Brutish Newb - Questions on Elec vs. WM, SD vs. WP
Apples and oranges.
Comparing the 2, both primary and secondary, apples and oranges.
Elec is an AoE heavy set, no doubt about that, but elec and wm work differently. WM does excellent single target damage and has solid AoE. Elec shines in AoEs, not as much single target. When combined with SD, Elec steps up a lot, especially in the AoE area. However, every primary is going to ramp up with SD as far as damage goes.
Defensively, SD and WP work differently. SD is a def set, with a max hp buff from true grit, and a little bit of resistance to shore it up. WP relies on regen for survival. It also gets a maxhp buff, and a small amount of defense and resistance. As fas as alpha strikes go, both can survive them rather well in a team setting, which is where brutes shine anyway. SD gets a small advantage in alpha survival only because the alpha is less likely to hit you.
Both sets perform better while surrounded by mobs.
Properly slotted, WP is a monster, but if you don't slot it correctly, it suffers a lot. IMO, SD is a bit harder to screw up. Once you get to higher levels, both sets perform very well, and really it comes down to taste. I prefer WP to SD. But, that is more due to endurance issues than anything else. The offensive boost you with SD is excellent, but I am not a big fan of teleport powers, and shield charge is like that. Combined with Elec Melee, that is 2 teleport powers, and well, you can imagine how I feel about it. Not saying it is not effective, my gf has a 50 elec/sd and loves it. I abandoned my ss/sd at 49 in favor of my SM/WP.
As far as synergy, I firmly believe that it is up to the player to find synergy in any combo, some just come together easier than others. SD is very friendly to AoE heavy sets. It also turns ST friendly sets into engines of destruction. WP is friendly to everything, and really is nice because it almost completely kills any downtime.
Thats how I see things anyway.
Dark Armor is like that kid you knew in school that didn't know when to shut up, and no matter how bad he got beaten down, he got right back up again and kept on talking.
Without going point by point, I will say that Elec/SD can look very impressive on a kitted-out L50 when compared to a low-level anything - but WM/WP will probably be easier to level, as WP provides excellent survivability and endurance mitigation with just SOs. SD trades off survivability and convenience for extra damage, at least until its positional defense can be buttressed by IO set bonuses.
As for the primaries, Elec has one spectacular PBAoE on a quite long recharge, two other decent AoE attacks (one of which is quite finicky in its mechanics), and some fairly mundane ST attacks; WM has three strong ST attacks, two strong cones, and a decent PBAoE. WM is late-maturing, but ends up with a good balance of ST and AoE.
That said, if you're just more fired up by Elec/SD, go ahead and roll one. Just be aware that peak performance and leveling performance can be very different.
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Thanks for the responses.
What about fusing the ideas and doing Elec/WP. You get alot of the AOE goodness, but with the end and more survivability of WP.
Hello.
I am relatively new to villain side, and I am in the phase of trying out a bunch of different Brutes after I sort of petered out on MM, as it was fun, but once I got my 32 power I plateaued, and I am taking a break to try a completely different direction.
Last night I was playing my teens WM/WP and there was a high level 50 in the AE that was Elec/SD, and it was pretty freaking sexy, and I am thinking of trying that combo too, but I do like my WM/WP character, so I wanted to sort of compare. I have never seen a 50 WM/WP go to work, so I don't have a point of comparison. From a concept standpoint, I have good ideas for concepts either way, so that's not a big deal.
I am sorry if my musings are a bit rambl-y, but I just wanted to get some thoughts out there and get people's advice and experience.
WP and SD
These two are really interesting in that they have two major abilities that are sort of the opposites of each other. WP gets this great healing with more enemies, and SD gets more damage with more enemies. Also, SD has an AoE attack, which is another offensive capability over WP.
Does it really come down to whether you want to be more offensive or more defensive?
WP appears to have no s/l def, and SD has no healing. I do really like the regen aspects of WP, but am confused by the lack of s/l def. I suppose you have to take Weave as a WP? How does one shore up SD? What's the weakness?
WM vs. Elec
Having seen in person now Elec go and asplode the world, and looking at paragon wiki I have trouble seeing how WM can ever do the same amount of damage. I know WM is considered relatively good at AOE, but can it even come close to Elec?
Am I wrong for it to look like WM just can't compete with Elec? I know I am missing something here, as I am assuming the sets have been balanced over the years to be roughly similar on some kind of level.
Synergy - Elec/SD
Am I crazy or is Elec/SD super synergistic? What an AoE machine to get more damage with more mobs and to have Shield Charge and Lightening Rod. It's like a thundering truck of Hell!
Where is the weakness here? ST damage? Lack of self healing?
Synergy - WM/WP
The stuns and KU, seem like they would be great to allow RttC to work, and I bet this works out great for survivability.
RttC seems to be really super awesome for "tanking" provided you survive the alpha. Having a 40's regen scrapper, I know how regen and alphas don't get along.
It appears the weakness here is s/l defense and just (relative to Elec/SD) the loss of that delicious piled on AoE goodness.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate any feedback. If you couldn't tell, it looks to me like Elec/SD is like this super great combo, and WM/WP is merely mortal, not bad at all, but just not as epic, and I am hoping that some people with experience can check my observations and reasoning.
Thanks!!