NDA lifted: lets talk Electric Control!

I thought I'd begin the discussion by posting a summery of the set. All numbers are taken as level 50.

Looks nice. Even the sleep seems pretty useful.

I should probably wait for a more favorable preview before I post but here goes nothing.

My main gripe is that the set plays fairly slow on a controller (at low levels especially). I really wish they kept the damage component to the Conductive Aura. The stun was clearly overpowered; I don't see why they dropped the damage aspect (I speculate that it was out of fear of turning into another Fire Control Clone). This set really needs help at low levels. Since we are stuck with the powers as-is I am hoping that the devs reconsider moving some powers around to help bolster the set for earlier play.

Due to the chaining nature of some of the sets powers the set feels light on control. The pseudo AoE controls take some time to take hold and have a chance to not take any effect at all if you miss the first attack in the chain. The end drain is decent but takes some time to take full effect; this only helps offset some of the set's glaring weaknesses.

The pulsing AoE Sleep seems to be the crutch of the set. I believe its sleep nature will be a big problem on larger teams dishing out AoEs, further exposing the sets deficiencies. The Gremlins are no joy either; owners beware they will get you killed.

Elec/Kins may not be too disappointed but I think Elec/Storms wont be too happy with the lack of -KB. Secondaries sets that bring control to the table will probably be the best pairing for Elec/; bolstering the sets lack of reliable control.

Overall I think the set needs some serious work but who am I to judge? I give the set a 4 out of 10.

Now with IOs in the mix I suspect this set will be a BEAST!

Just a warning:

Electric/Storm, whilst it may be thematic, is not a good pairing at all.

So, with an aura instead of a click pbaoe end drain, will this be viable as elect/elect dom to work as a sapper?

Dominators generally do not make good sappers. Usually by the time you get them to the point where they won't attack because they have no endurance, they are dead/held forever.

If you're talking about PvP, No.

So, here's the deal. The set was pretty nice back when Conductive Aura used to be a stun aura (with the recovery debuff, etc.), but that power underwent several changes until it reached its current state - namely, it lost the damage component so it wouldn't break Static Field's sleep. As it stands, the set's only reliable AoE control is locked up in a sleep (largely worthless on teams) and a hold, which is your standard long-recharge short-duration hold. Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload are decent powers, but they hinge on landing on their initial target and having extra targets in range to chain to. The problem with these "jump" powers is that once the chain misses, the power's done. You might hit the first target and the jump will miss the second, which means all the rest of the NPCs in the group will be unaffected. There's also the 5% (or more depending on acc slotting, defense, level differences, etc.) chance that your first hit won't even land, which means none of the potential targets are affected. The Gremlins are nice, and the single-target hold and immob are useful as well (they're basically your standard controls, really), but as a whole the set very badly lacks quick and reliable AoE control, which means it will be very squishy unless you're pairing it with a secondary that's got lots of mitigation (i.e. Storm). Most of my testing was on an Elec/Rad and Elec/Kin, both of which handled decently, but the lack of reliable crowd control meant that Conductive Aura was getting shut off way more than, say, Hot Feet or Arctic Air.

In short, the set looks nice, sounds godawful, and lacks reliable AoE control.

Lack of KB prevention has its upsides and downsides combined with Storm. You can't freely throw around Tornado and Thunderstorm without worrying about KB, but it does mean they're stuck in Freezing Rain flopping like fish.

Also, did everyone miss the significance of the +recovery from the aura combined with endurance-heavy secondaries like, say, Storm? Though that'd depend on just how much the aura itself cost to run.

Not to mention that Thunderstorm has some endurance drain in it.

That said, Radiation Emission would most likely make a better pairing. Choking Cloud and Conductive Aura mesh better than Hurricane and Conductive Aura (unless you corner them, then it doesn't matter as much). And Radiation Emission could use the endurance help as well (even with its own +recovery buff).

I've been thinking about an Elec/Kinetics controller (or defender or corrupter). I have a Kinetics character that I've been having trouble finding a good pairing powerset for (concept wise). Electric (either the blast set or the control set) probably goes better with the whole 'using dark powers to drain enemies' just because of endurance drain, even if electricity wasn't part of the concept in the first place. And the aura is just as melee oriented as Kinetics. Hmm.

You know, they could improve the aura a little while still making it unique just by adding a small sleep effect to it. Though not sure that'd be a large improvement.

Will have to see how the set actually plays.

Also: the gremlins have a melee attack (like the imps) and their own version of Jolting Chain, as well as that damage aura. The controller's version recharges at 8s (can be brought down) while the gremlins' recharges at 6s (can't be altered). So it looks like spamming KDs might actually be a core control mechanism, even if in a weird way compared to Ice Slick and Earthquake.

where does it say that NDA is lifted ???

I fell in love with Ele/Rad. Chocking cloud plus conductive aura is quite fun. Opening with the area sleep was very nice solo. The chaining confuse is a nice twist. I'm not 100% sold on Jolting Chain as a control power yet.

Electric overall- Not the most controlling set, not the most damaging set, but I enjoy it.

I like the endurance drain this set can provide; to me, it met my expectations in that area. However, it's general control is pretty weak, weaker than the secondary effect justifies. The chaining powers are a huge let down. As the only solid AoE control outside of the standard hold, Synaptic Overload suffers greatly from a 5% failure rate. The Gremlins behave like the Imps with less damage.

Overall, I'd place the set ahead of gravity, but behind everything else. I'll play it, for certain. I may even learn to enjoy it, but my first impressions in the past month has been quite poor.

My first impressions are actually quite favorable on a Dominator. Combined with /Stone, there's a very nice variety and feel for a melee-centric character.

As for Controllers, I feel it would pair well with /Cold, /Rad, or /TA. Definitely a fun set, even if it's a little control/damage light.

I will say though, Static Field is THE best I've ever seen a sleep power. The reapplication of the sleep, as well as the small end buff to all players within the field is rather nice.

I suggest anyone that wants to be a sapper look into taking the Mu Mastery (yes, controllers that go redside will have access to dom PPP's). Power Sink is going to give some good AoE endurance drain when slotted and you've built up some recharge. The Mu Guardian is also going to drop some nice endurance drain along with some -recovery. I suspect that the single target end drain from Transference may be only a small part of the equation in the long run.

Updated with numbers.

So from what I've been reading about the set, it seems to be the Mastermind of the controller primaries?
Fun to play, but no real reason to put it on teams over other more effective sets. And here I was hoping the set would be epic.

Couple of Questions on things.

1 How much does domination effect some of these?

2 Conductive Aura is the health and stamina equivalent at the 8 target limit are these effects auto hit or require hit check? Also does Conductive Aura detoggle if mezzed?

3. Do gremlins use thier jolting chain alot? And if they do, thiers combined with your jolting chain how effective is the jumping knockdown provided by the 3 together compared to earthquake or ice slick?

4. How long does Static field last? How wide is the Area of effect(comparsion to other location controls)?

5 How effective is synaptic overload being as it single target chain with 60 second recharge for something that can possibly only effect one target and has a higher chance of missing multiple targets compared to a pure AE effect like seeds that has same recharge.

I think one of the major problems for the set is that no dev has really spoken out at what the overall philosophy of the set is. Obviously by analysing the powers you can tell it is going to play differently to its sister sets, but will it still be as effective? It lacks the long recharge AoE controls that other sets possess and instead has a lot more quick recharging powers that do soft control. Though the chaining powers are not as reliable as normal AoE's and if you miss the initial hit then the whole power just fizzles, plus it can take a while for the power to fully chain, especially Synaptic Overload.

I think with more extensive playtime and testing, we will start to see new stratergies and tricks emerge from the playerbase, especially as the set is pretty unique. What we can say with certainty though is the set is low damage. It will sit near to Ice and Earth and might be pretty rough solo at the early levels, especially with the long activation time of Tesla Cage.

Personally I have found the set to be pretty difficult to get to grips with and with not much to really show from it. I will admit though, this may be as much to do with my ability to adjust to a new play style as it is to do with the sets performance as a whole.

So at the moment I think we have a pretty open verdict on the sets capabilities. The optimist in me says that there is a lot of unrealised potential just waiting for a creative player to tap into. The pessimist in me says people will try play it like a conventional control set and not be pleased with the results, especially early on. I guess only time will tell.