Ice/Kinetics Corrupter Guide - Search for Synergy

AWRocketman · 04-21-2006 08:09 AM

Ice Blast/Kinetics Corrupter Guide - Looking for Synergy

This guide is being built to support the following, undeniable premise:

Kinetics is fun. Kinetics is fast. Kinetics is a total blast to play. Kinetics, however, comes with a price and that price is survivability. To build a viable kineticist you need to find a complimentary powerset that helps you survive. This guide is as much or more about Kinetics, the "secondary" powerset and finding a good defensive-oriented compliment to it as it is about the primary, Ice Blast.

My Early Experience with Kinetics

My first serious character in CoH was a Kin/Rad defender (Hijacker - who is now a Rad/Kin corrupter). What an absolute blast! Super fast attacks, zipping around with Siphon Speed, sucking the endurance out of bosses so all they can do it meekly paw at you. This was, by far, the most fun I've had in the game... until I hit about level 30. It was that time that I found myself dieing... a lot, primarily to mezzes and the like. I tried respeccing into Tough and Weave (pre-nerf). It helped a little, but not much. I added Acrobatics. It helped a little, but not much. The key problem is that Kinetics has virtually no true defense and of the powers it does have that provide defense as a secondary effect (siphon power, siphon speed, fulcrum shift), all but fulcrum shift are single target and none provide an overwhelming amount of damage mitigation. So the end result is that when you get up to the higher levels, the amount of burst damage you tend to receive overwhelms your ability to mitigate it. You die.

So you've got this incredibly fun set in Kinetics that becomes less and less viable as you get into the higher levels and the more cool powers. How do you overcome this? You have to get some defense using a combination of primary set powers and pool powers. Before we talk more about defense and survivability, let's talk about some basic principles of kineticists in general:
<ul type="square">
Speed is What You're All About
Everyone says that kineticists are fast, and they're right. They've got these great powers that help both themselves (Siphon Speed) and teammates (Speed Boost) move around and attack much more quickly. Most importantly, Kinetics is the only way that characters can make Hasten close to perma. So not only do the powers themselves speed things up, but they make the only other +rchg power in the game (Hasten) capable of being on nearly all the time, which speeds everything up as well. With Hasten up and a few recharge enhancements, you can easily stack 2-3 Siphon Speeds if you even moderately think about it. Pre-ED, I had four recharges slotted and could easily get three stacked with four stacked for a short while. For defenders, each one boosts your recharge by 20%. I haven't tested to see if the secondary stature reduces that to the expected 16%, but I think it's likely. Add that to Hasten and you've got powers coming back seriously fast. I'll be talking about this later in the guide, but if you haven't figured it out yet you want to take Hasten.

Quick Attacks are Key
Because you are recharging so fast with Hasten and Siphon Speeds running, you can get more attacks off. Simple, right? What's not so simple is figuring in animation times. As a kineticist, because your powers recharge so much more quickly, your damage rate starts to become more defined by animation times than by recharge times. While you are firing off an Bitter Freeze Ray, for example, with its four second animation time, you've got other attack powers fully recharged waiting in your power bar ready to be used and that's not efficient. I find that anything with higher than a 1.5 second animation is annoying and greater than 2-2.5 seconds is detrimental. It simply slows you down too much.

You Chow Down on Endurance
With Hasten and Siphon Speeds running and all these attacks being spammed out, you eat a TON of endurance. Add to this the low activation times of the Ice Blast attacks and other kinetics powers - which means you can throw more powers out there - and you will most likely end up being the premier non-toggle endurance eater in the game... not a great distinction!

Defense? What's Defense?
I mentioned this above and mention it again here for emphasis. The Kinetics powerset has very limited damage mitigation ability. It simply is not as survivable as other secondaries.[/list]
The Power Sets:

So you want to play a kineticist, you've heard how you need defense, and you know you need to pick a primary powerset that offers some level of damage mitigation. How do the primaries rate defensively as sets that synergize with kinetics?
<ul type="square">Sonic:
Good: With a cone sleep and single target disorient, you get some nice control, which helps your defense.
Bad: Secondary effect (-res) is offensive in nature so doesn't help defense.

Dark:
Good: Secondary effect of powers is -acc which is a nice defensive boost. Ranged AoE Disorient (minions only) and Cone Immobilization.
Bad: Not a heavy hitting set as far as damage is concerned and attacks are a bit slow for a kineticist.

Rad:
Good: Rad secondary effect is -def which helps your kinetics powers hit.
Bad: Only "defensive" power is Cosmic Burst which disorients - a nice power, but only one.

Fire:
Good: Rain power provides some defense.
Bad: No defensive secondary abilities.

Energy:
Good: Does knockback as a secondary effect which is a nice defense as you keep enemies on the ground.
Bad: Does knockback as a secondary effect which doesn't always synergize well with kinetics.

Assault Rifle:
Good: Limited, some knockback and "rain."
Bad: Knockback = bad for kinetics and relatively slow animations.

So that leaves us with Ice Blast...[/list]
Primary Powerset: Ice Blast

Ice Blast is a unique blasting set. It differs from most other sets in a number of ways:<ul type="square">[*]Secondary Effect (-recharge, -spd)[*]No Sniping Power [*]Fast Activation Times[*]Damage Type[*]It has Holds[*]Two "Rain" Powers that Also Slow

Secondary Effect:
Ice's secondary effect is to slow both the movement and attack speed of your opponent(s). Obviously if your opponents are sending fewer attacks then you are taking less damage. This is nice when you don't have much defense.

No Sniping Power:
Ice has no sniping power. While many consider this a bad thing, I believe it helps. Remember that speed thing and how animation times affect it? Sniping powers have looooonnnnggg animation times. This doesn't mesh well with Kinetics and you won't want to use it in the middle of combat because of this. This leaves using it as a first attack or a shoot/run power. I'd rather have attacks I'm using all the time. Sniping can be of use in PvP, but not as much so in PvE. I've never liked sniper powers and since there isn't one in the Ice set, it means you've got an extra power available. This is good.

Activation Times:
Ice powers have, on average, some of the fastest activation times of any blasting set. Most other sets have at least one of their first two powers take 1.5 to 2 seconds, while both of Ice's take right around one second.

The list below shows each power set's first two powers and their activation times.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Set First Power Second Power Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|A/R Burst: 2.2 sec Slug: 1.9 sec |
|Dark Dark Blast: 1.0 sec Gloom: 1.1 sec+ Gloom is DoT and takes time |
| in addition to activation |
|Energy Power Bolt: 2.0 sec Power Burst: 1.7 sec |
|Fire Flares: 2.2 sec Fire Blast: 1.2 sec Lower damage than other sets |
|Ice Ice Bolt: 1.2 sec Ice Blast: 1.0 sec |
|Radiation Neut Bolt: 1.0 sec X-Ray Beam: 1.7 sec Lower damage than other sets |
|Sonic Shriek: 1.3 sec Scream: 1.7 sec |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</pre><hr />
The only set that "on paper" is the equal in activation time is Dark. However, having played the dark set extensively, the DoT nature of Gloom is a detriment and seems to take longer to get the entire attack off than the activation time indicates - the published activation time is for the first Gloom skull to shoot out, not for the attack to finish its sequence. Sonic and radiation are close seconds, but radiation is a very low damage set.

Damage:
On paper, Ice is on par with many other sets (A/R, Dark, Energy and Sonic). Cold damage, however, is one of the least resisted damage sets in the game. So while other sets may advertise similar damage, in reality Ice will beat most out in a fair number of fights. As mentioned above, fast activating powers synergize very well with Kinetics. Ice, combines good activation times with high damage, a very nice combo for a kineticist.

Holds:
Holds, me likee. Ice has two of them. Remember that whole defense discussion earlier on? Holds mean less targets attacking you which means less incoming damage which means greater survivability. Now everything isn't peas and gravy with this. The second hold, Bitter Freeze Ray (BFR) has a long animation time and neither is really viable out of the box. They both need hold durations to be effective and, unlike their controller counterparts, they don't get an accuracy bonus so plan on devoting a lot of slots to these.

Slowing "Rain" Powers:
Ice has two of them, Ice Storm and Blizzard. Why are these good with kinetics? These powers make mobs run. When mobs are running they aren't attacking. This translates into increased survivability and survivability = good. It's not that mobs will forget about attacking while within this power, but they will attack less. If you throw some slow enhancements in and toss a Siphon Speed on top of it, your enemy (PvP or PvE) isn't going anywhere fast.

The Powers:

Ice Bolt:
The lower damage of the two first powers and one of your staples. It is a single target blast that recharges fairly quickly (4 seconds base), has a quick animation and does decent damage. Take it and slot it up. You will end up using this power more often to finish mobs off with your Scourge. Corrupters benefit from lower damage powers more in that they get to use the maximum sourge damage more often than higher damage powers. This will be, without a doubt, your most used power. It is a cold/smashing damage combo.
When to Take: Early, either level 1 or level 2.
Slotting: 1 or 2 Accuracies, 3 damage.

Ice Blast:
The second of your single target blasts and another of the staples. It is basically a double-"ish" version of Ice Bolt. Slightly less than double damage and double endurance cost and exactly double recharge time. It does have a very similar (1 sec) activation time. It is a cold/smashing damage combo.
When to Take: Same as Ice Bolt, either level 1 or level 2.
Slotting: 1 or 2 Accuracies, 3 damage.

Frost Breath:
Your first AoE (Cone) attack and one you will likely skip. There is a lot of discussion about whether to take this or not. Some other builds may be able fit this in, I could never get it into a kinetics build, but have put it in others and use it often (Tar Patch - Ice Storm - position yourself - Frost Breath). It isn't a bad attack, doing decent damage, having a moderate activation (a little long for a kineticist at 2.7 seconds) and a +20% accuracy bonus. Basically it comes down to this; at level four you have the choice between this and Siphon Power. Are you going to team at all? If the answer is yes than the slot is better spent on Siphon Power. If you are strictly a solo character then there can be an argument for taking this power.
When to Take: I could never fit this in early and by the time I could fit it in, I had better choices. If you take it, do so at level 4 in place of Siphon Power.
Slotting: If you take it, it's similar to other attacks in that it needs 1-2 accuracies and 3 damage. You definitely want to add a range enhancement to get a bigger/longer cone and make lining up easier as you speed around.

Aim:
If you're going to do a lot of PvP then this is a must-have for a kineticist. You are going to rely on a lot of things hitting and nothing is worse than going up against a defensive oriented character and whiffing on something like Siphon Speed. Aim helps solve that by providing a big boost to accuracy (+100%) and a moderate boost to damage (+62.5%) for about 10 seconds. If you're not going to do much PvP then you may want to skip this power. I use the philosophy in PvE that I can get close to the same effect by getting an extra couple attacks off instead.
When to Take: Leave it for into the 20s (for PvP). There are too many critical powers to take before then and you're not going to be super-effective at PvP until you get SOs anyway.
Slotting: If you have slots to spare, recharge reductions are good. If you're going to PvP then some To-Hit Buffs are handy for fighting highly defensive characters.

Freeze Ray:
Your first hold. Not a bad thing to have, but its duration is pitifully short out of the box at about 8 seconds against even cons. Its recharge time, at 10 seconds unaided by Hasten or Siphon Speed, is not bad, but since it is longer than its base hold duration, you can't perma-hold anything or hold bosses at all until you get hold duration enhancements in it and/or have Hasten and Siphon Speed running. I find that it really isn't worth firing off much until you slot it with a couple Hold Durations (DO's at least). Unlike its controller/dominator counterparts, it does not get an accuracy bonus or do significant damage and it also has a slightly shorter range than most other powers. The good news is that it has a very low endurance cost and activation time (1 sec) and recharges fairly quickly (10 seconds).
When to Take: Available at level 8, I took it early because most of the alternatives available could wait. Just don't plan on using it too much until you get DOs.
Slotting: 3 hold durations and at least 1 accuracy is a must. Depending on how much you use this power, an additional accuracy and a recharge reduction can do some good.

Ice Storm:
Your first "rain" power, Ice Storm drops a large area DoT (Damage Over Time), slows any enemies inside and forces mobs to flee. This is a nice thing for a Kineticist in PvE because while they're running they're not attacking! The slow is nice for PvP or PvE, especially when you throw a Siphon Speed on top of it. Some people use this as a damage power, but kineticists should use it for control/fear/defense. When I7 hits, this power will take advantage of buffs like Aim, Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift, applicable inspirations, etc.
When to Take: As soon as feasible to provide some "defense." Unfortunately I have a hard time working this in before the late 20s.
Slotting: 3 slows then a combination of recharge and accuracy if you can spare the slots. It should be noted that this power does not get an accuracy bonus and individual ticks can miss. If you're fighting high defense opponents, accuracies will be needed.

Bitter Ice Blast:
"Ohhhh, do you know how much that stings?!" High damage (close to 1.5 x Ice Blast), short activation (1 sec), moderately quick recharge (12 sec). This is one of the best of short range, high damage blaster attacks out there. It does more damage and has a shorter activation (by far) than any of them except Blaze (Fire) and also debuffs speed, recharge and accuracy! This is short range, but since you're up close and personal anyway, it doesn't matter.
When to Take: As soon as you can - it's available at level 18, but Fitness powers and Speed Boost may get in the way of taking it that early. I usually get it in the early 20s.
Slotting: 1-2 accuracy, 3 damage, 1-2 recharge.

Bitter Freeze Ray:
This is the one power that can be soooo good and soooo bad all at the same time. As a second ice hold it gives the ability to hold a boss by applying the 1-2 punch of BFR then FR. Unfortunately, it has a price. The activation time is painfully slow to a kineticist at nearly 4 seconds so using it in the middle of combat could see the kineticist face planted before it activates. Many people skip this power altogether. It does have it's uses, however. One is to use it as an opening shot. If you throw a range enhancement in it you can toss it in out of range of the return strike then toss your Freeze Ray when he gets into range to hold him. In PvP this has limited use due to its activation time. What good is holding a super-speeder, for example, if by the time it activates he's hundreds of yards away where you may or may not be able to follow up with big attacks?
When to Take: If/when you have room and will have the slots to make it effective.
Slotting: Like Freeze Ray, you need hold durations (3), and an accuracy or two. A range enhancer can be nice too.

Blizzard:
Your second "rain" power and the apex power of the set. The difference with this one is that it also debuffs accuracy which is more defense for the Kineticist. You're in heaven when you get this, right? Well it also drains you of all your endurance. Most other blaster-type apex powers are nukes (i.e. instant) meaning that if you're drained of endurance, it might not be so bad because all your enemies are likely dead. With Blizzard they are still alive and some that started on the periphery can possibly get out of the area and come back to kill you! Sound like a raw deal? Well for a kineticist it isn't quite so bad. Once you get Transference, you can pop a blue inspiration (endurance), fire off Transference to get endurance and be back in the game quickly. Not to mention if you precede this with an Ice Storm then not much is getting out of the AoE. The kicker on this power, and another reason why Ice/Kin is going to be even better soon, is that in the upcoming Issue 7, rumor has it that Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift, damage inspirations, etc. will affect "rain" type powers. Good guys say Ouch!
When to Take: Level 32
Slotting: 3 damages, 2 recharges and an accuracy.

Ice Blast Summary: Synergies with Kinetics
As mentioned above, Kinetics works well with fast activating powers and Ice is the fastest blast set out there. With Kinetics needing defense, Ice provides it in a number of ways. Ice has -rchg and -spd as a secondary effect which means less attacks coming back at you. The holds take enemies out of the fight for a time so mitigate damage somewhat. The rains have fear effects that get mobs running instead of shooting. All in all, a pretty good pairing for a Kinetics secondary.[/list]
Secondary Powerset: Kinetics

As mentioned above Kinetics is one of the most fun sets to play, but has limited traditional defense and that can make it frustrating. It can dramatically speed up a group with Speed Boost and has the distinctions of being:<ul type="square">[*]The only powerset that can keep Hasten close to perma.[*]The only powerset that has unsurpressable travel powers - key in PvP. [*]The only powerset that has built in travel powers, reducing/eliminating the need for traditional travel powers.[*]The only powerset that has an endurance "heal" for other players. A lot of other powers boost recovery or "heals" your own (e.g. Combustion, Dark Consumption), but only Transference "heals" both yours and your teammates. This is a big deal for supporting ATs firing off powers that drain all their endurance and suppress recovery for a while. This also means that Blizzard becomes less of a situational power and more of an "every fight" power.

More Key Elements of the Set:

Get Up Close and Personal
Some of your powers target off of enemy mobs (Tranfusion, Transference) which means you need to be close to them to get the affect. Additionally, other powers center on you (Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift) and benefit team members near you so to help melee types you need to be in the thick of things too. You will be up close and personal with the enemy, plan on it.

Education is Key
Kineticists are not the most common characters out there and the powerset is different than most traditional sets. Additionally, some powers (Transference and Transfusion) can be tricky to fire off effectively in some cases and have some quirks associated with them. I always ask team members if they have worked with a kineticist before and if not I fire off some binds that explain things.

Brutes are Your Friend
Really any melee type is. They are right in the middle of where you are firing off Transference and Transfusion and when they have Speed Boost on them, they can run from fight to fight, keeping Fury up and not worrying about endurance.

Blasting vs. "Creative Kineticizing"
If you're playing on a decent sized team, you will likely be firing off more Kinetics powers than blasts. The Kineticist has to be creative in their combat thinking and be able to adapt to a lot of different situations. Do you blast the boss or debuff him with Siphon Speed/Power? Do you heal that enduranceless Brute, throw in Transference or drop in Blizzard? Keep those Speed Boosts up, toss in Increase Density on that held teammate, zip up and throw an Air Superiority on the boss to knock him on his butt. Every battle will present you with a host of options and it's up to you to choose the right combo.

Travel Powers
You can possibly get by without choosing a formal travel power by using Siphon Speed and later Inertial Reduction to get around. Before IR, don't expect to be traveling as fast on Siphon Speed as your teammates. Misses happen and sometimes you just can't find an appropriate mob to siphon from. Inertial Reduction works fine as a travel power, but doesn't come until level 28. If you can last until then using only Siphon Speed, then you're ahead of the game. This can be tough to pull off, however. You can also get a travel power relatively early on and respec out later. Why would you take IR instead of a travel power? Isn't a travel power a power? Can't you just take a travel power at 14 and be done with it? The big difference is that IR and Siphon Speed are not suppressed when you attack, which is HUGE in PvP. IR also can be applied to your group, meaning that all of you have unsurpressed travel. IR was novel pre-PvP, but can give your team a very nice advantage in PvP. Siphon Speed is a great power except that it has to hit an enemy to get the benefit. This really sucks if you miss. However, it works on flight as well as foot travel. This means you can take two powers (Siphon Speed and Hover) and while you have Siphon Speed active you have unsuppressable super speed and flight - flight at hover endurance cost and control!

Here is an answer to a question that someone posted about unsuppressable travel powers:

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Can someone explain how Inertial Reduction works? I don't understand the part about it being "unsuppressed while attacking".

[/ QUOTE ]

First, let's review Super Jump, the closest related travel power and its toggled brother and sister, Super Speed and Fly.

Super Jump, like Fly and Super Speed, is a toggle movement power. This means you either have it on and it's drawing endurance, or it's off and it doesn't work. Early on in the PvP development cycle, the Devs realized that PvP fights would simply degrade into "joust fests" where players went zipping by with their travel powers on, getting in the odd hit here or there. That is certainly not what they intended for PvP. So what they did was institute "suppression." What this does is effectively deactivate your travel power for a few seconds after you attack something.

Now let's talk Inertial Reduction, and while we're at it, Siphon Speed. Both of these are movement powers, but not "travel" powers in the truest sense of the term. Inertial Reduction is a click power instead of a toggle like other travel powers, meaning when you "click" the icon it executes for its duration of 3 minutes. Siphon Speed is an attack that has to hit. Once either of these is fired off (and hits for Siphon Speed) you cannot turn it off until its duration expires. What's nice about this is that because it can't be turned off, it doesn't get affected by suppression either. This means you can zip around at full speed (or jump), firing off attacks at will while your opponents are stuck for a few seconds after they attack you.

I used to fly online flight sims a lot and taught a number of online classes on combat tactics in flight sims. There is a saying in air combat, "speed is life." That saying holds true here too. Kinetics gives you a type of speed that no other powerset can match.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Powers:

Transfusion
The power you must take and luckily a very good one. It is arguably the best AoE heals in the game. It fires quickly and targets an enemy. Upon a hit it will heal any allies near the target (including you) and slightly reduce the enemy's endurance and ability to recover it. Sound good? The problem is that it has some quirks. The following is an excerpt from the bind I use to educate my team when I play kinetics:

- I'm not a healer, but I _can_ heal.
- My heals target off of an enemy.
- I have to hit the enemy to get the heal. Misses are possible and when I miss we won't get healed.
- If the enemy moves, gets killed or knocked back out of range during the animation then we won't get healed.
- If YOU move, get killed or knocked back out of range during the animation then you won't get healed.
- If I get killed during the animation then you won't get healed - keep me alive
- If you need a heal and run away, you will probably be running outside the healing radius and thus probably won't get healed (see above).

Something that may just be my perception is that while the base accuracy is documented at even (+0%), it seems like this attack hits more often than that. I seem to think that my Ice/Dark corrupter's heal misses more often than Transference. Or perhaps I just curse it more because it has such a long activation and so I notice misses more.
When to Take: You have to take it at level 1
Slotting: 2 accuracies and as many heals as you can spare. Some people advocare recharges instead of heals because you will get it back faster and thus fire it off more. I don't like this approach because you use more endurance and have to spend the time firing off more powers. I'd rather throw it out less, attack more and get the same relative amount of healing.

Siphon Power:
This is an interesting power. When you hit an enemy, it debuffs their damage by 20% and buffs you and any allies near you by 20%. Early on, the damage buff to you is quite noticeable. Later on, when you get SOs in damage slotted up, it becomes less so, but still good. It is an excellent damage mitigator when fighting lone bosses, but doesn't help much against larger groups. You can routinely stack 2-3 if you're diligent. One of the negative issues of this power _can be_ the relatively high endurance cost (10) for what you get. If you're on a team of eight then 10 endurance is a bargain for what you get in the way of increased damage for your team. If you're solo, it's not. Pre-stamina the 10 endurance hurts and I find that when I solo I simply can't afford the endurance to fire this power off on a regular basis. By the time you get Stamina, this power starts to lose some of its relative strength as damage SOs overshadow its buffing ability. Additionally, the activation time is slightly high at about 2 seconds. Not horrid, but slow by kinetics standards. It is a very good pulling power as it does not seem to draw as much aggro as an attack would. This will likely be the power you take at level four. Your choice at that point is between this and Frost Breath. If you tend to team at all then take this. If you are strictly a solo character then you may want to consider Frost Breath.
When to Take: Level 4
Slotting: Don't put too many slots in this. It doesn't need it. 1-2 acc, possibly a few recharges if you really want to concentrate on it, I don't.

Repel:
Some people swear by this, others hate it. It is a field that surrounds you that sends enemies flying. Each enemy costs endurance. For most kinetics powers, where you want to be up close and personal, this is counter productive. Where it can come into play is in PvP for keeping enemy melee types off of you. Personnally, I don't like it, but then I've never tried it in PvP either. I did make a Kin/Energy Defender once called the Blue Bowler who siphoned speed and ran down streets with Repel on, throwing enemies all over the place. The novelty wore off quickly.

Since I don't have any real practical experience with this power, I asked Major_Rosha, who responded to my first draft of the guide, to do a write up:

[ QUOTE ]
Some people swear by this, others hate it. It is a field that surrounds you that sends enemies flying. Each enemy costs endurance. If you are going to solo, I find this power greatly adds to my survivability. The radius on it isn't such that you have trouble remaining in range of your Transference/Transference, just that you won't be able to stand right next to the mob when you do it. With practice, it gets easier. The wonderful thing about this power ... it works very well with Siphon Speed! If you drop a patch and you have mobs running out of it, zip around and knock them back into it easy. It also keeps other mobs from getting multiple melee attacks on you if you are busy concentrating on some other mob. Using walls or other geometry, you can keep mobs pinned down by just moving into range to knock them up again if they start getting back up before you have finished them. Given the Ice component of this guide, I think it could complement it pretty nicely. With a Siphon Speed buff on, target your mob, queue up BIB and rush the mob. Stop right at it and hit BFR to queue it up. Right as you stop, 2 things should happen. The BIB you had queued will fire, and the mob will be sent flying back due to repel ... and since you hit BFR while the mob was in range, it will fire off as the mob begins getting up.
When to Take: Later in a build when you can dedicate 3 slots to add Endurance Reduction SOs. If you take it early, it is still useful as an emergency power.
Slotting: 3 End Redux SO's make it pretty manageable and easy to maintain, even when repelling multiple mobs. However, you need to watch your End if you are repelling a mob trapped against geometry!
Repel in action, http://www.captrosha.com/repel2.wmv

[/ QUOTE ]

Siphon Speed:
One of my favorite powers. It used to only debuff speed (dramatically) and as such it was a novelty. Now it also slows enemy recharge and boosts your own by 20% (or 16%). Given enough applicable targets, you can routinely stack three of these when Hasten is on. Because of this, you can come close to keeping Hasten perma and dramatically improve your recharge rate. It will significantly boost your movement speed (foot and flying) and is not suppressable, which is excellent in PvP. Of note, however, is that once you siphon someone's speed, you can't turn it off. It takes some practice to keep your character under control while you zip around.
When to Take: As soon as it's available at level 10.
Slotting: Missing with this sucks - at least 2 acc, 3 recharge. Per AmpolirosFury, slotting a slow will increase your speed as well as the slow.

Increase Density:
This power provides an increase to smashing/energy damage resistance and gives knockback protection to teammates. It also provides some mez protection, will free a teammate that is mezzed when applied and will slow down the target (usually a negative). If you take this, take it only for the sleep/hold/disorient release properties, the duration is far too short to apply it proactively (1 min). I don't like the power in PvE, but it has a nice component in PvP and that is resistance to Teleport Foe. The problem is that you can't hit yourself with it and once the enemy TP'er figures out what you're doing, guess who the next target will be
When to Take: If you take Stamina (and you want to take Stamina) you probably won't have any space until the early 20s at least - I usually skip this since many teammates will have some sort of mez protection by the time I'm ready to take it.
Slotting: Initial slot only, you pick it.

Speed Boost:
One of the set's defining powers. It boosts the recharge rate, speed and endurance recovery of your teammates - one at a time. It has only a 2 minute duration which means you have to be diligent about keeping it applied which can be tough on large teams.This is the power that allows your team to jump from fight to fight without having to rest. It turns them into killing machines as their heavy hitting powers come back super quickly and endurance never runs out (er almost never). Even if you primarily solo, you MUST take this power. In PvP it will change the course of a night where more than a couple villains are involved. Be very careful, however, in how you apply this to Brutes. Once they experience the wonder that is Speed Boost they may go Deliverance on you. Banjo music and Brutes with a full fury bar, it isn't very pretty.
When to Take: Level 22 after Stamina or level 20 if you team a lot, are generous and can hold of on Stamina until 22.
Slotting: It is great right out of the box, but endurance recoveries are nice adds. I tend to keep it to the initial slot with an endurance recovery in it.

Inertial Reduction:
A clickable travel power. You click it and you and your teammates close to you get an unsupressable Super Jump equivalent for three minutes. Some people don't like to use this as a travel power because when three minutes are up you fall like a rock and need to refire. I don't have a problem with it, especially because it isn't supressed on an attack and isn't a continuous endurance drain. I like to take a travel power prior to this power being available then respec out of it when IR comes along - provided I don't go the route of taking leaping/acrobatics - see below.
When to Take: Depends on your build. If you use it for a travel power, you can take it at level 28 and respec out of whatever travel power you took at 14.
Slotting: 1 recharge or jump.

Transference:
A game changing power, Transference sucks endurance out of a target and gives it to anyone near the target (like Transfusion does for health). It carries the same quirks associated Transfusion so see the text associated with it above. In fights against Elite Bosses that last a while, you can use a combination of this and Transfusion to sap the boss's endurance. Get this power at 35 and love it.
When to Take: Level 35
Slotting: 2 accuracies are key, a combination of endurance recoveries and recharges to fill out six slots. I go with two of each.

Fulcrum Shift:
Another game changing power and basically a Siphon Power for your target and each enemy around him. The ability to get your entire team close to the damage cap is a very nice thing.
When to Take: Level 38
Slotting: 2 accuracies and as many recharges as you can get into it.

Kinetics Summary:

Kinetics is an incredibly fun and fast powerset to play (at least after you get Stamina) and has the capability to take your team to new heights. The problem is that you need defense to keep it fun. Ice provides defense and a whole host of other synergistic pairings with Kinetics. The fast activating powers, holds, rains, etc. all combine to make this one of the most viable Kinetics combos to play. [/list]Power Pools:
There are a few power pools that I feel are important to the success of the build: Super Speed, Flight and Fitness.
<ul type="square">
Super Speed:
Super Speed is necessary for only one power: Hasten. With Enhancement Diversification, Hasten went from an must-have power on almost every build to one that is optional because it can no longer be made perma. Enter Kinetics. With stacked Siphon Speeds you can get it pretty darn close to permanent again, still not 100%, but good enough that it really makes sense to have this power. What a difference when this power is on!

Flight:
Flight? How can flight be important? There are a couple answers to that. The first is Air Superiority. This is, in my opinion, the best pool attack in the game. It has a fast activation time, does moderate damage, and knocks down enemies, making them unable to fly for a bit. Damage is its secondary function, what it's really good for is knocking down your enemies. As such I usually only slot it with two accuracies. It recharges fast enough that you can just about permanently keep an enemy on his butt. I've actually knocked down Monsters using this with my defender. The knockdown is very reliable and occurs on probably 80% or more of the hits on even mobs with no defense against such. This provides a significant amount of defense and early on provides your only solo boss killing ability. I also LOVE this power in PvP. Picture this: an enemy blaster is flying around nailing people from on high. You take off and fly toward him. He has fly slotted with flight speeds so isn't too worried and starts to take off. You fire off a siphon speed which speeds you up. You get up next to him, nail him with Air Superiority which knocks him to the ground so your Brute friend can put down his banjo and wail on him. My favorite tactic in PvE with Air Superiority is to queue the attack, run by the mob while "speeded." By the time the attack fires, I'm out of melee range so can immediately followup with one or two ranged powers, speed away. Lather, rinse, repeat. This way you don't have to guage the melee distance or put yourself in much danger of receiving melee attacks. The second power in the flight pool that is nice is Hover. While on, Hover provides knockback protection (you just circle around in the air) and when you get Siphon Speed with Hover you get some pretty quick flight. You can also potentially forego Hover and simply use Fly all the time for combat once you have Transference to keep your endurance bar up. The negative to this is controllability in cramped quarters. Many people don't like Fly as a travel power in PvP because of the preponderance of -fly powers and thus a big vulnerability to a squishy using it. However, Kineticists have those nifty built-in powers so if you do get hit by a -fly and you have Siphon Speed going, you can still zip out of harm's way. Just remember to keep Siphon Speed up or you'll die in a hurry.

Fitness:
The Fitness pool goes without saying. Until you get Transference you suck endurance fast and Stamina is the only way you'll have fun prior to hitting level 35. Some people will respec out of Fitness powers after getting Transference. I find that even with Stamina I will run out of endurance on a missed Transference or two. I recommend playing with this on the test server to determine if you need to keep Stamina or not. If you decide to respec out of Fitness then you can open up access to another power pool or to take some of the powers you skipped in your primary or secondary power sets. It is very nice not to have Stamina and be able to take those powers. It is up to you as to whether you can do without it.

Leaping:
Why take this if you've got IR for movement and Hover for knockback? This pool is viable enough for a Kineticist that I based a PvE build on it and is the most viable for PvP. Why? The main reason to go this route is to pick up Acrobatics. It is better than Hover at protection because, in addition to knockback protection, it also grants some mez resistance and isn't affected by those prevalent -fly powers. A second reason is Combat Jumping. I REALLY like Combat Jumping. Why? You will be literally zipping around combat with Siphon Speed and you will inevitably need to jump while "speeded." With no mid-air control you can end up falling off walls, in the middle of other mobs, etc. Combat Jumping allows you to mitigate those unwanted control aspects associated with a super speed that you can't turn off. So in effect you can trade Hover or Flight for Combat Jumping, IR for Super Jump and then just need to find one slot for Acrobatics. You could potentially do this without giving up Stamina. This is not a bad way to go PvE and probably the best way to go PvP.

Fighting:
Tough and Weave can provide some level of defense, but then you also have to take Boxing, which I feel is somewhat of a throw away power since you already have plenty of attacks. I'm not sure the minimal level of defense provided by Tough and Weave is enough to warrant taking three powers.

Leadership:
This is not a bad way to go with a host of good powers. Tactics and Maneuvers are probably the two to take here, I never really thought that the unenhanceable 10% damage boost that Assault provides was worth it. Tactics helps see stealthy characters and the extra accuracy boost synergizes well with all the kinetics powers that have to hit to work. The only thing to consider with this set is that if you're dropping the Fitness line and picking up these fairly expensive toggles, you may start to have endurance issues.

Concealment:
Take it or leave it. I leave it.

Manipulation/Presence:
Believe it or not, this can potentially be of benefit. Intimidate and Invoke Panic, both being fear effects, will help your defense. The only thing is that you have to take a throw away power in Challenge or Provoke to get these. I've never gone this route myself, but hear it can be interesting. The thing to consider is that the Pool Power fear effects are relatively low magnitude so multiple applications will be necessary to fear bosses.

Teleportation
I don't see this synergizing well with Kinetics. You've already got a plethora of movement powers and Teleportation provides little other benefit.[/list]
Builds - Or - So Many Powers, So Few Slots

I've got a few builds presented based on different design philosophies and indicate the pros and cons of each.<ul type="square">[*]The Flying Ice/Kin[*]The Non-Travel Power Ice/Kin (post-respec)[*]The Leaping Ice/Kin

The Flying Ice/Kin

This is a fun build for PvE due to Flight and slotted Hover. It does well in PvP because of the Flight/Siphon Speed/Air Superiority which allows you to take out hovering snipers and Siphon Speed gives you a backup movement power if you get hit with a -fly power.

Good:[*]Flight, Hover, Air Superiority and Siphon Speed combine to make you master of the air in PvP. [*]Air Superiority early on helps you deal with bosses in PvE. [*]Knockback protection from Hover.

Bad:[*]Because your primary movement powers (Hover and Stamina) require slotting to be effective, you lose a few important slots elsewhere.[*]No Acrobatics means no hold protection and also means you need to be hovering for knockback protection. This isn't a problem for a lot of PvP because you are outside for much of it, but isn't as viable in a lot of confined PvE missions (i.e. caves).[*]Lots of -fly powers in PvP mean that you need to be diligent about keeping Siphon Speed up or you'll be in trouble.

Slotting Options/Notes:[*]Most people slot Flight with flight speeds. You don't need them with a Kineticist because you can Siphon Speed to hit the flight speed cap. Personal preference, but I would rather use the slots elsewhere.[*]You could consider moving Hover up a few spots and respeccing out of flight into Super Speed. You will get vertical movement with the Hover/Siphon Speed combo and would save a few slots on Flight.[*]There are a few places you can pull slots from to add to other powers including: [*]Siphon Speed: Dropping a recharge or two from this is something a lot of people do. I like to maximize recharge so like three recharges in it.[*]If you use Flight strictly as a travel power and never plan on using it in PvP combat then you probably don't even need the extra End reducers in it. If you PvP then you need the End Redux.[*]Transference doesn't necessarily need all the slots I've got in it. If you really need a slot or two you can pull out an EndMod and/or a Rechg. [*]Depending on how often you use Freeze Ray, you could consider dropping a hold and/or accuracy.[*]If you want to concentrate on PvP then you should consider dropping Ice Storm and Blizzard from the build. Instead, you can add such powers as Combat Jumping (for Immobilize protection), Increase Density (to help your teammates against TP Foe) or Repel. Take some of the slots gained and drop them into extra recharges and To-Hit Buffs for Aim or endurance reductions in your ice attacks if you think you need the extra E.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder -
(http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: IceKinFlight
Level: 41
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Ice Blast
Secondary: Kinetics
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(11) Dmg(23)
01) --> Transfusion==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(23) Heal(40) Heal(40)
02) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(19) Dmg(31)
04) --> Siphon Power==> Acc(4)
06) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(6) Acc(7)
08) --> Freeze Ray==> Acc(8) Hold(9) Hold(9) Hold(27) Acc(37)
10) --> Siphon Speed==> Acc(10) Acc(11) Rechg(13) Rechg(15) Rechg(17)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(15)
14) --> Fly==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17) EndRdx(19)
16) --> Hurdle==> Jump(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Speed Boost==> EndMod(22)
24) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(24) Acc(25) Dmg(25) Dmg(27) Dmg(29)
26) --> Aim==> Rechg(26)
28) --> Ice Storm==> Slow(28) Slow(29) Slow(31)
30) --> Hover==> Fly(30) Fly(31) Fly(34)
32) --> Blizzard==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Transference==> Acc(35) Acc(36) EndMod(36) EndMod(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Fulcrum Shift==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Scourge==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

The Leaping Ice/Kin

This is a decent all around build. It uses the leaping pool to get Acrobatics for knockback and hold protection, Combat Jumping for Immobilization resistance and drops flight.

Good:[*]Combat Jumping + Hurdle = great combat mobility + a little extra defense. [*]You get a few extra slots over the Flying version.

Bad:[*]No flight powers and I really like having Air Superiority.

Slotting Options/Notes:[*]See notes above for slotting options. [*]If you want to concentrate on PvP then you should consider dropping Ice Storm and Blizzard from the build. Instead, you can add such powers as Air Superiority, Hover, Increase Density (to help your teammates against TP Foe) or Repel. Take some of the slots gained and drop them into extra recharges and To-Hit Buffs for Aim.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder -
(http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: IceKinJump
Level: 41
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Ice Blast
Secondary: Kinetics
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(7) Dmg(19)
01) --> Transfusion==> Acc(1) Acc(17) Heal(17) Heal(23) Heal(25)
02) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Dmg(23)
04) --> Siphon Power==> Acc(4)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(6)
08) --> Freeze Ray==> Acc(8) Hold(9) Hold(9) Hold(19) Acc(25)
10) --> Siphon Speed==> Acc(10) Acc(11) Rechg(11) Rechg(13) Rechg(15)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(15)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Hurdle==> Jump(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Speed Boost==> EndMod(22)
24) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(24)
26) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Rechg(31)
28) --> Aim==> Rechg(28) Rechg(37)
30) --> Ice Storm==> Slow(30) Slow(31) Slow(31) Rechg(34) Rechg(40)
32) --> Blizzard==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Transference==> Acc(35) Acc(36) EndMod(36) EndMod(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Fulcrum Shift==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Scourge==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

The No-Travel-Power Ice/Kin

I would not necessarily recommend this build as a ground up character, but rather a build you want to respec into due to the fact that you probably don't want to slog through 28 levels to get an automatic travel power. It carries most of the benefits of both the other builds and combines them into one.

Good:[*]Combat Jumping + Hurdle = great "indoor" combat mobility + a little extra defense. [*]You get extra slots over both the other versions.[*]You get "Flight" with Hover and Siphon Speed.[*]Unsupressable Super Jump is pretty cool as is jumping and hovering at the apex of the jump to stay out of trouble in PvP.

Bad:[*]No Acrobatics means you need to need to have Hover on to get knockback protection.[*]If you exemp below level 28 you will be relying on Siphon Speed/Hover for travel.

Slotting Options/Notes:[*]See notes above for slotting options.[*]Combat Jumping is truly a "nice to have" and primarily useful for indoor missions, though the immobilization resistance can come in handy in too. You can consider swapping this out for another power.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder -
(http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: IceKinNoTravel
Level: 41
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Ice Blast
Secondary: Kinetics
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(7) Dmg(27)
01) --> Transfusion==> Acc(1) Acc(23) Heal(25) Heal(27) Heal(29)
02) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Dmg(29)
04) --> Siphon Power==> Acc(4)
06) --> Hover==> Fly(6) Fly(17) Fly(17)
08) --> Freeze Ray==> Acc(8) Hold(9) Hold(9) Hold(37) Acc(40)
10) --> Siphon Speed==> Acc(10) Acc(11) Rechg(11) Rechg(15) Rechg(15)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
14) --> Hurdle==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Dmg(19) Dmg(23) Dmg(25) Rechg(31)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Speed Boost==> EndMod(22)
24) --> Aim==> Rechg(24) Rechg(40)
26) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(26)
28) --> Inertial Reduction==> Jump(28)
30) --> Ice Storm==> Slow(30) Slow(31) Slow(31) Rechg(34)
32) --> Blizzard==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Transference==> Acc(35) Acc(36) EndMod(36) EndMod(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Fulcrum Shift==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Scourge==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
--------------------------------------------- [/list]
Conclusion:

Ice/Kin is a wonderfully fun combo to play. It is super-fast, can spam out attacks like nobody's business and keeps your teammates happy as clams with Speed Boost, Siphon Power, Transference and Fulcrum Shift. The primary and secondary carry good synergies with each other and those synergies help make this kinetics character more survivable than most, while at the same time allowing it to dish out massive amounts of damage. This character type is not for all players, however. It takes some getting used to, some skill in moving around combat at high speed and patience to deal with the relatively high number of deaths that inevitably happen. It is highly versatile and takes a creative player to use it to its maximum effectiveness. If you are someone who likes to get into combat and keep launching a few attacks, then this is not for you. If you are someone who is always thinking on their feet, coming up with new and different ways to overcome hurdles, then a Kineticist may be just what you're looking for.

Thanks to Major_Rosha, Micro, AmpolirosFury, sardan, SuperAnt and karaza for their input to the guide.

Current:
Fridgerato - Traps/Ice (Frdm)
Gadgetron - Grav/TA (Lbrty)

Ice/Kin Guide

Bionic_Flea · 04-21-2006 09:34 AM

I have a level 40 Ice/kin and agree with everything you posted . . except I'm not sold on IR for PvP.

Sure the unsuppressible aspect is nice, but I find that it frequently runs out just when you need is most -- sending you straight down and having to be grounded for the 2 second animation. If you are trying to run away to buy some time, you end up buying a burial plot instead.

But overall a great guide. Easy to read and lots of good information.

50s: Inv/SS PB Emp/Dark Grav/FF DM/Regen TA/A Sonic/Elec MA/Regen Fire/Kin Sonic/Rad Ice/Kin Crab Fire/Cold NW Merc/Dark Emp/Sonic Rad/Psy Emp/Ice WP/DB FA/SM

Overlord of Dream Team and Nightmare Squad

AWRocketman · 04-21-2006 10:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I have a level 40 Ice/kin and agree with everything you posted . . except I'm not sold on IR for PvP.

Sure the unsuppressible aspect is nice, but I find that it frequently runs out just when you need is most -- sending you straight down and having to be grounded for the 2 second animation. If you are trying to run away to buy some time, you end up buying a burial plot instead.

But overall a great guide. Easy to read and lots of good information.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the comments. I'm not 100% sold on IR either, but it is viable provided you know when to get out of dodge to refire.

When I have it, I try to find a "quiet moment" to refire it soon after it recharges. Since you'll have some +rchg in the form of enhancement, Siphon Speed and/or Hasten the recharge timer acts as a good "you're close to running out" alarm.

With that said, it carries the same basic issue in PvP that it has when used as a travel power. It works great when you think about it, but do you really want to think about it?

Current:
Fridgerato - Traps/Ice (Frdm)
Gadgetron - Grav/TA (Lbrty)

Ice/Kin Guide

Keltic_NA · 04-23-2006 06:32 AM

Execellent guide!

I teamed with you last night, and you directed me to your guide. While I think I'm going to stick with my rad/kin corruptor, the /kin portion really helped me out!

AWRocketman · 04-27-2006 08:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Execellent guide!

I teamed with you last night, and you directed me to your guide. While I think I'm going to stick with my rad/kin corruptor, the /kin portion really helped me out!

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of the concepts throughout this guide apply to many other sets. With Rad the keys are sticking to the fast attacks (I don't like Electron Haze and its 4 sec activation) and picking up an attack like Air Superiority to help your "defense" out a little.

Current:
Fridgerato - Traps/Ice (Frdm)
Gadgetron - Grav/TA (Lbrty)

Ice/Kin Guide

AngstMan · 07-01-2006 04:37 PM

Excellent guide!

I'd been looking forward to Ice/Kin as soon as I heard what Corrupters' options were. I'm only 32, but I learned a lot from this guide, and agree with everything here, though there is something I wanted to add: I found the lack of stealth to be quite troublesome, so I took Super Speed as well. It's cost me a bit, and I doubt most people need it, but the stealth component has been a phenomenal help. Also, I took Aim, and use it for high-pressure situations, like when you know a seriously needed power is about to finish recharging and you're reeeeally going to need it to hit.

I play an Ice/Ice blaster as well and have been so spoiled by Ice Patch and Shiver that I hadn't fully realized what an amazing soft control Ice Storm is just by itself, right out in the open. I used to throw it primarily from behind cover, but have since discovered it's useful almost anywhere. Has really changed things for my Corrupter. Thanks for pointing it out.

Tempest_56 · 07-01-2006 05:31 PM

An excellent guide - and most of your thinking is virtually identical to mine when I made my Ice/Kin (as well out of frustration after my Kin/Rad defender hit a wall in the 30s). One thing you might want to note is the unusual way that Scourge interacts with rain type powers. While most DoTs, Scourge either will or won't activate, with rains (such as Ice Storm), each tic of damage has an individual chance to Scourge. So a rain ends up putting out a bit higher average damage, as the inherent will activate more often.