Earth Blast

[Snarky]

is earth blast decent damage...?  is the nuke really ranged or is that another mids error (i heard it was pbaoe)

[Frozen Burn]

It does decent damage (smashing).  Fun set.  The nuke is ranged AOE - you call a meteor to fall in from the sky.  If you're outside and camera is far out enough, you can see it coming from the sky.  It's great!  lol

[Tahliah]

I rolled one, but I haven't gotten it past lvl 20-something (forget now, maybe 22ish?).  The set is weird in that it feels a bit like a troll set, at least at the early levels. This doesn't bother me since I run a lot of trolls, but it does feel off on a blaster.  I'm not sold on it yet (why she's only in her 20s), but the weird control-damage seems decent. 

 

I really like water blast if you are looking for a new blaster to run; good damage (really good damage when you slot / set it up), and just fun to play.  I haven't tried water/time, but I imagine that would be a good pairing (in fact, now I want to go roll one! heh).

[ForeverLaxx]

8 hours ago, Snarky said:

is earth blast decent damage...?  is the nuke really ranged or is that another mids error (i heard it was pbaoe)

Its nuke is like Rain of Arrows or Blizzard, though the delay is even longer than RoA is. That delay does line up pretty well with Upthrust's delay though so you can hit a spawn very, very hard with both attacks landing at the same time.

 

My only complaint really is that the set is less "rock blast" and more "rock wrap and shatter." The animations feel like control powers and it's an odd choice to me.

Edited February 20, 2022 by ForeverLaxx

[Hedgefund]

I'll call it "decent" damage.  The nuke delay results in a lot of corpse blasting on speed teams at low difficulties.  There are some neat tricks to play with the delay.  Timing Upthrust with it was just mentioned and you can even use an out of combat snipe which will go off around the time the meteor lands.

 

A nuance is not "spamming" Aim since it uses up your Seismic Shockwaves which are pretty cool to have.

 

Further, it has pretty decent procability, with most attacks having -def.

[Greycat]

12 hours ago, ForeverLaxx said:

My only complaint really is that the set is less "rock blast" and more "rock wrap and shatter." The animations feel like control powers and it's an odd choice to me.

 

Yeah, there's that. Talking it over with some friends (as I'm running one as a sort of off-main,) the best I can describe it is something like "earth summoning" - it doesn't feel "blast-y," at least to me. Fits the character well, though.

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, Greycat said:

 

Yeah, there's that. Talking it over with some friends (as I'm running one as a sort of off-main,) the best I can describe it is something like "earth summoning" - it doesn't feel "blast-y," at least to me. Fits the character well, though.

Yeah, I'm having more problems designing a costume and story than working with the set.

 

I farmed one to 50 and threw a bunch of Emps at it.  Now have everything tier 4 except Hybrid, opening that up soon.  (tier 4 crafted)  

 

The thing feels powerful but odd.  I am not mitigating KB, instead just pushing incarnate damage.  It will be some time before I get a good read on this set.  I do wish the animations were less controllery.  The Meteor animation is sick good.  It plays a lot like an electric blast to me, in fact I used that exact build set for set on it.  Well, i went Soul instead of Force, and i do appreciate the second cone which lines up nice with seismics cone.  

[High_Beam]

I am enjoying it even with the little quibbles about certain animations because its fun to hit people with rocks.  Its the most fun I've had with a Blaster since the old days on Freedom with my namesake Energy Blaster.

[ScarySai]

The mechanics are weird nonsense, but with procs and purples it's mid tierish.

 

Kind of wasted potential, but it be what it be.

[brasilgringo]

On 3/3/2022 at 6:59 PM, ScarySai said:

The mechanics are weird nonsense, but with procs and purples it's mid tierish.

 

Kind of wasted potential, but it be what it be.

In my experience it was exactly this.  Plus people not slotting KD into Meteor, because they like the LOLZ, is no so fun ...

[High_Beam]

On 3/5/2022 at 7:33 AM, brasilgringo said:

In my experience it was exactly this.  Plus people not slotting KD into Meteor, because they like the LOLZ, is no so fun ...

LOLZ are fun if they don't ruin the game.  I was fully looking at KB --> KD on that when I reached it.  I have friends who Tank so I am aware of their pain.

[Frozen Burn]

I have an Earth blaster and I also tank, and have had Meteor drops on my herds too... it's no big deal.  So what if the mobs are KB'd -- they're dead!  Maybe sometimes, there are a few stragglers that survive, but they're easily picked off by the blaster or teammates while the tank moves on to herd the next group -- which is what they should be doing -- finishing off stragglers isn't the tank's job.  Any tank or melee toon that can't use their "W" button to move on shouldn't be playing a melee toon.

 

[lemming]

Yea, with nukes, I'm not as anti-knockback, most stuff dies which is the point to grouping them.  And a well placed meteor is great.   My earth blaster tossed an extra KB in for extra fun.

[brasilgringo]

1 hour ago, Frozen Burn said:

I have an Earth blaster and I also tank, and have had Meteor drops on my herds too... it's no big deal.  So what if the mobs are KB'd -- they're dead!  Maybe sometimes, there are a few stragglers that survive, but they're easily picked off by the blaster or teammates while the tank moves on to herd the next group -- which is what they should be doing -- finishing off stragglers isn't the tank's job.  Any tank or melee toon that can't use their "W" button to move on shouldn't be playing a melee toon.

 

They weren't all dying when I was running +4/+8 missions in PI to test my IO'd, incarnated build.  And the scatter was a PITA, IMHO.  To each their own, I suppose, but I think it's nice to slot the KD if you play with others.

[Shred Monkey]

I'm playing up an earth/earth blaster right now.  I did no research at all before starting and just started playing (very unlike me).  So this evaluation has no maths behind it.  That said, I feel like at least in those early levels Rock Shards while boosted is really really strong.  Big damage, Big AoE, 100% knockdown, and it's pretty endurance efficient.  I use it as much as possible.  I think what makes it most fun is that it's got fast attacks.  Most attacks are under 2 seconds, so I can constantly "hit... move.... hit hit ... move... knockback hit hit ...move... etc."  With no long animations, I don't get stuck in one spot long enough to let my enemies close to melee.

 

I do have to say, that even after playing 32 levels, I'm still not 100% sure how seismic shockwave works. 

 

I wasn't really sure I was going to play this toon, but so far it's been very fun and relatively strong through the early levels.  

Edited March 11, 2022 by Shred Monkey

[Shred Monkey]

Just discovered neat trick with the Earth Blast set.   

 

As I mentioned earlier I really like using Rock Shards with seismic shockwave up... But how do I use Seismic Force to boost my Rock Shards attack without burning the seismic shockwave?  I was beginning to hate this set's "aim" power because there are times when it's up that I don't want to click it, but then I can't use it to boost my favorite power.  Solution?  Jump!  If I click seismic force while in the air, it doesn't burn shockwave because I'm in "grounded."  And Seismic Shockwave will still running when I land and click Rock Shards.

 

I absolutely love that this works.  Using a player skills based style is so much more fun than just relying on pure build power.  

 

(note: I'm starting to understand the mechanics of seismic shockwave now.)

[Redletter]

I boost the damage I get by slapping an achilles into pretty much everything. It procs pretty well, and if Achilles procs then it's OTHER benefits really start to shine. I havent got to building it on a normal sever, but wi *really* enjoy how punchy my rock/time blaster plays on the test server. The recharge is NUTS, to the point where Seismic Force taking away my shockwaves isnt even an issue, since I just get them back so quickly.

I personally skipped the nuke. I know, it's sacrelige. Especially fot me, a person who really enjoys the funny KB? My read on it so far is that it's a pretty ok nuke, but it takes forever to fucking land. I've died on solo runs in Dark Astoria before it even lands, and I imagine on teams youll be killing things too fast for the meteor to be worth it, over say, just go getting the temporary nuke power from that PVP zone. I know I'd rather have the extra powerslot from a PURELY mechanical standpoint.

It is a big fucking nuke though. I havent tested it, but if it doesnt break stealth THAT would make it a LOT better, since you could START a fight with it without pulling the baddies. Alternatively, if youre way tougher than I am, you could probably do some wacky shit with Meteor and Fold Space, havent tested that either. But! if the timing lines up, that could be a great way to get around the wait till the bombs land.

[Frozen Burn]

2 hours ago, Redletter said:

I boost the damage I get by slapping an achilles into pretty much everything. It procs pretty well, and if Achilles procs then it's OTHER benefits really start to shine. I havent got to building it on a normal sever, but wi *really* enjoy how punchy my rock/time blaster plays on the test server. The recharge is NUTS, to the point where Seismic Force taking away my shockwaves isnt even an issue, since I just get them back so quickly.

I personally skipped the nuke. I know, it's sacrelige. Especially fot me, a person who really enjoys the funny KB? My read on it so far is that it's a pretty ok nuke, but it takes forever to fucking land. I've died on solo runs in Dark Astoria before it even lands, and I imagine on teams youll be killing things too fast for the meteor to be worth it, over say, just go getting the temporary nuke power from that PVP zone. I know I'd rather have the extra powerslot from a PURELY mechanical standpoint.

It is a big fucking nuke though. I havent tested it, but if it doesnt break stealth THAT would make it a LOT better, since you could START a fight with it without pulling the baddies. Alternatively, if youre way tougher than I am, you could probably do some wacky shit with Meteor and Fold Space, havent tested that either. But! if the timing lines up, that could be a great way to get around the wait till the bombs land.

 

Yes, you should test Meteor to see if you like it or not.  

 

No, Meteor does not break stealth.  In fact, your stealth is not broken unless 1) something survives - so if all are dead, you keep your stealth; 2) if something does survive, your stealth doesn't break until AFTER the mobs get up and they have to hit you with an attack, or you attack.  Tested this in open RWZ on even con and +3 Rikti mobs (without a drone, b/c they have high perception).

 

Even when I only used Meteor and there were a couple boss and LT survivors on the +3 mob, even though my stealth was not broken - they could not hit me b/c of my defenses and I did not attack - they were still aggroed on me and knew where I was.  However, I could run to the next mob and the new mob did not aggro because I was still stealthed.  

 

As for timing of the Meteor - yes, it's best as an alpha strike.  Launch it, then you can get 2-3 more attacks (preferably AOEs) in before it hits.  Obviously, your next attack will break stealth so you need to survive a couple volleys until the Meteor hits.  But this just makes one HUGE instant strike to completely devastate mobs and typically, mobs are dead (even +4s) after the Meteor strike (as I've stated above, this mostly makes the KB issue a NON-issue).  

 

Also after launching your Meteor, you can use those next 2-3 attacks in the few secs you have to help pull in outlying mobs into the Meteor blast zone.  The Meteor puts a shadow on the ground where it will hit showing you where to pull to.  Sometimes (not always), you can get a couple outlying mobs to get hit as well.  

 

When on a team, it's like Rain of Arrows in that you have to think ahead of the team and fire it early so it hits at the right time.  Not all like that.  Others are fine with it.  

 

I do encourage you to test to see if you like it or not.  

Edited March 12, 2022 by Frozen Burn

[Redletter]

10 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

Yes, you should test Meteor to see if you like it or not.  

 

No, Meteor does not break stealth.  In fact, your stealth is not broken unless 1) something survives - so if all are dead, you keep your stealth; 2) if something does survive, your stealth doesn't break until AFTER the mobs get up and they have to hit you with an attack, or you attack.  Tested this in open RWZ on even con and +3 Rikti mobs (without a drone, b/c they have high perception).

 

Even when I only used Meteor and there were a couple boss and LT survivors on the +3 mob, even though my stealth was not broken - they could not hit me b/c of my defenses and I did not attack - they were still aggroed on me and knew where I was.  However, I could run to the next mob and the new mob did not aggro because I was still stealthed.  

 

As for timing of the Meteor - yes, it's best as an alpha strike.  Launch it, then you can get 2-3 more attacks (preferably AOEs) in before it hits.  Obviously, your next attack will break stealth so you need to survive a couple volleys until the Meteor hits.  But this just makes one HUGE instant strike to completely devastate mobs and typically, mobs are dead (even +4s) after the Meteor strike (as I've stated above, this mostly makes the KB issue a NON-issue).  

 

Also after launching your Meteor, you can use those next 2-3 attacks in the few secs you have to help pull in outlying mobs into the Meteor blast zone.  The Meteor puts a shadow on the ground where it will hit showing you where to pull to.  Sometimes (not always), you can get a couple outlying mobs to get hit as well.  

 

When on a team, it's like Rain of Arrows in that you have to think ahead of the team and fire it early so it hits at the right time.  Not all like that.  Others are fine with it.  

 

I do encourage you to test to see if you like it or not.  

 

Oh I did test it. Like, it's a monster. But for me, I find myself just kinda like doing solo stuff and I personally prefer like... i play in such a way where im always engaged, but not necessarily doing what's mechanically the most engaging or optimal. For me, my patience is such that waiting for the nuke to drop has me going like "wahhhh im not having fun, my party already started! waaaaahhhh i want the birthday cake nooooooooow". It's why I dont really enjoy PLAYING kinetic melee outside of like, RP.

I just didnt test things that could make Meteor more immediately engaging for me on a personal level. It is good to know that it doesnt break stealth! That DOES make it more fun, since that means I can drop it on one mob group, engage another, and effectively "solo" two different, disparate mob groups (two birds with one stone🤔) or do what you suggested, pull a mob group INTO the meteor. In fact, this goes back to what I was thinking about with Fold Space. You could like... Fold space Group B to Group A, drop the meteor, then pull Group C so they run INTO the meteor zone -- call it the 3 for 1 special!

[Redletter]

On 3/11/2022 at 3:26 PM, Shred Monkey said:

Just discovered neat trick with the Earth Blast set.   

 

As I mentioned earlier I really like using Rock Shards with seismic shockwave up... But how do I use Seismic Force to boost my Rock Shards attack without burning the seismic shockwave?  I was beginning to hate this set's "aim" power because there are times when it's up that I don't want to click it, but then I can't use it to boost my favorite power.  Solution?  Jump!  If I click seismic force while in the air, it doesn't burn shockwave because I'm in "grounded."  And Seismic Shockwave will still running when I land and click Rock Shards.

 

I absolutely love that this works.  Using a player skills based style is so much more fun than just relying on pure build power.  

 

(note: I'm starting to understand the mechanics of seismic shockwave now.)

 

 

ACTUAL, LITERAL, GAME CHANGER(Calliin' this the Monkey Maneuver from now on...)

Edited March 13, 2022 by Redletter

[Bopper]

10 hours ago, Redletter said:

It is a big fucking nuke though. I havent tested it, but if it doesnt break stealth THAT would make it a LOT better, since you could START a fight with it without pulling the baddies

You're right. It's a 30' radius (instead of the typical 25'). It also won't notify the enemy until impact. Some (myself included) would use Meteor, then Upthrust (slow projectile), then Rock Shards. All 3 will hit at about the same time usually.

[Shred Monkey]

Does anyone have the math on how seismic pressure stacks affect recharge time?   I've not found it in my brief searching.  But from my empirical testing of just trying different attack chains in game with different recharge values, the effect is substantial.  Enough that I'm thinking I can drop hasten from my final build with no problems.  But I want to derive something from the hard numbers if anyone has them.

[Onlyasandwich]

2 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

how seismic pressure stacks affect recharge time

From city of data, as follows:

 

Meteor: -25 sec

Stalagmite: -2 sec

Tombstone: -3 sec

Upthrust: - 4 sec

Entomb: -2.7 sec

Rock Shards: -2 sec

Shatter: -1.7 sec

Encase: -1 sec

 

Honestly really good! For anything but the nuke, I think it would be sort of finicky to rely on this as a substitute for Hasten, but it is a significant effect, as you observed.

 

Even better since it's not a %, but a flat recharge reduction in seconds. This means it's taking off 50% or even more of the total recharge of a power if timing is right! The challenge then becomes not just timing the use of Seismic Force to make best use of this reduction, but also to leave yourself with enough shockwaves to trigger the effect in time again.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Onlyasandwich

[Shred Monkey]

16 hours ago, Onlyasandwich said:

From city of data, as follows:

 

Meteor: -25 sec

Stalagmite: -2 sec

Tombstone: -3 sec

Upthrust: - 4 sec

Entomb: -2.7 sec

Rock Shards: -2 sec

Shatter: -1.7 sec

Encase: -1 sec

 

Honestly really good! For anything but the nuke, I think it would be sort of finicky to rely on this as a substitute for Hasten, but it is a significant effect, as you observed.

 

Even better since it's not a %, but a flat recharge reduction in seconds. This means it's taking off 50% or even more of the total recharge of a power if timing is right! The challenge then becomes not just timing the use of Seismic Force to make best use of this reduction, but also to leave yourself with enough shockwaves to trigger the effect in time again.

 

Actually, I think what I'm seeing is that using each power reduces the cooldown of the others (by 1 second according to City of Data).... That fits what I'm seeing.  Thanks. 

 

[Onlyasandwich]

4 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

using each power reduces the cooldown of the others

That sounds really good too!

 

Do you have the CoD link for where you found this? I'd love to explore the behavior further. I'm making a seismic blaster as well and am evaluating the inclusion of hasten.

Perhaps each power just has it's own special value for reducing the cooldown of others (ie on the chart, casting meteor reduces all cooldowns by 25 sec, encase by 1 sec, etc).

Edited March 14, 2022 by Onlyasandwich