Most damaging single target secondary w/o an annoying side effects?

[KaizenSoze]

Looking for player experience with blaster secondaries. In particular, the single target damage.

 

I would guess Energy because of the heavy melee attacks, but time and electric also have nice melee attacks. But for instance, electric has random knockbacks in some attacks, which is annoying.

 

Opinions?

[ZorkNemesis]

/dark and /ice.  Dark has two of the highest DPA melee attacks in the game, Smite and Midnight Grasp and Soul Drain is a great way to boost their power further (SD with Fury of the Gladiator -Res proc is nasty).  Soul Drain is capable of providing more damage boost than standard Build Up if you're in a large enough group and it lasts longer.

 

On the other hand, Ice offers Ice Sword with another solid DPA but more importantly Freezing Touch which has a lot of damage up front and can be proc'd to hell by nature of it also being a hold.  There are more than six enhancements with damage procs that can go into it, and it can accept three Superior procs (Hecatomb, Unbreakable Constraint, and Blaster's Wrath).  /Ice also has traditional Build Up, which is easier to use than Soul Drain and can easily be backed up with the Gaussian's Build Up proc.  Keep in mind though, Build Up won't increase proc damage, but -res debuffs will.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by ZorkNemesis

[Onlyasandwich]

Electric wins the game if you're looking at it from a "highest possible DPA single target attacks" perspective.

 

Comparing to /Energy, Charged Brawl and Energy Punch are neck and neck. Bone Smasher and Havoc are neck and neck. However, Shocking Grasp is the true differentiator, as it does great base damage and has amazing proc power for a super fast cast.

 

Dark is nice and Smite is good, but otherwise these attacks aren't approaching Elec for DPA, even when procced out. Soul Drain is of course very excellent in any case.

 

Earth Manipulation is something to consider as well. You have two very efficient attacks in Heavy Mallet and Seismic, alongside some useful control effects.

 

A lot of sets have one really stand-out melee power, and others that are serviceable. Electric is one of the few with two really outlier DPA powers and even a third that is solid.

 

Any KB Electric has is easily mitigated with IOs, and the trade is worth it for sure. If you pick up Havoc Punch, I wouldn't bother changing it to Knockdown - just smack 'em in the face and follow up with blasts. They'll die soon enough regardless.

 

[InvaderStych]

FWIW:

 

The triple Superior Proc trick also works in either Echo Chamber, Deafening Wave, or Earsplitter (which hits like a truck full of trucks to start with) from /Sonic.

 

/Sonic is ... quirky in other ways, like the -Res toggle dropping when a minion or underling so much as casts a glance in your general direction, but still a somewhat under-rated set imo.

 

Not calling it a contender against /Elec, /Dark, or /Nrg for single target damage output though, just putting the info out there.

[1seanv23]

For single target damage my guess is /energy and /elec are the two best for burst damage. With a blaster I'd be more interested in dps with the primary, and burst for the secondary - if damage was my primary goal with the blaster.

 

I've heard nothing but good things about /elec and am considering rolling one, but I know my Fire/Em destroys.