advice on ajcobs ladder?

Hey all im working on my Elec/Invul brute and i am unsure about jacobs ladder. I was using it for awhile but couldnt seem to get it to hit more than one person. It does nice damage but if i cant get it to hit more than one person do i want it in my build? What are your thoughts on it?

I respec'd out of it on my Elec.

I used it for awhile but respecced out of it shortly after Chain Induction got buffed. Haven't tried it since the melee range increase though.

The animation time is only slightly slower than Havoc Punch. It's not a bad attack, especially if you're looking for AoE set bonuses. On an invuln, I bet eradication would be pretty tasty. Otherwise, there's always obliteration.

Overall, if you have a good attack chain without it, it isn't needed. But, it has its uses.

I would give Jacob's Ladder a bit of time to get used to. I have it on my elec/elec brute and usually have little trouble hitting multiple enemies with it.
Solo or in smaller teams it is in many cases better anyway when you herd more than one spawn and while you are at it you could just as well pull them around a corner. That way you have plenty of victims coming from one distinct direction.
If you have no corner at hand you could also collect the mobs tightly around yourself (especially with ranged mobs you might still need some form of cover to achieve that) and then jump out of their middle, so that, again, you have most of the spawn in one direction.
Target one in the back of the group who is just inside your melee range and you are virtually sure to hit more than one. Especially when somebody uses knockback/-up/-down powers it is never a good idea to target the nearest enemy (unless it is the only one left ) as this can throw off your aim in a direction where there is only one enemy instead of several.
Some people can not wrap their head around this tactic and are indeed better off speccing out of it, but if you can manage Jacob's Ladder is actually very nice.

I can't imagine my elec/inv without JL. Then again he's usually always surround by Freaks so it's nearly always hitting more than one mob.

Just use it and if it hits a second (or third, fourth, or fifth) mob be happy.

If you're building a DPS attack chain, then you'd want to go in order of the highest damage per second of activation and chain those together; that's just common sense, right?

Jacob's Ladder is higher DPA than either Charged Brawl or Havoc Punch, even to a single target.

Converting Lightning Rod to a Brute's damage scalar (since it uses the pet damage modifier), the order is:
Lightning Rod (scale 3.2*, adj. animation 2.772, DS/sec 1.15)
Chain Induction (scale 1.32, adj. animation 1.188, DS/sec 1.11)
Jacob's Ladder (scale 1.5, adj. animation 1.848, DS/sec 0.812)
Charged Brawl (scale 0.84, adj. animation 1.056, DS/sec 0.795)
Havoc Punch (scale 1.32, adj. animation 1.716, DS/sec 0.769)
Thunder Strike (scale 1.96**, adj. animation 3.432, DS/sec 0.571)

* - counting all 3 ticks of damage, so 3' radius area; also caps at +300% damage.
** - only to single target, splash damage is scale 0.96.

Now, you can shuffle around some to line up the cone better, but even if it only hits one target it's still a "better attack" than most anything else you could use.

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.

Like most folks here, I don't currently have it on my main Elec/Elec Build. While the animation isn't all that slow, it's the extra second or two it takes to line up the cone in order to catch more than one foe in it that bugs me. It's certainly useable as a single target attack, but for that purpose there are better things in the set. Depending on the build and the AT, I favor either Jacob's Ladder or Chain Induction, but never both in one build yet. My Brutes all have CI, my Stalker JL. My planned Tanker is contemplating both, though, as he'll have the greatest ability to leverage AoE... but also the greatest need.

I love Jacob's Ladder. It's so bad! (Like the Power Glove)