Leveling new Elect/Elect Blaster -What should I take/avoid?

[Bacon Wrangler]

I'm starting a new Elect/Elect blaster, and wanted to see which powers I should take and which to avoid? I have no problem with smacking something that gets too close in the face, but would rather shoot them before they get that close.

[WuTang]

*I am newb, so take that into account...

 

But...

 

I just did this as well, like literally last night. With a Black Lightning theme behind it and an old school funk R&B name. My plan, so far, and take this with a grain of salt is to boost Zapp (our snipe) to take out the heavy hitter from long range this often doesn't alert the minions. Then hit them with Ball Lightning (the AOE) a good hit should take them down pretty low. And them blap them into the ground with our melee.

I got him to 10 last night when this idea came to me. Now will it work? Who knows, but it'll be fun trying. Might need Combat Teleport cause if the AOE does it's job, they could scatter too quickly to make the ambush efficient. 

Also keep in mind that I tend to play on relatively easy mode unless I'm on one of my Brutes. When you're rolling solo a death is less funny.

Edited February 13 by WuTang

[WuTang]

Ha! Well I was really hoping people would hop on here with advice. I was planning on piggybacking this thread for info as well. 

 

@Bacon Wranglerwhat did you end up doing with your blaster? I'm actually having an easier time with ele/ele than I do with dark/dark. I've embraced the blapper life and it seems to suit this build. I try not to melee with looies or bosses though, using my cage to hold them at bay, unless I think that melee with finish them, then I joust them. What level have you gotten to and what powers have you taken?

Melee AOE is the stuff though. I'll LOS pull the mob around a corner to get them grouped up. Working pretty well. 

 

I haven't picked up hover, not sure I am. Thinking about taking Infiltration out of Concealment; it fits the character, in my mind, better. And I'm going teleport and Combat Teleport eventually.

 

I've been a Black Lightning fan ever since I found a #1 issue at a flea market comic stand when I was a kid, and that's the inspiration behind this character.

 

Any ways holler back and maybe a vet will have chimed in by then.

Edited February 15 by WuTang

[SeraphimKensai]

Elec/elec was my very first toon I rolled on release. Shout out to old Thunderspark from Guardian, you never made it past lvl 14 before getting shelved.

 

At the time elec seemed weaker than the other elemental blast sets.

 

Fast forward 20 years, I've taken both elec blast and elec manipulation to 50 multiple times, just not together. If you look over recent changes HC has made to elec blast, you'll find that it's actually in a pretty good place. Elec manipulation is a very melee focused secondary and overall it also works.

 

Electric as you can imagine used energy damage, which is the third most resisted damage type in the game as far as I understand, so it's not going to get say fire/fire level damage, it still can work very well.

 

I'd suggest downloading Mids Reborn and working on building your character there to use the tools to see what you can get out of it, additionally copying it over to the test server and using the commands there to lvl it to 50 and get the IOs and enhancements you want to test in it can be very useful. Additionally City of Data has great information about every power in the game.

 

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/archetype.html?at=blaster

https://midsreborn.com/

Edited February 15 by SeraphimKensai

[Bacon Wrangler]

@WuTang I've gotten caught up in alt-itis, so he's been gathering dust. I've found the snipe to be good at taking LTs out of the fight before it begins, then working on the minions the regular way.

[Nemu]

21 hours ago, WuTang said:

Ha! Well I was really hoping people would hop on here with advice.

 

Any ways holler back and maybe a vet will have chimed in by then.

i shared some of my insights on electric manipulation here.

 

I normally don’t endorse same/same builds due to general lack of functional synergy but Elec/elec has a lot of synergy. Besides the chain knockdowns you can also add stacking holds and end drain into your toolkit. Damage wise electric blast is in a better place and you can still supplement ST with high DPA melee attacks from the secondary.

 

the addition of the end drain toolkit is pretty huge in helping you face tank stuff. You can essentially open with force of thunder-short circuit-thunder strike-powersink to drain mobs dry while they are knocked down. This is much safer than my fire/elec just leaning on cycling knockdowns.

[WuTang]

6 hours ago, Nemu said:

i shared some of my insights on electric manipulation here.

 

I normally don’t endorse same/same builds due to general lack of functional synergy but Elec/elec has a lot of synergy. Besides the chain knockdowns you can also add stacking holds and end drain into your toolkit. Damage wise electric blast is in a better place and you can still supplement ST with high DPA melee attacks from the secondary.

 

the addition of the end drain toolkit is pretty huge in helping you face tank stuff. You can essentially open with force of thunder-short circuit-thunder strike-powersink to drain mobs dry while they are knocked down. This is much safer than my fire/elec just leaning on cycling knockdowns.

I'm still learning to like Blasters. I'm comfortable blapping, but I have no end game experience, so I'm not sure if my tactics will work at that point. I think in a team situation they would, but then most builds and playstyles do work in a team. 

 

Right now, sub 20, I'm just softening them up at range and finishing them off with melee. I have learned not to rush in too soon though, we really cannot handle melee.

 

I like this hero. He's got a Black Lightning style to him and I dig him. That's usually enough to keep me in for the long haul. Just have to play slower than my Brutes.

 

I think though, for us newbs, it's the lack of knowing what power sets synergize well with each other. Up to 20 or so, I think they all work pretty well it's afterwards though when the holes become apparent. I have a Stalker, my first hero, with Psi/Regen and he's virtually unplayable where he's at (for me). Constantly endurance drained, like he's kneeling after ever fight, but now that I know more about Regen, Willpower, Bio, and Psi for that matter I wish I'd done him differently. So for now he's shelved and chalked up to a learning experience.