Secondary to pair with Energy Blast?

[Grozlam]

Was messing around in the costume creator today and really liked the way Energy Blast looked with my costume. I don't know much about the powerset aside from that has a bad reputation for either sending mobs flying all over the place or taking an enhancement penalty by dropping KB to KD in everything.

 

Is there a secondary that either helps mitigate the knockback issue or can kind of do its work regardless of whether you randomly send some poor mook flying across the map? Mainly asking about secondaries that affect mobs since I guess I can sidestep the issue a bit with powersets that focus more on my teammates.

 

For context I'm mostly playing either solo or super casually with some friends (leveling TFs and just random whatever missions) so it's not the end of the world if the answer is "none of them." Would just like to mitigate my obnoxiousness if possible, especially if I end up liking the build and start subjecting PUGs to it 🙂

 

Also not against a different AT if Energy Blast/Assault has a better synergy on Blaster or Dominator. I'm just usually playing the defender/corruptor role in my friend group.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Camel]

I paired my Energy Blast Corrupter with Dark Miasma. Not really because of any synergy with the powersets themselves, I was going for a space themed hero and the two seemed to be perfect for that. Any secondary will do fine, but I'd recommend pairing it with something that has some really useful, high recharge powers. The ability to slot Force Feedback procs in all of your blast powers means you can get those recharge numbers down really low. 

I personally never slot the KB->KD IOs in my single target attacks, only the two AoE powers in the set. No one has said anything and it's pretty easy to manage the knockback of single targets only. 

Corruptor (Energy Blast - Dark Miasma).mbd

[tidge]

Like @Camel , I often only worry about suppressing KB on Nova, because PBAoE, and maybe one of the other AoE.

 

I like it paired with Martial Combat, which also has KB from Ki Push as well as Burst of Speed to get in close for melee. You get more practice with KB and a tool to help you reposition after KB affects enemies.

 

EDIT: while I still like my pairing (for Blasters).... it probably isn't helping Corruptors! Combat Teleport can work as a substitute for Burst of Speed I suppose!

Edited March 16 by tidge

[MonteCarla]

I've taken the following to 50 with Energy Blast:

Kinetics - your primary relies on close by enemies for your buffs, so you have to be wary of knocking them away. It was pretty cool though once I got to capped melee and ranged def through some heavy slotting.

 

Cold

Pain

Empathy
In all these cases, Energy Blasts's knockdown helps a lot with your self-protection which can be lacking from your buff set.

 

Radiation Emission
EB helps position your anchors if they try to run.

 

Traps
No big synergy good or bad.

I'd slot the two AoEs Energy Torrent and Explosive Strike with the KB-to-KD IO to help stop you scattering enemies.
And adopt a "you tag it you deal with it" approach to single target attacks - when you start knocking an enemy around its your problem if they get scattered from the pack and you have to deal with them. Also learn to knock enemies back into the pack with positioning.

 

Above all though, I'd highly recommend an Earth/Energy Dominator.
- You have immobilises to stop KB on a target or group.

- You get a good concentrated version of Energy Blast, including a Power Push with big damage and 100% KB

- You get beefy Energy Melee punches

- You get mez protection from Domination

Add in the Energy mastery epic and you get Energy Blast's AoE powers.
This combo just feels powerful. I've customised it to look like a Firestorm-esque nuclear transmuter and a Green Lantern-like Energy Sculptor, and both were amazing to play 🙂