There is absolutely no reason to avoid Electric Primary and Secondary. Stamina is pretty much a must-have. You'll also want some form of Knockback Protection, either from Acrobatics or Hover/Fly. Aid Self gives you some extra lifespan and I can't see a reason for not having Hasten...
You will not want to miss taking both Aim and Build Up.
What ATs are you most comfortable playing, could give some pointers on how Blasters are different from those.
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
Only things to avoid with blasters are maybe weak AoE attacks รก la rain of fire or lightning field. Those mainly get you aggro and not do much damage. Just collect the biggest damage attacks you can get and slot them well, can't go much wrong there.
Advice:
- get build up and aim if possible
- do not neglect melee attacks - Blasters are about damage, regardless how they do it.
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What ATs are you most comfortable playing, could give some pointers on how Blasters are different from those.
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All my main playing to date on Hero's has been with Controller and Defender varients. Recently got my first Scrapper to 32 MA/Regen and that was fun in being able to solo which is not impossible but tedious i find with a Defender.
Only drawback with Electric is i have an Elec/Elec brute quite high on Villains but the Blasting experience should be different enough on Heros to keep me interested i hope.
Rain of Fire is not a weak power, it's simply a bad power if misused. Used well it's just fine, and does bucket loads of damage.
Overall though, if you're looking at elec primary, my advice would be to go for either elec or energy secondary. Elec is a "quirky" primary, but a lot of fun. It doesn't however go with some secondaries particularly well. It's best when backed up by a secondary that can offer good single target damage and some nice little extras (such as more endurance drain, holds, stuns etc).
Stamina and knockback protection are extremely highly recommended, everything else is a matter of personal preference and depends on the build you make and what you intend to do with it.
Elec/elec rules, powers to avoid imo if your going to play pve more than pvp,LF,VS, shocking grasp and thunder clap, all other powers in the set are great get all the melee attacks and slot them well lots of damage fast. Knock back is a must.Also make sure you pick up aim,build up,telsa cage and power sink.
If you fancy pvp then VS is again imo a better pick than zapp as it will do more damage over time than trying to let of a snipe attack, LF is also a good idea for pvp as it can stop stalkers AS`s you.
As for the epic powers then id go elec again it has the best shield and another hold in the form of shocking bolt, the other two in the set are not that great.
There are loads of builds for elec on the forums but id say the best thing to do is build what suits you rather than copying a build.
Should have said it was for PvE play only sorry. Reading other posts for ideas i think i'll give Elec/Energy a go. I've tried fire and ice in other guises on tanks and trollers but Energy is new to me.
Energy is a niice secondary, offering some decent melee attacks...
My main is an elec/elce blaster and I really enjoy using him. The end drain from some of the powers can be quite significant, "Short Circuit" when slotted with end mods can drain a minion's end almost completely in one hit, but ti works best in the middle of a battle - run in, and use SC. If you time it right you can take advantage of the fact that enemies will be running low on end anyway, and the SC will cripple them even further, preventing them from using their best powers.
Elec sec has some awesome melee moves, and is probably the best overall secondary set if you want to create a melee focused, blapper type build - Thunder Strike, Shocking Grasp and Power sink are all very very useful...
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Should have said it was for PvE play only sorry. Reading other posts for ideas i think i'll give Elec/Energy a go. I've tried fire and ice in other guises on tanks and trollers but Energy is new to me.
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Elec/Energy is an awesome combo - short circuit + power boost completely drains the end and stops them recovering end for a while meaning they cannot attack you more than once 
Works best with either Super speed or Stealth so by the time they've noticed you they have no end 
and definately get Aim + build up ASAP.
thePhilosopher Martial Arts/Regen/Fire Scrapper
theRegulator Empathy/Energy/Soul Defender
Total Inertia Ice Blast/Kinetics/Psy Corruptor
Total Inferno Ice Blast/Thermal/Leviathan Corruptor
Stealth supresses when you start the short circuit animation nowadays, has done for about 18 months in fact, and it's a long animation. The days of draining something before it sees you are long gone.
With regard to drain, both short circuit and power sinc, when 3 slotted with endurance drain enhancements, will drain even level. Combine Short circuit with either power sinc, or power build up, and you will be able to drain plus twos with a single application of both powers. Anything higher than that will require multiple applications, and you'll want holds or stuns to subdue them prior to going in for a drain.
When considering combining Power Boost with either Short Circuit, or the stuns/holds available in Elec/Eng, I'd probably go with the holds and stuns in a lot of situations rather than really being a slave to end drain for the sake of it. It's an all or nothing thing, fantastic when you can pull it off, but when you can't really pull it off, it's better to take another option.
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Stealth supresses when you start the short circuit animation nowadays, has done for about 18 months in fact, and it's a long animation. The days of draining something before it sees you are long gone.
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Means that when they see you you're starting to drain them whereas without they can attack you before you start - this only works with ele/nrg where you can drain all their end at once.
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When considering combining Power Boost with either Short Circuit, or the stuns/holds available in Elec/Eng, I'd probably go with the holds and stuns in a lot of situations rather than really being a slave to end drain for the sake of it. It's an all or nothing thing, fantastic when you can pull it off, but when you can't really pull it off, it's better to take another option.
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End drain gives you a kind of AoE mez as opposed to ST from the holds and stuns.
thePhilosopher Martial Arts/Regen/Fire Scrapper
theRegulator Empathy/Energy/Soul Defender
Total Inertia Ice Blast/Kinetics/Psy Corruptor
Total Inferno Ice Blast/Thermal/Leviathan Corruptor
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With regard to drain, both short circuit and power sinc, when 3 slotted with endurance drain enhancements, will drain even level.
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Short Circuit will not drain an even level minion completely with 3 +3 SO EndMod on a Blaster. A Defender should be able to do that with their improved secondary effects, however.
thePhilosopher:
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End drain gives you a kind of AoE mez as opposed to ST from the holds and stuns.
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And it's one of the few things that can consistently shut down a downgraded AV.
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Short Circuit will not drain an even level minion completely with 3 +3 SO EndMod on a Blaster.
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I have to say I was surprised that it didn't, in fact I thought you were wrong although I've just been and tested it properly and it definitely doesn't (leaves 25 end with +3 enhancements on an even level minion). In practicality by the time it's used they're drained though in normal play, I had to work quite hard on an elec/elec to set up a situation where I was starting attacking them with SC when they were on full endurance. Either they've attacked while the animation is running and they're drained, or you've held them, and all the elec holds do varying degrees of endurance drain. They might manage a brawl, but probably not and nothing more. A single mele attack will totally zero it (of course on an even level minion a single attack will probably kill them as well after short circuit - draining even level minions is a complete waste of time).
The combination of both Short Circuit and Power Sinc does drain +2 minions however, with no outside help from any other powers. Unfortunately the gap on how much you have left on +3s is high enough that even if they're attacking full pelt on a tanker, they generally don't wear out enough of their endurance you'll get near to a full drain without using Short Circuit twice in addition to Power Sink. Given the length of animation and fact that I want to actually get there and do some damage before the scrappers steal all the bad guys, I generally don't find it very useful to be putting in multiple applications of SC.
For a while I ran with Short Circuit slotted for damage rather than End Mod. Combined with Ball Lightning and Static Discharge from the Elec Epic, I put out a shocking amount of AoE damage.
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
I remember you talking about it, I'm toying with the idea myself at the moment as I currently have all three of those powers, but I also have 3 effective level 53 end mods in short circuit which I'm extremely loath to trash given how rare they drop, so that'll probably not happen till the next respec.
(damn it's confusing watch you two talk)
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
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I remember you talking about it, I'm toying with the idea myself at the moment as I currently have all three of those powers, but I also have 3 effective level 53 end mods in short circuit which I'm extremely loath to trash given how rare they drop, so that'll probably not happen till the next respec.
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You could of course turn on Targeting Drone and run SC as 3 Dam/3 EndMod...
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Short Circuit will not drain an even level minion completely with 3 +3 SO EndMod on a Blaster.
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I have to say I was surprised that it didn't, in fact I thought you were wrong although I've just been and tested it properly and it definitely doesn't (leaves 25 end with +3 enhancements on an even level minion). In practicality by the time it's used they're drained though in normal play, I had to work quite hard on an elec/elec to set up a situation where I was starting attacking them with SC when they were on full endurance. Either they've attacked while the animation is running and they're drained, or you've held them, and all the elec holds do varying degrees of endurance drain. They might manage a brawl, but probably not and nothing more. A single mele attack will totally zero it (of course on an even level minion a single attack will probably kill them as well after short circuit - draining even level minions is a complete waste of time).
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Looks like Ele/Nrg out drains Ele/Ele to me 
thePhilosopher Martial Arts/Regen/Fire Scrapper
theRegulator Empathy/Energy/Soul Defender
Total Inertia Ice Blast/Kinetics/Psy Corruptor
Total Inferno Ice Blast/Thermal/Leviathan Corruptor
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For a while I ran with Short Circuit slotted for damage rather than End Mod. Combined with Ball Lightning and Static Discharge from the Elec Epic, I put out a shocking amount of AoE damage.
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Would 6 slotting Short Circut with 3 damage and 3 End Mod be a good idea?
I'm learning the team play blaster style which lets the Tanks get the agro first , lob ball lightning in then run in and Short Circut , which i have 3 slotted End Mods just now.
About to hit lvl 12 and will upgrade to DO's asap which should help a bit with Damage output. I'm finding my blaster more fun in teams rather than soloing so AoE damage is my preference. I just love seeing all those numbers tic away on a big group while running round like a mad thing trying to escape a mad troll boss
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For a while I ran with Short Circuit slotted for damage rather than End Mod. Combined with Ball Lightning and Static Discharge from the Elec Epic, I put out a shocking amount of AoE damage.
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Would 6 slotting Short Circut with 3 damage and 3 End Mod be a good idea?
I'm learning the team play blaster style which lets the Tanks get the agro first , lob ball lightning in then run in and Short Circut , which i have 3 slotted End Mods just now.
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If you have secondary that helps with end drain (you chose elec/energy right?) then yes, end mods is a very good way to go.
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
Hi guys
Away to roll a blaster , only had a fire blaster previously and only to lvl 10 so no ideas with this AT at all.
My thoughts are Electric/ poss Elec? as a secondery.
Really more keen on what to avoid as opposed to what to build. I reckon i will want Jump pool for acrobatics which is fine by me as i like SJ. Stamina probably essential?
I hear Medicene advisable for Heal Self?
Any other words of advice or reason to avoid Elec/Elec would be appreciated.
Cheers.