/Time or /Atomic advice

[senseichen]

Are there any guess it advice on how /Time and /Atomic play? I want a good recharge secondary for Ice, with a hold.

 

/Time has no damage on the control powers, which makes the Hold seem weak compared to other sets. But it kind of gets Mag 4 for a bit with Time Wall. How does Delayed work in practice? Does /Time have a control feel?

 

/Atomic Hold damage is weak compared to Freeze Ray, which made me a little sad. And I'm unclear on how to use Beta Decay. Do you mostly use this solo? That taunt seems rough for some extra recharge. Is the AE hold later any good?

 

Which is more control oriented? Thematically, I prefer Time, but don't have a good feeling for the set just looking at the powers. I got one too level 6 this morning, but not having damage on the early secondaries felt weak and made it hard to judge.

[Nihil]

Haven't done /Atomic but hear you got to be really willing to hang out in the melee mosh pit. I have a /temporal at 38 and skipped the holds focusing on the recharge and sustain powers, but it has insane recharge. I have started referring to it as a Speed Lird he attacks so fast with DP.

[Gone]

From my time playing... Time, I've found the controls to be the least useful part of the set.  It has a nice PBAoE (End of Time) that adds well into an AoE attack chain, Temporal Healing is good like many of the sustain powers, Future Pain is a worthwhile melee attack, and Time Lord is a great recharge buff.  The single target hold (Time Stop) is fine for stacking with other holds (or with your epic pool hold if it has one).  Generally the rest is kind of skippable unless you're really trying to be controllerish.  I would suggest this powerset if you want to focus on your primary more or want to dip into a lot of pool powers, or you really want to focus hard on recharge.

 

Atomic is very strong. Positron Cell is also a fine hold for stacking. Beta Decay is useful especially if you are an up-close kind of blaster, but if you aren't you can just leave it on for a recharge boost, you don't have to have anything in range to get the first 10% or so, and I would say if you are playing atomic it is a must pick, and in teams I do not notice any taunt effect, but you don't want to jump in first just like usual. Metabolic Acceleration is probably one of the best sustain powers as it has some (admittedly soft) mez protect. Atom Smasher is a comparable PBAoE to the /Time one and fits well in any AoE chain (better with Beta Decay!).  Positronic Fist is very good, think Total Focus. The rest is skippable.

 

Those are my experiences with them, hope it helps.

[Tremalion]

I have a Energy/Atomic that I adore. The secondary is strong: Metabolic Acceleration does the job of two powers for the price of one. Radioactive Cloud's hold is fast to execute and is up often, and you can stack it with Positron Cell to shut down a boss. Always a good tool to have.

 

Beta Decay's taunt is a non-issue while solo and I have found it surprisingly usable even in large groups while coupled with the AoE hold or a KB->KD slotted Bonfire (I went Flame Mastery and highly recommend pairing it with /Atomic for that reason). Atom Smasher's size is a tad smaller than I would like but is still worth using once I have my CC established and can just sit in melee alternating it and Explosive Blast (also KB->KD slotted), while I debuff them and leech recharge with Beta Decay. I don't use the other melee attacks but they seem like quality picks if you want them, and Gamma Burst is a funny but largely unnecessary interaction that you can use or safely ignore at your preference.

 

I agree that /Atomic strongly incentivizes getting in the middle of a crowd. If you like that and can do it reasonably safely, it's a great secondary. I have found Energy/Atomic/Flame very powerful, with high recharge, great damage and a strong sub-emphasis on control effects. If you want to hang out safely at range, /Time is probably a better choice since it is less concerned with your positioning.

[Seale]

the taunt of beta decay in /atom is a non-issue (is not really a taunt as you can see in his details of the skill), but it's true that you will end up playing that blaster more like a corruptor /time then anything else.

 

/Time Benefit

better survivability (abs is stupidly strong)

better average recharge (20% fixxed by timelord + 30% for 10 sec by chronos)

slightly better secondary pbaoe due to animation faster

 

/Atom Benefit

best achievable recharge amount vs multiple enemy due to possible (20% fixxed by metabolic accelleration + 0/100% by beta decay)

better hold (longer duration, faster animation)

slightly better buildup (ionize offer 100% damage compared to the 81.25 of chronos)

passive -hit/defense on 15 radius from beta decay

 

so really endup in your playstile : if you want consistency and better survivability go for /time, if you dont mind to toggle on and off beta decay while you travel and can survive without abs, go for atom.

 

small edit : just saw you mentioned ice as primary, would probably dont go for either one of those and pick tactical arrow for that

[earthaddy]

I started leveling a pistols/atomic and am around level 28. Seems pretty good so far. I slotted up positron cell for damage and it still holds just fine, while also being a very respectable part of a dps attack chain. That power is a completely way better version of the pistols suppressive fire, so I don't need that one. Hoping that atom smasher and radioactive cloud are as awesome as they appear. Between those and the pistol nuke, I'm hoping to destroy things up close and personal.

[senseichen]

Thanks everyone, this is good info.  I ended up going with /Atomic.  Trick Arrow does look like a good set with Ice/, but didn't really match thematically.  I don't have any trouble hanging out in melee, the original version of this guy was /Energy Blapper.  I'm still a little unclear on Beta Decay.  Do folks just leave it running the whole time like a defensive toggle and hope for the best?

 

I do wonder about the design on /Time, if the numbers on Pines are right.  16s recharge on a 10s hold for no damage with a long animation time, vs 15s for Plant/Atomic, with some damage.  I feel like they must be overvaluing the Mag 4 possibility.  But that's even shorter duration, and requires stacking a separate power anyway.

 

 

[Seed22]

Are there any guess it advice on how /Time and /Atomic play? I want a good recharge secondary for Ice, with a hold.

 

/Time has no damage on the control powers, which makes the Hold seem weak compared to other sets. But it kind of gets Mag 4 for a bit with Time Wall. How does Delayed work in practice? Does /Time have a control feel?

 

/Atomic Hold damage is weak compared to Freeze Ray, which made me a little sad. And I'm unclear on how to use Beta Decay. Do you mostly use this solo? That taunt seems rough for some extra recharge. Is the AE hold later any good?

 

Which is more control oriented? Thematically, I prefer Time, but don't have a good feeling for the set just looking at the powers. I got one too level 6 this morning, but not having damage on the early secondaries felt weak and made it hard to judge.

I'd go w/time. My Ice/Time has great control, perma hasten, and decent res to S/L/Cold. It ends up tanking mobs ahead of the actual tank and killing them before the rest of the group catches up