The Rain, it's cold

Recently, someone in a different thread asked me sarcastically if Blasters would trade Build Up for Freezing Rain. He dared me to "pole" the Blaster forum. So here I am; I put it to you, gentle reader:

Ignoring conceptual preferences, would you accept a wholesale trade of Build Up for Freezing Rain?

This is strictly a mechanical question. That is, do you feel the self-contained, immediate burst-damage bonus from Build Up is more or less useful than a 20-foot-radius resistance debuff that also slows and knocks down foes? The powers' breakdown follows:

Build Up (Blaster version) - 90 second recharge, 1.17 activation, 5.2 Endurance, confers +100% damage buff and +15% ToHit buff for 10 seconds.

Freezing Rain (Controller version) - 60 second recharge, 2.03 activation, 18.2 Endurance, summons pseudo pet Freezing Rain, which has the following attributes:

• 20-foot radius
• 15 second duration
• 75 ticks of 0.33 Cold Damage
• -50% movement speed debuff (for the duration of the rain)
• -40% recharge debuff (for the duration of the rain)
• 5% chance of knockdown (per 0.2 seconds)
• -30% Defense debuff for 30 seconds
• -30% Resistance debuff for 30 seconds
• Triggers avoid in NPC opponents (for the duration of the rain)
• (*weaker versions of the slow and recharge debuffs last for 30 seconds, persisting after the rain has finished.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

I think I'd take Freezing Rain in place of Build Up. Not just for the resistance debuff, the knockdown is extremely useful as well.

That being said both of my Blasters are Devices and I'm less sure I'd be willing to trade Targeting Drone for Freezing Rain.

You can never have too much Freezing Rain.

You have to be huffing glue to choose Build Up over Freezing Rain.

Stating that, I can only go that way because you said, "Ignoring conceptual preferences". Conceptually I prefer Build Up (and other self buffs) for blasters, but the power level of Freezing Rain is impossible to ignore.

Yes, what StratoNexus said...you can never have to much Freezing Rain lol.

Freezing Rain, or a thematic equivalent.

Freezing Rain every day and twice on Sundays. It's one of the great powers in the game.

I'm not going to do the number crunching to see how a +dmg buff that lasts for 10 seconds out of however many seconds to recharge, versus a -res debuff that's perma and can stack. For one person maybe it's close but I'm sure Sleet wins in the end. Add a teammate... or a 2nd, or a 24th, and Sleet pulls so far ahead it becomes silly to choose BU.

I would keep Build Up, but for a reason I suspect will differ from the reasons anyone else may have.

When I'm in a fight, my hands are at wasd and the numpad. To use any sort of dropped, Location-aoe type power like Freezing Rain, I have to move my hand over to my mouse, FIND THE PANCAKING MOUSE POINTER, drop the power, then put my hand back where I had it. By contrast, most everyone who has Build Up has it in a tray where it can be activated by numpad6.

Speaking only for myself, give me the latter. Nothing to do with better-or-worse quantitatively, all about ease of use.

Later on,
Gate

AG, we're probably miscommunicating here. What I mean is, on all of my various characters, if they've got BU, in all likelihood I've got in set up in a tray where it can be activated by numpad6. I am making no assumptions about anyone else.

Later on,
Gate

Let me see

10 seconds of 100% of base as bonus damage every 25 seconds or so.


or

30 seconds of 30% of total damage as bonus every 15 seconds and the enemies neutralized while I pound on them.


HMMMM

Freezing Rain please

Obitus, no sweat man. I do actually use shift-click on some of my characters to decent effect, but it just never feels natural to me, as my right hand is still doing the Hokey-Pokey across half my desk.

AG: I think I've got a scheduling conflict; would be the only reason to miss it.

Gate