Question about whirlpool in Water Blast

[Shallak]

I'm toying around making a Water Blast/Super Reflexes character and wanted to stack AoE. But I noticed that Whirlpool has a fear effect that scatter them... but... I love the Whirlpool effect, I wanted to turn it red and pretend it's blood (Yeah concept). 

 

How do you use Whirlpool? any way to keep the fear in check? Or is it really a power to skip?

[oldskool]

If you've ever used a rain-style power before, then you'll know what to expect from Whirlpool.  Some people hate both cones and rain powers.  If that is you, then skip it.  

If you want, several epics/patrons have area immobilize powers that open up at level 35.  That should help to lock some enemies in place as Whirlpool damages them over time.  

[ZorkNemesis]

Most of the epic pools have an AoE immobilize that can help keep things from running away.  Knockdowns are also good, following up Whirlpool with a max-power Water Burst or Geyser will floor everything in the whirlpool for a moment (Geyser also stuns).  You can also mostly achieve this with a knockdown proc in Steam Spray (Overwhelming Force or Ragnarok have the procs) or in a PBAoE melee power if you take one in your epic pool (OF again or Avalanche).  I'd advise against putting a KD proc in Whirlpool itself since the nature of rain powers being pseudopets makes the proc fire far less often then you'd expect.

 

I personally skip 'rain' powers most of the time, including Whirlpool.  If I dom't have an effective means to control mobs within, it's hard to justify using it even for the Tidal Power.  They also suck at proccing and aren't as easy to slot if that's the sort of build you shoot for (still decent for full sets though like Bombardment or Artillery).

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by ZorkNemesis