The bad news is that no it hasn't been buffed (except for some tweaks due to the defiance change).
More Bad news is that it actually got nerfed a bit if you were built as a sapper. It's not possible to empty the spawn's blue bar with just Power Boosted Short Circuit anymore. You have to use that and follow up with Ball Lightening.
The good news is that Elec isn't the worst blast set anymore. When they ported Psi blast to Blasters they gutted the set and reduced its range. The award for worst blast set is now held by Psi.
More good news is that Electric control is a pretty strong control primary. Definitely above average for both Controllers and Dominators.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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I don't agree completely. Sometimes Short Circuit will miss, but slotted with just one SO End Mod, you should be mostly sapping anything you hit. IMO, it's worth it to have it two-slotted for End Mod.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
...It's not possible to empty the spawn's blue bar with just Power Boosted Short Circuit anymore. You have to use that and follow up with Ball Lightening...
|
One of my 50's is an Elec/Fire AoE machine, and I have a build on her that's capable of sapping anything without AV level end regeneration. Elec primary is not bad, IMO. A lot of soft control options (end draining, shock/stun animations on some of the powers) and one reliable hard control option (Tesla Cage). Add a very useful nuke on top of it, and you've got yourself a pretty alright set. Voltaic Sentinel is its own bag of worms, but properly slotted and dropped it can help shore up ST damage, especially against AVs.
I don't know what changes have been made under the hood besides evening out the bottom two powers of all the primaries, but Elec seems much more playable now than it did when I was playing the character years ago when my account was first active.
Home Server: Protector
Silenti - 50 Blaster - Elec/Fire/Ice
Igne - 50 Corruptor - Fire/Kinetics
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No changes but you might wanna check out elec control on doms and trollers, it's the best sapper set in the game now even without a sapping secondary.
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Originally Posted by Cynergyspyke
So i'm sort of an Elec everything kind of guy.
So has Elec blast been changed/buffed in the two years I've been gone? Does it still suck badly? |
Quote:
Power Boost from Energy secondary was changed to not boost Endurance Mod. You used to be able to sap lots of foes very quickly with just 1 application of Short Circuit without much investment in slots. Now you have to slot SC with End Mod to get even close to the same effect.
|
Originally Posted by TheRobot
I don't know what changes have been made under the hood besides evening out the bottom two powers of all the primaries, but Elec seems much more playable now than it did when I was playing the character years ago when my account was first active.
|
wow... they actually nerfed the end drain? I can't even comprehend this right now.
I play an elec/elec blaster though so I was always Short Circuit -> Power Sink
Try to look on the bright side: a lot of powersets that were pretty sucky have been buffed lately, and some actually got pretty good.
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I hear ya I suffer from the set too. Probably for me the most dissapointing set for me out of all the sets from all the ATs.|
Originally Posted by Cynergyspyke
So i'm sort of an Elec everything kind of guy.
So has Elec blast been changed/buffed in the two years I've been gone? Does it still suck badly? |
for me its missing a third single target power. there just isnt enough blast in that blaster set.
Electrical blast without the blast.
I´m always waiting for a change in it, but no luck
. charged bolts and lightning bolts are ok and the usual tier 1 and 2.
thunderous blast is a nice nova, but of course situatinal.
zapp is your usual snipe, but again situational.
ball of lightning is ok as a ranged aoe, like fireball.
aim is, well aim
.now here is where for me the problem in regular gameplay comes in.
we have short circuit, tesla cage, and voltaic sentinel.
short is circuit is ok, but since we have a deficit in st ranged its negative points stand out
for me. It is a pbaoe which is so so for a squishy toon, and non top of that it has a 3 second animation, mixed with an aoe to get the attention of not one but several toons. not a fan of it.
tesla cage. a hold, yeah it can be useful, but i´m a blaster and i want to blast. with just 2 ranged st powers i feel something is missing.
voltaic sentinel. hmm well in regular gameplay paying attention to something every minute to see if its up and casting it so often is annoying as hell. and for what it does....pff
i´ve tried it and just couldnt get used to it. It´s just not practical at all. not going to work for lots and lots of people. Would mind it being there as an option to try or for those that can use it. (but I would try it and respec it out).
Even rad blast has that tier 1 and tier 2 and a third power like cosmic burst which is short range and has a mez, but does nice damage.
I know this has been mentioned before, but maybe they could give tesla cage damage and reduce the range or eliminate the -end as compensation. And rads Pbaoe cast in about one second where elecs casts in about 3.
I just dont like the idea that the devs might have for elec. The -end isn´t as fanasticly fun as too compensate for taking away so much of the blast away from electricity.
Electricity just screams out BLAST.
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The EndMod boosts are still there, they only removed Knockback from Power Boost. The other effects (EndMod included) were reduced in strength by 33%.
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Originally Posted by Leo_G
Power Boost from Energy secondary was changed to not boost Endurance Mod. You used to be able to sap lots of foes very quickly with just 1 application of Short Circuit without much investment in slots. Now you have to slot SC with End Mod to get even close to the same effect.
|
Electric Blast still works pretty well for me. 
Elec blast in general is just very situational, it's not enough single target and not enough AoE. The recharges on it's tier 1 and 2 are disproportionally BAD when you count that it doesn't have a tier 3. I like Voltaic Sentinel but it doesn't last that long and I feel like I can't produce a good single target attack set at all. I spend almost all of my time in melee so that I can do moderate damage at best and use my end drain. End Drain itself however is very situational as it is all or nothing and while an enemy has any endurance left the secondary power might as well not exist.
It's lackluster everywhere, damage, recharge, single target, multi-target, secondary effect, pet, nuke, EVERYTHING.
Yes I can use it, I've pretty much perfected the art of elec blast but that doesn't mean it's a good set. Can I just roll a better primary set? Of course I can, I would really just like to see Elec blast not suck. I'm attached to my favorite character and it's the one I have the most badges, accolades, enhancement sets, and everything on. I've spent a lot of time and a lot of inf on my favorite character. Elec blast still sucks and my character will still only be good in very specific circumstances.
Why can't a blaster do good damage?
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Funny thing is, we always thought end drain was not a very efficient form of mitigation until the devs released a set with AoE end drain all over it (aoe immob, pbaoe aura, aoe patch, jumping -end powers, etc).|
Originally Posted by Cynergyspyke
Elec blast in general is just very situational, it's not enough single target and not enough AoE. The recharges on it's tier 1 and 2 are disproportionally BAD when you count that it doesn't have a tier 3. I like Voltaic Sentinel but it doesn't last that long and I feel like I can't produce a good single target attack set at all. I spend almost all of my time in melee so that I can do moderate damage at best and use my end drain. End Drain itself however is very situational as it is all or nothing and while an enemy has any endurance left the secondary power might as well not exist.
|
I've played elec control up to level 12 and even without a single TO my elec/thorns dom was only worried about killing one mob at a time since the others were sapped after a few seconds just because of Conductive Aura (I tested going to melee without other controls). At highers levels with all the AoE -end it's not even funny - I was on a 8-man team with 7 melees (me included) and an electric/emp controller, so no sapping secondary, fighting +4 mobs at level 35ish, and all the enemies were perma-sapped after a few seconds - he barely used his secondary for healing, I only noticed he was an emp when I had fortitude on me.
When the troller left, we were completely owned the next mission and had to turn the diff down a notch since the mobs were attacking much more often
I've always felt that my Elec/Elec Blaster is a much more controllerish blaster.
That's especially true when compared to my Fire/Nrg which seems extremely
Blasterish. His schtick is to burn it down before it kills him, and he's good at it.
The Elec/Elec toon is much more of an aggro manager. His typical approach
is more along the line of Aim/BU/Zapp - one dead minion (from capped Stealth),
Tesla Cage next guy, Shocking Bolt third guy, Short Circuit/Power Sink, and
the fight's in the bag ... All that remains is the time to actually finish killing guys,
but by that point, you needn't rush to get it done - they're not going anywhere. 
The nice thing about him is he can double-stack holds on a boss, or hold two
Lt's/Minions indefinitely if there isn't a boss. The end-drain is very good soft
control, once you can apply it, and Ball Lightning can usually keep them drained
until SC reharges.
It's a distinctly slower playstyle (for me) than the Fire/Nrg, and it actually involves
thinking about the fight, but I find that it's a very safe and fun approach once you
get the hang of it.
Of course, the Fire/Nrg can be equally fun, but in a much more chaotic way
that is 95% pure offense as quick as you can pour it on. With him, "Don't Think, SHOOT!"
is very much the order of business.
I like both of them, for obviously very different reasons.
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.
Quote:
Last week on Justice was an impromptu "theme week" for ITFs. It started with an all Ice ITF (and Justice was most amused with all the puns associated therein on the global channels) I was on an all Elec ITF the next day and an all Fire ITF the next run (and yes the puns ran thick and fast for both those ITFs)|
Originally Posted by Cynergyspyke
Elec blast in general is just very situational, it's not enough single target and not enough AoE. The recharges on it's tier 1 and 2 are disproportionally BAD when you count that it doesn't have a tier 3. I like Voltaic Sentinel but it doesn't last that long and I feel like I can't produce a good single target attack set at all. I spend almost all of my time in melee so that I can do moderate damage at best and use my end drain. End Drain itself however is very situational as it is all or nothing and while an enemy has any endurance left the secondary power might as well not exist.
It's lackluster everywhere, damage, recharge, single target, multi-target, secondary effect, pet, nuke, EVERYTHING. Yes I can use it, I've pretty much perfected the art of elec blast but that doesn't mean it's a good set. Can I just roll a better primary set? Of course I can, I would really just like to see Elec blast not suck. I'm attached to my favorite character and it's the one I have the most badges, accolades, enhancement sets, and everything on. I've spent a lot of time and a lot of inf on my favorite character. Elec blast still sucks and my character will still only be good in very specific circumstances. Why can't a blaster do good damage? |
I have NEVER before seen a full spawn of EBs with empty endurance bars that STAYED empty. I only remember 3-4 player defeats for that entire TF (I admit that I wasn't really counting them) and those occurred about when you would expect, an ambush spawn appearing on top of the squishies after a crystal, an exploding crystal, and 3rd robot spawn during the computer.
The all Fire TF featured multiple player defeats (pretty sure that my fire^3 tank was the only one not to die sometime during the TF. Not positive though, I was busy) Completion time was a mere 3 minutes faster for the all fire run. Both were extremely fun in very different ways.
The all elec ITF inspired me to try an Elec/Psi dominator that is now level 20. I have to agree with Kioshi that end drain is very powerful mitigation. I'm soloing using level 20 DOs and playing on +1/x3 bosses on, and I can drop Static Field in the middle of the spawn, use Tesla cage and single target attacks on one target while I wait for Conductive Aura to drain the spawn, and then start AoEing with impunity thereafter. At level 20 when I got Drain Psyche it got even better because the mobs that are drained with Conductive and Static Field don't recover endurance after they are hit with DP.
This dom may turn out to be even better than my Mind/Ice/Fire perma dom. I'm just not sure at this point how much end mod I want to slot.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
I think every blaster depending on primary/secondary choice, slotting and the playstyle of the person can yield some interesting results.
Taser My Levle 50 Elec/Elec Blaster is the epitome of the Blaptroller..
I can blast with my three single target attacks.. what three single target attacks you say?? Electric Fence isnt a throwaway attack for me.. I have it slotted with three Nucleos and I will spam the heck out of it.. You might be able to mez me.. but I can get in three attacks every time very helpful..
Blapping.. sure with the awesome combo of Shocking Grasp, Charged Brawl Havoc Punch.... your held.. taking damage.. and here is some more damage for you..
Controls. sure first off I can pop of Short Circuit and Power Sink to pretty much drain anything that is plus 2 to ZERO end.. and thats with regular end mod IO's.. THEN I also have three single target holds.. Boss.. HA.. stand there and take it..
AoE sure.. Ball Lighting and Static Discharge from my APP does very well and if I really wan to take you down.. I can stand at range and throw in Thunderous Blast as a nuke as well..
And NO I dont have a defense IO build.. nope not one defense IO at all but I managed to do just fine...
and Incarnates added more damage through Musculature ANOTHER Nuke in the Judgement power and a new Energy Interface that helps with End Drain ????????
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-
So I've decided that I'm done with Elec blast. It's a bad set, just bad. On my E^3 blaster I've gotten all my Incarnate slots filled with the tier 4. Still I suffer with Elec blast.
Elec Manip is a great set, certainly one of the best of blaster secondaries. I'd rather have the Elec Melee version of thunderstrike, but whatever it's a good set.
Elec Blast - never again.
Like Cynergyspike, I am somewhat disillusioned with elec/ blasters.
I have a 50 elec/elec/elec blaster that I have just abandoned. I reallly like the concept, but the damage is just so lame give how fragile the toon is.
Elec/elec/elec cires out for a blapper mentality where you use short circuit and ball lightning and the ST melee attacks from the secondary.
The problem with this is that your AOE is going to be pathetic and a tank will be almost as good. Your ST melee attacks are okay but a scrapper will be better. And since you are using ST melee attacks you don't get any advantage from defiance with charged bolts and lightning bolt being able to be used while mezzed.
Basically, I don't notice any synergy. You are better off creating an elec/elec dom and saying screw it. The only reason I haven't done so is that I have a 50 elec/elec blaster and a lot of time invested in the character. I wish I could just ignore that and roll the dom.
"Hi, my name is Ail. I make people sick."
A partial selection from my 50's on Freedom: Ail = Ice/Traps, Luck = Street Justice/Super Reflexes Stalker, Mist = Bane, Pixy = Trick Arrow/Archery, Pure = Gravity/Energy, Smoke = Fire/Fire Dominator
Electricity Blast on Blaster could use a buff. Voltaic Sentinel's damage should be buffed to Blaster's 1.125 modifier. In fact, several "rain" type of damage didn't get buffed to match Blaster's 1.125 modifier.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Voltaic Sentinel is only a small part of the issues plaguing Elec blast...
Honestly VS could be used well in the set, but it's currently NOT.
Quote:
I just happen to be the one who formed all those themed ITF's so I am glad that you enjoyed yourself. I too was rather surprised that the fire run was only marginally faster than the electric one and had far more deaths.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Last week on Justice was an impromptu "theme week" for ITFs. It started with an all Ice ITF (and Justice was most amused with all the puns associated therein on the global channels) I was on an all Elec ITF the next day and an all Fire ITF the next run (and yes the puns ran thick and fast for both those ITFs)
I have NEVER before seen a full spawn of EBs with empty endurance bars that STAYED empty. I only remember 3-4 player defeats for that entire TF (I admit that I wasn't really counting them) and those occurred about when you would expect, an ambush spawn appearing on top of the squishies after a crystal, an exploding crystal, and 3rd robot spawn during the computer. The all Fire TF featured multiple player defeats (pretty sure that my fire^3 tank was the only one not to die sometime during the TF. Not positive though, I was busy) Completion time was a mere 3 minutes faster for the all fire run. Both were extremely fun in very different ways. The all elec ITF inspired me to try an Elec/Psi dominator that is now level 20. I have to agree with Kioshi that end drain is very powerful mitigation. I'm soloing using level 20 DOs and playing on +1/x3 bosses on, and I can drop Static Field in the middle of the spawn, use Tesla cage and single target attacks on one target while I wait for Conductive Aura to drain the spawn, and then start AoEing with impunity thereafter. At level 20 when I got Drain Psyche it got even better because the mobs that are drained with Conductive and Static Field don't recover endurance after they are hit with DP. This dom may turn out to be even better than my Mind/Ice/Fire perma dom. I'm just not sure at this point how much end mod I want to slot. |
My take on electric powersets are that they do incredibly well when paired with other toons that are also electric. The synergy is just stupid good and it allows you to do things that would otherwise be impossible. I had the fortune of running my elec/elec blaster to 50 with my girlfriends elec/elec blaster and my supergroup mates elec/elec tank. The 3 of us had a huge blast (pun intended) on our ride to 50 and were running mishs on +2/x8 from the mid 20s. No heals or support needed (though we experimented with aid self for a bit). The combo of the tank taking the initial alpha and the blasters sapping everything in the first 3 seconds followed by unloading all aoe's left every spawn neutered and destroyed in very quick order.
Now that does not mean that elec blast couldnt use some help. I would strongly support tesla cage getting the clobber treatment by giving it real damage, and if VS is ever to be truly useful it needs to have a 4 min timer or make it a toggle or something. Elec blast has some good mitigation and aoe capability that only gets better if you can add an elec friend. So go out and find an electrifying friend and shock the world.
-Gitch
(Arc Master on Justice)
It was a..... er.... Blast 
The theme is a theme that we should continue and that way we could look forward to more "pun"ishment on Justice.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
-They need to make the "chance for" gaining some end back to 100%, and they need to double the amount you get back. This secondary ability always seemed interesting to me on paper, but the amount is so small.
-I've heard before to treat Voltaic Sent as a mini build-up.. think its like a 20% dam buff from defiance? btw it does the same amount of damage as the tier 1 blast
-Tier 4 Musculature seems to fit elec blast well, if anyone wants to put that much time into it..
perma jump is ---> /up 1
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really? I've never felt Psi is bad or even gutted (I haven't really played my psi/em after finishing it).|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
..The good news is that Elec isn't the worst blast set anymore. When they ported Psi blast to Blasters they gutted the set and reduced its range. The award for worst blast set is now held by Psi...
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aww f me. Mid's is showing the range is nerfed, wth man.
perma jump is ---> /up 1
So i'm sort of an Elec everything kind of guy.
So has Elec blast been changed/buffed in the two years I've been gone? Does it still suck badly?