Questions about elec melee

Hello there,

I'm planning on making an elec melee/something (probably dark or shield), Lightning rod looks awesome and it seems elec is a very AOE oriented primary. Fine, i'm all about massive destruction.

However, i have no experience with this set, at all. I don't play villain side anymore for quite a long time now, and i never tried electric melee because i don't like electricity (power customization will improve that as well). After looking at the powers in Mids and in game, i'm confused with some of them.

-Jacobs ladder : it looks like a decent cone, but the arc seems very narrow compared to the other melee cones. So how does it translate in game ? How many targets can you reliably hit with it ? Based on my overall experience with cones (translation : they never hit enough targets to be worth it for me) it looks like a skippable power or a very bad aoe, is it true ?

-Thunder strike : this one is confusing. Based on the description it looks like a high damage attack + chance of a stun on the target, then some "splash damage" and a knockdown on the other mobs in the area. Huh, that's complicated for a single power. I don't care for the ST damage and soft control effects, so it it a decent pbae power ? What's the average damage at lvl 50 with 95% enhancement on the main target and other targets nearby ? I have no idea if i should consider that as a real pbae power (and the description is not accurate) or a single target attack with a minor pbae as a bonus

-Chain induction : i think i picture how this one works. I'm just wondering how many targets it can hit, on average, as the description doesn't seem to give any info on the frequency of the chain. Let's say i have 10 mobs around me, is it more likely to hit 2 of them or 10 of them ? And do all the "jumps" have the same damage as the initial attack ? Again, it sounds like a single target attack with a chance to become an AOE. Weird.


So overall i don't know what to think about it. All the powers look great on paper but when i look at them, i can't really take into account LR since the timer is so huge. It's a great alpha opener, but i'm looking for an AOE attack chain as i'm used to have with claws and spines. And i can't seem to find any way to have one, even if i add fireball to the mix. Elec melee looks like a bunch of hybrid attacks that are not as strong as ST attacks, but not real AOE as well. I'm not talking about 2 or 3 mobs but diving into mobs spawned for a full team. Hopefully i'm mistaken, but could anyone enlighten me on the Elec melee mechanics and what should i expect from it ?

If anyone could show me an AOE attack chain as well (including fireball if needed) it would be perfect.

Thanks in advance

Jacob's Ladder: It's very slightly wider than Shadow Maul/Sands of Mu (but also considerably faster). Make of that what you will. Damage-wise, you break even at 1.1 targets.

Thunder Strike: You understand the power correctly. Main target damage at 50, enhanced, will be ~239; the splash will be ~117. With Build Up, ~362 and ~177 respectively. It is your AoE workhorse, so if you don't like Thunder Strike you will probably not like Electric Melee, no matter how awesome Lightning Rod is.

Chain Induction: The way this works is this: you hit a target, and if that target survives, a "pet" is summoned that then shocks another random target in range. If that second target dies, or if there is no third target in range, that's the end of it. Otherwise, another pet is created which shocks the third target, and so on. The maximum number of leaps is four, meaning you can hit up to 5 targets total.

The initial hit will be ~161 enhanced, with the leaps each being ~76.

Thanks for the information, that's exactly what i was looking for