Thermal/Ice or Elec/Elec

[Arcadian-Prime]

Hey all,

 

Going to start leveling a Defender with some friends. 3-4 of us in the group. Want to invest in a Defender that is good for a smaller group like this, but will also be great for endgame content like iTrials/Aeon/ stuff like that.

 

I've narrowed it down to either Thermal/Ice or Elec/Elec. Between those 2, are there any suggestions?

[oedipus_tex]

Either of these is going to be great.

 

Thermal helps more with downing AVs so if that's on the agenda I'd lean that way.

 

Electric's drains work well when other team members also have Electric powers, so if someone else has an end crashing ability it might be an option.

[ZorkNemesis]

I'm biased but I love my Thermal/Ice.  Solid team support, strong late-game debuffs, and ice is an offensive powerhouse that can also aid in damage mitigation with the slows it provides.  Whenever I end up on a smaller team that's struggling, I often suggest swapping to this defender as a means of getting things back on track.  Once i'm back on the scene we stop dying and everything else starts melting, or freezing in my case.

[Arcadian-Prime]

51 minutes ago, ZorkNemesis said:

I'm biased but I love my Thermal/Ice.  Solid team support, strong late-game debuffs, and ice is an offensive powerhouse that can also aid in damage mitigation with the slows it provides.  Whenever I end up on a smaller team that's struggling, I often suggest swapping to this defender as a means of getting things back on track.  Once i'm back on the scene we stop dying and everything else starts melting, or freezing in my case.

Sold!!! 😂 I did like how much that power pair seemed to bring to the table.  I’m sure there is some build here on the forums I can use as a base.

[thorasaurus]

I am preferential to elec/elec for small group or itrials both. I have enough drain and -regen and absorbs for my team to handle anything.

 

Amp up will also give everyone on your team power boost. You get all the resist of thermal and all the heal of thermal plus end refills, recharge and you become an absolute tank 

[StriderIV]

7 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

I'm biased but I love my Thermal/Ice.  Solid team support, strong late-game debuffs, and ice is an offensive powerhouse that can also aid in damage mitigation with the slows it provides.  Whenever I end up on a smaller team that's struggling, I often suggest swapping to this defender as a means of getting things back on track.  Once i'm back on the scene we stop dying and everything else starts melting, or freezing in my case.

I just started running Zork’s Therm/Ice and it is as advertised.

[StriderIV]

3 hours ago, thorasaurus said:

I am preferential to elec/elec for small group or itrials both. I have enough drain and -regen and absorbs for my team to handle anything.

 

Amp up will also give everyone on your team power boost. You get all the resist of thermal and all the heal of thermal plus end refills, recharge and you become an absolute tank 

I do hear that Elec/Elec can do amazing things, especially in organized teams.

[thorasaurus]

On 3/29/2022 at 2:42 AM, StriderIV said:

I do hear that Elec/Elec can do amazing things, especially in organized teams.

I usually tell people to stay under my bubble for status resist and end drain resist and then I stay a little bit behind melee. I try to avoid running off to support solo cowboys on teams as any defender regardless.

 

Usually people see everyone with constantly full endurance bars near me and figure it out. 🙂

[Ankhammon]

If you go elec/elec then try out the Energy Manipulator stun proc. I found it helps quite a bit overall.

 

Also, throwing in a performance Shifter +end proc into Short Circuit makes the power cost very low endurance per blast.

[Voltak]

On 3/28/2022 at 5:34 PM, Arcadian-Prime said:

Hey all,

 

Going to start leveling a Defender with some friends. 3-4 of us in the group. Want to invest in a Defender that is good for a smaller group like this, but will also be great for endgame content like iTrials/Aeon/ stuff like that.

 

I've narrowed it down to either Thermal/Ice or Elec/Elec. Between those 2, are there any suggestions?

Elec/Elec Defender is S tier support, at the top echelon, easily.  
The resists , the mez protection, endurance drain resistance that you provide to the team, providing absorb shields to the team, you boost the recharge speed of your team and yourself, the endurance boost (helping fill up the endurance bar for all of you) and the power boost like buff in Amplify , the damage reduction debuff that you apply to enemies... 

Is is super good.  Electric Affinity is a masterful creation by the Developers, it is a 10 out of 10. 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Voltak

[Arcadian-Prime]

On 5/10/2022 at 5:22 AM, Voltak said:

Elec/Elec Defender is S tier support, at the top echelon, easily.  
The resists , the mez protection, endurance drain resistance that you provide to the team, providing absorb shields to the team, you boost the recharge speed of your team and yourself, the endurance boost (helping fill up the endurance bar for all of you) and the power boost like buff in Amplify , the damage reduction debuff that you apply to enemies... 

Is is super good.  Electric Affinity is a masterful creation by the Developers, it is a 10 out of 10. 

 

 

 

Would you rank it over Thermal/Ice?

 

[Voltak]

45 minutes ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

Would you rank it over Thermal/Ice?

 

ON a purely buffing set, way way way OVER thermal/ice.  

On a hybrid of buffing/debuffing, no.  

Electric does not have the debuffs like thermal. 

On ability to solo , again, WAY over, elec affinity wins 

[Arcadian-Prime]

8 minutes ago, Voltak said:

ON a purely buffing set, way way way OVER thermal/ice.  

On a hybrid of buffing/debuffing, no.  

Electric does not have the debuffs like thermal. 

On ability to solo , again, WAY over, elec affinity wins 

Thanks Voltak. I would THINK Thermal/Ice would solo better, since it has debuffs and Elec does not. So I appreciate this. Would you say Elec/Elec is much harder to drive than Thermal/Ice?

 

Lastly, I see you have a lot of experience with the difficult content in the game. Which of these combos do you think does better in said content like iTrials, Aeons, 801's, etc?

Edited May 12, 2022 by Arcadian-Prime

[Voltak]

1 hour ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

Thanks Voltak. I would THINK Thermal/Ice would solo better, since it has debuffs and Elec does not. So I appreciate this. Would you say Elec/Elec is much harder to drive than Thermal/Ice?

 

Lastly, I see you have a lot of experience with the difficult content in the game. Which of these combos do you think does better in said content like iTrials, Aeons, 801's, etc?

Soloing better has everything to do with keeping yourself alive under the most difficult setting possible and variations of difficulty from there down to easiest. 

ELec Affinity wins hands down

You are extremely hard to kill 

Watch the video I made so you can find out why. Elec affinity has more instruments to help you solo under greater challenges. 

To answer your other question -- 

Again, for pure buffing. Elec affinity will do better 

For pure debuting thermal will do better

801s, my AE challenges, iTrials, Master ITF 54x8 and so on 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Voltak

[Arcadian-Prime]

7 minutes ago, Voltak said:

Soloing better has everything to do with keeping yourself alive under the most difficult setting possible and variations of difficulty from there down to easiest. 

ELec Affinity wins hands down

You are extremely hard to kill 

Watch the video I made so you can find out why. Elec affinity has more instruments to help you solo under greater challenges. 

To answer your other question -- 

Again, for pure buffing. Elec affinity will do better 

For pure debuting thermal will do better

801s, my AE challenges, iTrials, Master ITF 54x8 and so on 

Thank you. Do you have an Elec/Elec build you wouldn't mind sharing? Could be interesting after the Shock changes. 

 

Follow up: some people say Elec Affinity is "busy." Would you say it is tough to pilot?

[Voltak]

16 minutes ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

Thank you. Do you have an Elec/Elec build you wouldn't mind sharing? Could be interesting after the Shock changes. 

 

Follow up: some people say Elec Affinity is "busy." Would you say it is tough to pilot?

Once you practice and learn and your skill set increases , the "busy" idea will go away.  It will be a "reaction".  You will start to play following patterns, your experience will help you to just react and press some sequence and get it over with.  Then you move on and repeat.  

That's what happens to me. 

I know elec affinity so well that I have a sequence I do and then move on. 

[Voltak]

20 hours ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

Thanks Voltak. I would THINK Thermal/Ice would solo better, since it has debuffs and Elec does not. So I appreciate this. Would you say Elec/Elec is much harder to drive than Thermal/Ice?

 

Lastly, I see you have a lot of experience with the difficult content in the game. Which of these combos do you think does better in said content like iTrials, Aeons, 801's, etc?

I just posted a brand new video, 5 man team, only two defenders, and 3 put dmg dealers. 
One Defender ELec Affinity to buff
One Poison Defender to debuff. 

[StriderIV]

10 minutes ago, Voltak said:

I just posted a brand new video, 5 man team, only two defenders, and 3 put dmg dealers. 
One Defender ELec Affinity to buff
One Poison Defender to debuff. 

Is there a link to your vids somewhere Vol?

 

I do remember you sharing a “general” Elec/Elec Defender build a while back. Would you say that is your standard, optimal build? 

[Voltak]

1 minute ago, StriderIV said:

Is there a link to your vids somewhere Vol?

 

I do remember you sharing a “general” Elec/Elec Defender build a while back. Would you say that is your standard, optimal build? 

 

Do you have the link for that build I posted ? 

I was gone from the game for a bit 

[StriderIV]

6 minutes ago, Voltak said:

 

Do you have the link for that build I posted ? 

I was gone from the game for a bit 

This is the one you shared last year:

 

 

[Voltak]

19 hours ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

Thank you. Do you have an Elec/Elec build you wouldn't mind sharing? Could be interesting after the Shock changes. 

 

Follow up: some people say Elec Affinity is "busy." Would you say it is tough to pilot?

Strider posted the build I shared last year. 
 Take a look. 

Thanks Strider. 

I was absent from the game for a while