First of all, how long have you been gone for?
Absolutely! I myself haven't played one or even created a Mid's build regarding one but it still is a viable play style. If you haven't already aquainted yourself with this awesome tool known as Mid's Hero Designer, you should get a hold of it ASAP.
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Other than that an Elec/Elec blaster is always handy to have because what good is a mob of enemies with virtually no endurance? At that point they can barely brawl you to death xD
GO FOR IT 
OK, thanks. I am familiar with Mids, it existed 3 years ago as well.
Also, found this thread, but it was in the general archtype board instead of the basters:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=255684
My Sapper has started his career, though at this point he still saps life instead of endurance...
Once you get the Short Circuit/Power Sink Combo you will be able to sap pretty well.
I can sap better on my blaster than I do on almost anything else outside of my Dominators.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
Also note that NOW if you slot your Alpha with a Muscular Radial Paragon you not only add 33% damage (1/3 subject to ED) but 33% Endurance Modification (Also 1/3 is subject to ED).
Which means if you add it in you don't even need to slot for End Mod to sap at 45-50.
1-44 will need End Mod to sap still, but yeah.
You want to still slot for End Mod because you will drain a lot more and you will drain higher level foes better.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
Quote:
True.|
Originally Posted by Airhammer
You want to still slot for End Mod because you will drain a lot more and you will drain higher level foes better.
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Just saying.
I rolled an elec/em guy quite awhile ago that sapped pretty well with power boost and end mod slotting.
After awhile I came to the conclusion that:
A. Electric blast sucks, and
B. Sapping was pointless when I could trow fire on my fire/em and kill them faster.
With io's and incarnates now you can make a solo blaster pretty survivable. Nobody really saps because in practice it's not as great as theory.
Best Sappers would probably be Elec/Elec Dom, Elec/(Kin, Cold, Therm) Controllers or Elec/Elec Blasters. I'd recommend the Dom, but any will do well.
Quote:
Why does it suck? I see nothing particularly bad in it. Perhaps our definition of "sucks" is different: What I want from Elec is to do the job well, not to be the most damaging set. I have a feeling that you define anything less than the current cookie cutter as "sucks", which is fine, but just to be clear.|
Originally Posted by Delerious
I rolled an elec/em guy quite awhile ago that sapped pretty well with power boost and end mod slotting.
After awhile I came to the conclusion that: A. Electric blast sucks, and B. Sapping was pointless when I could trow fire on my fire/em and kill them faster. With io's and incarnates now you can make a solo blaster pretty survivable. Nobody really saps because in practice it's not as great as theory. |
My aim is not to make him a solo toon. My original question if this style is viable was with groups in mind. So you think that groups drop spawns faster than I can drain End?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by streetlight
Best Sappers would probably be Elec/Elec Dom, Elec/(Kin, Cold, Therm) Controllers or Elec/Elec Blasters. I'd recommend the Dom, but any will do well.
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Quote:
Um, you CAN go blue right now actually. You just have to get to level 20, run Rouge tips then go blue side and run hero tips. OR make one in Preatoria, get to 20, go to blue.|
Originally Posted by MustachedHero
Why does it suck? I see nothing particularly bad in it. Perhaps our definition of "sucks" is different: What I want from Elec is to do the job well, not to be the most damaging set. I have a feeling that you define anything less than the current cookie cutter as "sucks", which is fine, but just to be clear.
My aim is not to make him a solo toon. My original question if this style is viable was with groups in mind. So you think that groups drop spawns faster than I can drain End? At the time I bought the game there was no going rouge. If I play a villain as far as I know I cannot go blue and I do not like the look and feel of COV. Perhaps that will change with upcoming Freedom. Till then it is only blues for me. |
All Freedom will do is let you decide to start any toon in blue rather than have to wait for level 20.
Quote:
On a high-level team? Absolutely spawns will drop faster than you can drain End. Enemies cheat in the first place by being able to attack on much less endurance than us puny players can. Pretty much anything that's not an AV/GM will be dead or dying before you can sap it (maybe you can sap an EB before it's fully down, but why bother, it's not really a significant threat in a team environment anyway). AVs are somewhat difficult to sap down to 0, and even if you manage it they won't really stay down there unless you focus on keeping them there to the exclusion of other more useful activities, like doing damage or engaging in other (better) forms of mitigation. And good luck sapping a GM, you can do it with some of the lower-level ones but they have pretty hefty recovery.|
Originally Posted by MustachedHero
My aim is not to make him a solo toon. My original question if this style is viable was with groups in mind. So you think that groups drop spawns faster than I can drain End?
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End drain can be very useful in a solo or small team environment, since while not stopping enemy attacks entirely it does effectively reduce their attack rate. But on a big team, especially on Incarnate content, forget about it.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Insulting me wasn't necessary. Also you should be careful assuming anything.
I played a rad/cold corruptor. Not once have I ever seen another rad/cold corruptor in game.
You were saying?
Quote:
You should be careful with responding to people 3 posts up without quotes. I was trying to figure out how I possibly insulted you when I wasn't even responding to you.|
Originally Posted by Delerious
Insulting me wasn't necessary. Also you should be careful assuming anything.
|
Also, I don't see how MustachedHero insulted you either, but that's between the two of you.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
No insult intended at all. I was merely arguing terminology and semantics. 
I agree with Delerius.
Elec/Elec was one of my first alts, created in 2004. I struggled with him for several years, but couldn't get past the fact that his damage ability was worse than my Fire/, Sonic/ Archery/, Rad/ and Ice/, and he wasn't as much fun to play as my AR/. Battles took a LONG time to complete with Elec/ as opposed to my other alts. He's one of the few characters I've actually deleted over the years.
Also, the sapping thing rarely worked at all. As soon as an enemy regains any END at all, he's back to shooting you. You may gain a few seconds of respite (at most) from that strategy.
Please try my arcs:
Arc# 63910 "Why Do Bad Girls Like Bad Boys?" (length=Long, levels 40+)
Arc# 401500 "How to Be a Successful Professional Criminal" (length=Very Long, levels 1-10)
Quote:
I thought short circuit was supposed to apply a recharge debuff to prevent them from recharging. Till you short circuit them again in a cycle.|
Originally Posted by GGG247
I agree with Delerius.
Also, the sapping thing rarely worked at all. As soon as an enemy regains any END at all, he's back to shooting you. You may gain a few seconds of respite (at most) from that strategy. |
But I believe you about the difficulty of making it work.
Quote:
Short Circuit applies a recovery debuff, which slows their endurance recovery. But again, the effect is mostly negligible since enemies only need a tiny amount of endurance to attack (and I don't think it floors their recovery).
|
Originally Posted by MustachedHero
I thought short circuit was supposed to apply a recharge debuff to prevent them from recharging. Till you short circuit them again in a cycle.
But I believe you about the difficulty of making it work. |
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Lightning field helps tremendously with keeping targets sapped. Electric fence and tesla cage also do this on single targets.
On a side note, LF gets no love even though its cumulative damage is impressive. Its aggro generation is way overstated. All of the blaster secondary airwaves are great in general play.
Short Circuit actually stops end recovery for a little while. If you can drain them completely and keep hitting them with it, they'll never have endurance again. Having Lightning Field and Ball Lightning slotted for end mod will help you get there when Power Sink is not up, but Short Circuit is the key.
The big problem with sapping vs other mass hard controls is that the control is completely back-loaded, as opposed to stacking aoe stuns, confuse, holds, or sleeps. The other types will at least affect minions and maybe LTs right off, but the sapper faces damage without protection until complete drain and recovery lock is achieved. However, once this is achieved, it can be maintained relatively easily as long as the mobs are in Short Circuit range.
Virtue
Angel Witch II - Chord of Souls - Storm Witch II - Princess of the Dawn - Standing Horse - Witch of Xymox
Silent Scream - Shadow Witch II - Liquid Serenade - Nebulous Dawn - Ghost Witch II -Xiberia
Angel Witch II - Chord of Souls - Storm Witch II - Princess of the Dawn - Standing Horse - Witch of Xymox
Silent Scream - Shadow Witch II - Liquid Serenade - Nebulous Dawn - Ghost Witch II -Xiberia
The sapping playstyle is viable, especially for an E3 Blaster. In addition to SC & PS
(which are must-haves for that style), several powers help keep them sapped
(Lightning Field, Ball Lightning, Tesla Cage, and even the T1 attacks all drain
some amount of End).
That said, I'd also say that it really is a playstyle best suited for solo (or duo) play.
I agree with DarkGob about teams. Dead > Sapped, and on teams Dead will
definitely happen first.
If you're planning to team a lot, Sapping isn't going to be very satisfying.
For solo play, it's a lot of fun (to me), albeit a much slower playstyle than
the one my Fire/Energy Blaster would use.
Regards,
4
I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is definitely better.
Light is faster than sound - that's why some people look smart until they speak.
For every seller who leaves the market dirty stinkin' rich,
there's a buyer who leaves the market dirty stinkin' IOed. - Obitus.
As others said it's a playstyle that can work but it's slow killing, and after elec control was introduced, you can both sap faster AND do good damage with a elec/whatever dom, doesn't even need to be elec/elec, so you get more choices as a Dom besides sapping better.
I like to submit a second idea for a sapper blaster. I already have this at 50 and I am making another on a different server. Elec/Mental is a great sapper since I can sap and regen at the same time. Drain Psyche + Short Circuit will drain a lot and then Psychic Shockwave + Ball Lightning + Psychic Scream for the AoE damage to kill most of the mob. It might just be my playstyle, but I do better on my Elec/MM than my Elec/Elec blaster.
Proton Sentry Peacebringer:lvl 50+++ - Human Build / Triform Build
Quasar Sentry Warshade:lvl 50+- Human Build / Triform Build
Red Katipo Arachnos Soldier:lvl 50+++ - Crab Build / Bane Build
Black Katipo Arachnos Widowlvl 50+++ - Fortunata Build / Night Widow Build
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't thunderous blast from elec/ leave you with enough end to power sink and keep running? This would be a nice reason to keep your elec/elec going even in high end game when large piles of minions and lts are laying at everyones feet. Most of the other blasters have to chomp blues or they have a less spectacular tier 9 damagewise. Not only does that give you the big boom, but it's an effective way of sapping. 
For me, sometimes it's just a case of looking at things a slightly different way that keeps me playing a char from lowbie to high end.
Also, you can lowbie farm with an elec/elec effectively to get some really easy levels. Not all blasters can say that.
Thunderous Blast used to do this but they fixed it a long time ago so that it crashes completely like others.
Sapping does work.. and while foes can still attack with a sliver of endurance they will tend to use their least powerful attacks.. My E3 Blaster can fight two Death mages Bosses and keep them near zero end and they will not stun me as long as I keep their end low.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
Elec/Elec sapper - is it still a viable gameplay style? i.e optimized for PBAoE endurance drain.
I returned recently to COH and wanted to start such a character. I remember a few player swearing by it years ago.