Help me build a Elec/Atomic

[Blauz]

I'm mostly a tanker/scrapper player but I've recently tried this combo of blaster and I'm really enjoying it. I have no idea how to build blasters for end game content. I would appreciate it if anyone can throw some build ideas my way.

[Krajeek]

I can't comment on elec, but Atomic is perhaps my favorite secondary. The early hold makes a huge difference, and the rest of the powers are nice as well.

 

I normally take Shackles since it's required, but I don't even use it. I use Positron Cell to limit the amount of fighting back I suffer, and Beta Decay helps your survivability too. Be sure to take Metabolic Acceleration, as Blasters are a lot hardier than they used to be. Nearly every blaster secondary gets a powerful self-heal toggle at lvl 20.

 

YMMV. I typically run solo and focus on single target damage. Best of luck out there.

[csr]

I recently gave up on my Elect / Atom and made an Ice / Atom instead.

 

For Elect / Atom you need to decide if you are a Blapper or not.  I thought it would work better as one, but it really doesn't due to the long cast times on the PBAoEs.  It's still a valid option though, and that gets you the most from Beta Decay (which was giving me about 8% -ToHit, -10% -Def and +15% Recharge on average when in close - that's a great power). 

 

The slow cast times of Elect / Atom are what brought me to the edge.  Short Circuit and Atom Smasher are both about 3s casts.  Add in Tesla Cage, Positronic Fist and Thunderous Blast and you have some of the slowest activating powers for their types in the game.  It was the slotting of Tesla Cage that broke my back on Elect / Atom.  The cost to proc it out to be part of my attack chain was just too high.  I ended up with 6 damage procs in the build for it, including 2 Purples and 2 PvP IOs.  With it just a supplementary Hold to use on Bosses and in Hami Raids it's OK though (in that version I just 5-slotted to get Basilisk's +Rech and the 5th slot to supplement the enhancement a bit).  It was the combo of the slow casts and having Tesla Cage as just an auxiliary power that caused me to switch.  If you are rich and don't mind spending 65M slotting just Tesla Cage, then YMMV.

 

Anyway, my advice is to decide which powers you are going to skip and which are going to make up your single target attack chain.

 

The first choice on the latter is whether or not you are going to use Electron Shackles as an attack.  It provides Negative particles for the Gamma Ray special effect and slotted with damage procs can do decent DPA (I used 5 Devastations and the Trap of the Hunter proc in it with 5 Superior Defiant Barrage and the TotH proc as the alternative).  Honestly, it's as good a power as Negatron Slam (which is the other source of Negative particles), so since I had to take it, I slotted it and skipped NS.

 

The second decision I'd make is whether or not you're going to go all out for Crowd Control.  You take Radioactive Cloud and Positron Cell, of course.  It's whether or not to add the 2nd Hold with Tesla Cage (and how you'll use it if you do) that is important.  Atom Smasher and Positronic Fist do Stun rather than Hold and are unreliable (25% chance of Mag 2 for 7.15s on AS and 60% of Mag 3 for 11.92s on PF), so the CC from them is just bonus, not something to build for, IMO.  So you either take Tesla Cage for Bosses and Hami raids, skip it altogether, or you take it to use as a regular attack  Which means lots of cash spent on procs and relying on Acc/ToHit from external sources.  The last part of this CC calculation is whether you want to take Short Circuit to use END drain/-Rec as soft control.

 

After that, it's which slow-casting PBAoEs you can stomach to go with Ball Lightning and Thunderous Blast.  You may have already made up your mind regarding Short Circuit, but even if you don't take it for soft CC, Atom Smasher isn't the obvious pick I had thought when I first made my Elect / Atom.  It only hits 10 targets in a 10' radius while Short Circuit can hit 16 in a 20' radius.  AS will do about 20% more damage with -Def and a chance to Stun, while Short Circuit drains END and floors Rec and recharges a touch faster.

 

Oh, do take Voltaic Sentinel.  It's annoying to have to cast it so often, but it adds to your DPS even if recast in combat as opposed to between fights.  And it takes pet sets, so there are nice slotting options.  It has good Accuracy (1.4x) so all it really needs is Dam, EndRdx and a little Acc.  Anything else is just added chasing set bonuses.

 

Well, that's just my thoughts on what I did with my Elect / Atom.  One of these days I'll revisit the toon, which has merely been renamed, re-costumed and set aside.  At that time I'd have more thorough build advice, but for now I've only got those few points.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by csr
Typos

[csr]

I did a quick respec build for my Elect / Atom to give you some ideas.  This isn't refined at all, just a 1st pass only.

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.1.25
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Excitation: Level 50 Mutation Blaster
Primary Power Set: Electrical Blast
Secondary Power Set: Atomic Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Experimentation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Charged Bolts -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(7)
Level 1: Electron Shackles -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(11)
Level 2: Ball Lightning -- Bmbdmt-Dam(A), Bmbdmt-Acc/Rech/End(13), Bmbdmt-Dam/Rech(13), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech(15), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech/End(15), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(17)
Level 4: Positron Cell -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), NrnSht-Dam%(21), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(21)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 8: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Ionize -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Zapp -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(23), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(25), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), StnoftheM-Dam%(27), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27)
Level 14: Speed of Sound -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Beta Decay -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/Rchg(29), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(29), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(31)
Level 18: Short Circuit -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(31), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(33)
Level 20: Metabolic Acceleration -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg(34), Prv-Absorb%(34), PwrTrns-EndMod(36), PwrTrns-+Heal(36)
Level 22: Tesla Cage -- GldJvl-Dam%(A), GldNet-Dam%(36), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(37), NrnSht-Dam%(37), UnbCns-Dam%(37), Apc-Dam%(39)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Ksm-ToHit+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(39), Rct-ResDam%(39), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(40)
Level 26: Voltaic Sentinel -- ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(A), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(42), BldMnd-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 28: Experimental Injection -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Adrenal Booster -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 32: Thunderous Blast -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(43), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(45)
Level 35: Radioactive Cloud -- BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(A), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(45), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(46), EssofCrr-Acc/Hold/Rchg(46)
Level 38: Repulsion Field -- SuddAcc--KB/+KD(A), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46)
Level 41: Temp Invulnerability -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(48), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), UnbGrd-Max HP%(48), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(50), GldArm-3defTpProc(50)
Level 44: Force of Nature -- TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(A)
Level 47: Personal Force Field -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Quick Form
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- UnbLea-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
Level 50: Ion Radial Final Judgement
Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally
Level 50: Clarion Core Epiphany
Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment
------------

 

 

[Nemu]

If you take the melee powers in /atom and you should, it'll play a lot like elec/fire. Sit in melee all day churning out pbaoes/point blank blasts.

 

Ok it doesn't really play like that all the time. There are times you don't want to be in the thick of it, like when you go up against talons of vengeance and they start dropping lightning patches... If you stay in one place all the time like that then be prepared to be rezzed all the time.

 

Long animation times isn't really an issue if you learn how to joust. Hop in, hop out, fire your pbaoes as you hop out, animate that 3 second pbaoe as you land, out of the danger zone. Another way to augment survival is just to softcap S/L/R defenses and then you don't have to move as much (but still do move when you get lightning patches dropped on your head). Or you can always depend on teammates to keep you alive, sometimes.

 

Were I to build elec/atom I'd definitely take scorp shield and work in softcapped S/L/Ranged defense. Volt sentinel is a skip and tesla cage might be on the chopping block, I might also skip charged bolts because I can supplement my ST damage with harder hitting attacks from /Atom

 

It's not that much different than building a defense based melee AT really. Soft cap is soft cap. Just because you are building a blaster doesn't mean that all of a sudden those kinetic combat and makos and winter IO sets with their defense bonuses suddenly become useless.

[csr]

8 hours ago, Nemu said:

If you take the melee powers in /atom and you should, it'll play a lot like elec/fire. Sit in melee all day churning out pbaoes/point blank blasts.

 

Ok it doesn't really play like that all the time. There are times you don't want to be in the thick of it, like when you go up against talons of vengeance and they start dropping lightning patches... If you stay in one place all the time like that then be prepared to be rezzed all the time.

 

Long animation times isn't really an issue if you learn how to joust. Hop in, hop out, fire your pbaoes as you hop out, animate that 3 second pbaoe as you land, out of the danger zone. Another way to augment survival is just to softcap S/L/R defenses and then you don't have to move as much (but still do move when you get lightning patches dropped on your head). Or you can always depend on teammates to keep you alive, sometimes.

 

Were I to build elec/atom I'd definitely take scorp shield and work in softcapped S/L/Ranged defense. Volt sentinel is a skip and tesla cage might be on the chopping block, I might also skip charged bolts because I can supplement my ST damage with harder hitting attacks from /Atom

 

It's not that much different than building a defense based melee AT really. Soft cap is soft cap. Just because you are building a blaster doesn't mean that all of a sudden those kinetic combat and makos and winter IO sets with their defense bonuses suddenly become useless.

 

The reason I threw Speed of Sound and Combat Jumping into the build above was to help with getting in and out of melee range, but I honestly found /Atom disappointing in Melee range compared to /Fire.

 

The two ST melee attacks can up your ST DPS by perhaps 10%.  Less than Voltaic Sentinel will.

 

I'd be curious to see your build that caps all of S/L/R.

Edited October 22, 2020 by csr
Cat-posted prematurely.

[Nemu]

I find the single target capabilities in /fire lackluster, especially when paired with electric blast, which is known to suffer in the single target dps department. In general I think /fire is overhyped. Yeah AoE damage is nice but that much AoE is overkill, and if you want to be a real tank mage make an /elec, but I digress...

 

Atomic fixes the ST deficiency with electric blast with negatron slam and positronic fist. Atom smasher is enough AoE to supplement SC and BL.

 

If you didn't like the long animation times on Atom Smasher you probably don't like the cast on short circuit either. But don't let those long animations stop you from having a good time!😁

 

If you know how to joust and have a decent bit of slow resist you don't really need the tp from speed of sound. You can jump joust in and out of slow -movement ground patches like ice slick or caltrop fields and if you get stuck in one the slow resist will allow you to run away. I never have an issue moving around with 65-80% slow resist against chimera's goons or knives that love to caltrops everywhere.

 

Building for S/L/R softcap is pretty cookie cutter and you can still get away with 70-80% global recharge bonus through set bonuses depending on the secondary. I also build for maximum exemplar effectiveness so that survival is fully matured for Citidel TF and up. SS/Stealth IO allows for speeding if I am running speed TF stacks, and I also shoot for slow resist above 50%

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Electrical Blast
Secondary Power Set: Atomic Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lightning Bolt -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(21)
Level 1: Electron Shackles -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Ball Lightning -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Dam/End(27), Artl-Dam/Rech(29), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(31), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(34), Artl-End/Rech/Rng(37)
Level 4: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(21)
Level 6: Short Circuit -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(11)
Level 8: Aim -- RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(A), RctRtc-ToHit(31), GssSynFr--Build%(50)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(11), WntGif-ResSlow(23)
Level 12: Zapp -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(13), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(13), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), StnoftheM-Dam%(19)
Level 14: Negatron Slam -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), KntCmb-Knock%(17), HO:Nucle(17)
Level 16: Ionize -- HO:Membr(A)
Level 18: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Metabolic Acceleration -- PreOptmz-Acc/Rech(A), PreOptmz-EndMod/End(40), PreOptmz-EndMod/Rech(43), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/End(43), PreOptmz-EndMod/Acc/Rech(43), PreOptmz-EndMod/End/Rech(46)
Level 22: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(23), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46)
Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(25), ShlWal-Def(25), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(27)
Level 26: Beta Decay -- HO:Enzym(A)
Level 28: Atom Smasher -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(40)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(31), LucoftheG-Def(46)
Level 32: Thunderous Blast -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Dam/End(33), Artl-Dam/Rech(33), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(33), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(34), Artl-End/Rech/Rng(34)
Level 35: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(36), Rct-Def/EndRdx(36), Rct-ResDam%(36)
Level 38: Positronic Fist -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(39), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(40)
Level 41: Tesla Cage -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(42), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Positron Cell -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(45), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45)
Level 47: Radioactive Cloud -- SprEnt-Acc/Hold(A), SprEnt-Hold/Rchg(48), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End(48), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End/Rchg(48), SprEnt-Rchg/AbsorbProc(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Quick Form
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
------------

[csr]

Thanks.  That's an interesting build.  The DPS isn't great either ST or AOE, but the survivability is excellent.  I may give it a try (with some power shuffling).  Separating the control and DPS is the only thing I don't like about the build.  But then I switched to Ice / Atom mostly to boost ST DPS with the controls naturally mixed into the ST attack chain.  So maybe now that I have that toon, differentiating the Elect / Atom with something close to what you have here will be a good change.  (This build will actually play a bit like my DP / MM though.)

[csr]

21 hours ago, Nemu said:

I find the single target capabilities in /fire lackluster, especially when paired with electric blast, which is known to suffer in the single target dps department. In general I think /fire is overhyped. Yeah AoE damage is nice but that much AoE is overkill, and if you want to be a real tank mage make an /elec, but I digress...

 

If you didn't like the long animation times on Atom Smasher you probably don't like the cast on short circuit either. But don't let those long animations stop you from having a good time!😁

 

I'm not a big fan of /Fire myself.  What wore me down on the Elect / Atom wasn't 1 or 2 slow activating powers, it was that pretty much everything other than Ball Lightning was average to slow, with all the melee attacks (ST or AoE) being in the slow category.

[Nemu]

I don't scrutinize over dps too much with blasters, I know I'll defeat stuff just fine because even hover blasters are viable, so I'm absolutely confident that shooting AND punching stuff in the face will get the job done. If I wanted an apex DPS build I certainly wouldn't do it the way that I did, and while such blaster builds might shave off a min or two off the pylon test solo that rarely comes into play in real life against multiple adds with defense and other debuffs. I'd much rather see a blaster solo +4/8 Nictus ambush than post a sub 3 min time on pylon tests.

 

Or perhaps you are talking about the DPA and animation times which contributes to lower DPS, well you knew what you signed up for when you paired these two power sets. I just make the most of it and make do with what I have. I have a fire/elec and an elec/fire and if I thought about dps each time I hopped on the latter I would have stopped playing it a long time ago, sometimes you just gotta take what you have and enjoy the moment😃

[Krazie Ivan]

1 hour ago, Nemu said:

much rather see a blaster solo +4/8 Nictus ambush

tee-hee
<.<
>.>
;D

[Nemu]

Did that on my DP/MA, just sorta happened when my teammates all fell, no barrier, no rune of protection, Just scorp shield, a pair of guns, panda kicks and my blaster-fu.

 

That was one of my finer moments.

 

Then the next mission two trash romans defense cascaded me for the boss to whack me dead while I was stuck in animation... That made me a saaaad panda.

 

That boss did not live to tell his tale...