Once you get Power Sink and Energize you endurance problems will be over forever. Just make sure you use Power Sink when you have 20 or so endurance so you don't drop your toggles cause Power Sink cost 13end unslotted.
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As the player of a lvl 50 spines/elec, I'll echo the above poster in saying that Power Sink will solve all your endurance problems, especially when combined with Stamina and Energize. You will have no endurance problems once your build is mature.|
Originally Posted by Legend_Light
So, this is my 2nd scrapper toon... I think the character has great potential. Between the extra recharge bonus from Elec, and the DoT from both Quills and Lightning Field, it should be a nice build.
I am wondering if the damage is good, and also if the endurance is a problem? I currently am having trouble with endurance on the toon, but I haven't reached stamina yet. I know I get an end drain later down the line... does it work effectively at keeping the end in check? |
Damage will be better than Spines/Dark and less than Spines/Fire.
Spines/elec is a very strong farming build, similar to spines/fire and spines/dark which are touted among the elite farmers. Spines/elec continues to slip under the radar with this regard, but only because it's new, not because its performance is lacking.
I was thinking about rolling one of these, but after looking around a bit, it would seem that lightning field will make the mobs scatter, which can be annoying for the aoe setup. Pair that with the scatter from quills because of stacked -recharge, and that is too much impaling, and not enough bursty goodness for me.
I've decided to roll a fm/elec, and an elec/sd instead.
SD
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Interesting theorycraft. In point of fact, Lightning Field doesn't cause mobs to scatter any more than they would with just Quills. I have no trouble killing everything quickly with Throw Spines, Spine Burst, and Ripper, and don't need Impale at all.|
Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
I was thinking about rolling one of these, but after looking around a bit, it would seem that lightning field will make the mobs scatter, which can be annoying for the aoe setup. Pair that with the scatter from quills because of stacked -recharge, and that is too much impaling, and not enough bursty goodness for me.
I've decided to roll a fm/elec, and an elec/sd instead. SD |
Choose whatever you like of course, but your theoretical analysis doesn't really hold up to gameplay.
I deleted my Spines/Elec and rolled Elec/Shield instead because I couldn't stand the scatter >_<
Well there's no going wrong with elec/shield, that's for sure.
But honestly, the scatter isn't a big problem for spines/elec with Ripper and Throw Spines.
It may not be if you're fighting small mobs of weaker minions, but when you kick it up a notch and go +4/x8 (or fight anything that can survive the initial alpha strike) then yeah, it does become a problem (IMO)
I suggested making a request to the devs to add a taunt component to damage auras (Blazing Aura, Death Shroud, Lightning Field) similar to the ones in Invuln and SD (Invincibility and AAO) to prevent mob scatter, but it was rejected by the Scrapper community, even fiercely by some (something I didn't expect, tbh)
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Well I don't routinely run at +4x8, just +2x8, but at that level I still don't see the problem.|
Originally Posted by Silverado
It may not be if you're fighting small mobs of weaker minions, but when you kick it up a notch and go +4/x8 (or fight anything that can survive the initial alpha strike) then yeah, it does become a problem (IMO)
I suggested making a request to the devs to add a taunt component to damage auras (Blazing Aura, Death Shroud, Lightning Field) similar to the ones in Invuln and SD (Invincibility and AAO) to prevent mob scatter, but it was rejected by the Scrapper community, even fiercely by some (something I didn't expect, tbh) |
I certainly wouldn't mind adding a taunt aura to Lightning Field though.
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I'm glad that we all have different game experiences, and are free to share that experience in an open forum. In theory, I have alot of experience with spines. Maybe not as much as others, but we are theorizing here. I also read alot on the forums here, might not post much, but people dont look at post counts do they? |
Originally Posted by Chaos_String
Interesting theorycraft. In point of fact, Lightning Field doesn't cause mobs to scatter any more than they would with just Quills. I have no trouble killing everything quickly with Throw Spines, Spine Burst, and Ripper, and don't need Impale at all.
Choose whatever you like of course, but your theoretical analysis doesn't really hold up to gameplay. |
As such, my forum foo is rusty. Here is a quote from Thirty_Seven in this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=201425
"Yes, the prevailing theory seems to be that mobs run when:
1) low on HP
2) outgunned
3) recharge is basically non-existant
4) out of endurance
The last two basically translate to mean "when it has no powers available with which to attack.""
So now, lets take the prevailing theory and apply it to a Spines/Elec.
1) low on HP - After a spine burst and Throw Spines, most mobs will be low on hp.
2) Outgunned - Self explanitory really, I'd feel bad for the mobs if I were fighting me as well.
3) Recharge is basiclly non-existant - Spines does slow them down a bit doesnt it? I really notice it when I am running Quills.
4) Out of Endurance - Hrumph. Lighting Field -end, Power Sink -end.
So out of four possible reasons for the mob to scatter from me, looks like this toon has all four. Add the fact that my mobs dont die in a single spine burst, throw spines, ripper chain. (+3's) It adds up to a toon that probably wont work for MY playstyle.
However, some people would consider scatter a form of damage mitigation. Like they feel that burn is a form of damage mitigation, because if they are running, they arnt attacking. My favorite form of damage mitigation is a dead spawn. Whatever floats your boat.
For the record, its not "ymmv" because Your Millage will Most Certainly Vary.
Why say it in 20 words when you can say it in 1000.
I probably spelled something wrong in there. I'm a rebel. Not because I miss-spelled, or have bad grammar, thats kinda dumb. I just dont care enough to spell check, and thats an efficient use of time.
SD
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Points 1-3 will be true of any Spines/* scrapper running Quills. And point 4 would be a bigger issue if you drained the endurance of mobs faster than you depleted their hit points, but barring some very unusual circumstances, I run them out of hit points much faster than I run them out of endurance.|
Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
1) low on HP - After a spine burst and Throw Spines, most mobs will be low on hp.
2) Outgunned - Self explanitory really, I'd feel bad for the mobs if I were fighting me as well. 3) Recharge is basiclly non-existant - Spines does slow them down a bit doesnt it? I really notice it when I am running Quills. 4) Out of Endurance - Hrumph. Lighting Field -end, Power Sink -end. So out of four possible reasons for the mob to scatter from me, looks like this toon has all four. Add the fact that my mobs dont die in a single spine burst, throw spines, ripper chain. (+3's) It adds up to a toon that probably wont work for MY playstyle. |
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For some reason, I actually find this controversy compelling, so I spent all morning repeatedly farming the BM map on +3x8 (stepping up to the difficulty at which you theorized that Lightning Field would become a problem). Some of the time, I used Quills and Lightning Field. Some of the time, I just used Quills. And some of the time I used neither.
Since inspirations lead to variable results and I wanted to eliminate that variable, I didn't use any inspirations (and because warriors don't pose much threat to my survival even at +3x8).
Here are my observations, for whatever they're worth. Take or leave them as you see fit.
1) Lightning Field promotes mob scatter.
2) Quills also promotes mob scatter.
3) Lightning Field + Quills causes very little additional scatter, as compared to just Quills.
4) It's better to run them both; they add more kill speed than the scatter subtracts.
Each group basically died to BU+TS+SB+Ripper+TS. Only bosses remained, along with whatever might have been outside the AoEs due to their initial placement. There was little need to pick off of runners or stragglers; certainly nothing that seemed excessive. Since I use both Ripper and Thow Spines in my *single-target* attack chain (both have better DPA than Impale, and endurance is obviously no object), most such stragglers were picked off by collateral damage when I killed the bosses.
Now I am convinced that Lightning Field helps more than it hurts. Whether you are or not is out of my hands. If nothing else, I boosted my own understanding of mob dynamics vs. damage auras, and made about 60 million inf along the way.
Mob AI has been buggy since about i12, my damage/taunt aura suggestion is at least a workaround >_<
But yeah, even if there's little scatter, that still drives me *NUTS* since I'm used to farming at leisure with SS/Elec Brute and Elec/Fire Tank (yes I love Electric Armor)
There is some scatter with Spines, but the mobs usually die before they can get far enough away while farming. This is farming +2/x8 most of the time. It may become a problem when you step up the difficulty to +4s, but that's a non-issue while farming because it's not as efficient.
Although, I love your idea of adding taunt to damage auras. Don't see why people think it's a bad idea. What's so bad about keeping foes IN your damage aura?
[U][URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251594"][/URL][/U]
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People be ignint yo. And I mean look, most scrappers still won't charge a big spawn until the tank goes in. So they're afraid of the aggro I guess. (nevermind they could just turn off the damage aura)|
Originally Posted by Fiery-Enforcer
Although, I love your idea of adding taunt to damage auras. Don't see why people think it's a bad idea. What's so bad about keeping foes IN your damage aura?
|
I too would like to see taunt added.
Necro post, maybe but I was searching for spines/elec info and came across this thread. I'm pretty much in agreement with adding a taunt to lightning field.
So, this is my 2nd scrapper toon... I think the character has great potential. Between the extra recharge bonus from Elec, and the DoT from both Quills and Lightning Field, it should be a nice build.
I am wondering if the damage is good, and also if the endurance is a problem? I currently am having trouble with endurance on the toon, but I haven't reached stamina yet. I know I get an end drain later down the line... does it work effectively at keeping the end in check?