Shock/Elec, will "sapping" now be viable?

[Hjarki]

My test against a Rikti Pylon with Elec/Elec strongly suggests that end drain on an AV/GM is a pipe dream (at least without considerable support). While Shock may be able to shut down recovery (a key component that would make such a strategy work), blasting through the end drain resistance is just too difficult - the damage you deal out-paces the end drain.

 

I can't recall if resistance debuffing also reduces end drain resistance, but even if it did I'm not seeing enough performance to think a single sapper could do anything meaningful. That being said, if you can get end drain to work on AV/GM, it's potentially a very strong strategy given the existence of various 'crash' defenses in armor/pool sets. So if you've got a Tanker who can be nearly unkillable for 60 secs and you can floor the AV/GM in that time, the rest of the fight is simply beating on a helpless foe.

 

In terms of the set overall:

• Shock. I'm not sure how much the -damage gets resisted (if it all). But, as noted above, the end drain elements don't seem to be enough to make end drain a viable strategy without building a team around it.
• Rejuvenating/Energizing/Empowering/Insulating. These are all great. Between the new EndMod IO and Numina's, you can pile up a lot of recharge/ranged def.
• Galvanic Sentinel. I really dislike this power. Against large spawns, it mainly just throws around pointless debuffs. Against a single tough target, you need to almost constantly babysit it to simply keep it alive. While it's incredibly important solo as a target to bounce your chain effects off, I'd probably skip it on a Controller (and, of course, the power is different for Masterminds now) and leave it unsummoned in a non-solo situation for Corruptors/Defenders.
• Faraday Cage. This is an amazing power. Sonic Resonance and Force Field are considered two of the weakest sets and their versions of this power are the primary reason people play them. The recharge is low enough that it's not a significant hindrance if you're moving. That being said, it strongly encourages a ranged build since you don't want to take an alpha strike while trying to place your resistances.
• Defibrillate. The rez portion of this portion is - like all such rezzes - better on paper than in-game. It's the sort of power that you love at level 20 and never use at level 50. The end drain portion of this power is amazing - it completely zeros out an entire spawn (with enough Static stacks). Still, my suspicion is that it would be one of the powers I put on the chopping block in a level 50 build.
• Amp Up. I didn't test this power very well (largely because finding other people around to test what you want to test on Beta is often a bit tricky). On the surface, it appears to be similar to other powers on this type. One thing I'm not sure if it does is increase endurance modification - it doesn't appear to. However, if it did, it would make partnering with an Electric Melee hero/villain interesting.

From my admittedly brief tinkering, Illusion/Electric seemed one of the more elegant combos, allowing you to play a strong support character without surrendering the ability to solo.

 

The new pure End Mod set is quite nice, due to the combination of recharge and ranged def. With it, you can make up an otherwise huge shortfall in defenses on an Electric Affinity build. It also works well with Kinetics, Cold Domination and other sets with End Mod powers that previously had no decent slotting options. I didn't see much use for either hybrid drain/damage set - they don't buff either particularly well, their set bonuses are merely ok and there aren't many powers that really need this combination.

 

I also believe Electric Blast will see a bit of a Renaissance - but not for the obvious reasons. While the secondary effect isn't very meaningful, the fundamentals of the set have been slowly evolving into something strong. You can build a solid rotation with Charged Bolts, Ball Lightning, Zapp and Dominate/Char - all fast activating powers. With Bombardment chance for Fire damage and the past improvements to Sniper attacks, it's a generally solid set with one of the stronger ultimates.

 

 

[Doomguide2005]

@Hjarki - Defibrillate sounds like a niche power similar to something like Fallout.