Why the fast recharge 1st blast power? Is it procs?

[Samhayne]

Hello Defenders 🙂

 

I've mostly played Blasters, Brutes and Tanks (and get to the low 40s and decide to re-roll a new concept, because alt-itis is strong!).  I have a concept for a support character using Nature/Archery.  I've been reading through the Defender builds that I can find on the forums and one thing stands out to me - most builds don't take the 2nd of the first two blast powers and slot the first, faster attack with like 3 thunderous blast I/O and then 2-3 procs.

I would have thought, with a ton of recharge, you might have been using the 2nd attack power and skipping the 1st attack power entirely.

 

Is the 1st power better DPA for some sets and then add the procs on top and that it's basically always up and so people just go with that one to fill in-between doing other things?  Looking back through the builds I've saved I see this with Ice and Fire sets.

Thanks in advance for helping my curiosity.

 

Also, if anyone has a Nature / Archery build they want to share, please do 🙂

 

[arcane]

12 minutes ago, Samhayne said:

Hello Defenders 🙂

 

I've mostly played Blasters, Brutes and Tanks (and get to the low 40s and decide to re-roll a new concept, because alt-itis is strong!).  I have a concept for a support character using Nature/Archery.  I've been reading through the Defender builds that I can find on the forums and one thing stands out to me - most builds don't take the 2nd of the first two blast powers and slot the first, faster attack with like 3 thunderous blast I/O and then 2-3 procs.

I would have thought, with a ton of recharge, you might have been using the 2nd attack power and skipping the 1st attack power entirely.

 

Is the 1st power better DPA for some sets and then add the procs on top and that it's basically always up and so people just go with that one to fill in-between doing other things?  Looking back through the builds I've saved I see this with Ice and Fire sets.

Thanks in advance for helping my curiosity.

 

Also, if anyone has a Nature / Archery build they want to share, please do 🙂

 

You can’t skip the first power in your secondary and most blast T1’s/T2’s aren’t good enough that you necessarily want both.

 

That said, loading your T1 with procs is bad proc fu regardless. Disregard those builds.

Edited February 1, 2022 by arcane

[Mezmera]

The t1 blasts you should be slotting for bonuses.  They are decent attacks slotted with fine dpa and mostly filler attacks waiting for some of your better later ones to recharge.  

[Onlyasandwich]

All of the above, basically!

 

It's not always a dumb idea to proc out a t1 attack, though. On my Nature/ice Defender, for example, I have decent slot flexibility, and get a reasonable damage return on dropping extra procs in the T1. It's not as optimal as the big hitters, but if you have the slots to spare damage is damage.

[Samhayne]

Cool, thanks for the feedback 🙂

[oedipus_tex]

While it's not necessarily always ideal to slot the T1 attack this way, a key to end game Defenders is remembering you can split the ATO that provides +10 Recharge between two different attacks and net a total +20 Recharge from it. For some builds, putting 3 of the slots in the T1 attack is a good idea.

[Onlyasandwich]

1 hour ago, oedipus_tex said:

putting 3 of the slots in the T1 attack

Very good advice! I do this in basically 99% of my builds these days. I don't put the part with the absorb proc in the T1 though, as that is more valuable in a more proc-worthy power.

 

 

[Samhayne]

2 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

While it's not necessarily always ideal to slot the T1 attack this way, a key to end game Defenders is remembering you can split the ATO that provides +10 Recharge between two different attacks and net a total +20 Recharge from it. For some builds, putting 3 of the slots in the T1 attack is a good idea.

 

Do you have a sample build you could post that does that?  I'm not sure I 100% follow.  I _think_ I do, but mebbe not 🙂

[Samhayne]

I found an example, although a Corruptor, but it has 3 of the ATOs slotted in 2x different powers to get the +10% recharge in both
 

 

[arcane]

1 minute ago, Samhayne said:

I found an example, although a Corruptor, but it has 3 of the ATOs slotted in 2x different powers to get the +10% recharge in both
 

 

And on MM’s they have one that gives you 10% on the 2nd slot so you slot 2 in 3 different powers for easy +30%.

[MoonSheep]

On 2/1/2022 at 7:54 PM, Mezmera said:

The t1 blasts you should be slotting for bonuses.  They are decent attacks slotted with fine dpa and mostly filler attacks waiting for some of your better later ones to recharge.  

 

i’m not sure i agree about the DPA part, my T1 sonic attack is as effective as batting enemies away with my hands 😛 “stop doing crime plz”

[Mezmera]

5 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

 

i’m not sure i agree about the DPA part, my T1 sonic attack is as effective as batting enemies away with my hands 😛 “stop doing crime plz”

 

Most t1 attacks are okay dpa.  A few aren't such great dpa thanks to their animation needing to exaggerate making noises with their mouth to over emphasize they aren't using their inside voice. 

 

But you do carry some wicked debuff with all that screaming which allows your teammates to tell the baddies to stop doing crime plz with just being able to flip them the bird.