Basic Ice/EM Blaster Build for PvP?

[Neagan]

I haven't played in quite some time and I'm unsure how to go about building an Ice/EM blaster for PvP anymore. My main issues are fitness is now inherent which opens up more power slots, IOs are super prevalent (yeah it's been that long), and high level concepts such as Incarnate powers exist. Anyone have an up-to-date build they like that I can base off of?

[macskull]

Here is a build I found from @Dan Petro in the PvP Discord:

 

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1510&c=692&a=1384&f=HEX&dc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

 

EDIT: I would probably make a few changes to that build, personally, I think that build as-is would have some significant endurance issues without outside buffs, but it should give you an idea of what to build for. There's a "general build philosophy" thread in these forums that discusses build goals in the current PvP meta which should help explain why things are the way they are. If you're coming from a time before IOs the whole thing will seem completely alien to you I'm sure.

Edited September 8, 2019 by macskull

[MJB]

14 hours ago, macskull said:

EDIT: I would probably make a few changes to that build, personally, I think that build as-is would have some significant endurance issues without outside buffs, but it should give you an idea of what to build for. There's a "general build philosophy" thread in these forums that discusses build goals in the current PvP meta which should help explain why things are the way they are. If you're coming from a time before IOs the whole thing will seem completely alien to you I'm sure.

I disagree about the build having endurance issues, energize is easily perma and makes endurance problems completely disappear. its nice as a heal and all but generally /em doesn't need to worry about end 

[Dan Petro]

Yeah what MJB said, @HP has a psy/em with a similar build and it will tank end outside of energize.  With it up end is pretty much a non issue. 

 

It sucks to lose the little heal it offers if you aren't having to actively use it, but you still gain the passive +regen bonus with it up.  

[barrier]

You can kind of time energize so you use it both as a heal and an end discount. It's just a matter of thinking a bit about where your end is and what's your current rate of attack (locks -> spikes) vs. your likelihood of getting spiked and having to go into phase (I wouldn't rely on the heal mid-spike, it's not large enough).

 

/EM basically asks you to play a bit harder that you would with /plant or /ta, but being rewarded for it (ie, you can shoot shit from mega far away, and stay really out of of the fray while still throwing out loads of damage - this is not a "slight" advantage. it is a huge advantage.), but I don't know how much of a good choice it is to pair it with anything that doesn't have a snipe.

[MJB]

14 hours ago, barrier said:

but I don't know how much of a good choice it is to pair it with anything that doesn't have a snipe.

IMO its better on sets that dont have a snipe, as the sets that do have a snipe dont need boost range as much with already being able to hit stuff from farther away (and the added range buff snipes give gets dr'd more with boost range)

[barrier]

11 hours ago, MJB said:

IMO its better on sets that dont have a snipe, as the sets that do have a snipe dont need boost range as much with already being able to hit stuff from farther away (and the added range buff snipes give gets dr'd more with boost range)

DR isn't that bad on range. It really isn't.

[MJB]

12 hours ago, barrier said:

DR isn't that bad on range. It really isn't.

its not bad, but it still exists

 

my point is that eventually you dont _need_ more range, you will be "safe enough" and its a lot easier to get to that "safe enough" range for sets with a snipe than without, and thats where boost range is most useful imo