ElectricX3 build critique

[LKN-351]

I was building mainly for recharge. Any ideas or suggestions aside from ATOs and purples?

 

Kind of bugs me the F/C is super low but I really like where the recharge rate is.

 

LKN-351 - Blaster (Electrical Blast - Electricity Manipulation).mbd

[EnjoyTheJourney]

The draft build is a bit confusing in how it's put together. Are you putting this together as a kind of "budget build"? If so, then the choices are more understandable. Either way, some thoughts arose ...

Endurance drain - Seems fairly well set up for this.

Defense & resistance totals - These seem reasonable overall for a blaster.

AOE - Has a good amount of AOE, although maybe a bit less would also be fine.

No Dynamo - This is a must-take power to keep endurance in a good place.  Strike-through text was incorrect. This power helps for life regen and makes endurance management easier. Not essential for endurance management on a triple E blaster.  

No charge up or build up - These are bread and butter powers for blasters and not taking them reduces spike damage by a great deal. Casting one of these and then nuking is a go-to tactic for blasters.

Low single target damage, especially for a blaster - The DPA for single target powers in the draft build is mostly under 200 even on those rare occasions when the decimation build up power procs. It doesn't proc often in low recharge, low cast time powers, though. So, actual in-game single target DPS seems set to be under 200 according to the numbers in Mids. 

Too many poorly slotted attacks - There's not much value in having many poorly slotted attacks. Take fewer attack powers and slot the ones you take to make them hit as hard as possible. Consider dropping havoc punch, thunder strike, and static discharge to take charge up, build up, and shocking bolt. Put a second slot into charge up and put the gaussian build up proc IO into that second slot. Proc up energy punch charged brawl to make it hit like a runaway monster truck. Consider getting a sixth slot into the snipe and putting a damage proc IO into that last slot. Pick either lightning bolt or charged bolt and drop the other. Use the freed up power slot to take shocking grasp. Put five IOs from the hecatomb set into shocking grasp (maximizing recharge is probably better because of better hold availability and because the DPA is really high even with max recharge) if you can afford it and put a damage proc IO into the sixth slot. These changes give you have two holds you can stack (shocking grasp, shocking bolt) against tougher mobs that haven't been completely drained.  

You can purchase very rare recipes using merits at a kind of vending machine available in multiple places. 

Recharge is helpful for any build. But, having a blaster that hits hard is a higher priority. 

Hopefully these ideas end up being helpful. 

Edited June 11 by EnjoyTheJourney

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Here's an alternative build to consider ...

It's a "high budget" build, but not an "infinite budget" build. Most of the more rare IOs can be purchased using merits if the auction house price is too rich to pay. 
 

 

 

LKN-351 - Blaster (Electrical Blast - Electricity Manipulation),v2.mbd

Edited June 10 by EnjoyTheJourney

[LKN-351]

I didn't dig too far into the blaster secondary changes, so I didn't realize Dynamo was a sustain power. I saw it and thought of Lightning Field so I skipped it. Granted, I don't really have end issues while I've played the character with primarily standard IOs, miracle proc, and a performance shifter proc and the use of Power Sink. Even with the realization of that sustain it doesn't seem like its needed especially with higher recharge making the power available more often. Plus, I'm sure that Performance Shifter proc in Sentinel will help a decent amount.

 

How do I get the ST damage up then? My thought process was lets build for recharge so I can use the powers more often.

To be honest, I'd rather not even have the powers that aren't ranged so toying with some other powers is a decent idea. I don't know why I didn't take Shocking Bolt or Shocking Blast but now that I am thinking about them I'm not sure where to take the slots from to use them well.

 

I had a pretty good idea that Decimaton proc probably wouldnt fire all that often but when it did it would be nice, but I definitely wanted the set bonus. None of the other available IOs seemed to get to the goal I wanted.

For some odd reason it let me slot two of them when I first built it but since the MIDs update it only lets me slot one. Since it's considered a unique I'll have to fix that.

 

I don't use purples or HOs and only rarely use PVP or ATOs. I know the different methods on how to get them but I don't want to. I'm stubborn like that.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

I had a bit of a brain fart in labeling dynamo crucial to keeping endurance in a good place. If there's one thing a triple E blaster doesn't need to worry much about, it's endurance. 

If the ideas passed along prove in some way helpful, then that's great.  Still, whatever others might say if you're having fun playing your blaster then you're doing it right.

[LKN-351]

I appreciate finding out that Dynamo is a sustain power, if I'd have ever just read the description I would've known that a while ago lol

This one was already 50 and also I don't think I was playing when that update came out.

 

Is there a better way to slot for ST damage without using ATOs or purples?

[EnjoyTheJourney]

The simplest way to improve single target damage is to drop some attacks that have very few slots and to take charge up and build up. Alternating between those two will keep single target damage in a noticeably better place, as well as increasing AOE. 

Also, you can still use damage procs even if you'd like to steer clear of purples and ATOs. Even a handful of damage procs in a build can make big difference for damage output. Take energy punch charged brawl in the sample build, for example. You can put in melee set IOs in energy punch charged brawl in place of the Hami-Os, if you'd like, and put an extra slot in there to take damage higher and get another minor set bonus. 

Edit: I forgot that the "baseline" 100% recharge is now shown explicitly in Mids and I just realized your blaster doesn't have hasten. There's actually less than 100% global recharge in the builds you and I put together, which is leaving key powers on a long cooldown before recharging. It's worth considering dropping a power pool to get hasten because powers will come back so much faster with it. 
 

Edited June 11 by EnjoyTheJourney

[LKN-351]

Speaking on the sample build, I was confused as to why you used the PVP +toxic damage proc as opposed to the +toxic proc from the set that you have in Zapp.

 

If there was a dmage proc to put in a power from my first build I chose not to put it there cause it didn't fit thematically with electricity. I put that fire dmg into Thunderous Blast cause it makes sense that elec can cause a fire, and those two energy dmg procs. I wasn't actually sure if using an energy proc in a power that already did energy damage would make any difference but at least the dmg type fit with the theme.

What I do wonder though is whether the different damage procs actually animate the proc damage or just add the numbers into the damage log. I know I've seen damage procs animate from the incarnate powers but I haven't personally noticed it from procs, but in the heat of battle with all the other powers going off from the team sometimes it might be hard to see on a single target.

 

If they actually don't animate then I had the wrong idea and the theme doesnt make any difference if you can't see it anyways. I feel like there was a power or two that I used a different set just because I wanted to avoid the damage proc for theme.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

I didn't check the Manticore set in a detailed way. I went ahead and assumed the damage proc was in there. doh! On that note, it's fine to drop the acc / int / rech IO and replace it with the manticore damage proc. That leaves accuracy at 94.23% for that power for +3 mobs and average damage per quickform snipe goes up by about 60. 

Picking damage procs for theme can work. For example, if it doesn't make sense to you that negative energy damage might come from an energy punch charged brawl or a shocking grasp then you can just drop procs with negative energy damage and focus on other procs instead. That does lead to somewhat lower damage. But, if it makes playing your blaster less fun to play to have damage procs you can't associate with that character then the extra damage isn't worth it (of course). 

Edited June 11 by EnjoyTheJourney

[LKN-351]

So what you're saying is you had intended to use both procs in Zapp as opposed to just the one from the Sting of the Manticore or the pvp set?

 

I changed the wording around in that perticular section a couple of times before I posted it to try and make sure it got my point across, I'm still not sure if it did in all my rambling lol

If the IO procs animate, then I'd prefer to stick with theme.

If the IO procs don't animate, theme doesnt matter cause you can't see it anyways.

I may have to test this out so I know which way once and for all.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

I typically slot both damage procs that can fit into a snipe (the PvP damage proc and the manticore damage proc). I drop the acc / int / rech IO since I generally have enough +to hit and accuracy to not need it; the damage procs take the snipe damage to a noticeably higher level, which can be easily checked by comparing quickform damage with and without them slotted.

I don't recall ever seeing damage procs animate. Perhaps I just haven't noticed, though.

[LKN-351]

The IO procs DO NOT animate. So theme can go out the window when I'm building this one and any others lol

 

Surprisingly though, I got a decent amount of procs firing on the lower teir powers, at least more than I expected. I'm also surprised that Entropic Chaos heals as much and as often as it does even in Lightning Bolt.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Looks like you're free to use damage procs freely without diminishing your enjoyment of your triple E blaster.

Cool beans and hopefully your triple E blaster ends up being a lot of fun to play. 

[LKN-351]

He always has been fun to play, i just wanted to spice things up lol

 

My understanding of procs has gained a couple levels on this day lol