What is the best secondary for Empathy?

[00Troy00]

I understand that "best " is relative, but I'd appreciate any and all viewpoints (especially if you can tell me WHY you think a particular power is better).

[Linea]

Any.  I generally recommend Fire, Water, Ice.  Many like Emp/Sonic in particular.  I know one guy that used Emp/Energy to great effect.

Fire - Damage

Water - Utility

Ice - Utility and Holds, and Proc Builds.

Sonic - Debuff

Energy - KB/KD and Soloing.  Also Proc Builds.

DP - Proc Builds, and GunFu.

Beam - Single Target Damage and Style.

 

 

[Luigrein]

Seconding dark for team defense. In addition to the tohit debuffs you can immobilize enemies and stun the minions. It's no full on control set but taking even just the minions out of action is some decent damage prevention.

[Psylenz0511]

59 minutes ago, Linea said:

Any.  I generally recommend Fire, Water, Ice.  Many like Emp/Sonic in particular.  I know one guy that used Emp/Energy to great effect.

Fire - Damage

Water - Utility

Ice - Utility and Holds, and Proc Builds.

Sonic - Debuff

Energy - KB/KD and Soloing.  Also Proc Builds.

DP - Proc Builds, and GunFu.

Beam - Single Target Damage and Style.

 

 

 

My suggestion is to go energy. With the new proc builds, it will save on slotting recharge and make hitting permahasten easier. More recharge more hasten, more fortitude, more auras, faster heals. Of course you will need to invest in KB>KD invention origin and Force Feedback +recharge procs in your  energy blast to complete the team focused build. Kudos for blasting on your empath. It will help your team no matter which secondary you choose. Energy blast for a better team build is my vote

[Doomguide2005]

On 7/16/2021 at 12:56 PM, Linea said:

Any.  I generally recommend Fire, Water, Ice.  Many like Emp/Sonic in particular.  I know one guy that used Emp/Energy to great effect.

Archery - inherent accuracy, t9 low base recharge

Assault Rifle - haven't tried since recent buffs.  Tend to think of it as a thematic choice (combat medic)

Dark - CC attacks (AoE immob, kb and stun), several cone attacks, procs

Electric - sapping attacks, ranged nuke

Psychic - inherent range boost, often poorly resisted (but may be heavily resisted by some)

Radiation - proc builds

Fire - Damage

Water - Utility

Ice - Utility and Holds, and Proc Builds.

Sonic - Debuff

Energy - KB/KD and Soloing.  Also Proc Builds.

DP - Proc Builds, and GunFu.

Beam - Single Target Damage and Style.

 

 

Added to @Linea's comments to keep them all in one "spot"

[DreadShinobi]

Plant/Emp - Seeds of Confusion control and clear speed package, Roots/Creepers proc dmg

Ill/Emp - Phantom Army, Spectral Wounds burst, single confuse.

Grav/Emp - singularity passive mob control, wormhole accelerates mob initiation, Lift/Propel damage.

 

Controller ancillaries are straight up better than defenders

Psionic - perma personal mez protection, psionic tornado forcefeedback procs help your fortitude, RAs, AB rchg faster. WoC good set bonuses/confuse stacking.

Primal Forces - 50% uptime powerboost

Stone - Fissure forcefeedback procs for long empathy cooldowns, Seismic Smash burst damage, hold stacking.

Mace - Poisonous Ray - 38.75% res debuff with achilles heel for AVs

 

Containment, proc dmg, pet dmg, confuse dmg, ancillary attacks, and mob lockdown keeps controller damage on par with defenders, and the utility of the archetype puts them ahead for an empathy character. The defender archetypal buff modifiers aren't all that helpful for empathy - Both RAs, AB, and rez are unaffected. CM difference is null. Heal difference is minor or overheal. Fortitude receives the only true benefit of defender modifiers. The Controller will likely have higher uptime on RAs, AB, and Fort.