Kin/Elec Meleefender Guide v3.0 (Issue 5 Update)

Is it true that some of the powers (like Short Circuit) that got "nerfed" by ED will get a boost in I7? I have heard some noises about this, but nothing from a primary source. Can someone fill me in?

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Is it true that some of the powers (like Short Circuit) that got "nerfed" by ED will get a boost in I7? I have heard some noises about this, but nothing from a primary source. Can someone fill me in?

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Bosses, AVs, and such got their end boosted by a lot. This hurt end drain two fold. One, there was more end to drain. It also meant the regen rate of end was boosted because of the higher total end. In short, I could easily drain a +2 boss before this change. After it, the boss was pretty much dead via teammates before I could even drain him.

When i7 hits, end drain will not be based on number of points, but by a percentage. This means end drain will be back to what it was before the latest change. This does not mean end drain will be back to it's glory days pre-SC nerfing. It will be at what it was before bosses, AVs, and such got their boost. In short, you will need to hit with SC twice to get the desired effect. Transference should once again own bosses. I think in the i7 world a Kin/elec is more than "doable" and can be a complete blast to play. Kin/sonic takes the title for current offender build though if that's the ideal thing someone is looking for. /elec was never really about the most damage anyway.

Side note, I forgot to post in this once my Kin/elec hit 50. This build was pretty much the perfect template of what I was playing, but I had zero clue in how to build it. I had to i6/i7 the build, and in the end I skipped ID at 49, and I'll respec Stealth there because it's currently earlier. In Stealth's place(roughly) is the nuke. I also respecced the toon a couple times, so I pause in posting a build because the build kind of changed based on what I wanted at the time. Slotting wise Stealth fits in at 49. When I wanted it was much sooner. Generally though, I added the Leaping pool sooner as I already had it in my build and I didn't feel like respecing out of my vertical travel power. Stamina was added in my 30s(yes even after Transference) just see what the difference was. I don't see me respecing out of it anytime soon.

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Also note the length of Tesla Cage is nerfed enough to where it's not the uber hold you would like it to be. I would still take it as a power though.

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Viewpoint was probably said more out of ignorance than having used it a lot. It's pretty easy to make perma for me without adding any recharge to it.

I7 will make this concept much more viable again, but if you want to make the best out of it go to Virtue and look up DWEF (Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence). This supergroup can show you the full potential of sapping.

hellz yeah

made a kin/elec last night, cool as hell

Don't be hatin'.

My little brother and I came up (independently from the above) with a kin/elec duo using the same general ideas a few months ago. Then we quit playing CoH until a few weeks ago due to some RL things that cropped up. Anyway, we came back a few weeks ago and we still kick butt together. It may have problems as a solo build without the Hasten, but it's still great if you can find someone to play with.

Differences between our playstyle and yours:

We can speed boost each other, which changes the equation quite a bit. Hasten is only a few seconds short of perma with stacked siphon speeds now.

We don't need to combine stealth and super speed, as we can grant invis on each other before sneaking into the middle of a group. Interesting that we both came up with that tactic independently, as it works pretty well.

We make heavy use of ID, and don't have tough yet. ID may not protect against lethal, but at melee range, it's mostly smash anyway.

We work hard to keep siphon speed stacked. It's a great power to have, and every little bit of recharge helps.

With two of us both trying to heal, the probability of both our heals missing is only 0.25%. This makes Transfusion by itself a pretty reliable form of damage mitigation, though it requires keeping both eyes open at all times.

As I said, I just stumbled across this guide and find it so interesting that we came to so many of the same conclusions. I, too, looked at electric mastery for a time, but realized about level 16 that we'd prefer to have Total Focus for boss-killing.

Your thoughts on Thunderous Blast have given us a lot to think about as well. Thanks a lot fot this excellent guide that is still a very valid way of playinga kin.

Does anyone have an I6 update for this, I'd like to know if there's a good, working build out there for "sappers" post ED?

Heh, I would live an update for now!

There is nary a thread on sapping these days. The post i9 world needs a guide.

I used my double XP weekend wisely and rolled a Kin/Elec sapper - getting 31 levels in the process. Everyone I've played with is very impressed by the level of soft control and scrappiness a version of the build has shown.

DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED BY OUT OF DATE INFORMATION IN THE COMMENTS PROCEEDING THE GUIDE. A sapper is absolutely doable.

Without factoring in the IO potential, my sapper on Freedom, Speedbolt, does exactly what the guide states. 2 applications of SC, and transference on the bossman and you have a continuous level of soft control that not even controllers can match.

The AoE troller hold fires off once per combat (or 2) and holds for a finite amount of time. At some point in the combat the baddies are released. With sapping, once that second application of SC hits, the villains are done save for their most basic attack occasionally (which with Transfusion firing off every few seconds is no big deal).

Plus there is a true element of fun in this toon. Being an "Offender" has a visceral quality to it. It freaks people out that I get up in there immediately after the aggro magnet to do my thing. After the first or second mob goes by and they realize they aren't being attacked, they start to ask "who is sucking away their end?? That rules!" (to which I shout, 'soft control ftw'!) You become one-stop team support. You heal, recover, buff, debuff, control, and kill all at once.

I encourage my teammates to close ranks with me and once they do they have a ball. I mean, what blaster doesn't relish the opportunity to blap safely.

I even have a following of toons asking to get on my teams now.

TRY THIS BUILD! YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Agreed.

I've been tooling around with a kin/elec defender on and off for a few months. He's now lvl33 - and I can definitely say it's a blast (no pun intended).

And, just wait until you get Fulcrum Shift. It completely changes your team. Spawns get shattered in record time. Bosses pat like kittens because they're out of end and dam debuffed into the ground.

Plus, kinetics is just a super fast, super dynamic experience. You're constantly zipping around, heal here, buff there, end replenish over there. It never gets tired.

With FS, even soloing becomes an option - your damage will always be sub par overall, but at least you can skip through missions taking minimal damage.

Your only weakness is lack of status protection. No news there...

Anyway - kin/elec is not quite as drain happy as the OP states, but it is a viable strategy, and it is definitely FUN!

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Does anyone have an I6 update for this, I'd like to know if there's a good, working build out there for "sappers" post ED?

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Since I posted in this earlier, I'll post my build at 50 that I just did a respec to clean up things. The build is basically the classic meleefender that the OP did, but I took the nuke and skipped ID. You can skip the nuke and take ID, but you get some extra slots to toss around and this is pretty well slotted up to start.
For those keeping score, this is a i9 minus IO sets build. You can argue a couple of the slotting based on preference, but it's still pretty spot on. There are variations to this build(leadership/staminaless), but again, this is based off of the OP's meleefender.)

Pick one of the two travel powers and leave the other for later. I prefer SJ so I took it first. This means Hasten was put off until later, but as noted it's a respec at 50. My first real respec with the build put Hasten at 8. Stealth was also much eariler, but got pushed back to 49 in the i9 respec. You could use IOs to slot for stealth in SS and skip Stealth, and thus picking up ID in it's place. I still have to kick out a IO based build for this character yet.

Transfusion: 2 acc, 1 recharge, 3 heal
Siphon Power: 2 acc, 1 recharge
Siphon Speed: 2 acc, 3 recharge
Speed Boost: 2 end mod
Transference: 2 acc, 2 end mod, 2 recharge
Fulcrum: 2 acc, 3 recharge

Charged Bolts: 2 acc, 3 damage
Lightning Bolt: 2 acc, 3 damage, 1 recharge
Ball Lightning: 2 acc, 3 damage, 1 recharge
Short Circuit: 1 acc, 3 end mod, 2 recharge
Tesla Cage: 2 acc, 3 hold, 1 recharge
Thunderous Blast: 1 acc, 3 damage, 2 recharge

CJ: 1 jump
SJ: 1 jump
Acro: 2 end reduc

Hurdle: 1 jump
Health: 1 heal
Stamina: 3 end mod

Hasten: 3 recharge
Super Speed: 1 run

Power Build Up: 3 recharge
Temp Invul: 1 end reduc, 3 dam resist
Total Focus: 2 acc, 3 damage, 1 recharge

Stealth: 2 end reduc

Interesting build. But I don't know if I could live without hover. With triple-stacked SS, I'm zipping around like a long tailed monkey in a room full of rocking chairs. Makes it hard to precisely target my heals etc.

Hover with SS is brilliant. You can move swiftly enough in three dimensions, without inertia, to position yourself with ease, and you get a bit of bonus defense.

As for Stamina - well, I run no less than 4 toggles (stealth, hover, maneuvers, tactics) and triple stack SS with hasten, and unload FS and SC without end reducs and I never run out of end. If I'm getting low, I just transference a nearby mob, and I'm full up again. Don't need Stamina. Seriously. It amazes even me.

Also - I've found Tactics with two ACC SOs (or equivalent), along with one
ACC in each power is more than enough to hit even purple AVs consistently. That saves an ACC slot in many powers. And our heal is +10% accuracy straight out of the box, so two ACCs might be overkill.

Here's my build as of lvl 34 (after a respec).

I'm actually experimenting with stealth and building up my defense too - seems to be working. I now have roughly 10% defense, which is about a 20% dam redux, and saves me from the odd status effect too.

I also had a few powers I wasn't using (SP, Assault - both redundant with FS greatness) which I dropped, so I thought I'd invest in concealment. So far, it's working well, but I need to give it a couple of levels to really know for sure. Although sceptical at first, Phase Shift has already saved my skin a couple of times at least!

Transfusion: 1 acc, 3 heal
Siphon Speed: 1 acc, 3 recharge
Speed Boost: 1 end mod
Transference: 1 acc, 3 recharge, 1 end mod
Fulcrum: 1 acc, 3 recharge

Charged Bolts: 1 acc, 1 damage
Lightning Bolt: 1 acc, 3 damage
Ball Lightning: 1 acc, 3 damage
Short Circuit: 1 acc, 3 end mod
Tesla Cage: 1 acc, 3 hold

Hover: 2 fly
Fly: 1 fly

Hasten: 3 recharge

Stealth: 1 end reduc, 1 def
Grant Invisibility: 1 end reduc
Phase Shift: 1 recharge

Maneuvers: 2 end reduc, 3 def
Tactics: 2 end reduc, 2 tohit

At level 35 I might take Voltaic Sentinal - just because I already have a very strong team build now, and don't really need anything else. VS will just add an extra trickle of damage around the place. Could take Vengence - if only for the look of amazement on teammates faces when someone actually uses it!

Anyway - the build works almost as OP advertised. Fast. Strong end drain (not as strong as earlier issues). Pumping out incredible heals-per-minute. And moderate damage. You can solo virtually without taking damage, but it's slow going. In teams, this build shines.

I welcome any feedback from other experienced kin/elecs too. Especially on what to pick up lvl 35+.

Later - Dr Cyclotron (Freedom)

Kin/elec duos are great...I'm currently working on a dual-box team, ran the Positron TF over the last couple of days (with just the 2 of them), working through the faultline arcs currently. Level 16.

If you've got a friend you play with often, and want to make a sapper, I'd encourage trying to rope that person into doing a sapper duo with you - 2 SCs will drain most anything. It was quite easy to bottom out EBs, although I haven't tried an AV yet .

I started my Kin/Electric way back in I4 and was having a blast. I got him up to 50 eventually and set him aside.

When I9 came out I took him out and, like many of us, spent some good time rediscovering our 50s and hooking them up with IOs.

However, Vectra Bolt is getting a second run though as I am running him in a 4 man team with some local friends. With a Fire/Fire tanker and a scrapper, things would be good no matter what, but what really makes this 4 man team fly is the Electric/Electric Blaster. Dual Short Circuits/Ball Lighting FTW!

Sapping isn't dead, it just needs a bit more effort then it used to.

I've been having a great time with my Kinetic/Electric defender. I'm only sitting at level 36, but he has been a great contribution to the teams I've been on (mostly SG teams). We've got some great herding types in the SG that are capable to getting very large groups, so Fulcrum Shift gets some great usage. I recently teamed with a SG mate leveling up a Rad/Elec defender. As said above, the double Short Circuit is very cool.

During these same missions that I rad the other day, I had Herostats going. When I was ready to log for the night, I was amazed at how much damage Ball Lightning did over the course of the few missions we ran. Actually, I was surprised how much damage Short Circuit did during those missions also and I don't have that slotted for damage at all!

This combination is a really fun one, I'm enjoying him a lot.

So... I've been away from the game a long time. I come back to my elec/dev blaster. Not liking /dev much. What I do like is the whole end drain thing... nothing quite as fun as mobs standing there feeling stupid and occasionally swinging a punch at me while I blow em away.

So I figures... get rid of /dev, start over with /elec, get power sink, etc. All happy. Then friend says "oh, if you like end drain you should check out /elec defenders." Agh. Finally settled on what I wanted to do (I'm a casual player) and the monkey wrench is thrown in.

So....
I love blasting and doing lots of damage, but I also love the end drain. Do you think (in this post i10 world) that I should be lookin hard at /elec defender (and I assume the best build for that would be with kinetics. If so, why would it be better?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Well, I've found that /Electric blast for defenders is probably one of, if not the, lowest damaging sets a defender can take. If you combine it with Kinetics, the damage output is better because of Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift, but, of course, will still be less than other secondary’s would be. There is some serious endurance draining capabilities for Kin/Elec which is the main reason to play this build. I still have a lot of fun with this combo blasting away, buffing, debuffing, sapping. It really has everything I was looking for.

Has there been an update to this for Issue 11?

This hasn't been updated in a while and I was wondering with ED and IO's is the enderance drain tactic still viable?