How to "Sure Up" the durability of Electric Armor?

I so cant wait for claw brutes. bring it on!

Oh dear. There's a gauntlet on the ground...

I don't have any Elec Armor experience, but I can't resist poking at builds.

Hmm.

TL;DR version - I can maybe make it twice as tough. Leave ten bids up at the Black Market for either medium/large Lucks or things that you can combine to make medium/large Lucks. You're a villain; you're expected to have addictions. This is very, very challenging to play.

WHAT YOU HAVE IN THE SET: capped Energy, 42% res to everything else, and no heals, no defense, no regen. Is that true? It's like Fiery Aura without Healing Flames. Low resistance and no layers. Ow.

POWER STUFF: You need Aid Self almost more than Tough and Weave, I suspect. You need BOTH sets. I don't think you need Grounded, just a couple KB IO's. I've been wrong before.

IO STUFF: I'd put five sets of Aegis in there. Steadfast Res/Def. That will get you to like 32% Def [assuming Weave] against Fire/Cold/AOE . That's not very good coverage and not very good Defense, but a small Luck will cap it. You can try to get some Zephyrs in your travel powers for maybe an extra 6% Ranged, but that's really living on hope for THAT to make a difference.

If you could slot three 4-sets of Kin Combat that would be nice. I'm not holding my breath, though. You might even get good use out of the proc... knockdown is knockdown, I'm not proud.

Pick up 50-100% Regen- again, it's not much on survivability, but it's nearly free. Two Devastation, two Entropic Chaos [in Focus], two Numina and the Regen Tissue unique in Health. 100% Regen is like a free Respite once a minute, or 1/4 of what Healing Flames would get you.

PLAYSTYLE: Every seven seconds, use Shockwave to throw people into the nearest wall. It takes them about two and a half seconds to stand up from that. If they're KB resistant you're screwed. I wanted to say "Use Power Sink and Lightning Field to drain their endurance" but that only works, maybe eventually, on even-cons. If you were elec/elec you could do it. And for tough fights, take either a large Res or a medium/large Def inspiration. Carry fifteen of them.

So there you go. You've got Energy covered, Fire and Cold sorta covered, and AOE. All the big hitters [which tend to be Smash, Lethal, Melee] are going to land, and land hard.

Good luck.

<QR to the side discussion>

Best AoE control for a melee set is Stone and anyone saying otherwise either hasn't played it or didn't take Fault; everyone talks about the KD on Fault and ignores the permastun that you can get with just SOs (and a short double-stack with Hasten, or perma-double-stack with IOs). And that's completely ignoring Tremor, which can be used between Faults if you really don't want things standing up.

But when you can keep 10 things staggering around for longer than it takes the power to recharge to do it again, who cares that they're standing up?

Claws has some soft control in Focus and Shockwave. If you want better single-target control there's SS (KD), SM (KD, Hold), EM (Stun), and Air Superiority is as good as Focus if you're just wanting control and available to anybody. But until Shockwave can keep an entire spawn from attacking all on its own for an indefinate period of time, I'm calling bs on the claim that it's the "best melee control set".

Quote:

Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brillig It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

And now to throw a wrench in the works of those trying to defend ElA's current status

No IOs
No Inspirations
Armor set only
Final Des...

Ah, sorry...

Powersets are based around how well they function with SOs, regardless of accompanying set. The developers have stated they do not factor in IOs when creating/looking over sets. Inspirations are finite and limited, short term solutions. A set shouldn't abolsutely require taking pool powers in order to make it function (Castle commented such some time ago regarding Fiery Aura)

So yes, you CAN take Fighting and Medicine to fill the holes, but you shouldn't HAVE to. It's like Stamina. Each set has a way to not have to take Stamina built right in, so players have the option of not taking Fitness.

Without Aid Self, Tough/Weave, and a mitigation primary, how well does the set hold up?

Not very.

Granted, you're a monster in the RWZ...

To Fulmens: You either go Grounded and stay low, or go CJ/SJ/Acro. Grounded covers your KB AND Immobilize, is another 10% Res to Energy and Neg, and grants 70% End Drain resistance. I always get a good laugh when I see an ElA with neither, flopping around like a fish out of water >_<

Edited: Fixed some stuff.

How to shore up Electric Armor? Been asking that same question myself.

Dark Melee's Siphon Life is how I'm trying to do it on my current character. It's not a big heal, but (at 28 now) I have it coming up every 6 seconds and double slotted for Accuracy. I’m trying to see if I can get through the 30's without the medicine pool. Interestingly enough it's a really fun experiment, i have never focused so much on my Inspirations Tray. Electric Armor does have some benefits, but it obviously needs a little more balancing.

How do other secondaries that have no built-in healing manage? Shield Defense and Super Reflexes...both Defense based...hmmm....must be hard to level those.

'nuff said

You'd think it'd be tough, but not so much. SR's strength grows as it climbs the level ladder, almost exponentially. Pulling off an Aid Self is child's play for it. Shield, not as easy, as Shield is layered defenses. Neither really NEEDS Aid Self, but they can more easily make use of it should their builds have room for it.

I honestly look at ElA and EA together, as they're themed Energy sets; one for resistance, and one for defense. ElA's power ordering should be closer to EA's

1) Remove CP from both ElA and EA, put it in Mu Mastery for anyone who wants it
2) Move Power Sink in ElA up to the 28 slot
3) Put something in the now vacant 35 slot for both sets (I suggest Power Boost, so EA gets a ghetto t9 earlier, and PB+PSink = effective drains for ElA)

I have a nearly permahastened stone/elec/mu brute (would be permahasted if I used purples), slotted for 21% defense in addition to +rech. Haven't had enough space for Aid Self after I took Tough and Weave. I survive by getting the mobs to surround me and then fire off Power Sink, Electric Shackles and Ball Lightning. That leaves them at 0 end and greatly reduces incoming damage. I continue setting off those powers as soon as they are ready, and that keeps their end low. I can use Fault for additional mitigation (dissipating particulary nasty alphas etc), but since you're going claws...

To the point: going Mu gives you an additional layer of mitigation (Power Sink by itself ain't enough), and you can slot for about 20% defense besides going all-out for +rech, which means you could hit 30% without that much +rech, probably more. And you won't miss Aid Self if you don't take it.

Leveling up, you'll have a great time until the 30s, when you'll feel REALLY squishy until you take Tough. Mitigation from your primary will be your best friend then.

Mu would help. I don't really think of it as a fix, and this is why:

I played a Force Field/Elec defender once and it didn't really feel good until level 41. That was a very long time to play on hope.

I played an Elec/Inv brute that didn't take off until I got slots in Lightning Rod, and even 33 levels is a very long time to wait by my personal watch.

So a build that doesn't work until 41 is, for me, a build that doesn't work.

edited to clarify what an FF/elec is, in case it's not obvious. Frostfire? Founders Falls? Force Feedback? Flaming Feet?

I think that whatever is seemingly challenging to play and a good concept is a good thing to choose if the character is played more hours after 50 than it did hitting 50. At 50 you can make something of anything, you could be the one, the only one, who proves all doubters wrong. Not to mention that you could be in a position to create change and the change maybe popular. Why play something anyone can play? I go with concepts myself and usually find some niche somewhere because you can't be good at everything.

Edit: I got an elec/elec brute and an elec/elec stalker

Well Shield Defense has True Grit and Super Reflexes has Dodge. Both grant resists and/or more hit points. Shield Defense also has Shield Bash that is a very good mitigation attack built right into it.

I'd say Electric Armor is the weakest Secondary for Brutes. I still like it and want to play it. I just want to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation.

True Grit
Auto: Self +Res (Cold, Energy, Fire, Negative Energy, Toxic), +MaxHealth

Your intense training has left you tougher than even the hardiest of heroes. You gain additional hit points and resistance to fire, cold, energy, negative energy and toxic damage sources. This power is always on and costs no Endurance.


Dodge
Auto: Self +DEF(Melee), Res(DeBuff DEF), Res(Damage, Special)

You have the ability to innately Dodge some melee attacks and you resist Defense DeBuffs. Dodge also grants you minor Damage Resistance to all damage except Toxic and Psionic. This Damage Resistance is only available as you lose Health but it improves as your HP declines. This power is always on, and will permanently increase your Defense versus melee attacks.

This is the build I run with. It has 45% defense to Smashing & Lethal and medicine pool. It does not have hasten but I managed to get the recharge to 48.8% with set bonuses. I like it much better than going with the +recharge builds. You'll survive a heck of a lot better.

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