Energy/Atomic? Does it Blap?

[SwankyBuld]

Firstly, I am finally going to make my first blaster. I have made many sentinels in the past and went with the “meta” powers such as fire blast, ice blast and water blast. I really want to make an energy blaster and I know the problem with KB so I am already planning on putting KB-KD procs to not bother team mates. I love the idea of energy blast and especially the sound and effects. I was thinking of pairing it with /atomic for more pbaoe damage because I intend on being in melee all the time. Does anyone have a build or have any suggestions?

[Hjarki]

Not very well. Energy Blast is a middle-of-the-road damage set and if you're planning to enter melee, you have to slather Knockback reduction all over the place in your powers so you're not constantly chasing enemies everywhere. Atomic has its virtues, but high impact melee damage isn't one of them.

 

Also, generally Blapping works well for ST damage and not so much for AE effects. Blasters simply don't get the kind of defenses that can withstand being attacked by large crowds. Normally you can expect to soft-cap Renged or maybe Smashing/Lethal/Energy/Ranged, but without status protection. As a result, most of the best Blapper builds I see (those designed for play rather than fire farms or pylon tests) are 'hybrid' builds that can operate completely at range but can also close on a single target to deal more damage if it's safe enough - and they often make it 'safe enough' with stacking Holds/Disorients.

 

For example, consider something like Sonic/Ninja/Soul. You can happily blast away from range, or briefly dip into melee for your ultimate. But if you do decide to square off against that one enemy where you want maximum damage, you can bring Sting of the Wasp and Golden Dragonfly into play (with the two purple procs they have) while keeping bosses constantly disoriented with Screech + Oppressive Gloom.

[SwankyBuld]

Got it. Do you think the atomic aoes are not up to par? I assumed the pbaoe was decent because and can be used pretty often. I also heard that with the recharge proc, energy can have its nova every 30 seconds or so

[Hjarki]

1 hour ago, SwankyBuld said:

Got it. Do you think the atomic aoes are not up to par? I assumed the pbaoe was decent because and can be used pretty often. I also heard that with the recharge proc, energy can have its nova every 30 seconds or so

As I noted, PBAoE on a Blaster is... questionable. It's one thing to use a PBAoE and annihilate every minion (and perhaps even the lieutenants) in a spawn in an eyeblink. It's quite another to stand in the middle of a large crowd mildly wounding them over time.

 

Probably the only Assault set PBAoE I think is really worth it is would be Burst of Speed - because it's basically a second ultimate (especially with procs). You can Aim/Gaussian's, triple tap it, and do enormous amounts of damage in a big burst. It's still riskier than something like Inferno, but it will clear out the room.

 

You also have to consider that most PBAoE from Assault sets just isn't very good. Atom Smasher, at +200% recharge, deals 8.22 dps against 10 targets within 10 yards. Water Burst at the same recharge would deal 9.62 dps against 16 targets within 15 yards - and does so from across the room.

 

Now, if your expectation is that you'll always have the perfect Tanker taking the aggro, be backed up by Defenders buffing you, or never leave the fire farm (or similarly content where it's easy to build comprehensive defenses), then feel free to invest in those PBAoE. But for general content? Leaping into that crowd is a glorified form of suicide.

 

Single target is different:

• Many of the melee attacks are legitimately quite a bit stronger than the ranged attacks they replace in your rotation.
• It's a lot easier for a Tanker to control a single target than a crowd.
• Against non-AV/GM, you can use Disorients/Holds/debuffs to ensure your single target isn't fighting back.

It's also worth noting that fighting large spawns without a taunt can be a major nuisance, especially with small radius attacks.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Hjarki