eng/eng

[Myrdinn]

Bein' the best, afterall.

 

Do not forget to get the summer enh set, to turn knockback to knockdown

[Residualshade]

didn't even know that was a thing. i just wrote energy off because i didn't want to deal with the knock back. guess ill have to revisit.

[Generator]

You don't even need that if you're a careful player, can watch your backgrounds, that sort of thing.  One of my good buddies was (is, HOT DAMN WE'RE BACK!) a freaking surgeon with Energy Blast.  Was a thing of beauty to watch.

[Mjolnerd]

didn't even know that was a thing. i just wrote it energy off because i didn't want to deal with the knock back. guess ill have to revisit.

Knockback is *why* it's the best.

[LionFranco]

Yeah, i loved the knockback on Eng/Eng, always gave me time to attack again before they were usually in range to hit me. I think Eng/Eng was the only blaster i was ever good with...i miss my characters though...

 

[Myrdinn]

didn't even know that was a thing. i just wrote it energy off because i didn't want to deal with the knock back. guess ill have to revisit.

Knockback is *why* it's the best.

 

Here is where I wish I had a "smart" button.  Aye, I liked it... but when I started teaming, some various tanks hated (and I mean, *hated*) the kb.  kd, they were okay with.

[MrTPF]

Most likely because either they didn't understand the powerset themselves or their experience to date as a tank had been with players that didn't understand how to best use KB with melee team mates.

[catsi563]

Most likely because either they didn't understand the powerset themselves or their experience to date as a tank had been with players that didn't understand how to best use KB with melee team mates.

 

As a tank whose had that issue with people doing that I can confirm that's exactly why most tanks complain about energy as a set

 

I never did I always tried to educate the person in question. teach them about positioning and not just wildly firing into the melee. it worked most times but I still had a few stubborn cusses who refused and cussed me out for trying.

[MrTPF]

And you did exactly the right thing, my respect to you for it.

 

I mean, sure, everyone has the right to play their character the way they want to, the way that fits their backstory, the way they find the most fun.

 

But

 

Teaming is about synergy, working to each others' strengths, adapting your style to make the team most efficient, being smart and flexible with your powersets. Smashing a mob across the room 5m away from the tank just because you like how your fully-KB-slotted Energy Torrent looks is just silly and will get you kicked at best or others planted at worst.

 

I used to run a regular KB-heavy team consisting of 3 energy/energy blasters and a storm/energy defender. Complete mayhem. 200% fun. But even then we still herded and grouped the mobs. If I joined a regular team with a melee nucleus I always changed my playstyle to benefit the tank or scrapper, changing KB into KD with positioning and timing.

[Novacat]

There were two things regarding knockback that were critical to understand. One by the player, the other by teammates. Unfortunately the nature of PUGs ensures one could easily find themselves in a situation where neither knew either. Of course, when soloing, knockback's a very reliable way of taking things out of the fight in some fashion; power-push can put all except an NPC sniper well out of range, and even a purple that flew just 4-5 feet has lost a few seconds of shooting you from something far easier to stack for an energy blaster than stacking hold magnitude.

 

1) Flight could nearly (or entirely depending on your angle) transform it into team-friendlier knockdown

 

2) Anything short of a higher-conning Elite Boss or Archvillain that's sent flying can be ignored, it'll probably be dead before it hits the ground. It might even be dead already

 

A hovering blaster could easily place themselves such that if not immobile, the knocks would at least keep things packed around the teammates they should remain packed around. This could avoid worst-case scenarios like a rad-anchor getting flopped across a warehouse while all his buddies lose their debuffs. The knockdown-conversion put a hard stop to the issue either way however.

[Garble]

Do not forget to get the summer enh set, to turn knockback to knockdown

Is thete a current way to get those or do we have to wait for the dev team to activate the event?

 

I really wish some clever person would make a way to turn kb into kd without losing enhancement slots.

 

Knock back is a strange secondary effect in that it's *situationally* useful. So it requires more learning than other effects.

 

[srmalloy]

didn't even know that was a thing. i just wrote energy off because i didn't want to deal with the knock back. guess ill have to revisit.

 

Don't want to deal with the knockback? And miss out on the utter silliness of Hellion Golf? Take a level 50, put a Knockback SO in Power Push, then go to Atlas Park and use it on a Hellion... and try to keep them in view;they disappear so quickly as they take off flying across the zone.

[warlockiii]

I presume this enhancement here is Overwhelming Force.

 

I see it on the Merit Vendor in Steel Canyon for 100 Merits. Reading the tooltip, it's unique and can only be applied to one power. Since every power you have has a KB, it's still not a silver bullet unless there are other enhancements like this one. So again, it comes to playing smart, using hover--knocking straggler into the pile instead of mobs away from the tank.

[iBot]

In the past my main was an eng/eng blaster.  I remember well tanks complaining about it when first teamed up until they saw my style.  Then the complaints stopped.  I would make sure to do one of two things always:

1.) Fly.... turn knockback to knockdown instantly.

2.) Use knockback to send mobs that were trying to run away flying back into the fight.

 

I tended to avoid using the one main knockback power when in a group unless I knew that the mob would be killed or at worse fly into a wall or some other barrier to prevent them from sailing clear across the map.  The other thing I tended to do was be mindful not to target the exact mob that the tank was hitting.  I wasn't always 100% successful but it certainly ended a lot of grumbling by others.