There's a few things I would like to add to this.
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Shocking Grasp
Single target
EC: 18.2 R: 15
6 ticks of 0.8333
slotting: (4-6) Acc-1 Dam-1 Hold Duration-0-1 RR-0-1 EM- 0-1
This is kind of a cool little power. Having a hold/heavy DoT attack is pretty neat, and great for taking out red and purple bosses/leiuts. It's animation is somewhat short, but it does feel like a long time between uses. Still I like having this one in my back pocket.
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I wrote this guide shortly after hitting 50, and having never been on a Hammi Raid; this has now become one of my favorite attacks. Drop a few HO's in there and you can suddenly slot for accuracy, damage, hold duration, and endurance drain/transfer.
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Medicine
"Hmmm. Well it would be nice to be able to heal yourself." Forget about it. The heal times are interruptible, so they are useless in battle; and I'm sorry, but are you just too lazy to hit rest between mobs if you really have to heal yourself that bad? How about finding a teammate w/. a heal, or simply popping a few greens. Sorry, this ones a no go.
[/ QUOTE ]
An arguement on this one between me and a friend well out lived the day I wrote this, although my opinion has not changed. I eventually burned a freespec to check it out as I started participating in PvP and Hammi Raids much more often; two areas of the game that my conventional wisdom had not yet adjusted to. This pool does came in handy at the raids, and I'm sure that I will miss it to a small extent when its gone. However, for PvP I found that there's alot of DoT out there, and my oppertunities were limited to use it.
On my friends side, they were eventually able to point out to me that it can be used in conjunction with Personal Forcefield, something I no longer had at the time.
[ QUOTE ]
EPIC POWER POOLS
This is going to be brief because I can only speak intelligently about one of these: Force Mastery. From about 32+ I had planned on taking Cold for Hibernation and Snow Storm (along w/ the obvious armor), but was talked out of it by a good friend, and instead went w/ Force Mastery. TY Nuck. Personal Force Field can be used as a good emergency button to save you during an ambush, and can also be useful in walking through a wall of KB attacks to get yourself in position to Nova. Repulsion Field is a fancy way of saying Lightning field, so ignore it entirely. Temp Invuln is a nice defensive shield giving you a 20% slottable resistance to Lethal and Smashing Damage, and Force of Nature makes you tough as nails for 2 minutes (although it drops 100% of your endurance once it wears off, though there is no -recovery like nova carries.
[/ QUOTE ]
In the same Freespec I just mentioned, I switched over to the Elec Mastery epic pool. I knew I-8 was just around the corner, and the build I wanted to give a try to only had room for 2 epic powers, with Force Mastry being something I wanted 3 for.
EM is ok, even though I plan on switching back as soon as I get my next freespec. The single target hold does a little damage and more endurandce drain, plus it adds a ranged hold to your ranged immob and melee hold. It wound up being my second power suped-up w/ HO's. The armor is ok, but definently not comparable to Force.
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Kin/ or /Kin
Gotta love these guys if you can only get a buff out of them. Speed Boost will instantly solve any stamina problems you might be having, while making your attack rate fly through the roof, Increase Density will keep you from being held/immob/sleep/or stunned, but the mother of there powers is Fulcrum Shift. If you are on a team that has FS, simply stand by the closest mob thats being attacked, and wait for it. Can you say Damage Cap?
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Increased Density has noting to do w/ sleep resistance, sorry about that
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Fighting
This pool wasn't designed for blappers, per say. Boxing and Kick are very mediocre attacks (registering 2.1111 and 2.3333 on the brawl scale), and the defence/resistance bonuses given through tough and weave are severely scaled down from that of a tank or a scrapper. Still, it kind makes sense....
[/ QUOTE ] .
Gave this one a shot on that freespec too. I like Tough over Weave besause I'm a fan of being eased into defiance over my health bar jumping around. One problem though, having this on with FoN puts you over the cap by a good bit when both are slotted up. It takes wo powers to get this slight defence and it comes at a hefty end cost. I'll let you make the call on this one.
just a bump to it it alive
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Medicine
"Hmmm. Well it would be nice to be able to heal yourself." Forget about it. The heal times are interruptible, so they are useless in battle; and I'm sorry, but are you just too lazy to hit rest between mobs if you really have to heal yourself that bad? How about finding a teammate w/. a heal, or simply popping a few greens. Sorry, this ones a no go.
[/ QUOTE ]
An arguement on this one between me and a friend well out lived the day I wrote this, although my opinion has not changed. I eventually burned a freespec to check it out as I started participating in PvP and Hammi Raids much more often; two areas of the game that my conventional wisdom had not yet adjusted to. This pool does came in handy at the raids, and I'm sure that I will miss it to a small extent when its gone. However, for PvP I found that there's alot of DoT out there, and my oppertunities were limited to use it.
On my friends side, they were eventually able to point out to me that it can be used in conjunction with Personal Forcefield, something I no longer had at the time.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ok, I've spent a lot more time in the game now, and have learned that if you are a PvP oriented blaster, you simply have to take your self heal; even if it does waste another power. Having a triple slotted SJ along w/ some more in hurdles will usually allow you enough distance to be able to stop for a moment, heal yourself up, then turn the tide on your attacker. Working this stategy in Siren's Call, along with slotting both aim and build up for tohit buffs, went a long way towards a mich higher rep.
I promise, an update to this and my ice/elec guides are coming as soon as finals are over.
SAM'S GUIDE TO THE NRG/ELEC BLAPPER
So you woke up this morning and decided that you like dancing on the fine line of having an entire team hate you and being their uber-hero? Well you stumbled onto the right guide. Play it poorly and listen to tanks/scrappers whine about your KB. Play it well and hear things like "Did you sell your soul to buy enhancements?"
WHY WRITE HIS GUIDE?
I took this build to 31, switched servers, then played it again to 50. I've also taken an emp and a troller past 30, and plenty more toons to 15-20. In all that time playing I have noticed that a good blapper is harder to find than ta/a. There's even a famous 50 on Freedom, who will remain nameless to protect the innocents, that's holding a blapper build so poorly put together I honestly searched for a "random" button on my last respec (aka: reason #127 to raid the Unders).
WHY ENERGY (NRG)?
One word: Nova. The knock back (KB) associated w/ almost every power of this set is also great for damage mitigation.
WHY ELECRICITY (Elec)?
This mele set offers an endurance drain and recovery aspect that allows for great synergy between the two.
WHAT DOES THIS BUILD SPECIALIZE IN?
I would imagine that any blapper in this game is gonna need a little support around them to maximize their time (and really, what's fun is taking out a whole group of +2's in one shot if your friends aren't there to oogle over it) so this is definently a build to play in teams. I've soloed w/ it decently, but its much slower and just isn't as much fun. When matched w/ some good aggro control and a few buffs, you should find yourself on the fast track to 50 (if you can avoid the debt).
BASIC STRATAGY: BEFORE 32
Jump in, kill as much as you can before yo get noticed, jump out. Being a blapper does not change the fact that you will almost always be a squishy. Sit back, let your tanks and/or controllers, get the mobs under control, then pick'em of like field mice in Jed's backyard. Pound on the front of the mob w/ your AoE's, then charge into battle. You'll want to look for foes around the edges of herded mobs for your single target attacks, and once you take a few hits, jump outta there and move on to your next unsuspecting target.
BASIC STRATAGY: AFTER 32
Nova
POWER SET GUIDE 1: ENERGRY PRIMARY
Power Bolt
Single Target
Endurance Cost (EC): 5.2 Recharge (R): 4
(energy damage/smashing damage on brawl index)2.2222/0.5556
Most guides on energy blasters will tend to list this as one of your "bread and butter" attacks. Skip it. This is a high damage output build and this power simply doesn't make the grade. It moves fast, but does little damage
Power Blast
Single Target
EC: 8.528 R: 8
2.7778/1.7778
KB 30%
slotting: (5-6) Accuracy (Acc)- 1 Damage (Dam)- 3 Recharge Reduction (RR): 0-2 Endurance Reduction ER: 0-1
Now this is a bit more like it. Given that you have to start w/ one of these 2 powers, this is much more suitable for this concept than Power Bolt. Its damage can put a sizable dent in any minion/lieutenant and the added KB feature starts a long chain of keeping their bad guys on their butts. Hint: Badguys on their butts can't attack
Energy Torrent
Cone AoE
EC: 11.86 R: 12
1.8333/0.8333
KB 30%
Slotting: (6) Acc-1 Dam-3 RR-1 ER-1
OK, back to making fun of blaster guides. I've read more than one that leave this as an optional power; the reasons being the AoE KB and fact that "there are better AoE's out there". Both are true, to an extent. Nova is, in fact, a much better AoE than Energy Torrent, but then again, it IS your nuke. Still, I was curious of the wisdom brought forth in these guides, so I decided to load Hero Stats on my 50 and run a team for a few hours. I found that not only is this power worth keeping, but its the 2nd highest damage output over any decent length of time (2nd only to Nova). Simply wait a moment or two in battle for the aggro to get controlled, and launch one of these into a mob to start almost any fight to give your team an instant leg up. Also handy if you or a teammate suddenly finds themselves w/ a few too many baddies surrounding them, or clearing an even squishier teammate from the one or two minions preventing them from doing their job.
Power Burst
Single target
EC: 10.4 R: 10
3.1111/2.1111
KB 60%
slotting: (6) Acc-1 Dam-3-4 ER-0-1 RR-1
Time to bring the pain. This is a great attack for finishing off a badguy, or letting a new foe know he's in for somethin ugly. once you get a feel for what your attacks can do, the slower animation time on this attack (which is easily forgotten once the damage kicks in) allows you to switch views in battle to pick out your next prey and have an attack already loaded. Also the added KB on this power will put down more leiuts and bosses than your other main attacks
Sniper Blast
Single target
EC: 14.352 R: 12
5.5556/2.1111
KB 60%
slotting: (4) Acc-1 Dam-3
Eh..... I'm just not a huge fan of this attack, although I did work it into my build last respec. I don't like it because its slow and interruptible. The damage is great, and I'm positive that this can be useful in solo, but I mainly use it to take out a specific NPC in a mob (malta sappers, sky raider engineers, crystals, Q's, Voids...you know, all the things that make this game so enjoyable).It's worth having for that, but don't be an idiot and pull it out mid-battle. The 90% tohit rate against even level foes (opposed to the 75% standard rate) is also a nice added bonus
Aim
Self
EC: 5.2 R: 90
slotting: (3) RR-3
The first of your two self boosts. This one comes w/ a 100% Acc boost and a 62.5% damage increase. You can slot it w/ tohit buffs, but w/ 100% already in, plus the accuracy enhancements in your attacks, there is little reason to even attempt that. The problem is that its only a 10 second buff, so once you click it you should have enough time to get 2 attacks off. Make'm count.
Power Push
Single target
EC:8.528 R: 8
0.556/0.556
KB 100%
Wahoo! Finally something we don't need. The KB is great and the 97.5% tohit rate is incredible, but why are you taking powers that do only 12% more damage than brawl? Even 6 slotted w/ damage this attack amounts to little more than a situational waste of time.
Explosive Blast
AoE (15 ft)
EC: 15.184 R: 16
1.1111/1.13889
KB 50%
slotting: (6) Acc-1 Dam-3 RR-1 ER-1
Ok, once you get this slotted, you've got a new start to any fight: Energy Torrent into Explosive Blast. With 4x the range of torrent, it can follow the mob you just threw back with a second, deadly attack. Between the two, any mob you face will already have one foot in the grave, as long as you we smart enough to keep the aggro from both shots off yourself.
Nova
PBAoE (25 ft)
EC: 20.8 R: 360
5.5556/2.7778/4.1667
KB 80%
slotting: (6) Acc-1 Dam-3 RR-2
NOVA (/e beats chest like a mad man)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is why you showed up folks. Nova's the power that makes scrappers cry, and everyone else celebrate. Be prepared for lots of ohhs and ahhs. This power is the mother of damage and should be used every single chance you get; hence the 2 RR. 6 slot it asap and enjoy. It kills almost everything around you in a single shot, yet leaves you completely drained of endurance, and unable to recover any for a short time. However, there are several tricks to getting around this that I'll mention later.
POWER SET GUIDE 2: ELECTRICITY SECONDARY
Electric Fence
Single target
EC:7.8 R:4
5 ticks at 0.5556
slotting: (1-4) Acc-0-1 Endurance Modification (EM)-1-3
Ok, you gotta take this one, so have so fun w/ it. Electric Fence is s single foe immobilization hold with an endurance draining aspect to it. Its a great way to snag a quick minion in order to move o to something else, and spamming it on bosses can prove quite effective too.
Charged Brawl
Single target
EC: 10.192 R: 10
2.6667/2.7778
slotting: (6) Acc-1 Dam-3 RR-1 ER-0-1 EM-0-1
Welcome to blapper status. This quick attack does solid damage and leaves you in great position to KB the foe you just hit w/ one of your primary attacks. Make sure that you have "target closest enemy" binded to your keyboard, and use this on anything that comes near you. There is also a 10% disorient status to this attack, but not worth slotting in my opinion
Lightning Field
PBAoE (20 ft)/toggle
EC: 2.86572 R: 10
o.4722
"Yes! I want a 20ft low damage aggro-field surrounding me at all times! Please tell me how!" NO! I honestly cannot express in words how absolutely braindead you would have to be to think this power is a good idea. The best way to blap is not to let any foes know you're about to kill them. This grabs the attention of everything in sight. Remember, you are a squishy, leave the aggro for the tanks.
Havoc Punch
Single target
EC: 13.52 r: 14
1.6667/5.5556
slotting: (6) Acc-1-2 Dam-3 RR-0-1 ER-0-1 EM-0-1
Blapper attack #2. A total love/hate power here. It carries huge damage w/ a slower animation time than Charged Braw. It's not one use use a whole ton, but you will use it enough to call yourself a blapper. There is one thing I find odd about this power though, and its what causes me to hate it. While its listed as having the same 75% tohit rate as any normal power would, I discovered through running hero stats that even when slotted w/ 1 Acc, it was still hitting in the high 70% (77-78 to be exact). Throwing a second Acc in there clears up that problem, but does leave you short on slots. A KB status is also added to this attack.
Build Up
Self
EC: 5.2 R: 90
slotting: (3) RR-3
This is your second self buff, It carries 100% Dam boost and a 62.5% boost to Acc; both of which can be stacked w/ Aim to give yourself 10 seconds of 162.5/162.5. Slotting both powers w/ 3 RR should have it up almost every mob.
Lightning Clap
PBAoE (15 ft)
EC: 13 R: 30
This goes along the lines of Power Push: there is no room in this build for powers that deal no damage. Yes KB is nice. Yes disorient is great. No, I don't care.
Thunder Strike
AoE (10ft)
EC:18.512 R: 20
7.2226/1.9219
This is a very slow attack in which you launch yourself in the air and comedown , double-fisted, upon your opponent. It can KB and disorient for foe, and all the surrounding foes, while dealing additional damage to them as well. Sounds great, right? Guess what I respeced out of. the problem w/ this attack is that it takes so long to complete. Compared to the damage it produces its not so bad, except for the numerous deaths you will face before you ever get a chance to land it. I dropped this power out of necessity not desire, but its just not worth the debt.
Power Sink
PBAoE (10ft)
EC: 13 R: 60
slotting: (1-4) RR-0-2 EM-0-3
When you activate this power, you drain all nearby foes of endurance, and transfer it back to yourself. Thank Puddy for this one. Drop a Nova, pop a blue, find a group, Power Sink. There you go, yer back in the game kid!
Shocking Grasp
Single target
EC: 18.2 R: 15
6 ticks of 0.8333
slotting: (4-6) Acc-1 Dam-1 Hold Duration-0-1 RR-0-1 EM- 0-1
This is kind of a cool little power. Having a hold/heavy DoT attack is pretty neat, and great for taking out red and purple bosses/leiuts. It's animation is somewhat short, but it does feel like a long time between uses. Still I like having this one in my back pocket.
ADDITIONAL POWER POOLS
Concealment
Although I couldn't find room in this build to include the Concealment set, I can see the numerous advantages. Along w/ the obvious advantages that come with not being seen, stealth comes w/ a 2.5% defence boost, and invisibility has 3.5%. Any defence available for a blaster is a good defence, but watch out for adding more toggles to an already endurance heavy toon.
Fighting
This pool wasn't designed for blappers, per say. Boxing and Kick are very mediocre attacks (registering 2.1111 and 2.3333 on the brawl scale), and the defence/resistance bonuses given through tough and weave are severely scaled down from that of a tank or a scrapper. Still, it kind makes sense....
Fitness
Duh! This ones a must have. I took hurdle to add to my leaping pool, but feel free to take swift instead (but not both). Take Health at 16 (right after your travel power) and have it triple slotted by 17. Take Stamina at 20, have it triple slotted by 21. There is no way to stress the importance of doing both of these as so; you will be miserable if you don't.
Flight
This is a very slow traveling power which completely contradicts this build. Skip it. However, Group Fly will make you alot of friends at the Hemmi Raids.
Leadership
Yet another great set, that just isn't meant for blasters. Here's a quick example: Assault adds a boost to the damage output of anyone in range. The boost for Defenders is 18.75%, Controllers/WS/PB 15%, Blasters 10.5%. It becomes just another toggle at that point sucking away your precious endurance.
Leaping
Ok, this is the travel Power for you. The travel speed here is very good, and the bonuses that come in the set are essential. Jump Kick is a horrible attack, so skip it and take Combat Jumping (CJ). CJ has a resistance to immobilization, a 2.5% defence boost, and an 8% jump increase. Add one or two ER and/or defence buffs in there, or possibly a Jump enhancement if you took swift over hurdle. Super Jump comes at 14 and you're gonna want to grab it asap. Welcome to fast and easy vertical traveling. Adding a Jump enhancement in here is nice, but I wouldn't dedicate anymore slots to it. The final prize of the set, Acrobatics, is possibly one of the most over looked powers in the game. The resistance o KB and hold effects will come in use through out the game. As a blapper it is essential that you stay on your feet; this is how you're gonna do it.
Also, having CJ toggled on in the midst of battle will enable you to bounce in and out of certain "hot spots" to allow you to keep moving and keep killing. If you can't kill something in a couple of quick attacks, get out of there, and jump over to your next prey.
Medicine
"Hmmm. Well it would be nice to be able to heal yourself." Forget about it. The heal times are interruptible, so they are useless in battle; and I'm sorry, but are you just too lazy to hit rest between mobs if you really have to heal yourself that bad? How about finding a teammate w/. a heal, or simply popping a few greens. Sorry, this ones a no go.
Presence
Ok, back to the land of make believe. Seriously, if you put provoke on a blaster you need to have your head examined.
Speed
Ok, as soon as you find a small hole in your build (after level 6), grab hasten, triple slot it, and put it on auto. This is a must. I also took Super Speed from this set at 49 for PvP use, but you can feel free to drop that and possibly snipe or shocking grasp to add the concealment pool.
Teleportation
This set can be either the fastest way to travel, or the most annoying power you'll ever take. I highly recommend that tanks take this one, but not blasters (though tp friend has its advantage of carrying around low level friends and/or people w/ SS).
EPIC POWER POOLS
This is going to be brief because I can only speak intelligently about one of these: Force Mastery. From about 32+ I had planned on taking Cold for Hibernation and Snow Storm (along w/ the obvious armor), but was talked out of it by a good friend, and instead went w/ Force Mastery. TY Nuck. Personal Force Field can be used as a good emergency button to save you during an ambush, and can also be useful in walking through a wall of KB attacks to get yourself in position to Nova. Repulsion Field is a fancy way of saying Lightning field, so ignore it entirely. Temp Invuln is a nice defensive shield giving you a 20% slottable resistance to Lethal and Smashing Damage, and Force of Nature makes you tough as nails for 2 minutes (although it drops 100% of your endurance once it wears off, though there is no -recovery like nova carries.
POWER CHAINS
1) Aim + Build Up + Nova
2) Energy Torrent + Charged Brawl
3) Charged Brawl + Power Burst
4) Havoc Punch + Charged Brawl + Power Blast
5) Energy Torrent + Explosive Blast + target closest enemy+ Electric Fence + target next enemy + Power Burst + Power Blast: especially if group if herded to a corner
SUPPORTING STAFF
No man is an island, and especially not a blapper. so here's a few pointers on who to look for and why:
Tanks
These guys are invaluable to you. Look for tanks that have good aggro control in the form of taunt, provoke, mudpots (or any similar aoe power), or someone who simply slots their attacks w/ taunt instead of Dam. There is nothing better than picking off guys too busy trying to climb over 7 of his compadres to notice you killing him. Trust me, a good tank gets a kick out of this too. Puddy Bless the Meatbags!
Dark/ Defenders
Wait for them to drop a tar patch, then drop the big boom. Nova and Tar Patch are like beans and cornbread: "They go hand in hand" The ToHit debuffs are pretty nice too!
Kin/ or /Kin
Gotta love these guys if you can only get a buff out of them. Speed Boost will instantly solve any stamina problems you might be having, while making your attack rate fly through the roof, Increase Density will keep you from being held/immob/sleep/or stunned, but the mother of there powers is Fulcrum Shift. If you are on a team that has FS, simply stand by the closest mob thats being attacked, and wait for it. Can you say Damage Cap?
Emp/ or /Emp
Ahh, the pure healers of this game. Its an often thankless job, but you'll learn to love your Emps soon enough. Aside from constantly bailing you out of trouble as you learn to blap, Adrenalin Boost, is all but a cure from the endurance effects of Nova. Regeneration Aura and Recovery Aura (especially the latter) are 22 more great boosts from this set that will keep you in the fight much longer than with out.
Forcefield/ or /Forcefield
Ahh, the mighty Bubbler. So often overlooked, these guys can be a lifesaver. Any defence is a good defence.
Ill/
The great thing about Illusion controllers is that they get indestructible pets at 18. Although they do go away in time, the Phantom Army can make for great tanks.
Fire/
Keep in mind that Fire Cages, a fire controller's AoE immobilization attack, comes w/ a KB resistance. This can be good or bad, depending on how you play
Ice/
Here is the one player that can have a legitimate reason to hate you. Ice Slick is a great AoE power that keeps the batiks bouncing up and down on a block of ice. However, if they get knocked back off of the effected area, the hold is broken. Be mindful of this as you play.
CONCLUSION
So thats about it folks. I had a ton of fun playing this build, and I'd be afraid to see how many hours I have logged between the two toons that carry it, but this has been a fairly rough rundown of what it takes to be an Nrg/Elec Blapper. I didn't include an exact build or exact slotting specifications, because if you want to play one of my toons, you're just gonna have to buy it on ebay when I quit. There are plenty of great guides out there, so keep on reading. This one's just mine.