Water Blast: What are some outstanding pairings?

[BuiltDifferent5]

Hey all,

 

I dig Water Blast. Seems to do a little bit of everything (Dmg, CC, healing), while just looking REALLY COOL.

 

All that being said, I’m not sure what I want to run it on/pair it with! I’m leaning either Corruptor or Defender. Some of the combos that caught my eye:

 

Water/Elec Affinity: Seems like a TOUGH and synergistic pairing. My only hesitation is I hear Elec Affin is very active, and that might not pair well with Water Blast?

 

Water/Cold: Seems like Water CAN be endurance heavy. Cold brings heat loss, to help with that. Cold also just brings really strong debuffs and seems to be in demand quite a lot for teams.

 

Water/Kin: I know Fire/Kin is the classic, but I’m leaning Water. I know I’ll lose damage, but should pick up some more control/safety. Like Cold, seems like most teams love having a Kin. Like Elec Affin though, I hear Kinetics is very active.

 

Water/Thermal: This seems like a cool thematic pairing. Therm is a nice mix of buffs and debuffs. I could see this combo being very endurance intensive though.

 

Water/Martial: I know this is a Blaster, but it’s just my random choice since it seems really cinematic haha

 

I’m open to ideas and suggestions though. Would you recommend any of the above pairs? Would you make it on a Defender or Corruptor?

 

Thanks in advance all!

[lemming]

One of my favorite Water combos is Water/Ninja on a blaster.

 

I do have a Cold/Water Defender that is pretty darn useful for debuffs and buffs.   Endurance isn't too bad once I got some sets in and with running Cardiac for my Alpha

[BuiltDifferent5]

37 minutes ago, lemming said:

One of my favorite Water combos is Water/Ninja on a blaster.

 

I do have a Cold/Water Defender that is pretty darn useful for debuffs and buffs.   Endurance isn't too bad once I got some sets in and with running Cardiac for my Alpha

Water/Ninja sounds like an awesome theme!

 

Yeah, Water/Cold on Cors or Defs seems strong across the boards.

[SeraphimKensai]

Water/bio sentinel works well.

Otherwise water/storm, elec affinity/water work well enough as well.

[BuiltDifferent5]

5 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Water/bio sentinel works well.

Otherwise water/storm, elec affinity/water work well enough as well.

Elec Affin/Water intrigues me. Nice to never have to worry about endurance haha. And I hear Elec Affin is great for end game stuff. Is it super busy though?

[TygerDarkstorm]

Just to throw it out there, Elec Aff is only as busy as Kin if you make it that way; most of Elec Aff's abilities do not need to be used on CD, especially as you get higher in level and people start managing their end better and such.

[BuiltDifferent5]

5 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Just to throw it out there, Elec Aff is only as busy as Kin if you make it that way; most of Elec Aff's abilities do not need to be used on CD, especially as you get higher in level and people start managing their end better and such.

I appreciate this Dark, as I’m still fairly new and not quite sure since it is a newer set!

 

I know some sets (like Kin and Cold) are stronger on Corruptors because there just isn’t much change in the set going from Def to Cor, so just go for more damage, right?

 

Is that the case with Elec Affinity at all? Is it better suited to one AT or the other?

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 hour ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

Is that the case with Elec Affinity at all? Is it better suited to one AT or the other?

That I, unfortunately, do not have a great answer for. 😅 I've seen it argued both ways, so I think it plays equally well on a defender or corruptor. Honestly, I think it was designed with MM's in mind, lol, as it really seems to be an MM friendly secondary. That said, it does still show up in hardmodes on Defs/Corrs, so user's choice?

 

I'm not a min/max elite player, but between those two blast AT's, I'd go Corr if you want that yummy scourge goodness whirlpool can bring, and do more damage in general. I'd go defender if I wanted to maximize the debuffs that Water has as well as focus more on playing Elec Aff vs. focus on blasting.

[tidge]

I have tons of fun with my Water Blast/Atomic Manipulation Blaster. This combo allows for Blapping, but it doesn't penalize for playing at range. I absolutely lurv that I could build this character without a %proc focus and just lean in hard to 'classic' slotting (albeit with Enhancement sets). With only slotting and set bonuses, I think the lowest Accuracy attack is at just under 180%... this character doesn't care how many Nemesis Vengeance get popped, or Moments of Glory are triggered, etc. Plus it's got two Build Up powers as well. As an aside, while leveling I had the Kismet +6% ToHit slotted in the always-on Infiltration, but since Water Blast doesn't have a Snipe and 'true' slotting leaves tremendous Accuracy it didn't stay in the level 50-build. The only thing it doesn't really excel at is debuffing without using attacks.... which is just fine by me.

 

I should disclose: the above build, as driven by *this* maniac (points at self), can/will be defeated when I'm being sloppy (at least 95% of the defeats) or when RNGesus demands sacrifice. It's why the build includes Epic Fire Mastery's Rise of the Phoenix. I didn't dedicate any additional slots to it however!

 

I am currently leveling up a Water Blast/Nature Affinity Corruptor... partially because I wanted to see how 'just' the primary plays. This build will be experimenting pretty hard with %damage in the attacks. At level 30, it can hold its own against even-level large spawns... it has done some PUGging against higher-level spawns, and as long as there is a single other teammate who is playing somewhat intelligently we've been able to hold off some very threatening spawns.

 

Neither build will use Water Jet, FWIW.

[tidge]

I forgot to answer this specifically:

4 hours ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

I’m open to ideas and suggestions though. Would you recommend any of the above pairs? Would you make it on a Defender or Corruptor?

 

I went Corruptor with the thinking that Water Blast tends to have some damage-over-time components, which I thought might play better with Scourge. I'm not sure I'm seeing this, but I am also not paying a lot of attention.

 

 

 

[Wimbochismo]

Since I've seen Force Fields coming up in the Def forums, I'll bring it up here. I have a FF/Water Def and the pairing works beautifully. The amount of knockdowns and knockup's is hilarious.

 

I take the selfish view of FF and single slot mule LotG in most of the powers. I fully slot Dispersion Bubble for my own defense (~12 Cor, ~15 Def) and Force Bomb as a proc bomb. You can easily softcap defense and proc the heck out of abilities.

 

With water's procability my Defender build has about 25 procs, and the Corrupter version 22 procs. Still with 45 ranged def, perma hasten, and group defense buffs up to 32 for Def and 25 for Cor.

 

On top of that it's a bubble theme...

[BuiltDifferent5]

19 minutes ago, Wimbochismo said:

Since I've seen Force Fields coming up in the Def forums, I'll bring it up here. I have a FF/Water Def and the pairing works beautifully. The amount of knockdowns and knockup's is hilarious.

 

I take the selfish view of FF and single slot mule LotG in most of the powers. I fully slot Dispersion Bubble for my own defense (~12 Cor, ~15 Def) and Force Bomb as a proc bomb. You can easily softcap defense and proc the heck out of abilities.

 

With water's procability my Defender build has about 25 procs, and the Corrupter version 22 procs. Still with 45 ranged def, perma hasten, and group defense buffs up to 32 for Def and 25 for Cor.

 

On top of that it's a bubble theme...

This sounds tasty. A lot of zone control as well. Do you prefer the Def or Cor version? I hear Water shines on Cors, but FF on Defenders.

 

Also, so you take power boost? I’m sure you can pump your defenses to crazy levels.

[Wimbochismo]

19 hours ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

This sounds tasty. A lot of zone control as well. Do you prefer the Def or Cor version? I hear Water shines on Cors, but FF on Defenders.

 

Also, so you take power boost? I’m sure you can pump your defenses to crazy levels.

 

 

I made a Def, but a Cor would still have higher damage. Since most of the dmg comes from procs though, it's not terribly different. It's up to stronger defense buffs or higher dmg, either would work great. There's not a huge difference the defense buffs give out, something like a 10 defense difference between the two?

 

I didn't bother with Power Boost and instead went Dark to proc out Dark Consumption and make managing end better. Super high defense is desirable, but when people get around 32 even on low defense builds, you only need like a 13 buff to make them hit 45. That's my own take on it, though.

[VashNKnives]

My trick arrow /water defender is one of my best offenders.

Edited May 19, 2023 by VashNKnives

[User]

I'm pretty new to water so I can't speak to outstanding, but I really like my water/super reflexes sentinel. 

[Psyonico]

I like Poison/Water.

 

Is it an outstanding combination? No, but it's got some nice synergy and by tinting the water the same color as your poison debuffs you can make it look like you're a poison blaster.

[BuiltDifferent5]

26 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

I like Poison/Water.

 

Is it an outstanding combination? No, but it's got some nice synergy and by tinting the water the same color as your poison debuffs you can make it look like you're a poison blaster.

Great idea. That is the cool thing about WB to me: with recoloring, it can fit so many themes. 

[Psyonico]

The other great thing about it is that it's got a self heal, which poison lacks.

[WindDemon21]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:23 PM, Psyonico said:

The other great thing about it is that it's got a self heal, which poison lacks.

Right, this self heal, in addition to all the aoe, is really the main reason when looking at water blast pairings IMO too. On blasters this works very well with secondaries that offer the absorb shield as opposed to regen, like water/ice, which is easily one of the all-time best pairings for water blast IMO.

 

On defender/corruptors, it fits very well with those non-heal focused support sets as well. I did a FF/water defender and that was just nuts between dehydrate and the 2 defender heal/absorb procs. Even more-so now that water jet won't lock out as that's your main proccer.

 

Likewise, also works well with sonic (though sonic res def needs some love), but also Cold, STORM is a big one, as is trick arrow as well. Poison though, well, it's still poison and REALLY badly need the TA treatment. For how awesome steam spray is, which is a cone, you really don't want to be in melee that much with water blast outside of maybe one main power to jump in, use, and jump back out with.

[BuiltDifferent5]

1 hour ago, WindDemon21 said:

Right, this self heal, in addition to all the aoe, is really the main reason when looking at water blast pairings IMO too. On blasters this works very well with secondaries that offer the absorb shield as opposed to regen, like water/ice, which is easily one of the all-time best pairings for water blast IMO.

 

On defender/corruptors, it fits very well with those non-heal focused support sets as well. I did a FF/water defender and that was just nuts between dehydrate and the 2 defender heal/absorb procs. Even more-so now that water jet won't lock out as that's your main proccer.

 

Likewise, also works well with sonic (though sonic res def needs some love), but also Cold, STORM is a big one, as is trick arrow as well. Poison though, well, it's still poison and REALLY badly need the TA treatment. For how awesome steam spray is, which is a cone, you really don't want to be in melee that much with water blast outside of maybe one main power to jump in, use, and jump back out with.

I’m so torn with pairing Water Blast with either Cold, FF or Storm haha.