Morganite

When you're looking at knockback powers, check the magnitude. Most of Earth Assault's powers have a mag of 0.67. Anything less than 1 will do knockdown, unless you're in a situation where the mag or effective mag is increased. (Enemies too much lower level than you, enemies that are specifically weak to knockback, or if you slot knockback enhancements, which is unlikely to be a good idea.)

Stone Spears, on the other hand, is knockup. (And pretty cool looking IMO. `.` )

I'm leveling up a db/elec myself at the moment. Don't have power sink yet, but I do have an electric controller, and I'll back up what Valorin says about the effects of sapping. If you can get enemies to bottom out even for a moment, that significantly reduces how much attacking they'll manage to do even if you can't actually stop their recovery.

This actually looks pretty similar in some ways to the theoretical build I'm working on. It's got more s/l defense, but less e/n. I'm beginning to have doubts about the value of some of those sets though.

The one thing I'm really wondering about is Blinding Feint. My in-progress doesn't really have room or slots for it, which I felt comfortable enough with, since I'd read that it wasn't that useful for brutes due to the lower base damage/fury. But it seems to be in most DB brute builds I've seen anyway. So, now I'm not sure.

Dark Nova is *much* better than human form with Orbiting Death, I think. The damage from the AoEs is better (and I believe but can't at this moment confirm have a higher target cap), the single target attacks are also better (although by less exciting a margin, I believe), and being able to hover adds major survivability. The OP's map isn't high enough to outdistance enemy attacks entirely, which might be possible on some maps. (I'm pretty sure scatter would become a serious issue in such a case, but who knows, it might be worth experimenting with.) But the hovering is still enough to avoid a lot. (It's a technique I've tried on some other things too, with mixed success, but that's a report for another day.)

My usual loadout while doing this on squishier characters is to have 4 orange, 4 purple, 4 red running when I open fire, and trying to bring a couple extra greens along. That seems to work fairly well on anything that works at all.

In some ways, that's quite similar to my own current build, though I went more for defense and less recharge. That made spiritual an obvious choice for me. It doesn't look like it'd help you as much, but it's also not like more recharge is ever really a bad thing.

Cardiac might make life easier. I know mine burns a ton of end if I'm going at full speed, and Transference only helps just so much. The increase in resistance would also be noticable. (I'd like to get one of these too at some point, if only to improve my staying power in things-I-don't-want-to-stand-near fights.)

Nerve and musculature are both fairly dubious. Nerve would only give a bit of defense, and you shouldn't be having accuracy problems, especially with a heavily-slotted tactics available. Not sure when the hold duration enhancement would make much difference. As for musculature... there's just not much point that I can see.

City of Data has numbers on the combo effects, although the language used is a bit cryptic. Still, I think this page answers your question as far as the effects of sweep: http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/power...des.AoE_Bridge

It looks like Typhoon's Edge basically does 50% more damage when closing sweep than when used on it's own.

Well, I don't know then, because I was able to get high enough that they couldn't hit me with melee attacks. (Although they certainly jumped a lot. Amusingly, on the run where I did die, they kept jumping back and forth even when I wasn't there. Rivers of mobs flowing back and forth...)

I did have a much easier time keeping up on -1x8 than I did on 0x8, and I always had bosses off. With bosses on it probably wouldn't have worked.

What difficulty setting were you using? I just tried a run on my warshade at -1x8, and it wasn't exactly fast, but I had no problems surviving. Even if my purples ran out, the mobs would spend most of their time running around like morons instead of attacking, so I had plenty of time for more inspirations to drop.

Really, if the intent is levelling, it seems like comparing across ATs is meaningless. It doesn't matter how fast you can level a brute if you want to level a corrupter. For Warshade... I could see this being a workable way to get past a hard level or two.

How much does Mu really help though? It has powers that drain more end, but that hasn't been something I've felt I had a shortage of since level 9 or so. What would really be nice, -recovery, there's a bit of, but with too low a chance to be relied on.

-Morgan.

I'm not sure there is any "one bonus to rule them all" for Elec. The ever-popular recharge doesn't seem quite so vital, just because most of the powers are already on fairly short recharge timers. On the other hand, I can't say recharge is bad either. I've got a theoretical build that Mids says will give Synaptic Overload every 18 seconds or so, which sounds like all kinds of fun. Not to mention approximately perma Indomitable Will, which I already know I enjoy on my Fire controller. I like not having to avoid things with, say, AoE Psionic holds.

Jolting Chain, I kind of like damage procs. But then, my strategy might be considered atypical. Assuming you're not going that route, it's main use is probably soft control, so you'd probably want to focus on accuracy, recharge, and endurance reduction. Or just find something with a good set bonus. Just no knockback sets if you actually want to use the power...

Stacked leadership toggles are always powerful for teams. Assault doesn't really help a soloist much, just because Elec's base damage is pretty low. (I say even though my Elec/Rad has it, but it's likely to get dropped.) Still, an Elec can probably afford to run some of them as long as there's enough enemies nearby. Static Field can really give back an insane amount of end if you're in a crowd too.

I'm not sure ranged defense isn't better, if you're going for defense. Elec/Rad can stack a lot of stuff on anything nearby, but the stuff that stands back can be trouble. I'll admit to being pre-biased towards that route though, again from my Fire controller.

-Morgan.

I would be extremely reluctant to give up Jolting Chain, simply because it lets me deal with some things that would otherwise be real problems. Even with Conductive Aura going, enemies will sometimes have end long enough to make an attack, which makes anything with sleep resistance potentially quite dangerous. Even more so if they resist hold and immobilization... like several Arachnos lts. Not to mention it takes some nice procs.

As for the end cost of spamming Chain Fences, Elec is the last set to worry about that on. If you're in the middle of enough enemies to be worth doing that, Static Field will give plenty of end to do it with.

-Morgan.

I would think that Mud Pots would work fairly well with Elec (at least, relative to a lot of other sets) because it can keep enemies from attacking you while still leaving them able to move closer to you. There's sort of a "funnel" effect I've noticed.

Though that doesn't necessarily make it worth it. *shrug* I'm expecting to try it when Elec/Earth gets there. Elec certainly ought to be able to afford to run it...

That really depends on what you call "effectively drain".

I've flatlined some EBs quite rapidly with just Conductive Aura, with just DO slotting, obviously no Power Boost.

On the other hand, what Elec doesn't have a reliable form of is -Recovery. Quite often, what enemies will recover will get drained before they get a chance to use it, but sometimes they will. So when it comes to EBs, you'll need to be able to handle some hits.

Some other thoughts, although you may want to take them with a grain of salt (my Elec/Earth being only in the mid-teens, though I have a much higher Elec controller):

Chain Fences is a power to be careful with. It's almost never a good idea to immobilize anything outside of Conductive Aura, and if you want to use Earth's AoE's, you'll want them even closer.

Jolting Chain is a fun power and frequently useful as soft control. On my dom, I don't use it much once everything's stuck in CA and drained, but it's also never really a *bad* thing to use. I think it's worth having.

Conductive Aura and Static Field are staples. Between the endurance drain and the pulsing sleep not much will a chance to attack you even if you keep using AoE attacks, and the endurance Static Field will give back to you is *insane*.

Synaptic Overload gets mixed reviews, and for some good reason. Once you get used to it's behavior, I think it's worth having; it will neutralize some things that your other powers won't. Besides, how can a low-recharge multi-target non-notify confuse be a *bad* thing to have?

For Earth Assault, my only recommendation is to avoid Hurl Boulder. Knockback is the enemy of Electric Control.

The question is, how much defense do you consider it to be giving?

Defender's Flash Arrow gives 9.75% effective defense with 3 SOs.... to everything. This is somewhat less than half the defense provided by FF's single-target shields... but that's two powers to get that defense to all positions, and leaves a hole for non-positional psi.

Traps' FFG provides more defense out of the box, but is subject to being blown up, as well as possible positioning issues.

Super Reflexes toggles give around 21% with enhancement, but to a single position. So Flash Arrow is worth about one and a half SR toggles?

For that matter, MM's get much less debuff from Flash Arrow, but it's still at least as much as the pet defense IOs, which people seem to like.

On the other side, it's got quite a bit less debuff than toggles like Radiation Infection or Darkest Night. Well, the hard part there is keeping everything in the AoE.

So, 9.75% may not be overwhelming, but it's not exactly chopped liver either.

Does Warshade's nova form have -fly resistance too, or is it just peacebringers?

I ask because I remember doing a mission with Hydra on my ws, and they brought me down so quickly that it was pointless to even try to maintain vertical separation.

It looks to me like Elec/Thorn is going to have the same sort of anti-synergy as Elec/Fire - the DoT will wake things up from Static Field. Still, Elec/Fire has been said to be workable, so maybe Elec/Thorn could too...

I can't say much about the rest, but with that slotting I hope Jolting Chain is just there to be a set mule, because actually using it with knockback enhancement sounds to me like a creative suicide method.

I don't have Synaptic Overload on my dom yet, but I do on my electric controller. It's nice, but kind of weird. The jumps are quite a bit slower than Jolting Chain's jumps. Without enhancement, by the time the effect gets from one end of a spawn to the other, the first enemies aren't going to have much duration left. Enhancement will, of course, make it better, but it's still a bit tricky. And that jump delay means it's *really* not that hot as an emergency power. Great for those annoyingly sleep and immobilize resistant Fortunata Seers though.

No, I'm pretty sure I was thinking of Earth Assault, since I was looking at things to pair with Electric Control (and picked Earth).

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. Still. Electricity, Fiery, Icy, and Psionic all have one AoE damage power and one cone. (I don't count Fiery's consume as a damge power, and it doesn't do that much damage anyway.) Energy has one AoE. Thorny has the most of any with two cones, one AoE, and one patch.

Well, for Elec, cones are painful, and Thorntrops strikes me as a really bad idea. So Earth really felt like my best option for AoE damage, which is why I picked it. Alternating between single targets on bosses/lts and AoEs for anything nearby seems like it'd be a workable strategy, and with the way Elec tends to 'funnel' enemies towards me, I'm not so bothered by the smaller radius on the attacks.

Either way, I'm not likely to change now; I quite like all that pink crystal.

Funny, that's in some ways the opposite of how I'd describe things.

Elec, to me, feels very much like a one-trick pony. I put things to sleep with Static Field, and drain their end with Conductive Aura. But it's a very good trick. Static Field's pulsing sleep pretty effectively keeps minions and lts from doing much even if you're being AoE-happy, and even EBs can be end drained to mere shadows of their former selves. (AVs I have no experience with, but it seems a lot less likely to do much there.) Also, Static Field recharges fast enough that it can be used all the time.

(Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload are, of course, also quite useful, but due to their mechanics I don't consider them part of my primary "make the enemy not beat me up" toolbox. And Paralyzing Blast is not very exciting for something with a 4 minute recharge.)

Earth, on the other hand, has a variety of interesting tools. AoE slow patch, AoE knockdown patch, AoE sleep, AoE disorient, PULSING AOE HOLD PATCH (in all caps due to being, quite possibly, the overall strongest AoE control in any player set). It also does a lot of defense debuff. But most of these have fairly long recharges and short durations, so you can't just focus on one way of controlling things. (Not until you've got reee~eealy good enhancements, anyway.) If one thing doesn't work, Earth is likely to have something else available to deal with a situation.

Wait a minute, Earth is a single-target focus set? It feels pretty AoE to me. Especially if you want to avoid cones.

Also, to me Elec feels pretty amazing for quick, reliable hard control. I can barely imagine a set with more. o.O

Flows = Flaws? Well, I'm not sure. TA's single target hold can be stacked with the one from your primary, which lets you hold bosses quickly - a useful thing.

"uber" is a pretty vague goal for a build. Though, if you're looking at Elec/TA, I hope you want a lot of control... because you will, in fact, have a lot of control, unless you do something *awfully* bizarre.