tried a couple times, all back in live days without IOs. I've been itching to try Psi melee somewhere as well - thus this build. I'd love your input on my build in the context of the goals I have set forth: Proc 'dem attacks. Brutes seem a little proc happier, as ED is just a drop in the bucket compared to Fury/damage caps. Slow Resist. I have a fetish for this it's true, but it seems especially wanted on the very click-dependent /Regen. Pick up Recharge where I can, supported by FFback in both aoe and ST chains. My concept demands I spew awful things from my mouth, so Arctic Breath is a requirement. 🙂 It helps that the power itself is proc worthy and a nice debuff. School of Sharks is just present to get me there. Modest resists across the board. I don't feel the need to bend over backwards to try and make this into a tank. That being said, I don't want to be bait either. Imagined strategy: Rely on superb regen and healing for the most part, but rotate three powerful survival steroids between Instant Healing, MoG, and Rune as needed. Otherwise just open with Arctic Breath and go to town. Enjoy the pink spam once my FFbacks start rolling. Areas I am not sure about, or would like to buff if possible: I am well familiar with the power of a defense based IO strategy. It seems like it would sacrifice too much offensive potential in this sort of build for my taste. Is my survival strategy viable in your eyes? Finding a way to softcap in something meaningful would be nice, but it would be a long journey there. Psi damage taken - I just sort of eat it. My resist isn't actually the worst, and of course healing doesn't care about damage type. Would be nice to find a few extra slots to throw at it though. I love the baseline power enhancement and recharge bonus in Panacea for most of my healing powers. Do you think I would be better served by taking a recharge hit and picking a different set? I'm not super impressed with the other bonuses in this set. Power choice - anything you love to pick in either of these sets that I skipped? If so, why do you love it? Is skipping the Superior Brute's Fury set a dumb idea? The ATO proc in it seems unnecessary, and swapping it in would nerf the damage of whatever attack I swapped it into. I see that it would be neat for a 3 split S/L defense strat, but that's not my focus. Side note - Brutes really get shafted on ATO procs! Swap slotting on Tough and Rune maybe? For Alpha I went Vigor Core. Normally I'm a big musculature or musc radial fan, but the ED seems less impactful here. Vigor allows me to proc out more easily, and buffs my healing across the board. Would you go another direction? I can't imagine going anything but Barrier on this guy. Note that in the build, the FFback powers are toggled on, and damage buffs are toggled off when viewing totals. The build:

I believe Arbegla may be referring to the general scenario of set bonuses, rather than the unique scenario that desarix presented where sets are not involved. A level 50 proc would lose set bonuses associated with its presence if exemplared sufficiently below, though the proc itself would still function. In any event, there is no reason not to attune a proc with the way the AH works on Homecoming. You gain nothing by having the proc not attuned, and they can be obtained directly from the market without catalysts.

I made one a few weeks back - reference in this thread: I went ahead and updated the OP with my final version. It's a super fun combo! My build goes for ranged softcap and good resists. Bonfire is your friend for extra mitigation as always. Super smashy smash! Personally I'm cool with foregoing -KB in Meteor. As long as you time it correctly, you only have a few boss stragglers to finish off with your heavy hitters, so not much cleanup. Combat Teleport makes melee engagement and disengagement for cones a breeze.

Electric wins the game if you're looking at it from a "highest possible DPA single target attacks" perspective. Comparing to /Energy, Charged Brawl and Energy Punch are neck and neck. Bone Smasher and Havoc are neck and neck. However, Shocking Grasp is the true differentiator, as it does great base damage and has amazing proc power for a super fast cast. Dark is nice and Smite is good, but otherwise these attacks aren't approaching Elec for DPA, even when procced out. Soul Drain is of course very excellent in any case. Earth Manipulation is something to consider as well. You have two very efficient attacks in Heavy Mallet and Seismic, alongside some useful control effects. A lot of sets have one really stand-out melee power, and others that are serviceable. Electric is one of the few with two really outlier DPA powers and even a third that is solid. Any KB Electric has is easily mitigated with IOs, and the trade is worth it for sure. If you pick up Havoc Punch, I wouldn't bother changing it to Knockdown - just smack 'em in the face and follow up with blasts. They'll die soon enough regardless.

I'm thinking about maybe doing a Rad/Elec version of the Fire/elec I just posted recently. Below is the adaptation I am considering. It's very similar in many respects to my fire/elec, but attempts to leverage Oppressive Gloom and stacking stuns from Force, TS, and even CB to make up for dicey defenses. I still hover within a small purple's reach of ranged softcap. In practice, staying in melee range for OG to keep stunning is not optimal. The range and target cap is limited after all, and you can't count on a tightly packed crowd. I think it might stand a better chance than relying on knockdowns alone, however! Would be fun to try. Build:

I like your style here, aaronares! Like Nemu says, Cosmic Burst is pretty strong. I can sort of see where you're going with this though. You have picked up Havoc as a third ST smack in /elec, so still have a decent rotation. I would lean towards swapping Havoc for CB, as you can still do strong damage while adding utility through stacking stuns. Havoc will be a stronger damage contributor by a decent margin when procced out, but the range and defensive flexibility of CB through stuns will be really nice. I'd say it's your call. 🙂 A few basic observations: Placate proc doesn't really do anything useful in havoc punch. Straight end enhancement is stronger than the numina unique in Dynamo. Force of Thunder is underslotted for accuracy. I may put together my own take on this combo later! Happy building.

It's worth noting that melee aoe procs will still trigger on the aoe splash for Thunder Strike, giving you a stronger aoe damage. The power itself is useful as a combination pseudo aoe and control power that still does respectable ST damage while serving those other purposes. The real appeal here is the amazing melee attacks. Charged Brawl and Shocking Grasp are at the top of the heap for blaster DPA. Fire (or Rad in your case) already brings plenty of aoe heat to the table, so you don't really need to make up for it in your secondary.

True enough. Two Knockdowns with a taste of disorient don't exactly turn me into a dominator. I may just try it and see how much I end up eating dirt. I've enjoyed tilting my builds recklessly towards offense lately. Reminds me of the good old days when even the best built blasters ate pavement on a regular basis. 🙂

Thank you for the input! I've definitely lost a lot of recharge opportunities in pursuit of procs. Good point on TS and Force specifically though. Not having those reliably available in time to chain is a problem for survivability even in a team situation. I'm sort of okay allowing defenses to slide a bit here, looking at it from a team perspective with some amount of useful buffs to absorb and perform. I wonder if it might instead be useful to drop any pretense of caring about Ranged defense, and double down on recharge bonuses, relying instead on chained KD as my primary (and careful) defensive tool. As useful as KD is, that might be playing it just a bit too close to the edge! Here is a "double down on recharge and say poo poo to ranged defense" version, which does include Power Sink: I suppose this is a build that might prefer to invest in an epic that has a self rez. 😄

Similar build in spirit, but more defense minded for sure. Do you find yourself ever using Power Sink for blue bar refills? I would think that it wouldn't get too much use with the fully enhanced sustain. Back on live it was great for Nuke recovery and general sustain, but in the days of sustains and crashless Nukes, I wonder.

The chained Knockdown does give you a smashy fun feel for sure. Not quite the chaos of builds that intentionally throw the world on its side of course. 😄

A few threads here recently have been chewing on ideal blaster combos, and what secondaries pair best with fire. The answer of course is Fire/Electric! I played the heck out of this combo on live, but haven't resurrected it on Homecoming yet, and would like to tackle it with a more optimized approach. As always, I would appreciate any further polish you may find that I have missed! Priorities: This is primarily a team based character. I want to blast my best attacks with as many procs as possible, optimizing both ST and aoe damage for practical play. Not sweating ranged softcap, but would like to edge as close as I can while pursuing other priorities. Currently at ~38%, which is decent enough. In solo play, I can cycle purples as needed, and most teams will get me to softcap with incidental buffs/debuffs. Max Hit chance against +4's. Slow resist! This blaster will rely heavily on jousting and in-combat mobility to survive, especially solo. I hate being slowed, and doubly hate it here. It helps that Winter sets are pretty great for other bonuses and proc optimization as well. 🙂 Where I would love more edge: More recharge would be great, though I'm okay with where I am overall with FFback firing. If there is a way to get to softcap and keep my procs, I'm all ears! I don't think I'll miss power sink with all the recovery. What do you think? Anticipated Playstyle: Lead off with Force of Thunder most spawns. Cycle in Fireball, Rain of Fire, then Thunderstrike as they are starting to stand up, chaining the KD. Otherwise joust and blast with my best ST attacks as they come up. I know @Nemu loves their Fire/Elec, and has great jousting technique. To those who haven't tried it, I encourage you to check out some of their tutorials and try it for yourself! Push those blasters to the limit without relying on traditional softcap tactics. Note that my FFback powers are toggled on, and Aim/build up are off when reviewing totals. Quick Snipe is on. Build:

That would explain why you are a bit short! The real choice is between Crane Kick and Cobra Strike. They serve essentially the same purpose in your attack chain, and you don't need both for a clean and efficient rotation. Additionally, Eagle's Claw is an easy drop. It's fun if you like the animation, but does not add anything to your overall DPS. It is at best break-even if optimally used. All that to say, you don't have to build for 100% efficiency! If you like poking things in different ways, by all means go for the diversity. This will however sacrifice some utility and slot efficiency.

What ma attacks do you have?

Given the radius and toggle aura nature, it will be very poor. As @Carnifax has mentioned, i wouldn't bother with any procs in d field at all. Technically you get a decent number of activations over the course of the power, but it is very underwhelming in practice. Lockdown even has a lower ppm than normal. You'd see it pop off here and there, but not a great investment.

OwtS is a matter of taste, really. I typically take it as a sometimes useful power that mules out one of the +def iOS. It's a very flexible mule - even takes the PM absorb proc. If you share your build I'd be happy to provide other insight. Even on a defense set, I would consider Storm Kick a strong addition to a Tanker's arsenal. If you're referring to Thunder Kick, that is of course not skippable.

I really enjoy this question! While I'll never have a totally static answer, it would be something like this: Blaster: Fire/electric - The classic beast with the best of all worlds. Brings the already amazing ST damage in Fire/ to 11 with two of the best DPA melee powers out there. Defender: TA/A these days. TA is so fluid and powerful now, and works equally well solo and on teams. Any secondary is fine - this just happens to be a set on which I prefer matching theme. Every power comes back fast, and you don't have to worry about positioning for anchors, or whether teammates are nearby for buffs to gain maximum benefit. You just shoot things and it works out. 🙂 Controller: Fire/Storm - Nothing has quite the epic feel of Fire/Storm! Other combos may be similar in power, and almost everything else is easier on the blue bar, but Fire/Storm is not only visually stunning, but brings gobs of damage to the table alongside solid controls. Tanker: Rad/War Mace - Rad is easy peasy and works in every type of content, and opens up slotting pretty well as you don't need any extra end support. War Mace is crunchy both for aoe and ST damage. Combined, you have a super flexible tank that can go all out in any content and does great damage in all situations. Brute: I don't play a lot of Brutes, so don't have a very good answer here. I liked my TW/Electric pretty well, but others will have more useful input here. Scrapper: I'll go with my DM/EA for now - smooth as butter in all content. Never dies, damage type that is rarely resisted, built-in blue bar and health tools. All the damage a Scrapper could want, but oddly soothing to play. Dominator: Plant/Fiery/Fire - The APP here is important, as so much of a Dom's character is reliant on their Epics - more than on other ATs. This combo absolutely blasts out damage on all fronts, and can handle really tough content and surprises as long as you stay focused on cycling your controls where needed. Stalker: I've only played a few stalkers. It is home to be best combo for Elec/Shield, and I have one of those. It's really fun! Corruptor: Obviously going to overlap with Defender, but there are some combos that gain more than they lose on Corruptors. I'm rather fond of my Kin/Dark. Kin I think feels more at home on a corruptor, and Dark gives some extra proc opportunities, as well as some interesting control elements that are otherwise lacking in the support set. Mastermind: Another AT I haven't played a lot of. Demons/Dark is great fun though! Demons are very tanky, and Dark has all you need to support them. You can also proc out the whip powers to do respectable damage, giving you something fun and useful to do besides spamming heals and fearsome stare. Another very active combo that requires proactive application of debuffs and controls to stay alive. Very thematic as well. Sentinel: I love my Elec/Nin! Electric is one of the few sets that actually stands out a bit on Sentinels vs. Blasters, given the extra damage afforded Tesla Cage here. Nin is a pretty complete kit, and allows me to work very autonomously. The confuse power slotted with the purple proc is a handy trick too.

Yes. You want it for ddr and slow resist.

MA goes really well with anything, really. The only real point of special synergy to consider would be the +def from Storm Kick, which is quite strong. Even this is pretty universally helpful. Defense based sets like Shield appreciate the extra pad for overcoming debuffs, or edge in incarnate content, while resist based sets will find it easier to ride softcap without bending over backwards.

I am making direct comparison to MA in this case, rather than to attack sets as a whole. To be fair, this may be better positioned as a strength of MA than any failing of StJ. One exceptional element of MA is that its best rotations involve really snappy powers across the board.

In the case of StJ, CU is required for good performance. Eagle's Claw is a silly power that can be effective, but you can be equally effective without it. MA doesn't hinge on it at all. The speed of CU is a bit more relevant for StJ than other sets as so much of its performance is tied up in this power. I don't find CU to be "too slow" in experience - it is still a very good power. The visceral feeling of punching something to the moon is indeed the best reason to take StJ in my book! The animation is great. However, even for the best DPA attacks in the universe, having a slower animation is still at least a difference worth noting. MA's ideal attack chains are snappy whip whip kick kick with very little chance for corpse whiffing at all.

SJ actually parses out well in ideal scenarios like Pylon tests, but has a few practical shortcomings that in my experience hold it back in regular play. Too much of the power budget is spent on Crushing Uppercut. The other attacks are pretty good when procced, but nothing out of the ordinary. CU is exceptional, but a bit conditional given the combo point system, and also has a rather long animation time. Spinning Strike is okay, but basically inferior to Dragon's Tail in every way, and Sweeping Cross is still not a very effective aoe even with the Gauntlet buff. MA is super efficient and has snappy animations for all the best powers. Eagle's Claw is usable, but very optional. It helps that Storm Kick also stacks strong extra defense for Tankers! The additional synergy is welcome especially on Shield, giving you a nice pad to overcome heavy defense debuff scenarios. Edit: Please no combo update for MA! It's fun to have interactive mechanics, but also good to have sets that allow you to focus on the powers themselves rather than combos.

If poison is not your cup of tea, Rad Emission can definitely be made rather poisonous. Water blast can also be colored appropriately. Blast that nasty juice!

They're both fine combos, but shield/ma all the way. More damage from your primary, similar defenses. I also vastly prefer MA to SJ on tanker. SJ is just too lacking in aoe for my taste. MA may only have DT, but DT is amazing.