I got this idea while teaming with several other EB/EM Blasters about a month ago, the waves of knockback were practically hypnotic, and we had the damage to tear through about 80% of what we met, though the remaining 20% was more or less impossible, giving rise to the idea of a diverse set of Archtypes with the same general theme: Massive disorientation and Knockback through all things Energy!
Tidal Wave
Shard: Heroes only. Sadly no villainous equivalent to Illusion Control or Energy Manipulation.
Overall Theme: Preferably, a similar origin, the powers of this team match eachother wonderfully. They smash foes with the fury of a tsunami of Energy.
Backstory: These guys can be anything... But water-based backstores are especially classy.
Group Make-Up: <ul type="square">[*]2 Invuln/EM Tanks[*]2 EB/EM Blasters[*]2 Kin/EB Defenders[*]2 Ill/Kin Controllers[/list]
Stratagy: Amazingly, this entire team is specalized in close combat, with a focus on "close but ranged" where knockback is handled by the entire team and provides every bit as much controll as the controllers.
Ideally, the tank would specialize in aggro control, slotting attacks with Taunt Duration to maximize his Gauntlet effect, as he is getting all the defence he needs from the defenders and controllers and plenty of damage from the Blasters of the group. With the amount of knockback involved, both tanks will want the Presance pool to keep enemies near and possibly even an interrupt-reduced Teleport to grab the especially far-flung foes. targeting binds are a must for these guys, as they will not want to have to hit the same mob twice with their many taunts.
Blasters are ranged in name only, leaning greatly toward the blapper builds, since all of the heals will be inside the group, the blappers will want to be in the thick of it, dealing out single-target damage through the Energy Manipulation attacks as well as massively slotted Power Bursts to drop foes before they can be counterattacked. When the defenders get Fulcrum Shift, these guys turn into miniature gods of blue flying death.
The defenders are the ones keeping the team in damage more than keeping them alive. If all is going well, the tankers should be keeping the Blasters covered, leaving the mainline Kineticists free to buff damage and attack speed through the roof and still have time to throw out their own Power Bursts. These guys will also want some slotted Teleport Foe to grab an emergency mob for quick buffs and heals when the knockack is going
too well and the aggro management isn't.
The Illusionists are extremely all-purpose on this team, with proper timing, their Group Invisibility is overlapping with a few DOs. One or the other will have a Phantom Army up for each fight with proper slotting, giving the tanks a whole other team of backup (with even more knockback) Emergency management with Flash, and even a little applied single-target damage with Blind/Spectral Wounds. The pacing of their primary leaves them even more time than the Defenders to throw out buffs and heals. The Illusionists also are the best canidates for teleport ally, since it can be used to position their pets.
This team pretty much blooms at 32, with both of the blasters reaching Nova, both of the keneticists getting the ever beloved Fulcrum Shift, and both Illusionists getting their phantasms for even more energy blasting damage to add to the theme. The true insanity hits on this team at 38, with double the Novas, double the Fulcrum Shifts, and four members with the awe inspiring Total Focus. Main stratagy is to stay in a realtively tight group, sweeping enemies in one direction or another rather than dumping into the middle of a mob.
Costumes: Anything will work, but some unifying element is always good.
Alternatives: This team hurts a little without at least one of each member, the pairing of members is to help cover gaps, so the team can be as small as four, if need be. Though the team does lose a lot if it doesn't have both controllers to cover for each others' downtimes on powers. There's nothing against using Ice Tanks to make them at least a little blue... Fire and Stone really break it visually though... Besides, Invuln really works well stratigicly with Invincible's taunt and defence in one...
Yeah, I'm plenty crazy.