Bots/Elec affinity losing its allure

[FullEclipse]

I have to say I feel underwhelmed by this combo.  I have never played a  MM to fifty  but playing this one I thought would be different and for awhile it was. However being lvl 38 I feel underwhelmed at the damage my bots are doing, I cant even up the level or team size for mishes or I am eating dirt a lot.  I always thought this combo would develop but I don't think it has and im not sure why. Is this typical for MM to feel soo weak this late in the game???  Did I screw myself by picking bots/elec affinity and they just don't mesh or something?

[Coyote]

I'm at +2/x6 at 50 without a level shift, and they're kinda okay. Definitely on the low damage side, but not so much that it's a chore playing them. But I did get some powers to try to keep mobs in the burning patches... Immobilize, Stun effects, and Provoke are all used to keep the mobs together. Once mobs spread out, OMG, killing them is painfully slow.

 

They ARE strong defensively so it's not like you'll feel overwhelmed, but killing IS usually slow, and can range from slow to painfully slow. Both sets are primarily oriented towards defense, after all.

[Seigmoraig]

Try playing a Thugs MM. The problem with bots is that they are very defensively focused and the pets can't fit very many Procs.
Thugs on the other hand can fit a bunch of them especially in the T2.
Also, one of the best things that Thugs, Demons and Necro have that give them a big lead on the damage is that you can slot all the resist and defence aura IOs into Gang War/Soul Extraction/Hell on Earth freeing up your actual pets to slot proper IOs

Edited June 19, 2020 by Seigmoraig

[Crysis]

I deleted my Bots/EA in the 40’s once I realized it was pretty weak relative to other MM sets.

[Bionic_Flea]

I enjoyed my Thugs/EA, although I find it busier than other MM secondaries.

[Dr Causality]

While there's great thematic synergy between bots/EA, there's sadly no where near as much actual strategic synergy.     But depending your expectations there are ways to work around some of that lacking strategic synergy.     

 

• What were you hoping this character would be able to do, that it's not doing?
• And what's the general build and play strategy you're using?

 

 

[Coyote]

What surprises me is this quote:

"I cant even up the level or team size for mishes or I am eating dirt a lot."

 

I found it slow to kill mobs, but very strong defensively. Probably Demons/EA would be stronger, maybe Thugs/EA, but... it's still a very strong defensive build. Something really seems unusual if DYING is the problem, and not slow kill speeds. I mean, at that level, I fought the two-AV fight in Night Ward, and I consider that a pretty high barrier for "is this character tough enough". Now, killing things, that was painfully slow at times. Finishing off a Zeus Titan is just painful. But survival was almost never an issue (and if it was, it was for a clear reason... like being sapped just when a Zeus Titan dropped flaming patches under my own bots, the danged copycat robot).

Edited June 21, 2020 by Coyote

[Crysis]

To be clear, I didn’t delete mine in the 40’s due to lack of durability.  Bots/EA is pretty durable, and I have many Bots/builds.  It’s at least as durable as Bots/Time.  The issue was lack of damage multiplying powers from /EA and pretty much everything else about EA made it fairly weak FOR DAMAGE OUTPUT AUGMENTATION.

 

I prefer MM builds where all my pets + Secondary effects combined have decent DPS to bring down opponents.  Bots/EA isn’t going to do that.  I’d argue even Demon/EA, which are sturdier still than Bots/EA, isn’t going to do that.  /EA just isn’t that set.  It’s far more akin to /FF than anything else.