Looking for advice on a storm/regen build

[Midnight Mystique]

So my Storm/Regen just hit 45 and I am on my way to L50 so I am working on a L50 build and while I have what looks like a decent build, I have a few questions that I hope some folks can answer

 

My current build goals are as follows:

1) Recharge to keep Cat5 up as much as possible
2) Resistances to take the edge off damage to buffer Instant regen's absorb and my overall regen. I chose to slot for resist instead of def as regen has at least some base resist in resilience but no def.
3) Mixing in as much non-cold damage as possible, which is why I took electric mastery and picked up paralyzing jolt which has ok damage plus  nice stun
4) otherwise slotting as much +hp, +regen and whatever def I can get without burning a ton of slots on it.

 

In general, I don't build with a lot of purples. I have a lot of alts (like, 100+ currently, about 15-20 at L50) and I don't do +4/x8 solo tough task force builds so in the past I haven't considered anything but the archetype sets worth picking up, as they cost about 8 mill a piece plus the cost of the catalyst to upgrade to superior (<= 1 mill, but I run enough L50+ raids with my current 50's that I get a lot in drops) vs the 14=16 mill cost for most other purples. However, I have been running a lot of hami raids lately (1-2 a day when I am playing) which are generating enough merits (120 per run) that have been picking 1-2 sets per new 50.

 

The recharge on my current build is just, possible even to much so what I am looking for at this point is suggestions on any tricks to squeeze out more resistance and feedback on a couple of build choices I made:

1) I can't decide if I am better off taking gust vs hailstones - while the second power is better damage, that plus cloudburst means most of my single target damage is cold dots. Gust does good damage in a storm cell and is smashing, so not sure which is best.
2) I am looking at taking lighting field (electricity mastery) in place of chain lightning for extra aoe - some of the feedback I have read on chain lightning is that the secondary damage is sub-par compared to the primary plus it doesn't proc well, which is ugly for an 18 end, 20 second recharge aoe.  

 

Mids gives me an exception when I try to do a forum export through build sharing, so I am just attaching my saved build:

 

MonsoonThunderL50respec.mbd

 

A last note on procs - I am not a huge fan of putting procs instead of enhancement sets that buff damage and give you a lot of set bonuses on AT with decent base damage. I will certainly include procs in enh sets that have them and add in the occasional extra proc, or proc out a low damage power like electric fences, but otherwise I am not big into them, which is good as the feedback I have seen on storm blast is that it sucks for procs.

 

Thanks for any advice

MMystique

 

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Midnight Mystique
forgot to mention procs

[Wimbochismo]

I know that it's been a month since your post but I only just got around to theorycrafting a Storm Blast. I also wanted to provide some information to the community that I found while pursuing a Storm Blast Sentinel.

 

One reason I went Sent is because it looks like Cat5 and Cell only differ slightly from other AT's. The debuff will only hit 10 targets instead of 16, same for the Cat5 "Eye Wall" dot. The "Lightning Aura 1, 2, 4" chain proc hits the same number of targets. The Cat5 "Cat 5 Lightning" hits 3 targets instead of 5. What ends up being more middle-of-the-road to good aoe on other AT's becomes pretty solid for Sent's. Especially considering you're firing off single target dmg to do aoe.

 

For your build, one thing you may struggle with is slow resistance. Without built in slow res or ranged defense to avoid some debuff's, your recharge could take a hit. Your decent resist's, regen's absorb and strong regen should cover a lot. But part of survival relies on Reconstruction heal being available, which is where recharge debuff's can hurt. This is just something to be aware of.

 

Chain Lightning, Jet Stream, and aoe Immobilizes are a bit more complicated. Here is my thought process. Chain Lightning is actually a single target attack. Highest dpa single target attacks are Lightning Strike > Cloud Burst > Chain Lightning > Gust = Hailstones. Yes it has a higher end cost but you also have additional recovery in Regen. Jet Stream is a cone and will only hit 6 targets, I would even prefer to drop Jet Stream over Chain Lightning if I had to.

 

As another advocate for picking an aoe Immob, I only occasionally see people mention that Cat5 has an avoid effect. The Cat5 "Eye Wall" has a +500 avoid on 10 targets. A 10 target aoe Immob could be invaluable here.

 

For your build, I would actually drop Lightning Field and Paralyzing Jolt. Lightning Field has an 8ft radius which is basically melee. You're fairly squishy and you might not get much mileage from it. Replace Paralyzing with Chain Lightning for better dpa and you use more Storm Blast powers. Chain Fences vs Electrifying Fences - it's down to radius vs dmg. Chain is 30ft radius while Electrifying is 10ft, but does more dmg. I'd prefer to herd mobs a bit before rooting and Cat5ing.

 

Use the free power pick and slots from Lightning Field to pursue some slow res or recharge/LotG mules. If I'm going Sent with an armor Secondary I like to try to hit perma Hasten just to make everything smoother. I'd also go Muscle Radial instead for the additional dmg, -tohit, +immob, and endred.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Wimbochismo