so i herd you...wait...you don't like NRG/NRG Blasters?
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I think I had this happen long, LOOOONG ago. My first character was Energy/Ice. Then Energy/Energy a few years later, and I can't recall any complaints recently about them. Either I got better with KB- management or Infinity gave up complaining.|
Originally Posted by DrMike2000
I've come across people on the forums who hate knockback in all its forms, but I've never been treated unfairly while playing pickup groups on Virtue.
I've had a couple of comments to keep it under control once or twice which I thought were unwarranted (since I was hovering above the bad guys at the time) but nothing too harsh. So I wouldn't let the supposed reputation put you off playing Energy Blast. |
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I just keep knocking them back until.
A) They are all dead. B) The melee characters figure out that they should be near walls instead of in the middle of all the giant rooms. Usually A happens much more often than B. Alot of n00bs I have run with over the years blame KB for their own self created woes. Team strategy runs 2 ways. Telling the energy blaster not to use KBing AoEs deprives your team of that damage output and is totally ridiculous. Learning to melee near obstacles saves everyone time and headaches. The reason the complaint is so common is that an armored melee toon like a br00t, tank, or scrapper is easier to get your feet wet on. A larger proportion of n00bs are therefore found playing these ATs, playing them with poor tactics, and then complaining about/blaming other players for their own self created problems. Communication is the key. Explaining how KB works and good tactics can actually turn a n00b into a newbie if they take and follow your advice. |
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Originally Posted by Lillika
My main since 2004 has been an energy/energy blaster and I have never been criticized or kicked from a team because of it. Infact, most people would get a kick out of watching my sling stuff around cause I liked to Nova every chance I could when it was up. I've even been in groups doing my kb thing and the whole team would get mad at the stormy because of it and not say a word to me.
In regards to my aoe's scattering groups and making other "superior" aoes ineffective. I don't see this problem happening. I lead with Repulsion Bomb -> Explosive Blast -> Energy Torrent typically and the mobs stay fairly well grouped to get hit by all 3. If you can't aoe by the time that's done then your superior aoe is slow and a waste. |
But I love the knockback. It's saved me more times than I can count. In fact, I think that my earliest blasting experience (well, that's not true, my very first was Ice/Fire) with Energy Torrent has sullied me against enjoying a lot of the other primaries that don't have any KB. It's one of the reasons I just can't get into Fire/ at all.
Thanks for eight fun years, Paragon.
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The solution is for people to realize how much knockback is in this game (and not in just certain sets) and learn to deal with it, rather than learn to avoid it.|
Originally Posted by streetlight
Often, the best answer is for the KB-heavy character to find a more KB-friendly team. Sometimes they realize this on their own. Sometimes the team kicks them without giving them a chance.
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There used to be a post a month on the Suggestions forum asking for some derivative of a -KB enhancement. This went on a good 2 years by my count..........it doesn't matter how many such threads are made, knockback is not going away from this game. People either need to find a new game, or realize this fact and work with it.
I deal with it very simply: I check every AT's powerset on invite and send tells as necessary. If I have a Willpower/Invuln tank, I let them know I'd appreciate then pulling to walls and into corners where I can saturate them. If I have a -kb controller, I let them know how appreciative I would be of them using said power, and in response I'll be quick to pull that aggro from them. I time my powers so that other AOEs are done before me.....so that I'm the killing blow.
It's easy, and I really don't have anything resembling an issue that can't be settled with a tell. My friends list on my Energy Blaster is filled with tanks, not other Energy Blasters. Knockback benefits everyone if everyone is willing to be benefited. We kill faster, we kill safer.
Case in point, a TF I was on recently with an Energy Blaster. The tank had been setting up near structure, I was doing most of the AOE, into said structure, and before everything was dead, the tank moved on to the next spawn. This went on for half a dozen missions, then a storm came through my area and knocked out the power. I hurried back, but I missed 3 or 4 missions. Before I left, we didn't have so much as a scratch (I died once by my own hand). I returned to a teamwipe with the leader asking the tank why he left the mobs.......his reply:
"I've been doing it the whole TF".
This was a good tank, mind you. We never got a scratch after I returned. I know exactly why they wiped........nobody changed their tactics to account for the fact I was keeping everything pinned and dead.
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This happens a lot. Many times, even if the tank does stick with walls, every once in a while an ambush, or some other circumstance happens when he gets a mob in the middle of the room/zone. In which case, instead of mowing down the minions/LT in the spawn, I switch to single target and pick the unlucky boss or elite boss to take out.|
Originally Posted by Airstrike
It's already been stated, but an energy blaster needs to try to knock stuff into walls and straight down when possible. However, some tanks will insist on moving away from walls or perch mobs on the edge of a ledge without a handy wall. All you can do is make a single constructive comment on it, and try not to make a mess of things with your knockback.
If you're trying your best, then don't sweat any complaints from reactionary team mates. In the end, no single team or task force will make or break your reputation - it's your overall track record that will make people appreciate what you bring to a team. |
Forgot to add that I find in large teams spawn sizes quickly overwhelm the aggro cap of a tank or scrapper. The knockback/down of energy blast not only provides you with excellent mitagation but a nice cone knockback can help reposition the extra mobs back towards the tank.
A good energy blaster and a good tank are like a broom and dustpan. The tank collects and keeps the mobs and any extra the Energy Blaster can sweep to the tank (after defeating a few here and there).
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You need to re-check how much damage Energy Blasters are doing. The set produces average damage, both in ST and in AOE. There are not these loads of 'vastly superior' AOEs to be had and Energy Blasters do not do "subpar damage output on larger teams". |
Originally Posted by Seraphael
This is at the core of the problem with Energy Blasters in my opinion, knockback generally is counter-productive to team efforts. I've played with numerous Energy Blasters where vastly superior AoEs are to a significant degree wasted due to Energy Torrent being a quick activating attack that tends to get a drop on the spawn and scatter it before other AoEs can connect. Even a well played Energy that manage KB (in my experience almost no one really does it consistently though), brings less to the team than most combos from most ATs.
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I don't know where you get your information, and I don't know who you team with, but your post is about as useful as you claim Energy Blast to be.
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QFT! YES! You don't even have to be that good either. Scrapper-lock! The idea that a melee toon is somehow losing out because they have to move closer to a wall is just silly.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Telling the energy blaster not to use KBing AoEs deprives your team of that damage output and is totally ridiculous. Learning to melee near obstacles saves everyone time and headaches.
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Originally Posted by Seraphael
This is at the core of the problem with Energy Blasters in my opinion, knockback generally is counter-productive to team efforts. I've played with numerous Energy Blasters where vastly superior AoEs are to a significant degree wasted due to Energy Torrent being a quick activating attack that tends to get a drop on the spawn and scatter it before other AoEs can connect. Even a well played Energy that manage KB (in my experience almost no one really does it consistently though), brings less to the team than most combos from most ATs.
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My guess is you've never seen a well played Energy/
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Originally Posted by New Dawn
What used to annoy me is when some energy blaster would KB mobs, spreading them from being collected within other peoples cones all for a pitiful bit of damage. If your gonna kb aoe then atleast make sure it is going to finish off rather than take a smidgeon. Cones are different, they can go to walls, corners, used to help bunch what have you.
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Cones just appear more effective, because they won't hit someone behind you.
In the all-too-common combination of Energy/Energy, however, Boost Range should keep the Blaster so far away from his Explosive Blast targets that they all go the same direction.
Again, it's so easy to just keep them up against the wall.
My 50 Energy/Energy also has Static Discharge with an Ragn proc, so I cycle ET, ExB, and SD over and over to keep entire mobs stumbling around. I suppose the Force Mastery APP would do this even better, but I like BR+Cones tooo much.
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
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Exactly. It's mostly inaccurate threads like this one that make Energy Blast something it isn't, which is why we see this behavior FAR more on the forums than in the actual game. |
Originally Posted by DrMike2000
I've come across people on the forums who hate knockback in all its forms, but I've never been treated unfairly while playing pickup groups on Virtue.
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Explosive Blast is one of the most singled out powers any Blaster sets gets, yet it is also one of the most cloned, but the clones don't suffer the stigma it does!
People still think Energy Blast is a great ST set, when it is just plain average. Nothing special about the ST damage, but it has a long standing rep to the contrary, in large part because many think it has insufficient AOE............which is also average for a Blaster.
Explosive Blast does not do radial knockback.
For much of its life, Power Bolt has insufficient magnitude to do knockback. At best, it is only a 20% chance. Power Blast only has a 30% chance.
In Blaster primaries alone, 7 of them have at least one knockback power, or the capability to do knockback. Even the most recent powersets in the game have knockback. Energy Blast does not hold a patent on knockback effects, yet the vast majority of the discussion pertaining to knockback effects is centered on Energy.
My friend and I are going to make Energy/Energy blasters when we get our Praetorian PPD Hardsuits next week at the meet and greet.
Prepare for some serious awesomeness, Virtue!
Currently on Virtue:
Jinrazuo - Crab Spider
RWZ All-Pylon Solo Run
A Tanker that actually herds ....I can say it's not a huge issue. It only becomes an issue when (anyone with aoe KB) constantly throws everything out of my aoe taunt dot. That seriously pisses me off.
Otherwise a focused fire skill that KB's...so what if one gets kicked out of my cluster.. I don't really care. I do care with the KB is excessive or premature and screws me up in keeping mobs off my team...
For the most part I would take a energy blaster anytime with me when I am tanker for the night. I have no issue with the AT. I have issue with the Idiot behind the AT only...not the AT themselves.
p.s.: I also do try to herd near objects as much as I can for KB players...like those Kin melee types also. I am aware I must also work with my team mates. And holding near walls ..sure thing. When i can.
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The AoE is average, the ST has something special. A full ST attack chain will keep a boss floored easily. Most Blaster sets can't go toe to toe with a Chief Soldier on SOs. Energy/ can.|
Originally Posted by brophog02
People still think Energy Blast is a great ST set, when it is just plain average. Nothing special about the ST damage, but it has a long standing rep to the contrary, in large part because many think it has insufficient AOE............which is also average for a Blaster.
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Originally Posted by brophog02
For much of its life, Power Bolt has insufficient magnitude to do knockback. At best, it is only a 20% chance. Power Blast only has a 30% chance.
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Originally Posted by brophog02
In Blaster primaries alone, 7 of them have at least one knockback power, or the capability to do knockback. Even the most recent powersets in the game have knockback. Energy Blast does not hold a patent on knockback effects, yet the vast majority of the discussion pertaining to knockback effects is centered on Energy.
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FOUR of those 7 only have ONE power that does KB. Energy has EIGHT. It's the only set that has a chance to knockback on every single attack. DP and AR are the only other set that could KB more than once in a chain, and DP can turn it off.
Of course it comes back to Energy. If I give up Explosive Arrow because the Tanker on my team is barely functional, at least I still have Fistful and Rain of Arrows. If I give up KB as Energy/, I'm not going to be attacking.
See why the discussion is always centered on Energy?
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
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I play melee characters that have KB themselves.|
Originally Posted by rsclark
It's not just some ambiguous "time to kill", it's also a pain in the *** for melee characters. You are finishing up a ST attack and queue up your pbaoe, then WHOOM, AoE knockback, and your power hits nothing. You're standing on a pile of KoA caltrops and the boss you're trying to beat down is now half way across the room and you can't get to him.
It's not just that it slows down the group, it's that it neuters melee characters and doesn't allow them to use the powers they chose for their characters. For every bit of "fun" you have by throwing knockback carelessly, you are stripping fun away from the melee character in the group, as they are not being given the same option of using their powers that you have. |
I play melee characters that have team mates that KB.
I have never, ever in any way, shape or form, felt neutered because of this.
Nor I am an idiot with my KB. Of course it's rude to KB some targets, depending upon the situation. Duh!
If you get this worked up over KB, then you might want to consider the decaff.
"The side that is unhappy is not the side that the game was intended to make happy, or promised to make happy, or focused on making happy. The side that is unhappy is the side that is unhappy. That's all." - Arcanaville
"Surprised your guys' arteries haven't clogged with all that hatred yet." - Xzero45
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There is quite a bit of KB in the game, but it doesn't necessarily enhance most teams. I liken it to a Controller who spams an AOE hold that leaves mobs scattered all over the place, weakening the rest of the team's AOEs in the process. He's fine and everyone's likely safe, but it's become a chore at that point. The guy spamming KBs is adding scatter, which is inefficient by nature. Teams can deal with it and survival likely won't be an issue, but it's harder with the KB character than without them. If you're not making the team better and maybe even making it worse, then what purpose are you serving?|
Originally Posted by brophog02
The solution is for people to realize how much knockback is in this game (and not in just certain sets) and learn to deal with it, rather than learn to avoid it.
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| There used to be a post a month on the Suggestions forum asking for some derivative of a -KB enhancement. This went on a good 2 years by my count..........it doesn't matter how many such threads are made, knockback is not going away from this game. People either need to find a new game, or realize this fact and work with it. |
KB-unfriendly teams can work around it, but they can benefit more by adding almost anything else. KB is something that has to be catered to and worked with, where almost everything else just fits into a natural flow. There are some good KB-using players out there, the kind of guys who attack from above or at enemies already up against a wall/corner. Those are more rare than they should be, though, and even they tend to slip up from time to time.
I've been too lazy to post that, and also uninterested in defending the truth from people convinced that some mitigation is worth a massive loss in team efficiency. You're 100% right, though.
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The ST damage is absolutely average, and the only way you will reliably keep that Soldier on the floor is to add Power Push to your attack chain.|
Originally Posted by Gilia
The AoE is average, the ST has something special. A full ST attack chain will keep a boss floored easily. Most Blaster sets can't go toe to toe with a Chief Soldier on SOs. Energy/ can.
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| Magnitude determines if they stay still, are knocked down, or knocked back, and how far. It's not the percentile chance that KB will happen. |
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| Of course it comes back to Energy. If I give up Explosive Arrow because the Tanker on my team is barely functional, at least I still have Fistful and Rain of Arrows. If I give up KB as Energy/, I'm not going to be attacking. |
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| FOUR of those 7 only have ONE power that does KB. Energy has EIGHT. It's the only set that has a chance to knockback on every single attack. DP and AR are the only other set that could KB more than once in a chain, and DP can turn it off. |
Sometimes you just find another team. There are times for every AT that they feel they aren't of much use. Sometimes you just didn't need more damage. Sometimes you're playing a tank and the team has other aggro tools it prefers. Everything in the game can be this way in certain situations. You either work around things, or switch teams.
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That depends entirely on who you are. If you are a squishy, knockback is often far more useful than knockdown or knockup. It does a lot more good to knock anything with a devastating melee attack away from me than it does to knock him down only to see him pop right back up and slash me anyhow.|
Originally Posted by streetlight
It's not that it needs to go away or even should go away, but that it's not necessarily helpful to most teams. KD and KU are great.
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| KB is just bad for the majority of teams. |
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| It's outstanding in a solo context. It's likely great with other KB-heavy builds (though perhaps it would just create a mess?). It's just not that great when the team functions better with everything close together, which is almost every team out there. |
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| KB-unfriendly teams can work around it, but they can benefit more by adding almost anything else. KB is something that has to be catered to and worked with, where almost everything else just fits into a natural flow. |
Some of these arguments by many posters are absolutely preposterous. Knockback can be used in a manner detrimental to a team, just as it can be used in a manner that aids a team. To suggest it is the only thing that can be used detrimentally or that it is always detrimental is absurd and not worth further discussion.
Until next time.......
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Wroooong|
Originally Posted by brophog02
The ST damage is absolutely average, and the only way you will reliably keep that Soldier on the floor is to add Power Push to your attack chain.
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A mild amount of recharge and you can easily keep a ST on the floor. Done it plenty of times.
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Originally Posted by brophog02
I didn't say percent chance determined the knock effect. They're two separate sentences because the are two separate statements.
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Originally Posted by brophog02
Nothing is in jest. Knockback is everywhere, and at varying degrees. You simply work around it. You position with your knockback. You time your AOEs to work around the rest of the AOEs on the team. You grab another AOE out of an APP. You switch to your secondary. You have a lot more tools, including your brain, that are available.
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I'm not disagreeing that KB is useful and people should learn to use it rather than knock it (pun intended), but your random factoid statements that don't support that fact are counter productive.
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
Brophog02, your timing argument is moot after the first 0-2 seconds of combat (depending on how long it takes to get the attention of the next group, which hopefully occurs before the previous one is down) and even the most twitchy of Blasters can wait that long. After that, only KB can screw things up by introducing scatter.
If a Fire Blaster throws out an AOE too early and he dies, so be it. If he can hold off that 0-2 seconds, he'll hit even more targets with that AOE goodness and won't harm efficiency in any way (Rain of Fire being a possible exception, but it at least has a slow component). If an Energy Blaster doesn't wait, same result. He will die, too. The targets may be knocked back for a second, but they get up and say: oh look, the guy who hit me! They'll also be more scattered, so they won't be mitigated as easily by others. If an Energy Blaster does wait and then throws in an AOE KB effect, then the team loses a huge amount of efficiency due to the scatter.
Accidentally targeting anchors, ruining other characters' AOEs, wrecking taunt... KB can do that, and will on occasion, even with the best players involved. With the worst, it'll be endemic. Maybe it's only a little scatter, but that's one or two more targets to chase down when it could've been wrapped up. And how many times does that happen in any given mission? In an arc?
Every other build, every single one, works with the pack-n-melt strategy by default. They don't have to work at it or make special accomodations. It works in open space, it works in tight confines, and it works everywhere in between. KB doesn't, because it adds scatter, which is the antithesis of what the vast majority of teams are trying to do. Every other Blaster primary (and KB is not just a Blaster issue) is a better fit than Energy under the most common and most efficient teams in the game.
When KB "aids" a team, it does so most often by not screwing up. This can be through not using powers, by perfect positioning of the KB, and/or by the team choosing to make accomodations for KB. On rare occasion, some minion or maybe even a lieut will sneak out of the melee characters' aggro and run after some squishy... who is almost certainly capable of handling a single threat unless they're AFK. Okay, so Captain KB steps in and pokes the threat away, hopefully back into the melee, but maybe just away. Nobody takes damage while the threat gets back up and the threat likely resorts to less-damaging ranged attacks.
Is it better than the target not being KB'd? A hold would be better, but KB is nice for that one situation, I guess. The squishy can likely handle the single instance of aggro, regardless of their AT and powerset, but better is better. Is it nice enough to put up with the rest of the issues? Not in my opinion, no. I do put up with it, because I have my Warshade and I like to team and assume that people like their KB toons and also like to team. However, I understand those people that don't put up with it or who groan when they see an Energy or a Storm join a team.
I'm weird, I don't care for it on blasters, but I love it on my dominator
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No, and here's the problem I have with every one of your posts: you speak in generalities. You treat every situation the same. |
Originally Posted by streetlight
Brophog02, your timing argument is moot after the first 0-2 seconds of combat (depending on how long it takes to get the attention of the next group, which hopefully occurs before the previous one is down) and even the most twitchy of Blasters can wait that long. After that, only KB can screw things up by introducing scatter.
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Some fights are long. Some are short. Some have adds. Sometimes you have ambushes. The game is dynamic. Timing is not an argument, it is a condition, and it is a condition relevant to every player, whether they realize it or not.
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| Every other build, every single one, works with the pack-n-melt strategy by default. They don't have to work at it or make special accomodations. It works in open space, it works in tight confines, and it works everywhere in between. |
Again, you speak in generalities. Sometimes you do need to pull. Sometimes you need to use terrain. There is not one strategy for every build in this game, against every enemy, on every map, with every team configuration. Sometimes we want them further apart, for mitigation purposes. A leveling tank will commonly pull around a corner or into a line simply to keep aggro without exposing itself to too much danger. Sometimes we want them even tighter together than they started, and knockback can be a tool to accomplish that.
There is not one overarching strategy to this game.
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| KB doesn't, because it adds scatter, which is the antithesis of what the vast majority of teams are trying to do. Every other Blaster primary (and KB is not just a Blaster issue) is a better fit than Energy under the most common and most efficient teams in the game. |
how come I always see crits happen off of energy blast attacks anyway? Is it the only critting blast set?
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That you and others claim to seldom hear complaints doesn't mean people are happy. In my experience from european servers, CoX gamers are generally liberal or tend to shy away from conflict. I consider Energy Blasters a possible liability in teams, but I think I've never complained as I practice live and let live. But I won't feel obliged to stay with such a team if there are other alternatives. An experiment could be to use any other type of Blaster, and measure how long, on average, a team holds together compared to with your Energy Blaster. I suspect your fun is a little at the expense of others at times.|
Originally Posted by ChrisMoses
I think I had this happen long, LOOOONG ago. My first character was Energy/Ice. Then Energy/Energy a few years later, and I can't recall any complaints recently about them. Either I got better with KB- management or Infinity gave up complaining.
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Originally Posted by brophog02
Knockback does not inherently scatter. Read that again. Knockback does not inherently scatter. To scatter would mean to move items away from each other. The force I am applying with knockback moves them all in a linear fashion away from me. Depending on the geometry, chance to hit, and other factors it may mean that those objects are further apart than they started. It also may mean they are closer than they started.
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In practicality knocback does most certainly scatter. You seem to be under the illusion that you can actually control random knockbacks. Explosive Blast and Energy Torrent have both around a 50% KB rate. Explosive Blast tends to toss the mobs backwards from your position, while I believe Energy Torrent will scatter them to the sides as well. Even if you, by a miracle, never caused scatter, you'd still knock mobs out of debuff areas. You'd still knock mobs away from meleers, you'd still knock mobs outside AoEs of others. Having to constantly repositioning yourself to limit scatter will significantly detract a Energy Blasters personal damage output as well.
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The dual numbers aren't crits, they denote smashing and energy damage which all energy blasts are comprised of.
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Originally Posted by beyeajus
how come I always see crits happen off of energy blast attacks anyway? Is it the only critting blast set?
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Actually EB and ET, as with all powers, knock linearly away from the caster.|
Originally Posted by Seraphael
In practicality knocback does most certainly scatter. You seem to be under the illusion that you can actually control random knockbacks. Explosive Blast and Energy Torrent have both around a 50% KB rate. Explosive Blast tends to toss the mobs backwards from your position, while I believe Energy Torrent will scatter them to the sides as well. Even if you, by a miracle, never caused scatter, you'd still knock mobs out of debuff areas. You'd still knock mobs away from meleers, you'd still knock mobs outside AoEs of others. Having to constantly repositioning yourself to limit scatter will significantly detract a Energy Blasters personal damage output as well.
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Like I said before, the illusion that they are different comes from placing. If you Boost Range and EB or ET from as far away as you can, you will see the same exactly trajectory with both. If you stand in melee range and EB, you might send someone standing behind you to fly further behind you. ET has a reduced chance of sending mobs behind you or to your sides because it's a cone, and that's just the nature of cones (not hitting anything behind you no matter how close you get, and hitting fewer nearby mobs that are to your sides).
Since your post implies you've actually seen the OPPOSITE of what is "normal" (that ET pushes to the sides more readily than EB) then my guess is you're used to playing as/seeing someone who regularly knocks back into walls. ET's magnitude is something like 75% higher, so if they hit a wall, they are more likely to skim it and shift off to the side.
It's more noticeable on outdoor missions where the faux war wall will catch some of them, but let others skim their whole KB distance than it is on say caves where an uneven surface seems to snag them as they rag doll.
As brophog pointed out though, KB can be used to bring mobs closer together. Even with random KB and differing magnitudes, in door missions can have very nicely placed corners. Standing in between the two walls, opposite the corner, you can keep whole mobs bunched into a corner.
This all just depends. It depends on the terrain, the type of mob, the recharge on the Blaster's AOEs, and most importantly the skill/awareness of the Blaster. I have gotten many complements on my use of KB, but I personally have also been tempted to kick others for their KB. I've never done it. I doubt I ever will, because I agree with the sentiment that it's just as much the team's fault for not adjusting. ...I did have one Energy blaster leave because I asked him to come down to the ground. He was hovering above mobs and using EB and ET, LITERALLY scattering them in all directions repeatedly. Why would you want to reinforce a stereotype that's usually not true? For shame.
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
The fact is, random kb causes scatter. Regardless of the direction they move, because the knockback is random, some of them will get moved, and some of them won't. If you have 10 mobs clustered around a tank, and you do an aoe with 50% kb, on average 5 of them will stay where they were and the other 5 will have moved. They went from being in 1 group to being in 2 groups some feet apart, they have scattered. This is an inarguable fact about non-guaranteed kb, and the closer the chance is to 50%, the worse it is.
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Or, he saw a scrapper crit with their epic Energy Torrent I guess.
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Originally Posted by Seraphael
The dual numbers aren't crits, they denote smashing and energy damage which all energy blasts are comprised of.
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Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos
KB doesn't work on all teams. Melee-heavy teams, AOE-heavy teams, and teams that count on a tight group will tend to be diminished overall when any meaningful KB is added to the mix. Yes, you can run into the perfect KB companion, who only knocks things into the melee characters and otherwise improves the team's efficiency. That player is kind of rare though, despite posts in this thread to the contrary.
It isn't fair to the KB-heavy character to require that they not do KB, just like it isn't fair to the non-KB characters to have to chase down their targets and bring scattered mobs back under control. Often, the best answer is for the KB-heavy character to find a more KB-friendly team. Sometimes they realize this on their own. Sometimes the team kicks them without giving them a chance.
I haven't had to kick a KB-heavy character from a team, nor has my one KB-heavy character (Warshade) ever been kicked. On the other hand, I've gotten a lot of tells complaining about KB characters on teams and I suspect those tells have happened regarding my Warshade on some PUGs. Those teams seem to disband a bit quicker than normal, too, as players get frustrated.