Discussion: Intrepid Informer 23: Water Blast

Introduction

Yep! It's me again. Phil "Synapse" Zeleski here to talk to you about a brand new power set. You guessed it, Water Blast! I'll be detailing each power in the set below and explaining how each of them works. Water Blast is a primary power set choice for Blasters and Corruptors and a secondary set for Defenders. This ranged set deals a mixture of Cold, Smash and Fire damage as water can be both cold and scalding hot!

New Mechanic: Tidal Power

Water Blast features a new resource mechanic called Tidal Power. Some powers build Tidal Power while others consume it. This set's resource builders are: Aqua Bolt, Hydro Blast, Whirlpool, Tidal Forces, Dehydrate, Water Jet and Steam Spray. Its consumers are Water Burst, Dehydrate, Water Jet and Geyser. You might notice that Water Jet and Dehydrate are listed as both builders and consumers of Tidal Power. That is because these powers build Tidal Power if you have 2 or less stacks and consume it only if you have 3 stacks. Below is a quick outline of the benefits of Tidal Power on powers within the set:

Water Burst

• 0 Tidal Power: Normal Damage and 33% chance to knockdown
• 1 Tidal Power: +5% damage and 45% chance to knockdown
• 2 Tidal Power: +12% damage and a 70% chance to knockdown
• 3 Tidal Power: +25 damage and a 100% chance to knockdown!

Dehydrate

• 0-2 Tidal Power: Normal damage, a moderate heal over time and builds 1 Tidal Power
• 3 Tidal Power: Normal damage and a large heal over time

Water Jet

• 0-2 Tidal Power: Normal damage
• 3 Tidal Power: Normal damage, faster cast speed and instantly recharges Water Jet!

Geyser

• 0 Tidal Power: Normal damage and a 0% chance to disorient
• 1 Tidal Power: +5% damage, and a 33% chance to disorient
• 2 Tidal Power: +12% damage and a 60% chance to disorient
• 3 Tidal Power: +25% damage and a 100% chance to disorient

Powers

Below you'll find a list of powers found within the Water Blast power set as well as their short description, long description and some designer notes. Keep in mind that these powers and their descriptions are subject to change through our beta process.

Water Blast
Water Blast grants you command over the power of water. This can be used to weaken and crush your foes with all the power of a tidal wave. Some Water Blast powers allow the user to build Tidal Power, while others consume Tidal Power. You can have 3 stacks of Tidal Power on yourself at a time. Your Tidal Power can be released to strengthen your Water Burst, Dehydrate, Water Jet and Geyser powers. Using these powers will remove all of your Tidal Power.

Aqua Bolt
Ranged, Light DMG(Cold/Smash), Foe -Def, Self +Tidal Power
You strike your foe with a rapid blast of freezing cold water causing Light Cold and Smashing damage as well as reducing their defense. Aqua Bolt builds 1 Tidal Power. Damage: Light, Recharge: Very Fast
Designer's Comments: Hydro Blast is a more powerful version of Aqua Bolt, however instead of reducing defense it reduces movement speed and has a chance to knock the target down. It too builds Tidal Power.

Hydro Blast
Ranged, High DMG(Cold/Smash), Foe -Speed, Knockdown, Self +Tidal Power
You briefly focus before releasing an intense blast of chilling water at your foe that causes High Cold and Smashing damage. Affected foes will have their movement speed reduced briefly and have a chance to be knocked down. Hydro Blast builds 1 Tidal Power. Damage: High, Recharge: Moderate
Designer's Comments: Hydro Blast is a more powerful version of Aqua Bolt, however instead of reducing defense it reduces movement speed and has a chance to knock the target down. It too builds Tidal Power.

Water Burst
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Moderate DMG(Cold/Smash), Foe -Speed, Knockdown, Self -Tidal Power
You cause water to violently explode from beneath your target's feet blasting all foes nearby with freezing cold water. Affected targets will suffer Moderate Cold and Smashing damage, have their movement speed reduced and may be knocked down by the force of the blast. Water Burst consumes all Tidal Power. It will deal additional cold damage and have a greater chance to knockdown for each stack of Tidal Power. If you have 3 stacks of Tidal Power Water Burst will have a 100% chance to knock the targets into the air. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow
Designer's Comments: Water Burst is your first Tidal Power resource consumer and it's also your first AoE. This power does good damage, but as I mentioned above its damage increases with each stack of Tidal Power. It also has the potential to provide an excellent measure of crowd control to keep foes off of you and your teammates!

Whirlpool
Ranged (Location AoE), High DoT(Cold), -Speed, -Defense, Self +Tidal Power
You create a violent whirlpool at the target location causing Cold damage over time, reducing the targets' speed and defense for a short time. Whirlpool grants 1 stack of Tidal Power. Damage: High(DoT), Recharge: Long
Designer's Comments: This power is a location targeted AoE damage power. It will deal a large amount of damage over time and will debuff enemies that enter its large area of effect. As an added bonus, it builds 1 Tidal Power.

Tidal Forces
Self +To-hit, +DMG
You draw tidal energies into yourself thus boosting your chance to hit significantly, slightly boosting your damage and granting yourself +3 Tidal Power. Recharge: Very Long
Designer's Comments: Tidal Forces is Water Blast's answer to Aim. It offers less of a damage buff than Aim does, but it grants 3 Tidal Power, thus giving you a means to quickly build up this precious resource.

Dehydrate
Ranged, Moderate DMG(Cold/Smash), Foe -Speed, -Defense, Light DoT(Cold), Self +Heal Over Time, +Tidal Power
You rapidly dehydrate your target, causing Moderate Cold and Smashing damage, reducing their movement speed and defense as well as causing a measure of Cold damage over time. You are then healed over time for a moderate amount of health. Dehydrate grants 1 stack of Tidal Power if you have 2 or less. Dehydrate will consume all stacks of Tidal Power if you have 3, but the power's heal over time effect is increased by 50%. Damage: Moderate, Light DoT, Recharge: Moderate
Designer's Comments: Dehydrate is a very versatile power. It deals a good amount of damage, it debuffs the enemy, it heals you over 4 seconds and it both builds and consumes Tidal Power. Should you have 2 or less Tidal Power it will grant you a single stack of this resource. However, if you have 3 it will consume it and increase the effectiveness of this power's heal by 50%!Dehydrate is a very versatile power. It deals a good amount of damage, it debuffs the enemy, it heals you over 4 seconds and it both builds and consumes Tidal Power. Should you have 2 or less Tidal Power it will grant you a single stack of this resource. However, if you have 3 it will consume it and increase the effectiveness of this power's heal by 50%!

Water Jet
Short, High DMG(Cold/Smash), Foe -Speed, Self +/-Tidal Power
You spray a concentrated torrent of water at short range toward your target that causes High Cold and Smashing damage as well as reducing your target's movement speed. If you have 2 or less Tidal Power, you will gain a stack of Tidal Power. If you have 3 Tidal Power and you activate this power, it will have an enhanced effect causing Water Jet to cast slightly faster and immediately reset the recharge of Water Jet. Water Jet's enhanced effect can be used once every 15 seconds. Damage: High, Recharge: Moderate
Designer's Comments: Water Jet is a rather unique power. On the surface it can be compared to powers like Fire Blast/Blaze or Radiation Blast/Cosmic Burst, however it some tricks up its sleeve. Should you use this power with 3 Tidal Power it will cast slightly faster and immediately recharge itself. This allows you to cast it back to back and deal extreme damage in a little under 2.5 seconds to anyone foolish enough to get close to you. However, this perk has a small drawback. Water Jet can only be used this way once every 15 seconds.

Steam Spray
Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Fire), Foe -Defense, Minor DoT(Fire), Self +Tidal Power
You spray scalding hot steam in a cone in front of you badly burning affected targets. Steam Stray causes Moderate Fire damage, Minor Fire damage over time and reduces the target's Defense slightly. Steam Spray grants 1 stack of Tidal Power. Damage: High, Recharge: Long
Designer's Comments: This power not only deals additional damage over time, but it also mixes up some fire damage into the set. This makes Water Blast fairly versatile.

Geyser
Ranged (Targeted AoE), High DMG(Fire/Smash), Foe High DoT(Fire), -Speed, Knock Up, Disorient, Self -Tidal Power
You cause the earth to erupt beneath your target's feet as a Geyser of scalding hot water burns your foes and tosses them violently into the air. Geyser causes High Fire and Smashing damage before causing High Fire damage over time as well as reducing their movement speed. Geyser consumes all Tidal Power. Both the initial damage and damage over time portions of this power will be increased and have a scaling chance to disorient for each stack of Tidal Power. If you have 3 stacks of Tidal Power Water Burst will have a 100% chance to disorient affected targets. Damage: High & High DoT, Recharge: Very Slow
Designer's Comments: This "crash-less" nuke does a mixture of excellent damage and a damage over time component. With three stacks of Tidal Power, you can decimate a large group knocking them up into the air and potentially disorienting them.

Tips and Tricks

Below are some tips and tricks that may suit your play style. These tips and tricks are not intended to be the definitive method for playing this powerset. There are merely some suggestions from playing the power set extensively.

• Spend your Tidal Forces wisely! Many of your Water Blast powers consume all of your Tidal Power. So you'll want to make sure you use the right Tidal Force consumer at the right time.
• If you are faced with a single foe, hammering them with two consecutive Water Jets is a viable tactic to deal a considerable amount of damage very quickly.
• If you're low on health, consider using Dehydrate. It can help you recover Hit Points
• If you're facing a large group, Water Burst and Geyser are excellent choices.
• Keep your foes at a distance. Water Blast features several powers that can reduce a target's movement speed. Use this to your advantage and keep dangerous melee opponents away from you. You also have several powers that can knockdown foes. Both of these tools can change the tide of battle quite quickly.
• Chain your finishers! You can chain two back-to-back Tidal Power consumers by first building 3 Tidal Power (by using resource-building attacks like Aqua Bolt and Hydro Blast) then using a finisher. Follow up with Tidal forces to instantly give you 3 Tidal Power and then follow up with another one.

Below is an example attack chain:
The above attack chain will hit the target three times with basic attacks, knock them off their feet and then give you enough time to chain an enhanced Water Jet combo on them!

Conclusion

Water Blast features stunning visuals and sound effects with a new mechanic that should keep your attack chains flowing nicely (no pun intended). I look forward to seeing what crazy characters our player base comes up with! I know I've got quite a few myself. Water Blast will be making a splash on the Paragon Market July 10, 2012!

Pssst. Wasn't this reduced to an 8 Second Lockout timer? Or was this revoked and we get to start screaming bloody murder~?

If someone can fire cold bullets at a fire and do damage, then I completely agree that this set should do Special damage vs. Fires.

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

Yeah, what's up with this?

It is - but you need to "buy" it for free from the market to unlock it.

I see it now, but usually these "pay to win" sets show up on character creation as a "Purchase in the store to unlock"able like other pay-to-play powersets and costume pieces have been

Known glitch?

In beta, sets that have not been released do not appear until you purchase them. It does not seem to be a glitch, because every set to reach beta for several months has done this.

Explain please how this set is "pay to win" I'm all ears!

Yes - when they make free power sets for VIPs, they give them out with Issue releases - anything released between Issues is paid for.

I'd like to know as well. Since, y'know, Synapse has explicitly said that they don't design powersets to be sold in the Paragon Market to be any more powerful than powersets added to the game for free.

Unless Tiger_Lady also think that the developers would intentionally mislead the players in such a manner ...

It can, and it has a wonderfully broad palette, not the really limited Ice one.