How do you play Elec/Time

I have decide to take two sets i have never been able to like and play then at least to 35 to give them a better chance. Those sets are Elec (not enough damage for my taste) and /time (which I only tried on Corr but could never make work there).

Having played with a few Elec/Time it seems like a decent combo, but having jsut satrted the characetr I don;t have a good sense for how to play it yet. A lot of powers on /Time are PBAoE so should I play a melee controller? it has a bunch of mitigation and at lvl12 that's basically what I'm doing.

This thread is more about asking about my styleplay options rather than for some specific build. Styleplay will drive the type of bonuses I may strive for. I intend to IO this character around lvl32 so that rules out any purples, etc... I think this set will benefit from recharge ?

My experience with Electric Control has been with an Elec/Rad Controller and an Elec/Earth Dom. Electric works quite well as a dominator set because it has pretty good "shut-down" control. I find Electric Control to be an interesting set because you have so much going on: Sleep, Confuse, Knockdown, Endurance Drain, Immob and the usual holds.

Static Field is the key power, especially in lower levels. The pulsing Sleep Patch provides every-group AoE control. It is the alpha control power that rarely results in a responsive attack. It recharges fairly quickly, but you want to slot it with Recharge first.

Conductive Aura alone takes a while to drain foes. But once you have Static Field out, you can then run in and slowly drain the foes' endurance with CA.

Chain Fences is a somewhat unusual AoE Immob: it does not have -Knockback (so it does not interfere with Jolting Chain), and it is up-front damage instead of DoT (since DoT would disrupt the sleep from Static Field).

As a result, I found that my standard opening control sequence was Static Field, Chain Fences from range, run in to melee with Conductive Aura running to drain endurance, pick any problem foes to Tesla Cage and use any single target attacks, renew Static Field and Chain Fences as needed. At 26, you get Synaptic Overload, but it's chaining mechanic makes it somewhat unreliable. Since it draws no aggro, try SynO if it is up, then go back to the Static Field+Chain Fences+Conductive Aura combo. The biggest problem with SynO is that it takes so long to chain the confuse. I find that if I wait for the fight to begin, SynO is pretty useless. If I want to use the power, I really have to run ahead of the team and fire it off before anyone else gets there.

Of course, with Time you also get Time's Juncture to debuff ToHit while you drain endurance. And you can use Distortion Field as another AoE debuff/Control power or as a patch-barrier (kind of like how Quicksand can be used).

There is some debate about Jolting Chain. I like it as a short-term control power, and I threw a Devastation Chance for Hold in it which goes off fairly often. I mostly use it to disrupt an ambush or to juggle that group over there while this group here is asleep on Static Field. As long as you aim for a lower level foe, it can knockdown bosses. If you miss the first target, the entire power misses, but if you hit the first target, it chains to everything in reach.

You didn't really say if you are going to try to solo this character or play only on teams. Solo will be horribly slow until you can slot up the pets, and then it will be pretty slow instead of horribly slow. The Gremlins will be the majority of your damage unless you proc the heck out of everything.

On teams, Electric Control does great . . . unless you have a teammate with a lot of AoE DoT powers. The AoE DoT powers neuter Static Field. And a teammate with AoE -Knockback will neuter Jolting Chain. I HATE teaming with Fire Controllers and Doms, because Fire Cages neuters much of my control. Other controllers who use AoE Immobs with DoT are equally as annoying.

As far as Slotting -- I find Elec Control only needs a moderate amount of Recharge. The powers come back pretty quickly, and it is easy to have Static Field be perma. Since Elec/Time will have Chrono Shift at 38, you probably won't need to build for Recharge, or at least not much. I actually haven't decided on a "final" build for my Elec/Rad, as he currently has a lot of frankenslotting. You could go with a high defense build. I went with the Psi APP for Indomidible Will, to prevent mez powers from knocking off my toggles. Since Time has Farsight, I think it will probably be tempting to go for Defense.

I just got my Time/Electric defender to 50, and it's amazingly durable. I can stand solo in the middle of huge spawns (like those in the various cave patrol farms in AE). I've teamed with tankers who faceplanted against Carnies, go to the hospital, and to their chagrin all the Carnies were gone when they came back.

For defenders it's possible to exceed the softcap by 5-10% with a combination of IO set bonuses, Power Boosted Farsight, Maneuvers, and Combat Jumping. Add in the debuffs from Time's Juncture and Distortion Field, and you wind up taking very little damage, all of which can be healed by Chrono Shift and Temporal Mending.

The defense numbers for controllers aren't as good, it's true, but considering the huge end drain an Electric/Time controller would be doing on top of all the other debuffs from /Time, and the fact that you have two pets to suck up some of the aggro, and I think you'll be every bit as rugged if you got perma Power Boosted Farsight.

My only regret is that I went with /Electric instead of /Fire...

I played this built most of the afternoon and it's pretty fun even at low levels.
A friend needed help with the "stop the ritual" mission in Croatoa and this was jsut what the doctor ordered, holds, sleeps, slows... with a bit of team buff

My biggest complaint is that mezzers drop my toggles, so I may look at defense, at least until Clarion, but with a build that is both ranged and melee, it may not be easy (I tend to favor positional defense when I go for high defense)

I've looked at a few build discussions in the forums but they are too rich for me, I don't think I want to purple out this character. Even though I don;t intend to solo, I hate doing no damage so I think I will at least put some procs in, but otherwise may frankenslot more than go for set bonuses.

we'll see, so far the combo exceeds my expectations

OK, now I'm going to have to try. I hadn't realized how high Farsight defense was (my character is only in the teens now)

I was going for lots of recharge, because I decided that I would either try to get the max out of chronoshift, or I would drop it because it wasn't up often enough.

Below is my work in progress (for example don't pay attention to what level a slot is put in) just as a first proof of concept that has perma-hasten, (almost)perma chronoshift, perma farsight and every-spawn Static Field but defense is "only" 27-30% and S/L resist 60%

I think the elec endurance stealing and extra recovery should make this playable, but I don't know how to tell from Mid's.
I hope the rest of the team can deal with 50% extra recharge with boosted recovery only 1/3 of the time.

I'll keep tinkering with the build, maybe see if I can add more defense while retaining the perma-everything goal. (probably easy with purples, but I don't do purples)
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.953
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Ultra Flux Capacitor: Level 50 Science Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Time Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(3), BasGaze-Slow%:30(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(42)
Level 1: Time Crawl -- TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx:37(A), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx:35(45)
Level 2: Temporal Mending -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:37(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:37(7), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:37(7), Dct'dW-Heal:37(9), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:37(9), EndRdx-I:50(25)
Level 4: Time's Juncture -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:37(A), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx:37(34), DarkWD-ToHitDeb:37(36), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx:37(36)
Level 6: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB:35(A)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- P'Shift-End%:37(A), P'Shift-EndMod:50(46)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(11)
Level 12: Static Field -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:37(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:37(13), CSndmn-Acc/EndRdx:37(13), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:37(15), CSndmn-Sleep/Rng:37(17)
Level 14: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:33(A), Ksmt-Def/EndRdx:30(19), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(40), Ksmt-ToHit+:30(42)
Level 16: Chain Fences -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:37(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:37(17), Posi-Dam%:37(19), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:35(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(46), Posi-Dmg/Rng:35(46)
Level 18: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Time Stop -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(21), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(21), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(36), Acc-I:50(39)
Level 22: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(23), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:40(23)
Level 24: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:37(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:33(25)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:40(A), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:40(27), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:40(27), Mlais-Dam%:40(31), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:40(31), C'phny-Dam%:30(31)
Level 28: Farsight -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:33(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(29), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(29), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(37), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37), RedFtn-Def:50(37)
Level 30: Temporal Selection -- H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx:40(A), H'zdH-Heal:40(42), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:50(43)
Level 32: Gremlins -- C'Arms-Acc/Dmg:30(A), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(33), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx:30(33), C'Arms-+Def(Pets):30(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg:37(34), SvgnRt-PetResDam:37(34)
Level 35: Slowed Response -- UndDef-DefDeb:35(A), UndDef-DefDeb/EndRdx:35(43), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx:35(43), UndDef-Rchg/EndRdx:35(45)
Level 38: Chrono Shift -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod:38(39), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:38(40), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:38(40)
Level 41: Power Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I:35(A)
Level 47: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(48), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 49: Temp Invulnerability -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:35(A), ImpArm-ResDam:33(50), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:33(50)
------------
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(15)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(11)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:37(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run

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Don't forget to figure in your Powerboosted Farsight which, because it's a click power, lasts for the the full duration of Farsight. That's a little more than 11% additional defense.

I did forget! thank you!

I was pulling my hair out trying to get to the soft-cap, but now with power boost taken into account, I am at I am at 56% Ranged, and 48%+ for everything else, without purples/PVPs and without compromising my basic perma-chronoshift idea.

I may revert back the Reactive armor sets (not in the build I posted above) to see if I can make the build cheaper and reclaim a few of the slots I moved in for the Reactives.

There are several suggestions I have for your build, but I don't have time to go into them now. But I'll touch on a few problem areas.

Synaptic Overload: This is a no-aggro Confuse power that chains. Putting damage procs in it will destroy the no aggro aspect -- that's a bad thing. Get rid of those damage procs. If you can, put the purple Contagious Confusion proc, along with 4 more of the purple Coercive Persuasion set.

Conductive Aura needs more EndMod if you expect to drain foes in a reasonable time.

Chain Fences does pitiful damage. You will get more damage from Damage procs than slotting the power for Damage.

Tesla Cage: The Baz Gaze proc is pretty worthless. Use an Acc/Rech or Rech/Hold instead.

Personally, I would take Jolting Chain over Time Stop or Temporal Selection. More AoE control is good, and JC will often knock down bosses. The Devastation Chance for Hold is nice in Jolting Chain.

Ah, now don't make the mistake in the opposite direction. When you click PB on in Mid's it will show you values for boosted toggles as well, but those will only last for 15 seconds. You need to find the difference between your PBed Farsight and regular Farsight and add that to the unPBed defense values you have.

Thanks Local_Man, grat advice as always. I completely missed the fact that Synaptic Overload didn't draw aggro.
Baz Gaze proc was a "typo"

The reason I slotted Chain Fences for damage was to get the +rchg bonus from Posi Blast.

I do like Jolting Chain at low levels and I tend to forget to use Temporal Selection, so I may swap them. I don't have time Stop yet but it's a hold with -regen, and it lets me slot a Baz set for another 7.5% recharge
I'm currently playing with the idea of not taking Time Stop either and taking Stealth as a last LoTG Mule to free up some slots, or go with no travel power (ninja run) and use stealth there.

Maybe I'm overdoing it with the rechg and having Chronoshift a few seconds short of perma would not be a huge deal.

I'm probably not going to purple this toon, especially since I expect the sleep/confuse purple sets to go up, I have too many alts and can't invest in all of them.

I agree that Elec/ doesn't need the recahrge, I'm in it for /Time and "perma" chronoshift, although it'll be nice to have the Elec/ stuff available every spawn.

I'll give it a whirl, without any purples it's not that expensive and I can learn from it.
Thanks for the advice.