Where does Defiant Barrage belong?

[Heraclea]

Thus far on my newest blaster (Ice/Plants) I have slotted Defiant Barrage in Bitter Ice Blast, and Blaster's Wrath in regular Ice Blast.  Did I get it backwards?

 

I did so following the new conventional wisdom about procs; that if you slot them in slower recharging powers, they have a better chance of firing per activation.  Since I value Defiant Barrage's chance for status protection more than Blaster's Wrath chance for fire damage, I wanted it to be slotted in the slower of the bread and butter single target attacks. 

 

But it dawned on me: the tier 1 and tier 2 attacks will fire even if I'm held, slept, and so forth.  So do I put that set in one of those attacks, instead, so it can fire and possibly proc under the circumstance where it is most valuable?

 

What does the group mind say about this?

[Major_Decoy]

I slotted it in a tier 2 power for the precise reason you suggested.

[Doomguide2005]

Yeah I have the same thought though zero experience to date.  But unless the proc duration is relatively long and the chance to fire is much greater in a tier 3+ I'd slot it  in the power I can use in when mezzed just because it can break the mez I'm currently under

[Apparition]

8 hours ago, Heraclea said:

Thus far on my newest blaster (Ice/Plants) I have slotted Defiant Barrage in Bitter Ice Blast, and Blaster's Wrath in regular Ice Blast.  Did I get it backwards?

 

I did so following the new conventional wisdom about procs; that if you slot them in slower recharging powers, they have a better chance of firing per activation.  Since I value Defiant Barrage's chance for status protection more than Blaster's Wrath chance for fire damage, I wanted it to be slotted in the slower of the bread and butter single target attacks. 

 

But it dawned on me: the tier 1 and tier 2 attacks will fire even if I'm held, slept, and so forth.  So do I put that set in one of those attacks, instead, so it can fire and possibly proc under the circumstance where it is most valuable?

 

What does the group mind say about this?

 

You want it in a tier one or tier two attack.  Whichever one you use in your attack chain.

[Vanden]

Put it in any attack you use a lot. You can use T1 and T2 attacks when you're held, yeah, but you likely won't be able to build up enough stacks of mez protection before you either die or the mez wears off if you get mezzed in the first place.

[Generator]

On 3/27/2020 at 1:06 AM, Major_Decoy said:

I slotted it in a tier 2 power for the precise reason you suggested.

Ditto.

[Erydanus]

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 1:00 AM, Heraclea said:

Thus far on my newest blaster (Ice/Plants) I have slotted Defiant Barrage in Bitter Ice Blast, and Blaster's Wrath in regular Ice Blast.  Did I get it backwards?

 

I did so following the new conventional wisdom about procs; that if you slot them in slower recharging powers, they have a better chance of firing per activation.  Since I value Defiant Barrage's chance for status protection more than Blaster's Wrath chance for fire damage, I wanted it to be slotted in the slower of the bread and butter single target attacks. 

 

But it dawned on me: the tier 1 and tier 2 attacks will fire even if I'm held, slept, and so forth.  So do I put that set in one of those attacks, instead, so it can fire and possibly proc under the circumstance where it is most valuable?

Yeah I think you got it backwards. Sorta.

 

The issue is that it's not just the base recharge of the powers but their modified recharge that affects proc chance. I agree with the logic of others in putting the status protection proc in a T2 attack since you can use that if mezzed which means there's a chance of breaking your mez with it. But that means you also need to leave out recharge in that attack as much as possible. So proc - fine, but full set? Maybe not. At level 50 the not-superior defiant barrage full set has 96% recharge meaning Ice Blast will be down to 3.93 from 8 seconds. That's not great for proc chance; according to the calculator I was linked to, 28%.  Unfortunately this is not a set I want to split up either; the 3 part is end boost, the 4 part is hit point boost, the 5 part is 7.5% recharge time which is clearly a big prize. The 6 part bonus is ranged defense and energy/negative defense; again, pretty valuable. 

However, if I had to give up some ranged defense I think I could live with it. What I'm saying is, I might split this ATO set 5/1 and only put the proc in the T2. That proc by itself has 42% recharge at level 50. If that's the only recharge you put in Ice Blast it's up to about 36% chance to proc, that seems like it might be better; decent 1 in 3 chance to get the protection. The Superior version has a PPM of 4, not 3, but it brings 53% recharge enhancement but still the rate would go up to 46%!!  So that's pretty decent. [BTW sorry for the math geekery someone linked me to a proc rate calculator so I'm running all the numbers for my own enlightenment too.)

 

You could fill the power with some decent non-recharge pieces like Thunderstrike acc/dam, acc/dam/end, dam/end to get reasonable starter accuracy and end reduction and damage and that would still leave you with 2 slots for potentially other procs if you make it a proc focused power or just more damage and end reduction.  Assuming you do eventually go with the superior one to up its chance, other procs with a 3 PPM rate (Devastation % Hold, Entropic Chaos % Self Heal) would have a 35% chance, with a 3.5PPM rate (Gladiator's Javelin % toxic damage, Impeded Swiftness % smashing)  40%. 

 

Bitter Ice Blast

Just the standard status proc no other recharge (so 42.4%) the proc chance is 47.4%. Full slot the entire set and the chance is 36.5%.

Just the superior status proc no other recharge (so 53%) the proc chance is 59.4%. Full slot the entire set and the chance is 47%.

 

BTW the chances for the other set are pretty similar; the 1 piece only chance is the same and the full set chance is just a couple % higher since that set has less recharge. However Blaster's Wrath has a range bonus at 3 pieces and in some cases I might personally split that set in half to get that (but not yours) though the 4, 5, and 6 piece bonuses are also very tasty.

[Uun]

I'm having the same debate on my Dark/TA. I feel like Blaster's Wrath should be slotted in Abyssal Gaze. If I want to slot the full set, I need to give up the Ghost Widow's Embrace proc. Defiant Barrage would then go in Gloom.

 

My Ice/Temp has Defiant Barrage in Freeze Ray and Blaster's Wrath in Bitter Ice Blast.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Uun

[Vanden]

20 hours ago, Erydanus said:

The issue is that it's not just the base recharge of the powers but their modified recharge that affects proc chance. I agree with the logic of others in putting the status protection proc in a T2 attack since you can use that if mezzed which means there's a chance of breaking your mez with it. But that means you also need to leave out recharge in that attack as much as possible. So proc - fine, but full set? Maybe not. At level 50 the not-superior defiant barrage full set has 96% recharge meaning Ice Blast will be down to 3.93 from 8 seconds. That's not great for proc chance; according to the calculator I was linked to, 28%.  Unfortunately this is not a set I want to split up either; the 3 part is end boost, the 4 part is hit point boost, the 5 part is 7.5% recharge time which is clearly a big prize. The 6 part bonus is ranged defense and energy/negative defense; again, pretty valuable.

I think this might be overthinking things. PPM means it's going to go off 3/4 times per minute, regardless of the slotted enhancement. Yeah, you can manipulate that by underslotting whatever power for recharge, but you don't have to. Put it in a power you use constantly, and you'll get the proc 3/4 times per minute on average. Maybe that means your T2, maybe it doesn't. For my ice blaster, it means Freeze Ray.

[SwitchFade]

Late to the party...

 

So, put it in T2. And, funny little tactic...

 

Take acro. You get +2 from acro vs hold, and if you use your t2 in your attack chain, you'll be proccing +1-2 more routinely. That's +3-4 regularly, and usually keeps you from getting held (and even stunned, often) most of the time 😌