Help me decide! DB/WP, DB/EA?

I can't decide between these two. I feel like WP would be better defensively, but Electric would be fun with the endurance factors and Lightning Reflexes and such. I found a really nice build on another forum post for DB/WP somewhere here. ((Critique on DB/WP Build) I think was the thread.) But I haven't seen many for DB/Elec.

Pros/Cons of each?

Actually, Electric Armor performs just fine defensively. The resistance to S/L and Energy makes up for the lower regeneration, and even surpasses it if you add enough defense to the build. In case you aren't aware, smashing, lethal, and energy damage are the most common at 50.

Willpower is a great set for those on a budget or those who want a set that requires little interaction so they can just attack. Willpower does not benefit from recharge bonuses, so a cheap Willpower build has almost as much survivability as an expensive one.

If you want a build that is easy to level and easy to make into a tough character with IO sets, go with Willpower. If you want a build that offers potentially more in the long-term, Electric Armor may be the best choice for you.

Thank you very much Syntax!

Comparing WP to Elec defensively is like comparing apples to oranges. Saying that Elec will perform just as well defensively at high levels is overstating elec's defensive capabilities a little. WP has almost as much smash/lethal resistance as Elec, so that's a moot point.

Either one will be better in different scenario's, and in my opinion willpower complements dual blades better due to being able to slot minimal recharge bonuses, allowing you to focus on sets in order to get defense and HP capped, as well as tons of HP. I'd like to see a defense capped elec armor scrapper that doesn't totally gimp itself in other areas in order to achieve it.

That being said, resistance based sets are pretty good right now on teams. There are a lot of people packing barriers for the defense, and also bubbles are AoE now so you'll be getting some defense from that.

Elec also has another defensive capability with endurance drains, and some offense with it's damage aura. I'm not saying elec is a bad set by any means, I just don't think it's more survivable that WP unless you focus on a situation that favors it.

There are other damage types than just S/L ...

I was also under the impression, that the best DB attack chain was BF -> Attack Vitals. I could have been mistaken, as I've never taken mine up against a pylon so I'd leave that to those more knowledgeable. I suppose there could be a better one with retarded amounts of recharge. As far as I know, most people shoot for the BF -> AV chain.

You're taking an example of a specific situation (Pylons), something few people in the game really care about. Go against enemies with a lot of fire or negative damage, like CoT, and Elec armor doesn't look so hot then. What about confuse and fear? I suppose break frees work, although it wouldn't be fair to use inspirations at this point.

If you're comparing enemies that just do smashing and lethal, I say WP wins out because of similar defense and resist, but with much more HP and a more Regen. Energy damage, Elec might have the lead but it's hard to say because the WP will be defense soft capped against it. Against all other enemies WP generally win defensively since it can combine soft capped defenses with high HP and regen, where elec will have to take it in the face and hope it lives long enough for energize to pop back up. Not to mention that WP has superior mez protection.

I won't argue that Elec Armor has more offensive potential, I just don't see how it can be called more survivable. If you're fighting rikti, yeah, maybe it is. But like I said, you can't really compare a s/l soft capped resistance set vs. a high HP, high regen, nearly the same s/l resist, everything but psi soft capped set. Elec is probably better at specific things, which I stated before, but WP is really good at everything.

Honestly, I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit here. I know WP has it's own weaknesses. If you take a few large hits in a row, no amount of regen is going to save you. You aren't going to be soloing any AV's, and you aren't going to be doing uber pylon DPS. Having around 2400 health means you will have to get hit by two 1200 damage attacls in a row, or three 800 damage attacks. Most attacks that do that damage are smashing/lethal, which WP will cut in half. More often than not, you will not get hit by such attacks back to back, which will give you time to regen. However, defense is a tricky thing and there are times will you will get smacked down due to the lack of non s/l resists. I'm not going to say WP is the best set ever, I don't even think it is. I'm just saying that I wouldn't come out and say Elec is straight up more survivable than WP all the time, because that is simply untrue.

I'm not going to lie, I'm very tempted to go roll a DB/Elec now to see how much damage it can put out

Well if you're that confident, then I will have to take your word for it. But can you honestly say it's superior to WP in every situation.?

And you're right. That would take a ton of recharge for that chain. I can see why most people don't even bother

That being said, I'm very tempted to try out elec armor again.

You're right, perhaps I did get a little snippy there. I knew elec, like a lot of resist based sets, can increase their survivability quite a bit with defense sets, but it has been a while since I've actually played an electric armor character. I also let the memories of my terrible time leveling as an elec cloud how well it could perform with set IOs.

I actually rolled a KM/ElA last night, and plan on giving that a go so I can see what electric armor is like with a good build. I made a build this morning that should be able to run KMs chain with soft capped S/L defense using the spiritual T4 alpha. I'll see how it holds up compared to WP, and hopefully have some fun in the process.